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“CAPTAIN AMERICA HAS BEEN CAPTURED BY HYDRA!”
The loud voice over the speaker brings Maria Hill out of the daze she had been in. Filling out paperwork is boring no matter where she is working. She shakes her head for a second. Disbelieving what she has just heard.
It had to be a joke right? Was it April 1st. She chooses to believe it's a joke until Helen bursts in her office. The look on the scientist face tells her all she needs to know. This isn't a joke and Steve Rogers has been captured by the enemy.
Maria just hopes he isn't dead.
“And none of the other Avengers are here to help.” Helen says with a sigh.
Helen wasn't lying about that. None of the other Avengers were in the building. Hell, none of them were in the country. Banner was still missing, Thor wasn't even on Earth, Tony, Rhodes, the Vision, and Wanda were in Asia for something Pepper had mentioned but Maria had forgotten what she had said. And Sam was with Clint and Barton on a classified mission.
“I am going to have to contact Stark overseas and tell him that Rogers has gotten himself into a huge mess.” Maria picks up the phone as Helen sits in the chair across from her. Pepper Potts picks up on the second ring.
“What do you need Maria?” Pepper asks in a business like tone Maria has gotten used to over the time they had been working together.
“I need you to get a hold of your boyfriend. Rogers has been captured by HYDRA and if we don't get to him soon then they will probably kill him.” Maria tells Pepper. The red head says she will contact Tony right away and tell him what's going on.
Maria hangs up the phone and looks at Helen. “What if he is already dead?” Helen asks the question the former SHIELD deputy director doesn't want the answer to.
“I don't think he is. I think they would torture him before they killed him.” Maria told her friend, but she was still unsure. He was Steve Rogers. He was Captain America and he was HYDRA'S greatest enemy.
They might be too late.
Maria and Helen fall into a companionable silence for a few minutes until the phone rings. It's Tony and he wants coordinates to the HYDRA base Steve had gone too. “I can't believe he went on a mission like this alone!” Tony shouted through the receiver.
“Really?” Maria asked. “Because this is something I would see him doing.”
“Yeah, you have a point there,” Tony replied. “But you would think he would still wait for us to come back before he stormed some random HYDRA base.”
“Maybe he was looking for something.” Maria supplied a reason why Steve went off on his own.
“Or someone,” Tony replied back. “Listen Hill, I am call you back when we are coming back with Rogers. We just have to all hope for the best at this point.”
“Okay Tony.” She said right before he disconnected the call. Maria got up out of her desk chair and made her way out of her office.
She stopped by Helen's office and poked her head in. “You should get the cradle ready just in case.” Helen nodded and made her way to her lab.
Maria went back to her office and pulled up a file about Steve Rogers. She had read file before. Fury had made her read it when they had pulled Rogers out of the ocean. But she felt like she was missing something. There had to be a big reason for Steve to go to this HYDRA facility on his own.
So, she sat at the computer and distracted herself until she heard from Tony again. She knew it would be awhile. This would not be an easy battle for the Avengers that were going in to rescue their leader. Maria was sure they would win, but would they bring him back alive or dead.
She got her answer a few hours later when Tony sent her a message saying he was alive but badly injured. He also told her that they were a few minutes away from base. “Good thing I told Helen to have the cradle ready.” She said to herself as she shut her office door behind her.
The quinjet had just landed when she got to the medical bay. Tony and Rhodey had loaded Steve onto a stretcher and were bringing him in. Helen went running after them. Both of his eyes looked swollen and there were various cuts on his body from what she saw. She was unsure of internal damage, but she was sure Helen and the rest of the medical staff would take good care of him.
Tony pulled her aside and began to tell her what had happened. “They were torturing him,” Tony said, the grave look on his face told her she didn't need to know what kind of torture it was. “I think we got there just in time. Good job Hill.”
“Thanks.” Maria said as they walked into the facility together.
Steve's injuries were not as bad as Tony and the others had thought. The cradle had taken care most of the damage and he was soon transferred to a regular hospital room, but he still remained unconscious and would stay in that state for a few days.
When he did wake up. Maria was sitting by his side.
“It's good to see yo awake Rogers. You gave us all a scare.” She said after his blue eyes focused on her.
“Thanks for calling in the Calvary,” He said to her. His voice was gravely and poured him a glass of water. “I got in a little over my head.”
“You're welcome Steve and please don't go in by yourself again like that.” She told him. She felt like a mother scolding her kid, but in this case he really needed to be scolded.
“I promise I won't. Are you going to stay awhile?” He asked as his eyes began to droop.
“Yes, I'll stay with you Steve.” She said as he smiled at her.
“Good.” His eyes closed a few seconds later and he was sleeping peacefully. Maria smiled to herself as she sat down in her chair. She was happy he was home.