Rewritten 2018
Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~
Disclaimer: I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.
~Chapter 9~
Back to Hell's Kitchen
"You sure about this?" asked Steve, standing a couple feet away from the jet that held Artur himself as well as his thugs – all with their hands cuffed. Clint and Natasha were standing by the plane's entrance, watching them while Rumlow and Miller boarded with the last two thugs.
"I need to go see Tony," said Maria.
"I can come with you, you know. You don't have to do that alone," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking at her softly, almost pleadingly.
"I'm sorry… But I have to do this alone. Just this one time. Besides, all I have to do is give some blood," said Maria, moving his hands from her shoulders down to her waist before gently placing her arms around his shoulders, embracing him. "It's not very interesting for you to watch."
"I just want to be there for you," said Steve quietly, his arms holding her tightly to him as he let his chin rest on her shoulder. "Like you are for me."
Maria knew what he meant. After all, she had helped him a lot with dealing with nightmares and adapting to the new world, and he probably wanted to give some support back. Little did he know that he was already giving enough support just being him and staying by her side.
Maria wanted so badly to say yes and simply let him go with her so she could marvel in his presence. Yes, she was worried about a lot of things, but she knew she could handle things on her own for now. Steve had a mission waiting for him back in Washington and he was needed as Captain America more than he was needed as Maria's boyfriend.
"When I come back," she started, looking up at him though not letting go of him. "I will open up about everything."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Everything?"
"All the things I've done. All the things I feel. And everything that I have ever had to deal with."
Steve brushed a couple of stray hairs away from her face.
"I bet you're looking forwards to that," joked Maria with a snort.
"Actually, I am." Steve placed a kiss to her forehead. "You're finally letting me in."
"Hey," scolded Maria, pointing a finger at him to which he smirked. "I've let you in. I've just not told you everything."
Steve smiled, placing a kiss to her cheek this time. "Okay. We have a deal. When I return from the mission, you better be home."
"I'll try," said Maria, smiling.
"You have somewhere to stay for the night?" asked Steve, looking up at the dark sky above them.
"I think I have an idea of where I can crash for the night," said Maria, smiling widely as Steve finally placed a kiss to her lips.
It wasn't a quick one, but a lingering one. A goodbye kiss.
"I love you," said Steve quietly, making Maria smile widely, placing another kiss to his lips.
"I love you too."
The building was placed in the middle of Hell's Kitchen and had it not been for the small sign placed outside of the building, telling the passing by people that there was a law-firm inside on the second floor, Maria wouldn't have found the correct building at all. It looked no different from the surrounding buildings, and it looked a little too run-down for it to be a law-firm. Though that didn't surprise her. After all, neither Matt nor Foggy did have the money to rent a more expensive and professional looking premise, so obviously they'd simply gone for the very best they could find.
Securing her hoody that was draped over her hair to keep dry from the rain that was pouring down on the town heavily, she jogged inside, water dripping down her face as she wiped her shoes on the dark carpet that was laid out in the hallway.
Foggy was a man that Maria herself had never met in person. She knew a lot about him and he, according to Matt, knew a lot about her. Yet, neither of them had ever met before. She felt slightly excited about finally getting to meet him. Apart from the excitement at finally meeting Matt (granted he was at the office at the moment), the only thing that was on her mind, was the thought of how nice it would've been if she had agreed on Steve coming with her.
Slowly, she took the stairs up to the second floor, as smell of paper and ink entering her nostrils. The door that led inside the law-firm also had the name of the firm painted on it and she raised her hand, forming it into a fist before lingering just a few centimeters from the door. Something inside of her made her hesitate. The last time she had spoken to Matt was during the battle of New York, when she had thrown her phone away, making it break, instead of hanging up like any normal person would.
Of course, any normal person wouldn't have placed themselves in the battle of New York in the first place.
Once again, she was going to knock on the door but she hesitated one more time; maybe he was angry with her for not having called him again. Maybe he felt betrayed and didn't want to talk to her again. Or maybe-
Voices were heard inside of the premises and she lowered her hand, placing her ear against the wooden door instead. She squinted her eyes, as if it was going to help her to hear what the voices inside were saying better.
"What's wrong? You've been like this the entire day. Actually you've been like this the entire week."
The voice was unfamiliar to Maria. Though the next voice was not.
"It's nothing. I'm just tired, that's all."
Matt.
"Long night again?"
"No. I stayed at home. Had to sleep a little."
"Alright… Then, what is it? Don't give me that look! I've known you for too long to not know when something is bothering you!"
The unfamiliar voice was the voice of a man and Maria immediately concluded that it must be Foggy since she didn't know of any other man working with Matt.
"Really, it's nothing."
"Is it about the news article I put up on the wall? About the so-called 'Battle of New York'?"
Maria had heard enough and she immediately leaned away from the door, knocking on the door three times rapidly. Matt was feeling down and she wanted to immediately tell him that she was there for him.
For a second time, after nobody had answered, she knocked on the door thrice and almost immediately, someone opened the door. It was a man in his late twenties standing in front of Maria, looking at her with confused though kind eyes. His blonde hair was slightly longer than men usually had it and his blue eyes scanned her face, taking in her features.
"Can I help you, miss?" asked the man.
"I'm looking for a… Matt Murdock," breathed Maria, shifting impatiently on her feet.
"I'm afraid we're closed. Could you come back at… say," hummed the man, lifting his left arm up and looking down at the clock he was wearing around his wrist. "Nine in the morning?"
Her heart started to beat faster with each second that passed. Her eyes lingered on the man's watch as he looked back at her, getting no reply from her as she watched the second hand tick by, each tick making her become more and more nervous. She needed to see Matt. To tell him everything was okay. And to get the confirmation her old friend was still her best friend.
"I'm sorry," said Maria, pushing past Foggy, ignoring his protests as she continued to walk inside, her eyes searching for any sign of Matt.
The moment she did find him, she froze on the spot. He turned his head slightly towards her, his eyes shielded by a pair of glasses as his hands held a walking stick, his upper body leaning slightly on it. Her eyes started to water and a lump formed in her throat.
"I'm sorry," said Foggy as he walked past her towards Matt, standing beside him as he fully turned to look at Maria. "I couldn't stop her. She really wanted to meet you. Sorry, miss, what's your name?"
Maria continued to stare at Matt as he furrowed his brow, seeming to be hearing her beating heart quicken before something clicked inside of him. Yes, he was blind, but he could still see slightly and something told Maria that he recognized her body shape; her hair and her curves. A tear fell down her cheek as she started to walk towards him, Matt letting out a breath to which Foggy glanced at him, a confused look on his face.
"Matt…" said Maria, Matt's eyebrows rising as his lip trembled, realization crossing his face. "I'm sorry…" she sobbed before Matt threw the cane in his hands away, running up to Maria and embracing her tightly.
She buried her face in the crook of his neck, letting some of the tears fall though not all of them as she still wanted to show that she wasn't completely broken on the inside. Though, that feeling was going away. As she had predicted, the fact that Matt was still there made her feel better.
His arms held a tight grip on her, his cheek pressed against the top of her head as he breathed heavily, seeming to be fighting back tears as well.
"I thought… I thought you'd died," whispered Matt, his embrace tightening. "The battle… I saw it – the aftermath – on the news. I heard about Iron Man… the Hulk and Thor… But nothing about you. You weren't even mentioned… I thou-"
"I'm sorry," said Maria, lifting her head so that she was looking up into his eyes, placing her hands on his cheeks. "I'm so sorry… I should've called; let you know I was alright. But I didn't… So many things have happened lately and I just… forgot." Tears started to fall again as she realized how bad that sounded. She had forgotten about the one friend that had stuck with her for longer than anyone, even longer than her own parents. "I'm sorry…" she breathed before he pulled her back into the embrace.
"It's okay," said Matt, his voice rumbling against Maria's ear. "I don't care… I just care about the fact that you're okay."
Artur placed his hands on her cheeks, wiping away some of the dirt and blood that was splattered all over her face. "I don't care about the failed mission… I just care about the fact that you're okay."
Maria shook the memory away, once again looking up at Matt's eyes behind the glasses he wore. "How are you?"
Slowly and carefully, Maria pulled away from the embrace, wiping some of the tears away from her cheeks before smiling up at Matt again. The smile was hard to form but once it was there, she felt like a weight was lifted from her. Like she was once again that young girl who met a strange man on the streets one night as she had been out, looking for some kind of work somewhere. They had bumped into each other and Maria had felt so sorry for him, since he was blind, that she had offered to walk him back home. Although she had felt a little scared about the fact that this man could be just as bad as Artur had been to her, she still went with him and as they talked, they soon found out that they both had the same humor and the same opinions about almost everything. It had been the start of a great friendship.
Just as Maria was about to answer Matt's question, Foggy coughed slightly, causing both Maria and Matt to look over at him.
"You wanna introduce me or should I leave the two of you alone?" asked Foggy.
"Sorry," said Matt with an amused look on his face. "Foggy, meet Maria Dalton. Maria, meet Foggy Nelson."
"Hi," said Maria, stretching out her hand to him and smiling sweetly at him. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Wow," replied Foggy, shaking her hand. "I mean- Nice to finally meet you too. I've heard a lot about you."
"All nice things I hope," joked Maria, not being able to ignore the fact that she hoped that Matt had not told Foggy any of her past. It was not the best thing to tell someone you'd just met.
"All nice things," said Matt, placing a hand on her back as to tell her that he indeed had told him none of that.
"Nice? Awesome things!" said Foggy, letting go of her hand. "You're part of the Avengers!"
Maria bit her lip, smiling widely at the amazed look on Foggy's face.
"And you're here, in our very poor looking office… just standing there," said Foggy, before he realized what she was wearing. "In a… red dress."
"Oh," said Maria, looking down at her fancy, red dress that she was still wearing underneath her jacket. "I… I was on a mission. It's a long story."
"A story you want to talk about?" asked Matt.
"Actually… I need somewhere to stay for the night," said Maria.
The sound of something dripping echoed against the walls in the dark room where she was standing. Far away, she could hear a choir singing a sad psalm and although it was faint, she could hear that it was coming from underneath her. In fact, she knew that it came from underneath of her since this was a memory she had revisited a lot of times during the nights. Yes, she knew this was a dream, though she didn't know how to get out of it..
She was in a church, a church in the outskirts of Portland. One of the people that had been partners with Artur had his company in Portland. A couple weeks ago, that man had stopped sending Artur money and it seemed as though the man had tried to get away from him. This was, though, something one could not simply do. Even if he had spoken to Artur about the fact that he didn't want to be partners anymore, he would've had the same fate.
Wearing her signature mask formed as a cat, she looked up at the body that was strung from the ceiling. He hung upside down in the attic of the church where he had thought that Artur's men would not dare to kill him. Though he had been wrong. For a while, Maria had simply let him hang there, begging for his life. That was what Artur had always wanted her to do to the people who betrayed or angered him, just so they could send a message to the people that were thinking of doing the same mistake.
Now, the man hung there, his throat cut open and the last drops of his blood dripping down onto the floor where the rest of his blood lay. Maria knew that the choir downstairs would soon notice the blood since it must drip through the floor at some point and she knew that she didn't have a lot of time to get out, but she also couldn't move. This man had been an elderly man and he had had a family; a daughter, waiting for him at home. It had never really occurred to her that these people that she murdered for Artur had lives as well and it scared her that she had never thought about it before. It scared her that she had been such a machine and it scared her that she had murdered people. She was a murderer. A freak. And no better than the people that she killed.
Slowly, she fell to her knees. This was the last straw. Not only had she found Artur in bed with another woman, but now she had realized what she was as well. She had realized how much Artur was using her.
She had had enough.
"Maria!" called Matt's voice, causing her to awaken again.
She looked up into his grey eyes, panting heavily and a cold sweat covering her entire body. She lay there for a while, simply staring up at him as he held her arms tightly in his hands, leaning over her slightly.
"You were crying in your sleep. I couldn't wake you up," said Matt quietly, finally letting go of her arms again and crouching down next to her instead. "You're having nightmares again."
Maria slowly relaxed her muscles, thinking back at the dream she had dreamed and sighing loudly. "Yes…"
"Is it because of Artur?" asked Matt, grabbing her hand in his while his face showed a look of expectancy as she nodded her head. "Tell me."
