The next chapter.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Madripool rests on the back of a giant dragon and is does not have nuclear weapon test and launching sites. I'm ignoring that. Sorry, Marvel.
"Hill, what are your readings?"
"Sergeant O'Byrne is down. I repeat, Sergeant O'Byrne is down."
"They've got Andrews."
"Sergeant Neil, do you copy?"
"Neil's dead."
"Jefferson, sweep the perimeter. Scan for any possible ways in."
"This is Jefferson to- *STATIC*"
"Orders, Lieutenant Hill?"
"We're going in. Retrieve Andrews on your way out. I'll set the bombs."
"Lieutenant, the radiation will spread out. There will be no safe distance."
"What's the evacuation plan?"
"This is Colonel Grant, at the Marine base. You're on your own. It's too dangerous for us to fly planes in there. Get as far as you can before it goes under."
"Colonel Grant, we're moving in now. This is Hill and Baker."
"We copy that, Lieutenant. Good luck. Stay alive."
"Baker's dead."
Maria sat up with a jolt, her body coated in sweat and her heart pounding. She took in the wood walls, the wide, sweeping canopy above her, and the soft sheets that she was tangled in.
"You are not in Madripoor." Maria told herself sternly. "You are in the Avengers Tower."
The horror of the place never left her. It was still there, lurking in the back of her mind, like all the other missions where people had been killed because of her. Maria's team was dead. O'Byrne. Neil. Jefferson. Baker. Andrews. All because she had failed to lead them, and sent them into a situation with no evacuation plan and no information. It was her fault they were dead. Why had she taken the job?
She put her head in her hands and tried to block out the images flashing across her vision. Baker, his neck snapped back by the force of a sniper's bullet. O'Byrne, her body charred and burnt beyond recognition from a laser trap. Neil, exploded by a grenade. Jefferson, killed by a machine gun's bullets.
Andrews, who Maria had extracted from his prison only to have him die from a stab wound in her arms, only a meter away from the radius of the explosion. Andrews, who had been the only soldier that understood her. The only person Maria had ever thought loved her until she met Coulson and May.
Sometimes she could still see their blood on her hands.
Maria slid out of bed and checked the clock. Two in the morning. She wrapped a blanket around herself and stepped onto the balcony that adjoined her room. The wind whistled by her face and she sat with her back to the outer wall of the tower, looking to the city.
"She's still alive!"
"Coulson, get medical. She's got a bullet wound to the leg and a lot of blood loss-"
"Tell the General we've found his Madripool team."
"What does SHIELD stand for, Hill?"
"What does that mean to you?"
"Useless lump, I shoulda never let this happen."
"Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."
"You killed my son."
"You're the reason she's dead. Why should I keep ya? Give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot you now!"
"Welcome to level seven, Agent Hill."
"Maria, meet Melinda May, your S.O."
"Coulson's down."
"Lieutenant Hill, you and your team has been assigned to level a nuclear test facility that plans to nuke Washington, D.C. at 11:00 hours. You have three hours to do so. If you fail, your ranks will be stripped and your names erased from Marine history."
"You're the girl who backstabs their friends, Maria."
"You never understood anything about love."
"Ice princess."
"Welcome to level 9, Commander Hill."
"I would trust you with my life, Maria Hill."
"Lieutenant Hill was the only remaining member of her team. She infiltrated the high security base alone with almost no intel. Her actions a week ago have landed her a place in Marine history as one of the greatest Lieutenants to give their service to the United States."
Maria pressed her hands to her temples and rubbed them. The voices swam inside her head, constantly reminding her of the mess her life was. After Madripool, Coulson had approached her about an organization called SHIELD.
She hadn't known then how one bad thing could lead to the next.
But she also hadn't know that SHIELD would lead to meeting the Avengers and meeting Bucky. She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself and closed her eyes as one tear, then another ran down her face. She didn't bother to wipe them away.
Bucky woke up that morning to a torrential downpour.
"Master Barnes, you might want to collect Miss Hill from her balcony." JARVIS said after Bucky had put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Bucky frowned. Maria was outside? In this weather?
He pressed the button for the elevator and got onto it.
When he came to Maria's floor, the lights were out. It appeared that she hadn't gotten up yet, but JARVIS had said she was on the balcony. Bucky ducked his head into every room, checking for her. She wasn't in the office area, the living room area, the kitchen, or the theater, and the darkroom was empty, too. That left her bedroom.
Bucky was reluctant to go in there. That must be where the door to the balcony was, he reasoned. He pushed the door open and peered inside.
The covers were tangled together and it looked like a blanket had been stripped off the bed. He could see a figure on the balcony. He bypassed the rest of the room and stepped through the glass door.
The balcony was shaped like a trapezoid, and Maria was in the corner, huddled underneath a pale blue blanket. She was drenched, and Bucky was starting to get wet, too. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping.
Bucky understood. Most people who had served in the military could sleep in the worst weather.
"Maria." Bucky said. He crouched down and shook her shoulder. Maria eyes shot open. "It's raining. Come inside before you catch a cold." He extended a hand for her and she accepted it. He pulled her up. They went back inside.
"Why were you out there?"
"I got buried under my past, and the room was suffocating." Maria said simply.
"That's happened to me before."
There they stood, dripping wet, Maria's hair flat against her head and Bucky's shirt splattered with raindrops. The blanket was beginning to get the carpet in Maria's room wet.
"Thank you for waking me up." Maria said. "And thanks for the dancing lesson, too. I had fun." Bucky smiled at her. Thunder clapped outside and Maria patted him on the back before going into her bathroom to hang the blanket up.
"Let's go downstairs before Stark thinks that you've kidnapped me." Maria said. She held out her hand. Bucky stared at it and then took it after a brief hesitation.
They went downstairs together, holding on to each other like they were the last two people on earth.
I made up all of Maria's Marine friends. The italics are all mine- none are actually real. They're just snippets from Maria's life.
