Woman Out of Time: A Maria Stark Story

Chapter 18

A/N: Endgame spoilers ahead so beware! Also, thanks for letting me take a break. Had stuff going on and I was sick for a good bit the last few months. But I'm back and going to execute some (hopefully awesome) storylines for Maria.

***

{Flashback - 10 years ago}

The bed dipped and I felt him slip between the sheets. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close. I stiffened for a moment, and then he said, "It's me."

Bucky. I let out the breath I had been holding. Even though I knew it was him, I had to hear his voice in order to relax. The others never bothered me--I think they had orders not to--but I was never certain until he spoke. The last time they woke me from cryo, he hadn't left my side; this time they made us share a room.

"Are you all right?" He whispered. The room was bugged for audio and video, so we had to speak softly. Only the bathroom was safe from a video camera. We weren't a couple, so things were awkward at times.

"Yes," I whispered back. Turning in his arms, I looked into his eyes. "Did you see him?"

He nodded, his eyes clouding over for a moment. "He's safe now."

I stiffened again, and he rubbed my back. "Trust me," Bucky whispered. "He's safe. Now go to sleep. I'll keep watch."

I nodded and rested my head against his chest, drifting off to sleep.

***

"Any news?"

Maria stepped into the lab and up to the holo reports Bruce was looking at. Nat glanced up from the nearby desk before looking back at her tablet. Steve and Rhodey sat nearby working on their own tasks. Although Steve seemed mostly out of place--the lab was not his forte.

Bruce shook his head. "Nothing from Carol yet."

"What about these?" She shuffled through some photos of their friends and families, seeing many marked as gone or missing.

"Nothing new," Natasha said.

"Actually," Bruce pulled up a photo. "This is one of Scott's associates, Dave. I just got a hit on him this morning--so far he's the only one to survive."

Maria looked at Scott's dossier and his listed family--Hope, Hank, Maggie, Cassie...
"Bruce?" She clicked on Cassie's photo. "Who is this?" Her voice was quiet and had more fear than question in it.

Bruce looked over calmly but Steve's head shot up at Maria's tone. 

"That's Cassie, Scott's daughter. She's missing too...wait no." He frowned and pushed his glasses back on his nose. "This says that she's in a camp. For orphaned children."

Steve shot to his feet. "What? How did we miss this?"

Nat and Rhodey followed Steve as he marched over to the Bruce and Maria.

"It just came in." Bruce pulled up the report log. "Yesterday."

Steve rubbed his forehead. "The rest of her family?"

"Her mom and step-father are gone." Maria said quietly. She looked up at Steve. "She's all alone."

Steve looked at her and nodded. "We need to help her."

Nat frowned. "We can bring her here..."

"I'll go to her." Maria interrupted.

Everyone but Steve looked at her in surprise. 

"Carol could come back at any moment." Rhodey said.

"I know." Maria pushed her hair behind her ears as she spoke. "But I'm not equipped for space battles. I've traveled the world and handled global threats but inter-galactic ones? I wouldn't be much help. But this--rescuing a friend's daughter--I can do this. You all should be here as soon as Carol returns. If she has any word on Tony, you can call me and I'll be back right away. But I won't leave this child."