The Death of a Friend
“You did NOT just check your watch,” Natasha stopped kissing Maria’s neck and widened her eyes.
“Fury gave me 6 hours, I’m down to 3 and I know that you have a lot of anger to work through but… I don't think my body can handle any more sex without me falling asleep when I get back to my desk,” she winced and immediately threw her limbs over the Russian to keep her from bolting, “No, don't run.”
“You’re the worst, you know that? COMMANDER HILL IS THE WORST!” the redhead yelled from her spot on the bed with a smile, “SHE IS REFUSING SEX BECAUSE WORK IS MORE IMPORTANT AND EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW-”
Maria clamped her hand over the woman's mouth and laughed, “You’re going to get me in trouble, Nat!”
The younger woman licked her hand, “ew!”
“That's the point, if I get you in trouble you don't have to go,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “also don't say 'ew' as if your tongue wasn’t inside my body 2 minutes ago.”
“Fair point,” Maria shrugged and got up to take another shower, “come on, let me help you get cleaned up.”
Natasha threw her head back, “only if it leads to one more round.”
“Fine,” the brunette chuckled and turned the shower back on, “you’re a menace.”
“Only to your body,” the redhead kissed her shoulder and followed her into the steam.
“And to bartenders,” Maria sucked in a gasp as lips found their way to her pulse point, “and the armory,” she shuddered as kisses came in rapid succession down her chest, “and to anyone you think has ties to the Red Room.”
The kisses stopped and Maria looked down to see the woman letting out a long breath, “you’re a real mood killer, you know that?”
“Only when you need to be pushed,” she cupped the Russian's face and kissed her deeply, “and you need to be pushed on this.”
“Lewer me in with sex and then make me talk about my feelings, not fair Ria.”
“You need to talk to someone about it,” Maria pulled her shampoo bottle out and poured some into both of their hands.
“That’s what my therapist is for,” Natasha washed her hair and there was something about the fact that she would smell like Maria for the rest of the day that made her heart happy.
“The therapist you stopped going to a month ago?”
“It’s not my fault,” she tried to argue back, “Okay it’s a little my fault, but that’s what Barton is for.”
“Barton said you’re walling him off,” Maria rinsed out her hair.
“I’ll kill him, when did he tell you that? I swear- ow,”
“Here,” the blue-eyed woman took a washcloth and got the shampoo out of the Russian's eye.
Defeated, Natasha leaned against the tile, “thanks, I guess I just didn’t think that The Room was still around but then with her… she’s just like I was and my heart breaks because she has to go through something that I thought we ended. Poor little Lizochka .”
“I know,” Maria pulled her in until their bodies were flush against each other, “we can find them and end them. For good this time.”
“What if it’s too late? What if Yelena is… what if she’s gone?” Natasha found herself pushing into the crook of Maria’s neck.
“Then we find her too,” she waited, knowing that wasn’t the type of ‘gone’ the redhead was referring to, “and if we can't find her, we do the right thing in her memory.”
“How are you so good at this, Masha?”
“Fury says it's because I’m quick on my feet and know how to adapt,” she smiled.
“I think there’s more to it,” the Russian tilted her head and placed a kiss on Maria’s jawline.
Maybe there was more to it, but the Commander couldn’t think about that right now. All she could think of was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen pressed against her… and the remaining hours she had before she was supposed to be back at work.
By the time they were out of the shower and Natasha was on her way back to her own quarters, it was past midnight. She set her alarm and closed her eyes for the few hours of sleep she'd get in a proper bed, hoping that she could get a few more on her couch at work.
“I thought I told you at least six hours, Hill,” Fury called out from the command center, the few agents at work startling at the sudden commotion.
“I was gone for 6 hours, sir,” she logged into the side computer.
“I said 6 hours of sleep,” he narrowed his eye.
“Well, I’m here now, sir,” she was less grumpy but still had an edge.
“With me,” he started walking, she fell into step as they got to his office, “I said of sleep.”
She waited, knowing this game. Fury knew something about her night, in years prior she would have admitted to everything. But she was older now, wiser, and knew that she should wait to see what he knew before digging herself into a bigger hole. Had a rookie ratted her out, seeing Natasha leave her room?
“That’s true, sir,” she watched as he pulled out a 5-hour energy and handed it to her.
“Then why did I hear that you were with Coulson and crew after escorting Loki?”
Bingo . All he knew was the medbay.
“Well I was already there, taking Romanoff as you asked, and then I was just trying to help friends out,” she downed the drink.
“And that explains why Romanoff left your quarters a few hours ago?”
Damn it.
“You… you could say that just helping a friend out,” she raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t want to know about your sex life, Hill, I want to know that you are still able to be my right hand for phase two,” her boss was more serious for a moment.
“I am, sir,” she knew how important this project was for Fury, she wouldn’t let sex get in the way of a greater plan.
“I’m going to meet with the God tomorrow, try to understand his play,” he started typing on his computer, “listen in, two sets of ears are better than one.”
“Got it, sir,” she made a mental note to make sure she tuned into that.
“You’re dismissed,” the Director didn’t look up from his computer.
She turned on her heel and exited the office, walking back to the control center that she would be at for the next 12 hours at least.
The hours ticked by, and she continued to work and find new aspects of Starks updates until her calendar reminder went off. She positioned herself with as much privacy as possible as she watched Fury and Loki talk to one another. Or rather she watched as the God tried to weasel his way into the Director’s mind, something that had little to no success until the very end. Only in the last sentence did Fury falter once, his annoyance creeping into his tone.
“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill cause it’s fun,” he breathed out, “you have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”
The God squinted his eyes and let out a breath, “it burdens you to have come so close, to have the tesseract, to have power, unlimited power, and for what? A warm light for all of mankind to share?”
Maria watched as the God continued to pace around the cell, his calm demeanor nearly sending a shiver down her spine. He was plotting something and she was glad Fury had allowed her to watch the interaction.
“And then to be reminded of what real power is.” Loki smiled.
“Well let me know if ‘real power’ wants a magazine or something,” Fury walked towards the exit of the sublevel. The man always had the power of getting the last word in.
She waited a few more minutes until her boss was standing next to her.
“Any ideas?” He kept his eye on the sky ahead of them.
“No, but it’s obvious there is a plan of some sort. I don't like being on the waiting side of this,” she turned to look at him, keeping her back to the agents working below them.
“I don’t either, I’m sending in Romanoff.”
“Romanoff, sir?” She thought Barton would have been the first one up, having experience with the God and interrogations.
“She has a way with men,” he glanced over to his deputy, “and women too it seems. No one seems to be able to think straight around her.”
Maria had to keep herself from asking if the pun was intended. Instead, she just nodded once, “I’ll let her know, sir.”
“Do it over lunch, go take a 30.”
The brunette pulled out her phone and shot off a text to the Russian.
Maria: got a mission for you.
Nat: in the middle of something.
Maria: Orders from Fury, meet in the caf ASAP.
Seven minutes later the redhead was sitting in front of Maria, covered in a thin layer of… dust?
“Why were you in the vents?” Maria squinted and handed over a salad she had picked up for the spy.
“Confidential,” Natasha took the food, “ugh, why a salad?”
“You need to eat something other than the junk you and Barton put in your bodies,” she started eating her own, “and nothing’s confidential to me, I’m the deputy director, you aren’t allowed to have secrets from me.”
“Well I do,” the redhead stabbed at the veg before shoving it in her mouth.
“Try again Romanoff,” Maria used her Commander voice.
“Tony isn’t on board with the whole Phase two thing, and he’s getting into Steve’s head about it.”
“None of you have the clearance to know about phase two,” the brunette put her fork down.
“Tell that to the two jacked up ‘heroes’ that have been snooping around,” Natasha rolled her eyes, “or at least that's what Barton and my sources have told us.”
Maria hummed, “Well tell your sources that they need to stay out of this one and that they have a piece of lint in their hair.”
The redhead ran her fingers through her hair and brushed out the debris, “they’re already in too deep.”
“Get a bucket and start bailing because I’m serious Tasha, this is above all of our paygrades.”
Natasha paused for a moment before nodding, “fine, but I want a meeting with Fury about this before it blows up.”
“Done, speaking of Fury,” she ate more salad, “he wants you to take a crack at getting Loki’s plan out of him.”
“How long do I have?”
“Until you finish that salad.”
The next two hours of events came like flashbulbs going off in Maria’s face. She tried her best to remedy each one.
The first moment came as she listened to Natasha explain that Dr. Banner was the key to Loki’s plot, he would use the doctor to destroy the ship. She sent reinforcements to the lab.
The next moment was the fast jerk of the ship as they lost an engine. Fury barked orders to an agent, asking if they knew how to use the sun to navigate them properly to the ground. The deputy director narrowed her eyes at the agent, knowing that he had the refresher course on geography. The agent nodded and they were back on track.
Her next flash bulb was finding the source of the blockage in the engine. She radioed Stark and Rogers to take care of it with a group of engineers.
The moment after this was when Hydra agents boarded the ship, causing an actual flash of light as they threw a grenade onto the bridge. She threw herself onto a nearby agent, saving them both but causing her head to start bleeding, her vision to blur. A medic came to patch her up as they leveled out.
And then, everything in her world stopped. The flash exploded in her face as she heard Fury's voice over her comms device.
“Agent Coulson is down,” Fury’s voice was quiet, and suddenly everything else was too.
She pushed the medic on her out of the way and told them to race to the sublevel, “Medics are on their way.”
“They’re already here,” the Director's voice was somber, “they already called it.”
Her vision blurred, her mind went silent, and her body went limp. Phil was the best of them, he was the one who kept everyone together with his terrible positivity. He had so many plans with May, with-
Her feet were moving before she realized where she was going. By the time she had made it to the med bay, she was at a full sprint. Dodging the incoming agents who had been hurt while the God escaped.
“Mel-” she swiped her card and burst into the room.
Ellie was sitting on one of the chairs at the table, watching some type of cartoon about space on a tablet… Phil’s tablet.
“Ria?” May furrowed her brows, “What’s going on out there, it sounds like a warzone. The docs told us to stay put, which of course Phil took as a suggest-”
Suddenly Maria’s mouth was dry, no matter how many times she tried to swallow she couldn't. She couldn't get the words out.
“Ria, why are you here and not Phil?” Melinda stood up, the child behind her looked away from the tablet, and at the encounter that was getting louder, “Maria where is he?”
All she could do was shake her head, and try to keep the tears from coming.
“HILL, WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?”
“He…” she choked out, “he didn’t make it.”
The raven-haired agent dropped everything in her hands and walked out the door. Her face was neutral even as tears fell down her cheeks. Maria turned to chase after her before stopping at the noise still coming from the room.
“Phil?” the little voice called out.
“Hill, where are you? I need you on the bridge,” Fury’s voice was still quiet as he instructed her back to the command center.
She stood there for a moment, for the first time in what seemed like years, she was completely torn on what to do. Ellie’s face scrunched up, she knew something was wrong. Maria looked out of the sliding door, the medical crew was working feverishly to get agents the care they needed. No one would be able to come watch the child, there was no sight of May.
“Hill,” Fury said again, “report.”
“Be there in five,” her voice was horse from keeping tears in.
The girl stared at Maria as she approached the table, her eyes wide as the Commander crouched next to her chair.
“I need you to come with me, okay?” she looked at the child who continued to stare, “we're going to go to my office and you’re going to watch movies and eat snacks and everything will be okay, but I need you to listen to me and not leave the room I put you in.”
Ellie nodded once, picking up the tablet and holding it tight against her chest. Maria scanned the room until her eyes fell on a small purple backpack. She picked it up and saw there were already snacks and a few other items in it. Her hands made quick work of grabbing random objects from the room and putting them in the bag.
“Ready?” she took the tablet from the child's hands and put it in her backpack before securing the bag to the child's back.
The Commander swiped her card and was blasted with the noise of people yelling. Yelling to try and get the attention of med bay staff, yelling in pain, yelling to try and get others to stop yelling. The child put her hands over her ears and tried as best as her little legs could to keep up with the deputy director. No one was used to looking down as they moved and so agent after agent ran into the girl, pushing her into walls and other people until Maria scooped her up.
“I got you,” the brunette looked at the girl who had wide eyes, hands still clamped over her ears.
With the girl on her hip, Maria moved faster out of the medbay and to the staircase. The sheer volume of agents made it difficult to move to the command center, but after an additional 5 minutes, they were face to face with Fury.
“Hill,” the Director shook his head, “this isn’t time for a field trip, you can't just bring a child-”
“Nick,” she cut him off and made sure Ellie still had her hands on her ears, “my best friend just died, his wife walked out on their soon-to-be kid, and we don’t have any other options. So with all due respect, let me do my job and do not lecture me right now.”
She didn’t notice the tears falling from her face until her boss put a hand on her shoulder and wiped one of them away from where it had fallen on her jaw.
“Get her taken care of, then I need you out here,” his voice was low, she was barely able to make out what he had said above the yelling that was happening in the command center.
She turned and readjusted the girl on her hip as she walked into her office, only putting her down once the door was closed. The volume from the world outside was immediately damped and the child took her hands off her ears and she sat on the couch.
“Okay,” Maria breathed out as she sat next to the girl, “so this is my office, you can sit on the couch, you can sleep on the couch, you can sit in those two chairs.”
She motioned to the chairs in front of her desk, “you can't go behind the desk or open any of the drawers okay?”
Ellie stared at the woman in front of her.
“I need you to say you understand, okay?” Maria pleaded.
“Okay,” the child’s voice was quiet.
“Great, you can use these,” the Commander stood up and got noise canceling headphones from her desk, “to watch whatever you want on the tablet.”
She took the girl's backpack off and opened it up, retrieving the device. A pang of sadness hit her as she unlocked Phil’s tablet and pulled up the streaming service the child had been using. The headphones connected and she handed them to the girl on the couch.
“I’ll keep this open,” she stood up and drew back the blinds of her office so Ellie could oversee the bridge, “and if you need me knock on the window okay? No teleporting, got it?”
“Okay,” the girl spoke again, she was a fast learner.
“There are snacks in the bag, I’ll come check in when I can,” Maria looked down at the bag and made sure there was food for the girl before making her way to the door, “this door will stay locked, the only people who have access to this room are safe, so you’ll be safe.”
The child nodded, looking so small from her spot on the couch, tablet, and headphones in hand.
“Okay, knock if you need something,” Maria smiled and locked her office door behind her.
The noise from the bridge was almost as loud as the medbay as she walked to the front of the enormous space. Fury was at the command center, watching as she stood in front of him and faced the room.
“Listen up,” she projected her voice loud enough to reach most of the agents, suddenly the room fell silent.
She cleared her throat, “First things first, are we on stable engines?”
“We are but we’re dead in the air, ma’am,” Agent Randall spoke from his position near her.
“Next, no more yelling. There is no need for it and it does nothing more than add to the chaos,” she stared into the crowd, “got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the cowed roared back.
“I know that we all lost people today,” she took in a large breath to control the emotions that were creeping into her mind, “we all lost someone today, some of us lost more than just one. What I need from you is to keep a level mind, just for these next few hours. I know that sounds like a lot, and I know that it’s a lot to ask from some of you. But we do not have the capacity to make mistakes right now, we owe it to those we lost to complete this mission.”
She wasn’t even sure what mission they were on, or how long they would be on it at this point, but she knew that emotions caused mistakes. And mistakes were unacceptable right now.
“If you need a moment to gather yourself, please feel free to use conference room J,” she motioned to one of the last conference rooms in the room, “I need you all at your best right now, and I promise you, as soon as this is over, we will mourn our fallen.”
She stepped back from the center of the room and glanced at Fury who nodded, “now, back to emergency protocol 193.6.1”
“Yes, ma’am,” the agents said in unison before the sound of working quickly took over.
She pushed back her own feeling of immense sadness and walked over to agent Randall who was trying his best to keep his breathing under control, “do you need a moment agent?”
“No, ma’am,” he looked her in the eyes and schooled his features.
“Alright, then how long until we have comms back up?”
“No sure, ma’am, maybe an hour. Maybe two,” he continued typing on his computer.
“Thank you, Randall,” she made her way back to where Fury was standing, “we're looking at an hour plus until communications are back up and running.”
“And engines?” Her boss looked at her.
“We have the engineers down there now, I’ll let you know when I know, sir,” she turned to walk over to another agent who looked to be on their last calm breath.
“Quiet the speech you gave there, Hill,” Fury called out from behind her.
“Sometimes you need to hear that what you’re doing has a greater purpose, even if in the moment all hope feels lost,” she looked at the man behind her, “push in the right direction, the direction to keep going.”
He looked down and nodded, “Romanoff, Barton, status report?”
They both waited for the response, suddenly Maria’s heart was beating fast, her breath held until she heard the voice of the Russian on the other side.
“Medbay, Barton took a hit to the head, sir,” Natasha’s comms were fuzzy as she spoke.
“Severity?” Fury asked.
“Just need some stitches and to have a flashlight in my face, sir,” Barton responded, the smile in his voice was clear.
“Rogers, Stark?” The director pivoted to the remaining Avengers still on board.
“Sublevel 3, trying to help your sorry ass of- what are you guys called? Engineers, really? Well you’re doing a terrible job considering this engine is no longer functional,” Stark continued to ramble until Steve cut in.
“Level 5, assessing weapons damage, sir.”
“Both of you to the bridge,” Fury responded, walking towards Phil's office.
Maria focused back on the agents around her who were working quickly and quietly, enough to hear the occasional sniffle or chair scooting back as they left to go recompose themselves in the conference room. She kept her own mind calm and paid attention to work and work alone, there wasn’t time to think of anything else. Not if she wanted to keep her composure.
Time went on, she overheard the talk that Fury gave to the two Avengers, telling them about how Phil died, still believing in the dream that they could become something more. Something greater. To be the ones to fight the battles they never could. Stark excused himself first, Rogers followed a few moments later leaving Fury to pick up the bloodied trading cards with the super soldier's face on them.
She tried not to think about it, tried not to think about her dead friend. She went back to work until she saw Fury continuing to shuffle the cards, cards that she realized were never on the man's body. They were too valuable to have on his person as he had told the brunette multiple times when she teased him for keeping them in a clear case in the top drawer of his desk.
Her footsteps were as quiet as her voice as she approached the Director, “Sir.”
“Agent Hill,” he didn’t look up from the items in his hands.
“Those cards,” she steadied her voice, “they were in Agent Coulson's desk, not in his jacket.”
He stared at the cards, “they needed the push, just like you said.”
“Ma’am,” Randall called from his computer, “unauthorized departure from bay 6.”
She looked to the Director, “they found it, I want communications back up eyes on everything.”
And so she went back into Commander mode, making sure everything was running as smoothly as it could be. She had her agents track the Quinjet that had left, and then focused all video input on New York based news broadcasts as soon as comms were back up fully. The buzz of the room was back as all of the agents continued to work, Maria included for a number of hours.
She sent all of the air support that they could spare into the city to try and help the Avengers, coordinating plans with the pilots and Barton, who was their current eye in the sky. The aliens continued to pour through a portal similar to the ones that Ellie opened.
“Loki has to be close to the portal,” she called out to Fury as her computer started beeping, “World council call incoming, sir.”
Fury opened up the call, immediately becoming defensive from what the Commander could hear. She tried to stay serious even as he continued to call their decision “a stupid ass decision”.
Before she could react to this she caught motion out of the corner of her eye, just as an agent called out to her, “rogue bird on flight path towards New York, ma’am!”
She looked at her boss, “we have a bird in motion,” her voice raised, “anyone on the deck, we have a bird in motion. Shut it down. Repeat, take off is not authorized!”
Fury was out on the flight desk before she could reason with him and let him know that it was now two jets in motion, not just one. The explosion sent a small rattle through the command center as they watched jet one hanging off the side of the ship while the second one took flight.
It was quiet on the bridge as they all watched the jet that was on its way to detonate manhattan. She paused for a moment as she heard a faint tapping noise, but ignored it, instead opening her mouth to try and warn the Avengers team, seeing if someone could intercept the warhead. Before the words came out Fury had already gotten in touch with Stark, hoping he could take the nuclear weapon off its course.
The brunette turned to the team around her, “Prepare for casualties, as soon as our engine is up and running we will land in the Hudson or as close as we can to help those in need.”
She went back to the command center, listening to the agent's work as she set coordinates with agents Randall and Taylor. They had less than two minutes before detonation, she walked over to the monitors and watched as news stations zeroed in on the missile. The tapping noise was the only sound they could hear as everyone held their breath and waited for impact.
The Commander sat down at a random desk and pulled the video stream into full view, the whole team crowded around her to watch. A collective gasp was taken as Iron Man pushed the nuke from underneath and guided it to the portal. She knew that she should have been worried about Tony, but all she could do was stare at Natasha as she kept the portal open with Loki’s scepter.
A blur of red rushed by Stark tower and everyone erupted into cheers as the missile disappeared into the inky void. She looked up to Fury who gave the seldom smile and then focused once more on the screen in front of her, waiting for Tony to re-emerge. The tapping noise started once more as the billionaire's body fell from the sky, only stopping once the Hulk grabbed him.
For the first time in what felt like hours, Maria let out a breath and leaned back into her chair. Tony was alive, Natasha was alive, and her job was now to focus on clean up and- shit, the tapping noise.
She stood up and pushed her way out of the crowd, looking into her office. Sure enough, there was a tiny child knocking on the glass window as tears fell from her eyes. Maria rushed over to the door, unlocking it and taking in the view. There were packages of crumpled unopened snacks on the couch, a dead tablet, and headphones that had been placed back on her desk. The more she looked, the more her heart broke.
“Ellie, I’m so sorry I-” she stopped talking as she looked at the girl, her braids frizzy, and her shorts damp.
“I tried, I did not mean to but I knock and you did not come,” tears continued to flow.
“I know, I’m so sorry,” she crouched down, “did you have an accident?”
Now the girl sobbed, “I did not mean to.”
“I know, I know, come here,” she opened her arms and the girl flinched violently, falling onto her back, “Ellie, you’re not in trouble.”
The girl continued to cry and tightly close her eyes, “I did not mean to, I’m sorry, I don’t wanna get in trouble I followed all the rules and didn’t know what to do. ”
The commander got the general idea of what was being said in Russian, she looked down at her uniform. It was already covered in blood and dirt and would need to be washed, so she scooped up the child before she could teleport or flinch away.
“Shhh it’s okay, honey,” Maria picked up the backpack and slung it over her shoulder, hoping that Phil had put extra clothes in it. Her heart hurt at the thought. She missed him so much already.