The Child
Her bag hit the ground as soon as she opened the door to her apartment that night. It had been a long day and all she wanted was to relax for a little bit before starting back up on her mission to find the building that had been visible in the confines of the portal. Her hand found the familiar loops of her holster as she put her gun on the coffee table and sighed.
Her apartment wasn't large, and for the first time, she was grateful for that, in only a few steps she was half-undressed and in her bedroom. The uniform unzipped and came off around her ankles as she laid back on her bed. The AC hadn’t kicked on yet so she opted to stay in that position and close her eyes for just a second. Or 3,600 seconds by the clock on her phone as she looked at the screen.
Her skin was cold from laying, mostly naked, on her bed as the AC cooled the room for an hour. But that didn't keep her heart from racing and feeling flush as soon as she saw the notification.
Nat: 1 Video Msg.
“Hey,” the redhead on the screen paused to take a drag of her cigarette, glancing around before giving a small smile.
The background was dark wherever she was, by the noise in the background it was a bar, by the people stumbling around speaking Russian, she spy was no longer in DC. It seemed she had already made her way across the world during her requested time off. She blew out the smoke and looked back at her phone.
“Hey Masha,” two words were all it took for Maria to stop thinking and listen to every word that fell out of Natasha’s mouth, “I know what you’re thinking ‘what this is crazy, how is Natasha somewhere that it’s already 2 am?',”
Her Russian accent always came back when she spoke the language for a long period, or when she was drunk. By the sounds of it, both were factors right now.
“But the thing is, I am here in Russian because of you. Well because of what you had told me and you see, now I am here and oh Masha let me tell you how wrong I fucking was.”
Maria sat there on her bed and listened to the whole 5-minute video, not blinking once. It seemed that there was a possibility that the Red Room was in fact still active, even after she and Clint had leveled an entire city block trying to get rid of it. She was going to set up a catch and release and thought someone should know, just in case.
“And the best part of all of this?” she took one last drag, “I have to face the people that not only fucked my life but my sis-”
The Russian let out a groan of frustration as she choked back tears. She kept the video rolling as she stood up and stubbed out the cigarette with her heel. Maria thought back to the times when she had tried to convince the Russian to stop smoking, Natasha assured her it was a once in a while thing. She learned that was code for 'when I’m drunk and sad'.
“She is probably gone, and now I can have confirmation on that,” she was walking down a dark street now, “I wanted to believe that Yelena was out of The Room and safe with her own life. But now I- FUCK”
Tears rolled down her face as she continued to walk in the darkness, Maria felt her own rising up at the anguish of the woman on the screen.
“I just wanted to tell you, so if something happens, you know,” she composed herself, “anyway… I wish you were here Masha. Okay. Bye.”
And with that, the video was over and Maria felt worse than he had in a while. Normally she would travel to wherever Natasha was after a video like that, but she knew that she would be risking her mission if she did. She was also torn on how she was supposed to feel, she gave her that information and while she knew that the Russian was hurting, maybe she could find closure.
Maria's arms found the holes on her old shirt from West Point as she pulled it over her head, opting to have some clothes on for the video message she would send back to the redhead.
“Hi Tasha,” she forced a smile, “good to know that you’re still smoking despite my best efforts.”
She tried her best to joke as she pulled on a pair of old running shorts, just out of frame.
“I know that no matter what I say, you’re going to go ahead with this mission so, I hope that you find what you need to find, and know that if it’s not what you wanted, that you tried your best. Or you could just go and do recon, get information then all of us can help. You don’t have to do this alone, you never have to do this alone.”
Her words were more honest than she anticipated. She wanted to tell Natasha how much she cared about her, how she didn’t have go through life alone. Not just this mission. But if she told her that, then she could ruin what they already had.
“I just,” she paused for a moment, “I want you... I mean I want you to be okay and for you to know that I’m here for you. Give me a call sometime yeah? And if not then check in every 12 please. Okay… talk to you soon.” She hit send before she could think it through and chicken out, her videos always seemed more awkward than Natasha's.
Her apartment had gotten dark as the sun began to set and she looked at her fridge for the magnet that had the pizza delivery number on it. She figured by the time it arrived, she could have narrowed the location of the building down to one city. Her fingers pressed firmly on the screen of her phone as she flipped the paper menu over in her hand as if she was going to get anything other than her usual order.
Within thirty-minute, as promised, she had a pizza and a more narrow down location.
“Have a good night,” the teenager called out as he walked away from Maria’s door.
She sank down on her couch and looked at the laptop where the screen read 'Novosibirsk'. She took a slice of pizza she started eating while using satellite images to try and find the billboard.
In the end it took 2 more slices of pizza, and 2 beers to narrow it down to a city block that had been abandoned 10 years prior. There was a cluster of office buildings that all sat near never changing billboards, two of them overlooked a billboard with a picture of a coat on it.
The draft to Fury sat in her inbox, there was something about the finality of it all that made her wait until she was of clear mind the location next morning. If she had gotten any of it wrong, she would have been wasting everyone's time and money, so she waited.
Her head hit the pillow and almost immediately she was asleep, only waking up to check her phone every few hours to see if Natasha had sent anything else. She hadn't. By the time her alarm went off in the morning she was rested and ready to take on the day. Or rather, she was ready for May to come down to her apartment and take her on a run.
“It’s open!” she called to the front door as she continued tying her shoes.
“I could be a murderer,” May raised an eyebrow.
“In a government apartment building?” The brunette got up and walked over to the front door.
“You never know these days.”
The morning air was already warm and muggy as they made their way out of the front door of the complex. It was mid-spring and by the looks of it, gearing up to be a hot summer, something that no one over the age of ten truly enjoyed.
“So, hear that you and Nat are over,” May cut straight to the chase as she started jogging on a path they had created years prior.
“And I heard that you and Phil were thinking about having a kid,” two could play this game.
“I asked first,” the woman next to her tilted her head in question "we can get to my shit later."
Maria huffed and increased the tempo as they got to the park across the street, “she’s on requested leave right now. In Russia. Most likely because of the intel I gave her.”
“Russia huh?” Melinda turned down the running path while she thought about this, “any idea what she's doing?”
“Yeah, but if I tell you then we're both going to get in trouble if it gets out,” Maria knew that the agent next to her liked to stay in the dark and claim deniability.
“That bad?” she questioned.
“Not great, but it’s Tasha so I’m sure it will all work out.”
“Now you sound like Phil.”
“Who told me that you guys were maybe thinking about kids?” She pretended not to notice the tempo increase as the subject was brought up.
“We’ve both always wanted them. Just... after Bahrain, I thought that I would never want them again but now,” she breathed out, “I’ve made progress in therapy and feel like it’s back in the cards.”
“That’s really exciting May,” Maria smiled and for the first time in a long time, it was genuine, “you guys would make great parents if that’s what you chose to do.”
They continued to run and talk for over an hour just as they did most Saturday mornings, the routine of it all put the commander at ease. An ease that continued even after she showered and stared at the draft of the email she had created the night before. She checked and then double-checked the location.
The satellite image showed the same billboard and would have had the sunset during the same hour that she saw it in the portal. It had to be the building, she had no doubt about it but still felt nervous as her mouse hovered over the “Send” button, but just as she did with her video reply to Natasha, she clicked it before being able to overthink.
Fury’s response was almost immediate as he informed her that they would be pursuing it come Monday morning. The thought was that if they had agents on the other side of the portal, they could ensure the safety of the window until the energy source was completely understood.
She stretched out on the couch and pulled out the remote that hadn’t been used since the last movie night she and Natasha had. The movie had been good from what she remembered from the beginning, after that neither of them were focused on that form of entertainment anymore. Still, she searched for it and started it over again, relaxing into the weekend.
“Dr. Selvig’s lab, ASAP,” Fury’s voice cut through the speaker.
“Yes, sir.” She tried her best to make it sound as if she wasn’t dead asleep at 3am on Sunday.
Her feet hit the floor and she was off, it took 4 minutes for her to be ready to go as soon as she got up. Something she had gotten good at in the Army, something she had perfected at SHIELD.
Her eyes glanced down at her phone as she waited for the elevator to the garage, Natasha had texted her earlier in the night. Every 12 hours as requested, the Russian had checked in to let her know that she was still alive but gave no details of how her personal mission was going.
The engine of her car turned over and she pulled out of the space, hitting the freeway 7 minutes after Fury had called her. This time of day (night?) left the city much less busy, by the time she got from the less populated roads to the countryside where the lab was located, she was practically alone. There wasn’t anything to go off of Fury’s call and the unknown made her hands sweat on the steering wheel as she thought of the possibilities.
However, as she descended the staircase, she realized that none of the possibilities that she had accounted for would have prepared her for what she saw. The whole room shook as she walked into the hallway connected to the main area where the tesseract was fluorescing bright blue. Fury met her as she walked down the corridor, Phil at his side. It seemed he had also gotten the call.
“Campus should be clear in the next half hour,” the agent said as the energy source caused the metal around it to groan.
“Do better,” Fury gave a quick glance as he continued down the hallway Maria occupying the now empty spot.
“Sir, if we can't control the tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance,” her mind began to spin for a moment as she thought of the possible casualties. This was why she didn't want to get involved in this mission in the first place.
“I need you to make sure the phase two prototypes are shipped out,” he didn't look at her as he continued to walk.
“Sir is that really a priority right now we-” she started and stopped as soon as the older man turned around to face her.
“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on,” he continued to walk “clear out the tech below, every piece of phase two on a truck and gone.”
“Yes, sir,” this time she didn’t even try to mask the annoyance in her voice, “with me” she called out to two agents that had been standing in the room.
The three of them continued on towards the lowest level of the building where the Phase Two items were stored. They had gotten to the door of the holding unit before the entire structure began to shake, causing her to lose her footing to the point where she almost fell over.
“Woah there,” Barton appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and pushed her upright again.
“What the fuck was that?” she looked at the agent next to her who shrugged, “okay, you two get all of these boxes onto the truck.”
She swiped her ID card to open the door and pointed to a nearby flatbed truck, “Every crate that you can get successfully stored in there. Radio me when they're loaded and I’ll come back and drive out with you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they both said while walking into the small room, picking up crates.
“Barton, you and I are going to see what the hell just happened,” she started running back to the main entrance.
By the time they got back, the tesseract was glowing bright enough for Maria to squint. The whole room continued to shake as Barton got closer to the device.
“Hill, I told you to get phase two out of here!” Fury barked from across the room.
“I handled it!” she yelled back, partially because of the loud noise that was now coming from the power source, partially because he needed to be yelled at.
More noise and light was being emitted now and she turned her back slightly behind the bulletproof glass to save her vision. But, just as quickly as it started, it was over. She turned around and was now facing the familiar office scene, the same one that she had viewed for a week now.
“Selvig?” Fury looked at the scientist who continued to type into a laptop and shake his head.
Then, there was a flash of movement from the office space as the small girl stood in full view. Her hair was curly, her skin tan but sickly pale, and the circles under her eyes were dark, too dark for a child as young as this to have. She had on a pair of black shorts and a black shirt that was visibly tattered, there was no doubt she was not being cared for properly. She looked scared as she glanced around the room, her eyes continuing to shift to her left. If Maria had to guess, another person was standing there, right out of view of the portal.
“Can we help you with something?” Fury called into the portal and the girl's bright green eyes snapped towards him.
She continued to stand there for a moment more before a large hand pushed her through the opening. Maria breath hitched as the girl fell through on her hands and knees, her body splayed out on the ground for a moment before she crawled up, wobbling for a moment.
“Safe then,” a black-haired man called out from the other side of the portal, “I am the god Loki of Asgard.”
He paused to take a step through the portal, his legs failing him briefly as he stepped through. Unlike the child, he remained upright as he walked from one side to the other, “I am burdened with glorious purpose.”
No one moved, the tension in the air was palpable until the Asgardian smiled and narrowed his eyes. There was a sudden explosion of activity as he used a spear in his hand to send blasts of power into devices and agents in the room. The small child had placed her hands over her ears as the activity became louder and closer to her head. Maria sent off round after round into the god's back, doing little more than pissing him off.
Clint was the first to make physical contact with the god, sending quick jabs to his ribs until the spear touched the archer's sternum. Immediately Clint stood straight and holstered his weapon, his eyes becoming milky and blue. It was clear he was no longer in control of his body. Maria’s first thought was how she was going to tell Laura.
The Commander fired more rounds until she was out of ammo, the god moved from his position over the scientist towards her, rearing back his spear.
“Sir,” Clint spoke up just as Maria closed her eyes, waiting for death, “This place is about to blow and bury us in 100 feet of concrete.”
The god looked up and saw the ball of energy that had gathered at the ceiling, “Yes, very well. Everyone back through.”
He motioned for Selvig and Clint to walk back through the portal which was now warping slightly. He grabbed the back of the shirt of the girl who had still been standing with her ears covered and shoved her towards the glowing power source.
Fury started towards it but not as fast as the child who had run to pick up the tesseract as the rest of her group entered the portal. Even though this had clearly been a planned event, the girl still faltered as she picked up the blue cube. Her whole body shook violently as it was in her hand, her skin glowing in the same shade of blue.
“Hand it over,” Fury went to reach for the child and the power source that were now near convolutions on the ground.
The child's body calmed and her head snapped towards the portal and she ran on unstable legs towards it, falling through just as it closed.
“Phase two loaded, ma’am,” her radio crackled to life.
“Get out of here,” she called back into it, her eyes still on the spot where the child had been.
“Romanoff is the closest,” she spoke into her headset to her boss on the jet.
“Then get here there,” he looked over to the Russian’s handler who glanced over to Maria.
“Coulson, get her on the phone. You stay on the carrier and call the mission, I’ll take a team to Russia for extraction of them both.” The commander was in her element, there was a reason she was called mission-control-Maria.
“Got it,” Phil got up and pulled out his phone to dial a number.
“Can you keep it professional?” Fury looked over at her from his copilot seat.
“She’s not my asset, that’s why Coulson will call it,” she tried to dodge the question.
“I can’t fuck up anymore Hill, the council is already going to be on my ass for losing it,” his voice was stern, “You need to promise me you can get this done, no question, no going overboard because she’s your girlfriend. I need my deputy director right now, not Maria.”
“You have my word,” she didn’t look over at him and continued to pilot the jet.
Even though he had moved towards the back of the jet, the two up front could still hear just about every word Phil said on the phone.
“I’m calling for the Widow,” he spoke into the phone and waited before sighing and starting in, his handler voice coming out strong, “you are at 1-14 slinky plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F-22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up this block before you can make the lobby.”
It was crunch time and if they didn’t get Natasha to the office building soon, there was no telling what would happen to Clint or the tesseract.
“We need you to come in,” he paused, “this takes precedence… fine, hang on.”
The brunette heard his footsteps approach before he reached the front, she already knew what he was going to ask.
“She’s-” the handler started.
“Yeah,” the woman cut him off and took the phone, “Coulson is right, we need you in.”
“It’s my time off Hill, I’m working,” the Russian's voice echoed in whatever room she was in.
“Wouldn’t ask unless it was an emergency, Romanoff,” she knew she was about to get her way.
“You owe me, you owe me so fucking much Maria. I had him, this moron was giving me everything about the Red Room, which is still active turns out, and I get pulled for what?” Natasha’s voice was loud and angry.
“For Barton,” she kept her voice-controlled, “he’s been compromised.”
“Give me the coordinates.”
Maria rattled off the numbers and ended the call, focusing solely on the sky in front of her.
“You gave me your word, Hill,” Fury’s voice is low as he gives a statement that sounds more like a question.
“I intend on keeping it sir,” she keeps her eyes on the blinking ship that was now coming into view, “Touch down in five, Coulson, I want your team waiting on the tarmac.”
“Copy,” the agent confirms before opening up coms and getting his agents in line.
Her face was neutral but all she could think about is the safety of Clint and the distress of Natasha as she made her way south to the coordinates. The winds were strong as they reached the base, a team of agents waiting for them just as she had requested.
“Coms will be up and running as soon as I reach the bridge,” Phil had walked up to the cockpit as soon as they landed, “you want point on this?”
Fury eyed her as he unbuckled and stood up.
“I’ll take point but I want your eyes on everything, agent cams on the whole time,” she knew that she could handle it and wasn’t sure why Fury was so adamant about her keeping her composure. As if that had ever been a problem with her in the past.
“God speed,” Phil gave her a wink and walked off the jet with Fury in tow.
“Hill,” the older man called out as he reached the ramp.
“Sir?”
“Bring them home, don’t die,” he gave firm nod.
For as long as she could remember, this was the way that the Director sent her off on missions. Granted, she was only a field agent for a few years before becoming a handler, but he still used to send her off every time with the command of not dying. So far, it had worked and she had always made it back in one piece.
“Got it, sir,” she gave her own nod and turned back to the controls, watching the fuel gauge creep higher and higher as the crew refilled the jet.
She waited for the crackle of Coulson’s coms to turn on before getting up from her spot in the pilot's chair. The agents had all been seated in jumper seats that lined the jet, all snapping their attention to her and falling silent as she made her way to the back of the jet.
“Cams and coms on, whole time no acceptions,” she pressed the ramp button and watched it close. The confined space instantly becoming quiet, “read up on all of the intel Agent Coulson will be sending as we travel. Expect a 45-minute flight and possible laser fire as we land.”
She didn’t know if the god would still be present when they arrived, but she wanted to give them as much information as possible.
“Laser fire ma’am?” a dark-haired agent with an accent asked.
“That is correct, everyone buckle in. Torres with me, wheels up in 2,” she walked back to the cockpit with one of the more senior agents.
They both buckled in silently, she didn’t need a co-pilot but was required by SHIELD to have one when necessary. Torres was competent and she had used him as a co-pilot before when he was still on one of her teams. They taxied down the runway and were gone as soon as they came, efficient just as she needed.
The flight was quick and painless, which would have been fine but with no distractions it left more time for the Commander to worry about Natasha and Clint. Coulson had checked in several times to let her know when Natasha was expected to arrive on the scene and that there hadn't been any suspicious activity picked up via satellite. The Russian was going to get there a few minutes before they did, and was advised to stay put until the team reached her location. Maria doubted this was how it would go, and realized that Fury had not only wanted her to keep her composure but try to maintain Natasha’s as well.
“Torres, take over,” she instructed as she unbuckled and walked to the back of the jet that once again fell silent as she approached, “Reminder, your main objective is to provide support as we retrieve agent Barton, Dr. Selvig, and the power source. We are to assume that Barton and Selvig are under mind control, if you are approached by either use the tranquilizers you were all given to incapacitate. Any questions?”
She waited for a few seconds, until the dark-haired agent once again spoke up, “Ma’am, Agent Coulson gave us an advisory to keep distant from the dark-haired person named Loki, do you have any idea what that distance looks like?”
The agent was confused but by the looks of it, not scared. She glanced down to check his nameplate, Mason. She would have to look into him later, he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, not afraid to ask clarifying questions.
“Good question, Loki has a spear that he uses to fire laser shots,” she didn’t know how else to describe it, “he also used this to control agent Barton and Dr. Selvig, do not allow it to touch you. Any other questions?”
The agents all looked at each other and shook their heads, “great, prepare for landing.”
Her coms had beeped once as they landed, indicating that she was now being patched through to Natasha’s device as well. When flying they tried their best to keep the communications limited to radio towers and only one handler who could deliver information as needed.
“Building to the southeast, Romanoff has already engaged and you are now being connected with her,” Phil was calm and collected on the other side.
“Copy, mission is a go starting now,” she walked to the back of the jet and opened the ramp, “rollout.”
She unholstered her weapon and started walking southeast with the team behind her, the sky was still dark as they continued to walk, the only light coming from a few street lamps that still had functional bulbs. Coulson continued to give instructions on where they should be going, but they were unnecessary. The entire block was filled with old, rundown office buildings, only one was facing the coat billboard. Only one was in the middle of a firefight.
“Any day now, Hill!” Natasha’s voice was loud in her ear.
Within a minute they were making their way up the staircase inside the building and towards the source of the action. The redhead was pinned on one side, using filing cabinets as cover, as arrows and laser blasts were coming from the other. Even in the mostly dark room Maria could see the glazed-over eyes of Barton and tried to come up with a game plan to get him alone and sedated.
“You four,” she turned to the team, “support Agent Romanoff and pull fire. You four with me, pull out tranqs.”
The agents did exactly as they were told, she had made it halfway through the office space before Loki stood in front of her, blocking her path. Before she could fire a shot, Natasha had, the bullet flying through the god. She reached out her hand and that also fell through the god. It wasn't real.
“Watch for holograms,” she spoke into her coms device for the agents to hear.
They continued moving towards the mind-controlled individuals from the side, reaching the scientist first. He tried his best to put up a fight but the man was clearly not versed in combat and was quickly sedated by agent Mason who stepped around Selvig’s flailing arms and injected him.
“Doc is down, eyes on Barton?” Maria called into her device.
“Actively firing from the top left section of the room,” Phil answered, he had clearly been watching the cams.
“Engaging him now,” Natasha called out as she made a dash across the office.
The team was still pulling the attention from the god who continued to fire shot after shot, one hand on the spear, the other on the power source. Agents were closing in on him as he frantically looked around.
“Drop the weapon and put your hands on your head,” Maria commanded, getting him to look at her and the reaming agents who were now closing in on him.
“Oh I don’t follow orders, I make them,” he smiled and sent a blast towards her head that she narrowly dodged.
“You’re outnumbered, you have no other option” she kept her gun trained at his head.
“But I do,” his smile grew as a window of darkness opened behind him and he fell in.
“Power source and the god are gone,” she said through gritted teeth as she made her way over to the fight still going on between the spies.
Natasha had landed blow after blow to Barton's sides, but he was just as skilled and had a height and weight advantage. An advantage he was now using as he pinned her down and drew a knife from his boot.
With one swift blow to the side of the face, the archer was unconscious.
“Thanks,” Natasha breathed out as she pushed the body of her partner off to the side.
Maria hummed her response and reached out her hand to helped the Russian up, wincing slightly at the pain in her hand from punching Barton.
“Barton and Selvig secure, returning to quinjet now,” she relayed over coms.
“See you soon,” the handler replied.
Maria looked around the office at the damage that had been done, most of the furniture had large burn marks covering it from what she could tell in the dim lighting. There was blood in areas and the smell of burnt plastic filled the space.
“Count off,” she called into the space and was relieved to hear a number come from every agent's mouth, all accounted for, “rollout.”
On the way into the building, they had used flashlights and the burst of gunfire to guide their way. Now the building was dark and most of the agents were needed to carry portable stretchers holding an unconscious agent and scientist, they all stumbled through the darkness, rushing to get back to the sparsely light street level.
As they made it outside, Maria thanked whatever god was watching out for their ankles and looked back at the building that was in stark contrast from how she had found it. It was now totally dark without the flashes of gunfire.
Or at least it was dark when she had first turned around, but now there was a slight glow from the fourth floor.
“Romanoff,” she got the agent's attention, “tell me I’m not going crazy.”
Natasha let go of the canvas that was holding an unconscious Clint and looked up along with the rest of the team. A deep crease formed between her eyes as she squinted at the level.
“Not crazy, or at least we're both going crazy together,” she continued to keep her gaze on the light that was now glowing brighter until she darted her eyes back to her best friend.
“Go ahead,” the brunette motioned for her to rejoin the group, knowing that it stressed her to be any distance from the archer, “Torres, I want the jet up and running by the time I’m back. Mason, with me.”
“Yes ma’am,” the agent responded and continued to walk with the rest of the team back to the jet.
“Same floor that we were on?” she asked the man next to her as she approached the building they had just come out of. She was pretty sure it was the level below but wanted to see if he was observant.
“No, ma’am,” he counted the levels, “I think that it’s the level below. Actually, two below.”
She looked up, it had been the level below, but now there was a light blue glow indeed coming from the third floor. Briefly, she regretted sending the team back, there was no telling what they were about to come across.
“Keep your eyes on it,” the front door opened and they made their way back to the staircase, the light blue glow reflecting off of the glass.
The door to the third floor was missing as they walked through the office space that was a near replica of the one from the fourth floor. Both agents had their weapons drawn as they walked through the space, getting closer to the corner of the office where the blue light was getting brighter.
“Ma’am,” Mason stopped as he spotted the source first.
In the corner of the room, pressed against the glass windows of the building was the little girl from the portal. Her eyes were wide and scared as she tried her best to couch in an attack stance. The dark hair around her face was curly and wild, her clothes were too big and did little to cover the bones that protrude from her skin. She was scared and young. She was also fluorescing blue.
“Hi there,” Maria holstered her gun and crouched down, “I’m Maria and this is…” she didn’t know Mason's first name.
“Rick,” the man next to her said quietly as he too holstered his gun.
“What’s your name?” she tried her best to think of how she was supposed to talk to kids.
The little girl just stared back, her green eyes flickering between the two adults.
“Do you have anyone around that we can help you find?” Maria inched forward, a mistake.
The girl was suddenly engulfed in a portal that was barely large enough to let her tiny frame through.
“What the fuck?” Mason called out, followed quickly by a “sorry ma’am.”
“No, what the fuck is right,” she breathed out and looked around, unsure of where the girl could be. Her first thought was that she was now wherever Loki had ended up, but as she looked out the window she saw a faint blue reflection from the fourth floor.
“Commander Hill, we are up and running,” Torres spoke through her coms device.
“Yep, we're going to need a little more time,” she answered, moving towards the stairwell once again.
They climbed the stairs and were back in the office space that still smelled of burning plastic. The girl had now shoved herself under a desk, the glowing was fainter this time.
“Hi, it’s me and Rick again,” she kept a wide distance this time as she came into the girls' view, “we’re just trying to help you. Help? Do you understand?”
Her eyes remained on Maria but she made no indication that she understood what was being said. Her hair fell in her eyes and she quickly shoved it away, keeping her eyes trained on the adults the whole time.
The brunette tried to memorize every aspect of the child in case she was gone in a second again. The scabs on her knobby knees were dark and large, her lips were cracked and she had a number of bruises on her arms and legs. Maria’s heart ached as she took it in, and was glad that she did because as soon as the quinjet flew by the girl was gone again.
“Out front when ready ma’am,” Torres relaid.
“Fuck,” Maria glanced around for any sign of the girl.
Just as she turned around to get a better look, the portal was back and the girl fell through. She came crashing down but just before she hit the ground she was taken into another tiny portal. Over and over again the girl fell through the portals, gaining speed as she did so.
“It’s a loop,” she watched the girl, her eyes scared and barely open.
“She’s about to pass out from g-force, ma’am,” Mason saw it too.
He was correct, the next time she fell through her eyes were closed and her body limp. Her limbs were centimeters away from hitting the edge of the portal, and at this speed, Maria was pretty sure she would break them if they hit the side.
In a moment of action, the commander ran towards the portal and tackled the girl horizontally. Her body floated for a moment before they both came crashing through the other side, Maria taking the brunt of the force to her shoulder. She looked down at the little girl in front of her, still unconscious, but breathing.
“Be advised we're bringing another person on board,” she called into her coms.
“Another person?” Phil’s voice came through this time.
“A child,” she looked at the little girl in front of her, unsure of what else to do.