Seeing who had entered, Coulson tactfully moved aside. He could not afford to provoke this woman, especially when she appeared to be in a bad mood.
The woman wore a blue combat uniform, her black hair pinned up behind her head. Her expression was cold and resolute. She was Nick Fury's right-hand woman, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Level 9 Agent Maria Hill, and one of the women in S.H.I.E.L.D. least worth provoking.
Coulson guessed that Nick Fury had assigned Hill to negotiate something with the military, but judging by her appearance, the negotiations had not gone very well.
"Sir, perhaps I should step out first." Considering that Hill was a Level 9 Agent while he was only Level 7, Coulson felt it would be best to excuse himself. What they were about to discuss might exceed his clearance level.
Unexpectedly, Nick Fury said, "No need. This is exactly what I was about to discuss with you." With his hands in his pockets, he walked out from behind his desk. "Early this morning, an unidentified team of twenty-five infiltrated a special warehouse and engaged four companies of soldiers stationed there in a fierce head-on firefight."
"Guess how long they held out?" Nick Fury asked as he walked up to Coulson.
Coulson was initially stunned by the news. This was the United States, and if he remembered correctly, there should have been a US Army division around that special warehouse. A little over twenty men had dared to break in. After being discovered, not only had they not fled, they had actually dared to fight head-on. Who the hell was that reckless?
By Coulson's reckoning, those twenty-odd men should have been wiped out instantly. The disparity in strength was simply too great. Even if US Army troops on home soil were less capable than combat