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 25~
I Will Go Down With This Ship

A knock was heard on her door and Maria quickly stood up from her bed, seeing the door opening before she had been able to reply. Steve stood there, a serious expression on his face and her suit resting in his hands. She cocked her head to the side, giving him a questioning look.

"How did you get those?" asked Maria, grabbing her suit, boots and sword from his hands. She had left them, disposed of them in order to remain under cover.

"Couldn't sleep," he replied simply, not giving a straight answer. When Maria looked at him again, she noticed he too was wearing his suit.

However, it wasn't his ordinary suit. It looked different and somehow better as well. She let one hand feel the fabric of his suit, her hand gently touching his chest. "That's not your suit," concluded Maria, nodding towards him.

He smirked. "It was though. Oh, and that's not your suit either. I couldn't risk going back home again so I simply grabbed what I could."

Home. Oh how she missed home…

Quickly, she unfolded her suit over her bed, letting the boots and sword fall to the bed too. It was real leather though it definitely wasn't her suit. It had no belt and no place to hang her sword. As she looked down at her boots and sword, she didn't recognize those either.

"Whose sword is that?" she asked, looking back Steve.

"I got it from a mannequin in the same museum I got my suit," said Steve, gesturing towards the clothes he was wearing. "It's the same one I wore during the war."

She straightened up and turned around on spot, raising one eyebrow at him, "Did you just admit to steal from a museum?"

"Technically… they stole my suit from me. They owed me."

Maria chuckled. "And this sword?" she asked, picking it up and noticing how light and unbalanced it was.

Steve cleared his throat. "It was attached to the hand of the mannequin representing Theodore Roosevelt."

Maria gawked at him, earning a shy look from Steve as he continued to speak; "Please don't ask me where I got the suit."

With narrowed eyes, Maria looked back at the suit in her hands before letting it drop onto the bed, frowning; "Gross…"

"It's something at least," said Steve, walking up to her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Steve… It's a sword-" she said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, surprising her slightly though she leaned into him. "But it's not my sword. I can't fight with it."

"You can't go without a weapon," ordered Steve, his voice low and a little worried.

"Don't worry. I still have my dagger." She could almost hear him roll his eyes at her, knowing full and well that a dagger wasn't enough. "And I'll borrow a gun. Not to kill, of course. Just to maim… I-I don't kill…"

Steve's arms tightened a bit in reassurance, "I know."

Letting out a sigh, Maria nodded her head. "And I know too. No killing. Never again."

"Maria… all the files are going to-"

"I know. I know." Maria let out another sigh, trying to calm herself down. "I know…"

There was a silence afterwards. One where Maria simply clutched onto Steve's arms around her, both staring down at the suit resting on the bed as they held each other close.

And then a smirk appeared on Maria's lips, "Did you really go into a sex-"

"Maria, just don't."

It went better this time, the flying part. She wasn't holding onto Sam this time and she wasn't freaking out even though they were much, much, higher up into the air then last time they had tried this. During the night, Martin had worked on a contraption made out of magnets through which Sam could easily 'transport' Maria up towards the Helicarrier she was assigned to take out. She was simply attached to his belly, being able to shoot with the two side-arms she was allowed to borrow from Natasha. They shot electric currents instead of real bullets, though if Maria turned the electricity up high enough, she could kill.

Not that she was intending to do so ever… she hoped…

Pressing a button - which Martin had installed only that morning - on Maria's 'suit', she was released from Sam before she jumped down into the Helicarrier. She turned back, watching Sam hover there for a while. He was wearing the same clothes as the guards working for Fury were; a uniform he had been allowed to borrow in order to both look a bit more heroic and to be a bit more covered; the guard's suits had bullet proof vests built in which of course Sam could make use of. Over his eyes, he wore glasses, something Maria had wanted to have as well so her eyes wouldn't have teared up as much as they had while they flew through the air in great speed. It had made aiming her side-arms much more difficult.

As she nodded her head, Sam mirrored her gesture before flying off, doing what he was supposed to do; take out the third Helicarrier. Placing both side-arms in the holsters Natasha had installed onto her 'suit' earlier that day, she started to run, knowing they didn't have all that much time to take the Helicarriers out.

Steve, Hill and Sam had taken the headquarters first before Maria had come into the picture. Natasha was most likely already inside, pretending to be one of the Council members (with the help of Martin's rubbery, weird facial reconstructing device) which Pierce had asked to visit for an important meeting. Her job was to make all files from SHIELD public, along with the fact that Hydra existed once again. Soon the world would know. Soon the world would know everything.

Maria, Fury and Hill had arrived separately from the others. Mostly because Steve didn't want Maria to be involved in the danger he was putting himself in, but also because Maria wanted to keep Fury safe. After all, she had failed that the last time and she didn't intend to fail again. Though, while Fury entered after getting the clear sign from Steve, Maria had stayed outside, waiting for Sam to pick her up and take her to the Helicarrier.

"Nearly there," panted Maria to no one in particular as she ran towards the data core of the helicarrier.

As she ran, the chip brushed against her leg as it lay in a makeshift pocket Martin had added for her, and her hand rested on one of her side-arms, ready to grab it if someone tried something. This was it, if she failed this than the city beneath her would get destroyed; than the world would be destroyed.

Sam had, during her run, announced he had gotten one ship ready and, from what she had heard, Steve was still working on getting the second helicarrier ready. Martin kept her informed through the ear piece in her left ear. If everything went as planned, Sam would soon turn up at the entrance again. He would be her ticket out of there. He'd fly her away from the helicarrier and together with Natasha and Fury, they'd pick Steve up and everything would be alright. They'd have saved the world from Hydra's current plan and then they could continue with taking out the rest of Hydra, piece by piece.

She was so close to the core; she could have touched it if she had reached out her hand. Though something stopped her. The clicking sound of a safety being turned off did. Slowly, she turned around and gasped silently at the sight before her.

Artur was standing there, a gun pointed at her head and a determined look on his face. Had it not been for his shaking hand, Maria would've actually thought that this was what he wanted. But after their meet up in the lower level of SHIELD and after having seen his trembling hand now, she wasn't very sure of what he wanted anymore.

He was still Artur, he was still the man that had been after her for so long, the man that had ruined her life and he was still the killer she knew that he was. Though, on the other hand, Maria had done nearly half of the things he had done as well and now, she wouldn't even think about killing an innocent man ever again. People change…

Besides he had not rattled them out when he noticed them on the elevator. And he had told her to leave when she went to visit him down in SHIELD's hold-up cells so she would be safe.

He had cheated on her, hurt her, used her and abused her. He had taken advantage of a young girl ready to die out on the streets of New York, training her to become his personal assassin and fuckable toy. And yet… had he really not loved her?

"Artur-"

"Don't speak!" he exclaimed, taking a step closer to her, causing her to lift her hands up in the air, making sure that her face looked as calm as it could. "For years, I've been after you. I've been close so many times… but now, I'm not going to miss this opportunity again."

"Do it then," said Maria, her heartbeat quickening. She knew that this was a huge risk she was taking, but something told her that this man wouldn't kill her. He didn't back then and he wouldn't now either. "Kill me. You have your shot now so take it!"

Artur's determined face fell and a conflicted look took its place. Slowly, the gun was lowered and Maria quickly turned around, placing the chip into the core, not bothering to even think through the fact that Artur could shoot her at any moment while her back was turned towards him. She pressed a finger to her earpiece and informed Hill that the third helicarrier was done. However, when she asked Steve for a report, she got no reply which worried her.

"I can't let you go," said Artur quietly from behind her, causing her to turn around again. Once again, he was standing with his gun pointed at her. "I can't… They gave me a second chance! I have to shoot you! I will shoot you!"

Maria looked at him with confused eyes as tears sprung to his. This was not the Artur she knew. This was a different man and it confused her to see him behave like this; to show himself as weak in front of someone was not him. He needed to shoot her, so why wasn't he?

Was it because he did indeed love her once?

"No you won't," she replied, shaking her head at him.

"How do you know that!?" he screamed at her, grabbing his gun with both of his hands and pushing it up against her forehead. "I've got the right bullets. All it takes is one straight into your brain and your body won't recover ever again. You'll die. Just like you should have done that night when I pushed you off the roof. Just like then…"

"But you saved me then, Artur-"

"Shut up!" he pressed the gun painfully hard against her forehead. Though she wasn't done.

"I know you Artur. You've never failed to kill anyone. If I am your only chance to Hydra's confidence and you want me dead, you would've already killed me a long time ago. You've never failed this many times at killing anyone." Artur's hand shook violently much now, his eyes wide as he did not even blink once. "That was you, wasn't it? That night I was out with Steve and someone shot at us. That was your man. And I lived. That's not your MO. And then you had me again at the mall. You saw me, and yet you let me go. But most importantly…" Maria gently placed her fingers around the gun, lowering it and pointing it away from her own body. Artur watched as she approached him. She felt something as she neared him, but whatever it was just a memory of what they once felt for each other. Though evidently, Artur did not feel just the memory. Because when she placed a hand against his cheek, he melted against her touch, gun falling to the floor. "I know you won't even kill me because you saved me that night. You took me to the hospital. You didn't let me die. That's an act of love."

"I never loved you," hissed Artur, recuperating from the touch. Though his anger was just a defense mechanism and Maria could see right through it. "Don't you get it? It was all just an act to gain access to you!"

"I don't believe that," she replied, thumb brushing over the scar she had given him. "One man can't fake that much for that long. It doesn't make any sense."

"I couldn't… I had to… I took you in," said Artur. "I took you in for him… I was never meant to fall for you."

"For who?" asked Maria quietly to which Artur only shook his head.

"I lied to them, Maria. I lied to them. If they find out that I have betrayed them so many times… They won't just kill me…" said Artur as a tear fell down the scar on his face, her thumb brushing it away. "I did it all… to keep you safe."

Safe. The word echoed through her mind, making her doubt and sympathy for the man standing before her turn into anger.

"Safe? You ruined me!" exclaimed Maria, removing her hand from his face and taking a step back. "You never took care of me!"

"No-"

"You made me a killer! A murderer! My name is known in every single police office around the entire world, thanks to you!" screamed Maria.

"Not your real name," muttered Artur, as if he thought that would make everything alright.

"No, you're right. Not my real name," she said sarcastically; "But that won't matter after today because we just put every single piece of information that SHIELD had out there on the internet for the world to see, and you know what? My name was there with a file about every single person I murdered," said Maria, the anger turning into fear as those words came out of her mouth. She hadn't thought about that yet. "So yes, you ruined me."

"Dalton, get the hell out of there. Rogers just finished. You have mere seconds to get out."

"Is Steve out?" asked Maria, pressing a finger to her earpiece as she looked out through the window, Artur following her gaze and seeing the two other helicarriers turn towards the one they were on, weapons pointing at each other.

"I don't know… He's not responding anymore. Dalton… Sam's wings are clipped."

Maria looked at Artur again, seeing him simply stare out through the windows.

"Roger that," said Maria simply before taking out her earpiece.

She was confused and she was scared. Steve wasn't answering and Sam couldn't save her anymore. For Natasha to come with the helicopter would be illogical as that would take her and Fury too close to the Helicarriers. She was trapped. And she was going to die once those hellicariers began shooting at each other. For some odd reason, all she could think about was the good times she had had with Artur. No, she didn't love him anymore. But to say that she was over him, was something she could not.

She was going to die… the least she could do was just let it all out.

"You know," said Maria as she shifted to stand next to Artur instead, both staring out through the windows. She knew he wasn't going to try and get out, because he had failed once more and Hydra would just kill him anyway. Besides… the look in his eyes told her that he was done. "I loved you."

Artur closed his eyes and turned his face away from her.

"And I never stopped loving you which is foolish… I know that," she continued.

"Get out of here," said Artur quietly. "Or you'll die."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" spat Maria.

"That was not what I wanted. You were right, I did try to stall your death. I didn't want to kill you and I still don't want to. But if I don't… they'll kill me. It's me or you," said Artur quietly, the both of them looking at each other as the ships moved closer and closer to one another. "I can't survive this, Maria. Because they'll force me to continue hunting you down and I can't… I just can't."

"Then leave them. Leave Hydra. After this failure, they must lose a lot of followers," said Maria, earning a scoff from Artur.

"Hydra doesn't work like that. If you don't want to work for them anymore, you get a bullet between your eyes."

"Like they wanted to do to me?"

"Not really. You see, Maria, you never really worked for that Hydra," he said before placing a hand on her arm. "Because I was never really loyal to them. He'll be very displeased with me if I let anything happen to you."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Once again, he shook his head. "Dalton… Now leave."

Maria furrowed her brow. Confused about what he had just said. Did he give her the name or not? "Not without you."

"Get out of here!" exclaimed Artur, pushing her towards the exit.

She turned towards him again though suddenly, the ships started to fire at each other and an explosion took place behind Artur, causing him to jump slightly, pressing his hands against his ears. He looked at her and shouted something incoherent due to the sounds of the helicarriers slowly shooting each other down. Quickly, she turned towards the exit again though when she reached it, she only saw the lake underneath of her. In the distance, she saw the helicopter that Natasha, Sam and Fury were placed in and she thought, though it could've just been her imagination and hope playing a prank on her, that she saw Steve sitting there as well. The mere thought of knowing that Steve was safe, even though she didn't know if it was the truth or not as the helicopter was too far away, made her make the hard decision that she was going to have to take within the next three seconds.

The world suddenly started moving as if everything was in slow motion and as she turned around to look at Artur, she found him cowering on the floor, shielding his face from the debris as the missiles destroyed more and more of the ship. So far, none of them had touched the data core, though Maria knew that a hit to that core would make the entire ship explode.

She stretched her hand out to Artur as she ran to him and only just managed to touch his arm before one of the missiles went straight for the core. She saw it happening, in the corner of her eye, though didn't react to it as she simply embraced Artur, feeling one of his hands curl around hers, before something hot was sprayed over her and everything around her turned into darkness.