It took me quite some time to figure out what to do witht his chapter, but now I think I came to a rather acceptable solution.
(I also noticed I had forgot Tony actually sold the Tower so I tried to fix that inaccuracy and plothole here.)
I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Marvel. Also: certain SPOILERS for Agents of SHIELD.

Breaking in

"Taking the car would be stupid!" Fury called while bolting down the stairs, not looking back.

"That is wonderful, because I don't even have one anymore. Or at least I think so," his partner gave back dryly, making him grin.

"Fair enough, get ready to walk then Hill," he commented, not bothering to wait for an answer.

Somehow he had switched back into "work-mode" instead of whatever that had been in the kitchen. Not that it had been unpleasant, far from it, rather the opposite. It had been close to escalating, going farther than they could afford at the moment. Hopefully they would have time to figure out... whatever that was. Definitely some sort of mutual attraction. He had already admitted to himself that he loved her, and apparently there was something there for her as well. Or was it just adrenaline? The joy of being alive?

'No, stop it', he told himself. Nicholas J. Fury didn't have self-doubts. There was no time for that. Still, all these feelings were so new, making him feel utterly out of his depth. He suddenly had the urgent wish to call Coulson (who was probably dead). If he had ever looked for a wingman, it would have been him. Carol would have been a good choice as well, though to be honest she would have probably scared away every average woman. On the other hand - Maria was far from average and also, did he want someone who would be scared by his half-alien friend? Rather not. By the time he had finished his racing train of thought, they were standing in the street, looking more chaotic than after Loki had crashed New York.

"This is gonna be fun," Hill remarked, "at least the Avengers Tower, or whatever that thing is called nowadays, is still standing."

They wove their way through people bustling on the sidewalks, nobody gave them a second glance and the former director was glad about it. He noticed Hill was trying to call people on a satellite phone from time to time and wondered about her multitasking skills. HE would never tell her, of course, she would only be all smug about it. Also, when she pushed past a group of young men, making him walk behind her, he got an excellent position to admire her backside - not that he would ever tell her. Even though they had been nothing but professional, Fury had always known that she was attractive and had a great figure. After all, he had eyes - well, one eye, but it did work very well. He had even made use of these looks from time to time, on a professional level of course, as he had assigned her on "seduction missions" where attractiveness was not everything but definitely did help.

If it had bugged him that some asshole who definitely didn't deserve it would get his hands on Maria, he had pushed it away to the far end of his mind. It hadn't mattered then. It would matter now though, he knew that deep down, even though they had not even decided what they were. Now was probably not the best time to ask her to be his girlfriend, right? Or was there ever a right time? And did he actually want a girlfriend? Girlfriend sounded cute and charming and Maria was definitely charming (if she wanetd to be) but also definitely not cute. And they weren't 15 anymore. So maybe - partner? Or was that too professional? It was probably best simply to ask her.

Avoiding an ice cream truck (why an ice cream truck?) whose driver didn't seem to care whether he was running them over or not, they jogged on. It was even louder than on a normal day in New York, or maybe it simply appeared so loud because the space he had existed in had been so eerily calm. From the way people were using their hands to cover their ears while hurrying along, he didn't seem to be the only one though. Luckily, the Tower was coming closer, it didn't seem to be heavily damaged, at least not from the outside. The hole still betraying former attack by Ultron had been incorporated in the new design with trees growing on a terrasse in an attempt of urban gardening. Fury was well aware that it was unlikely Stark had still gear lying around there, but it was a start. Better than nothing. He would probably not tell him but he would be very happy seeing that bugger Tony Stark alive, it could potentially be very helpful. Probably even more helpful if Miss Potts was around, too, she was just so good at handling that bastard. He hated being uninformed, but currently he had to admit that he had no idea at all how many of his (or rather Coulson's) agents were still alive and which Avengers were still active, if there were any left. And whether Carol was here. Had she received the message through the pager? And had she reacted or considered her own business more important? Somehow, he didn't think so.

He slowed down a bit, cursing that his fitness had apparently suffered. His partner seemed to notice as she adapted to the new speed without any comment. They still made good time (in comparison to what he had expected) and were soon standing in front of the imposing building. The doors were silently sliding open, but even though there were some people hectically running around like scared hens, Fury couldn't make out any potential threats or security personel.

"It seems halfway abandoned," Maria commented, "let's look around."

She also didn't seem too enthusiastic, but went over to the elevators. The man followed her and decided to trust her judgement, after all, she had worked here far longer and more often than he had. Nobody treid to stop them as the doors opened and they could enter. However, when Maria punched in a code into the keypad, she was denied. Sighing, she started typing in a complicated combination.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to manually override the new security concept and praying they didn't change the underlying system that Stark hid, just in case," she murmured, fully concentrated.

The way she bit her lip was very distracting, even for Nicholas J. Fury. It wasn't the first time (obviously) they had been in an elevator together, but it had never felt that small. He wondered whether she felt that too. Suddenly, the cart started decending.

"Did you override it or is that the self-destruction mode?" he asked calmly.

She just scoffed as they went lower and lower, to levels that should according to the display not even exists. Then they stopped and the doors opened with a sigh. When they stepped out, it was dark, but just a moment later a humming betrayed a starting generator. Lights went on, illuminating a medium-sized room, big enough to hold equipment but small enough to be hidden on maps of the building. Shelves and crates were lining the walls and there seemed to be an iron man suit standing in the corner, probably of a very old generation. Boxes labbeled "ammunition" were stacked up together with others spelling "tactical gear". Without a moment of hesitation, Maria pulled out a couple of protection vests, inspecting them.

"Top notch, they will do. Don't argue with me, you are taking one too," she ordered before he could say anything else, "at least you are not wearing that leather coat at the moment."

"What's wrong with my leather coat?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing, but the jacket you are wearing now seems more suitable for travelling quickly. Now come on, let's get this checked out."

She walked over to another covered structure, pulling aside the heavy fabric. A shiny black vehicle had been parked in the middle of the room, looking like a car. Fury was sure however that it was far more than that.

"Sweet thing, it will probably get us out of here. Ok, look for a bag to pack ammo and put these vests, "he looked at her slightly disgusted," on the backseats. I will see whether there is any heavy fun stuff here we should take."

After about 15 minutes they had a heavily loaded vehicle ready to go.

"I'll drive," Fury ventured, surprised when she didn't complain.

From the inside, the car looked more like a cockpit, but who didn't like a good challenge when the world was ending? The engine was roaring like a tiger when he turned it on, making his partner scoff and press a "silent" button.

"So pretentious. Men - always compensating," he heard her murmur to herself.

"Oh you know that about Stark?" he couldn't help asking, "no offence but I thought Potts was more his type."

"That's not - no, I haven't been intimate with Tony Stark, Sir," she answered primly, making him laugh.

"It would have surprised me, but stranger things have happened."

He wouldn't admit to her that he was kind of relieved, would he? Then he started the vehicle, driving towards a tunnel that nobody had mentioned so far, both too convinced the other one had noticed it anyway.

Thank you for reading!