Hope stepped out of the self-piloted Wakandan aircraft in Birnin Zana, with her pack slumped over her shoulder. There, in the hanger, she was greeted by a familiar face.
"Mom?" Hope asked, only slightly surprised to see her. She had texted a few times with her over the past few weeks, knowing that she was still involved with the project at S.H.I.E.L.D. Though, neither of them could really disclose much of their own situations during their communications. So Hope didn't know where her mother's location had been over the past little while.
"Hi." She smiled warmly.
"You're here."
"I am." Janet leaned in to give her a quick hug before she started leading her out of the docking bay and into a long corridor.
"Is Maria here too?" Her thoughts never wandered far from her girlfriend, needing to know how she was.
"Yeah, she just got in late last night." They continued their walk down the hallway. "She's been all over the continent these past few weeks gathering intel."
"How is she?" she asked in all seriousness.
Hope could hear a bit of hesitation in her mother's voice as she responded, "I haven't really had a chance to talk with her."
"You've never needed to talk with someone to know how they are." Hope looked to her, suspecting that Janet had picked up on something merely by being in Maria's vicinity.
Janet continued to look forward as she soon stopped in front of a door, casually smiling, clearly ignoring her last statement. "They're waiting for you."
"Who?"
"Everyone." She waved her hand in front of a control panel which opened a set of large doors, with two panels sliding inside the walls.
They walked into a grand war-room that had a sizable projection table in the centre of it, with – what looked like – the terrain of Wakanda and the surrounding area displayed on it.
Around the table stood King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, Okoye, Steve, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Sam, Fury, and finally, Maria.
When Hope's eyes fell onto Maria she was disappointed – yet somehow not surprised – to see that she wasn't paying her any mind. Maria's eyes were darting back and forth between the projection table and the tablet that she held in her hand. With Okoye quietly telling her something; like they were consulting strategies with each other. Maria was clearly more focused on the mission than Hope's arrival.
"Kay, the Van Dynes are here. We'll start now." Fury cut through the chatter in the room as Steve stepped over to Hope, giving her a nod in greeting before taking the spot next to her. Hope gave him a quick smile before, again, looking back to Maria. This time Maria had her eyes on her, only to then abruptly avert her gaze when Hope caught her looking.
Hope sighed in annoyance towards her, only to then push her discomfort down so she could concentrate on the meeting.
Fury, who was standing on the other side of the table next to Maria, waited for the room to become silent before he started.
"The B.N.U. are moving in to march on Wakanda's borders," he said. "Their E.T.A. is one hour from now."
T'Challa then took over. "The War Dogs are already there to meet them along with two of Commander Hill's field teams. The Dora Milaje are staying back to protect the city if they breach our defences," he said calmly, with the authority of a king. "They are not terribly strong in numbers, but where their main threat lies, is with the impundulu."
Fury continued, "According to our intel" – he looked to Maria, as if she was the source of the information – "this bird can deliver lightning strikes that are compatible to missile damage." Hope gasped under her breath, surprised that it was that powerful. "It also has a nearly indestructible exterior," he added.
"Do we know if they're able to control it though?" Sam asked.
T'Challa acknowledged his query. "According to Nakia's intel, de Ruyter has been able to bond with the creature and seems to be able to manipulate it to some degree."
It was then Maria who spoke up as she informed them, "We believe he's using an Enclave mind control device to do it."
"So we need to get our hands on that device," Fury stated.
"Yes," T'Challa agreed, "Nakia has a team already on the ground for that very task."
Fury took over again as he said, "But we still have to be ready for the creature in case her team can't get to the device before it gets here – lightning storms and all."
Tony then jumped in. "Which is where our birdcage comes in."
"Yes," Shuri took over with excitement, "it is essentially one big force field dome."
They were all directed to the holographic table that zoomed in to a specific spot on the map, just outside of where they were located now. There, set up in the middle of a field, stood a giant metal arch, about two storeys in radius.
"So we lure the giant lightning bird inside of it." Tony pointed to their device.
"Like catching a Pokémon!" Shuri beamed, where Hope actually understood her reference. Cassie had shown her Pokémon Go. She made Hope download it onto her phone so that they could play it together.
"And Maria will activate it from here." Tony pointed to the ground, signifying that it would be turned on remotely from command.
"But ah" – Shuri scrunched her face in guilt, looking to Maria –"we didn't exactly have time to program a kill switch. So ah, once the shield is up, you cannot turn it off."
Tony nodded. "So we only get one shot at this."
"Great," Maria huffed in sarcasm.
Tony then said, "We should also mention that technically the shield is already on now. The field is just being contained by these disrupters." He pointed to where the mentioned blockers were on the structure.
"Disrupters, as in – two, super-advanced hunks of steel running down the ends of the arch." Shuri nodded, clearly being sarcastic about how cutting edge their rush job was. The bent beams simply followed the complete length of the metal structure, flanking it on either side, holding back the forcefield.
"Yeah, so while we're flying around, make sure not to – like – crash into them," Tony said, addressing his words of warning towards Sam, who was standing near Steve.
"Or worse, have the impundulu hit it." Shuri nodded.
"Right, 'cause it'll prematurely activate the cage," Tony said more to Shuri, than the others. The man clearly liked and respected the girl which made Hope realise that Tony was a liar when he said that he didn't like children. Because he seemed to like them a whole lot better than the adults around him.
Hope then wondered out loud, "Would it not be easier if I just shrunk the impundulu?" She was hoping that she could make the mission simpler.
"We thought of that," Janet said, "but I'm not so sure that'll work."
"Yeah," Tony interjected, "see the creature emits a constant electrical charge from its body, giving it a natural defence against something like your blaster."
"How many joules is it?" Hope asked, still curious if she could shrink it. She knew the specifications of her own tech better than anyone else, save her dad.
"I'd say around fifty."
"Yeah, no." Hope shook her head at his answer. "That won't work." The charge was much too high.
Steve turned to her. "But we were hoping you could help Tony and Sam by drawing it into the cage."
"Sounds good to me." Hope smirked, already excited to get out there.
"It's like a bird of prey on steroids," Tony warned her. "It'll be able to see you even when you're bug-sized."
"Well, isn't that the point? I wouldn't be very good bait if I was undetectable, now would I be?" She raised a brow at him where he only shrugged at her in response.
Steve then looked between Hope, Tony, and Sam as he said, "You three are really gonna have to rely on each other for safety while you're flying around up there."
"I'll take point." Tony raised his hand.
"I'd rather have Sam take point." Steve shook his head. "He's got military training."
Tony scoffed, "You sound just like Rhodey." He then looked about the room before asking, "Speaking of Rodes, where is he? Anyone heard from him? He still alive?"
Sam crossed his arms as he side-eyed him. "You don't know where your own best friend is?"
"Is he my best friend? He stole my suit and made it all clunky and ugly. Also, he didn't even check in after my building levelled. H.Q. falls, and radio silence."
Natasha stated matter-of-factly, "He literally called you that day."
"No he…" Then it seemed to have dawned on the man as he admitted, "Oh wait. Yes he did."
Steve sighed. "James is stationed in DC, busy with Congress. You know this. And back to the mission." He repeated again, "Sam's taking point."
"Have you forgotten about my Iron Legion?" Tony pointed at himself. "I have more experience taking command of armies in the air. More than a pararescue airman." He looked to Sam. "No offence."
"Well I'm kinda offended." Sam crossed his arms.
"Your teammates aren't a bunch of programmable droids," Steve pointed out to him.
"I mean they're not not programmable droids if they're taking orders," Tony said. "Isn't that kinda exactly what military soldiers are all about anyway?"
"Kay, now I'm getting more offended." Sam glared at Tony..
"Van Dyne will take point," Fury cut through their childish banter.
"What?" Tony snapped his head to look at their C.O. in complete confusion.
"According to her latest evaluation, she's—" Fury tuned to Maria as he asked, "What was it you told me Carter wrote?"
"She's quick on her feet, extremely resourceful, and most notably, a natural leader," Maria told him, which made Hope bite down on a smile. Not just because of Sharon's positive evaluation, but because Maria had read it too.
"Yes." Fury nodded before looking to Hope. "I also like that you got that shrink ray. Don't hesitate to use it on your teammates if they keep running their damn mouths."
Hope heard Steve chuckle from beside her before he said, "I feel good with this decision."
"Me too," Sam agreed.
"It's fine. Whatever," Tony huffed, slapping away at the air in front of him.
Steve then turned to Hope. "You up for it?" he asked in all seriousness, clearly needing her to feel comfortable with the leadership role.
Hope was admittedly a little nervous, but her excitement for the task far outweighed her anxieties. And besides, she was only in charge of two other people. It was really no different than when she took the lead with Jason and Roz. "Yeah." she nodded with a smile. "I think so."
"Good." Steve smiled back.
"And so it begins," Sam muttered just loud enough for Steve and Hope to hear. He referenced how Hope was well on her way to take over Steve's leadership position in the Avengers.
They then adjourned the meeting. At that time Hope desperately wanted to go to Maria but before she could, the other woman had escaped into another room. Hope knew that she didn't have much time before she had to do mission prep, but she would have liked to – at the very least – just say hi to her. She understood that she must have been busy but it still, admittedly, hurt that Maria didn't even so much as smile at Hope in acknowledgement during the meeting.
Maria, tucked away in a conference room, was checking in on the position of her field teams. She was looking at a mirror of the war-room table that was projected onto the highly advanced tablet that Shuri had given her. Maria really didn't need to get an update on them, for that she had done it prior to the briefing. Also, her teams were reporting in with Fury for the duration of the mission, and not to her. Her first priority was to catch the impundulu and not to worry about the ground assaults.
"What are you doing?" Natasha entered the room.
"Prepping for the mission," Maria said matter-of-factly, not looking up from her screen.
"You are aware your girlfriend is out there, right?" She pointed behind her with her thumb. "You know, the woman who is also in charge of your flight team."
Maria knew that she was implying that she should go see her for both personal and professional reasons. But it really wasn't necessary to see her from a mission standpoint. The flight team would come up with a plan and let her know via their comms system. And if Maria felt that their plan needed to be changed or slightly tweaked, she'd let them know. Micromanaging the Avengers wasn't an activity she normally did in battlefield situations.
"Yes, I'm aware. And she'll be prepping for her mission too, as you should be doing," she said in annoyance.
"You have time to go see her, even to just say h—"
"I'm busy," she cut her off. "And you're distracting me."
"You found the time in the middle of your super-secret, double-crossing mission to see her." Natasha walked over to her, leaning against the table that Maria was sitting at. "And now you're struggling to take two minutes to go to her when she's right outside?" She gestured towards the other room.
Maria knew what Natasha was doing and she didn't want to hear it. "Whatever it is you're trying to say, don't." She glared up at her, giving her a look of warning.
"Why? You don't want me pointing out that you're unfairly pulling away from her? And not just her, but everyone else too, including me." She crossed her arms while raising a brow, showing her that she wasn't about to back down.
"We've got another terrorist organisation on our hands. One in possession of a crazy mutant lightning creature from ancient times." Maria spewed out her justification, "It's really not that strange that I'm focusing all of my attention onto this assignment." She huffed in annoyance, hating that she had to defend her actions to her friend.
Natasha then casually looked off into the distance as she dropped her hands to grab the table edge behind her. "You know what I'm reminded of here?" she asked. "That first year we met," she answered her own question. "We were so rigidly professional, scared we were going to screw up somehow and both painfully aware of Fury scrutinising our every move as we had to prove ourselves to him," she said as Maria was recalling back to those days. "You're acting like that now."
Maria, now angry with the accuracy of her words, grunted, "I thought I told you not to say it."
Natasha looked at her with soft eyes. "You don't have anything to—"
"Tasha!" Maria snapped. She was not emotionally able to hear her truthful words.
Natasha threw her hands up as she surrendered to her wishes. "I'm done."
"There you are," Tony said while entering the room with Shuri behind him. "We need to show you the controls to turn on the birdcage," he said, directing his words at Maria
"I'm going to set you up in my lab." Shuri nodded. "The holographic system in there is more advanced than the one in the war-room. You'll be able to track your air team better on it."
"I'm coming." Maria stood up, glad that they were rescuing her from her conversation with Natasha. She followed them out as she could feel her friend's gaze following her as she exited.
After explaining to Maria what she needed to do, Tony scurried off to join the others in the field. Shuri stayed with Maria to make sure everything ran smoothly from a tech standpoint.
Just as Tony, Sam, and Hope were gathering up in the field, Janet walked into the lab, wanting to spectate. She never said it, but Maria knew that she wanted to observe her Hope on her mission. She didn't mind though since she stood back and stayed quiet, allowing Maria to concentrate on her task at hand.
Shortly, Hope finished briefing everyone of her plan, which they were all accepting to follow, after they all put their two cents into it, that is.
As soon as they felt confident in what they were supposed to be doing, the three aerial agents got into position, barely having time to do so before Maria had eyes on the impundulu, coming from Captain America's bodycam. Steve was on the ground at the border when he called it in. Maria had only gotten a brief visual of it as it soared past the lens, towards the capital.
Maria quickly relayed its location to Sam, who started off to meet it in air. They were lucky that he wasn't terribly far away from where they'd predicted the creature would come in from.
"Okay, I've got eyes on it," Sam reported in as Maria could see it too.
From what Maria could make out from Sam's bodycam, the bird was completely black, save for its head and the tops of its wings which were white. There were also little sparks flying off of its feathers as it flapped its wings, and the bird did – indeed – look to be about the same size as a man, just as legend had it.
Sam flew towards it, banking in an ark right in front of the creature to get its attention while simultaneously turning around so it would take chase. Which – to their relief – it did.
"Okay, Van Dyne, we're coming your way." Sam used his goggles, that were pinged to the beacon in Hopes suit, to find her.
Soon Falcon started adjusting his altitude to match Hope's as he began to climb, when Hope came in to say, "Stay low."
"What? But you're up—"
"I know, stay low. Trust me," she said.
"Roger."
Maria soon saw an image flash up onto the holographic screen next to her agent's bodycam, of Sam flying with the impundulu quickly catching up to him, seen from an upwards angle.
"They've hit the city limits," Shuri said. "From now, until the cage, we'll have coverage of them from the Birnin Zana's surveillance grid."
Maria nodded in understanding as she noted the distance between Sam and the creature. She then called him on the comm. "Wilson, you have about twenty feet on it, and it's gaining fast."
"Yeah," he grunted like he already knew he was running out of time.
The ground images kept flashing from one camera to another, showing various angles and perspectives of the action.
Suddenly, as the holographic image showed a wide shot of Sam and the impundulu passing overtop of a community of houses, Hope came into the picture. She showed up on the display like she'd appeared out of nowhere. She had grown to her full size, free-falling from high up, out of the sky. During her rapid descent, she was shooting past Sam at the impundulu, with both of her blasters. And, like they had predicted, her shots were not changing the size of the creature, or stunning it, but they were certainly angering it, causing it to change targets, as it was now focused on Hope.
As the impundulu set its heading to the woman who was dropping out of the sky off in the distance from it, Hope then suddenly shrunk back down, right before hitting ground. She turned on a dime (Maria could tell by watching Hope's bodycam), making haste towards Tony, who was closer towards the cage.
When Hope had fired on the impundulu, there was about a soccer field's length between her and Sam, giving her a nice lead. The downside, however, was that the impundulu was now very angry at her for shooting it. This resulted in the creature spitting larger sparks out from its body as it called forth black clouds overtop of it and the surrounding area. Lightning started to crackle in the sky.
Hope was too small to be picked up by the Birnin Zana's security cameras, but by studying her bodycam, and watching the impundulu by the pinned-together images from the city, Maria could tell that the impundulu was quickly gaining on her – quicker than they'd expected.
Maria suddenly felt her palms sweating and her heart racing when a lightning bolt came flashing into view of Hope's body cam. It rushed past her face over her shoulder; luckily, it don't hit her. But the creature was close. Too close; and it was now shooting bolts of electricity at her, trying to take revenge.
"Stark!" Maria yelled at Tony, surprising herself by the visible fear that she could hear in her voice.
"Yeah, I see them," Tony responded. "Well, technically, I only see the impundulu," he corrected his wording since Hope was too small to be seen from such a far distance.
"Get its attention. Now!" Maria spat.
"Wait, I can get it closer!" Hope came in as Maria could see her dodging around large satellite dishes, belonging to the Wakandan Space Program, with the impundulu weaving in right behind her. "Tony, hold your position."
Maria huffed under her breath (not into the comms), "Dammit, Hope." She was not happy with the woman and the way she was putting herself at risk.
Before Maria could tell Tony to disregard Hope's words, Hope had grown to size, almost directly in front of the impundulu, making herself a perfect target. The action made Maria gasp in terror. But before the creature could collide into her, or electrocute her with lightning, Hope shot a hoverbike that was stationary on the ground. The vehicle swiftly grew at the rate that Hope had shrunk back down. The bike reached the height of a house when the creature crashed straight into it, falling to the ground, as Hope flew off.
The impundulu was quick to stand up, shake itself off with a screech so loud that it had breached the squelch threshold in Hope's mic so that even Maria could hear it through the lab's speaker system.
Before the bird took flight, once again, a lightning bolt crashed down to hit it from the sky as it summoned it for energy. The impundulu took off like a bullet but by then Hope was nearly at Tony, who was waiting for her up in the air.
Tony started shooting the creature with a bombardment of bullets. They all clanged off of its invulnerable, mutated feathers. The impundulu's electrical storm grew worse as lightning was striking down to the Earth, hitting everything from satellites, to trees, to buildings while it set its sights on Tony. Now disinterested in Hope as it flew over her to get to its new target.
The Iron Man suit was the fastest of all of theirs, with the best defence against electrical hits, hence why Hope wanted Tony to run the last leg.
It didn't take long until Tony fell into view of the camera that was at the birdcage, when Maria reached for the button to engage the forcefield. She kept her hand hovering above it.
Tony beelined for the cage, flying right under the arch. However, because the Iron Man suit was so fast, there was too much distance between him and the impundulu that the creature didn't follow him underneath the structure, but flew over top of it instead.
"It didn't follow you into position," Maria told Tony. "And you're passing the target too fast. I don't think I'll be able to trap it at those speeds," she added as Tony made a loop to try for another pass with the impundulu still on his tail.
"Copy that," he said while slowing down and lining up with the target area.
He went as slowly as he could manage but before he got to the target, the Impundulu hit him with a lightning bolt, which seemed to have temporarily disrupted his suit as he went crashing down, right on top of the target zone.
"Stark!" Maria yelled into the comms.
But the man didn't answer, instead, he sat up just as the impundulu came screeching towards him. Tony took advantage of the situation and raised his hand, sending a repulsor blast straight inside of the creatures open beak, making it crash right into him.
"Tony!" Maria came again.
After the dust settled, Maria could see that the impundulu had landed perfectly inside of the cage, the only problem was, Tony was wedged underneath it, and the bird seemed injured and livid. It was calling a huge black spiral in the sky, as lighting bolts were crashing down all around them with a steady stream of electricity running up from the impundulu and into the clouds. A stray bolt even hit the building they were in, shaking the foundation beneath their feet.
There was a whole city of people outside with a storm brewing that could take out thousands. They were now in a dire situation.
"Activate the cage!" Tony cut through the comms.
Maria released the breath that she'd been holding, relieved that he was still alive. His suit must have been absorbing – god only knows – how many volts of power as he laid there against the sparking impundulu.
She shook her head as her heart began to pound in her chest before replying in a shaky voice, "No. You have to get out." She couldn't trap Tony in there, he'd certainly die.
"I can't," he grunted, trying to get out from underneath the bird that was still in a state of shock, sprawled out over his lower body. "My suit is locking up, I can barely move, and this thing is about to put a crater in the middle of the city. You have to contain it!"
Maria's pounding heart suddenly flooded all her other senses. It was like her heartbeat was no longer coming from her chest, but was inside of her ears, echoing through her skull.
"Maria!" She heard his voice come again, but this time it came across as an echo like she was hearing it from underwater. "You have to do it!"
Maria looked away from the holographic image of Tony pinned beneath their ticking-time-bomb, to set her sights on to her hand, still hovering over the button. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't be responsible for another death. He had to get out. He had to. Her heart rate increased as she started gasping for air. Why was there no air? She was suffocating.
"Maria?" She heard again, but it may have been Janet that time, she couldn't tell. The only things she could process was the pain in her chest, which was crushing her, and the pain in her side, from the lack of air in her lungs.
Crash!Came another lighting strike to the building, which somewhat snapped Maria out of it, if only to look back up, giving her the slightest bit of coherence as she noticed Tony struggling to stretch his arm out, ever so slightly. He then repulsor blasted the iron beam that was holding back the one side of the birdcage, activating half of the containment as Tony collapsed onto his back like he'd passed out. His suit must have reached its max, unable to absorb any more electricity.
Then, like a godsend, Hope immediately popped into view. She landed on the ground in front of Tony and the impundulu only to shoot Tony, shrinking him in size before Hope herself miniaturised too. Next thing Maria saw was Hope growing back to size a few metres outside of the containment for a mere second as she blasted the second iron barrier, activating the other half of the birdcage as the beam miniaturised, trapping the impundulu inside before she shrank back down.
"I've got Tony," she reported. "Where is medical?" she asked for directions.
"Princess Shuri," Janet calmly addressed the girl, "Won't you please tell Hope where to go?"
"Ah, yes, Mrs. Van Dyne," the girl said awkwardly right before Maria hurriedly moved for the exit, relieved that Shuri was about to take over so that she could dismiss herself.
She couldn't breathe and she was panicking on Tony's behalf. Was he dead? Was Pepper going to lose the love of her life? This was Tony and Shuri's cage, along with Hope's plan, but Maria let it happen. She was in command. If Tony was dead, it would be all her fault. Just like the others.
Maria's feet carried her to the infirmary as quickly as they could take her. Luckily, she'd been there before and it wasn't far from her. The elevator outside the lab took her right to it.
She stumbled inside of the lift and leaned up against the wall, trying her best to get air into her lungs before she fell over.
Conveniently, the medical bay was just inside of the building that the birdcage was set up in front of. Hope flew Tony right to the doorway of the building, through clear blue skies (that showed up almost instantaneously after the impundulu was contained and cut off from the atmosphere.)
When she grew them both to size and opened the doors, there were two medical professionals running up the hallway to meet them. Shuri had told her that she would alert the infirmary that they were coming. They quickly put Tony onto a hover-stretcher and pushed him down the hallway towards an emergency response room.
"Do you know how to open his suit?" one of them asked Hope.
She shook her head, adrenaline still pumping through her veins as she answered in a panic, "No." If they couldn't get to his body, they couldn't help him.
As they were about to push him into a room they heard someone yell. "Stop!"
Hope looked over to see Maria running over as she grabbed Tony's arm. She slid a panel at his armoured wrist before pushing into the spot which was now exposed. Suddenly, the Iron Man suit started to dismantle, opening up his helmet, front torso, and his legs. Everything was retracted into the back of his suit, giving the doctors access to his body.
Once Tony was pushed into the room, with more people awaiting him inside of it, the medical team lifted him off of the stretcher, out of his suit, and onto the bed. Hope had watched them through the large viewing window, with Maria falling in place next to her.
Hope didn't know what half of the medical devices were that they were using until she could see the results of them. The doctor had two floating blue disks hovering just underneath her palms, she held them over Tony's chest. After a moment, the device projected something in the air in front of it. Hope was sure it had said something, but it was too brief before the doctor calmly said to her team, "He's v-tach. Kucace." They all stepped back, clearing Tony's body with their hands up, as the holographic display disappeared. Then, suddenly, the blue discs burst to a brighter hue which resulted in Tony's chest jolting up, making Hope realise that the device was a defibrillator.
The doctor kept the instrument over his body as it then made a chiming noise and displayed a heartbeat line that was pulsing in the air, with a number displayed beside it. The digits kept changing before it settled on the number – ninety-six, which was a healthy heart rate.
Hope sighed in relief as she turned to Maria. "It looks like his suit protected him." She knew that his heart never would've survived the impundulu without his armour. But when she fixed her eyes onto Maria, she was shocked to see that the woman did not look relieved. She was white-knuckling the edge of the window sill. Her face was also pale as her eyes were fixed on the sight in the other room. Hope could see her tense body visibly shaking.
Hope was about to reach over to gently place her hand on Maria's arm, but before she had a chance, they heard Fury trudging down the hallway. "What's his status?" he asked.
Hope looked back into the room, seeing the medical team casually attending to Tony before she turned to Fury. "He's stable," she answered him, assuming that Maria wasn't about to. She looked so lost.
"Good." He nodded before he gave her the smallest smirk. "Glad you took me seriously about shooting your teammates." He then looked through the window at Tony, momentarily examining his situation. "You might as well get back out there" – he ripped his eyes away from his fallen Avenger to look back at Hope – "and report in with Rogers."
Hope nodded in understanding just as Shuri came running down the hallway, with Janet walking quickly behind her.
"Ah, Problem. Big problem." Shuri halted in front of the trio with wide eyes. "The forcefield kinda just conked out."
"What!" Maria whipped her body around to look at the girl. She was clearly in an unusually high state of panic.
"Yeah." Shuri guiltily rubbed the back off her neck. "The impundulu got out."
"How?" Maria gawked.
"From what I can see through the cameras, I think when Mr. Stark shot the barrier to activate the field, he nicked a power cable," the teen explained.
Maria asked in a panic, "Do we have eyes on it now?"
"No. But it took off to the South."
"We have to find it." Maria practically stumbled as she pushed past the small crowd in front of her, cantering down the hallway and rounding the nearest corner.
"Wait, Maria!" Hope called out, concerned over her emotional well-being.
She'd never seen Maria like that. Maria was calm and stoic. She didn't panic.
Hope ran to catch up to her as she called out again, "Maria!"
"Not now, Hope." Maria brought her hand up to her forehead, pushing her hair away from her face in agitation.
Hope didn't heed her words as she grabbed Maria's arm, stopping her in her tracts. "Talk to me," she gently demanded. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" Maria scoffed. "Do you know where the impundulu is?" she spat.
Hope took in a sharp breath before she timidly answered, "No."
"Then it doesn't matter how I am. It's gone." She ripped her arm free of Hope's hold. "And you might as well follow suit and leave too." Her words came harshly with her eyes brimming, before she turned and stomped away.
Maria's words came like a knife to the heart as Hope's eyes instantly welled up. Hope stiffened her bottom lip, doing everything to hold herself together.
Hope could barely accept Maria's state as being real. Her behaviour was so out of character. Sure, she'd witnessed the other woman down in emotionally vulnerable states before, but even when she let tears escape, there was still a semblance of restraint. However, in that moment, Hope didn't sense any control. Maria wasn't just fraying at the edges, she was unravelling. Her rationale, now gone with fear at the helm.
Hope spent a lengthy stint in the field (after she took Tony to Medical) helping the Wakandans round up members of the B.N.U. The ground mission was a lot more successful than their air one. Though, where they'd failed to capture the impundulu, the ground mission, too, failed in capturing de Ruyder along with the Enclave mind control device.
Finally, after a few tiring hours, Hope was relieved to retire inside. She was shown a room and given food but despite how exhausted and jetlagged she felt, she forced herself to take a walk instead of taking a nap. She wanted to find her mother. Needing to debrief with her. Not about the mission, but about her confused emotions.
It didn't take long for Hope to find her in the war-room. When Janet caught her eye, she nodded at her like she was reading her mind. She then gestured for her to meet her in a small side room so they could talk privately, away from the modest gathering of people who were in the main room.
"Hey, Jellybean." Janet smiled at her just as she walked into the room. "You did so well out there today." She gave her a hug as Hope couldn't refrain from hugging her back. She needed the warmth of her love.
Hope pulled out of the embrace as she sighed. "I really didn't." She shook her head. " It was a total disaster." She then acknowledged that it wasn't all horrible out in the field, they did capture a whole slew of B.N.U. members after all. "Well, it was for us with the impundulu, that is." She dropped her head, taking the blame for the failure. "And I was the one put in charge of that part of the mission." she looked to her. "So, there's that."
"Your plan was good," Janet reassured her. "Sometimes things just happen. Missions are unpredictable. We can't see and control every variable." She squeezed her shoulder with a knowing smile. "That report was right. You are quick on your feet, and Tony owes his life to that."
Hope hesitantly nodded, seeing her mom's point. She then looked into the older woman's eyes, scared to ask, but needing to understand. "What happened in controls?" She continued to study her mom's face as she asked, her voice slightly cracking, "She's not alright, is she?"
Janet looked at her with a soft expression and, what looked like, guilt in her eyes. "She's different now."
"What do you mean?"
Janet broke eye contact with her as she shook her head. "I don't know if I should say."
"Oh, now you're definitely gonna have to say," Hope practicality demanded.
"Ah," Janet started, only to sigh. She took a moment before continuing. "The whole particle frequencies thing…" Suddenly Hope could feel her heart pounding, terrified of what her mother was going to say, but already knowing deep down what it was. "I think my hypothesis about them may have not been completely correct."
Hope took a breath, trying not to cry as she said, "She's different. Different than me."
"Just a little." Janet showed a small space between her thumb and index finger as Hope nodded, holding back tears. "Maybe soulmates aren't actually a thing. Or rather, maybe Plato's understanding of them was wrong." Janet hypothesised. "We don't just magically have this perfect match that we were initially separated from in another life. It's probably more like – we grow and change and sometimes we find people who are on the same page as us." She paused briefly before concluding, "But pages turn."
"What are you saying? That Maria's moving away from me?" She could now feel a tear trying to escape, forcing herself to dab her eyes with her fingertips.
"Oh, Jellybean, I don't completely understand this foreign world that I now perceive," she said with great compassion. "I don't want to be putting the wrong ideas into your head."
In that moment Hope truly understood Sharon's words of warning. Obstacles were indeed put into place to make it harder to be with Maria. And not just physically, but emotionally too, as this very situation dictated. And Maria had always known this, as she seemed constantly rattled by the thought that she wouldn't be enough for Hope.
And now, Hope's thoughts pushed back to when Maria had asked her, 'if she could keep her forever', and wondered if she had truly believed her when Hope had answered, 'yes'.
Sharon told her that they all left her. Her annoying instructor was actually advocating in Maria's silence. Giving Maria's fears a voice. Fears that she was now so obviously trying to hide from Hope. That she thought that she'd be too much for her to deal with. But Hope's love for her had made it impossible for her to ever let those obstacles stop her. She would jump the hurdles and crawl under the barbed wire.
"I'm not abandoning her, Mom," she stubbornly stated.
"As you shouldn't!" Her mother gasped like she was appalled that her daughter had taken her words to mean such. Janet then took a calming breath before saying, "I suspect you two need to reconnect. Find your rhythm again. Possibly even a new rhythm." She smiled encouragingly. "She'll likely flip her page back to yours, or you'll flip yours forwards to hers. And maybe that's the truest answer here." Hope cocked her head to the side as she tried to understand her words. "It's not all about finding your match, but it's about creating and maintaining one. I think you guys were lucky. You found each other at the right time, at the right stages in your lives. But that doesn't mean you still don't have to fight to make sure you don't grow apart." Hope nodded, accepting her mother's wisdom. Janet's face then split into a beautiful smile as she said in all earnest, "I believe in you two."
Hope couldn't help but smile in return as she was just so grateful for her mother.
"Mrs. Van Dyne." Queen mother, Ramonda, entered the threshold of the room as the two turned to face her.
"Your Majesty." Janet bowed her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest in greeting as Ramonda returned the gesture.
"I am extending an invitation for you to join The Pan-African Alliance debriefing. It is to commence shortly, and I would be delighted if you would escort me to the meeting."
Janet comfortably smiled. "It would be an honour."
Hope wondered by their exchange if the two had become close over the time that her mother had been in Wakanda.
Janet then turned back to Hope, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek and a supportive pat on the arm before walking out with the queen mother.
"I wish my daughter would let me kiss her like that without squirming away from me." Hope heard Ramonda's voice trail off with Janet chuckling in response as they disappeared out into the war-room and away to their meeting (which was held in a location that Hope was not familiar with.)
Hope let a small smirk slip in response to the ladies' interaction. Though, she was really much too concerned with her own heartache to find the situation as endearing as she normally would have.
Hope then exited the small room, looking about the space to find Natasha conversing with Clint and Okoye on the far end of the room. Hope barely had her sights on her before the spy turned to her, like she could feel her gaze.
Hope then mouthed to her, "Do you know where Maria is?" She hoped that she would understand her question.
Natasha turned to Clint, taking the tablet out of his hand before she scribbled something down on it with a stylus, that she too ripped out of his other hand. She then held it up for Hope. It read:
Bashenga Centre rm 805
Hope nodded, knowing the building already since that's where she'd just come from. She was shown a room there on the seventh floor, which seemed to be one down from Maria's.
Hope mouthed, "Thank you."
Natasha mouthed back, "Good luck." She seemed to fully known that whatever was about to happen when she arrived there, it wasn't going to be easy.
Hope smiled tightly towards her before wandering off in search of Maria. Anxiety bubbling in her belly, uncertainty driving her nerves. She was scared as to what she was about to come head to head with.
Maria was sitting on the floor, leaning up against her bed. Her laptop and S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet were laying on the floor in front of her with the Wakandan tablet in her hand.
She had completely locked herself away in her room, trying to figure out where de Ruyder and the impundulu went off to. She was searching social media, African databases, and S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite imaging, coming up empty.
Maria was suddenly pulled out of her work as a knock came at her door.
She quickly called out, "Come in." She was hoping it was Nakia coming to tell her that they found something.
But when the door opened, she was agitated to see Hope timidly walk in. Maria's chest instantly tightened as she abruptly looked back down to her tablet in hand. She didn't know what to say, and now she was mad at herself for so eagerly telling the other woman to enter her room.
Maria heard the door shut but Hope didn't walk forwards or say anything. She simply stood at the entrance. Maybe she was waiting for Maria to say something, maybe she was studying Maria, but most likely, she was doing both.
After a moment she heard Hope sigh heavily, almost in a grunt, before making her way over to her. "Look, I know you're avoiding me," Hope stated rather boldly, "and I get that you're going through some shit. But I need you to understand, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere, whether you like it or not." Her words came as a threat, which made Maria look up at her as she was now standing right in front of her. "You can try pushing me away all you want, but no receipt, no return. Remember?" She folded her arms over her chest. "So" – she moved to drop her weight against the tall bedpost next to Maria, facing the same direction as her – "I'm gonna stand right here" – she threw down her arm to point to the floor at her feet – "and while I'm here, you don't have to talk to me, you don't have to look at me – hell – you can hate me. But I'm not budging." She huffed before she grumbled in continuation, "As I lean up against this uncomfortable post" – Maria saw her squirming from the corner of her eye – "staring off into space 'cause I stupidly didn't bring a book or anything with me to wait out your stubbornness with," she muttered the last part under her breath.
Maria was suddenly very aware of her breathing as it became choppy and her eyes involuntarily started welling up. She was panicking, needing Hope more than ever in that moment. Her obstinacy had pushed Maria right over the edge.
Maria dropped her tablet to the ground, not caring in the slightest if she'd damaged it in the process, as she rose to her knees. She quickly pivoted her body, positioning herself to face Hope as she desperately threw her arms around her waist, sliding them between her lower back and the bedpost, and pressed her face into her stomach. She squeezed her tightly as tears started rolling down her cheeks while they were being absorbed by Hope's shirt.
Soon, she felt Hope exhale before her hands fell onto her body as she gently cupped Maria's head. After a brief moment, Hope slid Maria's elastic out of her hair and gently combed her fingers through her locks in a soothing manner.
God, Hope's presence felt like an equaliser. Maria's heart rate steadied, the weight in her chest lightened, and her jaw unclenched as she broke down and wept into their embrace, allowing Hope to pull her back to a sense of self.
"I'm sorry," Maria mumbled in a small voice through her gentle sobs.
She hated herself for the way she'd been acting towards Hope, and more egregiously, for the words that she'd said to her. She was both embarrassed and distraught by her failure and that created a deadly brew of toxic emotions that brought about her awful behaviour and intensified her overall fear that Hope was going to give up on her. This made her act irrationally by pushing her away. She was trying to salvage what she could of her feelings for when Hope would inevitably break-up with her. Since this was right about the time in all her relationships that they would leave her. And this time, she wasn't just absent – per her usual – she was emotionally distraught on top of it. But Hope wasn't leaving. She made that very clear, which made Maria's sobbing intensify, truly letting herself go in the safety of Hope's presence.
Maria had always been punished by her father for breaking down and crying like this. He would tell her that if she was weak, he'd give her something to really cry about, something like his habit of throwing her against a wall. So, because of her upbringing, Maria did her utmost to stifle her tears – or in the very least – conceal them from other's eyes. Until Hope, that was.
Hope pulled Maria's arms away from her as she too, dropped to her knees, only to wrap Maria into a hug. She rubbed her back with one hand while sinking her fingers back into Maria's hair with the other. Maria clung to her as she buried her face into Hope's neck while the woman lovingly shushed her. "It's okay, baby," she mumbled into her hair. "It's okay." She continued to rub her back in circular motions as Maria started to calm down.
"I couldn't be responsible for another one." Maria sniffled into Hope's collar, thinking on how she wasn't able to activate the forcefield with Tony still inside of it. "But now there are even more at risk." She hated herself for allowing the impundulu to escape. It was now a danger to – god only knows – how many more people. "I messed up." She deducted, "I am messed up."
Hope pressed a lingering kiss to the side of Maria's scalp before speaking softly into her hair, "Not trapping Tony inside his own personal tomb, is not what I'd call being 'messed up'."
But before Maria could counter her statement, wanting to bring up how she blundered the mission, there was a knock at the door.
Maria's body instantly stiffened as she pulled her head away from Hope's shoulder. She then quickly cleared her throat while she wiped her eyes, attempting to pull herself together. She turned her head to face the door as she asked, "Who is it?" She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.
"It is I, Ayo." Maria recognised the Dora Milaje as she called through the closed door. "Director Fury wishes to speak with you, Commander."
A sense of dread entered Maria's being as she stiffly nodded her head, replying, "I'll be right there."
Fury wasn't Nakia. He was most likely not about to tell her that they'd found their person of interest. He witnessed her panicked episode, he knew that she didn't activate the cage, he was probably wanting to see her to reprimand her in some way.
Maria then looked back to Hope who had a soft expression on her face. The woman then unwrapped her arms from around Maria's back to rub her thumbs over her wet cheeks, at the spots that Maria had missed. She then wordlessly fixed Maria's hair, putting it once again into a ponytail as she impressively tied it back from her spot in front of her.
Hope then smiled at her as she said with encouragement, "You got this."
Maria didn't feel up to snuff in the slightest yet she knew that she could get through whatever consequences were before her with Hope supporting her.
Maria then softly cupped Hope's face while she leaned in, giving her a gentle kiss before muttering softly into her lips, "I love you so much."
"That's good." Hope pulled away to look at her, taking Maria's hands into her own. "It makes my inability to leave you alone a lot more pleasant for you that way." Hope smirked innocently as Maria had to hold back a grin, fighting off her body's urge to tear up once again. Maria was deeply moved by Hope's display of commitment, a commitment that was only now becoming less foreign to her.
Maria took in a deep breath before looking back at the door. She then slowly exhaled before she rose to her feet, still staring at the threshold. She knew that if she were to look back at Hope she would lack the willpower to leave.
Hope squeezed Maria's hands before letting go of it, allowing her to walk away. Just as she reached the door she looked back finding Hope now sitting on her heels. She gave her a nod with a soft smile as Maria, in return, nodded back to her before she exited into the hallway.
"Commander." Ayo bowed her head in respect while crossing her arms at her chest. "The Director is awaiting your arrival in the small business arena." The woman referenced the conference room that T'Challa had given to Fury to set up shop in.
"Thank you," Maria simply said before awkwardly crossing her arms back at her and then speedily walked past her, hoping to god that the Dora Milaje didn't notice that she'd just previously been crying.
When she entered into one of the multi-directional elevators, she was shocked at the sight in front of her.
"Thor?" she said, surprised to see the Asgardian standing before her. "What are— When did you get here?"
"Just now. Fury sent for me. He said you are dealing with a lightning bird, and since – you know – I am the god of thunder" – he extended his hands out like he was presenting himself in a ta-da fashion while grinning – "here I am."
The man's presence churned Maria's stomach. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful that he was there. On the contrary, it made perfect sense that he was called in. It was that he had to be called in in the first place that made her uncomfortable. Their mission was supposed to be simple. That's the very reason why only the first-string Avengers were called in. The ones who were also agents and always on call. They weren't even going to bother bringing in Hope. It was Fury, however, that requested her presence. Why? Maria was still not completely sure, but she was definitely grateful that she was there.
"Are you going to see Fury now?" Maria asked as she stepped into the elevator. She then pressed the digital screen on the wall to activate the location that she desired, only then noticing that the war-room was selected, which was not where Fury was located.
"Captain Rogers, actually."
Maria nodded in understanding as the door closed in front of them. She then tried to discreetly take a few calming breaths, nervous for her appearance in front of Fury. What was he going to say to her? What was she going to say to him?
"So." Thor ripped Maria out of her worried thoughts. "How are things going with you and your Hope Wasp?" he asked with a smile and shining eyes of exciting intrigue.
The man had always had an interest in her love life. He once told her that through his long life, watching women fight their way out from underneath the heel of man to then gain the power to live free from their control and to openly love those who they have never been allowed to love before. Was something so powerful that he was always awestruck when he had the privilege to witness it before his very eyes. And he desperately wanted her to experience, firsthand, what he'd only ever seen.
The elevator stopped at her location with the doors opening almost instantaneously (Wakandan technology was clearly more efficient than the rest of the world). Maria then smirked to herself, looking out over the floor, barely taking a second to mull over Thor's question, already knowing how things were between Hope and herself. For the first time she truly believing that she had a future with her.
"I'm going to marry that woman," she said matter-of-factly right before she walked out of the transport and towards the room that Fury was waiting for her inside of.
When she approached Fury's temporary office, she stopped at his door, she nervously swallowed before knocking.
"Enter." Came the Director's voice from the other side.
Taking a deep breath, Maria stepped inside.
Fury was standing behind his large desk, head down, looking over an open file laying on the desktop.
He didn't look up to her, nor did he say a word. He just continued to read while Maria stood at attention in front of his desk, nerves getting the best of her.
"I'm no longer fit for command." Maria broke the silence while acknowledging her current mental state.
To Maria's surprise, Fury laughed as he looked up at her. Maria studied him in utter confusion as he smiled at her with amusement.
"Take a seat." He gestured to the chair beside her as he himself sat down in his own seat.
She complied, stiffly sitting down.
"Hill." He leaned back in his chair, his demeanour now a little more serious. "I've had one foot out the door of this organisation for a few years now. Letting you slowly take over more and more responsibilities so when the time came, it'd be a seamless transition for you to step in." Maria's heart fell; she'd figured this out awhile ago which made her failure hurt all the more with this new verbal confirmation. "But, I'll be honest with you, I've felt ready to leave for quite awhile now and the only reason I'm still here is because you haven't shown me you're ready yet." Maria nodded while doing everything to keep herself from falling apart again. "Well, not until now, that is."
Maria cocked her head in total puzzlement. "Sir?"
"Your problem has always been that you're too good." He began to explain, "Your missions are always successful. Your agents are always compliant. You catch things that no one else sees. And because of this, you've never known loss. You've never known what it's like to give orders that result in deaths of the innocent." He folded his hands in front of him. "Seeing clear cut choices is a luxury that a leader doesn't have. There's always a scale you're trying to balance in every decision you make, because every decision has its consequences."
Maria followed his logic, yet she saw a flaw in it in regards to her current state. "But if I can't make a decision, regardless of its consequences, I can't lead at all."
"You'll make decisions," he said matter-of-factly. "They'll just be harder to make. Like today."
The problem was, she didn't make a decision that day, she froze up. "I didn't activate the force field."
"You would have."
Maria imagined a scenario where Tony didn't get out of the cage, and he, along with Hope, didn't activate the shield on her behalf.
"I'm not entirely sure that's true." She really didn't know if she had it in her to sacrifice Tony for the good of the city in the emotional state that she had found herself in earlier.
"I am," he said in slight agitation, clearly annoyed with her for not believing him.
Maria sighed, looking down at her hands in her lap as she asked, "Will it ever get easier?"
"No, it'll only get harder." Maria looked up to him, not liking his answer. He then smirked at her as he continued, "And then one day, a young brilliant agent will make their way up through the ranks, and you'll give this same speech to them. And if you're lucky, you'll retire, never needing to make one of these decisions again." Maria couldn't help but smile softly back at him. It meant the world to her that he still had faith in her. He then nodded at her before looking off into the distance. "You will – I suppose – have to live with your decisions for the rest of your life. No escaping them," he said in a hollow voice like he was being haunted by his own ghosts. He then focused back onto her. "That's the true burden of command."
Maria finally understood his past and her future. And now she felt less optimistic in her career's trajectory, yet more prepared than she ever had been for it.
He then cleared his throat before shifting back into his professional mode, as he ordered her, "You are to oversee the Avengers that are here, and catch that damned bird."
"Yes, sir." Maria accepted his orders, hoping that she was capable enough to follow them through.
"As for the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., we're going to pull out of here and leave the Pan-African Alliance to deal with the B.N.U. as they see fit."
Maria nodded, agreeing with his decision to allow their allies to take the lead on matters of their own continent.
He held her gaze for a moment like he was making sure that she was indeed alright before he said, "You are dismissed to the war-room. Your team should all be there by now."
She bowed her head in compliance before she turned to leave. She was relieved that things were proceeding as usual, without reprimand, and that she was given the opportunity to right her wrong.
When she arrived in the War-room, all the first-string Avengers were there along with Thor, Nakia, Shuri, and Okoye. Even Tony was there, now discharged from the infirmary.
Hope turned her head to look at her, her ponytail whipping over her shoulder in the process, as she gave Maria a twinkling smile while she approached them.
Sam smirked at her as he said, "Hey, Maria, check this out."
Clint then proceeded to jab a cattle prod looking device right into Thor's chest. The Asgardian casually rested his hands on his hips, showing his resilience, as his body shimmered with sparks.
When Clint pulled the prod away from the god, Thor gloated," I barely even felt that."
"That was six hundred joules." Shuri said, "Thor could wrestle that impundulu, no problem."
"Or smash it with my hammer!" Thor swung Mjölnir up to rest it at his shoulder.
"We have to find it first." Maria didn't want to get her hopes up too high.
Nakia spoke up, "Two of my informants have spotted the impundulu flying over South Tanzania, just fifteen minutes ago. They are tracking it now."
"So, what we're saying here is" – Hope crossed her arms in front of her chest, giving her a confident smirk – "we've practically got this bird in the bag."
"Yeah." Steve smiled with a nod. "We're just awaiting your orders, Commander."
Maria was overwhelmed by, not only, this hopeful news, but by all their support. They were allowing her to command over them in this mission without a hint of hesitation detected in their demeanours.
"Well, what are we doing standing around here then?" She couldn't help but smile as she said, "let's get our asses to Tanzania."
And with that, she was filled with a confidence that she'd nearly forgotten she'd ever possessed as she was ready to try this whole leadership thing once again. But this time, she would allow her family to help her when she stumbled. She was now brave enough to take a spill because getting back up was always an option when she was surrounded by helping hands to raise her back up.