BLACKHILL ONESHOTS

guard detail #1

Maria wasn't happy, not in the slightest. Even with her high ranking and notoriety within S.H.I.E.L.D., she was assigned an extremely medial task by Director Fury himself. For two weeks or longer if necessary, she would practically be the babysitter of the organizations most recent detainee. Maria wasn't given details on the prisoner, if she could even call her that. She was told that a long-time female target willingly surrendered to Agent Barton during his mission to take her out. However, she was not told the name of the assailant or what she had done to put herself in the cross-hairs of the US Government. Barton's mission was so highly classified that even Maria wasn't given access, seeing as Fury didn't want  to give Agent Hill preconceived notions about the person that she would be watching over. After a dozen or so failed attempts at getting assigned to something, anything, more interesting than this, she was headed to her first shift on guard detail. 

In the dark bottom levels of the Hellicarrier resided the celled up prisoners. As Maria reached the correct floor, she began to search for the cell number she was assigned. There were very few people down there, given that the aircraft wasn't known to carry many convicts at a time. Each enclosure moving down the hallway belonged to a more dangerous person that the last. That was worrying for Hill. If she hadn't found her inmate yet, how dangerous really was she? Locked up men and women screamed at her, banging on the metal bars in front of them. She kept her pace cautiously until she reached the end of the hallway, turning into the small corridor to her right. A couple steps down there was a cell, one that was quiet and a bit larger than the rest. The numbers on the wall beside it matched the ones on her clipboard, so she leaned against the wall across from the cage's opening. Her eyes fell on the woman. The prisoner's hair was long and red. It was pretty and wavy but it could definitely use a brushing. Maria couldn't get a look on face. She was sat up on her bed with her head down and her elbows resting on her knees. Hill was afraid to break the silence, but after an unbearable amount of time she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, are you alright?" Her voice was gentle as she approached the room. Maria stopped in her tracks at the startled movement of the red head. The woman looked up for the first time to peek at the agent who had been staring for far too long. Though she tried to hide it, Hill could tell without much looking that her eyes were swollen red. The prisoner retreated, scooting back to the corner of the bed and resting her head back up against the dirty brick wall. Maria didn't know what to do, she wasn't always the best at finding the right thing to say, so she continued her slow walk forward and gave herself time to think. Reaching the bars, she knocked softly with a single finger. "I'm...ummmm.... Agent Hill....I'm the guard S.H.I.E.L.D. assigned to watch over you."

The woman didn't move or respond, she just stared at the ceiling, drifting off to somewhere other than this. Maria couldn't believe in the slightest that this was the dangerous person she had believed she was. This woman, who Fury had been hunting for years, couldn't even hold eye contact. Maybe they got the wrong person? Hill tried once more. "Who are you? What's your name?" Silence, nothing but silence. She took the hint. "Okay, I get it, you don't want to talk. That's fine." She turned to walk back to her previous standing position, but stopped. She was frustrated almost, but realized that the woman had probably been through some stuff. Hill turned back around toward the cell. "You know, we are going to be spending a lot of time together from now on... it might be better for the both of us to get to know each other or something...I don't bite. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here... okay?" She turned back once more, gravitating back to the opposing wall. 

A strained voice whispered softly, just out of ear shot of the agent. "Natalia." Maria spun around at the noise. The woman spoke again with a heavy Russian accent, her voice breaking. She probably hadn't spoken since she was taken. "My name is Natalia."

"Natalia", Hill tried the name out softly. She slightly smiled, though Natalia wouldn't notice. "Well Natalia, it's nice to meet you." Maria's curiosity almost got the best of her, but she resisted and didn't push it. This was a win for now, she'd get to learn more about Natalia when she was ready to talk. "If you need anything I'm right here, okay?"

The two sat in silence for the rest of Hill's shift.