Conundrum

Maria stifled a yawn and turned the corner stumbling into someone.

“Commander Hill.” Coulson greeted her kindly, while reaching out to steady her. “Forgive me for overstepping, but I didn’t know you were onboard?”

She sighed in annoyance. Not at him, but at the situation. “Yes, I was informed of that an hour ago.”

The man blinked in confusion and reached into his pocket to offer her a small piece of candy. “Need a pick-me-up?”

“No thank you. I meant that I didn’t know until an hour ago. Obviously I’m running late. I hear you’re overseeing Barton’s and Romanoff’s mission?”

He nodded. “You know I’ll take care of them.”

“Keep me informed.”

The man offered her another smile. “Go do your stuff, Maria. We’ll be fine on this end.”

“Don’t let Fury push you around.” Maria quipped back, failing to fight the smile that slid on to her own face.

She settled into the co-pilot seat of the Quinjet and let her mind wander. She had no desire to play politics with the local law enforcement once she landed. But some things couldn’t be helped. Despite Maria's brief conversation with Phil, Carter’s op was on the edge of a knife blade in terms of risk assessment to the city and the agent herself was injured. Then after that was dealt with, she was to escort newly recruited medical personnel back to the Helicarrier and give them a brief induction.

More troubling to her was the last information Maria had of Romanoff. The sounds of her feminine groans of exaggerated pleasure, and heavy breathing still echoed in her ear. The assassin literally just slept with the target much to everyone in the Command Deck’s embarrassment. To attempt to save some of the agent’s dignity, Maria ordered the communications line from Romanoff to be disconnected and forbade anyone from mentioning it under the threat of laundry duty and weapon maintenance for a month.

While it had been obvious several people in the Command Deck were flushed with excitement with what they heard, and despite Romanoff’s own effect on Maria, the sounds and knowledge of what had happened did not excite or arouse her. It was an uncomfortable thing to listen to. It was uncomfortable to learn just what lengths the assassin would go to in order to achieve the objective. The agent would literally allow her team to perish and to sacrifice her own dignity and body just to complete the mission.

It wasn’t healthy. Not to the agent and not to the members of S.H.I.E.L.D that had to work directly or indirectly with her.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that. She closed her eyes to try and get some sleep before they landed.

Seven hours later after updating Coulson, Maria stood outside the building Carter was in, strapping on her vest and checking her sidearm and ammunition. The sounds of gunfire and crashing could be heard from inside.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to send a team in, Ma’am?” The Commissioner asked her once again.

She shook her head, and nodded towards two of her own agents who stepped forward. “No, they’ll be needed out here to apprehend those who’ll try to escape. The perimeter’s been secured?”

“Exactly as you instructed.” He answered.

“Thank you. Be prepared.” Maria made her way to the building with the two agents following behind her and entered.

The interior was mostly dark, with dim lights illuminating the area. The three of them proceeded cautiously ahead towards the stairs.

“Back-up generator.” Agent Davis murmured from behind her.

Johnson grunted in acknowledgement. More gunfire was heard from above them. “What game do you think Agent Carter played, to have them turn against each other?”

Maria contemplated the situation only half listening to the murmurings. 

This was a contain and extract operation. With only four S.H.I.E.L.D agents in the building - including Carter whose location was unknown. She had to trust the local law enforcement to contain and capture the enemy. Davis, Johnson and herself were inside only to extract Carter.

“Do you think she’d rival The Black Widow’s skill at this?” Davis asked curiously.

They descended down the stairs to the basement level.

“Fuck yeah. She has a legacy to live up to.”

The phantom voice of Romanoff whispering sinful promises to her target and the woman’s cheeky antics in order to probe personal information out of her, echoed in the back of Maria’s mind.

“You’re insane. Legacy or not, have you seen The Black Widow at work? She has Barton wrapped around her fingers. Commander, why are we going down? The action is upstairs.”

She shook her head as the discussion continued. 

Really? This is what agents of S.H.I.E.L.D decide to discuss casually?

“The answer to your speculations are above your clearance levels. I’ll say this only once, agents. The Black Widow has a name, and that’s not it. If I hear Agent Romanoff be referred to by that title again, you’ll be confined to the Helicarrier to do office inventory.” Maria muttered in annoyance, stopping at the base at the bottom of the stairwell. “Davis, we’re down here because the action is up there. Carter was to escape the engagement if possible. Based upon what we know about the current situation, it seems likely she’s down here somewhere.”

Apparently the back-up generators did not supply power to the basement level of the building. She retrieved a mini flashlight from her pocket and turned it on, and the two agents began to follow suit. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” The two agents chorused.

She moved quietly down the pitch black corridor, taking her time to check each room carefully. It was a futile effort to try and be quiet. The silence of the floor made the sounds of their boots seem like thunder with every step, regardless of the sounds of the continuous gunfire from two floors above.

“- I hope this isn’t a bad time, Maria.” Coulson’s mild mannered voice said in her comms. “Romanoff and Barton were successful. I’ve taken the liberty to redivert their course your way to transport the recruits and wait for your rendezvous. Try not to get shot too much this time.”

She knew she liked him for a reason. For as mild and timid as the man appeared, he was smart, practical and intuitive.

Maria kept walking slowly, opting to err on the side of caution and not reply in case there were any surprises here despite what she told the two agents. 

She almost huffed at Phil’s last sentence. It’s not as if she ever went out of her way to get injured.

Another office room down, and another many left to go.

Finding Carter took a lot more time than she thought it would take them, and her apprehension reached its peak when they did eventually find her. To be frank, the agent looked absolutely wrecked. 

“Oh my god.” Johnson muttered upon seeing her. “Agent Carter!”

The blonde’s wheezy breaths were loud. Too loud. Too wet. 

Maria strode forward quickly to release the agent from her restraints. “Davis, take her. Johnson and I will cover you.”

“This is a trap, isn’t it?”

Maria frowned and removed her vest, gesturing towards Carter’s form with it. She then unholstered her glock, switched her safety off, and nodded grimly. “It isn’t some miracle that we’ve found her tied up with no resistance. We could only be so lucky - And I don’t believe in luck.”

*

When she came to, Maria knew instantly where she was. The medical bay on the Helicarrier. It was hard to mistake the grey steel walls lacking any paint and bright white lights above her, for anything else.

She saw bright red in her periphery speaking to someone just standing outside of view from her position in the bay.

Her memories flooded back to her. The pressure plate. Instructing Johnson and Davis to hand their spare mags to her and ordering them to leave her while she kept her weight on the plate as the sound of multiple footsteps thundered, closing in on their location.

Maria remembered Johnson refusing the order, and taking her by surprise as she prepared to engage. But the agent miscalculated, and the pressure was released.

Johnson took the brunt of the explosion that occurred - dead before he hit the ground. Davis was crushed by excess debris. 

By all means she should be dead too.

She looked down at herself to assess the damage. Most of her legs were covered in non-woven combine dressing, with an occasional standard gauze dressing here or there. She looked to the bays on either side of her. Carter was on her left, unconscious. The other bay was empty.

Yes, Romanoff arrived in time to literally hurl her towards an exit while shouting intensely in Russian, before turning around to grab the blonde agent.

This wasn’t right.

This wasn’t fair.

Numbly, Maria sat up and removed the cannula from the back of her hand and left the bed. She pushed protesting nurses aside. Not roughly, but firmly enough to get the message across: She was leaving the medical wing.

It seemed like a trek to finally make it to Fury’s office, and he scowled at her.

“Nick.” Maria muttered, though the question she spoke next was more to herself than him, “Why?”

He stared at her, and answered with rare empathy. “Because we know the risks; and because if we don’t, then who will?”

She stared unseeingly at the ground, “Why?”

“It’s because of this right here, that I chose you.”

“One life shouldn’t be worth more than another.”

“Yet, you chose three possible lives including your own to risk, in order to save one.” The Director reminded her. “A necessary decision given the situation and circumstance. Tactically speaking Hill, your life is worth more than Carter’s.”

“I know, Nick.” She muttered, disgusted at everything coming out of his mouth. Disgusted at the more than rational points he made. “It’s still not right.”

“Maria, we go through this every time; and this is why I choose you. You never lose sight of -”

The office door flung open and there was a second or two of silence, before Romanoff said. “Sorry, Director. Guess you found her, Doctor J was having a heart attack about our missing Commander.”

“As you can see, Commander Hill is alive and well thanks to you. But now’s not a good time. Please let them know where their run away patient has gone. Also, let them know Commander Hill will not be returning to the medical bay.” Nick said in his no-nonsense voice.

“But -” The redhead began.

Maria really wasn’t in the mood for this shit. She got up and headed towards the door, which Romanoff opened further for her. She didn’t walk through, stopping to assess the redhead, and not knowing what to make of the completely impassive look on the woman’s face.

There were no injuries on the agent. Nothing to indicate she had just completed a mission, and assisted in finishing a second. There was, however, evidence of the method of seduction she had chosen to employ.

Her eyes must have lingered longer than she thought they had. Romanoff’s eyes narrowed and her posture became squarer.

She kept her eyes on the agent’s, “I’m going to rest. You should too. It’s been a long day for everyone. You and Barton dismissed from duty for the next seven days.”

Impassive greens turned to steel.

Maria slid past Romanoff and limped purposefully towards her quarters, well aware the Russian was pissed off and following her.

She had to give the woman credit, Romanoff had at least waited long enough for her to open her door and gesture inside before rounding on her. 

“Do you think I’m compromised, Commander Hill?”

“No,” Maria replied, gingerly undoing the bottom ties to her gown and hiking it up to see her bandaged legs. “I thought given the circumstances, you should take some time to recover.”

Her lips twisted as she stared down at her bandaged legs unseeingly as she thought about Johnson and Davis. Good people wanting to do what they thought was right - and they paid the ultimate price for it.

It wasn’t the first time agents had died under her orders and the latest two would be far from the last.

“Sounds like you’re talking about yourself.” Romanoff replied.

“I wish,” She scoffed with a sigh. She didn’t have the luxury of having a break. There were letters of condolences and arrangements of compensation that needed to be completed. “Surely, you didn’t follow me all the way into my quarters to accuse me of thinking the worst of you. Why are you really here?”

“Maybe because,” The woman said slowly, as she sat down next to her, and lifted a hand to tilt Maria’s face towards her, “I’d like to be ‘compromised’ when it comes to you.”

Maria snapped, standing in an instant and glared down at the agent. “Absolutely not, Romanoff. I don’t care who you are, or what your handlers required of you before S.H.I.E.L.D - but that’s not how things work here. No one will ever require that of you, personally or professionally otherwise. Get the hell out of my sight.”

The fucking nerve of it all. The timing, the manipulation and the arrogance of it, had her shaking with anger and indignation. 

The Russian on the other hand, seemed to pale somewhat, as her brow twitched as if she were confused by it all. “I was trying to help - make you feel better.”

Maria felt her jaw tick at the simple explanation.  “Thank you, but no thank you. Your body isn’t something to sacrifice for the sake of others. If you want to help that badly, try being a friend.”

This was too much of a mind fuck for one day. She made a mental note to keep an eye on  any potential gossip surrounding the agent’s mission. There was no way in hell she was going to allow any further growth to this absurd concept that Natasha Romanoff seemed to have.

The redhead’s expression hardened and her tone matched her expression. “Having said that, Maria. You’re an absolute hypocrite - You treat yourself as a tool for S.H.I.E.L.D. while refusing to let anybody be your friend.”

“Thank you for saving me and Carter,” Maria growled in acknowledgment, purposefully walking towards her bathroom. “Because of you, two lives were saved in that shit show. You’re still off duty for the next week.”