Maria's eyes darted to the side, finding the A.I.M. agent, who was a single desk over from her, still preoccupied as his attention was towards the monitor in front of him. She then focused back onto the screen before her, wishing that it would process faster. She should have completed this task much earlier but failed to find an opportune moment to do so.

"Ah, there you are, Commander," Barton Strucker, leader of A.I.M., said as he wandered into Operations (which was located inside the organisation's largest base just outside of Washington D.C.).

Maria quickly minimised the window of the webpage that she was on, taking a sharp breath in reaction to the man's entrance.

"God, this cesspool of a planet truly deserves what's coming for it. Blow up a symbol of freedom and the first thing these fools do is blame those who are the most starved for what that symbol stands for," the man said as he approached her, his eyes focused upwards upon the large screen on the wall that was currently tuned to the national news. "I do love the way you think, Commander." His gaze fell to her, a smirk on his face. "Your suggestion to target her was brilliant." He pointed at the television. "Watching these simpletons lose their goddamn minds over the attack, truly assures us we're about to do these people a favour." Maria simply nodded at the man as he eyed her in intrigue. "Though, I can't say you look as pleased as I'd expected. You're not having second thoughts now, are you?"

"On the contrary, I've never been so glad to not be on the other side of all of this," she calmly responded. "I've wasted too many years putting out fires caused by these people, only for ten more to take its place. Finally, I get to stop running in circles trying to help them." Her justification flowed so easily out of her mouth since there was a bases of truth to it. "You cannot help the willfully ignorant."

"And that's why you're gonna be one of the few survivors in the end." He smiled at her like he was genuinely pleased by her answer. "Eradicate the weak and we'll finally be strong." He nodded. "But I obviously don't need to explain this to you. You showed your understanding of this when you disposed of Fury." Maria gulped. "He was a pathetic man, trying to keep you suppressed, so clearly scared of your potential." He took a step closer to her, entering into her personal space. "Now, what I need from you, Commander, is for you to understand that I'll never hold you back. You'll always be free to flourish here."

"Thank you, sir."

"Ah-uh, I'm not your sir." He wagged his finger in her face. "We're equals in this."

Maria's eyes were pulled into his strong gaze as she bowed her head. "Thank you, Strucker."

"No." he smiled. "Thank you, Commander."

He turned and walked away, leaving Maria to listen to the news that was still covering the event that she was personally responsible for.

She was then quick to open her webpage again, relieved to see that it'd finished. Speedily, she logging off before closing her tabs. She looked back up to the television, grinding her teeth in anticipation of what was about to unfold.

Once they realised that Maria was working for A.I.M. the team moved locations, since their deputy director knew of the house's whereabouts. The chances of the woman acting on the knowledge of the house's position were extremely slim since she didn't hit the place during their initial strikes, but they wanted to err on the side of caution. Therefore, they settled at a cabin that they'd found online for rent, just fifteen kilometres away from where they'd previously been, using it as a temporary headquarters.

It'd been nearly a full day since the initial attacks and within that time, Agent Carter was sent out on a reconnaissance mission, along with the few other agents that they were able to contact. Natasha was acting second to Coulson, who was communicating to her via a secure line, from a secure location in New York. The rest of the Avengers were all still anxiously awaiting on more intel so a plan could be made, followed by a go-ahead from Natasha, to do something.

For the entire time they'd been at that cottage, Hope had been an unresponsive wall. The night before, Scott had tried talking to her but she'd cut him off, not even allowing him to begin before she sent him away. She essentially forced him to retire for the evening into one of the bedrooms in the cabin. She couldn't process her thoughts and feelings so she'd temporarily shut down and detached herself from those around her.

It was the early morning as a sleepless Hope found herself atop of the hood of her S.U.V. which was parked in the gravel driveway. She was laying back against the windscreen, looking up at the blue sky, when she heard the front door of the large cabin swing open. Hope rolled her head to the side to spot Natasha standing just outside of the entrance, running her hands through her hair while taking in a deep breath of fresh air. It didn't take long for the tired-looking woman to notice Hope as she then slowly started to wander over to her.

Natasha didn't say a word as she climbed up on top of the hood and made herself comfortable right beside Hope, mimicking her body position.

For the hours that Hope had intentionally isolated herself, she was surprisingly glad to have Natasha next to her in that moment. She was the only person who both knew Maria well and had a good understanding of Hope's relationship to her. She hoped that Natasha could somehow ease her anxieties over their situation.

The two silently looked up at the clouds for awhile before Hope asked, not taking her eyes off the sky, "So, do we have a plan of action yet?"

Natasha sighed. "God, I wish." The woman's answer made Hope sigh as well, feeling more downtrodden by her superior's exhausted state. "This really isn't my forte," Natasha continued. "I collect information, I don't derive plans. Especially not ones of this magnitude."

Hope nodded in understanding before she wondered out loud, "How about Agent Coulson?"

"He's decent enough at operations, he's just no..." Her words trailed off like she didn't have the heart to finish her sentence.

"He's no Fury or Maria," Hope said softly.

Natasha responded in a similar tone, "Yeah."

They continued to silently gaze up at the sky together for a little longer before Natasha spoke up, "So, I really shouldn't be the one to tell you this, but I feel like you could benefit from hearing it."

Hope turned to look at the woman in confusion. "From what?"

Natasha kept her gaze upwards as she seemed hesitant to continue. "Back when Maria was in the marines, I believe she was a sergeant – or something like that – at that time, her... ah" – Natasha now really seemed conflicted as she timidly pressed forward – "her C.O. tried to force himself onto her."

"What?" Hope snapped while she instantly felt hot rage flowing through her veins.

Natasha looked to her with a soft smirk. "He – of course – didn't get very far before she decked him in the face," she said, seemingly reacting to Hope's excited outburst while trying to ease her worry, which admittedly helped. She was relieved to hear that she successfully defended herself, but was still pissed to know that someone still violated her. "But after the incident, he threatened her – telling her if she reported him he'd sabotage her career. So, she kept her mouth shut." All Hope could do is shake her head in response to the injustice she was hearing. "Until – that is – it came to her attention he'd raped two other women in his platoon." Natasha slowly sat upright, hanging her legs over the front grill as she looked over her shoulder to Hope. "That was her breaking point." She then peered off into the distance. "From then on she did everything in her power to advocate for those women, and he did exactly what he'd said he'd do. He claimed she was mentally unstable and got her demoted on account of false accusations."

"My god," Hope muttered as she too sat up.

"Yeah, but even after that, she kept going after him." Natasha focused her gaze back onto her. "She never stopped fighting for the safety of her fellow servicewomen. She told me she was prepared to go until one of them got discharged. Luckily, after a long ordeal, he was the one who was reprimanded. But by that point, her reputation was tarnished." Natasha shook her head. "She sacrificed her promising career for the wellbeing of others." She stared into Hope's eyes as she said with purpose, "That's her very nature. To protect."

Hope slowly nodded, not surprised in the least by Maria's actions as she added, "To protect as she flies a helicopter into a missile to keep us all safe."

"Or goes against her director's orders and not deliver your quantum bridge to Oscorp."

"Norman Osborn wanted our bridge?" Hope was shocked to learn that that was who was after their technology.

"Yeah, but Maria wasn't having any of that. That could've been a security risk." Natasha shook her head. "Osborn isn't exactly one who operates with the best of intentions."

Hope suddenly felt as if she got punched in the gut. Maria had told her that she concealed the bridge because it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, it was theirs, but now it sounded like she only did it because she didn't trust Osborn. "That's why you guys hid us from S.H.I.E.L.D." Hope dropped her gaze. "Better us than Norman."

"No, not exactly." Natasha shifted in her seat. "See, under normal circumstances it wouldn't necessarily have been you guys either." Hope's head snapped up to look at her in curiosity. "Yes, you would still have possession of the bridge, but Maria would've kept an eye on it as an unofficial asset of S.H.I.E.L.D., ready to be commandeered if need be." Natasha intently studied her face. "But she didn't do that. She turned a blind eye, truly setting your asset free of the agency." She smirked at Hope. "Which is unheard of."

Hope shook her head as she asked ever so quietly, "Why would she do that?"

Natasha cocked her head to the side and looked at her like she was being purposely obtuse. "I had eyes and ears on the two of you at both the restaurant and in the park." Hope wasn't expecting to hear that she'd been monitoring them, and yet wasn't terribly surprised by it either. "And I have to say" – Natasha raised a brow – "I've never seen Maria like that before. The way she dropped her guard down." Natasha shook her head and spoke in a way that made it seem like she still couldn't quite grasp it. "She literally told you about being kicked out of her house for being gay. It took five years of friendship before she told me that, and she told you after – like – five minutes into your first conversation." She looked back out into the distance as her words came as if she were speaking out of realisations, "She trusted you so completely right from the start." Natasha turned back to her, softly shaking her head. "She was so completely yours right from the start." Hope gulped as her eyes started tearing up, overwhelmed by the woman's words. "That's why – even now – after you guys have made it abundantly clear to Fury that your bridge still exists, S.H.I.E.L.D. remains unassociated with it." the agent nodded. "Maria made sure to that."

Hope looked out to the treeline, quickly wiping her eyes, feeling like she was being assaulted by all these contrasting emotions.

"So." Hope forced herself to be present in the conversation. "Fury now knows you and Maria were the ones to fake blow up our lab then?"

"Pretty sure he suspected us from the get-go but just hasn't brought it up." Hope was confused by the woman's response as she looked over to her, about to ask for her to clarify, but the agent continued while clearly noticing her puzzlement. "Fury and Maria sorta have this understanding. If something suspiciously" – she cocked her head as if she were searching for the right word – "positive " – she settled on her vocabulary – "happens for some unknown reason, he doesn't ask."

Hope studied her face for a moment before saying, "You think she's still on our side, don't you?"

Natasha took in a long breath before she sighed, "I sure hope she is. That woman has the knowledge and intellect to take over the world if she wanted to."

"If you're not sure about her, why did you tell me all that stuff about her protective nature?"

Natasha took a moment before she said in a small voice, "Maybe I needed an audience to remind myself who my best friend is." She bore her gaze into Hope's. "An audience who – I believe – sees her with a clarity that may even eclipse my own."

Hope dropped her eyes, bringing her foot up on top of the hood, pulling her knee into her chest as she began uncomfortably playing with her shoelaces. "Do you think you'll be able to forgive her for all the bloodshed she's already responsible for?" Hope asked ever so softly.

"Are you asking me this? Or are you asking yourself?"

Hope dropped her forehead to her knee, conceding to Natasha's astute question; Hope really was searching for an answer for herself. However, it didn't take long for her to come to a conclusion – right then and there – which was rather startling to her. "What if I'm too far gone?" Hope was thinking on just how much she loved Maria, acknowledging the fact that she still had full faith in her. "And I was ready to stand by her actions no matter what, regardless of the morality of them?"

"You know, I've been feeling very much inside the Twilight Zone these past twenty-four hours, but picturing you and Maria 'Bonnie-and-Clyde-ing' it while throwing your sense of right and wrong to the wind is really pushing me over the edge here." Hope looked over to Natasha who seemed to be concealing a chuckle.

Hope couldn't help but smirk a little as she realised just how stupid her question was. "Okay, when you put it that way it really does sound ridiculous."

"Because it is. And do you know why it is?"

"Because that's not us."

Natasha's smile grew in response before she looked off towards the trees again. "There's a reason Maria's doing this, and morality has everything to do with it, and you know this. That's why you feel like you can stand by her no matter what." She shifted her eyes back to her. "Not because you're too far gone, but because you know you can trust her actions to be justified." She smirked to herself as if she were reciting something, "Loyalty doesn't have to come with a blindfold." She then fell back onto the windscreen as she huffed. "Which makes me realise just how much I'd like to change my answer."

Hope turned back to look at her. "What answer?"

"That I'm not sure if she's on our side or not." Hope felt a smile growing on her own face, glad that she wasn't alone in keeping faith in Maria as Natasha continued, "I'm sure she's on our side. She's protecting something. She's gotta be." Her tone then shifted to annoyance as she growled through a clenched jaw, "And I could just slap her for not letting me know what it is."

But right before Hope had a chance to respond, a flash of light came from the sky, crashing down a little ways away hitting a clearing in the grass. Hope jumped in her seat. Suddenly, Thor was standing before them in a smoking circle in the lawn.

Natasha sat up as Thor made his way to them. "I received your message," the man said. "Mjolnir and I are ready to assist you in these trying times."

"Well, we're not exactly ready for you and your magic hammer right at this moment," Natasha said while sliding down off of the vehicle to the ground. "But thanks for answering the call. I know you're not always the best at that."

"Truly remarkable," he dropped his head, muttering, "even in Commander Hill's absence, I'm still scorned over not responding to messages with enough haste."

Sam ripped open the front door of the cottage, quickly noting the trio standing there before he called out, "The Statue of Liberty was just hit!"

"What?" Natasha gawked.

"Yeah, not the whole thing, just the torch," Sam continued.

"Was it them?" Hope asked, wondering if it was A.I.M.

"What would be the chances it's not?" Natasha said as she started towards the cabin. "If you ask me, it seems like they're sending a message."

"That they don't like torches?" Thor asked in complete confusion as he followed Natasha with Hope in tow. "Or statues?"

"Probably, more like – they don't like liberty enlightening the world," Sam suggested as he held the door open for the three. "That's what the torch symbolises. It lights the way to freedom showing us the path of liberty," he said as if he were reciting a fifth-grade social studies report on the statue. "Though – of course – the media is speculating it's a Muslim terrorist attack." The man justifiably griped, "Because, heaven forbid their racist asses would ever suspect a bunch of power-hungry white terrorists operating from, right here, in the U.S.A." Just as Thor passed by, he sympathetically patted Sam on the shoulder as the man sighed before he greeted the Asgardian with a smile, "Good to see you, man." Thor softly smiled back at him, seemingly recognising his stressed condition.

Inside, they passed through a sunroom that entered into the large common area, where five bedrooms, the kitchen, and the washroom, all met. There was a flat-screen on the wall which was presenting the news as they were broadcasting from Liberty Island, showing the statue with her hand blown off.

Everyone gathered around, with Tony being the only one not watching the coverage, he was too preoccupied with his head in his laptop screen which was sitting on top of the dining room table.

"This has gone too far," Steve spoke up. "It's no longer about S.H.I.E.L.D. Now they're attacking out in the public. We have to do something."

"Yeah, because my tower being destroyed wasn't enough for you?" Tony addressed him in annoyance. "But now that we have an amputee statue, you're ready to go?"

Steve huffed. "Look, I know the tower was a great loss to you but—"

"No, no, no," Tony interrupted him, "not only the tower but my lab, my suits, my cars. But what do you know? All you lost was – what? – your white t-shirt collection that were all two sizes too small?"

"You're really asking me what I've lost?"

"Oh, we're not even talking about your past, but yet you never fail to bring it up. You fall asleep on some ice and now because of it no one else is allowed to have any problems."

"I have never once implied that"

"You just did."

Suddenly, a phone started ringing from one of the rooms, interrupting Steve and Tony's quarrel.

"Whose phone is that?" Natasha asked with concern as she muted the T.V. "No one's supposed to have cell phones. They can be tracked."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Scott blurted as he hurried to his bedroom, digging through the bag that was ringing (which was located right inside the doorway) as he explained, "It's my daughter." He pulled out the phone. "She knows only to call in case of an emergency. And we picked up new phones yesterday, so we should be fine." Before anyone could comment, the man quickly answered his mobile with obvious concern written all over his face. "Hey, Peanut. Is everything alright? Are you guys safe?"

"Yes, we're fine." They could all hear the girl on the other side of the video chat.

Scott sighed in relief before he started to gently scold her, "Now, Cassie, you can't just call me unless—"

"It's important!" The girl cut him off. "The Statue of Liberty lost her torch."

"Yes, we know. And as much as that's a big deal it's still not a personal emergency."

"It's the signal!" the girl came excitedly.

"What?"

"Commander Maria's signal."

Scott's head instantly jerked up to look at Hope as the woman's heart started to pound. He then quickly came away from the threshold of his room to rejoin the group as he gazed back to his mobile, asking, "Signal for what?"

"When the Statue of Liberty loses her torch I have to tell you, to tell Agent Barton, to check his Neopets account," Cassie said as if she'd rehearsed those words a hundred times over. "Commander Maria said it was extremely important that I carry out these orders and tell you this as A-SAP as possible after the signal."

The whole room turned to Clint as Sam said in a judgmental tone, "I know this is so far removed from the importance of this situation, but dude, you have a Neopets account?"

"Maria has one too," he shot back defensively as he made his way to the computer that Tony was at. "We were living out our Tamagotchi nostalgia. Okay?"

Scott asked his daughter, "Was there anything else Maria told you?"

"Ordered me," Cassie corrected him.

"Yes, yes, of course – ordered you?" He changed his vocabulary.

"No, that was everything," she said proudly.

"Okay." He smiled at her. "Thank you. You did a good job completing your mission, Agent Lang. But I have to get going now."

"Okay. Love you, Daddy!" the girl practically cheered as she seemed so excited to have delivered Maria's top-secret message.

"Love you too, Peanut." he blew a kiss at her before hanging up.

"Finally," Tony huffed as he moved out of the way for Clint. "A competent agent," he said as if he were deadly serious and instantly taken by the girl.

"Your computer's not networked with anything sensitive right now, is it?" Clint asked Tony.

"No, it's fine," he assured him.

Hope started biting at her nails as the room fell silent, waiting on Clint to open his online account. "I have a message here in my inbox. It looks weird though."

"Let me see." Tony shoved in beside him. After a moment he said, "It's a data file. Just give me a second," he muttered. It didn't take long before he said, "Kay, here we go." He projected his monitor onto the large smart T.V. on the wall. The screen suddenly showed a bunch of computer files. Tony started opening them when it was then Natasha's turn to push him to the side and take over.

They stared at the screen as Natasha opened file after file. "My god," she muttered, "This is everything."

"She got into A.I.M.'s entire system," Clint said in awe.

Hope's body started vibrating as her eyes welled up. She was right. She wasn't crazy for keeping her trust in Maria. She was right. She knew that the love of her life would never betray them like that. She was right, she kept repeating in her head, she was right.

"Wait," Thor said with urgency, snapping Hope out of her head. "What was that?"

"What?" Natasha asked.

"Go back." She did as instructed and clicked back to the file she'd previously opened. "There!" He walked up to the screen. "The Brood." He pointed at the text file with the mentioned heading.

"What's The Brood?" Hope asked, for the first time finding her voice amongst the group.

"Not 'what' but 'who'. They are an insectoid alien race."

"Are they good? Bad? What?" Bruce asked.

"Bad," Thor said seriously. "Really bad. They are a parasitical species. They find hosts and impregnate them with eggs. Then when the embryo is grown, the hosts becomes a Brood. They are effectively dead after that." Hope could feel her stomach churn in hearing the man's description. "I've seen entire planets fall to this race. Planets that are far more advanced than this one."

Natasha said as she studied the computer monitor, "According to this file, A.I.M. has struck a deal" – she read on before continuing – "with – it looks like – their queen. She's helping them access Earth by using Shi'ar's stargate technology."

"So, you're telling me we're all at risk of becoming alien-bug moms?" Sam asked, clearly agitated.

"No one's becoming an alien bug-mom." Steve put his hands out in a calming gesture.

"How do we know they're not already here though?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah," Sam jumped back in. "There could be hosts already walking amongst the population."

"According to this," Natasha referenced the file that she was reading, "they're not here yet. The stargate they're planning on using is still en route."

"Good." Tony played with what looked like a stylist, flicking it in agitation. "I'm not ready for another alien invasion."

"None of us are," Steve said in a soft tone which was a significant shift from the last time he'd addressed Tony. "Now all we have to do is sift through all this information and come up with a plan to make sure they don't get here."

"We don't even have to do all that," Natasha said, opening a file that was prominently labelled, Operation: Stop The Big Bad Bugs.

"Well, son of a gun," Steve muttered, looking over the detailed Avengers mission briefing which Maria had written up, that was now projected right before their eyes. "She really did it."

Natasha expanded the document for easier readability. "She must've gotten word of what they were planning and figured the only way to extract all this information was to join them."

"Guess Lang was right all along," Sam said. "All we had to do was wait."

"You think Fury was in on it too?" Clint wondered out loud, practically cutting off Sam's comment.

"Probably," Tony said. "She doesn't move without his say so."

Clint turned to him. "You say that, but sometimes I wonder if that's not as true as we all suspect it to be."

Natasha and Hope shared a look, knowing of Maria's independent side and how right Clint really was.

"Okay," Steve addressed the room. "Let's stay focused on the briefing here. I say we read it out together from the top."

Everyone agreed with not a single person questioning the validity of Maria's intel, nor thinking there was any ill intent behind it.

Natasha was the one who read the report aloud, running the briefing on Maria's behalf.

Hope was so eager to learn and execute Maria's plan, trying her best not to drown in her own fears as she fought against her anxieties in order to concentrate.

She was scared for her first mission, scared for the wellbeing of the entire planet, but most of all, she was scared of the position Maria was in. She prayed that she remained safe and that A.I.M. wouldn't discover that she'd double-crossed them. The fact that Maria was all alone behind enemy lines, made her want to kick their terrorist asses right then and with no hesitation. She desperately needed to find Maria to ensure that no harm would come upon her. Maria did her part, now it was Hope's turn to be the protector.