Chapter 3: Comeback

A/N. This sounds a little too Dark let me know Otherwise. Also should I make her training the 4th chapter or should I add it on here cause the 4th picks up with the episode where Robins Pregnant.

Maria stood in front of the computer and listened intently.

"Your life as you know it is now over." "The only solution for yourself is to vanish, what Lucy did from the looks of it was to set the place up as a murder and set you up to take the fall." "Here is what you need to do."

Maria stood there and listened to Fury's instructions for a good fifteen minutes gathering exactly what had to happen in order for her to escape. When he finished Maria stood at the ready to cleanse her past.

"Sir, is this the end of me,"

"Hill, America loves comebacks, you pull this off right you may just have yourself one." "After everything is done the escort will pick you up at the rendezvous point you gave us."

"I Understand Sir."

"I'll be seeing you on the other side."

With that the feed on her computer cut out. Maria raced to grab the flammable liquids and alcohol from her fridge. The stuff went everywhere covering every suspicious nook and cranny of the apartment until she gave Lucy the signiture treatment. A bottle of the wine they shared on their vacation in Palau was stuffed with a washcloth she coated in wasp spray. It was made to be held in her hands with the rag extending out to the line of flammable liquid. After tying a scarf around the slit neck Maria gave one last look at the place and her friend. Prepping herself to give the same speech she was all set to give her earlier.

"Lu, I know the last three years were some of the greatest for you because of our friendship." She held back the tears that were starting to form. "But, I never wanted to loose you, I am not bisexual, all that we had sleeping together, our long walks and even our plans to go tie the knot. I never wanted that.

She struggled to keep her composure, "I wanted my life to go great but after today, after seeing what you did I now know the only way for it to get better would be to erase us from this world." "My friend you will be the fire of my rebirth. The only thing I'm glad about is that this was an empty duplex."

Maria walked over and kissed the top of her forehead for the last time. "Goodbye Lucy, I'll always love you as a friend."

Maria grabbed her remaining possessions and stuffed the, duffel bag to full capacity. Before shutting the door on the apartment she reached into the closet and grabbed a box, inside contained another piece of the Palauan vacation. 2 cigars both wrapped in a pink bow and a set of matches.

"You said when we bought these that we would have them on our honeymoon." "Ill at least let you have yours before I say goodbye. "

Maris struck the match and lit her cigar drawing hard on it. She set it down and repeated the process on the second. Only with that one she flicked it backward to the line the gas started from. The door shut as she heard the liquid start to ignite as she quickly went down the stairs to get the street with bag in one hand and cigar in another. The streets were very quiet as she walked down puffing away on the cigar as she waited for the inevitable.

"Hmm I wonder if that even was…"

Before she could even finish she felt the boom, not wanting to look oblivious she shifted her eyes to avert the gaze to the blast. The building went up instantly and you could hear the screams from the outlying buildings. Luckily no one was inside.

"I'm glad no one noticed me." Maria thought while she turned back to the road. The fire trucks could be heard as she looked one last time at the building she called home for the past 3 years.

"Take one final look at the past and were out."

With one simply shrug she was gone.

25 minutes later

The rendezvous point came into full view and noticing her cigar was almost spent she took one last draw on it savoring every last bit smoke until stubbing it out into the street. Now her attention turned to the place itself. The bar looked like it was in full glow of the NYC nightlife.

"McLaren's, not bad I actually like this bar."

Maria turned to see someone walking from the distance carrying what looked to her as a full dissertation of her entire record. The soft figure of his suit glowed in contrast to his dark hair and stature.

"Are you one of Fury's goons?" she asked amused by his demenor.

"Maria Hill, I'm junior agent Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"SHIELD Right."

"Yes, Directory Fury asked me to be the one to bring you in."

"No Offense Coulson, but you don't look that much like an escort."

"I see humor is a big factor of you coping mechanism Stark uses the same tactic." He switched subjects to the reason he was there to get her. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

She turned back to see the sound of the fire trucks and the growing rise of the smoke from her former life. Wanting to move forward she shrugged it off. "She wasn't my friend she was my roommate, shall we get going."

"Ok then lets go." Maria and Coulson turned to walk down the street to the area behind McLaren's. While passing by the door of the bar it opened just a crack. The woman who popped out bore Maria's same traits.

"So where is your ride?" Maria looked way to full of herself walking; Coulson grabbed her just before she could turn.

"Actually Hill, its parked right here."The quinjet suddenly materialized out of the thin air, both boarded. And within 15 minutes the jet launched.

The next 2 1/2 years would become very eventful for Hill as she rose quickly up through the ranks with harder work and detrmination than any prior agent before. Her impressive handeling of the Hulk in Harlem and the cooardination of resucing a body in the Arctic. would lead her to a promotion to Fury's second in command. The way she handled herself continued to show measure as while her collegaues conatined a satalitie in New Mexico she would unexpectedly return to New York.