Maria Hill wasn't the type of person to drink on the job. Even when she was undercover in a bar she would take whatever shortcut necessary to remain completely sober. More or less. Now though the bottle of scotch she had been saving for a special occasion was open and she was savouring her fourth glass after downing the first three without hesitation.
The thing was, Maria had been hoping that the special occasion which prompted her to open this bottle would be a celebration of some truly epic victory, either for herself or for SHIELD. If the latter, something like saving the world. If the former, probably that final promotion which would at last see her take complete control of this entire organisation. Instead she was mourning the loss of a friend and a crushing defeat.
Loki had played them all for fools. Had pitted the members of Fury's precious Avengers Initiative against each other while his brainwashed men launched an attack against them which came close to destroying them all. And the bastard had got away. He killed one of the precious few friends she had in this world, Phil Colson, and then he had left with his army to conquer the world.
The fact that they were still in the air and maybe had the cocky archer back was of little comfort to Maria, hence why she was drinking instead of doing something useful. Problem was, she couldn't think what else she could do. She had played her part so far, stood there uselessly while Fury manipulated Stark and Rogers with the memory of their dead friend as if this was some kind of movie or a coach rallying his team when they were losing. She understood it had to be done, it was more or less their only move left. Not that it made her feel any better about it, hence the drinking.
All of a sudden the door to her sleeping quarters opened to reveal Natasha Romanoff. Lately this had become a very familiar sight, especially since Natasha quickly slipped into the room and locked the door behind her, although this time round Maria wasn't exactly excited to see her, "How's Clint?"
Natasha was surprised, both from the fact that Maria used his first name and that she chose that to be her first question. Then again Maria always did seem to be surprising her, "I knocked some sense into him. I think he's going to be fine."
"You wouldn't be here if you thought otherwise." Maria pointed out, hating herself for acting like a jealous girlfriend, but she just couldn't stop, "You know, I always wondered about you two."
"Please, we're both too damaged for that. I mean, can you imagine us together? What a disaster that would be?" Natasha asked softly as she slowly stepped forward.
"Yes, I can. Which is exactly why I have a rule against workplace fraternisation." Maria grumbled, unadvisedly looking down at her glass instead of the advancing assassin.
Cupping Maria's chin Natasha forced the other woman to look up at her and then gave her an infuriating smile, "Don't you mean used to have?"
Gritting her teeth Maria slapped Natasha's hand away, stood up and got into the deadly redhead's personal space, "No, I HAVE a rule, and WHEN I'm running this place it will be strictly enforced, which means you'll have to get your jollies elsewhere."
"Like anyone could stop me fucking whoever the hell I want ." Natasha smiled arrogantly for a moment, then it was gone, "Provided I survive this mess."
Maria sighed, "Is that why you're here? A pick me up? Because you know I'm no good at speeches, but I could try, if you really want."
Natasha smiled, "You really would do that for me? After everything I said?"
"Being a leader means inspiring people you don't necessarily like." Maria replied coldly, "And don't flatter yourself. You'll have to try a lot harder than that if you want to actually hurt me... which to be clear, is not an invitation. We've had more than enough infighting for one day."
