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TITLE: Below Her Payscale
SUMMARY: Duty above ego. Steve can respect that.
RATING: PG
WARNINGS: None
CATEGORY: Vignette, pre-friendship?
NOTES: Began life as a snippet of a longer Steve/Maria fic, but is just interaction right now. Doesn't really have a home anywhere, but does a little bit to explain why Maria's dealing with the Avengers. For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
avengers100 drabble Prompt #1 "Beginnings".
Below Her Payscale
This time when Steve arrives on the helicarrier, his escort is a woman with cool grey eyes that colour blue against the reflected sky. He dredges her from memory – Lieutenant Hill. Phil Coulson called her 'Maria' with a note of pride and what Steve now thinks might have been affection.
It hurts to think of Coulson – serious and earnest, with an awkwardness at odds with the respect he received from the rest of SHIELD.
There's none of that tentative reaching out here. Lieutenant Hill gives him a brief nod of the head, no handshake.
"Captain Rogers."
"Lieutenant. Thanks for coming out to meet me."
"I'll be taking you through your induction to SHIELD," she says without preamble, her voice low and throaty. "Since we're not listing you as an agent proper, you won't be doing the basic training for new recruits."
A little surprised by the lack of small talk, Steve asks the first question that comes to him. "What am I being listed as, then?"
"SHIELD Special Consultant. You'll be taking courses in modern warfare since things have materially changed since your time, and there'll be some training with current SHIELD Ops teams. Any questions?"
Steve considers not asking, but he is curious. She doesn't seem like a woman who suffers fools – gladly or otherwise. "Isn't this all a bit below your pay scale?"
"Yes." When he waits for more, she makes a noise like a sigh. "I can grumble about tasks that are beneath my dignity and my payscale, Captain, or I can get the job done."
And she chooses to do the job. Steve respects that – the concept of doing one's duty above ego doesn't seem all that popular these days.
"You know," she says as they enter the antechamber, "You'd have been below Coulson's payscale, too."
--
SUMMARY: Duty above ego. Steve can respect that.
RATING: PG
WARNINGS: None
CATEGORY: Vignette, pre-friendship?
NOTES: Began life as a snippet of a longer Steve/Maria fic, but is just interaction right now. Doesn't really have a home anywhere, but does a little bit to explain why Maria's dealing with the Avengers. For the
avengers100 drabble Prompt #1 "Beginnings".Below Her Payscale
This time when Steve arrives on the helicarrier, his escort is a woman with cool grey eyes that colour blue against the reflected sky. He dredges her from memory – Lieutenant Hill. Phil Coulson called her 'Maria' with a note of pride and what Steve now thinks might have been affection.
It hurts to think of Coulson – serious and earnest, with an awkwardness at odds with the respect he received from the rest of SHIELD.
There's none of that tentative reaching out here. Lieutenant Hill gives him a brief nod of the head, no handshake.
"Captain Rogers."
"Lieutenant. Thanks for coming out to meet me."
"I'll be taking you through your induction to SHIELD," she says without preamble, her voice low and throaty. "Since we're not listing you as an agent proper, you won't be doing the basic training for new recruits."
A little surprised by the lack of small talk, Steve asks the first question that comes to him. "What am I being listed as, then?"
"SHIELD Special Consultant. You'll be taking courses in modern warfare since things have materially changed since your time, and there'll be some training with current SHIELD Ops teams. Any questions?"
Steve considers not asking, but he is curious. She doesn't seem like a woman who suffers fools – gladly or otherwise. "Isn't this all a bit below your pay scale?"
"Yes." When he waits for more, she makes a noise like a sigh. "I can grumble about tasks that are beneath my dignity and my payscale, Captain, or I can get the job done."
And she chooses to do the job. Steve respects that – the concept of doing one's duty above ego doesn't seem all that popular these days.
"You know," she says as they enter the antechamber, "You'd have been below Coulson's payscale, too."
--
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