The Mission
Maria slipped back through the window, pausing as she re-entered the apartment where Yelena was no longer pretending to sleep on her couch. The blonde opened her mouth to speak before closing it again and adverting her gaze.
“What is it?” the Commander questioned, trying her best not to spook the young woman.
Yelena pulled her phone out, nervously glancing around as her sister closed the main window.
“Yelena,” Maria prompted again.
“I know that I was to retrieve more information about the subjugation serum and who has access to it, and I did do that,” the young woman flipped her phone around to show her screen.
Maria sat on the coffee table in front of the couch and took hold of the phone before realizing the conversation was in Russian. She handed it to Natasha who sat next to her sister.
“Who is this?” the redhead glanced up from the device.
“Klavdiya, she has worked with me a lot to free others but she does not have another place to go after missions,” the blonde explained, “she spends much more time at the farm.”
Maria looked over to Natasha, before motioning to the phone.
“She says that Melina has access to more subjugation serum, that she’s seen the vials herself.”
The Deputy Director stood up, it was all she needed. She would go to the farm tonight and get the information from Melina by any means necessary.
“But,” Yelena stopped her with a single hand up as she spoke quickly, “Melina was in a very similar situation as the rest of the women controlled by the Red Room. She would not do this-”
“Like hell she wouldn’t, she let us rot in the Room while she got to play doctor in a house all to herself away from Dreykov!” Natasha shook her head.
“Sister, listen,” the younger woman put her hands up, “I called Melina.”
“Yelena!”
“Listen!” she yelled back at her sister, “She confirmed that she does have more serum and that she uses it to derive the antidote. I asked her if it was all accounted for and she said yes and I asked her to check again. She hung up on me.”
It was quiet for a moment until Yelena pulled up another text message, “while you were outside she messaged me and told me that she was in fact missing two vials after she checked. But it was not her.”
“You don’t know that,” Maria started going over a mental list of everything she would need to grab before leaving for Saint Petersburg.
“I do, I know that Melina would not do this and then admit to making a mistake. She never admits to mistakes, but this time she did because she knows how dangerous the drug is,” the blonde argued, “but I also know…”
“Tell me” Natasha leveled the woman with a single gaze, “now.”
“I know that I was not to intentionally know where Barton left,” she started, “but he is loud and I did hear him say that he was going to Argentina.”
It was safest to not let one single person know everything, something Maria had learned from Fury early on.
“Yeah,” Maria confirmed, “he’s in Argentina.”
“And I know that while Melina would not put another child under subjugation, there is a man who has access to the farm and a liking for white sand beaches with high populations of immigrant Russians.”
“Alexi,” Natasha spoke barely above a whisper.
“I only just asked Klavdiya to tell me who has been to the farm recently.”
All three women stared at the phone in anticipation. Logically Maria knew that there was an eight-hour time difference between the locations, irrationally she wanted Yelena to call the other widow to get answers now.
“I’ll call Clint,” Natasha stood quickly and walked into the bedroom.
Maria stared at the young woman in front of her, for all that the Red Room had taken from her, trained out of her, it was still noticeable in these situations that she was just a kid, nervous that she had made a mistake.
“Thank you,” the Commander placed a hand on the girl's knee, “you put those pieces together better than anyone else.”
“I want her to come back, I know that no one trusts me. I know that I have given them reason not to trust me,” she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth momentarily, “but I was there when she was sick, I was there when she killed for the first time, I was there when Kira took her.”
“I know, Yelena. I know you want her to come home just as much as I do,” Maria was positive about that.
The two sat there, quietly listening to the murmurs coming from the other room while Natasha talked to Clint. Maria tried her best not to stare at the younger woman's phone as they waited for the other widow to confirm Alexi’s visit.
It would be another hour before they got that confirmation in a single word: Him.
“And you’re sure that’s Alexi?” Natasha stared at the phone, then back at her sister.
“Yes, he is the only man who has visited the farm. I am positive,” the blonde nodded once, “you have a way of getting us all there?”
“I do-” Maria started before she was cut off by the redhead.
“She has a way of getting SHIELD agents there, you aren’t one. You’re not going.”
“I am not going to stay here while you are out fighting on information I provided,” Yelena shook her head.
“I am and you will stay here, you can’t come, you’re not SHIELD,” Natasha directed her stare to Maria, “tell her, tell her she can’t come.”
The Commander knew that the young woman would be allowed on the mission as a consultant if they filed the paperwork properly (which she knew how to do). But as she looked at Natasha who shook her head with fire in her eyes, and Yelena who looked like someone was going to take away her ice cream, she decided not to touch that conversation.
“I know you want to keep your sister safe, Tasha,” Maria looked at the redhead who nodded once triumphantly before the Deputy Director continued, “but- I also know that Yelena was the one who got us this intel, and you want to see the fruits of your labor, especially when it comes to Ellie.”
Natasha set her jaw and took in a breath, most likely to explain all the ways that Maria was wrong before the brunette held up her hand.
“Figure it out and tell me how many seats I need available on the quinjet. I’m going to alert the team. You have an hour,” she stood up and walked over to her computer, pulling up the contact information for the strike team.
The sisters argued first in lower levels before Natasha dragged Yelena into Maria’s room, where she continued to argue with her at a higher volume. The Deputy Director contacted all of the agents on the case and created a team of available members who would be leaving by 6am to rendezvous with Clint. For the first time in close to a week, Maria let herself breathe, not to think about what they would find on the other side, but just to breathe.
“Two seats,” the Russian cleared her throat.
Maria clicked the “submit” button on the consultant form and nodded.
“All of her information is redacted,” she motioned towards the screen, “but, let’s keep her away from SHIELD cameras as much as we can. I don’t feel like answering a million questions if we get a hit on facial recognition.”
“Thank you,” Natasha leaned her body against Maria’s shoulder and lowered her voice, “I don’t think I realized how much Ellie means to her.”
The Commander leaned into the body that stood behind her, “Thank you, for everything.”
She wouldn’t have gotten half as far in the search without Natasha, she also wouldn’t have been functioning in any capacity.
“You can make it up to me later,” Natasha leaned down and kissed the top of the brunette's head, “come on, let's go get your kid back.”
Maria nodded and sent all of her information to her tablet, she already had four possible missions that she could tweak to make work for this situation. Clint had let her know he was going to send over all intel that he had on the facility he was running surveillance on, along with the list of agents she would have at her disposal, which was all she needed to make the mission a success. That much she was positive about.
The team was split into three groups, intel, hostage retrieval, and building demolition. One less building for whatever group this was to run back to was one less building SHIELD had to keep on their radar.
“Romanoff and Belova will be with Barton,” the Deputy Director spoke to the small crowd standing in front of the Quinjet, “Morse and all other agents will be on intel, from Barton's aerial view he believes the IT department is located in the center of the building.”
“Figures,” Bobbi scoffed, “couldn’t be like the first door on the left or something easy?”
“Task force I want you with Rogers, you’re going to plant explosives working from inside out,” she looked at the group in heavy tactical gear, “I want the whole place to come down, nothing left. Clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the team said in unison.
“Intel group, you're taking anything that looks slightly relative to what this group is working on,” the Commander spoke to the smaller group, “hard drives, files, everything. By the end, I want to know not only who’s running this but what they eat for lunch. Got it?”
“Got it,” the group responded.
“Romanoff, Belova, there’s a number of locations where they could be holding hostages, I want you to look over the blueprints of the building and talk to Barton until you know the building by heart. Okay?”
Natasha and her sister both nodded.
“It will be a tight ride, load up,” they would be taking one jet on the way there and splitting up once they got to Argentina and Clint’s jet, “wheels up in 5.”
The group of agents talked to each other as they got into the jet, but not Maria. She could feel him staring before she turned around to face her boss.
“I’m not going in, I’m just acting as the handler,” the Commander spoke to the man behind her, “I know that this is a job that can be done from the Triskelion. But, with all due respect sir, I won't stay here. Not when we could be bringing her back home.”
“I know,” Fury’s voice was soft as he spoke, “I didn’t come here to try and convince you otherwise, Hill.”
She finally turned around to face him. The man checked that all other agents were on board before he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Bring her home. That is an order from your commanding officer.”
“Yes, sir,” she nodded as he squeezed her shoulder twice.
The flight to Argentina was longer than she wanted, but just as long as she needed to finalize all plans. By the time they landed, it was already mid-afternoon but according to Clint, it was nearly the perfect time, most of the people who had gone out to lunch were back meaning they would be able to take down as many hostiles as possible.
It was less than thirty minutes between when they had landed and having the building in question surrounded by agents. There was a loud blast over the coms set in her ear as the Deputy Director waited (not so) patiently for confirmation that the teams had made their way into the building.
“Alpha team in position, breach complete,” Clint spoke quickly and clearly as he led the team into the building.
“Proceed with caution,” the Commander replied, trying her best to treat the mission as she would with any other directive.
She watched from her tablet as the agents moved into the building, each member showing up as a blinking dot. There was an occasional burst of activity in her headset as the coms turned back on either by mistake or to communicate with each other. Maria watched the entire thing and listened to every conversation, not missing a single beat.
“Belova thinks she can see the holding cell but we're pinned,” Clint called from his coms, “Morse, any chance you could help?”
“We got 15 more hostiles by my count before we can get to the intel room,” Bobbi rasped out, “we’re not getting out of here anytime soon.”
“Cap?” Clint asked as it sounded like he took a hit to the chest.
“I can be there in… five?” the super soldier also sounded strained as he spoke.
“I’ll be there in two,” Maria got up, knowing she would be reprimanded for this but not caring when her daughter was within arms reach.
She loaded her gun, flipping the safety off as she made her way over to the coordinates of Barton, Belova, and Romanoff. The remaining hostiles were barely enough for her to work up a sweat as she followed the path of destruction that had been laid out by the team already. She rounded corner after corner of the building which felt more like a maze. However, the firefight that rang out through the halls was easy enough to find as she finally got a view of where the sub-team had been pinned.
The Commander didn't think as she fired round after round into the bodies that surrounded her, flipping an extra magazine to Natasha as she did. The two women pressed into each other's backs with practiced ease as they fired into each body in the space. When she ran low on ammo, she took out her anger and frustration on the men in front of her, daring them to get close enough for her to throw hands in the fight. The hostiles continued to drop to the ground and soon the room that had been filled with more than 20 people was quiet other than the soft panting of the 4 members who had cleared the room.
“Looks like you don’t need help after all,” Steve jogged up with a small team, taking in the massacre that was the wrath of The Commander.
She looked at Natasha who pointed to one of the small rooms off to the side, it looked like a supply closet at first glance as it was supposed to. But looking a little closer, the door was heavily locked and looked to be reinforced. The group made their way over, stopping as they all noticed the same thing, a small amount of blood pooling from outside the door.
She would set the entire building ablaze.
“Rogers,” she clenched her jaw and nodded to the locks.
With one fluid motion and enough force to kill, the blonde used his shield to break both the physical locks and the electronic panel next to the door.
Maria Hill was a trained soldier, the Commander, the Deputy Director, a woman who had seen more bloodshed than most of the world. And yet, it took everything in her to keep her legs steady and not vomit at the sight in front of her. If it wasn’t for the slight rise and fall of the girl's chest, she would have thought the child had been brutally murdered.
The entire room was covered in the partially dried blood of the three guards that lay dead around the girl, filling the small space with a coppery smell that hit the team as the door unlocked. Ellie herself continued to hang her head, not flinching even as the door swung open.
“No,” Natasha stuck her arm out with enough force to knock the air out of Maria’s lungs as she pressed forward, “Belova.”
“Romanoff stand down,” the Commander ordered through gritted teeth as she tried to escape the arms around her.
The blonde walked through the group of agents who parted for her. She took one deep breath, set her jaw, and looked straight forward as she entered the small room. Maria continued to struggle against Natasha, only settling once the woman started to translate everything that her sister was saying.
As soon as Yelena spoke, Ellie’s head snapped up, her eyes simultaneously wild and vacant.
“She’s asking for a status report,” Natasha spoke quietly, “Ellie said she removed the obstacle and is happy to comply.”
The next sentence didn’t need translation as the child dropped the small piece of tile in her hand followed by a screw, then what Maria could only assume was a thumbtack which was covered in blood just as the previous weapons had been. Ellie once again looked straight ahead, waiting for the next instruction from Yelena.
“She asked her what her current directive is,” the agent swallowed, “Eliminate threats, provide support, wait for further instruction in cell.”
Logically, Maria knew why Yelena needed to ask questions now for the same reason she had the girl remove all weapons, as soon as the antidote was administered there was no telling what would happen. Still, Maria dug her nails into her palms in silent prayer that the blonde would finish quickly.
“Ellie said she overhead that the guards were going to-” Natasha stopped as the girl grew louder.
“What, what were they going to do?”
“They were going to turn themselves in… she… she said there is no place for traitors in their ranks.”
Her stomach coiled, the girl had killed people who were looking to get out of the system, looking for a better life.
“Belova, get her ready for transport,” Clint cut in.
Yelena gave a curt nod before looking at Ellie and speaking in Russian once more.
The girl stood up and followed Yelena, having to take two steps for every one of the women. The child's clothes were torn and covered in blood, her shoes were the only things Maria could recognize as she walked by, not even glancing in the brunette's direction as she followed Yelena diligently.
“Come on, Ria,” Clint spoke quietly as he placed his hand on her lower back and guided her down the hall. She couldn’t seem to find her footing as he continued to push her forward.
Still, she followed the group who entered the quinjet and strapped themselves in as an agent took them into the sky, promising they would be back at the Triskelion as soon as possible. In the back of her mind, Maria knew she should be doing something, guiding the rest of the agents out of the building, double checking that there weren’t any casualties, masking sure they obtained the data on hard drives. But all she could do was glance at the little girl who sat across from her, jaw clenched, hands balled into fists, brown hair in braids that had come half undone, waiting for instruction from Yelena. Her body looked even smaller as she sat in the jump seat, the restraints were on the smallest setting and were still too large.
The flight back simultaneously took so much time, and none at all as Maria continued to steal quick glances at the child in front of her. Her child. It wasn’t until they landed that she snapped back into the present as Natasha leaned over and spoke quietly.
“I need to,” she jerked her head in the direction of Yelena, “she can’t be here.”
Maria nodded, the blonde was still an internationally wanted assassin, they were still working on getting her name exonerated but until then she couldn’t go through the facial recognition system built into most of the building. Yelena had anticipated the same thing and was speaking quickly to Ellie who nodded once and looked over to Clint.
“Barton will be her handler now. You would not have been stern enough, she would have known it was a trap,” the younger woman handed Maria the red vial, “do not administer this until she is tied down and Natalia is here.”
The Commander nodded and pressed past the feeling of being inadequate, “thank you, Yelena. You’ll be at the apartment?”
“Possibly,” the blonde ducked her head and left before saying anything else. The day had been taxing for her as well.
Maria followed as Clint guided the child out of the quinjet and over to the elevator that would take them down to the med bay. He spoke in broken Russian for a while before realizing that the girl would not respond unless she was prompted to. After that, it was a quiet trip through the dark, mostly empty building.
“Commander Hill, the Director informed us you would be coming,” one of the agents stared at Ellie as the group entered the med bay, “we have her in room 7.”
Room seven was reserved for combative patients, the walls were strong enough to hold against the strength of Banner when the other guy reared his head, the fixtures in the bathroom were bolted to the ground to ensure they couldn’t be used as weapons. The agent looked at Maria as if to silently ask if it was really needed.
“We’ll escort her to room 7,” she nodded.
“We have it in her file that she sees Dr. Carter, and that you are her guardian?”
“Correct.”
“Okay, we’ll have Carter meet you in the room as soon as she’s done with her current patient.”
She gave a curt nod and led Clint and Ellie down the hall, swiping her badge to let them all into the room. Clint pointed to the bed and the child crawled on top with slight hesitation, keeping her back uncomfortably rigid as she sat on the white sheets. Maria still couldn’t bring herself to look at the girl, knowing as soon as she did she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from protectively holding her. It would blow the whole thing and only cause Ellie to become more uneasy.
A few minutes later, Dr. Cater walked into the room. It was clear that she had been briefed by someone at some point on what happened with the child. Still, it did little to prevent her face from tightening as she looked at the girl with sad eyes.
“Hello Elizaveta,” the Doctor spoke, hoping for a response that wouldn’t come.
“She’s-” Maria swallowed, “she isn’t going to respond. Whatever you need to do, do it now please.”
The woman nodded and walked further into the room taking note of the visible changes of the girl on a tablet in her hands. Even with the knowledge that the child wouldn’t respond, she still talked through the whole thing.
“I’m just going to use a little alcohol wipe to get some of this… stuff off and clean the area,” the woman opened the packet and as soon as the scent of antiseptic hit Ellie’s nose, she grabbed the doctor.
“Widow, stop,” Clint spoke loudly and the girl's hand released the doctor.
Doctor Carter looked mostly unphased as the child let her go, but still, Maria knew what had to be done, even if it killed her to do it. The brunette crossed the room in a few strides and picked up the padded handcuffs from where they hung on the side of the bed. She took Ellie’s wrist, had it always been so small, and placed it gently in the cuff before tightening it and hoping that Clint was doing the same thing on the other side, she couldn’t bring herself to do that twice.
The doctor approached the child once more, “as I said, I’m just going to clean this area and we're going to start an IV for you. It’s going to pinch a little but I’ll be as gentle as possible.”
Maria retreated to her corner of the room and stared at the tile in front of her. She could hear the girl thrash for a second before settling back down.
“Not so bad, right?” Cater asked, “We’re just going to give you some fluids, try and get some color back in those cheeks.”
The doctor moved around for a moment more before speaking again, “Now I’m just going to stick these little stickers on your skin so we can make sure your heart rate looks alright. They aren’t going to hurt at all.”
Carter continued to work, after a few moments there was a soft beeping sound in the background that sounded just a little too fast. The room was quiet for a while longer before the physician came over to Maria, standing on the tile she had been focused on.
“Deputy Director Hill,” her voice was calm as she spoke Maria’s title in an attempt to get her attention.
She glanced up and let out a deep breath, “yes.”
“Are you able to listen to the report that I have about Elizaveta right now?” her eyes were kind and concerned.
Maria shook her head, she was positive none of the information would stick at this point.
“That’s alright,” the doctor put a hand on the Commander's shoulder, “we can try again when I make my rounds a little later.”
And then it was quiet once more, the monitor beeping softly in the background as the three occupants continued to occupy the space in unease. Maria had absolutely no concept of how long she had been leaning on the wall closest to the door before it opened again. Natasha emerged from the other side with fresh clothes and damp hair.
“Clint I can take over if you want to shower,” she offered him clothes from the bag she had slung over her shoulder.
It wasn’t until he agreed that Maria got a good look at him for the first time, his face was mostly covered in soot with a few cuts barely visible. She wondered if she looked the same.
“I brought clothes for you and Ellie too but I figured-” Natasha started, Maria nodded. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t leave, not yet.
The shower was a welcome white noise as the redhead leaned on the wall next to Maria.
“Yelena okay?”
“She’s a little shaken up but she’s done this before. She’s been freeing widows for months now so I think it’s easier for her to know how to slip in and out of the role at this point,” the Russian explained, “but I think this one was harder.”
Maria hummed in agreement.
“Want to sit?” the redhead motioned to the padded bench across the room.
The Commander didn’t, not really, she wanted to stay by the door in case anyone tried to-
“No one’s going to get her,” Natasha read her mind, “she’s safe now.”
“You don’t know that,” Maria shook her head.
“You’re right, I don’t. But I know that you are exhausted and still bleeding,” was she? When did she get hit? “So how about you take a seat and drink some water and once you’re back up to it you can stand guard again. We can go into Hulk protocol until then.”
No one in or out, the most secure building on this floor, maybe even the entire Triskelion. She used the panel by the door to engage the security measures before following the Russian over to the bench.
Natasha pulled a water bottle from her bag and opened it for the Commander, prompting her to drink. It was when Maria took the water bottle that she noticed the blood, grime, and ash on her hands. She tried not to think about it and stared at the tiles in front of her once more as she sipped on the beverage.
“You need to shower next,” Natasha raised a hand to hold off Maria’s rebuttal, “I know you don’t want to but we need to close that gash on your forehead and I don’t think Cater will fix it while you’re covered in… in your current state.”
She tentatively touched her forehead and noticed with a slight sting that she was in fact still bleeding ever so slightly.
“I’ll be fine,” Maria shook her head.
“Do you really want her to come back with you looking like you just killed a dozen people?” The question hurt, but she made a good point.
“No,” she shook her head, “but I don’t want you disengaging the system while I’m in there.”
“I wouldn’t,” the redhead answered honestly.
They both sat there until the water cut and a much cleaner-looking Barton emerged.
“It’s amazing what a little water and a bar of soap can do,” he sighed and walked over to Natasha, planting a kiss on the top of her head, “thank you.”
The Russian hummed and handed Maria her own change of clothes, “we got her.”
And the truth was, she knew they did. Out of everyone in the world, she trusted the two of them to keep Ellie safer than anyone other than herself. Still, she hesitated for just a moment before entering the still-steamy bathroom.
She cranked the dial and pulled her clothes off quickly at first, then much slower as she winced and noticed the damage her body had sustained. There was a molting bruise on her ribcage and a split in her uniform on her right thigh from where she had been cut. The fight had happened quickly, she only had one thing on her mind, not noticing that she had sustained any injuries.
The aching parts of her body only seemed to increase as she stepped into the warmth of the shower, the hot water biting at the knicks and bruises that littered her skin. She watched as the water turned from black, to brown, to red, then pink, before finally running clear as the Commander scrubbed away. She thought about the girl, her girl, in the next room for only a moment before there was vile in the back of her throat and a sting in her eyes. It could wait, it could all wait until Ellie was better. Then she could think about it. Then she could break down. Then she could feel. But for now, she cleaned her body as fast as she could and threw on the extra clothes from Natasha.
There was more noise coming from the room after she got dressed, Natasha was talking to Ellie who continued to eye her from where she sat on the bed. Maria stood by the door as Natasha spoke once more in Russian, a sharp edge to her voice as she requested the action again. Ellie pulled a syringe from where she had stashed it under her leg and then, if possible, became even more rigid as the redhead approached. Maria thought about the brief moment when the child had grabbed the doctor, not even thinking about the possibility she could have stolen the needle during the encounter.
Natasha took the syringe and went to sand by Maria, Ellie glanced at them, her eyebrows knit in confusion as she spoke clearly. The child directed her questions to the redhead who hesitated before answering. Whatever the answer had been, had not been the right one and Ellie’s eyes darted around the room in panic.
“We need to get Carter in here,” Natasha spoke quickly, “now.”
Ellie reached for her IV, trying her best to yank it out but not being able to with the amount of tape on her skin and the cuffs still secured around her wrists. Clint unlocked the door and ran for the doctor as Natasha tried to calm the girl in her native tongue. The child spat back and yelled, a sound from deep in her chest as she thrashed around and tried to break free from the restraints.
Ellie yelled and kicked Natasha as she got close and for the first time, Maria was reminded of the little girl they had found at the abandoned building. Her wild movements, her strained screams, it was all the same. As if nothing had changed at all.
Clint and the physician slipped through the door and stood at the end of the girl's bed, the woman speaking quickly to the redhead who pointed to Maria.
“The vial, quickly,” Cater held her hand open and waited for Maria to hand over the small tube of red dust, “okay, I'm ready to administer, sedation is on standby.”
The woman took a syringe from her pocket and poked it into the line connected to the girl as she tried to get her attention.
“Elizavetta, hey hey, look right over here for me I just need-” the child turned her head for just a moment and the doctor released the mist.
Ellie continued to yell for a minute longer before coughing a number of times and looking around frantically.
“Elizaveta you’re okay,” Cater tried to calm the child, “you’re safe here.”
The woman stepped closer to remove the syringe from the girl’s IV, but the small movement was all it took for Ellie to close her eyes tightly, a portal started to open.
Before she could think, Maria lunged forward, remembering the last time the girl was caught in a continuous portal with an IV connected. She wrapped her arms around the child who screamed once, loudly before inhaling and realizing who it was.
“Mommy,” her voice was hoarse and so little, had it always sounded so little?
“Yeah, Bear it’s me,” Maria choked out.
“Mommy,” the girl began to wail as she pulled her arms as close as she could to the woman.
Clint moved quickly to release the cuffs on the child who screamed as she buried her head into Maria’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her. She waited for the second cuff to come off before laying on the bed and pulling the girl close into her chest.
“I got you little bear, you’re okay,” her own tears betrayed the voice she tried to keep calm, “you’re safe. You’re home.”