The Devil's Keeper - Blackhill

Chapter 6 - She Used To Be Mine

[March 10th, 2007 – Helicarrier, location classified]

Melinda May had been trying to get in contact with the stolen Helicarrier via radio for the better part of an hour, and she was starting to think it was pointless.

"Agent Hill, this is Agent May, do you copy?"

She waited patiently for a response. Again, nothing.

"Agent Hill, this is Agent May, do you copy?"

There had to be a better way to achieve the result she was hoping for. Fury ordered her to get in touch with Hill through the comms, but she hadn't been answering and there was no sign to indicate she might start anytime soon. Maybe if she told her Sharon or Phil was in danger, she would finally answer. Not that Hill wouldn't have risked her life to save Melinda, Bobbi or even Clint, but she actually seemed to mind less if she was sharing personal information with the former two. They were friends, on a level where they not only trusted each other – they all trusted each other – but also valued the other's opinions and advice.

But then again, there were those times where Maria and herself could understand one another without having to speak a single word, a glance could say it all. So maybe it was just that they had a different way of showing they cared about each other.

"Agent Hill, this is Agent May, do you copy?"

Still, no answer.

"Maria, pick up the damn radio or when I see you again, and don't fool yourself I will see you again when we come save your reckless ass, I will shove it right up your-"

"Please, don't finish that sentence."

"Did your brain short circuit or something Hill? You stole a plane, from S.H.I.E.L.D., and you're flying it to Russia, aren't you?"

"I have to do this, Melinda."

"Like hell you do. We can request proper equipment, a squad, and possibly even some backup. We'll make an actual plan and then take down those facilities together." she tried to reason.

"You know as well as I do that it would take days, maybe even weeks. They've just lost their best asset and someone pretty high up their ranks. They're probably going to abandon a lot of those buildings and we'll lose track on a lot of those assholes if we wait too long."

"So you're just going to go there with no plan, limited ammo, and without knowing what you'll find inside? Maria, you're gonna get yourself killed and for what? Twenty more bad guys in prison? Think about this rationally."

"I think it's clear at this point that I'm incapable of doing that with this case. That's why I strongly advised Fury to put you in charge of this op in my letter."

That made May pause. "You're not planning on coming back."

There was a long pause from the other end of the line.

"I know I might not."

Melinda just stood silent and thought about what Maria was actually telling her. She was ready to sacrifice herself, to give her life for that mission, for that woman. She was on a rampage to single handedly kill everyone who had been an accomplice in her capture.

"Who was she to you?" May asked over the comm in a whisper.

Maria didn't answer, she couldn't, because when she heard that question, she knew there was only one possible answer that would fit.

She was mine.

Maria kept driving the Quinjet and they stayed silent for a long time.

"We all joined S.H.I.E.L.D. at different times, for different reasons, but you know what the one thing we all have in common is, May? We are all ready to die for the cause. We're ready to give our lives to protect others, to be the shield between the innocents and the bad guys. If there is one chance, in a hundred thousand billion, that this might change something, I'm ready to give my life for the cause."