Chapter Text
Maria hill
The sound of approaching footsteps broke her out of her musings. She checked all the five ex-agents visually and was relieved to notice that none of them looked tired or reluctant. That was good because they all had a long day before them. Once all of them were seated she explained the dire situation on top of all of them. She had not expected such a spirited response.
"so let me get this clear, our boss Mr stark has been in a fight with a super soldier, the same guy who dumped all of our information online without a single thought, and Mr stark is now somewhere in remote Siberia, injured and possibly in desperate need for help" summarised Cathy Lynn, Ex-shield agent level 8 clearance, hostage expert and present leader of crisis response team.
"yes" maria replied
"Sign me up, just tell us what do you want to do. Hunt the star-spangled ass down and bring him in"? asked Jacob dean, Former special ops team leader, the present head of the equipment department.
"or we just hunt him down plain and simple" piped Cheryl, former sniper, and present shooting range manager.
" None of this, and guys tone down the aggression. We all have issues with Steve Rogers but right now the situation is too urgent to solve personal issues" rebuked maria. "we need to get in contact with the agents at the base in Joensuu as soon as possible. They are the ones maintaining the carrier in past years and they must have a medical team with them. They can man the carrier."
"isn't it the same base strike team beta was evacuated to," asked Jacob to the last person to enter the room.
"yes, it is" answered James, ex-department head Deployment, Present asset manager.
Maria was confused. She remembered hearing about a beta team during her time as deputy director but it was never important enough to know much about it.
"What exactly was the beta team" she inquired
James smirked, " These were the reserve guys for everything. The team had people from every department. They were people who were good at their jobs, capable of replacing anyone on short notice and with high mission rates. They were deployed in emergency cases of missing or injured regular agents."
"then why were they not well known" wondered maria
The malicious answer was accompanied by a scoff " Because they were the freaks of every department, the invalids, the scorned, the racially untrustable. They were the people who no one cared much if they died. Beta team was the dumping ground of people who level 8,9 and 10 didn't like. Even the Director fury had transferred some people there. Agent barton as once a candidate too. You must remember some of them as you were the one who signed the orders"
The explanation did the job. Maria remembered that group. She too had transferred some people there personally who had not given her respect or disobeyed orders for whatever reason. But that was when she was still a proud Deputy director. Now things had changed and she needed their help.
" Will they help us if we ask," Maria asked
"Normally I would say no, but in this case, they will help us. hell, they may consider owing us a favor in letting them help Dr. stark." Cheryl replied.
"Why"
"Tony stark was the one who personally evacuated many of them as they were the ones in most dangerous undercover jobs considering they were treated as expendables."
Maria for the unknown time since shield fell, felt the emotion of guilt and shame pass through her. She still carried on through.
"Is there any way to get in touch with them?"
All four eyes turned towards the last unknown member. Patricia Ryan Ex- Communication specialist, Present team co-ordinator.
"I can get in touch with them in 10 minutes."
"Can you make it a video call"? maria enquired
"yes, but audio will take less time."
" I know, but there are two more people who should be present there. Pepper potts and FRIDAY.
"on it"
Help was being assembled.