“Ever heard the one where it’s not over ‘til it’s over?”
“We’re dead. We’ve been dead for maybe a year now. I think it’s pretty over.”
“Maybe not.” She looked at him. “Hela claims she knows where Thanos has gone.”
For a few seconds, there was silence. Then, her expression went alert, the colour of her eyes deepening as she looked at him. “You’ve known this for a while.”
“You’d have known earlier if you’d been awake.” He refused to feel guilty about it. “The Wakandans were planning to call you in, but you were sleeping, so they left you.”
“I see. And in exchange for telling us where Thanos has gone, she wants...?”
“She wants to go with us when we go up against Thanos.”
“If we do.”
Nick frowned. “Why wouldn’t we? We’ve got nothing to lose at this point – not even our lives. And if we got hold of the Infinity Gauntlet, we might just be able to change things around.”
“Is that what you’re planning? Find Thanos, get the Infinity Gauntlet off him, and revert everything back to the way it was?”
“You got a better idea?”
In the silence that followed, he watched her. Her struggle wasn’t obvious, but he’d been watching her for the last dozen years, and he knew how her mind worked. Pride wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when most people thought of Maria Hill, but it was the first thing Nick had noticed about her as a new recruit to S.H.I.E.L.D. Not pride in herself and what she could do, but pride in a job done well.
no subject
She shrugged. “Around the time we lost.”
“Ever heard the one where it’s not over ‘til it’s over?”
“We’re dead. We’ve been dead for maybe a year now. I think it’s pretty over.”
“Maybe not.” She looked at him. “Hela claims she knows where Thanos has gone.”
For a few seconds, there was silence. Then, her expression went alert, the colour of her eyes deepening as she looked at him. “You’ve known this for a while.”
“You’d have known earlier if you’d been awake.” He refused to feel guilty about it. “The Wakandans were planning to call you in, but you were sleeping, so they left you.”
“I see. And in exchange for telling us where Thanos has gone, she wants...?”
“She wants to go with us when we go up against Thanos.”
“If we do.”
Nick frowned. “Why wouldn’t we? We’ve got nothing to lose at this point – not even our lives. And if we got hold of the Infinity Gauntlet, we might just be able to change things around.”
“Is that what you’re planning? Find Thanos, get the Infinity Gauntlet off him, and revert everything back to the way it was?”
“You got a better idea?”
In the silence that followed, he watched her. Her struggle wasn’t obvious, but he’d been watching her for the last dozen years, and he knew how her mind worked. Pride wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when most people thought of Maria Hill, but it was the first thing Nick had noticed about her as a new recruit to S.H.I.E.L.D. Not pride in herself and what she could do, but pride in a job done well.
Losing the world wasn’t a job done well.
“No,” she said at last. “I don’t.”