The willpower it took for me to finally continue this story.
"I don't understand, Sir" Maria grunted, staring directly into Fury's eyes.
"Sure you do" he laughed, but he wasn't being funny.
"You want me to take a Alpha team to Iraq?" Maria repeated his words from earlier, stunned at what he had proposed.
"No" Fury stated. "I want you to LEAD the Alpha team, I want you to be in charge." He stood tall, Maria didn't dare to show any emotion on her face. She knew that he knew about her past, there was no way he didn't. Was he pushing her?
"With all due respect Sir, I'm new" She spoke, her mouth felt dry. All she could think of was sand. A hot desert of dry sand. Sand in her hair. Sand in her mouth. Being buried alive in sand.
"And?" Fury raised his eyebrow, a confident look on his face. She was shook out of whatever daydream she was in.
"I'm not level 7" She reiterated.
"Sure you are" he stated, as if the promotion wasn't a big deal. As of she'd been at S.H.I.E.L.D forever, and not flown through the ranks quicker than any other Agent before her.
"Right, I need five men. I'll take Davis, Morse and Thompson via the jeep when we touch down. I want Carter and Jason on stand by on the Jet." And there she was, Maria Hill was back in business. Fury's smirk only grew, he knew exactly who she was going to be. Agent Maria Hill was going to be a prodigy.
"I want all agents in the debriefing room in one hour, is Porter on the ship?"
"Yes" Fury answered.
"Good, I need him right away. He can handle the beta team." Maria nodded along to her own words, turning to look at Fury before walking out of his office. She had two hours to come up with a plan to rescue a former Scientist turned soldier with terrorist affiliations from a new syndicate of god knows what.
"Porter, draw up the statistics." She spat, she was in game mode. Thinking and calculating every single possibility and every outcome. No one was going to die on her watch.
"Yes Ma'am" Porter replied, immediately tapping onto the ipad before projecting it onto the screen.
"Morse, Davis, Thompson you'll be coming with me. The mission is simple, no showing off. No stunts, Morse" Maria glared at the blonde, fully aware of Bobbi Morse's ability to put on a show. Morse raised her hands up in false surrender.
"What data are we retrieving?" Davis piped up.
"Not data, a man. His name is John Novak. Former Isis member, although he has several other connections to other terrorist organisations such as Al‑Qa'ida. We need Novak alive, Thompson do you hear me loud and clear? Alive." Maria called the man out, she'd been fully briefed that Thompson had a rather unforgiving side. His Wife had also been an Agent, she died when she went undercover at the World Trade Centre on the 11th of September 2001.
"Loud and clear ma'am" Thompson agreed, he was angry but he was not an idiot.
"Davis, I need you by my side at all times. Bobbi and Thompson will neutralise any threats, we will be retrieving Novak."
"Where is he being kept?" Davis asked, the woman anxious to go on her first international mission.
"We've been tipped of that they are keeping him in some sort of abandoned factory, Portman bring up the map" Maria spoke clearly, Portman projected the aerial plan of the building onto the screen.
"We will be leaving at 0600 hours, the beta team has been debriefed. Agents Carter and Jason will be on stand by if anything gets heavy."
The room felt tense, Americans never felt too optimistic regarding these missions. Whenever a person was involved on foreign soil, a hostage, it made it tricky. Data retrieval was much more simple. There was always less casualties.
"Agent Hill" Davis called out, Maria whipped her head around swiftly.
"Yes"
"Why do we need him?" Davis asked, Maria Hill raised her eyebrow. "I mean, the scientist. What does he have that we want?"
"That's above your clearance level, Agent" Maria replied coolly.
"But he must have something important, right? It's not every day we send out Agents into the Middle East." Maria smiled at Davis, she almost admired her. Davis was newer than she was, a general foot soldier really but she had come to SHIELD wanting a new career. Maria knew the woman had made the right choice, she was intelligent.
"I'll see you on the jet, Agent"
Maria was about to leave, her team already on the jet when she heard that annoying voice.
"Mia" Clint called out, they'd become quite close since she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. They'd shared enough drinks to be on a nickname bases.
"Barton, Whatever it is, it can wait" She rushed her words, she needed to leave asap.
"Why, where are you going?" he quipped. She didn't hesitate to tell him, he too was level 7.
"Iraq, Rescue mission. Scientist gone AWOL" she quickly confirmed.
"Sounds fun" he tried to make light of the situation.
"Very" she replied dryly, urging him to just tell her what he wanted her for.
"Right, ugh. It's Romonova, shit, I mean Romanoff." He corrected himself quickly, Maria froze. She cringed at the kiss she shared with the red head earlier. Scrutinising herself for being so unprofessional.
"What's wrong with Romanoff?" She asked, a slight sense of anxiety in her voice.
"I can't find her" he scratched the back of her head, god Maria wanted to be sick. She didn't have any time to help.
"Agent Barton, are you telling me you've lost the ex KGB assassin?" she lowered her voice not to alert anyone around them.
"Yes, but it can't be that bad right? I mean Fury was going to assimilate her later today. She's technically a S.H.I.E.L.D Agent, she's not going to do anything stupid is she?" Clint sounded like a child trying to make up excuses, Maria was growing annoyed by the second.
"Just find her, and if you don't find her in the hour alert the Director. I don't have time for this" She replied as if she was on autopilot, she hated herself for not being able to help but she really didn't have the time to play any of Natasha's games today. She had a mission to complete, in Iraq of all places. She cringed at the thought of returning to Iraq after so long, fearing the ghosts of her past she might uncover.
"yes, right, Okay. Good Luck" Clint fumbled his words, clearly stressed out. Maria nodded her head and began to walk to the jet. She didn't once look back.
"Everything alright?" Carter asked at the entrance.
"Everything is perfect" Maria lied, "Let's go."
They'd finally arrived, the Jet landing silently and discretely just outside the vicinity of the factory . Maria was the first to step off the Quinnjet, nostalgia hitting her face as soon as she placed her boots onto the sand. She could swear she could hear her dead comrades voices calling for her to help them. She reminded herself to stay calm. that it wasn't her fault.
"Agent Hill" Carted shouted, her voiced sounded alarmed. Maria turned around walking quickly back into the jet.
"We just found her here" Carter stated shrugging her shoulders, Maria pushed passed Davis and Thompson to see who Carter was talking about.
"Hey there Hill, did you miss me?" the voice flirted, a shit eating grin written across their face. Maria internally groaned.
"Romanoff, what the actual fuck."
YOU ARE READING
D A R K
FanfictionMaria Hill and Natasha Romanoff's lives slowly coming together as one, in a chaotic and dark order. Their trauma mixed with their strength and their growing lust towards each other. Flashbacks and memories, set in their present day.
