Phil got inside the car and breathed heavily.
"So what did you think?" asked Fury cold as usual.
"Of the grave? Yeah, but you could have picked a better one. I doubt that one is comfortable. Maybe one with a Jacuzzi." Answered Phil sarcastically, a half smile forming on his face.
"I was talking about Melinda, Phil. I know you didn't care about the funeral, you only wanted to see her. You never trusted me when I said she was fine. Now that you've seen her with your own eyes, can we get back to the point when we take down HYDRA?"
"I never trusted you 'cause I knew it wasn't true. Did you see her, Nick? She's desperate. You have to tell her."
"And let her quit S.H.I.E.L.D? She's not even on the battlefield anymore after Bahrain; Now that all those agents are HYDRA I need someone I can trust. Melinda can't know. Out of discussion."
"Let me talk to her, she won't quit S.H.I.E.L.D"
"I said no, Agent Coulson. In case you didn't get it, that's an order."
On her way to the base, Melinda had a single thought stuck on her mind: Phil.
Why pretending to be dead? Why leave her behind? Why not to tell her? Why let her suffer like that?"
In front of her eyes, as she walked down the street, she only saw the two of them. Little life bites from the Academy to their first mission, to the promise around the Haig bottle. From Bahrain to all the hugs and the glances they'd shared.
Too many questions were filling her thoughts and too many images where obscuring her sight, and for the first time in forever, Melinda couldn't handle them.
She had learnt how to channel her emotions, how to restrain them, how to deal with every feeling with calm through calm and meditation.
Still, while she was there alone, in the middle of the street, Melinda May realized she had been lying all along. She had lied to everyone, but most of all, she had lied to herself.
She stopped and looked around to make sure nobody was there. It was only then that she did something she hadn't done in too much time.
A desperate scream, filled with all those words unsaid, those thoughts dismissed, all those things she had kept for herself through the years.
This was the real Melinda May, lively, strong, brave.
She had convinced herself that she was dangerous, a bad person. She had forced herself into some desk job; Fighting, she said, was too painful. But she was born to fight, and only now was she getting that.
If she wanted Phil back, she had to be ready to fight again, and finally now she was.
"I'm coming for you, Coulson. You have my word."
She went up the stairs in a rush, her eyes sparkling like never before. Most of the Agents looked at her in disbelief, they were all recruited after Bahrain and they had never seen her true nature.
The stories about the Cavalry were famous tough, so she used it in her favour. If she acted indimitading enough, nobody would dare to stop her.
"Agent May, you can't enter Fury's office without notice, wait for me to-"
"Spare me, Hill."
The door to Fury's office was closed but not locked, which meant he was alone. Good.
She didn't even try to knock.
Fury barely looked up from the file he was reading, he only gestured her to take a seat.
Melinda stepped closer but chose not to sit. She stood there, her weight lifted to the side, her arms crossed and her eyes glaring at him.
"Agent May," he started. "I didn't see you after the ceremony. I know it was hard for you."
"I saw him."
Fury pretended he hadn't heard that. "It's always a tragedy when we lose our partners. I loved Phil like a brother."
May raised an eyebrow. Had he really loved him he wouldn't have made him fake his death.
"Director Fury, sir, is there anything you're not telling me?"
Fury couldn't avoid it now.
"It's full of things I don't tell you, 're a level seven, and there are ten. But you never complained about it, did you? Is there a problem with something?"
Okay, so Fury wanted to play dumb. Fine. Melinda would still get what she wanted.
"The problem is Coulson's not here. And the fault is yours." She said angry as she could.
"You should have never sent him to New York with the Avengers. Phil did not have the super-strenght or a magic hammer. He was just an Agent, and you sent him to die."
"May, we know the risk that comes with this job. Coulson sacrificed himself to put an end to Loki's evil plans. We all owe it to him to do our best to make his sacrifice worth it. You're one of my best agents, Agent May, if there was-"
"I want to go back on the field." Said May all of a sudden. Only being back on the battlefield they would tell her what was going on.
"Are you sure? Melinda, if you feel like you have to-"
"I'm sure."
"In that case, I have a mission for you."
"But I want a team. And I choose the members."
PHILIDAPHILINDAPHILINDAPHILINDAPHILINDA
SOOO, HOW WAS IT? BETTER LEAVE IT AS A ONE-SHOT? SORRY FOR THE DELAY BUT UNIVERSITY GOT ME WAY TOO BUSY, SO THIS MIGHT STILL NEED SOME REVISION (ALSO, CONSIDER I'M ITALIAN AND ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE). ANYWAY, SHOULD I KEEP WRITING THIS? LET ME KNOW, AGENTS. LOVE YOU