Maria Hill and Melinda May One Shots

"Don't Hide Your Injuries, Melinda."

"Melinda May, get on that mat before I make you," Peggy said, crossing her arms as she faced her unruly Academy trainee.

Melinda didn't move, body straight and stiffer than a tree. 

"May," she warned.

The rest of the class stopped fighting and watched the exchange. Usually, Melinda never said no to sparring. Today, however, seemed like she would not be sparring unless she was forced.

Peggy glared at her class. "Did I tell you to stop?" she asked.

Her class kept sparring, though halfheartedly, watching out of the corner of their eyes. Peggy walked forward until she was right in front of the tiny nineteen-year-old girl completing her third year at the Academy, forcing her to tilt her head back to look Peggy in the eyes. Peggy scanned Melinda, looking for any sign of something not right. She found nothing showing but there was obviously something, though what, she wasn't sure.

"Coulson, over here," Peggy said sharply. Phil stopped sparring and jogged over, stopping beside Melinda. "Walk with me." She turned and left Melinda standing there. When they were alone in the hallway outside the gym, Peggy stopped so suddenly that Phil nearly walked into her. "Has May..." she trailed off, unsure how to phrase her sentence.

Phil understood though. "She hasn't taken drugs or alcohol if that's what you're asking. She's never taken drugs."

Peggy nodded. "Not exactly what I was asking, but that's good to know. I mean, does she have any injuries that you know about that will stop her fighting?"

Phil shrugged. "If she does, she never tells me until it's life threatening."

Peggy swore. "Right. We can work on that habit later. Right now, I need you to go tell her that Director Fury would like to see her at lunch. I'll alert him to our plan."

Phil nodded and hurried over to Melinda. "Fury wants you at lunch," he said quietly.

Melinda nodded. Peggy watched her class, keeping a careful eye on Melinda. 

"May," she said. "Feel like joining us now? Perhaps you could teach us something."

Melinda nodded and shifted into a pose that Peggy hadn't heard of before. She ran through some motions and Peggy smiled. Tai Chi. She should have guessed, given Melinda's Chinese background. As Melinda moved into more complicated motions, Peggy instructed her class to copy. 

Only Phil could keep up and even he got lost at some of the harder stages. When Melinda grinned and slowly bent over backwards, putting her head between her legs, Peggy realised she was now messing with them.

"Alright, that's enough May," she said. "Everyone, go shower and have lunch."

Melinda headed for Fury's office only to be stopped by Garret. He sneered at her.

"You think you're so funny, doing all those avatar whatever-that-was," he growled.

"Tai Chi," Melinda told him, stepping around him and continuing on her way. 

Garret grabbed her arm and stomped his foot on her bare feet. "You do that again..." he let the threat hang in the air.

Melinda turned to face him, giving him a cold look. "You'll do what, Garret?"

He leered at her. "I'll have you outta here before you can blink. And then, I'll show you what-"

"Garret," Peggy called. "May. Get outta here." 

Neither listened to her and she sighed and left, deciding that they could let off steam together.

"Show me what? Your dick? I'd need a magnifying glass just to be able to see it and even then-"