Maria's team, that was to retrieve de Ruyter and the impundulu, were currently aboard a large Wakandan aircraft heading towards Tanzania. The design of the ship was similar to the Royal Talon. The only significant difference being the size. This particular ship had an additional third lower deck. And on that lower deck, tucked away into a corner room, was where Hope had set up shop.
Working alone at a table she was tinkering away with her tech; trying to finish up before they arrived at their drop location. She stupidly had decided to do this, instead of taking a nap. Something that she desperately needed after being up for —who even knows how long? All she was sure of was that the last time she'd slept, she was in Pennsylvania.
Nakia's contacts had eyes on both de Ruyter and the impundulu, hiding out in a tobacco and coffee complex, just outside of Lilombe. Maria had held the mission briefing about twenty minutes prior. Thor was to capture the impundulu, with the assistance of Tony and Sam. Nakia, Okoye, Natasha, Cint, Steve, and herself were responsible for de Ruyter and the handful of men that he managed to escape with from their last encounter. And lastly, Maria and Shuri were to hang back to monitor the mission.
At first, Hope thought that she was being demoted from her last responsibility which was to capture the impundulu. But it was made clear that Maria wanted her to be a scout on the ground. Which made perfect sense. They didn't quite know what they were going into, and she could easily fly in undetected to get the lay of the land.
"Please tell me you're tweaking and not fixing." Hope jerked her head up to find Maria standing at the doorway, laptop in hand. "Last thing I need is for you guys to be going out there with faulty tech."
Hope smiled at her over her tools. "Don't you worry your gorgeous little head, I'm just modifying."
Maria smirked at her as she ambled over to the edge of the table. "And what, pray tell, are you modifying?"
"I'll tell you, but first." Hope fixed her eyes onto her, softening her voice as she asked, "How are you doing?" This being the first time she'd been able to personally check in with her after her emotional episode back in Wakanda.
"I'm fine," she said thoughtfully. "Just want to get this damn man and his stupid bird."
Hope smiled encouragingly. "We will."
But then Hope noticed a shift in Maria's demeanour, as she looked to Hope with remorse. "I'm sorry for not responding to your texts." Maria held such visible pain in her eyes like the guilt was physically hurting her. "Or – really – for not contacting you in general. I—"
"Don't." Hope cut her off, not needing to hear it. "I know and I understand" – she locked eyes with her – "and it's okay," she said compassionately, fully aware of the turmoil she'd been experiencing during their time apart. She didn't need Maria to apologise for any more than she already had.
Maria gave her a small nod, like she was thanking her for her understanding, before looking over to her work area. "So, your modifications?"
"Right." Hope shifted gears in her head before diving into it. "I'm adding secondary components to my blasters." Hope picked up a small round metal disk, about the size of a watch face, with two small, short, parallel prods protruding out from its side. "I'm planning on putting this piece here" – she wiggled the device – "at the bottom of my wrist. So when I want to shrink something –or someone at close proximity – I just simply push this" – she pointed to the prods – "into the subject, almost like a taser." She then put it down on the table, grabbing a similarly shaped and sized object, minus the prods. "And on the bottom of my other wrist" – she held up the piece – "I've got this, which brings subjects into my suit's system. Meaning I can shrink them along with myself as long as there's an established connection with this pressure plate." She pushed her thumb into the device where a tiny click emanated from it.
"So you don't have to shoot them." Maria nodded in understanding. "And when I say 'them', I mean 'Tony after he's got himself stuck underneath a giant, mutant lightning bird'."
Hope smiled. "Exactly." She was pleased with herself for thinking of the modifications on her own, totally independent of her father.
"Sounds efficient." Maria seemed to have approved of her project. "And now it's like you'll have little wasp stingers."
"Oh, I like that." Hope's eyes widened with excitement. "Stingers. I'm gonna call them that from now on." She then looked down to her work, realising the reality that she had yet to successfully complete her task. "Granted, I can get them both to work," she admitted. She had some doubts.
"You could always ask Shuri to help if you feel you need it," Maria innocently suggested.
"I'm hoping I can get it without being shown up by a sixteen-year-old." Hope knew that the girl would surely embarrass her with an almost instantaneous resolution.
Maria sounded hopeful. "I'm sure you will." She then muttered under her breath, "God knows you're too stubborn to throw in the towel for anything anyway." Maria then sat down on a stool at the end of the table adjacent to her, resting her computer on top of it as she made herself comfortable to do some work herself.
Hope couldn't help but softly smile at her as she watched her instantly busy herself as her mind started to drift off into wonder.
"Hope?" Maria said after some time had passed, not taking her gaze off from her computer screen.
"Yeah?"
"I can feel your eyes on me," she stated, right before she quickly typed something out on her keyboard.
"Can I ask you a question?" Hope then looked back down to her own work as she started to tinker again, now feeling a bit awkward as she continued. "And don't feel like you have to answer if you don't want to. It's just – going back to the topic of sixteen-year-olds" – Hope glanced back to Maria – "it's got me thinking."
"Yeah? About what?" Maria's eyes never moved off of her monitor as she asked.
"What exactly happened when you were sixteen with your" – Hope awkwardly struggled for words – "you know."
Maria took a deep breath, holding it for a second before letting it out of her nose. "Well." She leaned back, away from her computer, like she was figuring out where to start, taking a moment before looking to Hope. "My mom," she began, only to quickly clarify, "ah, step-mom," she then continued, "is a very religious person. So, after my parents got married we all started attending church together," she explained rather casually. "I had no choice in the matter. As long as I was under their roof, I had to go."
"Did you like going?"
"Um." Maria practically laughed, before sliding her jaw to the side. "Well, I absolutely despised the messages they preached. Women are to submit to men. Homosexuality is an abomination. God is always watching you, judging your sinful nature. With the whole, going to Hell scare tactics pushed on you." She shook her head, bearing wide eyes. "Like, not exactly what I call pleasant times."
"Understandable." Hope nodded, not knowing personally what it would have been like to grow up under toxic religious indoctrination. She was raised in a secular household. But she could imagine what that could do to a person. Especially those of marginalised groups.
"And the Bible is just one big contradiction of itself and all the supernatural claims don't make any logical sense. And yet everyone insists they do," Maria rambled out in an even-paced, thoughtful manner as if she were in that moment, being bombarded by the ghosts of logical inconsistencies that had haunted her childhood. "They always said stuff like – all you have to do is pray and have faith and God will just magically give you the answers to all your questions through –I don't even know– like your emotions or something, while totally disregarding the reality that faith is not a pathway to truth." Hope couldn't help but bite down a smile while watching Maria's data-driven brain trying to rationally work out faith-based religion. Maria caught her smirk where she mirrored the expression herself. "Whenever I used to point this stuff out in front of my brother, my mom would freak." Maria looked to be holding back a chuckle as she seemed swept away in memory. "But saying that." She sighed. "I didn't mind Friday night youth-group. Just hanging out with a bunch of kids my own age doing random activities. That was usually fun." Maria then locked eyes with Hope. "And that's where I met her."
"Your girlfriend?"
"Yeah," she said softly, where Hope could tell that the girl still held a tender spot in her heart. "Just a couple weeks after my sixteenth birthday, we got a new pastor and she was his daughter."
"Okay, this doesn't sound like it's going to end well for her either."
Maria nodded. "You would be correct in that assumption."
"Oh, dear." Hope braced herself for what was to come next.
"We were inseparable from the start," Maria continued. "Then before we knew it, we'd become more than friends. But we – of course – had to hide our relationship. Nobody knew." Maria then shifted in her seat, like she was mentally preparing herself. "Until one day, during a church picnic, our secret came out." She shook her head. "We thought we were being careful hiding inside the building when everyone else was out on the lawn. But her dad came in for some reason, maybe he was looking for her – I don't know, but" – Maria gazed off towards Hope's gadgets laying out across the table, eyes glazed over – "he ended up catching us making out in the Sunday school room."
"Oh, god," Hope lightly gasped, knowing the story was going someplace tragic like that but was still hoping that it wasn't going to be that bad. "What did he do?"
"It was more so – what did she do?" Maria's eyes remained fixed on that same spot. "She shoved me away and told him I forced myself on her."
"What?" Hope was instantly angered. "That little—" she stopped herself from swearing. "I know I shouldn't be cursing out a teenager but—"
"It was okay." Maria looked over to her, giving her a supportive smile.
"How was it okay?" Hope felt offended by the fact that Maria didn't seem offended.
"I mean, it sure didn't feel great at the time." Maria half-heartedly shrugged. "But at least one of us got out of it. Didn't make much sense for the both of us to get into trouble."
"Yeah, I guess." Hope sighed. "But she could've taken the blame." She was not letting her completely off the hook.
"She was scared. I didn't fault her," Maria said so calmly. "Besides, she had to live with her father knowing what she'd done. He may not have said it out loud but he knew what we were doing was consensual." Maria drew in a long breath before saying, "I was just their public scapegoat." She looked a little hurt for the first time during her story as she said, "So I didn't fight it. Everyone was better off that way."
"You were kicked out of your house!" Hope gawked, not pleased in the slightest by Maria's acceptance of her reprehensible fate.
"Yeah, well, it was preferable to conversion therapy."
"That was your option?" Hope felt pure disgust in the pit of her stomach in hearing her mention that repugnant legalized torture method.
"No," Maria said with that same anguish in her eyes that she'd had when she told her about her mother making her leave her brother's funeral. "Pretty sure my parents were glad for the excuse to kick me out." Hope shook her head, pissed all over again at her caregivers. "Conversion therapy would've been her fate. Along with the public shaming, which would've called into question her father's parenting skills and his validity to lead the church." She clarified, "He'd only been there for a few months, they could've easily fired him. He didn't have the loyalty of the congregation yet."
"You were a teenager protecting a grown-ass man and his family." Hope clenched her jaw, before getting up out of her seat to walk over to Maria.
Once she reached her side and saw Maria's naturally calming face, her demeanour started to soften. She found Maria's actions and overall attitude towards her past situation, just so unbelievably remarkable.
"You are much too good for this world, you know that?" Hope said while turning Maria in her seat so that she could sit on her lap. She then wrapped her arms around her shoulders after possessively plunking herself down on top of her.
"I'm not." Maria slid her arms around Hope's lower back.
"You are, because if that were me, I wouldn't have accepted my fate so graciously. And I definitely wouldn't have forgiven either of them." Hope sternly nodded. "I hold grudges, you know?"
"Yeah." Maria smirked. "You're like your dad in that way."
Hope narrowed her eyes at her for comparing her to her father. Though she knew that her comment had some truth to it. "So." She decided to let Maria's words slide, not wanting to derail their conversation. "What ever happened to her?" Hope started innocently fiddling with Maria's shirt collar, really wanting to play with her hair, but she wasn't able to with it being tied back – mission ready.
"Last I heard, she's married to a man and has a few kids with him."
"Do you think she's in love with him?"
"I sure hope so," Maria said earnestly. "That'd be quite the suppressed life if she wasn't."
Hope gawked at her. "Honestly, do you ever get tired of being so damned righteous?" She shook her head in awe. "You really don't wish ill of anybody, do you? Like not even a little bit?"
Maria smirked at her question before thoughtfully addressing it. "I don't see much point in that. It takes a lot of emotional energy to hold onto things. And besides, grudges do absolutely nothing to the person who wronged you in the first place."
Hope was coming to realise that Maria may not have held animosity towards others, but she still had an overall distrust of people – caused by the painful transgression that they'd repeatedly afflicted on her.
"Rationale over emotion." Hope smirked, focusing on her words and not on the pain in her eyes. "You really always are the level headed deputy director, aren't you?"
Maria heavily sighed. "Yeah, until I have an emotional breakdown," she said as if she were disgusted in herself.
"Thank god for those." Hope dramatically smacked her hands on top of Maria's shoulders, leaving them there to rest. "They're – like – the only thing that lets me know you're human."
"Because otherwise I'd be an emotionless robot?" Maria cocked her head to the side, clearly misinterpreting her.
"No." Hope smiled at her as she slid her hands to cup Maria's face. "Because otherwise, you'd be too perfect, and it wouldn't be fair to the rest of us mere mortals."
"You're hilarious," Maria said sarcastically; evidently not taking her words to heart.
"No, I'm really not. I'm just right." She grinned while nodding. "Almost always, actually." Hope dipped her head down to Maria, with intentions of kissing her, but right before their lips came together she was stopped by a voice.
"Are you guys – just like – always nauseous from being so disgustingly in love all the time, or..." Hope's head snapped up to find Tony leaning against the doorway, looking pleased with himself like he'd actually just said something clever.
"What do you want, Tony?" Maria huffed in annoyance while Hope lifted herself up from off of her lap so that Maria could swivel in her seat to look at him.
"The girls want to run something past you."
"Which girls?"
He threw his hands up like it was obvious. "You know, Nakia, Okoye, Nat, Steve." He then shook his head. "The girls."
Maria turned to Hope, rolling her eyes as she showed the woman her annoyance towards him. Hope couldn't help but chuckle towards her reaction.
"Also, I'm supposed to tell both of you we should be landing in ten minutes."
Maria then looked to Hope's project on the table before gazing back up to her. "I'll finish it later," Hope answered her question before she even posed it. "And suit up now." Maria nodded like Hope had responded appropriately before she got up, taking her computer, and left.
But Tony didn't follow Maria straightaway, instead, he remained in his spot, leering at Hope's work. "Before I go, need anything?" he asked Hope casually, "Water? Screwdriver? An engineer who can improve whatever it is you're attempting there with his genius intellect?"
Hope really was never thrown off by Tony's audacity. She'd been surrounded by men like him her entire life. Rich elitists who thought they knew better than everyone else, under any and all circumstances.
"Yeah, actually, now that you mention it." Hope smiled disingenuously. "Do you happen to have a sippy cup on you? Preferably one made out of a super dense material." She eyed him, implying that she'd really love to send a sturdy projectile towards his head like she had in the past.
"Okay, yeah, I get it," he muttered. "You and Maria really are made for each other." He then turned and walked away while talking to himself, "Bonded through threats of violence."
Hope chuckled to herself before she started to get ready; excited for their mission despite her already tired body.
After taking a lap around the compound Hope flew into the main warehouse, slipping in under the roof, which was open under the overhang.
She'd reported seven men surrounding the building on the compound's grounds, before buzzing around inside; over tall shelving and pallets stacked with crates full of raw coffee beans.
"This place is crawling," Hope reported through her comms while flying overhead after head. de Ruyter admittedly had more men left then they'd thought, and they were all armed with automatic firearms. The majority of them weren't on alert, they were mostly chatting amongst themselves while smoking. There was even a card game in session on top of one of the crates. But regardless of their relaxed demeanour, they were still ready to jump up within a second's notice to defend their operation.
Just as Hope flew over a few more stacks nearing the far end of the warehouse, she saw a movement from the corner of her eye. Whipping her head to the side, she saw the impundulu perched on the top shelf of the stack just next to her. She immediately dove down to take cover behind a nearby crate on a similarly levelled shelf, just across from the bird. Knowing that the creature would see her if it turned towards her. Luckily, the creature was facing the other direction, sights downwards as its head twitched back and forth like it was possibly tracking mice on the warehouse floor.
Hope, quietly walking, wedged herself between the crate and a shrink-wrapped pallet of coffee beans, to sneak around to the far side of her shelf; avoiding the impundulu's highly acute senses. Once she reached the end, she peered down and between the gaps of the shelf in front of her. She could see de Ruyter (knowing his face from seeing his photo in the briefing). He was a tall, muscular man, with a shaved head, and was currently shirtless in a pair of jeans. He was heavily tattooed with a large prominent bullhead etched into his torso that stood out in contrast with his pale, white skin. The man was standing next to a table, with a few guns laying out on it, as well as a laptop computer and a chrome briefcase.
"Okay, I've got eyes on de Ruyter," Hope spoke in a low tone. "But I don't think I can get any closer with the impundulu right next to me."
"We have what we need," Maria came in from the other end (She could see everything Hope could from her bodycam.). "Hold your position."
Hope nodded. "Alright." She then instantly realized that she hadn't responded appropriately for a mission, corrected her vocabulary. "Understood," she quickly added.
"Barton?" Maria's voice came through the comms again.
"Yeah," he answered, "I'm in the nest. Locked and loaded." Hope understood that to mean he'd successfully gotten to high ground, somewhere along the perimeter, ready to take enemies out with his bow.
Maria then asked, "Rogers?"
"We got the lay of the place, ready to move on your orders," Steve said on behalf of the ground team that was to infiltrate the building. Evidently, watching Hope's cam on the Kimoyo Beads that Shuri had supplied him with.
"Alright." Maria ordered, "Thor, you're up."
"Excellent," the Asgardian said enthusiastically.
Then, within seconds, Hope jumped at the sound of a huge thunder strike that hit just outside of the warehouse. She knew it was coming, but the vibration echoed through the building and shook the stack beneath her feet, which still ended up startling her.
Before the men beneath her had time to react, the impundulu took off like a bullet, soaring underneath the partially open loading dock door that lay just to the side of de Ruyter.
They were planning on Thor's lightning hit to grab de Ruyter's attention, which would hopefully make him send out the creature to deal with their air team, but this worked out even better. Like the impundulu sensed its own element being manipulated by another – seeing it as a potential threat to instantly investigate on its own.
"The impundulu is out of the building," Hope reported.
"Yeah, we got eyes on it," Sam said from somewhere in the air.
"Air team, switch your comms," Maria instructed, wanting the two groups to not distract each other now that they were on individual missions. "Ground team, you have a go," Maria ordered as they wasted no time in breaching the building from the far end, opposite to where de Ruyter was, as Hope took flight, making her way over to observe them.
Hope was under orders to remain out of sight even during the breach, as she was their designated eyes and backup.
Okoye and Steve pushed in first. Before the men by the door had time to raise their weapons, Steve had knocked one unconscious with his shield and Okoye had taken two others out with a twirl of her spear.
"Two coming up on your left," Hope informed them. Natasha started running full speed towards the location just as the pair rounded the corner. As she approached them, one drew his gun, about to shoot her, when Nakia threw one of her ring-blades, knocking the weapon out of his hand. Natasha then proceeded to dive on them, taking them both out with a few kicks and a body flip.
Hope proceeded to guide them through as they quickly drew closer to de Ruyter's position. But when she managed to catch a glance of the B.N.U. leader once again, she was alarmed by his actions. He wasn't running away or picking up arms, instead, he was tinkering with an antenna and his laptop. He was also wearing an odd helmet that looked like an E.E.G. headset with electrodes that appeared to be connecting his brain to his tech setup.
"Oh, fuck," Hope muttered.
Maria must have been watching her bodycam as she asked, "Is that—?"
"Yeah. Pretty sure," Hope cut her off, assuming that he was trying to activate the Enclave mind control device. The very tech he'd been using to manage the impundulu, according to their intel.
"Rogers. de Ruyter. Now!" Maria barked.
"On it," Steve replied as he booked it for de Ruyter with his teammates fanning out behind him, protecting him on his flanks while bullets flew towards them. There were at least ten or so men that were still standing, trying to take them out.
But just as Steve was a few metres away from the South African, his back still turned to them as he faced his computer, de Ruyter simply said, "Halt."
Steve abruptly stopped dead in his tracks.
de Ruyter turned around, smiling as he looked at Steve who was just standing there, still, like a zombie. Quickly, Hope scanned the place – from her aerial view – finding that not only Steve, but everyone in the building was standing in their spot, not moving. "Ah, guys?" Hope spoke into her comms. "You still with me?" But her team didn't respond. "Maria?"
"Yeah, I'm seeing this," she said. "Barton, you still with us?"
"Yeah, I'm here," he responded, his location still outside of the building.
Then de Ruyter called out, addressing the warehouse. "My B.N.U. brothers, continue to hold down this building." His men all complied; picking up their weapons and spreading out. "My S.H.I.E.L.D. intruders." He looked to the team. "Fall in line over there." He pointed to a spot in front of a nearby stack, as Hope's four mission companions complied.
"I'm going in," Hope announced, ready to fly straight for de Ruyter.
"No, you're not," Maria countered.
"I can get in there and destroy that machine!"
"You are to stay back."
"But he could make them hurt each other." Hope pushed back, scared that her teammates wouldn't come out the other end alive if they didn't act immediately.
"Van Dyne, hold your position. That's an order." Maria spoke so firmly it took Hope aback. She quickly realized that she wasn't bantering with her girlfriend, she was refusing her C.O.'s direct order, which made her feel ashamed. She should have known better.
Hope dropped her feet onto a crate, at the top of a shelf, as she complied. "Holding position," she sheepishly said.
"Good," Maria simply said. "Now, change to our secondary comms frequency." Hope was quick to comply, tuning in to their other, predetermined channel, as she kept her eyes glued to the scene below her. "Barton?" Maria checked in to see if he was there on the line.
"Here," he said.
"Van Dyne?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Maria took a breath. "Let's assess. Van Dyne, why are you not under his control? Is it because you're miniaturized?"
"I don't think so. It's not like I'm smaller than the electromagnetic spectrum at this size."
"What is your helmet made out of?" Shuri asked her, as it sounded like she was pushing into Maria's mic.
"Ah, it's actually woven from unstoppable molecules."
"You got your hands on Reed Richards's molecular structural designs?" Shuri gawked, "That's so cool."
"Are we theorizing it's the helmet?" The gears in Hope's head started to turn. "Because I think you might be onto something with that."
"The mind control device is being delivered through a high-frequency wavelength," Shuri started to ponder out loud.
"The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength," Hope continued.
"So when they hit your helmet, the waves are so small they vibrate the unstoppable molecules at a faster rate—"
"Which strengthens the molecular bonds." Hope nodded.
"Because that is how unstoppable molecules work," Shuri excitedly said, showing that she was familiar with Dr. Richard's work on the subject.
"And as long as my comm receiver isn't tuned to the device's frequency—"
"You're good."
Maria then interrupted them. "Please tell me this geek-out session is going to help us here."
"Actually, I do have an idea," Shuri said. "Unfortunately, I do not have the information, time, or resources to fashion a bunch of Wasp helmets. But we do have destructive interference available to us." Hope nodded, totally on the same page. 'I can whip up a transmitter in no time." She was planning on sending out a frequency that would cancel out the mind control's frequency.
"We captured the impundulu!" Hope suddenly heard Sam's voice over Maria's and Shuri's shared comms, bringing a small sense of relief to the woman. Though, she was still much too concerned about her teammates below her standing around like mannequins, to fully appreciate the good news.
"Barton, Van Dyne, standby," Maria said. "And, Van Dyne, keep an eye on our team. And do not engage unless it's life or death."
"Understood." Hope nodded.
Hope impatiently waited for orders as she nervously watched the scene below her. Luckily, de Ruyter wasn't paying much attention to her teammates as he was back at his computer. She then overheard him mutter to himself, "Okay, now where is my bird?"
This piqued Hope's interest. She decided to stealthily gain a little ground just so that she could sneak a peek at his monitor. When she did, she saw a map with a blip on it.
"Guys," Hope said into her comms as she flew back to her spot atop the shelf, "it looks like the impundulu has a tracker on it."
"Okay," Maria responded, sounding very distracted, "I'll pass that info onto Stark."
After about ten minutes, Maria broke their radio silence. "Barton, how many strong is their perimeter?"
"Just two. I took most of them out when we breached the place."
"Kay. Van Dyne, how about in the warehouse?"
"Nine able-bodied. Three injured. Five unresponsive. And that's not including our people who are currently under new allegiance."
"I'm on my way now carrying Shuri's transmitter. Barton, you're my cover in. And, Van Dyne, you're to guide me through to de Ruyter while remaining hidden."
"Hidden?"
"Yes, you're our last line of defence. And If I get affected by the mind control device, I'll need you to shoot me. And do it quickly. Because I might shoot you, and my gun fires bullets."
"There're too many—"
"Then you are to shoot everyone else and contain us," she cut Hope off before she even had time to question her. "Barton, you'll then come in to assist."
"Yes, Ma'am," Clint answered straightaway like Maria had simply asked him to pass her the salt at the dinner table. But before Hope could voice her objections to this extremely risky plan, Barton came in again as he said, "I have you in my sights." Hope was sure she heard Clint loose a couple arrows. "Coast is clear," he informed Maria.
"Van Dyne, you have five seconds to get into position above the south doors."
Hope didn't have time to fight Maria on her insane mission plan as she beelined it for the doors. She hated everything about it. There were too many men. Maria should've ordered Hope to help her clear the floor.
Hope barely made it to the end of the room when the door crashed open. There was a guard right inside the threshold but before Hope could so much as warn Maria about him, she stepped to him, stomping his shin, visibly breaking his leg, before thrusting her knife into the side of his neck. Hope gulped at the action; Maria wasn't there to knock them out, she was there to kill. This action was one in which Hope still didn't feel ready to take herself; to kill a fellow man.
Then another man started shooting at her but Maria swung her victim's body to lean against her, using it as a human shield. She lifted her gun, shooting the new threat between his eyes, dropping him dead in one hit. Maria then discarded the man's corpse before heading onwards while taking enemies out left and right with just her knife and handgun.
Hope barely had to guide her. Her instincts were so well honed that it was like she was a machine with x-ray vision and advanced reflexes; nothing could stop her. Hope couldn't believe her eyes, she truly had thought that her and Maria were on a similar footing when it came to combat fighting. Which, in hindsight, was ludicrous to ever think. Maria was a trained marine. She'd lived and breathed combat since she was a teenager, and every bit of that showed as she took out every single B.N.U. lacky; the last one dropped to his knees right in front of her line up of agents as she threw her knife into his jugular.
"Captain America." de Ruyter smiled, not looking to have a care that she'd just killed all his men and stormed his hideout. "Attack this intruder."
To Hope's horror, Steve stepped to Maria, pulling his shield from off his back and swung it at her. It was like he was trying to cut her in half, he moved so quickly with Maria barely dodging his strike as she hopped to the side.
"Ah, Shuri," Maria said into her comms as she ducked under another swing of the shield. "I thought you said this thing would work?"
"I think it is. You are not under its control."
"Let me guess." de Ruyter crossed his arms in front of him. "You thought cancelling out the signal was just going to instantly wipe the effects of the device, just like that?"
Maria was backing away from Steve, clearly not wanting to engage with him while still trying to not get hurt. Steve was so fast and strong that he could kill her with a well positioned punch, which brought fear to Hope as she watched them. She really had to use all her strength to not disobey orders and fly down to assist her.
"Strike him in the head," Cint came in through the comms. "As hard as you can."
"What?" Maria asked as she jumped to dodge a punch but caught Steve's elbow, which aggressively knocked her into a pallet of packaged coffee beans, making Hope wince, knowing how that must have hurt.
"That's what snapped me out of it when I was under mind control. Nat hit me really hard in the head."
Suddenly, Hope realized that Maria now had a long metal rod in her hand as she found her stance again. It must have been lying next to the shelf that she'd just pushed herself away from. She then gracefully spun it around her body before charging at Steve, delivering a few strikes as he blocked them all with his shield. She was persistent though, as she then dropped low, like she was doing a spin kick but instead of using her foot she used the bar, taking Steve out from behind the knees. He crashed onto his back. Then she carried through in one swift movement, standing up and spinning on her heels. She then struck downwards with her weapon, right to his head.
The hit was loud. It knotted Hope's stomach as she wondered if the strike had seriously injured him – or worse – killed him. To her relief, Steve shortly brought his hand to his head, stirring as he muttered, "What the…"
That was all Hope needed to hear before she flew over and above the freestanding shelf that was right behind the other three agents. She grew to size, hiding behind sacks full of coffee beans that were piled up to her chest.
"Maria?" Steve asked in complete confusion which only encouraged Hope more as she quickly grabbed up two sacks (which must have individually weighed about twenty pounds) and held them out above Natasha and Nakia, dropping them on top of their heads – knocking them both to the ground.
"Wat de fok?" de Ruyter looked over to the fallen agents just as Hope ducked down in hiding. "Attack!" he yelled with clear panic in his voice. Hope couldn't even tell who he was ordering. Probably anyone who would listen.
Hope peeked down to see only Okoye complying, who was now stepping to Maria with her spear in hand, while Steve was struggling to sit up on the floor, still in a daze.
The Dora Milaje – surprisingly – retracted the butt end of her spear into itself, shortening her weapon to a length similar to a quarterstaff. Okoye then lunged at Maria, her spearhead down, then thrusting up at her towards her chest.
Maria parried the attack, pushing the spear away with her rod that she was using again like a staff, only for Okoye to step in and try to bash the butt end of her weapon into Maria's face. Maria was quick, like she anticipated the move, as she thrust the back end of her weapon upwards, blocking her strike while crouching and twirling her body away and besides Okoye. Now both facing the same direction. Maria then thrust her staff, trying to make contact with Okoye's torso, but she was stopped by the spear, easily pushing it outwards and away, sending Maria back out in front of her. Maria huffed before twirling her weapon, moving in for a head strike, but, again, Okoye was too skilled and blocked it.
They continued like this for a while, matching strike for strike where it was apparent that Hope was watching a commander fight a general. It wasn't even their physical skill that was hindering a victor from arising. It was that they were both equally in each other's heads. Understanding the other's tactics. There were no uncalculated steps, no unintentional strikes, it was meticulously purposeful.
Hope realised that this may never end as an idea popped into her head. Okoye might be in Maria's head but she wasn't in Hope's.
Hope then shot a sack of coffee beans in front of her, picking it up as it was now a shrunken beanbag-sized item. She then waited, looking for her window of opportunity. When she was convinced that she'd found it, she flung it towards the Dora Milaje. Just as the sack was about to hit her, Hope shot it mid-air as it came crashing down on top of her head at its full size. It knocked her to the ground right in front of Maria.
"Wat de hel gaan hier aan?" de Ruyter pulled out a gun, shooting up at where Hope was but she'd already shrunken down in size before he'd even turned to her.
Giving up on Hope, he turned his weapon on Nakia, who was struggling to her feet, helping Natasha up along with her. "Nobody move!" he spat. "Or the savage will get a bullet sized hole through her little brain."
"What the fuck did that racist just say?" Shuri gawked angrily into the comms. "Somebody kick him in the balls for me!"
"I got you." Hope flew over the bigot's head with her stomach to the ceiling, she then arched downwards doing a prolonged aerial backflip while growing to size, right behind his back, as she used her momentum to kick him right between the legs.
The scream that came out of the man didn't sound human. He instantly fell to his knees while dropping his gun to the floor so that he could grab his crotch.
"That's right!" Shuri cheered. "The legs that I engineered kicked that skinhead, fascist in the ipipi!"
"You're right." Hope smirked, not familiar with the word she'd used but definitely understood the gist, as she kicked the firearm away from him and ripped off his headset, all while he was still collapsed on the ground. "This was your victory, kid."
"So is everyone back?" Maria pulled out her firearm, which was previously holstered at her leg, as she eyed her team. "Anyone still feeling like they want to kill me?"
"Van Dyne's the one who bashed my head in, not you." Natasha groaned as she rubbed her scalp.
"Nobody's killing the newbie who helped save our sixes," Steve huffed as Natasha turned to give Hope a genuine smirk of appreciation. Then both Okoye and Nakia bowed their heads in thanks to her as well.
Maria holstered her weapon, seemingly satisfied that everyone was, indeed, themselves. "Cap." She looked to the man. "You mind grabbing, Fuck-Face here?" She gestured to de Ruyter.
"Normally, I hate it when you swear like that" – he walked to the man, aggressively yanking him up to his feet – "but with this Nazi, I'm in full support of it." He then started dragging the man out.
Maria then went to de Ruyter's computer, obviously wanting to shut down the mind control device. "It's password-protected." Maria huffed to herself. "I'm gonna have to get Stark in here."
Hope then deactivated her helmet as she asked, "Can I give it a look?"
Maria shrugged, stepping away as she gestured for her to take a stab at it.
Hope found that it was just a Windows password. She then noted the Dell laptop, feeling rather confident that she could use the workaround that she was familiar with. She was – by no means – a pro hacker, but she had taught herself a few things while her dad and she were underground those couple years.
As Maria stepped away to see to her team, Hope rebooted the laptop. While the system was loading up, she pressed F12 on the keyboard, bringing up a menu screen. She navigated through it until she opened up a text box and quickly typed in a few lines of code. Pressing Enter, a Windows home screen opened.
"You did it." Maria stepped back to her, looking over her shoulder.
"Ah, not quite." Hope then went to the taskbar, opening password keys navigating to Windows login, then to reset password. "This is just a shadow system," she explained while typing in a new password and setting it before rebooting the computer once again.
"Okay, it should be good now." Hope moved to the side for Maria to have access to it once more.
When Maria went to take over she was quick to comment, "It's still password locked."
"Yeah, try 'fuckface.' All lowercase. No spaces."
Maria smirked as she quickly typed. "I'm in." Her smirk turning into a pleased smile as she shook her head in amusement. "By the way," she said, not looking away from the screen. "Thanks for sacking everyone earlier. Especially, you know who."
Hope grinned. "I honestly don't know if you're talking about Okoye or de Ruyter."
Maria only chuckled as she avoided any sort of clarification to her comment.
It didn't take long for her to figure out how to turn off the device while Hope walked over to see the girls, apologising to them for their current headaches.
About a half-hour later, their aircraft was parked on the complex's grounds. A cleanup crew (who were contracted out by S.H.I.E.L.D.) were just clearing out after disposing of the bodies and erasing any and all traces of what had happened there.
The impundulu was currently sedated, tracker removed, and in a forcefield enhanced cage that Tony and Thor had already secured into the hull of the aircraft. The Asgardian was tasked to babysit the creature for the duration of the flight. de Ruyter, however, was separated from his bird, shackled on the main deck of the ship with Steve keeping an eye on him.
At present, everyone else was slowly making their way out of the warehouse towards the aircraft, ready to head out. They were carrying various firearms in hand as they were charged with the task of cleaning out the weapons.
Hope had two AR-15s slung over her shoulder as she walked down an aisle of the warehouse. She was now really starting to feel run down, ready for a rest. But she pushed through her tired state, picking up her pace when she saw Maria standing between the stacks, empty-handed as she was only there to call her team back.
Hope had this guilt in the pit of her stomach that she so desperately needed to address as she fell still next to Maria. She bit her lip a little nervously before timidly starting, "I'm sorry for questioning you earlier. And for not listening to you from the start." Maria looked to her, expressionlessly. "I had no idea what you ended up doing was even an option, like physically speaking." She still couldn't believe what Maria had accomplished when she stormed the place. "I just saw that we were in trouble and reacted."
"It's naive to fault a spirited filly for bucking before she's broken in," Maria simply said.
"Wait." Hope shook her head, totally not expecting to hear what she just had. "Did you just call me a wild horse?"
"You wouldn't be the first," Natasha said as she approached them, with a small crate of various weapons in her hands. "She's definitely said that to Sharon before." She smirked at Maria before looking at Hope.
"And how did she take it?" Hope crossed her arms.
"I believe she said, 'You'll never break me, bitch.'."
"You believe wrong," Maria said to the new arrival. "It was actually, 'Bitch, you ain't never breaking me.'."
Natasha tilted her head to eye her best friend. "And you kind of didn't."
"I manage her fine," Maria said matter-of-factly. "She just scowls a lot while I direct her."
"You think you can do the same for this one?" Natasha gestured to Hope with her head.
Maria looked at Hope thoughtfully as she eventually said, "She's not quite as fiery as Sharon."
"True. But I think she might be a bit more clever." Natasha nodded while studying the woman now on trial.
"You're thinking she'll play nice while she's secretly chomping at the bit, preparing to rebel?"
"Oo, I like how you brought back the horse metaphor just then."
"Thank you."
Hope huffed. "Can you guys please stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here?" Yet, she admittedly felt a little relieved to hear that she wasn't the only disobedient person Maria had to deal with.
"See," Natasha said, still ignoring Hope, "that's a little too assertive right there."
"You're right." Maria nodded. "She's definitely going to be a problem."
"Okay. I get it. Point made." Hope threw her arms up in the air. "I won't fight your orders again," she said, looking at Maria, before realizing that she was guilty of doing the same with Natasha too. "Either of yours," she said, now looking over to the other woman.
"I don't like how she just added that on to the end there," Natasha said to Maria, "like I was a hesitant afterthought."
Maria shrugged. "Well – to be fair – when she disobeyed your orders, she did become the Queen Slayer."
"That was your mission, they were technically your orders."
"Mission plans don't make orders, people do," Maria countered Natasha's implication. "I didn't order anyone to do anything that day."
Natasha gawked at her. "Are we really gonna have this debate again?"
Clint then came walking past them with his arms full, commenting on their conversation. "I'm with Maria. Briefings aren't orders."
Natasha then followed after. "Just because it's written down doesn't omit it from being an order."
"It's not about if it's written down or not," Clint explained his perspective, "It's about it being a plan of attack, and not a stringent set of orders." Their conversation trailed off as they exited the building together.
Hope looked over to Maria who was smirking at the two agents that had just left before she gazed back over to Hope.
Hope, however, was still bothered by her behaviour as she started again, in the most sincere way, "I really do promise I won't be a problem, I just—"
"I was half expecting something like this from you. So don't worry so much about it," Maria cut her off, as she casually spoke.
"What?" Hope shook her head, feeling hurt by her words. "You were?"
Maria softened her eyes as she smirked at her. "You're not the first civilian to join this rodeo. And an unquestioning chain of command isn't exactly ingrained into you academic types." She then shrugged nonchalantly. "So I'm used to dealing with voiced opinions over direct orders."
"That wasn't my intent," Hope practically blurted. "And I do respect you and your command, I swear. It's just—"
"It was a reaction," Maria said in understanding. "You question while actively seeking out information. Like a scientist."
"Yeah."
"I know." She nodded. "S.H.I.E.L.D. training will help you with that impulse," she said like she had the utmost confidence in that. "Are you good?" she asked like she could tell that Hope was still a bit bothered.
"Are we good?"
Maria crossed her arms and sighed in exaggeration. "I don't know. You briefly hesitated an order before complying with it through full cooperation. I may have to send you to the gallows for that." She shook her head. "And while I'm at it, I might as well drag Tony off to the guillotine. 'Cause he's – by far – the worst at following chain of command."
Hope had to bite down a giggle, relieved that she was forgiven for her misstep.
Hope then studied Maria for a moment, her thoughts falling back to their mission. "Maria?"
"Yes, Hope?"
Hope stared into her gorgeous eyes as she shook her head in awe. "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I watched you clear this warehouse with just a sidearm and a knife. I still don't even understand how you did it." Hope stepped to her as she gently took a hold of Maria's shirt collar, only to seductively pull at it before she ran her hand down to her chest. "You are the most spectacular person I've ever met."
"You better watch yourself." Maria smiled with intrigue while lowering her gaze. "You don't want me reporting you for misconduct in the workplace."
God, Hope had never been so turned on by a person as she could feel her body starting to throb.
"Here." Suddenly something was thrust between them; looking over, she saw Tony passing by while smoking a cigar. Hope grabbed the item, finding a paper bag that read There goes my lunch on it.
"Okay, where did he even get a barf bag from?" She looked to Maria as she then continued, "And I thought you were going to murder him like five months ago?" She chucked the item over her shoulder.
"I'm getting to it. I've been busy." Maria then looked to the cocky man as he exited the warehouse. "But" – she slid her jaw to the side – "there does seem to be a plus side to my procrastination." Maria looked back to Hope. "Because now – apparently – the guillotine's an option that I never even thought of until n—" But Hope couldn't stand to hear anymore as she aggressively pushed Maria up against the pallet of coffee beans that stood behind her. "Hope!" Maria barely got out before the woman hungrily pressed her mouth to hers.
Maria was fast to grab the AR-15s from Hope's shoulder, dropping them to the ground before she wrapped her arms around her body, pulling her in closer.
Hope hated that she couldn't feel the pressure of Maria's body as much as she normally could due to her Wasp suit. But that didn't stop her from thrusting her hips up against hers, trying for as much stimulation as she could.
Once she'd properly explored Maria's mouth with her tongue, she moved down to her neck, yanking Maria's collar open as she began kissing it. "You got that damn man" – she worked her way to her pulse point – "and his stupid bird." She then bit at the spot making Maria gasp, before muttering, "And it was so fucking hot." She then began sucking at the location where she could feel Maria's weight falling harder into the stack behind her, her head stretching further to the side exposing as much of her neck as possible. Her nails digging into Hope's scalp, as she moaned through the experience.
Soon Hope heard a muffled voice, quickly realizing that someone was talking to Maria through the Bluetooth in her ear. "For the love of God, Hope," Maria gasped before she raised her hand to her ear. She then said in an amazingly steady voice, "Yeah, I'll be right there." The action made Hope smile, finding Maria to be so multi-talented.
"You just promised me you wouldn't be a problem." Maria huffed as she brought her other hand to Hope's head, joining the one that was still clawing at her scalp. "You're a dirty, filthy liar." Maria yanking her away from her neck, to only then push her mouth back to Hope's, kissing her like she often had late at night in their bed, before eventually tearing Hope away from her. "Okay, enough," she gasped, catching her breath. "We're loaded, ready to take de Ryder back to Wakanda."
Hope took a step back, trying to conceal a satisfied grin. "And his bird?" Hope asked, full well knowing the answer, just really wanting to drive the point into Maria's head that she caught the creature that had brought her so much stress.
"Yeah, that stupid thing too." Maria smirked as she bent down, scooping up the weapons that she had thrown on the ground and put them over her own shoulder. "So, let's move out."
"Yes, Ma'am." Hope spun on her heels to walk out, with Maria falling in step beside her.
They were in transport for about fifteen minutes already with Maria's team starting to settle into the flight. They had all stripped off their suits and slipped into more comfortable attire.
Maria was currently sitting next to both Sam and Steve, watching over de Ryter, who was in shackles, sitting on a bench across from them.
Maria really had no desire to interrogate him. She actually hated questioning people in general. If she could she'd leave that task for someone else, like Natasha. That woman could really read just about anybody, which was a skill that Maria wasn't great at unless it was specifically sussing out their fighting technique. So she decided to just stay silent. Keeping a strong, but blank stare whenever he looked over to her.
Realizing he wasn't getting anything from her, de Ruyter focused his attention on to Sam. "You're American, eh?" Sam just glared at him like he was disgusted to his core that he was trying to talk to him. "Yeah, I can tell. Ya got the air of a man who's benefited from Western Civilization." Maria could hear Sam grinding his teeth next to her. "That's why I respect you black Americans. You learned from us how to industrialise. Now if only you'd gone back to your countries and taught your own."
"My ancestors were stolen from Africa," Sam growled. "I don't even know which country I'm from, you racist piece of shit."
de Ryter smiled in amusement. "I'm not racist, I love and appreciate all races. It's just all this mixing has sent our world into chaos. Your people would be better off in their own designated places."
"Like Wakanda?" Sam looked at him like he was full of bullshit, which he was. Sam was smart. He knew the white supremacist didn't just want separate places for black people, especially not places with power. No, what he wanted was something more akin to internment camps for them.
Before de Ruyter could respond by stringing together some more bigoted bullshit, Hope walked past them, on her way to the lower deck. Maria assumed that she had intentions of working on her blasters again since that was the very thing she was holding in her hands. Though, she wished that she would instead go take a nap since she'd looked exhausted for the better part of the day.
"Ah, Ms. Van Dyne," he called to her, now totally ignoring Sam. Hope took a large backstep, turning to see who was addressing her. "I didn't realize you were here." He smiled, clearly not realizing that she was the one who kicked him in the balls earlier. He brought his hands to his heart. "What an honour it is to finally meet you, B.N.U.'s greatest investor."
A look of utter confusion fell across the woman's face as she asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm – of course – talking about your charitable contributions to our movement over the years"
"I would never give money to support your cause," she strongly asserted.
"No?" He raised a brow. It was clear that he was enjoying himself. "Does, 'Revitalising Africa' ring any bells to you?" He cocked his head with an insincere smile.
Suddenly Hope's face went ghostly pale as if some sort of realization hit her. "What?" She barely got out as her eyes grew in size.
"Ah." de Royter leaned back to rest on his elbow, lounging out sideways on the bench. "You do know it."
Hope didn't remain there, instead, she hurriedly rushed away. Worry instantly crept into Maria's being, hoping that de Ryter was just messing with her and that everything was okay.
de Ryter then let out a deranged laugh, finding their interaction to be the most amusing.
First, he was racially taunting Sam, and now he'd just upset Hope; Maria was really holding back from getting up and punching him in the face.
But to Maria's relief, Okoye calmly walked over from the bridge, abruptly swung her spear into the man's head, knocking him out and saving her the trouble.
She then muttered something under her breath about a hyena's laugh before stoically turning to the three on the bench. "Commander Hill. If I may request your presence on the bridge for a moment?"
Maria nodded as she got up, not pleased that she couldn't follow after Hope, but knowing that her duty to the mission was her first priority.
The Dora Milaje was enquiring about the logistics of their captees. Maria assured her that both de Ruyter and the impundulu were Wakanda's prisoners first, but S.H.I.E.L.D. still wished to have access to them if the need ever presented itself. She was pleased with the arrangement, informing her that she'd only need the king's final word to make their agreement binding.
After their chat, Maria exited the room to seek out Hope.
She ended up finding her on the second floor down in the ship's sleeping quarters. Hope had her laptop out on the table that sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by three walls of bunk beds. Hope was standing at the table, body slumped over as she chomped away at her nails (which was never a good sign), with her head in the monitor, evidently connected to the ship's wifi.
Maria could tell that there was something wrong. "Hope?" Maria gently addressed her as she took a few steps forwards.
Hope, with her eyes still glued to the screen, slowly shook her head as she muttered, "It's true."
Maria's stomach dropped, pretty sure she already understood, as she still asked just to be sure. "What's true?"
Hope removed her fingers from her mouth. "I was personally funding a terrorist organisation," she choked out before turning to Maria. She growled, "And for years!" Hope shook her head again, but this time with vigour. "My grandfather was a benefactor. He set up annual donations to the B.N.U. hiding them behind a fake charity." Hope looked absolutely distraught. "One that I kept alive."
"You didn't know," Maria insisted, needing Hope to understand that it wasn't her fault. "It's not like you created the front and initiated the donations. That's on your grandfather."
"No, it's on me," Hope spat, turning to point at her monitor. "That's my signature." Maria assumed she was indicating to some sort of Funds Transfer form. "I allowed the donations to continue on." She focused back on Maria as she continued, "Once I turned eighteen, it was my responsibility to make sure the Van Dyne fortune was used appropriately." She pointed aggressively to herself. " Mine."
"It was purposely disguised to look like you were helping those in need." Maria tried to calm her down.
"Yeah." Hope started pacing, doing the opposite of calming down as she started revving herself up even more. "But just the sheer fact that I'm so goddamned fucking rich that one point three billion dollars could go to them, and it not even be enough for me to look further into it, is morally reprehensible!" Her feet were now carrying her quicker as she stalked the room. "I just equipped a whole rebellion with my pocket change." She practically laughed out in agitation. "I mean, the public is constantly raking Tony over the coals for his disgusting wealth, yet I'm barely ever mentioned." The volume of her voice climbed. "And my net worth is bigger than his!" She aggressively threw her hand up beside her. "And that's before the inclusion of my liquidated Pym Tech shares!"
Maria, trying to point out her logical downfalls, calmly said, "He made his money manufacturing and distributing weapons. The Stark name has been synonymous with war for years. Unlike the Van Dyne legacy, which is known as one of the first pioneers of twentieth century American innovation. And also for its social programs." She attempted to draw her point home. "You guys single-handedly fund a non-profit hospital, and give more to charity than anyone else in the fortune five hundred, to this day."
"And now we're the number one funder of a hate group!"
"Hope," she softly said in attempts to ground her, but it did nothing. She was off, lost in her own head while she continued.
"And all those social programs and charities – real charities – were my mom's doing." She slashed the air in front of her. "I did nothing." Then she pushed her fingers into her temples, forcefully rubbing at her head. "Like – sure – when she disappeared, my financial guardian hired a team to continue all her programs on my behalf" – she dropped her hand back down – "but I never personally did anything other than make appearances at the fundraisers, and get the board at Pym Tech to annually donate to them."
"Just because you didn't personally plan the parties doesn't mean you helped any less people."
It was clear Hope didn't process a word Maria had just said, as she stopped in her tracks to say, "You know, here I am with the Avengers, telling myself I joined the team to make a difference. But in reality, I make a bigger difference with my wealth. I could be saving more lives with my chequebook than I ever could as The Wasp."
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble with this factual tidbit, but your billions could never buy the galaxy the protection you assured them when you – The Wasp – eliminated a whole race of planet-killing alien bugs," Maria informed her, making eye contact with the woman so that she'd pay attention to her this time. "It doesn't have to be one or the other, and you know this." Maria took a step closer to her. "Stop punishing yourself for your grandfather's actions. Actions that he hid from your family."
Maria could see Hope starting to calm down as she dropped her head, sighing. "I should've caught it."
"Do you fault your mom too? Because she didn't catch it either."
Hope crossed her arm over her chest as she started biting her nails again, appearing deep in thought. "I don't know," she finally said.
"Well, if you're not going to blame her, you can't blame yourself either." Maria took another step closer.
Hope deflated her body as she sighed. "I don't like this."
Maria felt sympathetic to her plight as she nodded. "I know."
Hope looked to her with guilt and vulnerability as she asked, "Do you blame me?"
"No." Maria closed the gap between them before wrapping her arms around her. She then lovingly rubbed her back as Hope dropped her weight into her body as she hugged her back. "Hey," Maria softly said, pulling Hope back a bit so that she could look into her eyes, "the B.N.U. is dismantled. It's done." She gently pushed a lock of Hope's hair behind her ear.
"I know," Hope said in a tiny voice.
"And you know what else?"
"What?"
Maria smirked at her. "You're a really good person."
"Am I though?" Hope shook her head. "I mean, besides bisecting the brood queen, what have I actually ever done that would make me a good person who's bettered the world?"
Maria couldn't believe her ears as she asked in horrified confusion, "What are you talking about?" She saw Hope as nothing but light in a world full of darkness.
"It's just" – she sighed before properly starting – "ever since I was a kid, I was always told I was determined. This unstoppable force. But everything I've ever strived for was to better my own life." She then admitted, "I killed the brood queen because I wanted to prove myself on my first mission. I'm a selfish person." Maria shook her head in total disagreement as Hope continued talking. "You're the one who has this natural instinct to protect people." Hope locked eyes with her. "You're the good person, not me."
Maria, very quickly realised that Hope was looking at herself through the wrong perspective. "I've never once seen you act selfishly while going after what you want." She insisted. "Maybe a smidge entitled, but in an adorable, non-egotistical kinda way," she said in a slight tease. "Also, it's really unfair to dismiss all the good you do just because you get this sick personal pleasure out of it when you do it." She rolled her eyes before smiling at her, holding her gaze where Hope soon softened her expression. "You extinguished a universal threat, and today, you helped all of Africa by taking out a dangerous fascist. But – according to you – it somehow doesn't count because you enjoyed splitting the brood queen in half and kicking de Ruyter in the balls?" She shook her head. "Now, that's just ridiculous reasoning."
Hope let a small smile slip like she'd taken Maria's words to heart. "You're ridiculous," she said in a small voice.
"And you're gonna have to come to terms with the fact that your wants align with the wants of the masses. And that automatically makes you a good person just by going after your own desires."
There was a tiny twinkle in Hope's eyes as she asked, "So you're saying the desires that led me to pursue you have bettered the world?"
"They've definitely bettered my world." Maria softly pushing her mouth to Hope's.
The kiss was brief as Hope was the one to pull their lips apart only to hug Maria closer, resting her head on top of her shoulder.
Maria squeezed her tighter, holding her securely. But it wasn't long until she heard Hope sigh heavily in annoyance. "What is it?" Marta asked in response to her action.
"Maybe my grandfather did hide this one particular thing. And maybe this wasn't completely my fault." She spoke into Maria's neck, "But I'm sure our money is still harming people in other ways. Ways I've always had knowledge and control over. Like through some of our investments." Maria calmly listened, allowing Hope to work through what was bothering her. "The rich can only exist by the exploitation of the poor. I can't be a good person when my wealth is created and maintained by devaluing the labour of others."
"It's the whole system that's messed up. It's not just simply the rich." Maria felt the need to say. "Our world is complex and interconnected and—"
"No, I know," Hope interrupted her, "It's just." She took a moment before calmly saying, "I think I want to redistribute my wealth. And I don't mean, just write a few cheques, but like, give it all away. Dissolve the exploitive cycle altogether."
Maria nodded. "If that's what you feel you need to do, then I support your decision." She wanted Hope to feel comfortable. And if giving away her money was what she needed to do, then Maria would be there for her.
"I need to do this."
"What about your charities and non-profits?" Maria asked for clarification. She knew that she probably didn't want to leave those high and dry.
"I'll figure something out for them."
"Well, okay then," Maria simply said.
"Does this mean you're gonna leave me after my money's gone?" Hope asked softly.
"I'm composing my marriage proposal to Pepper in my head as we speak," Maria fibbed.
"Shut up, you heartless gold digger." Hope chuckled, which was like heaven to Maria's ears.
But unfortunately, Hope's lighter mood didn't last as she said, "This whole B.N.U. situation is still not okay, though." She then went on to reference the fact that they were two white Americans trying to justify away Hope's huge blunder against the native people of Africa. "And neither of us is really in the position to say otherwise."
"No. But I am." They heard Nakia's voice. They both naturally split apart from each other to turn to the woman who'd just walked in. "I do apologise, but I overheard you two from the other room while I was cleaning my ring-blades." The beautiful Wakandan gently oscillated her two weapons in her one hand, drawing attention to them.
"Nakia," Hope started guiltily, "I'm so sorry for—"
Nakia held her hand up to stop her as Hope instantly complied. She then calming said, "Wealth is a powerful force that has an extraordinary impact." She then gracefully took a few steps towards them. "For centuries Wakanda has grown in affluence while the majority of Africa fell to poverty." She then folded her hands in front of her with the elegance of a queen. "We did nothing. And through our lack of action, millions of people suffered unnecessarily." Her words were weighted, guilt in her eyes. "Our country's riches never saw the other side of our own borders." She shook her head as she locked eyes with Hope. "You and your ancestors – such as your mother and grandfather – are no more at fault for the misfortunes of Africa than me and my ancestors. But we are both still culpable, nonetheless. Our wealth has forever indebted us to this continent. And I can only hope that you, like myself, are prepared to pay it back."
"I am," Hope said with conviction.
"Good." Nakia nodded. "And as long as I hold any power in Wakandan, I will make certain that you, and your family, will always be welcome in our country," she said as if to bond Hope's journey of redemption to hers and her nation's as they searched for the same thing.
"Thank you," Hope said so intensely, never breaking eye contact with the woman.
"Thank you for your assistance today." Nakia bowed while crossing her arms over her chest.
Hope mirrored her actions before Nakia softly smiled and then turned to leave.
Maria studied Hope for a few seconds, noticing that her exhaustion had intensified. The news about her grandfather's actions, and the impact that it had on her, had clearly taken its toll. Maria then went to the panel at the door, dimming the lights before going to Hope's laptop and shutting it.
"What are you..." Hope muttered before Maria took her by the hand and pulled her into a bunk with her.
Laying down, Maria held the sleepy woman in her arms as she gently rested her hand to the side of Hope's head, brushing her thumb back-and-forth over her temple. "You're beat. I can tell."
"I'm very jet-lagged, I'll admit." Hope snuggled into Maria, evidently not admitting that what had just happened was having an impact on her energy levels.
Deciding to move on, and not mention her grandfather's mess, Maria simply added, "And you also did two missions, back-to-back." She lovingly kissed her on the forehead.
"How am I gonna pay Africa back?" Hope asked with a hint of distress in her voice. It was clear that she was taking her conversation with Nakia very seriously and was not ready to drop the subject yet.
Maria pushed her cheek to the spot that she'd just kissed, supporting her need to continue talking about it. "Maybe set up a real charity for Africa this time?" she suggested.
"Yeah, that would be a good start."
"And I can make sure to involve you in all the S.H.I.E.L.D. missions that take place here, if you'd like?"
"Yes. Thank you," Hope gently nodded in Maria's grasp before deeply sighing, finally seeming to be calming down.
They laid there for a little while in silence where Maria then moved to push her lips to her forehead, once again, kissing her before muttering into her skin, "I missed you." In that moment, realising how empty she often felt when Hope wasn't there in her arms.
"I missed you too," Hope said with low energy, yet it still came across as genuine. Evidently, she was quickly shutting down, which was understandable and exactly what Maria had wanted.
"Now, go to sleep, my love." Maria gently coaxed her.
"But aren't we gonna be back in Wakanda soon?" she muttered, clearly already falling into a slumber.
"Don't worry, I'll carry you off the ship when we get there," she joked.
Hope made a funny sound like her body was trying to giggle but it was too tired to. "Okay," she barely got out.
It didn't take long until Hope's breathing became slow and heavy. At that time, Maria pulled her head back to look at her. She couldn't help but smile at her beautiful, peaceful face as she realised that this was the first time she'd truly felt secure in their relationship. It really was the two of them against the world, ready to take on anything and nothing was ever going to split them up or stop them. She'd help Hope through her difficult times, just like Hope had helped her because that's what they did for each other.