Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 5~
Fatherly Betrayal

"Sir, what do we do…"

"Keep 'em busy…"

"Can't let them take it!"

"Then kill them!"

Darkness was surrounding Maria. From time to time, she would wake up to a hazy world, though it felt wrong. The world around her felt as though it didn't exist when she did wake up and so, she quickly succumbed back to the darkness again.

The face of the man who had attacked her appeared in her mind over and over again. He looked familiar, just like his voice. And deep down, she knew who it was. Though her mind was not letting her think it. Mostly because she didn't believe that he would do something like this to her.

At one point, Maria woke up again and her surroundings felt different. The world around her was still hazy-looking, though it felt more real and she knew that whatever drug they had given to her had finally started to wear off. She found herself strapped to a chair, her hands and feet tied up tightly and as she tried to move, her ankles and wrists hurt her badly.

Her surroundings were slightly foggy still, though she could make out where she was. Although the chair was turned so that her back was towards the room, she knew from the look of the walls that she was still in some sort of a lab. After all, the rest of the facility had looked so much different. In front of her was a desk with a computer screen on it, showing the logo of Hydra. The eyes of the red skull seemed to bore into her soul as she looked at it and she wanted to turn away, though she couldn't.

Footsteps were heard behind her and she straightened her back, her entire body tensing at the sound of it.

"Looky who's awake!" someone said with a sing-song voice. "Finally decided to pay the real world a visit, huh?"

A hand grasped her shoulder and before she knew it, the chair was turned around and she was met with the familiar face of her father. He hadn't aged a day from the looks of it and her eyes narrowed slightly, unsure of what to think about the situation she had found herself in.

"Dad?"

"Oh, you do remember me? Come to pay your old man a little visit?" he asked, straightening up with a smirk on his face. "How kind of you."

"You left for Hydra-"

"You have no idea of why I left," he cut her off, sending her a glare before turning around, his hands behind his back as he started to walk up to one of the tubes Maria had seen before.

"Then tell me," she said, her voice sounding less harsh then it had done earlier.

"Do you like it?" he asked quietly, causing Maria to frown. "My creation?"

Her father placed a hand on the tube with a copy of Maria's unconscious body in it and an uncomfortable feeling made its way up to her heart.

"Why did you leave?" pressed Maria, her voice harsh again.

"Hydra needed me…" was all he replied.

"I don't believe it. Even if Hydra needed you, you wouldn't just leave SHIELD. Those working for SHIELD are loyal. So why did you leave?" asked Maria.

Her father spun around, a menacing look in his eyes that made Maria's heart skip a beat. She couldn't believe how different her father was. Then again, all she had were memories of him from when she was four, maybe three years old. How accurate could those memories be?

"You don't know me," he spat.

"And whose fault is that?" she spat back, causing her father's harsh face to soften slightly.

"I made sure you were alright…" he spoke silently, looking away from her.

"Oh really? Does that mean that you know how mum reacted to you just disappearing? Does that mean that you know what my life has been like?" she said, tears appearing in her eyes. "You left us! And you made my life a living hell…"

"Your mother's reaction was… unfortunate. But I will have you know that none of that was your fault," he said, looking back at her. "You're just like me in so many ways… She just couldn't handle seeing me in you."

"No shit…" mumbled Maria, memories of her past bubbling up to the surface again.

"But I took care of you, little-one," he said, walking up to her and crouching down in front of her, placing her hands on her knees as he looked up at her. "I did."

"What the hell are you talking about? You weren't there for me at all!" she exclaimed, hating the way his presence made her feel calm.

She had wished for a reunion. She had wished for her father to return with her, as she had for so long. But seeing what had become of him, seeing the things that he had done; the cloning of her, was too much for her to bare and she just wanted to go back to Steve again, wishing she had never gone down into the facility to begin with.

"My soldiers are loyal to me and only me. Hydra hates it and I know they want to get rid of me. But as long as I keep giving them more to work on for their enhanced program, they can't hurt me or my men. I made Artur seek you out, give you a job and protect you," he said, nodding his head. "I protected you."

"Protected- Artur made me a murderer!" she exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing.

"To survive as a mutant in a society of low-life scum calls for desperate measures. I told him to train you, make you prepared for what is to come," said Maria's father, a stern look on his face.

"And what is to come?" asked Maria, watching the way he talked about the people she protected with a worried feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

"A day when all non-mutants will be below us. Or even better, extinct," said her father, standing back up again and turning back to the tube. "A friend of mine has promised me to give me this world."

"I don't understand-"

"I suppose you're against this," her father said, not hearing her words. "Seeing as you're with the Avengers now. Seeing as Artur grew weak and let you choose your own path."

Maria watched as his right hand clenched into a fist, his shoulders tensing.

"You're talking about murdering millions of people… Tell me why I shouldn't be against it?"

"Because you're like us!" he exclaimed, turning back to her. "You're like me…"

Maria was about to protest when suddenly, the rope around her ankles and wrists were loosened by an unknown force while the chair started to slowly roll towards her father, Maria watching as his first kept being clenched together, his back turned towards her still.

"I love you, Maria," he said, finally turning to look at her and it wasn't until he unclenched his hand that the chair stopped rolling, Maria's eyes widening as she realized he had done that. "But I can't have you by my side if you're against me. So, I made the perfect you. A new you that I will train to think like me."

"The hell is wrong with you…" she mumbled.

"You didn't untie yourself," he said. "Meaning she damaged you more than I thought she did."

"Who?"

Though instead of getting an answer, her father suddenly grasped her hands, forcing her up onto her feet again before a knife was pulled against her throat.

"You have the same powers as me," he said through clenched teeth, the knife hurting her neck while his other hand grasped her hair tightly. "So don't think for a second that I don't know how to kill you…"

"I've got the intel!"

Steve nodded his head before throwing his shield towards the three remaining soldiers, knocking them out instantly while his shield flew back over to him. He caught it easily again before turning to where Tony was hovering in mid-air.

A lump formed in his chest as he looked over at Stark, realizing that Maria was nowhere to be seen. He was about to ask where she was, though Clint beat him to it.

"Where's Dalton?" he asked, Thor, who was standing next to Steve, immediately looking around the area for his friend.

"I thought she'd gotten out by now. We split up when a couple of guards came for us," he said, landing on the ground in front of Steve.

"You left her alone in her father's freaky laboratory?" asked Clint, a frown appearing on Steve's face.

He knew Maria could handle herself. Though he was still worried that something might've happened to her. While Clint and Tony continued to argue over what had happened, Steve moved away from the two, Natasha following him, and he lifted his bracelet up to his mouth, pushing the button to open the com-link.

"Maria, where are you?"

He was met with only static as an answer.

"Jarvis says her bracelet has been deactivated," said Bruce as he exited the Quinjet, walking over to where Natasha and Steve were standing.

"Deactivated?" asked Natasha, "Why would she do that?"

The worry that had formed built up even more inside of him and he slowly lowered his arm again, the grip on his shield tightening as he tried to figure out what to do.

"Can we get a last known location on her bracelet?" asked Steve, turning to Bruce who nodded his head.

Though neither of them had time to do anything more as Thor suddenly positioned himself into his fighting stance, a glare appearing on his face. Steve noticed this and turned to look at what Thor had seen and his chest tightened at the look of it. The bickering of Clint and Tony quieted down as they too saw it and an eerie silence hung over the area while Maria appeared in the doorway of the abandoned cottage, her father walking behind her with a knife resting against her neck, a little trickle of blood already having run down her neck.

"Nobody moves!" exclaimed Erik, peaking at the Avengers from over Maria's shoulder.

He was using his own daughter as cover. Steve clenched his hands into fists, placing his shield on his back.

"I see you've all successfully managed to kill my men!"

"Yeah, so I suggest you let go of Dalton unless you want to die too," said Tony, earning an amused look from Erik.

Maria suddenly made a move, grabbing her sword from her belt and activating it, though something made the sword fly out of her hands and land in the mud before the Avengers and when Steve looked back at the two Daltons, Erik had grabbed a hold of Maria again, his free arm wrung tightly around her shoulders and neck, the knife now pressed harder against her neck. She was holding her balance by grabbing onto her father's arm, at the same time trying to make him loosen his grip though he seemed strong than her.

"Let her go!" exclaimed Steve, taking a step forward.

"Ah, ah!" he exclaimed, another drop of blood running down her neck as he pressed the knife even harder against her skin when Steve moved. "This knife is drenched with Hydrus Acidulus. She'll die."

"You would not hurt your own daughter," said Thor, more as a question than a statement.

"I wouldn't?" asked Erik. "Unless you leave in your advanced little jet, I'll kill her. And I mean it."

Clint, who was standing behind Thor and out of eye-sight from Erik, suddenly grabbed an arrow and readied his bow. He exchanged a look with Steve who only shook his head at Clint before Hawkeye looked over the shoulder of Thor at Maria. Steve quickly looked back at Maria, noticing she was pointing with her finger at her own shoulder. It happened to be in the exact same spot as Erik's heart and Steve's eyes widened as he realized she was directing Clint.

The next thing happened way too fast for Steve to understand. In an instant, Clint jumped out from behind Thor and let go of the arrow, sending it flying towards Maria and Erik. Erik noticed this and had already started to move his hand holding the knife when the arrow hit Maria's left shoulder, causing her to let out a cry of pain before the both of them fell backwards to the ground. In an instant, Steve and the others started running up to Maria and unknown to Steve, he had cried out her name loudly while doing so.

Tony arrived first, having used his suit to fly over to the two of them. Immediately, he had removed the arrow from Maria's shoulder before gripping her and lifting her off her father's limp body. Tears were streaming down her cheeks just as fast as blood was making its way out of the wound on her neck and shoulder. Her father had not managed to hurt her too badly, though the Hydrus Acidulus was keeping the wound from heeling.

The moment Steve arrived there, Maria fell into his arms, her hands clutching the fabric of his suit as she buried her face in his chest.

"It's okay," said Steve, Bruce appearing beside them, moving some of Maria's hair to take a closer look at the wound on her neck. "I've got you."

"He's dead," said Tony, referring to Maria's father to which Maria tensed up in Steve's arms.

Stark tossed the arrow back at Clint who caught it, cleaning the blood off of the arrow before placing it back in its holster.

"I need to clean the wound before it can heal," said Bruce quietly, placing a hand on Maria's back. "I'll take her."

Steve nodded, slowly letting go of Maria who looked up at Steve with wide eyes, tears still streaming down her face.

"Burn it," she said simply to which Steve frowned.

He didn't ask her what she had meant as she quickly let go of Steve, Bruce placing an arm around her while he and Natasha led her back to the Quinjet.

"Jeez…" mumbled Tony. "Did she mean her dad's body?"

"I don't think so… He's wearing a lab-coat. Where are the labs?" asked Steve, coming to a conclusion.

"In the eastern corner," said Tony.

"What are you thinking, cap?" asked Clint.

"I say we take a look at what she found," replied Steve before walking past Erik Dalton's lifeless body and back into the cottage.