Chapter Text
It was, Maria mused as she finally, finally managed to reach her office without being interrupted or called away to deal with yet another urgent problem caused by Stark or Banner (or both together), a damn good thing that Fury was off the grid at the moment. If he was here she would have been forced to kick him for all the headaches this new scheme of his was causing. Considering the shear lunacy of some of his previous plans (see: Tony Stark, The Avengers, almost killing himself playing dead) that was saying something.
She sat at her desk with a sigh, cradling a large mug of coffee and pulled two piles of memos towards herself. She was just pondering whether to start with the requestion pile or the 'tracking of the sceptre' pile when her computer blipped, signalling an incoming call. Taking a sip of the scalding hot coffee she opened the conversation, glad for the alternative to her paperwork.
“Phil”
“Maria” Coulson looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes. May hadn't mentioned any particular problems, so this was probably general work related tiredness.
“Is this about the inhumans? I've only had time to have a brief look over your proposals...”
“No no” Phil waved a hand, “To be honest, I have had to put that on the back burner a bit as well”
They both winced, remembering the chaos of the last few weeks.
“So…?”
“I know the Avengers have scaled back” Coulson started, clearly reluctant to jump straight into the reason for his call.
“On hiatus, Phil” Maria said dryly, taking a drink of her coffee and shuffling through another pile of files, “I can only directly locate four of them at the moment, and Stark blew himself up yesterday so only three of them can walk.”
“I've got something bizarre, a site in Mexico. I really think you need to look at this.”
Maria raised an eyebrow “Us, and not you?”
Coulson scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can't keep up with everything that we are supposed to look into”
“I did make you a list last week” Maria said, feeling unsympathetic. Let him see how much went in to running SHIELD.
“And I appreciate it” Phil smiled hopefully, trying to turn on the puppy-dog eyes. “Come on, surely they need some exercise?”
There was a long pause as Maria considered the chance of her being able to pull Rogers away from his hunt, and of being able to talk fast enough to convince Banner to take part. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Send me the details and I will let you know if we can help you.”
The almost comical look of relief on Phil's face made her smile to herself.
A couple of hours later Maria – now fully up to date on the limited information that Phil had about the unusual site – found the conference room where Rogers and Romanoff had seated themselves. Rogers seemed unsettled, as though he was trying too hard to look official, still finding his place in the new surroundings. In contrast Romanoff sprawled bonelessly in her chair, appearing to be effortlessly comfortable and in control. Not for the first time Maria smirked to herself, taking a certain amount of smug satisfaction in how well their partnership worked. Fury still owed her $20 over that.
“Who wants a trip out into the real world?” Maria asked as she sat opposite them.
Romanoff glanced up, curious, and Rogers frowned. “I'm a bit busy for more ops,” he said, “Plus, Stark and Banner are not in shape.”
“Lets assume that missions to assess potentially devastatingly powerful alien complexes are more important than missing a few days of your hunt for Barnes,” Maria said pleasantly, totally ignoring the pout on Rogers face, “Are you capable of going on an op?” She glanced at Romanoff, noting the twitch of her lips and wondering if it was amusement at Rogers' discomfort or annoyance at how she had treated her partner.
The two experienced Avengers shared a complicated look.
“We are” Rogers said eventually.
“Good” Maria smiled. “Because we have something that needs to be looked into sooner rather than later.” She pushed files over to them, flipping open her own. “So, rumours have been springing up about a site in the Yucatan in Mexico. A probe was sent, expecting nothing but instead found some very interesting power activity and ground works. Which is where we come in. This site really needs checking up on.”
“Alien?” Romanoff asked, flicking to the pictures, one eyebrow raising at the distinct patterns clearly visible from the aerial shots.
“Quite possibly.”
The assassin lent back in her seat, "Where is your information coming from?"
"Classified," Maria replied blandly.
Romanoff frowned a little at that, and turned back to the file in front of her.
Steve frowned. “Two of us can't cover this. And we don't have the back up agents needed any more.”
“Three,” Maria said, firmly.
Romanoff grinned slyly at her “Barton is bored. He would probably appreciate a phonecall. Perhaps around the time we are heading for Mexico. He does love a trip.”
Maria nodded, not entirely surprised.
“What about Thor? If alien is a possibility?”
“I sent out a request earlier today. If we hear back from him in time, great. If not...” Maria shrugged. “There is a bit of a time limit in place as this site is actually in the same area as a lot of ruins. There are active archaeological teams working out there right now, getting a bit too close for comfort to it.”
The two Avengers nodded, still browsing through the files, then Rogers looked up and met her eyes. “How much warning do you need to give Barton?”
It had been years since Natasha had been to Mexico, and even longer since she had visited the Yucatan Peninsula, but the damp heat that surrounded them as they made their way through the undergrowth was very familiar. Luckily, thanks to an abandoned archaeological dig site nearby they were able to land one of Tony's nimble jets only a half hour trek from the point that Hill had decided was most likely the entrance to the site. Natasha was currently very glad for this fact. She wasn't built for hot climates.
It was a pity that Thor had not replied before they had set off on this mission, tramping through the forest behind Steve's broad back had her feeling nostalgic and she found herself almost missing her other teammates. Clint however was in high spirits, striding out and cheerfully baiting Hill who ignored him with well practised ease. There was, Natasha thought, more to the theory that events repeated themselves endlessly than many people would allow. Those people had not had to listen to Hill and Clint bicker for close to ten years.
Their destination appeared suddenly, breaking through her musings. One minute there was nothing but vegetation and gloom, then there was a wall, staggered like a pyramid and covered in moss and grasses, looming up and out of sight.
“Well,” Hill said, leaning back to get a proper look, “I honestly expected to have to do some hunting for it.”
“Don't tell us that boss,” Clint stepped forwards, tapping an exposed stone, “Takes away our faith in your leadership prowess.”
Hill snorted, and started hunting for anything that could be a doorway. Natasha joined her, pausing now and then to listen to the sounds of the forest. Nothing seemed out of place but she remained twitchy.
It actually took longer to locate and open the entrance than it did to find the building itself. Steve had huffed and puffed and made far more fuss over levering it open than Natasha thought was fair considering his super-human strength and super-human resistance to hot weather.
Hill entered first, swiftly and smoothly, flashlight balanced on her gun so naturally that Natasha had to blink back memories of so many past recon missions with the then Agent Hill. Some of those missions had gone less than perfectly, so she was relieved when she heard a “Clear” echo out of the doorway. Steve followed next, Clint bowing mockingly to allow Natasha to go ahead of him. Rolling her eyes she stepped into the cool gloom, automatically stooping before realising that the ceiling was far, far above her head.
“Definitely alien” Clint muttered, turning in a full circle to take in the structure around them. Massive in a way that played with the mind, walls that seemed to be made of some kind of metal curved gently away from them, creating a vast, cavern like space that appeared to be bigger than the pyramid it was within. The floor was dotted with panels covered in patterns and switches, and small, oval, pod-like rooms, the closest of which seemed to be damaged. Natasha could hear Hill and Steve moving around further inside, could see occasional flashes from their lights as they explored. Carefully she stuck her head into a couple of the pods but there was nothing to see except mangled metal.
“What is this place?” Clint breathed from behind her.
She shrugged, moving up to join Hill and Steve.
“This one's intact,” Hill said, walking around another of the pods.
“Might give us some clues,” Natasha said.
Hill nodded, moving up the doorway with her. Taking a breath Natasha levelled her gun, entering the pod quickly and turning left so that Maria could copy her movements and cover the right. Once inside she didn't lower the weapon, but seeing no immediate threat she did look around curiously.
“Any ideas?”
Maria played the beam from her flashlight over the walls, taking in the smooth, seamless construction and strange alloys. “No. Must have been important.”
There were two podiums set right in the centre of the curved structure. Moving over to one Natasha bent to examine it.
“Rogers, Barton,” Hill circled the room to join her.
“Commander,” Steve's voice came back, audible to Natasha through Hill's comm.
“No hostiles here.”
“Affirmative.”
“Hey, look at this,” Clint's voice was slightly muffled.
“Barton…!”
Natasha barely registered Steve's yell of warning before there was a flash of blue light that burned her retinas. She screwed her eyes shut and heard Hill yelp beside her, then her body was engulfed in an icy burn. Then black.
As she came to Natasha became aware of two things simultaneously. One, someone was hitting the side of the pod. Loudly and repeatedly. And two, Hill was kneeling up against one of the podiums, shaking her head groggily.
“Wha'?” Her lips felt thick and uncooperative.
“Dunno. Gonna kill him.” Hill staggered to her feet, gripping the podium to steady herself.
Natasha blinked a few times to clear her vision and pulled herself to sit upright. “Has the door shut?”
“Yeah. I think that Rogers is showing full respect to alien technology and is trying to batter his way in.”
“As subtle as usual,” Natasha rubbed her head with a groan.
Hill walked around to where it sounded like Steve was bouncing off the wall outside and knocked firmly. In the sudden silence she tapped her comm, but there was no response. Natasha pulled her own earpiece out, frowning at the distinct lack of power, and struggled up onto shaky legs. Firmly tamping down a wave of nausea she made her way around to join Hill.
“Rogers? Steve! Clint!” Hill yelled.
Natasha had to give the woman credit for volume and effort but there was no reply. Biting back a curse she leant against the wall. It was somehow embarrassing that Hill appeared to be recovering faster from the effects of the pod than she was. It was one thing to be outdone by a super-solider, but Hill was as human as she was.
Hill tapped against the wall again, and this time got a faint knock in reply. “Huh” she muttered under her breath, “Okay Cap, lets see if you know morse code.”
Natasha watched, slightly bemused as Hill rapped on the wall. “cap”
“sir” Steve tapped back
“alive”
“same”
“door?”
“Shut”
Hill rolled her eyes “Well no shit Sherlock,” she muttered.
Natasha shot her a sharp grin and moved over to the door, running her hands over the panels.
“Handle? Button?” Hill rapped impatiently.
“Oh”
“Who uses morse code for 'oh'?” Hill asked.
“Cap.”
“Rhetorical question.”
Natasha snorted. “There's something here,” she said, concentrating on a section the had a different texture to the rest.
“cap?”
“checking”
“left side low” Hill directed, following Natasha's gestures.
“copy”
Natasha stepped back and they waited, until a couple of minutes later there was excited banging on the door. Natasha raised an eyebrow and looked at the commander. “Do you think that means get out of the way?”
“Fair bet.”
They both moved to the far side of the pod. A few seconds later the door slid open to reveal a sweaty Steve Rogers and worried Clint Barton.
“Anticlimatic,” Natasha muttered.
“Aw man, I'm sorry,” Clint said, rubbing the back of his neck, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. We're fine,” Natasha said, ignoring the look Hill sent her. There was no way she was going to admit to still feeling dizzy.
“What did you do Barton?” Hill asked, heading out of the pod, following the archer out of sight.
Steve gave Natasha a careful look “Are you sure you are okay?”
She nodded firmly “It could have been a lot worse.”
Steve snorted “You could say that about almost anything,” he said. “Actually, you do say that about anything.”
“Because it's true,” Natasha shrugged.
“Right,” Hill's voice floated around the pod to them, “Lets finish taking the recordings and get back to base so the science team can run some simulations.”
“Very brief,” Natasha muttered, doing her best to ignore Steve's gaze.
“Maybe she feels as green as you look. Maybe she's actually seen how green you look,” he said, reaching for his tablet and moving off towards a bank of switches on a tall stand.
Natasha glared after him, setting her jaw stubbornly. “I'm fine,” she muttered again.