#redvcted

It’s BEEN A WHILE since she’s had her feet on THIS PLANET.  But it’s been clear even in the short few hours since she’s arrived that SOME SHIT went down.  She knows the BEST person to GET HER UP TO SPEED is none other than Maria Hill ––––––– Carol will get what she needs to know without any FRILLS. 

The corner of her mouth tips up & she crosses the threshold to drop herself into one of the chairs across from Hill’s desk.  

❝ Now, when has THAT ever stopped me ? ❞

[ Text: M. Hill ]: Maria.. know it’s been a while.  [ Text: M. Hill ]: Do you think we could meet up?  [ Text: M. Hill ]: It’s Steve

The text had surely been A RISK --- it was hard to know where he stood with Maria, even now. ( Certainly, her loyalties were with SHIELD, and yet --- It was the and yet that brought him here. ) On his end, the truth was just as fragile, just as messy. It could be productive to make contact with her, but he already had contacts in SHIELD; it could be beneficial to bridge that gap, but he wasn’t looking for forgiveness. So what was it then? Why her / why now? 

The truth of it, that deep-down, unspoken truth: he missed her --- her insights, her vision, her strengths. They had been A TEAM once, hadn’t they? Soldiers in a strange land. The bond that forged saving each other’s lives was not an easy one to break. Besides, the world was changing again. He knew he would need her help.

And so he waited for her to show up at the designated spot. 

Bruce was doing his best to keep a low profile and stay out of sight as much as possible.  He’d gone out a few times on the rare occasion the cabin fever got to him, right now he was walking around inside the building.  The last thing he wanted to do was cause trouble for Tony.  Having read the Accords it was clear to him why there were two sides to it.  It was easy for him to follow Tony’s logic and think several moves ahead when it came to the situation.

Still, when it came down to it his first responsibility was to keep the Other Guy out of the wrong hands.  Ross’s hands would always be the wrong ones no matter who he worked for.  He wondered if anyone else knew why Ross had prisons ready before the document was even signed.

Not that Ross was the only one who made a cage for him.

[ TXT ; MH ]  Must be really easy for you to say, right? [ TXT ; MH ]  You know, considering you didn’t lift a finger to help.

DURING INTERROGATION LED BY S.H.I.E.L.D. DEPUTY DIRECTOR MARIA HILL, WONDER WOMAN, a/k/a Diana Prince, invoked diplomatic immunity predicated upon her self - identified Themyscirean citizenship, refusing to sign the SOKOVIA ACCORDS.

However at this time, THEMYSCIRA, a Mediterranean island nation charted vaguely by Imperial German Air Service officers following a crash on its shores in 1918, remains unrecognized by the United Nations as a de jure sovereign state.  Therefore, as the WORLD SECURITY COUNCIL, in concert with S.H.I.E.L.D., is unable to verify Miss Prince’s claim to diplomatic protection, it has been decided that until such time as her claims can be fully vetted and deemed satisfactory, she will be released from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and hereby prevented from seeking permanent residence and / or asylum in any recognized United Nations member state.

LOCATION : YANKEE STADIUM TIMESTAMP : 29 MARCH 2019, OPENING DAY

‘ HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT ’ SEEMS DISINGENUOUS, TALKING ABOUT THE PAIR OF THEM.  Time and tension might have frayed edges, sure, but you could always count on Maria Hill and Sharon Carter to TAKE UP SPACE, unapologetically, when the situation called. 

--- --- Or when it didn’t.

( Take now, for instance : what’s two more baseball caps inside a grey - and - blue sea, really ?  What’s the point of all that exhausting CLOAK AND DAGGER BULLSHIT if blending in was already a given, anonymity purchased for the low, low price of a paper - wrapped hot dog and a lukewarm ballpark beer ? ) 

I didn’t think you’d actually show rides on the tip of Sharon’s tongue like the chalky streak of a burn, a punishment for impatience, maybe.  But there’s something sort of hysterical about standing elbow - to - elbow with Maria during a poorly - rendered version of the National Anthem that works its way down through the trapdoor that divides her brain and her mouth, eventually.

❝ If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were USING ME for an afternoon off. ❞  The searchlight’s swing of her gaze from side - to - side is a habit that’s not getting broken any time soon, yet somehow she STILL MANAGES to not quite force eye contact.  Nice.  ❝ Although I know better, you don’t take those. ❞

AS CONFIRMED BY INTERPOL EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON, an individual identified as Diana Prince, Louvre antiquities liaison, has been confirmed to be the heroine known as WONDER WOMAN.

Miss Prince remains in local DGSI custody pending further investigation of her claims and further questioning regarding Wonder Woman’s activities with the unauthorized group of extra - governmental operators known colloquially as the ‘ JUSTICE LEAGUE ’.

There were good things too, things he had forgotten about with the Avengers. As Captain America, he had fought for the whole of the earth, but now, as Steve Rogers, he fought for the people again. He did not compromise lives, he saved them. The little guy became important again. Such was the CHOICE of him and his team. 

CHOICE... Well, that was something SHIELD had never understand, not even when he was so willing to go along with it. Maybe that was why he was so damn surprised to run into someone from the organization --- let alone her.

The warehouse wasn’t supposed to hold much in it, so he had come alone. If they were right, this would be one of the larger missions his ragtag team had tackled in a while, but they had to be prepared. ( If they were wrong, well, it wouldn’t be the first time. )

Maybe that was why he shouldn’t have been surprised to run into someone from the organization: wasn’t this what SHIELD was designed for --- the POTENTIAL of destruction? His footsteps stopped at a glimpse of another, his gun lowered, and he was almost overtaken by a silence that squeezed against him. 

“ --- Maria?”