Maria Hill and Melinda May One Shots

Maria Hill, Dead? Yeah right

Maria closed her eyes and took a deep breath, psyching herself up as she gripped the lock of the bathroom door with white knuckles. Exhaling slowly, she told herself that nobody would look twice at her. She'd made it this far. She was just another annoying kid who got beat up in a fight. A really bad fight that was making the bathroom door swirl in blue circles. Totally normal.

Exiting the bathroom, Maria ducked her head down and pulled her beanie lower over her face.

Maria shuffled towards the entrance of the Triskelion, cursing her failing leg. This wasn't how she had wanted to return after three months of being proclaimed MIA, but all her safe houses in close proximity weren't safe anymore, crawling with Hydra and KGB agents. At least here, she could get enough drugs to knock her out until she had to go back to New York. Honestly, she was just glad she wasn't crawling across Europe trying to get to London anymore. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to stay alive much longer. Even though London had her safest safe house with all her fake identities and medical supplies.

She leant against the gate, hoping the steadiness would quell the dizziness she was currently feeling. She had long given up trying to get rid of the pain and was going with the theory of out of sight, out of mind. As long as she couldn't see the gashes all over her body, she could pretend they weren't there. It was working for the most part, if only because she couldn't afford to collapse just yet.

The agent at the gate took one look at her filthy, bloody clothes and said, "You can't come in here, miss. This is government property."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Not to worry, Agent. I had a permit," she said. 

"You're going to need a current one," the agent said. "Do you have it with you?"

"It was blown up."

The agent looked up, unused to dealing with random visitors who had decided they would like a tour of the Triskelion. "Uh..." She met Maria's hard stare warily but without recognition. She brought out two scanners. "Put your hand on this and look right here, please."

Both devices flashed green, bringing Maria's face and information up on the screen.

The agent's mouth fell open in shock. "Commander Hill?"

"Yes."

"What happened to you?" the agent blurted, hurrying around the flimsy desk she'd been given and attempted to help Maria walk towards the Triskelion.

"Don't you have a job to be doing?" Maria said flatly, shrugging off the agent's hands.

The agent hesitated, about to speak out of turn but one look from Maria sent her scurrying back to her desk, on the lookout for other visitors.

Maria gritted her teeth as she walked away from the gate and towards the glass doors where she could see agents milling about. She wasn't sure what some of them were doing, but most looked to be standing in groups, not doing any work. She would have to fix that, she decided, once she wasn't in danger of passing out.

She received some strange looks as she hobbled up the stairs. She supposed SHIELD didn't get many people off the street taking a look around. Then again, she didn't look like she was just taking a look around.

Maria took a wrong turn on her way to Fury's office and ended up deep in the labyrinth on corridors. She absolutely refused to ask someone for directions as she was well aware of what she looked like currently, and didn't need to be sent straight to the exit.

Finally, finally, after retracing her steps, she found herself outside Fury's office. Her ankle decided that would be the perfect time to give out and she stumbled with a grunt of pain, squeezing her eyes shut as she leant against the wall. She knocked on the door three times, weakly.