<br/><div class="floatleft">(http://www.esquire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Avengers.jpg)</div><br/><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Name:</strong> Maria Hill<br/><strong>Title:</strong> Director of S.H.E.I.L.D. <br/><strong>Location:</strong> Higher Offices of the Helicarrier<br/><strong>Time:</strong> 5:10 PM EST<br/><strong>Tags:</strong> No one</span></span><br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>Her Saliva got thick, it tasted like lemon. She was hardly frightened of Loki. She was hardly frightened of anything. She took in the view a few moments longer, hoping that Tony would repeat himself. He didn’t. The tart expression on her face was directly in front of her, the blosoming shape of her smile only made her more pleased with herself. She didn't completely understand why this had felt like such an absolute domination. But, consciously, she knew it was because it proved how poorly the 'Avengers' had handled the situation, how bad of a leader Fury was, how wrong Tony was about Fury, and how wrong Tony was about her. The beauty of the moment had a good hold of her still.<br/><br/>All but losing herself in the mirror image of a goddess; Maria could see the challenge now, the freedom of action sounded like a violin in her heart. It all came together for her as well. The council must have known that this was going to happen, ‘how?’<br/><br/>That bothered her. She lived in a very logical state. The way that those faceless, shadowed, and haunted men seemed to know what would happen before it came to pass, there was no explanation. But, Fury had done nothing wrong until this, not really. She had replaced him before Stark knew. ‘And, Stark knows everything.’<br/><br/>It didn’t matter.<br/><br/>She had won this round, and she was savoring the moment of purity. It was before she had spoken, and twisted the victory. It was before Tony had the pleasure of a rebuttal, or even before he could see her face.<br/><br/>She wanted to drop her robe to the ground, just to see if she could seduce him with nothing but power.<br/><br/><strong>“Loki has escaped.” </strong>She repeated Mr. Stark to further prolong the agony that he must have been feeling. Maria turned around suddenly, but without speed, and started a slow walk towards Stark, her trajectory was off, though. It looked like she had forgotten that he was there as well.<strong>“Then I’d imagine that he’s also returned to this planet, then.” </strong>Maria didn’t believe in the tree of life, and thirteen different dimensions, it was all just life, biology, planets, astronomy, science, accident. Hill stopped in her tracks just to her adversary’s right and finally took a moment to look Tony in the face.<br/><br/>She studied his eyes.<strong> “Yes,”</strong>she concluded, her lip twitching to the left a bit<strong>“He’s on Earth again.” </strong>Her smiled turned into a feigned frown and she nodded her head with exasperation and apathy. Tony Stark was of the past. She had too many ideas to spend any more time in this room with this man, damn the way that she was dressed. Loki was free, and the time to act was now.<br/><br/>She wanted to ask if she knew where he was at, where he had come from, how he had escaped, what he was after, where had he been spotted, and who originally found out the news; among other questions. But she could find it out on her own. If she even had the chance. It felt like Tony was in a hurry, so she wanted to beat him to the punch. The councilors had told her to control these men, and rally them around the banner of SHIELD, the banner of Earth. But she couldn't start with the Ironman. 'No,' she thought, 'Stark is a dessert...' her lips curled upward again, this smile was all for her.<br/><br/>Maria continued passed Tony, and she b-lined toward the door. Her steps were soundless as she carried herself across the room. Director Hill said nothing, and planned on allowing the door to slam in her stead.<br/>