"HILL!"
She jumps in her chair, she was not ready to have one Clint Barton storming into her office, slamming one hand on her desk and yell her last name.
"Holly smokes! Clint!"
With one hand over her heart, she turns to look at the blond archer with narrowed eyes. The fear and worry in his eyes made her worry and she stands up within seconds, ready to rush down the hallway if needed. Something in his eyes told her that her life was about to take a twist turn.
"What happened?"
"I need you to come up with a good reason as to why neither I nor Natasha can go on the mission we think Fury is about to send us on together with Mel and Phil."
Now she's getting a bad feeling about all of this.
"Why?"
"On our way to the meeting room, Tasha received a phone call from Mary. From the sound of the call, it didn't sound good. She has already headed out to look into it but…"
"But she wants to meet us at the safehouse as fast as possible in case something really bad have gone down."
Maria finish for him, making Clint nod his head. Grabbing hold of her jacket and throwing a few things into her bag, with a look at Clint, he opens the door behind him. Throwing the bag over her shoulder, she heads down the hallway.
"So, what do we know so far?"
"About Mary or the case?"
"The case, since she called Natasha, we both know zero from what that call is about until we meet with her in person, and at the safe place no less."
"Well, Fury is as secretly as Natasha and we both know that too. So, I know very little about the mission, all we could get out about it is that he has called in both me, Natasha, Mel and Phil. And this group of four agent's isn't one that he likes to use if it's not really bad."
Maria takes a deep breath; he had a point at this, and it would take something good to take both Clint and Natasha away from something like this. At least Natasha have already escaped from the building, that made things a bit easier.
"When did Fury call for this meeting and who did he contact?"
"The other day and me since Tasha refused to answer her phone."
"This we could use, follow my lead."
Maria tells him and Clint nods his head. Maria got a bad feeling about how quickly he had agreed to that, hopping he did this because Natasha told him to. Otherwise, she would be worried about the pranks that would be waiting for her later. She had been spending to much time with the archer lately to know the signs by now.
Reaching the meeting room, Maria's eyes lands on Melinda and Phil standing talking to one another. Something in her wants to tell them that something has happened to the young girl they both had grown to see as a daughter. But they had no idea that the other one had been taking care of the young girl, Fury had made sure that it had been kept a secret. And they had made sure no one knew about the fact that she, Clint and Natasha had grown into becoming the young girls' older siblings.
"Maria?"
Phil was the first one to see them walking down the corridor and she quickly put her serious mask on. She could feel how Clint slows down behind, an action she would just love to smile about but she's not able to. Seeing how Melinda looks over at them too, she comes to stop in front of them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Looking for Fury, have you seen him?"
Seeing how Melinda and Phil looks at one another, Maria let's out a heavy sigh and shakes her head. Of course, the director would be showing up to his own meeting late. For once, she wishes he could just keep to the time he has said, if he had been here right now, she would already be halfway through her explanation as to why she needs to take Clint with her. Now they are just wasting time, time that could be used for more important things.
"Any idea of why he has called you four here today?"
"Seemed like he wanted to go over a few old cases."
Melinda responds, making Maria fight herself not to let out another heavy sigh. Looking over her should, she could see the same anyone's in Clint's eyes about all of this. At least this was some good news after all then.
"Tell Fury he will only be getting the two of you. I need Natasha and Clint for another more serious mission."
Maria tells them and she could see the confusion in their eyes. Seeing how Phil is about to ask what is going on, Maria turns around, points down the corridor for Clint and they start to walk once more. If Fury, just wanted the top agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to look over some old files than two of them would be enough for that. Somewhere down the hallway, Clint passes her and holds the doors open for her for a quicker exit. As they reach the parking space, Clint takes the driver side as she takes the passenger, not even question it.
If it had been any other time, Maria wouldn't have let him or Natasha drive, both of them being crazy drivers in her handbook. But desperate times calls for crazy drivers, and the more space they can put to the HQ before Fury shows up for his meeting the better. Making it harder for Fury to call either of them back to the base.
They reached the apartment building they had placed their safe house. Seeing Natasha's car parked outside, Maria can feel how she calms down slightly. She does know she shouldn't get to calm; they still don't know exactly what have gone down or what to expect when they step through the door. Stepping out of the car in sync, Maria reached the main door and pulls it open, letting Clint being the first one up the stairs, closely following. Reaching the top floor, she stands ready to scan her own hand and write on her code.
As the door finally unlocks and Clint opens it, the first thing that meet their ears are the words Be a man. Looking at Clint, she can see how he let's out a breath of relief. If that movie is playing, there will be a calm Mary. Entering fully, they find a sleeping Mary curled up on the couch beside Natasha whose comping her hand through the brown hair. Hearing how she and Clint enters, she turns her head to look at us. Without a word, she nods her head towards the kitchen before slowly moving herself from the couch so she wouldn't end up waking Mary.
"What's going on here?"
Maria asks, keeping her voice low.
"I'm not fully sure, Skye hasn't spoken about what went down."
Hearing the name, Maria turns to look at Clint who looks back at her, the same confusion in his eyes.
"This is how it's going to go down; we are going to raise her now…"
"That's goes without saying."
Clint interrupts, making Maria and Natasha roll their eyes.
"Anyway, as Clint and I head to the house where I found Skye. Maria, would you mind removing everything there is about one said Mary-Sue Poots from the world and S.H.I.E.L.D database and create enough information for a Skye that could make her pass through her life."
"Do I even want to know what you are planning to do when you reach the place you found her?"
Maria got a bad feeling over the sudden darkness that took over in Natasha's eyes, knowing that there's nothing she can do once that woman have her mind set on anything.
"Probably not."
Clint answered, the archer already heading for the front door once more. Shaking her head, Maria just waves them away. It was better to let them do their own thing, the less she knows the better she will sleep, and she can't be held responsible if Fury would ever find out about any of this. Hearing the front door closing, Maria quickly checks to make sure Skye, that felt weird for her to think, is still sleeping before heading for one of the bedrooms, where a laptop had been placed just for situation like this.
Returning to the living room, Maria takes the spot Natasha had been sitting when they arrived, turning up the volume slightly, she starts working. Logging into the S.H.I.E.L.D database she realises that the files she needs to delete must be done on sight and not through a remote location, leave it to Fury to make their work harder than it needs sometimes. Letting out a heavy sigh, she tries to figure out if she should just call Natasha and Clint and ask them to turn around to HQ instead and take down the files themselves.
But something told Maria that neither of them wouldn't be answering their phones at the moment. She could just ask Fury himself, but that would mean she will have to tell him everything that has been going on and just how she knows the young girl. Melinda and Phil would gladly help her out, she knows that, but both are in that moment stuck together with Fury and since she has already taken away Natasha and Clint from his meeting, he won't let her borrow another one.
Going through the agents she knows; she tries to find someone she can trust well enough to help her in this. Someone that wouldn't tell Fury or use the information for their own use, or heavens forbid, use this to locate the young girl beside her. Even if Fury thinks the threat on her life has grown smaller, it's still there. In the end, the only one she can come to think of is one she knows Natasha and Clint aren't all to happy over, but the less they know the better it will be for Skye.
Pulling out her phone, she goes through her contact list and finds the number she's looking for. Looking at it for a few seconds, she tries to figure out if this really is the only way. Glancing down at Skye, she realises it is. She can't leave the apartment after all, so making this call is the only way. Making the call, Maria puts the phone to her ear and waits.
"This is Hand!"
"Victoria, it's me. I need a huge favour and you can't tell anyone, especially not Fury about what I'm going to ask you to do."
"Why do I get the feeling this will come back and haunt me in any way?"
"It all depends on how well of a work you do."
Maria can almost hear the eyeroll from the agent on the other side of the line. She knows she's asking a lot, but it can't be help in this moment.
"What exactly do you want, and why can't you do it yourself?"
"Well, I'm stuck in a safe house and I'm unable to leave at the moment. What I need from you is quite simple, I need you to access the computer base to delete a few files completely."
"Oh, is that all?"
"You know, I can do with the attitude Hand."
"Fine, what file numbers?"
"Everything should be under database id: 04-23-89."
Hearing how Victoria is typing away on her side of call, Maria lets her eyes fall on the sleeping girl beside her, hopping that her dreams are at least peaceful for the moment.
"YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING WITH ME!"
Maria must pull the phone from her ear as Victoria screams.
"Will you keep it down!"
Maria hisses back, hopping there were no agents around Victoria and that Skye didn't wake from the sudden scream. Looking back at the girl she let's out a sigh of relief when she sees no change.
"Please tell me you are with Mary in this exact moment!"
Victoria suddenly demands, the sudden change in her tone makes Maria glance at her phone. She had not expected this kind of respond, at least not from one Victoria Hand. If there were anyone, she would have expected to react like this it would be Melinda or Phil, mostly because they have been placed to protect Skye. That's when a conversation between herself and Victoria suddenly resurface and it all dawns on her.
"Well, our lovely boss has given me a secret mission for two weeks and I really need to try and understand why on earth he would give me this mission when there are so many better agents for it. Even you could have done this!"
Rolling her eyes, Maria lets her head drop in defeat. She should have known the mission Victoria had been put on was Skye's case. Of course, Fury would pick the agents that wouldn't spend time around children, well, Phil would have jump at any situation, but Melinda and Victoria are the two agents she would never have picked if she herself would have done the picking.
"First Melinda and Phil and now you, this girl really has gone through some of the top agents."
"What?"
"Never mind that now, can you just delete everything or not?"
"I'll delete it, but before I do that, I will make a copy of it all in case she would ever want to figure out more about her backstory."
"As long as no one knows there's a secret copy I'm fine with whatever."
Maria tells her, deciding now would be a good time to start working on the next part of her work. Creating paperwork's for one Skye.
"So, what was this about Mary having been with top agents, such as Melinda and Phil?"
"Melinda was the first agent to take care of Skye, oh yeah, according to her other sister we are changing her name to Skye, then Phil were placed in charge."
Maria quickly glanced over, this being a conversation not suitable over a phone line after all.
"Her other sister…. Oh, dear lord…"
Maria stars to smile at this, happy she didn't have to tell Victoria who the other sister is. The agent had already figured that out, which means she would also have figured out who the brother is too.
"Well, tell Skye that if she somehow ends up in trouble and neither of you three are around, all she has to do is to head for a S.H.I.E.L.D location. If anyone asks why she's there, all she must do is to tell them she's there to meet with her Auntie Vick, that will lead her to me."
Victoria explains and Maria smiles, happy that they have one more person to help protecting the young girl beside her.
"Files deleted, now I have to leave. I have other work to do."
And the end calls, shaking her head, Maria lowers her phone. Feeling movements beside her, she sees how Skye starts to wake up and she smiles.
"Hello little star."