Chapter 21

Maddison had gone back to her own room to reflect on what she'd been told. Climbing into bed with all the lights out she just couldn't sleep, she needed to know more. So she left her room in her pyjamas and wandered out onto the street, she had grabbed her coat on the way out knowing it would cold.

Maddison kept walking she didn't know where. Past buildings, trees and yellow taxies, it was New York after all. She found herself on a dirt path with a wide river running to her left and a dense forest to her right. Maddison walked onto a bridge, stopped midway and stared up at the sky. It was black, the clouds that had once created a thick blanket had gone revealing a sea of stars, twinkling in the sky. Of course she knew that they didn't really twinkle, they exploded and emitted huge amounts of heat, just like the sun. She stood there watching them for a moment, it reminded her of the time she and Steve were watching the clouds. She wished Steve were here right now. He always seemed to make things make sense. Her phone rang, but she chose to ignore it. Then it fell silent again, not even the river making any noise. It rang again, Maddison grabbed it from her pocket and turned it off. She wasn't interested in taking any calls right now. If it was Coulson, he could wait. If the world was about to end she didn't care. She was at peace with herself and wanted it to stay like that forever. Footsteps caught Maddison's attention. A figure she couldn't tell who was walking along the rivers's edge, on the same path she'd used. He spotted Maddison and ran towards her, Maddison stood there frozen. It was Steve.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked running over, "everyone's been looking for you."

"I'm fine thank you, and I was quite enjoying my peace thank you very much."

"Mind if a stay?"

"It's a free country isn't it?" Maddison said sarcastically.

"What happened between you and Hill? She seemed quite upset."

"Nothing."

"There must have been something" Steve urged.

"She's my mother." Steve fell silent not sure what to say.

"Ok, and are you alright?"

"Yes. No, I mean yes. Oh I don't know" Maddison said confused, "I mean she knew it was me for these last few days, and she didn't say anything. Also my father's dead, and she won't tell me how it happened or by who?"

"It's ok, calm down" Steve said putting an arm around the girl. "Come on let's get back to Stark Tower, it's getting late."

"No. I'm not going back there, I can't see her" Maddison cried.

"Hey, look at me. I may not understand what you're going through, but I do know that family is important, so you should give Hill a chance to say sorry."

"Why are you so good at this?" Maddison asked giving in, Steve laughed.

"I honestly don't know. It must be the patriotism."

Arriving back at Stark tower Fitz rushed over, hugging Maddison.

"Where were you? Are you alright? Maddison?" Fitz asked but she wasn't taking any notice. Maddison's attention was on Hill. She was standing at the back of the room watching. Maddison walked over.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Maddison demanded, she was quite good at getting what she wanted.

"I don't know what to say, if anything at all."

"Well silence isn't the answer, and I've made a decision."

"Which is?" Hill asked.

"I don't want anything to do with you other than on a professional work ground basis" Maddison stated clearly. Hill stood there not displaying any emotion.

"Ok, I will respect that." Maddison stares at her for a moment.

"Good, I'll meet you at 7:00 tomorrow."

"What for?" Hill calls out as Maddison started to walk away.

"Dinner, my treat."

"But I thought.."

"You thought wrong. I was testing you" Maddison said smugly.

Maddison went back into her room opening up the wardrobe, hopefully she would have something she could wear.

"Why do I never have anything smartish?" Maddison muttered to herself. Knock. The sound echoed around the room.

"Who is it?" Maddison asked.

"It's Pepper" she said opening the door, "you alright?" She asked sitting down on the bed next to Maddison.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I heard you and Maria were going out for dinner."

"What's that to you?" Maddison said aggressively.

"Well every girl needs something to wear, want to go shopping?" Pepper she had a heart of gold, no wonder that Tony feel in love with her. Maddison weighed up the offer in her head.

"I don't see what harm it could do" she said getting off her bed and showing Pepper the door.

They'd spent two hours shopping the next morning. Maddison got bored after five minutes. Pepper ended up picking a topaz colour dress with folds running along its front. Maddison now stood in her room in the dress looking in the mirror. She didn't quite know what to expect from an evening with Hill or Maria as everyone else called her, either way it certainly wasn't mum.

Maddison walked downstairs into the lounge where Natasha, Tony, Pepper and a nervous looking Fitz were sat on a ridiculously long sofa. Fitz stared at Maddison.

"Wow. You look amazing!" Fitz said.

"Thanks" Maddison paused, "I don't feel it though."

"It'll be fine. Just relax and have fun, and if it does turn out rubbish then you know where to find me" Fitz offered.

"Thank you, I'll see you later."

The restaurant that Maddison had picked out was a very popular indian. The front was decorated with elephants and plants, basically everything that's stereotypical of an Indian restaurant. She had agreed to meet Hill outside, but there was no sign of her. Maddison glanced at her watch, it wasn't quite 7 o'clock yet. It was freezing outside, her hands were going red with the cold.

"You ready to go in?" A voice asked from behind. It was Hill.

"Yeah." Inside was warm and bright, you could see part of the kitchen, with huge frying pans and fire bursting upwards. They had a table near the middle, with a candle on it. The waiter passed them a menu each and Maddison read down the list of colourful and exciting dishes. Most of which would be far too spicy for her liking so she settled on a prawn curry, whilst Hill went for some oddly named dish she'd never heard of before.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Hill asked.

"I don't know. Why don't we ask some questions about each other?"

"Ok, what's your favourite colour?"

"SEriously? Predictable question much? Ask me another." Maddison answered, "it's magenta."

"Where were you living?"

"Derby in England."

"Do you have any friends?"

"Yes, but only one close one called Ben."

"Do you want to ask anything?"

"Ok, what's my birthday? It was guessed."

"3rd March 2000." Hill said as the food arrived. The steam floated up to Maddison's face, allowing her to smell the aroma's of the dish. Picking up her fork she dived into the amazing food. They kept talking for a while longer until the questions dried up. Silence fell upon them. The waiter came over and cleared the empty plates.

"Would you like the pudding menu?" He asked.

"No thank you, but we will have the bill please" Maddison answered.

"Certainly." He returned moments later with the bill and placed it on the table.

They stood up to leave as something flew through the window causing it to shatter. It was a metal canister. A white gas was emitted out of it. Hill looked around, her agent skills kicking in. Then the door brust open and some masked people ran in with guns.

"GET DOWN!" One of them called, "GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR!" Most of the people in the restaurant did as they were told, but Maria didn't she stood her ground. Her hand resting on her gun. Maddison had hidden behind the table taking her taser out of her jacket. Another person shot their gun repeatedly at the ceiling, "my friend said get down!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Hill questioned.

"Do you really want to play that game?" At this Hill pulled out her gun and fired at his legs, a none lethal shot.

"That hurt. My boss will be angry."

"Who might that be?"

"The mighty demon. Bratvia Captain." Hill went quiet. "Ah now you're scared? Who are you? Some measly cop?"

"No. I'm not a cop. I work for Shield, the Avengers and the CIA. So take your pick." The man stared at Hill before firing, people screamed and ran out of the restaurant. Hill started to fight the man. Another came towards them. Maddison leapt forward trying to fight them off, but they were good and Maddison didn't much experience. After sending that guy down she went and hid behind the counter, taking her phone out she started to call Steve. No answer. Dam it. She tried Tony. He didn't pick up either. Another gunshot was fired. Maddison looked round the edge of the desk, the police had arrived, not that they could do much with their resources. Government cuts. Surveying her environment Maddison spotted Hill on the floor, surrounded by the masked men. Their leader made them stand back. Maddison didn't recognise him so she took a photo on her phone. She tried calling Tony again. Nothing. The police entered the building, two immediately shot down. Others tried but they too were killed. These people were brutal.

"Scout the area, we can't have any witnesses" the leader said in the brusk accent, Russian maybe. Maddison found an empty cupboard she could hide in, it was too small for most people, perfect size for her. The men left. Maddison rushed out Hill was on the floor, hardly breathing.

"Emergency services, how may I help?"

"I need an ambulance!" Maddison replied.

"This is the ambulance service, what is the problem?"

"My mum she's unconscious and hardly breathing, heart rate is low. Likely broken bones, possible internal bleeding and a gunshot wound."

"Ok, your location." Maddison finished giving the person all the information they needed, an ambulance was on its way. Please be alright.