On Episode 11 of Agents of SHIELD... the suspense is killing me!
If I somehow didn't say this before, Maria's tombstone has a quote from Harry Potter on it. It's said by Dumbledore in the Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's, if you're British) Stone.
Bucky, Maria, and Steve were halfway to their destination. They hadn't found another safehouse, so they were sleeping in the stolen car. It was an awkward situation. It got even more awkward when Maria fell asleep on Bucky's shoulder.
Bucky wasn't prepared for the SHIELD agent to sit next to him when they were tracking the helicopter from inside the car. They stared at the screen for about an hour or two, and Bucky was beginning to grow sleepy.
Suddenly there was a weight on Bucky's left shoulder. He could feel Maria's soft hair brushing against his chin and her warm body pressing up against his. He cleared his throat awkwardly. Maria didn't stir. Steve glanced over at them.
"You've got yourself a girl, Bucky. Congrats." he said. Steve looked like a cat that had just eaten a bowl of cream. "You'll make such a great pair." Bucky didn't want to wake her up, but he hated what Steve was insinuating.
"She's not my 'girl', Steve. I'm a lone wolf. I don't do 'girls', unlike you." Bucky snarled. "She's a liability. Her connection with HYDRA is too dangerous. I don't trust her." A little voice inside his head was protesting otherwise. Why are you letting her sleep on your shoulder if you don't trust her?
"Nat came from the Red Room. That doesn't stop me. I've seen the way you look at her, Bucky. And you deserve her. You both were meant for each other." Steve said, still staring at the screen. "I've always hoped that Maria would find a guy that was right for her. No one seemed to fit until I saw you two fight together in that alleyway."
"I was meant to kill, not fall in love. I don't even know what love feels like." Bucky snapped. "I will not fall in love with a SHIELD agent. They're manipulative and dangerous. She wouldn't hesitate to stab me in the back if it meant the survival of SHIELD."
"She's made just as many sacrifices as you for her cause. You would do the same thing."
Bucky was getting agitated. He hated the fact that Steve thought they looked good together. He didn't want to fall in love. Love led to problems. Love caused people to run halfway across the country. Just like Steve was doing.
"Love makes people blind." Bucky said forcefully. "I plan to keep my eyes open. And love is for children."
"We were all children once, Bucky."
As the sun went up Bucky's eyes got even more tired. He kept himself awake. He was not going to give Steve the satisfaction of seeing them sleeping at the same time. Maria had shifted off his shoulder and now she was curled up like a cat on her side of the car. Her sleek hair was in disarray from a night of sleep.
Bucky watched her. Analyzed her. She was a significant threat in battle. The muscles in her leg showed that she was a very good runner. Powerful. Agile. Her arms were the same. She was thin, too, perhaps unnaturally so. And her eyes were captivating when they were open. And yet Bucky still didn't trust her. A person wearing her face had betrayed Steve and Natalia. He wasn't about to let that incident slide, despite Maria's claims of innocence. He needed something concrete that showed that she truly was Maria Hill and not an impostor.
Maria was stirring. Bucky straightened up and tried not to look like a stalker. His gaze moved to the screen that was tracking the helicopter. The blinking dot that had shown the copter's location was gone. Bucky cursed loudly.
Maria visibly stiffened again and Bucky almost swore again. He had set something off. A trigger. Maybe her father cursed when he was drunk...
Bucky could suddenly see it, clear as day. A little brown-haired girl in pigtails cowering against a wall as her drunken father threw things at her, cursing horribly. Bucky was no stranger to violence, but he knew that at a young age, violence could damage the mind forever. Especially if it came from a parent figure. And Maria's father was the only guardian that she had had, and so the blow must have been ever more the harder.
"Bucky?" Steve asked from the front seat. "What is it?"
"The copter's trace has vanished. The coordinates are gone. We have no way to find the copter again, and the location of the base is gone, too." Bucky explained as calmly as possible. Steve punched the window with a loud shattering noise. Maria sat bolt upright.
"Steve!" Bucky said loudly. "Calm down. We can do this. I remember where the dot was. I'll write the coordinates down and we can go from there."
"There's a car coming around the bend. Black." Maria said, still not turning around. "Your phone was bugged. They're tracking it now, and we're in serious danger." Steve swore even more colorfully than Bucky had.
"Give me my shield." he said. Maria reached under her seat and drew out the infamous shield and handed it to Steve. He leaned out the broken driver's side window and chucked the shield straight at the car. It spun out of control and rammed into the rock on the side of the road. It blocked the other lane of traffic now.
"Give me your phone." Maria said calmly. Steve handed it to her. She got out of the car. Bucky reached out to stop her. "They're dead. It's completely safe."
She tossed the phone into the smoldering wreckage of the black car and got back in.
"Good thinking. They'll think we're dead. It will give us enough time to get to the base and rescue Natasha." Steve said. Bucky was surprised. It was a good idea to put the phone in the car. The SHIELD agent was smarter than he thought.
The Avengers Tower, New York City
"Where are they?" Tony asked. He had returned from Florida. Pepper was standing, her arms crossed, in the doorway to Steve's bedroom. The Starks had gotten home to Bruce and Betty frantically searching for Steve and Natasha. "Where could they possibly have gone?"
"Daddy, this was on the floor." Marie-Grace said and handed him a piece of paper. It was in Maria Hill's handwriting.
Tony.
I know this is a surprise for you. The Maria you've been talking to these past weeks hasn't been the real Maria. She was a HYDRA impostor and she bugged your phones. Throw them all out. I'm alive and I've been so for the last five years. HYDRA caught me after I fell into the gorge. For a month after that they tried to get the facial imprint for the mask. I didn't give it to them. For a month I stayed awake to keep all of you save. Every night I thought of you, Pepper, and Marie-Grace and I knew I couldn't let them do it. It was difficult and I received many injuries. Finally I was rendered unconscious after being whipped multiple times. They got the mask then.
I got a distress call from Steve last night. He and Nat were attacked in an alleyway. I came to help him. I'm with Steve and Bucky now, trying to rescue Natasha before they do her any serious harm or make another mask.
I'm sorry I lied. They threatened to kill you if you knew that I was alive.
Say hi to all of them for me and tell them I'm sorry.
Maria
"We were tricked." Tony said tonelessly. Pepper moved closer to read the note. After she was done, she looked up. "I can't believe that we were lied to. I don't know what to think now. I don't know if I believe her."
"Tony." Elizabeth Ross said urgently. "There was an explosion in a SHIELD safe house. There's footage." Tony whipped around and Elizabeth projected the footage on the screen. Three figures ran away from the house after it was blown up. One with a distinct metal arm. Another with a shield. And the last one in a brown ponytail.
"They're still alive."
"Yes."
I'm thinking of adding Coulson, Fitzsimmons, Ward, and May into this fic. What do you think?
