No one had ever truly left S.H.I.E.L.D. The organisation had their talons in everything and everyone that had ever so much as cast a shadow near it.

The tall slender woman had twisted her black pencil skirt, slightly adjusting it before she opened the large golden door, her briefcase hitting into it upon entry, before she walked through and into a large hotel foyer. Her heels clacked on the tile floor as she passed into the lounge, tucking her brown, shoulder length hair behind her ear; naturally scanning the room, counting heads, blueprinting exits, noting furniture and support beams that would second as gunfire cover, all while holding a calm nonchalant demeanour.

"Ah. Ms. Lance." A tall blond man, wearing an expensive tailored suit, stood to greet her. While, unknowingly, calling her by an alias.

Maria Hill reached out to his extended hand, where he squeezed it as she passed pleasantries with a kiss to the air at his cheek, where he mirrored her actions. She was never one to naturally participate in such an intimate greeting such as this, but she learned that the man was easier to manipulate when she showed a little warmth. Even when it wasn't genuine in the slightest.

"Mr. Burch," The undercover agent smiled as she sat down at the table after he gestured at the seat across from him. Then sitting himself.

"It's always a pleasure to see you." He said through a thick southern accent.

"Yes, a pleasure to your bank account," she added.

The man laughed jovially before taking a sip of his scotch. "This is true. Your requests have always come mysteriously but never without extra weight added to my chequebook."

Maria had to force a smirk, not having an ounce of respect for the weapons dealer and manufacturer.

She was not against the creation of weapons themselves, she just hated them being sold with zero regards, and to whomever had the funds to pay for them. Especially when the majority of her job seemed to be cleaning up the mess made by 'bad men with guns.'

"So, what is it I can do you for this time?" His greedy eyes twinkled.

"I need you to make yourself available," she said simply.

"To you? I already am," he winked, throwing his hands casually behind his head, before visibly raking his eyes down to her chest, and then back up to her face.

Maria had to use all the strength in her body not to react to his wandering gaze. She pressed forward, "I need you to put it out there that you are available to obtain this–" she put the case on top of the table, opening it to show him its contents "–and sell it."

"Oh, wow." He took his time to look over the technology. "Guess I shouldn't ask where you got this, knowing you'd never tell me." He gazed up to her as he continued, "But I have to tell you, as much as this is indeed rare, I don't know if anyone is in the market for it."

Maria smirked, knowing that his words couldn't be further from the truth. She had good intel that Hope had approached him a month prior, looking for this exact part for their quantum bridge.

The agent had Tony Stark engineer the component. She planned the request at the most convenient of times, right before Pepper Potts's birthday. She had told Tony that if he'd make the part without question, she'd give him the details and credit for the birthday surprise that she had already planned for Pepper on his behalf. The man, who had not realised it was the evening before his girlfriend's birthday, quickly agreed, and three days later, she had her part.

"Well, if you don't think you can sell it, I'll move on down the line. Get someone else to do it," she sighed, putting on a performance, while pulling back the case towards herself on the table.

"Well now hold on a moment there," he quickly jumped in, "I never said I couldn't sell it. I'm just saying the sellers fee might be a little higher. You know, for all the extra work I'll have to put in to finding a buyer." Maria fought back the urge to roll her eyes at his words. "I want thirty-five percent."

The money meant nothing to Maria. Tony didn't even charge her for supplies let alone labour. What's a few thousand in raw materials to a billionaire anyway? However, Maria really did not like Sonny Burch of Cross Technologies, nor did she appreciate the bullshit that was constantly spewed from his mouth, so she countered his offer. "Twenty."

He laughed, "Twenty? That's absurd." He then eyed her, "Twenty-five."

She simply repeated, "Twenty."

His face then split into a grin as he shook his head at her, "I like you, Ms. Lance. You just say what you want and don't compromise on it." He took a swig of his drink, polishing it off, before nodding and extending his hand, "Alright, twenty percent it is."

Maria nodded plainly and shook his hand before giving him a card with her contact information. "Call me after you set up a buyer." She then took her package and walked out, a satisfied smirk on her face knowing that this part would bring a quantum bridge one step closer to becoming a reality.

After exiting the building the agent turned down an empty side street, pulling her keys out of her blazer pocket as she approached her parked vehicle. Just as she unlocked her ride with the fob, about to pull the driver's door open, the SUV suddenly shrunk to the size of a Hot Wheels car. Then, as if out of nowhere, a figure appeared beside her, grabbing the case out of her hand before throwing a fast cross hook at her face. Fortunately, Maria's quick instincts and training kicked in where she had easily blocked the strike. She grinded her teeth, recognizing the figure as Hope Van Dyne in her Pym Particle suit that had resembled her mother's old Wasp one. Maria had only seen her in the suit the one time before, caught on satellite imagining, but had never seen her up close in it, or her in combat action wearing it.

Hope turned to flee with the package where Maria was quick to kick off her heels and dropped her keys to make pursuit. It only took a few strides before she dove at the other woman, grabbing her by the face of her helmet; pulling her back and down, but before Hope had fallen to the ground, she shrunk, dropping the package to the sidewalk, as she abruptly turned her miniaturised body, in-flight, before quickly growing back to size in front of Maria.

Hope threw another punch where Maria had ducked under it and come up to grab her extended arm; knowing that striking back at the armoured suit in response would only hurt her own hand. Maria then attempted to flip her to the ground, but she shrunk again, which made the agent growl in frustration. Within a moment Maria could feel the other woman behind her, grabbing her. One arm bent around her neck with the other hand holding the back of her head, securing her in a chokehold.

The woman deactivated her helmet, unmasking her face, before she growled into Maria's ear, "What is S.H.I.E.L.D. doing selling tech to Sonny Burch?"

Maria struggled against her hold as she grunted back, "Don't play dumb. You know exactly what we're doing." Knowing that the woman was smart enough to put two-and-two together.

Hope had been buying from Burch for over a year now and every time he pulled though with her requests, despite his company being a sub-par operation.

Maria had been covertly nudging Cross Tech. employees to the rarer components that Hope had been ordering. Today, being only the second time she'd shown up personally to sell a part directly to Burch. Not that Hope could work out those particulars right then, but she really didn't need to know the finer details to understand the overall situation.

"God, you guys are like ravenous dogs, running around the neighbourhood taking a piss on everything in sight, thinking it's now yours," she spoke in what sounded like annoyance above anything else. "How long have you been surveilling us?"

Maria didn't have anything to lose in telling the truth, and if anything, it gave her some power in her compromised situation; letting her know that S.H.I.E.L.D. had both control and restraint. "Since 1987."

It didn't take long for Hope's grasp to become tighter around Maria's neck, as the agent squirmed beneath her, gasping for air. Hope now knew that they've been watched ever since her mother had disappeared and her father had cut ties to S.H.I.E.L.D..

Hope growled loudly as she angrily threw Maria to the hard concrete below. The agent coughed as she rubbed at her neck, turning to see Hope miniaturise and fly off, leaving the briefcase behind.

Maria huffed as she slowly picked herself up off the ground. She then took a hold of the case and went to her shoes, sliding them on. She sighed looking at her toy sized SUV before she took out her phone to hail a ride from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s California based headquarters.

"Goddamnit," she muttered under her breath, after ending her call, not knowing if she were more angry with herself for being caught, or with Hope Van Dyne for catching her. Either way, she'd have to pay that woman a little visit. Hope would still be needing her abandoned part after all, and Maria knew that she'd have a hell of a time tracking down another just like it. If she wanted it in a timely manner, she'd have no other choice but to get it from her.