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 8~
According To Plan

All three agents were panting as they quickly ran down the, seemingly, never ending spiral staircase that would take them down to the sewer system. Behind them, shouts from guards who continuously came closer and closer to them were heard though they couldn't stop yet. They had to come even further down before they could drop the small device that Miller was currently holding in his hand.

"Further down! Keep going!"

Suddenly, lights from flashlights were seen a couple levels down from them and soon, they could hear the guards that were nearing their destination from in front of them. Soon they would be trapped and although it was all going according to plan since they were supposed to be caught, Maria couldn't help but feel a rush of adrenaline run through her veins. Her survival instincts kicked in, telling her to get the hell away from there. She hated the feeling of someone chasing her.

Clint, who was running in front of Maria, suddenly came to a halt in the stairs, turning around. They had to act as though they weren't supposed to be caught though Maria herself felt the actual fear seeping into her heart which caused her to widen her eyes at him. She would not have to act.

"Miller," ordered Clint simply, ignoring Maria's panicked exclaim.

The third agent nodded his head from behind Maria, dropping the small device onto the stairs.

"Okay, I'll just have to work with this then."

The moment Martin had said this, thugs appeared on both sides of the three agents, pointing their guns at them and screaming at them to drop to their knees. All three agents quickly raised their hands in the air before slowly dropping down to their knees, although it was hard to do since they were standing on narrow steps.

"Hands behind your head! Get down on your knees, now!"

Quickly, their hands were all cuffed behind their backs and they were being led down the stairs. It wasn't very far down to the sewers which relieved the agents, knowing Martin could now get a good look of the entire building. Bags were thrust over their heads and they were led downstairs…

Rough hands pushed her down on her knees. She frantically tried to see something through the fabric over her head, though it was impossible. Breathing was getting harder as the small amount of air that seeped through the fabric was not quite enough anymore. The thugs that had grabbed them were all talking in Russian about her and her fellow agents – since she had worked with Russians most of her teenage life, she knew the language a little bit by now – and because of her being positioned in the middle of the room, the voices seemed to come from everywhere around her.

The squeaking door hinges alerted her that someone had entered. Immediately, Maria knew who it was that had entered the room. The tense atmosphere around her made it all very clear and it reminded her of her time as one of those thugs. The moment he entered the room, one was supposed to be quiet unless he asked you something. The fact that he was once again in the same room as her awoke emotions in herself that almost scared her. Most of these emotions she recognized as anger and hatred.

"I suppose you expected me to host a party without being prepared of the attention it would give me, aye?" said a familiar voice with a thick Russian accent that turned each "s" into a "z". Oddly enough, this voice still seemed to enlighten a fire inside of Maria. That very fire was what made her regret that she had disobeyed Fury's plan. "Let's see if I've got this right… Agent Clint Barton otherwise known as Hawkeye from the Avengers."

"Go to hell," Clint's voice said from Maria's right before the sound of a fist colliding with someone's jaw was heard accompanied with a grunt from Clint.

"Tut, tut," said Artur. "That's not very nice to say to the man holding a knife to your friend's throat."

Maria's heartbeat started to beat faster. If she couldn't feel the knife to her throat, Charles was the friend Artur was talking about since he was the only other person that had come with her and Barton.

"And… Agent Charles Miller," continued Artur. "How's the family – ah! Don't even try it…"

Her nostrils flared when she felt someone grip the bag that was around her head, the light hitting her eyes like a bat hitting a baseball. As she looked down at the darker floor someone immediately grabbed her chin, a cool piece of metal pressing against her throat. Artur's grip on her chin forced her to look up at him, her slightly panicked eyes narrowing as she saw his face again. She couldn't help but smirk slightly when she saw the long scar that was on his cheek; a scar she had put on him the day she left. Though he had given her a scar as well.

"Well, well… Agent Maria Dalton," said Artur, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he sat there, crouched in front of her with a knife held against her throat, something she knew he had wanted to do since the day she left him.

He was now in his early forties, if Maria wasn't mistaking. During the past four years that she had been away from him, he had barely aged at all. The only thing that was different was his left eye that seemed to have not approved of the cut she had provided his left cheek with. Only under that eye were there dark bags.

"Or is it agent? Maybe it's Avenger now, hm?" asked Artur, his smirk fading as his grip tightened, taking off the mask she wore. "You haven't aged a day…"

"You have," lied Maria through gritted teeth.

Artur stared at her for a while, seeming to contemplate how to react to her comment though choosing to ignore it in the end.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find the man that ordered for a bullet to go through her skull," replied Clint.

Artur let go of Maria and shifted over to Clint again and she could turn her head to look at her fellow agents. While Clint stared at Artur with a monotone look on his face, Charles was staring at the ground with a strange look on his face. Exactly what that look meant, she didn't know. She guessed these

All around them, guards were placed with guns in their hands, pointed towards them. Both female and men though they were all clad in masks. Different kind of masks, though. Some were rabbits, some were monkeys and some were clowns. Maria remembered this from her days under Artur's command; no face was allowed to be shown to the people that they were going to kill.

"And how did you figure out that it was me?" asked Artur quietly.

Silence filled the room after his question and his face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Fine," said Artur.

"Team two will be there in ten… nine…"

All three agents heard the voice through their earpiece.

"I suppose you can't trust people to do your dirty work anymore," said Artur as he placed his knife back in his belt before taking out a gun. "The only thing that'll kill you is a bullet that stays in the brain," he whispered, causing Maria to look up at him with wide and confused eyes as he pointed his gun at her. "See this gun? Special made by a special man. As soon as it enters your pretty little head, it'll clutch itself onto whatever tissue it finds and stay there. Ending you forever."

He removed the safety of the gun with a click though didn't shoot. One of his men placed a mask over his face, a mask that Maria remembered well. It was shaped like a sort of ghoul and only Artur himself wore such a mask.

"Maria, hold on. They're here."

"Go on then," said Maria, narrowing her eyes as she saw that he was still hesitating.

When the door was suddenly thrust open, all guards in the room pointed their guns at the people entering before shooting as much as they could. However, the bullets ricocheted back to them, hitting something metal that most certainly guided the bullets back to the people that were shooting. One after one, they fell down to the floor, groaning from the bullet either hitting them in the leg or somewhere else, though never killing them. When one of the bullets hit Artur in the leg, he fell down in front of the three agents, cursing loudly in Russian before staying there.

Multiple SHIELD agents started the process of arresting the guards while Natasha and Steve came into view of the three agents. Steve kicked the gun away from Artur's hand before looking down at him with serious eyes.

"Don't threaten her ever again," said Steve before Natasha kicked him in the head, causing him to fall into unconsciousness.

While Natasha helped Clint and Charles out of the ropes, Steve helped Maria to stand up, removing the ropes from her hands quickly before embracing her. His shield was resting on his back already.

"You couldn't have come a couple minutes earlier?" asked Maria quietly with a light voice and a smile.

"Sorry," said Steve, breaking the hug to look at her. "Couldn't enter the building without a mask on according to the guards. What with the masquerade going on up there and all."

A smirk played on his lips to which Maria simply rolled her eyes. "Convenient, don't you think?"

Steve pressed a light kiss to her forehead, his hand cupping her cheek. "At least you're alright."

"You're not mad?" asked Maria, raising an eyebrow.

"No," he said, glancing at Natasha who gave him a look before continuing to cuff Artur. "I understand that you needed to do this. To be a part of this. After all… It's Artur."

Maria nodded her head, glancing between Natasha and Steve for a while until it clicked that Natasha most likely had told Steve off about either worrying or commenting on the fact that Maria shouldn't have to do this.

Quickly, Maria stood up and placed a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks," she said, glancing at Natasha while saying this, whom simply nodded her head at her.