Things come to an end
Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™.
The two women who were sitting in the 'all-you-can-eat-buffet' (decorated as some sort of a lodge – nature paintings, deer heads, and stuffed birds – the works, really) were both alike and different, and not just in the obvious way. Both were fit, toned, slim, powerful and exotic – one being a redhead from Eastern Europe, the other – of a more Chinese origin (i.e. Far East). Both were moving similarly, staring at each other similarly, yet – were different, no matter what.
"So how did you like venison? And the sweet cheese pastry?" Melinda Quilian May asked her former co-worker, Natasha Romanoff.
"They were fine, thank you," Natasha replied primly as she wiped her lips. (Usually, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ate Oriental or Greek food when it came to take-out; Melinda couldn't stand the Oriental kitchen, ironically, and neither woman was a big fan of Greek cooking, so here they were, sitting beneath stuffed birds in some sort of a New English shindig instead. "Now about your question – no, I didn't leave because of Kara Lynn."
Natasha blinked and went to get more of the sweet cheese pastry (hey, she was not the one paying for it, and the spare weight would be exercised off – believe it). When she returned, she took a bite and indicated for May to continue. The (somewhat) older woman raised a brow.
"What?" Natasha asked in faux-surprise. "We booked this place for several hours and time isn't yet up. Start elaborating – please?"
"There's nothing to elaborate," Melinda shrugged. "We managed to liberate Palomas from Ward, shall we say? I suspect that Ward may've discarded his former ally as he did with us, but this doesn't matter." She paused. "What matters is that Palomas is firmly loyal to Ward and has no intention of changing her attitude, S.H.I.E.L.D. or no S.H.I.E.L.D."
"So why did you take her in, in the first place? I hate to talk like this about a former co-worker, but if she's being unreasonable, a day or two in the brig wouldn't hurt-"
"My thoughts exactly," May nodded, "for I have read her old file, which described her as somewhat arrogant – not unlike Morse, really. I do not like Morse much either, but she is not important right now. Personally, I suspected that the woman was still brainwashed – that Ward just took what Whitehall had left behind and worked on it, so all that was needed was a deprogramming session or several, plus some therapy provided by Andrew or one of his coworkers, and we'd get over her hump – or at least the initial hurdles – quickly enough. After all, that was why Phil gave her the option, right?"
"Right."
"Wrong! On all counts. Palomas is unpleasant, even toxically so, but she was not brainwashed. She is interested in Ward, but only, I suspect, to have a reason to go against the agency. She knew exactly what she was saying when she confronted both Jemma Simmons and Skye, and clearly had no interest, or appreciation, of working for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Again, some time in the brig, some other application of the 'stick', some other application of the 'carrot', and the worst of her attitude would be gone. She would be more willing to cooperate or to negotiate," Natasha shrugged. "Of course, she might also escape, but she isn't that formidable – you would catch her before she got far, mask or no mask." A thoughtful pause. "That's why Coulson wanted her in the first place, right? Because otherwise, she isn't that better than Morse, let alone you."
"Exactly! I was quite ready to propose the plan to Fitz and Simmons, that they might figure out a way to separate Palomas from the mask, plus repair her face and let her go," Melinda nodded, "but I'm getting ahead of myself. As I said, Palomas was surly and unpleasant at best – to say nothing about uncaring. But, and therein lies the true problem, it was reciprocated."
"Say what?"
"Let me start again, from the top. When I heard that Palomas was being difficult, I assumed that she actually had agreed to work for us, that Phil had given her a bunch of options and she chose S.H.I.E.L.D. as the one that was best for her, so now she was being obnoxious or had problems with the remnants of her brainwashing. I was wrong. It was not Phil at his best; it was old S.H.I.E.L.D. at its worse – I don't like Palomas, I really don't, but the way Coulson handled her? 'Ward doesn't need you, so we're taking you in, end of story. You're going to be working for us from now on' – anyone's hackles can be raised; I mean, not even Obama was able to pull this crud over Americans for long, and Phil isn't Obama."
Natasha just blinked, as her old friend became unusually talkative (especially for her).
"Look," Melinda sighed, "Palomas doesn't want to be in S.H.I.E.L.D. after her Hydra trials; she doesn't appear to be sharing our values – and she honestly told Phil so. Yet instead of locking her in a cell, and starting on figuring out a way to separate her from the mask, fix her face and let her go, (if she doesn't change her mind, but I wouldn't bet on that), he just told her what I already said, and handed her over to Simmons, who promptly got her head ripped off by the other woman, as I mentioned before. Skye too. This was where I came in and realized what the problem truly was."
Natasha was truly the silent one now, staring at May very attentively.
"The problem," May said slowly, "is what kind of man Coulson is. He comes across as warm, kind, caring – a father-figure, but he is just pretending to be that sort of a person, for he was always a recruiter to Fury; a 'good cop' to whoever was playing the 'bad cop', such as I. In reality, he was no better than the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s 'old guard', as I should've realized, when after working with me for years he cut me off after Bahrain when I relocated myself to administration."
"He just wanted to give you space-"
"For seven years? Not even a birthday card – and then he remembers me when he was handed a new toy and a new lease on life. Fair enough, I followed him blindly, for I still thought of him as a warm family man, and he certainly was like that at first, even coercing me along into the role of a den mother or someone like that. And I complied – because I believed in him."
"So what went wrong? Hydra?"
"Yes, Ward did piss on Coulson's dream, but it was Coulson himself who gave up on it. Leaving aside the unprofessional way that Ward was treated, the fact was that ever since he had become the director, Coulson began to slowly stop being the man he was on the Bus, and began to become the sort of man who practically press-ganged Palomas into working for us. Not good."
"Are you sure?" Natasha asked quietly. "You may be prejudiced."
"Were those seven years after Bahrain prejudice or Hydra, Romanoff? Coulson pulled in Palomas without caring about what makes her tick; he does not really care that unlike Hall or Streiten Palomas is not going to bottle her misery up inside, but instead will spread it out – a lot; after all, he just sold S.H.I.E.L.D. to other people – nothing more. And now that he is actually in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., this is not the right tool for the job. Just look at the Iliad – many people died because Coulson pushed his plan through. I did not like the late Gonzales, but the fact that he died because of Coulson's plan, makes my dislike irrelevant. Mack – that is agent Mackenzie – is still pushing for reforms in S.H.I.E.L.D., so does agent Wheeler. If I get back to S.H.I.E.L.D., I will support them. Tell this to Fury, would you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Natasha replied loftily, fooling neither herself nor Melinda.
"Yes, no," the other woman told Natasha. "I got onto the Bus as Fury's secret spy, and got thrown into the 'brig' for that by Coulson. If it was not for Hydra...but even thinking about this is wrong. That said, I am not having a repeat performance without Fury's signature and paperwork, I am supporting the opposition, but not doing it for Fury. Got it?"
"Yes," Natasha said thoughtfully.
"Great. Now do you want spirits or brandy before we go?"
"Hmm," Natasha looked thoughtfully at the wine list. "You know, I wanted to try this brand since Hungary..."
"And this concludes my report," Natasha told Fury as the latter was having his own lunch (in Singapore, eating chicken satay and mango salad). "I don't know what has bit her-"
"Unrequited love," Fury said matter-of-factly. "May loved Coulson, but he didn't love her back – she just isn't his type. Plus, she never pushed the envelope, so he might've remained largely oblivious to it; at least until Loki had killed him and we brought him back."
Natasha just stared. "All this time," Fury continued again, "May stayed in S.H.I.E.L.D. because of this reason, and that made her rather unhappy, and it got worse after Bahrain – and for the obvious reason. I thought...I messed it up, I confess. I talked to her, she said that she chose S.H.I.E.L.D., so I got touched, I suppose, and didn't press the issue when she continued to self-destruct, or at least – to self-deconstruct. She was the Cavalry, true, but after the seven years of self-imposed exile this legend got largely, well, legendary: a hero who does the unthinkable and prevails is a different story from the hero who still does it and crawls into the wilderness to sulk and refuse all the help. Yet I couldn't blame her – I blame myself; I should've gotten involved more and helped her figure out where she wants to go now that things between her and Coulson took turn for the worse. The Bus helped her do that, actually, save that now this path is clearly not with S.H.I.E.L.D., but you know what? She has earned it and I'm not dragging her back into S.H.I.E.L.D. if she doesn't want to."
"So, now what?"
"Now, Coulson is still in charge, but if the whole assembly/shared leadership thing doesn't die, I'll look into it," Fury looked onto the photo that depicted Phil Coulson and Melinda May, back when they were younger. Back then, the two agents were almost holding hands and smiling at the camera – the photo was taken under unofficial circumstances, after all. "It's funny though, how sometimes I can be really wrong. I honestly thought that the two of them would work it out by now, and hoped that the Bus would be the way to do it. Boy, did it backfire." And he said nothing else on that matter.
End
AN – basically, at the end of S2 all of the couples (not just SkyeWard) fell into disarray and fell apart. What happened to Phil and Mel was not that different from Skye and Grant – in both cases there is the 'other man' on the horizon...but that is still better than Fitz's case, who lost Jemma to an alien rock. Hopefully, S3 will resolve the situation, but for now, here is my take on the thing; it is AU, KL is alive and Simmons is not in a rock, but things still are not well for our agents...