Day 16: In Battle, Part I

Once Rogers and Romanoff had joined the rest of STRIKE team in the aircraft, Maria devoted her time to the information in front of her. Coulson had actually been the one to note the first discrepancy when he was going through case notes searching for information about the possible location of Captain America. It appeared as a footnote- a casual sighting here and there and a trail of bodies that Maria eventually linked to a ghost. They called him the Winter Soldier, and it was a name that even Romanoff mentioned once with a frown.

Responsibility had always been attributed to either an old KGB project or a byproduct of Red Room experimentation, but the more Maria dug the more she connected the similarities of the assassinations with an individual that had experienced the super soldier serum. Red lights flashed in her mind, and she swore when she determined there was a 94.6% chance that she had just found Sergeant Bucky Barnes. Then aliens attacked New York, and damn it all to hell, she had to focus on saving the world before one man.

When she brought her file to Fury, he swore and told her to drop it for now. She vehemently argued with his decision even though she agreed with his assessment that successfully retrieving an actively programed asset at that point in time was slim to none. So, she kept her ear to the ground and continued to update her file. She sent Barton and Romanoff his direction one mission much to Fury's displeasure, but nothing came of it. Then, she lost him. The Winter Soldier hadn't been seen or credited in months, and so Maria brought the file back to Fury in hopes of passing it to Steve who was currently twiddling his thumbs and volunteering to rebuild houses and schools in impoverished areas around the country. He'd have a better chance than anyone of breaking through Bucky's programming.

Now that she was banned from active duty, she discovered she had a lot more time to think about the puzzle that was the Winter Soldier. In addition to the information Fury kept dispersing, she knew something was wrong with her previous assessment. She just couldn't pinpoint it exactly. Frowning, she logged in to the database and pulled up Rogers' file. She sighed as her eyes flickered over the words she had long ago memorized, but she held out hope that seeing it in written form would jog her memory.

The shrill ring of her phone startled her and a curse flew from her lips. Shit. She was becoming more paranoid every day. Closing the database, she locked up the file and headed back to the control room as the aircraft neared the Indian Ocean. Something was off about this mission too, she mused. She couldn't help the sinking feeling that warned her this was somehow all connected. Glancing at the clock, she made a mental note to conference with the Director as soon as he arrived in the city.

Once she was sure her team was headed home no worse for wear- fucking pirates- she headed towards the Director's office, glaring at anyone in her way. Her eyes scanned the hallway while she mentally logged any suspicious behavior or personnel groupings. She may be slower than normal, but she still walked with purpose and kept a blank face despite her amusement at the agents slipping out of her line of sight as if they were hiding. Hiding. Hydra. She froze, and covered her expression by glancing down at her tablet with a frown.

Her mind quickly catalogued the possibilities and probability that Hydra was back, and had possibly never gone away. Her stomach churned with the implications. If her hypothesis was true then it was only a matter of time before someone realized she had pieced it together, and if that was the case then she and Nick needed to get out of the same location. All it would take was one bomb to wipe them both out. If Hydra really was back, she wasn't going down without a motherfucking fight. Her face was stone cold when she pushed her way into Fury's office only to be greeted with his outstretched phone with a typed message telling her to watch what she said.

If anyone were listening in on their current conversation they would be aware of the Lemurian Star situation and explosion, (Really Natasha? Another ship?) and the fact that Fury was assigning her to evaluate all personnel since she was still technically on medical leave. Their conversation according to typed messages was completely different. Fury agreed with her assessment and ordered her to leave immediately following their discussion. She was to head to the safe house in Pennsylvania to do what she could to protect the few agents on assignment Fury had vetted clear and to pick up a package for him. He'd call her with a time and location to rendezvous. Until then, she was dark. She nodded sharply, and he dismissed her with some stupid anecdote about the next season of The Amazing Race. Grabbing a stack of files, she reminded him she was only working half days, and calmly walked out of the Triskelion.

shieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshield

"Marc, Is this a secure line? I'll wait... Listen, there are problems, and I can't elaborate on that. I know... Just, do me a favor... If my name comes up, throw me under the bus... For fuck's sake, YES. It's not worth your career... I've never asked you for anything, but please. Do this for your family. I'll be fine... You may not hear from me for awhile... I love you too."

shieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshield

She paused at a rest stop somewhere near the Maryland border and pulled out her tablet to create a secure connection. She briefly ran through her black ops in progress and decided to recall a few of them. The rest would be fine on their own for several months if not longer. She sent Barton an encoded message telling him to stay dark until he heard from Fury, Natasha, or herself. He'd be fine in London away from any possible backlash. Checking the time, she figured the plane carrying STRIKE team should be landing and she dialed Natasha.

"Romanoff."

"Commander, we've just landed and are being cleared by medical."

"If you haven't heard already, you're meeting with Fury as soon as you and Rogers are clear."

"Got it."

Maria could hear Steve in the background and she swallowed hard.

"Can I talk to him?"

There was a moment of silence and she assumed Romanoff was passing him the phone.

"Hill?"

"Hey, you'll be debriefing with Fury. I'm on an errand run and I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"You okay?" he questioned softly.

His voice was tinged with a touch of anger and concern, and she knew he was frustrated with the mission.

"I hate medical leave," she grumbled and he laughed.

She tried to memorize the sound, and briefly closed her eyes. There was a slight dampness on her cheeks, and wondered when the tears had started. She exhaled slowly, and fought to keep the emotions at bay.

"Since I can't be out in the field, I'm just taking care of some mindless housekeeping."

"Don't work too hard," he said fondly.

"Take care of yourself, Steve."

She hung up quickly, wishing her last sentence hadn't sounded so final. Wiping her eyes, she sent one last message to Fury before dismantling her phone.

shieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshield

Steve felt his lips curve up at the sound of her voice, and quickly glanced up to make sure no one was in listening distance. Natasha gave him a look, but he ignored it. He was still ill with her and Fury about the side mission he had been unaware of until he found Natasha in the control room. In the past, he had tried to understand SHIELD's need for compartmentalization, but this could have gotten someone killed. If he was in charge in the field, he needed to know everything that could affect the mission. Pushing back his frustration, he frowned slightly at Maria's abrupt hang up. Natasha caught his expression.

"How's she feeling?"

"She's on an errand run, Romanoff. Something about housekeeping since she's still on medical leave."

He turned to head towards Fury's office, mentally preparing his list of grievances and missed the tension that briefly flashed across the Russian's face. If he had been paying attention, he would have seen the assassin redial before hanging up with a frown.

shieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshieldshield

Fury contacted her 12 hours later at the safe house and she gave him the number of her new burner phone.

"How did Rogers handle it?"

"He was sufficiently disgusted with Insight. Pierce is still pushing the go ahead, and I played along. This may go higher than you or I even imagined."

"Be careful, Nick," she said after a moment.

"You too, Maria."

She was about to hang up when his voice stopped her.

"And Hill- if this goes to hell, initiate Romeo Protocol."

"Yes sir."

Not even three hours later, she got the call from his car telling her to stay dark. She bit her lip at the sound of bullets hitting over the phone when they were cut off. She took the long way to the underground bunker and tripled back to make sure she wasn't followed. Her face was tight as she round the corner, and when she saw him she didn't know whether to hug him or punch him.

"Director," she stated with annoyance.

"Took you fucking long enough," he responded. "I need to update Rogers. Agent 13 has informed me he's out of the apartment for now, so I should be able to slip in."

"Not when you're bleeding all over the floor," she retorted.

He silenced her with a look.

"We'll go through the basement door in the laundry room," she said with a sigh.

"Do you have the vial?"

"No, I drove all the way to fucking Pennsylvania because I've decided to become Amish," she grumbled.

His lips twitched, and he held out his hand.

"It's an automatic dispenser- no syringes necessary. Just unlock the release and press the button and you should have roughly twenty minutes before your heart slows enough to simulate death."

He nodded, and she knew there was something else on his mind.

"Maria-" he paused. "The Winter Soldier is in DC."

She swore.