Carren's POV

The apartment was cold when I woke up.

Very cold. I snuggled deeper into my blankets, struggling to cover my feet, but half of the bed clothes had fallen from the bed and the other half was tangled around my midsection, providing minimal warmth against the chill. My toes and fingers were numb.

I curled my hands into fists to attempt to keep them warmer, but to no avail.

Sighing in resignation I rose from the sheets, opening my eyes and blinking blearily against the early gray dawn of New York City.

The clock informed me that it was currently a few minutes after four. But that didn't stop the traffic. New York traffic stopped for no one. It could be one in the morning for all it cared. Even now at this ungodly hour I could hear the disjounted cacophony of car horns and revving of engines from down in the streets, punctuated by the occasional shout of someone hailing a taxi.

No point in trying to fall asleep again. I drifted from my room without bothering to rearrange the sheets and headed to the kitchen to heat up the stove to make tea.

Unlike 99% of the population of teenagers and young adults of the world, I was one of the few who preferred tea to coffee. I disliked the idea of filling my blood with something that I would crave constantly (surprising, I know). Caffeine was practically a drug to me, and I avoided it as such.

After the water boiled I poured it into a mug and dropped in a tea bag. Then I drank and stared out the window as the city slowly woke.

After only half an hour the sidewalk was soon choked with people- the businessmen in their dark suits holding their briefcases, the businesswomen in their muted-color skirts and jackets, the young girls in their colorful outfits and the young boys in their jeans that sagged way too low.

The phone rang. I ignored it.

It rang again. In the back of my mind where I wasn't annoyed, I admired the person's tenacity. It went to voicemail.

Again, it rand and this time I rose from my seat with an impatient sigh, heading over to where my land line was connected to the wall, hands still firmly clasped to my mug of tea. I didn't even bother to glance at the caller ID before putting it on speakerphone (in retrospect I know it wouldn't have mattered; the number was blocked).

"Hello?" I sipped my tea.

"Carren Paradizo."

I promptly hit the disconnect button and then made my way back to my seat, duly prepared to ignore it again if it chose to ring.

It did, but, unlike the other times, this time it answered itself, putting itself on speakerphone so I didn't have to inconvenience myself with getting up to do it. "Carren. Don't be difficult."

"Don't you know better?" I replied calmly. "How did you get my number?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"So I can prevent it from happening again when I change it." I tucked my feet up to my chest. "What do you want, Fury?"

"I've got a job for you."

"Not interested."

"Hear me out."

"What part of "not interested" do you not understand?"

"Carren, I need you to come in."

"You don't need me to do anything, Fury. You want me to come in, because currently I'm the most convenient person in your database of helpful specimens."

"Will you listen to what I have to say or not?"

I briefly debated saying no, to throw the word in his face and relish his reaction, but curiosity won out over malignancy. "You have two minutes. I'm starting the timer." Although I didn't budge from my seat.

"I need you as a supervisor." His voice was slightly rushed due to my nonexistent timer threat. "We have someone here at HQ-"

"Now I'm a babysitter?" I broke in distastefully.

"You didn't let me finish. Remember the attack on New York we had about a month or two ago?"

"I still have Chitauri blood on my carpet."

"...did you even try to evacuate?"

"I didn't feel any particular need, no. Why? Is that abnormal? Should I have tried to turn tail and run instead of beating the aliens to death with a baseball bat?"

There was a sigh over the line. "We have the leader of the attack in our custody."

"Congrats."

He ignored the sarcasm. "He's here to try to learn some remorse from the reign of terror- albeit brief reign of terror- he inflicted upon our city. Community service."

"What a load of drivel. You just want him to suffer the loss of defeat over and over again don't you, you sadist?"

"Hark, who's talking?" He coutnered, and I shrugged.

"Touché. Where do I come into this masterfully designed plan of slow revenge?"

"Well, recently this leader- Loki, his name is- has gotten a bit moody. Stark- Tony Stark, that is- is forcing him to help rebuild his tower-"

"What, that ugly building in the middle of New York that supposedly runs on clean energy and has his much-resented name plastered up at the top?"

"-and in the past week Loki has made more mistakes than he had in the first month. It's quite ridiculous. And he's becoming unbearable. Several people have been reassigned already."

"What makes you think I'll be any better?"

"Well, I just figured. No one can stand you. No one can stand him. Maybe you'll teach him to behave."

"Careful, Fury," I warned. "I was just starting to seriously consider your plea."

"Since when have I been pleading with you?"

"Frankly, it's obvious." I took another gulp of my tea. "You need me after all. Well, me and my abilities. You want me to figure out what's wrong with him."

"Get over yourself." Fury scoffed. "I only need you to come in because you won't beg to be reassigned within the first couple of hours. Maybe you'll get a week in before you crack just like the rest of them."

I flushed in anger. "Fury-"

"Are you coming in or not, Paradizo?"

I tried to reign in my emotions. Again, the little malicious part of me wanted to say no. It wanted to turn hi down and mock him. It wanted to hang up.

But again, curiosity won out.

"Fine. I'm coming in. But... goddamnit, screw you, Fury."

There was a click as the line went dead. I scowled and made a mental note to change my phone number... again.

Fury calmly removed the bluetooth from his ear and tossed it onto the glass table in front of him. Then he took a deep breath.

Maria frowned and removed a finger from her own bluetooth, from which she had been listening to the conversation. "Director Fury?"

"Yes, Hill?"

"Wasn't she right, though? Wasn't the whole point of having Paradizo come in was to have her tell us what Laufeyson's deal is?"

"You think I'm going to give her the satisfaction? I know how it is with her. You give that girl an armrest, she'll take the whole chair. Before you know it she's in the power seat. Manipulator. She'll find out on her own. And she'll tell us. Too curious for her own good."

"But isn't that good for us?"

"Yes. It is."

A letter- more like a note- came to me in the mail later that day. It read:

Dear Ms. Paradizo,

You have been requested to come to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters on behalf of Director Nick Fury for a supervision assignment. Please be ready early tomorrow morning to come in for your job. If you have any questions, please call using the number on the badge enclosed.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Maria Hill

With it was a badge. I sighed and turned it over