Rewritten 2018

Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~

Disclaimer: I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 4~
The Meeting

SHIELD headquarters was massive. She had only ever been on the lower levels of the building for training with Barton. Now, however, she was supposed to go to the upper floors where the more important people of SHIELD worked such as Fury, Carson, Pierce and many others. Maria therefore couldn't help but feel a little nervous about this – what if she got lost?

While holding her report of the previous mission in her arms, she walked over the marble floor that had been cleaned so well that she could see her reflection in it. The heels of many women who worked there clicked loudly on the floor though, since Maria was only in her converse, her soles only squealed from time to time, causing her to feel a little unprofessional. The walls were high on the level where the entrance was and after she'd passed security, only flashing her ID towards them before walking on, the walls were decorated with the names of people that had done SHIELD good. She read them, knowing none of them except for some names that were placed on the last board. Amongst them were for example:

Phil Coulson.

Clint Barton.

Grant Ward.

Steve Rogers.

However, she didn't have much time to reflect on the names she recognized since her meeting was set to start in five minutes and she had to get up. She quickly took out her new phone which Stark had given her and read through the text message Fury had sent her about which floor the meeting was going to be on. As she did this, she continued to walk towards the elevators though didn't look up from her phone. Had it not been for her shoes making a strange noise on the marble floor again which caused her look up to see if anyone had noticed it, she would've never seen the young man that was about to walk into her.

She exclaimed a strange noise before placing a hand on his arm, hindering him from walking into her. He had himself been busy with reading something on his own phone and looked just as shocked as Maria at nearly having bumped into someone.

"Sorry!" the man exclaimed, using one finger to push his large glasses further up his nose before he looked at her with ice blue eyes. "I was just- Sorry!"

"No, that's okay," chuckled Maria, letting go of the man as they both stood there, facing each other while people walked past them in a hurry, not caring for the two newcomers. "I was doing the same. Hey, can you help me, maybe? I have a meeting though I'm not a hundred percent sure of where to go… there's so many elevators…"

The man nodded his head, gesturing to his phone. "Can't help too much seeing as I've got the same problem. Maybe it's the same meeting?"

"That would be an amazing coincidence… Which floor are you going to?" asked Maria.

"Floor… 22," said the man, double checking his phone before answering her.

"Me too," said Maria with a smile. "Let's go together. I don't want to get lost and be the only one that arrives late."

The man chuckled slightly before following her to the elevator. He was no older than her though also looked far younger in appearance. Had it not been for his adult voice and the fact that he was allowed to come to a SHIELD meeting, Maria would've thought that he was still in high school.

As she pressed the button to call the elevator, she placed her phone back into her pocket, earning the attention of the man.

"Is that a Stark phone?" asked the man, gesturing towards her pocket.

"Oh, yeah, it is," she replied with a smile as the elevator doors opened.

The elevator was quite interesting as its walls were pure glass, which made it possible for the two of them to look out over the broad view that the people had from the higher floors. The man was the one that assigned the elevator to floor 22 while Maria simply looked out through the windows.

"They're quite expensive," said the man, making her turn back to him again.

"Yeah… well, I got it for free," said Maria, earning a puzzled look from the man. "Lost mine during the Battle of New York and well… I think he wanted to spy on me."

"Wait – who? Stark?" asked the man, once again pushing his glasses further up his nose as they kept gliding down.

"Yup," said Maria, nodding her head.

"You know him?" asked the man to which Maria simply smiled. "Cool."

"I'm Maria by the way. Maria Dalton," she said, extending her hand to him.

For a moment, he looked rather shocked before he grabbed her hand and carefully shook it. "That explains why you know Stark. Martin Lund. Engineer from Sweden. Or… hacker if you want to call me that."

"Oh," replied Maria as they let go of each other's hands. "Can't hear you're from Sweden."

"Thanks," said Martin, nodding his head at her. "I think, if I'm not mistaking, that I'm assigned to help you and your team through this upcoming mission."

"As a sort of analyst or whatever you call them?" asked Maria, earning a nod from Martin. "That's a very new technique, isn't it?"

"It is," said Martin. "Got called in just for it."

"So, you work for SHIELD? Are you an agent or-"

"No, I don't technically work for SHIELD. I mean, not yet. This is pretty much the first job I've ever done for SHIELD," said Martin. "I'm a freelancer. Hack into stuff for money. Never thought SHIELD would ask me to help them. Thought they'd more, like, arrest me."

Maria laughed lightly at that. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

The doors opened and Martin and Maria walked out. The meeting was meant to start in about two minutes and they still had no clue of which room it was in. The hallway was long and dimly lit though the floor was made of the same marble stone as the one on the first level, reflecting whatever light there was a little extra to make it look brighter than it was in there.

"And now?" asked Martin quietly as they walked into the hallway, looking at the multiple doors that all seemed to be locked.

"No idea…" replied Maria quietly.

One of the doors opened and for a moment, Maria thought it was Fury that was going to walk outside and wave them in for the meeting. However, it wasn't. Instead, an elderly man walked out, closing the door behind him. Maria and Martin stopped in the hallway, making room for the man to pass them by though he didn't. Instead, he stopped and looked at Maria with curious eyes.

"Maria Dalton, right?" the man asked, his expensive suit causing Maria to feel far too poor to even walk around him. She was simply wearing a t-shirt and some old jeans that she had owned for almost three years now. Her converse weren't in the best of shapes either.

"Uh, yes," she said, shaking his hand and feeling rather surprised at the force that was behind it.

"Mitch Carson, head of security," said the man, smiling a strange smile at her. She was sure it was supposed to be kind though there was something hidden behind it, something she didn't like.

"Ah, right," said Maria as he let go of her hand.

"Is that the report from your last mission? Quite an impressive first mission you got. A lot of trust put into you," said the man as he stretched his hand out towards the red file in her arms. "Is the USB in there as well?"

Maria watched him for a while as he stared straight back at her. There was something in the back of her head that told her not to give this man her report but at the same time, he was head of security. The feeling was probably just her trust issues caused by her past life. Instead, she smiled and let the feeling go, deciding to trust this man. After all, he was working for SHIELD.

"Yes, everything's in there. Not sure what to do with it now, actually," said Maria.

"Everything goes through me either way, so I can take it," said Carson, placing the file underneath of his arm, barely even waiting for Maria to hand it over to him. "The last door to the left. Don't be late. Fury doesn't like that."

Maria smiled and thanked him before dragging Martin with her towards where Carson had said the meeting was.

"Dude," whispered Martin to Maria as she was about to open the door. "He was creepy."

Maria glanced at Martin before opening the door, seeing that the meeting had already started.

"Well, well," said Fury as Maria and Martin closed the door behind them, every single pair of eyes on them.

Barton was sitting on the opposite side of the room, an amused look on his face while Natasha, who sat next to him, rolled her eyes at Clint while gesturing towards two empty chairs at the end of the large table that was located in the room.

"Better late than never, I suppose," said Fury before he furrowed his brow. "Where's the report?"

"Oh," said Maria as she sat down. "I-I gave it to Mr. Carson."

Fury raised an eyebrow.

"A little detour was what you did," said Fury. "Next time, give it to me and come when the meeting starts."

Maria nodded her head, looking down at the table in front of her where a screen lit up. However, she quickly looked away from the screen again as her curiosity for who were actually there on the meeting got the better of her.

She saw Sitwell, an agent that she had met during her first mission with the Avengers. He had been the agent to tell them about the location of Loki and from what Maria remembered, he seemed like a nice guy. Opposite of him, Rumlow was positioned and although Maria knew that he did not have any higher level than Sitwell, he was still a part of Captain America's team most of the times and therefore, he was looked at as a trusted man. Next to Rumlow, an agent sat that Maria recognized from, unfortunately, the reports of missing people that had come in after the Battle of New York. After all, there had been a great mess and people had gone missing under some of the rubble. Luckily, all people were found though not everyone had been alive. Miller's family; his wife and two daughters, had been found dead after an explosion had gone off. Because of his grief, he hadn't been on duty for at least five months which meant that this would be his first month back in the game again. She wondered if this quite skilled spy would be a part of whatever mission was going to take place.

Although she still secretly hoped there would not be a mission and that she could continue staying at home with Steve for a little while longer.

Of course, Romanoff and Barton were seated next to each other on the same side of the table as Sitwell. Barton and Romanoff were the two people which Maria knew she was going to work a lot with and although she and Natasha might not have the same, strong friendship bond as Clint, Maria looked up at her with admiration. She was a strong and independent woman and she craved to be more like her. This admiration, however, had unfortunately not made it easier for Maria to relax around the woman and befriend her.

It was not jealousy or respect, or anything else that was causing Maria to back away from Natasha and not become more than acquainted with her. It was a different thing, a psychological thing in her mind that caused her to do this with every woman she ever met; a mental scar from her past. It bugged her, though she saw no way around the uneasiness of spending time with a woman for longer than necessary. It was indeed something that she was going to have to work on.

Martin was sat next to her who, just like herself, seemed to feel just as lost and curious. Her inspection of him, however, was short lived as Fury himself was standing at the end of the table, a serious look in his eye as he stared at her. It caused her to furrow her brow and soon, she realized that everyone was looking at her with quite serious looks on their faces. Even Martin was watching her with careful eyes.

Slowly, Maria looked down at the screen, immediately knowing she had missed something in the meeting and mentally slapping herself for not paying more attention. Though, she felt relieved that she hadn't when she saw what was shown on the screens in front of each person. It was a picture of a man with curly, blonde hair and blue eyes. He was walking down the street, three men wearing suits walking behind him though he himself didn't wear a suit. Instead, he wore simple clothes, a pair of jeans, boots, and a jumper with a coat over it. Though, his clothes were all black. He had grown a beard since she had last seen him and although it suited him, the scar she had left on him did not. It was still slightly pink and she soon realized that she had hurt him more than she had realized she had all those years ago.

With wide eyes, she looked up at Fury who sighed at her look. "I know what you are thinking and no, I will not push you into doing this. But, you are the one that knows him the best."

"And he knows my face," said Maria. "Whatever you want us to do; me being there will risk the entire operation."

"Or not," said Fury. "I want you to track him down, find where he is hiding and take him down."

"That's never going to work. Artur has a lot of guards in his buildings and the moment some of those cameras see my face or one of those guards, every single force he has will be put on us."

She was never going to go back to that man ever again. Never in her life was she going to even breathe the same air as him. Never.

"All you will need to do is help track him down. Lund will help you with that as well as getting you all into the building when the time comes. All except for Dalton," said Fury, earning an exasperated sigh from Maria.

"Why are you after him all of a sudden?" asked Maria quietly.

"We have reasons to believe he was the man that ordered for a bullet to be sent through your head," said Fury, earning a look from Maria as he watched her intently, leaning forwards with his hands on the table. "We traced the man that tried to kill you and captain Rogers back to his own apartment. He was sloppy, leaving behind far too much evidence that even a novice could've followed him. However, we didn't exactly find him. When we got there, he was dead. Strangled. So, we looked at the video surveillance and, there he was, Artur Kuznetsov."

"What?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow. They had found him by simply looking at video surveillance? That didn't add up. Artur knew every single move that anyone would make to try and find him, Maria knew this as he had taught her this himself. "Why would he be so sloppy?"

"Most likely because he wants to be found which is why there's going to be more than one team," said Fury. "Your team will infiltrate and get caught. You drop a hacking device, Lund helps with leading the second team inside as he will now have access to the entire building's intel as well as where the guards are planted. Then we take the son of a bitch down."

Maria didn't feel comfortable about this. Although the plan sounded like something that could work, it was still not waterproof. Not to mention the fact that it was still Artur that they were going to go after.

"Are you okay with this, Dalton?" asked Fury as he straightened up again, clasping his hands together behind his back.

"I-" started Maria, wanting to tell Fury to shove his plan somewhere not so nice, though her eyes caught the sight of Natasha and she remembered her previous thoughts about wanting to be more brave and independent, like her. And so, she changed her sentence. "I am."

"Good," said Fury. "Now, I hope you won't say anything to Rogers. He has two days off and the moment he hears about this-"

"He'll want in," interrupted Romanoff. "Doesn't sound too bad, director."

Barton agreed, nodding his head. "Having more people on the second team might be a good idea."

"Who's on which team?" asked Maria, earning a look from Fury before he responded.

"Team one will be Miller, Barton and Dalton. Team two will be Romanoff and Rumlow. The two of you will take a couple of the better agents with you as backup and Lund - you know what to do?"

"I do, sir," said Martin with a nod of his head before he once again pushed his glasses up his nose. "Sorry, though, sir, but, where do I have my desk?"

"I am quite sure that you have all the necessary gear at home since you managed to hack into SHIELD last week," said Fury, earning a flustered look from Martin.

"Well… yes…" Maria smirked, knowing she was going to like working with Martin.

"We don't have a desk ready for you here yet. And it won't be ready before the mission either. Is there any problem with that?" asked Fury, earning a shake of Martin's head.

"Absolutely not, sir," said Martin.

"Sitwell will provide Miller with the hacking device," said Fury, earning nods from the two addressed agents. "Now, I want you all to go home and rest. Tomorrow morning, your mission starts in Hell's Kitchen. Every detail you need - every gadget; everything will be handed to Miller by Sitwell. Do not be late."

When he said the last part, his eyes looked over at Maria and she pursed her lips slightly, looking away from the Director as everyone started to stand up, the meeting apparently being over. Barton nodded his head at her once before leaving the room to which she smiled. She and Martin stayed put in the room as the others walked past them which caused for Fury to have the opportunity to call her name.

"Dalton," he said. "Do you mind staying behind?"

With a nod of her head, Maria sat down again on her chair since she had just been standing up. Martin leaned down to her saying; "Hear ya' tomorrow."

She smiled at him once before he left, closing the door behind him. Immediately, Maria looked over at Fury with expecting and curious eyes. She was sure that this was going to be about her next mission and she felt nervous about this.

"I'll talk to Rogers about the mission," said Fury, crossing his arms over his chest as he stayed put at the end of the table, earning a nod from Maria.

"If you want, I can talk to him-"

"I think he'd appreciate it more if I talked to him," said Fury, once again earning a nod from Maria.

It felt odd that this was what he had asked her to stay behind for and so, she had to say something about it.

"Sir, if you don't mind," she started. "Surely you didn't ask me to stay behind because of Steve?"

"No," replied Fury, uncrossing his arms again before he started to round the table, slowly walking towards Maria. "I wanted to talk about your last mission."

Maria's eyes widened. Was this the yelling part that she had feared so much? The part where Fury would scold her for not being more careful, for pressing that red button? Though, when she looked at him, he didn't seem to be mad or angry with her. Instead, there seemed to be a worried look on his face. Besides, the report of her last mission hadn't been given to Fury, unless he had read Barton's report already. Perhaps he didn't know of her failure.

"Did you read the file on the USB?" asked Fury, earning a confused look on Maria's face.

"I don't have clearance for that file," said Maria. "You said so yourself that that was the reason for why I was a good agent to take on the mission. I'm not allowed to read the-"

"You wouldn't have cared about the clearance anyway," said Fury with an amused tone to his voice to which Maria once again pursed her lips, nodding her head.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have," she mumbled. "But I didn't read it. The idea never came to my mind. After all, you said it was nothing important but that SHIELD still wanted it back. See? I followed orders." Maria flushed at her rambling, cursing herself for not acting professional.

"Yes," replied Fury quickly, not bothered by her following orders. "Tell me again, who did you give the report to? And the USB?"

"I gave both to this Carson guy. Seemed nice," said Maria.

"Why?" asked Fury, causing Maria to cock her head to the side as Fury placed himself behind her chair.

"What do you mean, why? He greeted me and told me he could take it, that each report went through him anyway," said Maria, looking down at the table as she spoke, earning a look from Fury.

"He said that?" asked Fury, once again earning a confused look from Maria.

"Yes," she said quietly, worry latching onto her. "Was it not true?"

"Never mind," said Fury, confusing her even more. He walked back into her line of vision before once again placing his hands behind his back. "You can go now, Dalton. Prepare yourself for the upcoming mission."

"Alright sir," said Maria quietly as she stood up. Before she placed her hand on the doorknob, however, she looked back at him. "Everything alright, sir?"

"Yes," said Fury, turning back to her. "As long as you stay away from big red buttons."

Maria frowned though felt relieved at the amused tone that Fury had used. With a nod of her head towards the Director, she left the room.