Laura sits quietly there on her knees, her hands resting upon them. She can, of course, smell the very delicious (she assumes) food as it wafts through the air. She doesn't feel particularly hungry at this moment, and she knows she should be. It's been quite a few hours since her she last ate (a mayonnaise and ketchup sandwich (don't judge)). But also there's something else in the air… her head bows down and she focuses herself, breathing in slowly and deeply through her nose. New scents… additional scents to those of her 'team' and the agents scarcely employed within the building. Four scents that weren't there when the group came home.
One of those scents she knows. Matthew Murdock… he stood up to represent her abruptly when she was captured by Captain America, and was going to be turned over to Shield. Matt had been brought in by Steve to act as a living lie detector during her interrogation. But when Matt realized why Laura did the things she did… why she murdered the people she murdered… he immediately stepped up to act as her defense council. She knows she owes him, he saved her from being just another prisoner locked away in the Raft, or the Vault. She wonders if he'll even remember her…
Wait.. why is he here? She blinks a little at herself, her mind having wandered a little. Why is a blind lawyer (and a good man) here in this Shield base? Does he have something to do with the 3 other scents? That will have to wait. She's on duty at the moment.
Towards the intercom panel she looks as Fandral's voice comes over it. Ah, so he made dinner! That explains a few things. Now Laura hops to her knees, noting Wanda is still asleep. The girl needs food now. So Laura moves to the sleeping Wanda and shakes her so gently by the shoulder. But nothing. She shakes her again, a little harder now.
"Wanda." she says out loud to try and rouse her. Finally Wanda wakes up, and Laura nods in satisfaction. She wasn't dead, so that's good. But something isn't right. Wanda seems utterly distressed. She kneels down a little, concern upon her features. She is about to ask what was wrong, but instead she lets out a surprised gasp when Wanda embraces her. The whole of her form goes tense, and she genuinely doesn't know what to do. But finally, a hand comes around and she hugs Wanda back lightly, needing to show some kind of support. And after a few moments of feeling suuuuuuuper awkward, Laura pulls back a little and speaks to Wanda softly, her eyes watching the other girl's eyes.
"Fandral has made a meal. Go get some food." She nods and now pushes herself to her feet, watching Wanda finally move off.
And when Wanda does exit the room, Laura finds herself alone. She stares at the door Wanda walked out of, and the blades of one of her hands suddenly extend. Without hesitation she draws them across her opposite arm, slicing deep into her own flesh and muscle. She grimaces a little as blood trickles down her arm… and then the cut is gone. She looks down at her arm as the blades retract into her skin, and she sighs gently to herself. She won't be going to eat with the group. For a number of reasons. But mostly.. she doesn't feel like this is 'her' group. Being accepted and not being thrown out are two different things in her mind, and she has only achieved the latter. In her mind.
Hours pass…
Much of the base is now asleep. Some agents are on monitor duty, of course. But most within the confines of the walls have gone to rest for the night. It's the middle of the night, in fact. Just after 2AM. The base sleeps… but not all is peaceful. High above the base there is sudden activity. 4 small drones seem to come out of nowhere, heading straight towards their base. Each of them is about a foot and a half in length, and each carries odd looking canisters with them. They drop towards the roof of the building, but never actually touch the roof. They remain hovering, and move quickly towards the air filtration system housing. From one of the drones a small motorized arm emerges, and it opens one of the panels on the system. It plugs itself into one of the information ports there, and the filtration system is suddenly under its control. How can it gain access to such a system so quickly? Well… Ward wasn't the only set of eyes owned by Hydra within Shield.
Now 4 ports open on the air filtration system upon the roof, and the drones move to each one. They latch themselves onto the grates over the vents, and small hoses extend from the drones. One of the canisters on each of the drones are engaged, and one at a time the drones begin to pump the chemical into the air vents of the building…
BLAM
BLAM
BLAM
Sometimes sleep didn't come easily for Laura. And this is one of those times. And so she does what she does when she can't sleep… she trains. But not in hand to hand this time… but with firearms. She is in the soundproof gun range, alone (of course). The gun range is just off of the training area… well it is technically a training area. She holds in her hand a standard Shield issued sidearm, resembling a sleep Glock 9. She stops firing as she stares down the sights, a scowl upon her lips. The target is about 70 feet down range, and there are 15 holes in it. The target itself is the outline of the upper body of a man, with bullet holes in the center of the head, the middle of the neck, and where the heart would be. But… one of the bullet holes is just above where the collar bone would be. Laura… glares… at that one rogue bullet hole. She curses herself mentally for missing that one shot. She actually feels a little hatred and disappointment in herself for that missed shot.
She can be hard on herself sometimes.
A soft sigh escapes her lips as she lowers the gun, holding it pointed downwards as she stares down range. She is wearing a pair of black jeans and a Texas Longhorns jersey with the number '20' on the front, the name 'Campbell' on the back.
For Maria Hill the night is silent, but in the dark solitude of her quarters she still stirs sporadically in the bed under the blanket. What troubles her on the dreamscape? She doesn't tell anyone. It's one of the many things the woman just doesn't share, for all her personable traits. When the clock on her bedside table reads two in the morning, she throws the blanket off and just sits there in the dark for a bit. She's not overly hot; sleeping in the buff almost always prevents that. It's more that she pulls away everything to truly be herself now that everyone is asleep. Being Maria Hill, Deputy Director of SHIELD on this roster of superhumans gets to be exhausting, get you wound up kinda tight.
Maybe a walk was in order.
In seconds Maria steps out of her quarters in black gym shorts and dark blue SHIELD shirt. She walks, passing and stopping by the door she knows to be occupied by Logan. For a moment she thinks to just let herself in, but thinks better of it and keeps walking.
When she comes by the training room, Maria spies Laura in the firing range and stands in the doorway. Another one too restless to sleep? She thinks maybe this is her in to the young woman, the one who was tougher to crack than the rest. Logan had been very easy.
But then again, men were always easy for the most part.
Maria walks towards the firing range while mentally composing her part of what she expects to be a mostly one-sided conversation.
Laura's fingers move along the handle of the gun she holds, feeling its criss-cross gridded texture against her skin. She kinda likes it, almost like a little massage for her fingers. Finally her eyes tear away from the target she had ventilated to the table just in front of her. Set upon it, a box of brass bullets and 3 clips for her gun. Each of the clips are loaded with 15 shots each, fully loaded in fact. And each clip is perfectly parallel from one another, nice and straight and organized. It makes Laura smile a little inside.
The smell of gunpowder fills the air… the oil and grease from the target range retrieval system… the stale scents of the agents that were in there earlier today training… and then a new scent emerges. A familiar scent.
"Deputy Director Hill." She says softly, not looking towards the woman as she speaks. She keeps her gun pointed down and away (her finger not on the trigger of course), and then she looks over her shoulder towards the Director.
"You should be resting, ma'am. We are going to be moving the base soon." Her tone suggests that is a prospect she isn't thrilled about.
"Your heartbeat is slowed… you are tired, but you can not sleep?"
"Right on the money. I may look calm and composed most of the day, but I have to. I am only human after all." Maria answers her then places her right hand over her heart. "Between you and that Daredevil, I'll have to get used to comments like that.'' Maria feels her heart a moment, shrugs. "Funny that Logan rarely says stuff like that. At least he didn't with me." She says, hoping by talking about their other common link she can get a little more words out of the other woman. She also picks up the target on the table and takes a moment to admire the shot placement. "Don't fret about this one." She says pointing at the shot above the collarbone and looking at Laura "We all get that one that got away." She chuckles at her own joke.
"Daredevil" Laura muses softly to herself.
"Matthew Murdock, the blind attorney." She now draws her right hand up and holsters the gun at her hip, it clicking softly into place in its holster on her waist.
"I have met him once. When Captain Rogers captured me, and wanted me to be imprisoned by Shield." Laura now turns, looking towards Maria.
"I had no inkling he had… abilities." She blinks to herself and makes a dismissive motion
"Some… of the agents were speaking of his arrival, and of Wasp." Daredevil and Wasp… sounds like dopey code names to Laura. Who's code name consists of 2 numbers and a letter.
When Maria mentions Logan… Laura looks away from her. For the briefest of moments there is a bitter look upon her features.
"You would know better than I." she says about Logan. Since she truly does feel Maria knows Logan better, despite how badly she wants to change that.
"They are not supposed to 'get away' from me. I am supposed to kill with every opportunity." Now her tone starts to reflect disappointment, in herself of course.
"Is that what Logan is to you?" She looks towards Maria as she frowns a little, her eyes partially concealed by dark locks framing her face.
"The one that got away?"
"Professionally, and personally, I am always the one that got away." Maria replies setting the target down and looks back at Laura "What I meant was, even the best of us miss our target. We can plan and prepare all we want, but I learned a long time ago that doesn't mean we're always going to get what we want." She pauses and goes on "Some advice from an experienced spy and soldier for you. Not that you asked at all." She purses her lips and raises a brow. "You don't ask for much I've noticed."
Out of the corner of her eyes Laura watches Maria… she doesn't get the answer she had been expecting. Maria did seem a little detached sometimes from the others. Perhaps it was just a part of being in charge, of keeping people at arm's length. Or maybe Maria just has trouble connecting with certain types of people.
Laura looks down a little, her eyes closing partially as she speaks softly
"Sometimes you can do everything right, everything perfectly and still lose. That's life." she parrots words she had heard many years ago from the only person she thought loved her.
A little smile alights her face as she shrugs, still not looking directly towards Maria.
"Until three years ago, I thought children growing up in cages and being sent on assassination missions was normal. I think I was six when I stopped asking for things, knowing I would just get punished." Now she looks in Maria's direction, seeming not able to look her directly in the eyes.
"People are…kind… here. But may-b-- nonono" her voice trails off, and she there is sudden panic in her eyes.
Laura takes a step back and draws the pistol at her hip and in the blink of the eye puts it under her own chin. She pulls the trigger about 5 times… each time the now empty gun just clicks. She spent the whole of the magazine on those targets. The hand holding the gun then lowers slowly, and her gaze snaps towards Maria. But the woman would now see Laura's eyes are… different… bloodshot red, almost to the point they look like they could glow crimson. She grits her teeth and raises the pistol, aiming it at Maria. She pulls the trigger quickly, but again a click. As if she had forgotten it was empty. Angered, she throws the gun aside.
"hhhhrrrrrrrrr" She growls as her claws snap out of the back of her hands, and she charges towards Maria. Her hand shoots directly for Maria's neck, intending to impale her.
Maria smiles when Laura repeats her advice in different words, and smiles a little more to see the girl actually crack a smile instead of remaining stoic, or going right into a snarl. She thinks she's finally getting to Laura, to the heart of who she is underneath all the brooding….until things take a sudden turn and she is faced with another side of Laura she hasn't really seen before. At first she dodges to the right to hopefully avoid bullets that don't come, but she stands still as she watches Laura try in vain to shoot at her. She rises from her crouch, not scared in the least despite being 'shot' at but concerned for a moment. It wasn't just Laura's red eyes that were different, it was the loss of what humanity she's seen in them now and then, the lethal intelligence. The intelligence was suddenly gone and Laura was, for now, an animal. An animal that nearly rips out her throat.
The older woman saves her neck by grabbing that hand aimed at her neck by the wrist, and in a seemingly whip-like movement kicks Laura in the chin, hard, hoping it would knock her out as she holds the berserker by the wrist in a steely grip.
With a snarl Laura is caught, her head snapping back as she is kicked. Maria would feel and hear bone cracking as part of Laura's jaw is actually fractured. And then a moment later snaps itself back into place. Her gaze is now fixated on Maria, her eyes wide and blank. In fact, that is a good description of the whole of her consciousness at this moment. Just blank, as if her mind were locked away and replaced by this killing machine. A honed blade forged through years of torture and training, of forced servitude and lack of humanity given to her.
Laura leans away from Maria just a little, allowing her wrist to still be held. She widens her stance and sends a kick towards Maria's knee, a blade suddenly emerging from her foot as she moves.
The kick is too quick for her to avoid. Maria yells out in pain as her kneecap is pierced like paper by the adamantium footclaw. The leg that had kicked Laura in the jaw snaps down to catch her before she falls. Her grip on Laura's wrist gives out as she extracts her injured leg and stumbles back away a couple feet. If Laura were in her right mind, she would be surprised, maybe even aghast to watch as in seconds Maria Hill….is suddenly not Maria Hill. The change starts at her injured leg as the cells rearrange and even heal the wound to be good as new. The cells ripple like water up through the rest of her body leaving the skin a dark blue in its wake, the 'clothes' she'd been wearing even disappear until Laura beholds a blue female form with red hair.
The woman who has been masquerading as Maria Hill looks into Laura's furious red eyes with her own cold reptilian yellow eyes a moment before leaping up and forward into the air to seize Laura's head between her thighs, hands out to catch Laura's hands as they lash out. The momentum brings Laura falling onto her back. With a powerful twist, the being snaps Laura's neck. And the moment she feels the normally life-ending injury heal, she twists the other direction to break it again. And again, and again, back and forth, all the while the unknown blue and apparently nude woman looks down at Laura not with malice, but pity as she keeps breaking her neck to try and subdue the girl before things got really out of hand.
The fact Maria's body seems to be suddenly shifting and changing is lost upon Laura. She doesn't seem to even notice it. All she sees before her is something that is breathing, and has to be ended. She feels the blade slice into that changing body, and she immediately draws her foot back. For only the briefest of moments they are separated, Maria releasing Laura. But before she can react, this Maria is suddenly upon her. With a soft grunt she lands on her back, and her hands do move to carve up the blue woman now upon her. But those hands are forced down as she snarls viciously up towards the woman.
Laura starts to push herself up again, but instead lets out a little stifled yelp accompanying the sickening snap of her neck. Reddened eyes roll to the back of her head as she slumps down, her breathing actually stopping for a moment. It takes only a few seconds for her body's amplified healing power to begin to mend those bones once more. Only to have the same region of her skeleton to be broken once more. And again.
But at this point… Laura isn't acting in any conscious sense. She's in there somewhere, but tucked away and safe. Hidden from herself. The thing currently being killed over and over is on another level, and acts on instinct. Instinct born of the same cruel circumstances that formed the basis of the whole of Laura's being. The thing that draws on instinct and merciless training. And part of that training… and punishment sometimes… was her neck being snapped like a twig by her Handler. Sometimes to the delight of said Handler. So her body knows what its options are. Around the 4th crack of bone, there is a pause. As before. But before her neck starts to mend, out of nowhere her knees shoot up towards her own chest. And towards the upper back of the blue woman. Not enough to knock her off or send her flying of course… but enough to allow her to loosen her hold on Laura's hands. All she needs is the slightest of slack, and she would be able to slip free like an eel right out of the grip.
Those yellow eyes snap wide open at the moment Laura's knees hit the blue woman in the upper back, and as intended her hands loosen as she feels a lightning bolt of pain shoot through her spine. In that moment the woman knows she has only one option: keep holding her until the others can intervene. So even as Laura stabs her and she screams in agony, the woman keeps her grip on Laura's neck with her thighs, and when both claws are sunk in she holds them there by the wrists while looking down at Laura again.
"Laura….you are not...a weapon." The woman says in a strained otherworldly voice. "Snap. Out. Of.This." She urges Laura as blood seeps from her mouth. Her body ripples repeatedly as she wills it to keep healing around the claws, redirecting her blood vessels and arteries.
