MAIZE

She found herself alone in the next room over in Cassandra's secondary house, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she paced back and forth in the short distance between the draped window and the cluster of old cabinets that had been shoved in the corner of the room. This entire complex seemed to have once been used as a storehouse for the furniture pieces Cassandra didn't use in her casino rooms. Over in the larger room, Jack Martinez still sat bound to his chair, his voice now muffled by a cloth gag that Cassandra had applied once she had finished hearing everything she wanted. Maize was quite sure he had been knocked unconscious again shortly after.

His confession was simple. He had been called, shortly after his run-in with Maize and Alec, he had told them. He said he didn't know the identity of his caller, he rarely did, unless they allowed it so. But they had been male, he had provided, and their accent was most definitely American, and rather gruff—but then again, Martinez claimed he could say that about just about anybody in his line of business.

Maize's mind had immediately gone back to the members of Zmeya from the safe house, they were most likely the ones calling.

The caller didn't say much, simply asked for what he knew about them three—being Maize, Kishan, and Alec. Martinez was quick to say that he only gave up the information out of pure business etiquette—nothing personal. But that didn't exactly sell it for either Maize or Kishan. And especially not for Cassandra, who was more ticked than usual.

Based on the information they had been given, the one who called for them was one of the Zmeya members—probably the same ones they had left back at the safe house—but they had hired a different group of arms to do their dirty work. Or, Maize guessed, so that they wouldn't be directly to blame if either three of their targets were to end up killed in the process of trying to bring them in.

Further digging into Martinez's personal phone—with his password having been generously given up, courtesy of him wanting to keep all his fingers intact—only confirmed what Maize suspected; a hit had been placed out on them.

And she meant all three of them.

Their pictures were the first file Maize pulled up on his device, paired with generous compensation for any worthy information given up on them. Or better yet, their capture.

Maize could say she'd never thought she'd see the day where she was the one with a bounty on her head—but that wouldn't really be true.

Must have been quite the lucky break for Martinez that night. To have been in direct contact with the people he would later find out were sought after targets, by people who would pay him good money for whatever he knew. And he had known enough. Such a perfect opportunity, such luck. Maize almost couldn't blame the guy for taking the opportunity. She would have.

Though, she also knew there would have been no chance of her getting caught by the people he gave up—she couldn't say the same in his situation.

Such a coincidence that the Zmeya members even thought to call the likes of Jack Martinez at just the right time.

And now they were in yet another mess, and worse, one of them hadn't made it back, yet.

Maize continued to pace. Her feet carried her back and forth from one end of the room to the other before absently repeating the process again. She knew it was foolish, and it wouldn't do anything but fuel her apprehension, but standing still felt impossible.

Though nearly half an hour had passed since they had been off the streets, traces of the adrenaline rush that she had experienced still lingered in her blood. And it would not settle, not while her stomach was still churning with some unexplainable bother and her nerves remained prominent. She felt a heavy pressure in her chest that she didn't know the cause of—only that it had something to do with that idiot detective and her antagonizing mental 'what if' scenarios.

She had tried not to let her fear bother her at first, but ignoring that unease had become increasingly more difficult as the minutes passed by.

It's been too long...dammit, West!

She couldn't take this. The waiting.

That wasn't her style, she didn't wait to see what might happen, she went and saw for herself.

Maize stopped her pacing, cursing herself for even doing it in the first place before she marched through the open arch to the main room with quick deliberate steps.

She didn't look at anyone or say anything as she heading directly towards the door, until an obstruction moved right in her path.

Cassandra stood there, tall and firm, her arms folded as she gazed down at Maize with suspecting eyes. The woman already knew what was going on through the bounty hunter's head. Unfortunately, the look she gave told Maize that she was going to do whatever it took to talk her out of it.

"You can't leave."

"Watch me," Maize muttered.

"It's too risky, Blades. I shouldn't have to tell you that. Going out alone is the worst thing you can do at a time like this..." the casino owner pressed.

"No, the worst thing I can do is find out West was either caught—or worse, killed—while I was here doing nothing about it," she retorted.

Cassandra tilted her head in a studying manner before she pursed her red lips. "You don't seem to have a lot of faith in the detective," she said.

No. That wasn't it.

While Maize knew without a doubt he was not as well trained a combat fighter as per se, her, he was a good adapter and knew how to handle himself in a fight.

She had seen enough of his case files to know that he had gotten into tough one-on-more situations before—gang fights, terrorist shootouts—and he always made it out. They didn't just give him the title of best just because his hair looked good. He was skilled.

But that wasn't the problem here.

For Maize, it was the feeling that something had happened—and whether that was just her head or not, she felt she couldn't just stand around and wait to find out.

"It's his fault," Maize stated pointedly. "He should have been here by now and he's the one taking too long to get back, so, I'm going to go find him and tell him to hurry the hell up. I'll freaking drag him back if I have to. Now move, C," she insisted before she declared loudly, "I've got an idiot to find."

Cassandra returned her gaze with a flat but concerning look. "I can't let you go until I know you've considered the possibility that maybe he has been caught. What then? What happens if you go out and the same thing happens to you—caught or killed?"

"You know I won't," Maize retorted.

"You cannot guarantee that."

Maize but down of the back of her jaw before she leaned in slightly and lowered her voice so Kishan could not hear. "You know me, and you knew me back then. You act like you want to bring back the old me, so why are you doubting and stopping me now?" She questioned.

"Because, I see that emotion is clouding your judgement. And I know that is something that wouldn't have gotten the better of you...if you were still the old you."

Maize wanted to scoff out loud. If only her friend knew...that emotion altering her judgment...was the whole reason she wasn't the same person she used to be.

The two women were so focused on arguing with each other that neither noticed the door opened softly behind them.

"That hot-headed idiot sure acted like he could guarantee himself when he decided to play valiant knight," Maize retorted at her normal tone again, now getting frustrated with her friend as she threw a hand up in the air in a gesture. "How are we supposed to guarantee that that moron is even still—"

"What's this about me being a 'moron'?" came a deadpan sigh from the doorway. Cassandra turned and Maize could now see past her to the entrance. There, leaned sideways against the doorframe with his arms crossed leisurely as he appeared to be listening to their conversation, and looking very unamused by it, was Alec.

Kishan—who had been watching nervously as the two women bickered and not wanting to get in between—smiled with relief at the sight of his friend, standing alright and visually unharmed. "About time! Glad to see you're still alive," he chuckled. The detective gave a slightly amused smile at that but didn't respond right away.

The bounty Hunter stood and stared frozenly.

Maize, inside, was relieved to see him. She felt a weight lift off her shoulder at the fact that other than a few scratches and slight rough appearance, he was fine. Alive.

That didn't mean she wasn't super pissed though.

By that point, that was when Maize had marched right up to him and jabbed her finger at his chest. "I swear to god, West, do that ever again and I promise to stab you myself," she stated seriously, referring to how he split up with them and took on the cartel by himself.

Alec stared down at her and blinked with a hint of confusion as he regarded her. Then it seemed to come to him as a thought crossed his mind. "What? Did I make you worry that much, Maizey?" he questioned, deliberately not trying to hide the slight teasing glint in his eyes.

"I'm worried now that you've suddenly begun sprouting idiotic things," she retorted at him.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Don't."

"I will."

"I was not kidding, I will stab you..." Maize threatened.

"I don't doubt it."

"Then keep talking."

"Relax, Ember, we're all still alive right?" the detective shrugged nonchalantly.

"Next time I'm going to make sure you're the one who has to sit and wait," Maize muttered pointedly.

"There won't be a next time, hopefully," Alec responded, before his eyes narrowed slightly. "And besides, what choice did I have—seeing how you weren't even carrying a gun?" he stated.

Stupid fucking West notices everything. "Doesn't explain what took you so long..." she covered, quickly moving away from that topic. She jabbed, "Fall asleep on the job?"

Alec shook his head, "Not quite. Got held up."

"Don't tell me you met another flimsy woman on the street..."

Alec immediately sent her a flat look in response to that. He then ran a hand through his hair, glanced at Kishan, and then once back outside. "Yeah about that..." he was still looking outside and frowned. "Well...don't just keep standing there," he protested tersely.

Maize, as well as the others in the room, were caught by surprise as a new presence unexpectedly passed Alec and made their way slowly into the doorframe.

"Are you kidding, West?! I didn't think you had actually brought back a woman!" Maize exclaimed with disbelief.

"That's not what this is!"

Though her appearance was unexpected, it had come as more of a shock to one person. Kishan stood there, arms slack at his sides as he stared at the woman as if he was seeing a ghost—or a lost friend. His eyes were swimming with confusion and disbelief, as if he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing was real.

The woman held his gaze and smiled softly. "Hey Kish," she said gently.

Kishan opened his mouth, but the words seem to catch in his throat slightly as he whispered, "Hill?"

Maize watched and tilted her head slightly. Hill? She had heard that name before.

The realization came to her and she quickly glanced over to Alec, who seemed to know what she was thinking and gave a single nod in confirmation. It seemed he had also been watching for something, and whatever it was, he had it now.

So this was Agent Hill?

The one who was supposed to be...

"I thought you..." Kishan trailed off breathlessly, seeming to struggle for the words. "I thought...how..."

Maria Hill sent him a sad look. "I know, I owe you an explanation."

Cassandra was staring at the scene with a furrowed expression before she turned to Maize and gestured a pointed finger at agent Hill. "Am I supposed to know this person?" she inquired perplexedly, figuring she was the only person in the room who did not seem to recognize the newcomer.

"Before Kishan was framed, he was undercover, with a partner..." Maize explained quietly, still confused herself. "He told us she died."

Though clearly that wasn't the case.

But then how on earth did she end up here?

Maize sent Alec a look, hoping to draw out an explanation from him, but he just frowned and closed the door behind him. They were all waiting for agent Hill it seemed.

The woman took a long breath before she began. "I'm agent Maria Hill—Kishan's partner before the both of us were cheated and duped criminals in the eyes of the states and the bureau. It started when we took on our mission undercover to infultrate a new rising gang we believed to be a dangerous threat at the time..."

"Zmeya," Maize supplied and agent Hill regarded her seriously and nodded.

"When the FBI took the case out of LAPD hands, the hope was that we could place a few of ourselves on the inside and relay whatever we could back to our superiors, so that with a bit of time, we would have been able to crumble the gang from within. Before it could grow into something bigger. But things didn't go as smoothly as we planned..." she threw a quick glance at Kishan, who met her look with knowing. "The more we learned the more our superiors wanted us to keep pushing. They claimed that eventually we might be able to get close to something that would lead to the arrest of the gang's supposed leader—who no one, not even the gang's own members had seen the face of. He was the bureau team's prime target, as they had decided once Kishan and I were already inside."

"But it was a lost cause, we couldn't get anything—not even close. Whoever the guy is, he's a ghost," Kishan said lowly.

"That did seem to be the case, yes. Though our superiors continued to press, telling us if we were going to bring down the gang, we had to cut off the head of the snake."

"Interesting analogy," Cassandra commented.

"Well as we'd come to learn, Zmeya happens to mean snake in—"

"Russian. We're aware," Maize said, not unkindly.

Maria nodded in understanding. "Even so, we did our best to find out what we knew while maintaining our covers. There were often times Kishan and I were separated, so we weren't always in contact with each other either." She paused, seemingly remembering something in the past. "It was a coincidence we were in the same compound when I heard an federal agent spy had been discovered," she said.

Alec watched her. "None of that explains why Kishan thought you were dead. Or how you happened to show up here. Now..." he said, a hint of impatience in his voice. But Maize supposed they had to cut him a little slack—the guy had had a rough night.

Maize could see the detective side of him at work, taking in the information he was given and interogating for what didn't yet complete the puzzle.

Hill didn't seem concerned or taken aback by his directness. If Maize didn't know any better, she guessed that in the short time she must have interacted with Alec, she could already tell what type he was—insistent for the truth. Her eyes fell on Kishan, who also seemed to be waiting for the same answer from the look in his eyes. She spoke directly to him as she began to explain,"I lead you to believe I was dead so you wouldn't come back for me."

Kishan hesitated, "Why? You were the one who helped me get out—you were right there, you could have come with me! Why did you risk going back?!" he exclaimed.

"Because I had to, Kish. We still had a mission. They didn't see me help you escape, they didn't even know I was there. I was able to maintain my cover."

Kishan was shaking his head at the floor, "But we came in the gang around the same time. They would have suspected..."

"But they didn't. Or if they did, they didn't say it. Though I was watched more closely following, I never felt in danger of being discovered. As long as I played my part," the agent said solemnly.

"How did you end up here?" Maize wondered out loud, addressing the female agent directly. She said with a unhindered air of sarcasm, "Forgive my lack of faith in miracles, but you showing up on the same night as we were attacked seems too much of a coincidence for me to believe you just happened to be in the area at the time to run into West."

"That gang I just helped detective West take down consisted of few of the remaining Zmeya members that weren't out or recovering from the gas attack you three pulled a few day ago. Yes, I heard about that—though I wasn't there personally. Zmeya dispatched two separate groups to Mexico to track you down, the one you have already encountered, and the one that followed—the one I made sure to be a part of. That's how I got here. I was still posing as one of them, and I volunteered to be apart of the attack team tonight."

"Oh lovely, so you're one of the ones who helped shoot up my casino," Cassandra said dryly.

Hill didn't look appologetic in the slightest, but she did bow her head slightly in acknowledgemnt. "If it's any consolation, I was never directly involved with that. I ran with the backup squad that came in afterwards. To locate you three."

"Funny," Alec commented, "but 'locate' wasn't exactly the word I would use for what the cartel was trying to accomplish tonight..." he stated with a shared look at the female agent. "As I'm sure you noticed."

Agent Hill sighed. "Yes, it seems they decided to go against orders and didn't care whether or not the brought you in dead or alive—I assume they thought the still would have gotten paid that way. But rest assured, Zmeya still has orders to bring you in alive."

"Comforting," Alec commented dryly.

"Who's orders exactly?" Maize inquired.

"I don't know."

"Again, comforting," Alec muttered again sarcastically in retort to the agent. He was being more testy than usual—he must have really had a rough night.

"At least it was comforting to know I wasn't lying, isn't that right detective?" Agent Hill questioned knowingly. "And that I did save you without any mal intent like you suspected."

"You saved him?" Kishan asked, dumbfounded.

Maize sent Alec an accusing look. "So you did get into trouble," she pointed out. "Damn, I knew it!"

Alec threw his hands up in exasperation, "What do you want an appology? Yes, alright! I ended up in a...tight spot, at one point. She just showed up at the right time." Alec then ran through a quick and reluctant explanation of what had happened on his side, and Maize listened, feeling a slight pit drop in her stomach to hear that Alec really had been seconds away from death—and she wouldn't have known. If it wasn't for agent Hill's arrival, Alec wouldn't have made it back.

"So why now? You said you stayed undercover to continue your mission, but surely now that cover is long blown," Alec asked, getting back to the previous topic.

Kishan was thinking for a moment before he looked up solemnly, "Unless...you heard what happened to our team..." he said quietly, and Hill looked down at the ground at her feet and nodded silently.

"I found out a few days ago, it was on the news. Car crash, they said."

Kishan scoffed with a humourless laugh, "Bullshit."

Agent Hill nodded in agreement, "I figured. But once I realized that there was no reason to continue the mission because we had become real fugitives instead of just for show, I knew I had to try and find you again. Better together than separated alone. And I thought we could come up with a plan to clear our names."

"We're on it," Alec said. "Our Chief knows, and he's working to gather evidence of your innocence."

Agent Hill was quiet before a look of relief came across her face. "That is good news. I'm glad I made the right choice."

Alec stared at her for a few moments. "Yeah...I guess so am I."

Once it seemed everyone was caught up on the details, agent Hill and Kishan were given some time to go to the next room and talk more privately. They didn't need to ask. After Kishan finding out his partner who he assumed had died was still alive, and was here, it was undoubted that they needed to talk.

Maize, Cassandra and Alec left them alone for the time being.

Kishan closed the door behind him as he followed Hill into the smaller room Maize had been in before. He let the slow click of the door sound before he brought his gaze up to meet that of his partner, but he barely got the chance. Within the next instant she was upon him, arms wrapped around his neck as she embraced him in a tight hug, her face burrowed in the crook of his neck.

To him, Maria Hill was quite the stoic character. She was a strong woman who had always fought for her career against tough odds to make it to where she had come as an agent. She was kind, but took her job more than seriously. Rarely had he ever seen her lose her formal ettiquette composure or the unreadable exterior she always seemed to bare. And more promptingly, she almost feared to ever show affection in the workplace or anything that ever implied her male coworkers as anything more than friends—insisting she never wanting to take the risk of mixing her personal life with work. She most certainly had never hugged him, especially since he was so close to her. He was taken aback by the sudden gesture, but hugged her back.

Forget unreadable, at the moment, she was the most open book he had ever seen from her. On the outside her body was tense, but also vulnerable. And her eyes held more emotion than he had ever been allowed to see before.

"Maria..." he started softly, slowly rubbing soothing circles along her back as he embraced her back tightly. They weren't anything more than partners—friends maybe, but nothing more. Even so, there was a bond that partners shared, created by shared experiences and troubles and such.

He thought he would never see her again. He thought he had lost her the day it seemed he lost everything else.

The silence between them was thick and full of emotion. He was the first to break it uncomfortably, "I-I thought...I thought I saw you die..." he trailed off. When he had blown in cover, a lot of hell had broken loose. All of a sudden everyone had been trying to catch him or shoot him down, all he could do was run. He hadn't known she had been there in the warehouse at the same time he made his mistake—as they had explained to the others earlier, they were separated a lot of the time, more often than most—but she had been there. When he was trying to escape the barracks of the compound, she snuck around and lead him out another way. It was only because of her that he got out alive. They had run down the deserted road into the suburban area closest, she told him to go on ahead, that it would be harder to find him if they split, and they would meet back at the bureau. He had no idea she had planned on not coming back. So when she hadn't...he had thought the worst. "I'm so sorry I left you..." he murmered quietly into her shoulder. "I—"

She quickly hushed him. "It's alright Kish, you didn't know."

"Still, I can't believe they didn't find you out as well—thank god! How the hell did you manage to keep your cover even after getting me out of there?"

Maria pulled back to look at him in the eye, before she pulled him tight again she he couldn't see her face. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she whispered quietly.

"Did you disguise yourself? Did they even know I had help? Did you make up some story to cover?"

"Something of the sort."

"Well," Kishan said, fighting back a nag in the back of his mind that he would need to address later, but not now. "Thank god you're back."

"So, that story of hers..." Cassandra began between the three of them left in the main room.

Maize asked, "What of it?"

"Do you believe it?" the casino owner finished.

Maize was a little off put by the question and didn't answer right away.

To her, it seemed Alec should be the one to decide. He had encountered her first, gotten the first impression. Sure Maize didn't believe he was the best decision maker in the world—as proven tonight—but she was beginning to trust his judgement when it was seriously called for.

It was Alec who answered anyway, "I didn't at first—like you said, seemed like too much of a coincidence and I thought it might be a trick they were playing. But, Kishan's recognition proves she is who she said she was, so I guess there's no reason to doubt her story."

"If you say so," Cassandra answered. Alec looked over and narrowed his eyes at the implicating skepticism in her tone.

"The woman is an FBI agent, why should we doubt what she says happened?" he responded, watching as Cassandra merely smiled and shrugged it over with one of her looks. "What I want to know is what's going on with that little situation over there," he said pointedly, nodding his chin in the direction of his gaze, where his eyes reflected a look of suspicion and a little concern.

He was looking at the form of Jack Martinez where his chair had been dragged in the furthest corner, still knocked out and tied to his chair, only his back had been turned so Alec couldn't see his face. It seemed the detective had just noticed the apparent hostage they seemed to have tied up with them in the room.

Cassandra returned his gaze with an innocent smile, as if she saw nothing wrong. "What ever do you mean?"

Alec looked slightly mortified. "What did you two do to that guy?"

"Why do you assume I had anything to do with it?" Maize questioned with offence, to which Alec broke off his gaze to give her a pointed stare.

"Did you?"

Maize shrugged. "I'm not the one who brought him here."

"I see you didn't let him go either."

Maize furrowed her eyes at him. Meanwhile, Cassandra was over dragging his chair back around and not-so-gently tapping his forehead to test if he would awake.

Alec stared, "...is the guy still alive?"

Maize rolled her eyes. "Why does everyone assume he isn't."

"Oh I don't know, maybe because you're here," Alec pointed out.

"Ha ha, very funny."

Martinez had begun to stir and was once again awake and jerking against his restraints once more. Cassandra walked back over to them, and Alec got a proper look at the guy.

"Hold on a minute...isn't that—?"

"The guy we met last night? Yep."

"Why the hell is Markinson here?" Alec exclaimed accusingly. A restrained muffled voice retorted something, directed at Alec, but couldn't quite be heard due to the gag. Alec only raised an eyebrow, "What did he say?"

"He said it's Martinez," Maize supplied with a roll of her eyes. "If you remember, you were the one who got his name first."

"It's been a long night," Alec grumbled in retort. "And why is he here?"

"Long story. Explain later..." Maize said. She thought it might be better telling him in the morning perhaps, when he was better rested. And less of a short fuse. She could see the exhausted look hiding behind his eyes. The night had been taxing for all of them, but she knew he had to be beyond tired, though he did quite the good job not letting it show.

Cassandra must have caught on and noticed too. "I think now that you are all back here, safe and sound, getting some rest is probably in order. There are a few empty rooms upstairs, though this is one of my older buildings, so please, forgive the dust. Rest yourselves, it's clear you all could use it."

The two nodded. While Alec went over to fetch Kishan and Maria, gently knocking on the door until they came out, Cassandra pulled Maize aside before she could follow the others up the stairs to the floor with bedrooms.

The look in the casino owner's eyes, Maize realized, was one of warning and caution. For once she didn't echo her voice around the room, her tone was kept low and quiet as she stopped Maize with a gentle but insistent grab of her forearm and forcing her to turn back and look at her.

The fact that Cassandra's eyes lingered undecidingly on agent Hill as she walked up the steps behind Kishan did not go unnoticed by the bounty hunter either. She looked at her as if trying to see through her, to find something she couldn't quite seem to grasp. Which Maize found odd, but it seemed to alert something in her friend.

"C, what is it?" Maize wondered quietly, getting the feeling that whatever was about to be said was not something either of them wanted to be heard by the others.

Cassandra gave her a serious look. "Listen, Blades, I realize that she seems to be the partner of your ally, and she saved your detective and all...but..."

"But what?" Maize murmured, to curious about what Cassandra was trying to say that she didn't even make an effort to divert the comment of 'her' detective.

"I'm not sure...but I feel like there's something more to that story than she told you all. I've seen and met many different kinds of people, and you know I know how to work my way with nearly all of them, so it's easy for me to read lies versus truths."

"You think she's hiding something?"

"Perhaps. All I'm saying is to be cautious...keep a close eye on her until you are sure you can trust her."

"I'm not that oblivious," Maize stated, "I will do that anyway."

"First rule, no matter what you say, trust no one..." Cassandra recalled. Maize held her gaze for a moment, no emotion showing on her face as she nodded once. Cassandra looked at her, "You told me that once..."

Maize didn't respond and instead looked away.

Trust no one...

She had said that hadn't she?

Question was; did she still mean it?