Maria POV
"Shit." Tony exclaimed as he picked up an unconscious Clint and carried him over to the medical bed. What had happened was before Clint could do any more of his damage, I shot a taser at him.
"Nice thinking, Hill." Steve said. He smiled at me briefly and then turned back to Barton, looking worried about him. Since this morning, when Fury contacted me, I have been told I am having the role of educating Steve on day-to-day life. Not exactly the worst job in the world. However, he is very distracting.
"Thanks." I said, quietly, a bit embarrassed, and pushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.
"What we going to do now?" Banner asked.
"We'll put Clint back in the glass box and make sure that Natasha has the right medical recovery." Steve commanded. "Keep both of them under observation."
"Yes, Cap." Tony said, saluting him and then moving Natasha into the lift to be transferred.
I can't believe one of my closest friends is hurt because of Loki. What a little shit head. He destroyed everything. He's destroyed my entire life. Steve obviously observed my anger, because he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Hill?" he asked, but I was too angry to even respond back to him, apart from shrugging off his shoulder and running towards the door. I heard Steve shout my name behind me, but I didn't listen. I got to Loki's floor, opened the door and locked it behind me. I saw the door vibrate from Rogers pushing against it.
"OPEN THIS DOOR MARIA!" he shouted, so passionate, but I ignored him.
I looked over to the other side of the room where Loki was lying on his bed.
"JARVIS, put Loki in a force-field before I enter. Take it off when I'm in there." JARVIS complied and opened the door to the cell whilst Loki was in a blue shield of light around him. The door slid shut and the force-field went.
"What are you doing here?" Loki asked, sitting up on his bed.
"You know why I'm here." I tried to keep cool, but anger bled through my words.
"Only women have come to interrogate me. Thank goodness they are beautiful." he said with a sly smirk. Sick bastard.
"What have you done to Barton?" I asked, trying to contain my anger.
He smirked. "I haven't done anything."
"Don't lie. You've done everything to hurt these people." They're dead. They're all freakin' dead, because of him.
"What Barton or are you talking about your own pathetic family?" he said fiercely. That's it.
I charged at Loki, throwing continuous punches that hit him in the face. He tried to avoid them, but without his magic he was just to slow against my high training. I did a drop-kick and he fell onto the floor, holding his face from the pain. I didn't even notice that Steve came into the room until I heard him shout "JARVIS, force-field around Loki." Steve entered the cell and held my arms, stopping me from punching him again.
"Don't you dare call them pathetic." I screamed, half crying as Steve pulled me away from him. Loki was still lying on the floor, but he was smirking at us. How dare he insult them? How dare he? I can't believe him. I want to rip his head off. I struggled against Steve's grip, but it was too strong.
He pulled me out of the cell, Loki still smirking at us. "Blacken Loki's cell, JARVIS." Steve said.
"Of course, Mr. Rogers." JARVIS replied, following his orders. Steve's grip on me loosened as calmed down slightly. I felt like I couldn't breath. The air was being sucked out of my lungs and I felt really faint. I fell against Steve and gasped for air. My tears were rushing down my face and landing on his chest. We slowly sank down to the ground until I was my head was lying on his lap. "Maria. Just breathe slowly okay."
"They're...they're gone..." I managed to say. "My...families...dead..."
"The battle?" he asked and I nodded. "Just try and breathe okay. Just breathe."
I tried to breathe normally, but I couldn't calm down. My heart rate was through the roof and Roger's hot fingertips against my body were not helping me to remain calm. I looked up into his eyes and they were deep with concern. He was so beautiful. His complexion seemed to make me calmer. He stroked the side of my head in an attempt to make me relax, which also worked.
"That's it. Just focus." he said, looking a bit curious about how I was becoming so calm. "Breathe." I took a couple of deep breaths and relaxed. I closed my eyes, his hands still threading through my hair, and sighed. "You feeling better now?"
"Yeah." I said and he got up first, before helping me to my feet also. "Feeling much better than before."
"I'm sorry for your loss." he said sorrowfully, withdrawing his hand from mine.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. This shouldn't have happened to you."
"It could've happened to anyone. Lots of other people died too." I argued.
"Yeah, but you didn't deserve it. Not you." he said, passionately.
I closed my eyes, hung my head slightly, and argued "You have no idea what I'm like Rogers." It's true. He doesn't know my past.
"Well I'd like to." he said smiling.
I looked up at him, into his cool blue eyes, and replied "I really don't think you do. I can knock you out in 23 different ways with my little finger."
"I want to get to know you. Not the knocking me bit." he said and I laughed slightly.
"For an old man, you're pretty funny." I said, walking out of the room with him.
"Thanks." he said shyly, red crawling onto his cheeks.
We arrived at the medical bay and went straight to Natasha's bed. "Is she okay?" I asked.
"We'll be running some more tests on her and giving her more blood to make up for the amount that she lost." Banner explained. "The stab wound will scar over time, but for the minute we are keeping it sterile and bandaging it. We're doing all we can."
"Thanks Doc." I said. "I appreciate it."
"Believe me, we all do." Steve added.
"I must return to Asgard to seek answer, my friends. I shall return, but only when those answers have been found. I thank you, Man of Iron, for your kind hospitality. Goodbye." Thor said and left the room with a nod. A couple of minutes later, the tower shook slightly, signalling that Thor had left the building.
"Is Clint back awake yet?" Pepper asked.
"No, he's still asleep. He's moving lots in his sleep though. Nightmares or Loki's mind control screwing up his brain." Stark replied.
"TONY!" Pepper warned and slapped his arm. "Natasha may be asleep, but she will do more than just kick you in the nuts if she knows that you just said that."
"Oh, I'm scared." Tony said sarcastically, doing jazz hands. "She's an assassin for Christ sake. You know what they're like. Emotionless and lonely."
I got up out of my seat, pushing the chair back forcefully. I was fed up with this. I can't sit hear and listen to them. I stormed off to my elevator, leaving the others in the med bay. The lift closed and Rogers tried to catch it before the doors shut, but it was too late. I was already ascending in the lift and tears were coming down my face. I arrived at the living room floor and practically stormed out, but Steve was already there waiting for me.
"Stupid super soldier serum." I said and pushed passed him, wiping the tear streaks off my face.
"What's wrong, because this doesn't seem to be just about what's happened to Natasha and Clint."
"It's nothing." I said, continuing to walk towards the bedrooms area of the tower.
"Please tell me." he pleaded and I stopped walking. I turned around to face him.
"Why?"
"Because...I want to know what's wrong so I can try and fix it."
"You can't fix me Rogers. You can't fix the broken." I said without thinking.
"What do you mean broken?" he asked.
I shut my eyes and whispered "Romanoff and Barton aren't the only assassins in the building you know."
I could feel tears tearing through the small gaps of my eyelids and bleeding down my face. I felt arms wrap around me and I buried my face into his chest. For some reason I found much comfort in him, even though we have only spoken a couple of times. Maybe it's the fact that he is the leader. On the other hand, I have never been attracted to Fury. God, no. Steve was different to the other people I've dated. His old-fashioned nature made him even more attractive.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Hugging me. Why?"
"Because you were upset. You haven't done anything wrong." he explained, pulling me back and stroking my shoulders. "Have you done anything wrong?"
"I've killed people."
"So have I Maria. We all have." I didn't have an argument for that. It was true. We were all killers and carried our own ghosts. Some deaths were accidental and some for good reason. All deaths though. "Don't think about what you were if it hurts you. Think about what you are now." his soft voice whispered.
I nodded. "Okay."
"Gym?" he asked me. How does he know just what I need?
"Thought you'd never ask." I replied smiling and went to get changed.
4 hours later
"What's the point if I'm going to keep losing?" I asked, his hands pinning down my arms on the floor.
"One day you might beat me, you never know." he replied, smiling. I laughed and he brought me up to a standing position.
"Thanks." I replied and we went towards the changing rooms. It was a group changing room, so me and Rogers just faced away from each other as we got changed.
"I don't understand how Clint's eyes aren't blue if he's being taken over." he argued, as I pulled off my shirt, and I turned around naturally, without even thinking. I saw Roger in only boxers pulling on some trousers. The muscles in his back were moving attractively as he pulled on his trousers. "Maria?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, but not looking at me. "I um...I..." I mumbled and he looked straight at me. I flickered my head back around and said "S-sorry, I uh...I didn't mean to."
"No, it's...it's fine." I heard him say.
"Loki may have developed his powers, so his subjects eyes don't have to go blue." I said, doing up my trousers.
"I don't see how when Loki has been under observation the entire time."
"He wouldn't work with anyone else would he? He works alone." I replied, tying up my shoe laces. I still needed to put my shirt on though.
"There wasn't anyone else at the battle. There was no one else he was fighting with." We just need Natasha back.
"We need to talk with the others about what we are going to do." I said, trying to locate my shirt.
I continued facing the gym locker. "You wearing clothes yet?" I asked, reaching for my shirt.
"I...I"
"What?" I asked and put my shirt on.
"Yeah, yeah I am." he replied and I turned around to see him already facing me. Was he already looking at me?
"Well...lets go then." I replied, smiling, and picked up my gym bag. We walked out together and I couldn't stop thinking about how attractive Steve was. Just beautiful. His gorgeously sculpted face and burning blue eyes. We went to the conference room to speak with the others about what we're going to do, before Natasha entered.