Back Home || Will & Maria
There were very few people Maria trusted. She shared that trait with her predecessor, in fact. It was a hazard of the job they did and the rank they held. True, she felt like there were more people she actually trusted. Fury’s trust had always seemed…limited. Maybe it was by necessity. But, even with her, it always felt like there were things he held back, compartments with zero access that had nothing to do with his personal life. Even Maria locked the personal compartments up tighter than rumours of Captain America’s virginity. But, Phil Coulson was one of those few people Maria trusted explicitly with the job. If he said there was something about this Captain Daniels she would be interested in, Maria would meet with the man to find out if Phil was correct.
She’d asked Phil to set up the meeting at a neutral site. Maybe, it was more accurate to call it a shadow site, a secret location not known to be connected to S.H.I.E.L.D. In the aftermath of Project Insight and the Hydra debacle, the last thing she needed was to be seen having secret meetings with anyone on S.H.I.E.L.D. premises that she didn’t want irrevocably tied to the agency. Part of her wished for the comfort of her field uniform instead of the dark shirt and skirt she’d opted for. She wasn’t Pepper Potts who could make heels seem deadly, merely efficient. But, she didn’t want to make this **look** like an interrogation.
“Captain Daniels.” Nodding politely as she entered, Maria took his hand in a strong grip to shake firmly. She smiled just a bit as she motioned for him to sit and took her own seat. “Please, have a seat. I’m Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I understand from Agent Coulson you’ve had quite a time of the last fourteen years. I understand we have you to thank for the safe return of Agent Simmons, as well.”
will nodded and took a seat again, a short laugh escaped his lips. “...yeah, i suppose you could say that.” surviving on maveth had been quite the adventure. learning what fungus were edible and killing plant monsters was just day to day thing. oh -- and staying hidden from a literal devil-alien was pretty fun too.
his stomach did the flip-flop thing again when hill mentioned jemma. “--actually she was the one that came back for me...” he said quietly. there are days when he wished she hadn’t come for him. things would probably be a helluva lot easier -- at least on matters of the heart.
taking a deep breath, he composed himself, and glanced up at maria’s eyes. “so, um, coulson told me you’re the one in charge of shield? i kinda thought he was,” will said with another chuckle. “but i suppose the organization runs a lot deeper than just what’s on the surface, huh? i know you want to ask me a million questions about the planet, but honestly, director hill, i don’t know a whole lot. my team got stranded, they started going crazy, and i had to kill them. i was left alone for 14 years. occasionally some random stuff would show up on the planet -- found a bottle of wine once that tasted like vinegar -- so, that was nice, but other than that, it was hell.”