Keeping her head down, Kate tugged the brim of her baseball cap lower over her eyes and quickly shuffled through the crowd of her exiting classmates. She pulled her knapsack higher on her shoulders before pushing her way through the cavernous hall to the bustling street. With eyes set on her chucks, she followed the familiar path home, eager to get away from the onslaught of scents around herself. As an unmated Alpha, she felt her sense of smell was getting more sensitive by the day; maybe it was evolution's way of saying 'get pregnant already.'

To that she slammed her front door closed and muttered "Fuck evolution," with a sigh of relief.

She flung her bag and cap to the floor, flattening her flaxen locks. With her first step, and intake of air, every hair stood up on the back of her neck. Someone else was in her apartment. She was relieved it wasn't an Alpha, but instead a Beta, but still felt unease and fear. Alpha or not, they were an intruder. Kate quietly opened her front closet and carefully grabbed the bat hidden within it. Kate was not the confrontational sort, nor did she have any sort of experience in fighting, but she felt the need to protect herself. She followed the scent silently, making sure to slowly put wait on her toes as she approached the living room's entry way. Mustering all her courage, she took a deep breath before quickly jumping into the living room.

"What do you want?" She shouted, in a batter's position, ready to take a swing at the intruder. However, there was no intruder to be seen. Her stance straightened and confusion covered her features, nothing was out of place, save an unknown suit jacket laying cross her couch reeking of the unknown Beta's scent. Her eyes went wide, there was most definitely an intruder in her home.

A flush and the running sink from the bathroom behind her caused Kate to jump, and quickly ready herself to take a swing at whoever would come out that door.

When the sink stopped, Kate quickly readied herself, "Come on, you can do this. You can take him," the bat shaking in her quivering hands exposed her true feelings towards the situation at hand.

The door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with thinning hair in a white button down and tie. He raised his eyes to the Alpha woman standing before him. She was standing defensively, as if she were ready to strike, yet her eyes betrayed her, exposing her fear. "You're going to hit me with that?" He questioned, leaving space between them just in case she decided she did in fact have the courage to do so.

She looked hesitant, as if she were truly asking herself if she really wanted to fight this stranger. "What are you doing in my home?"

The man took her lack of attack as a 'no' and smiled. "Allow me to introduce myself," he approached her with his hand extended, "My name is Phil Coulson, and I'm the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." The look of confusion on Kate's face caused him to drop his hand and continue, "It stands for s-"

She shook her head at him, lessening her defensive stance a bit, "I know what it stand for. I also know it no longer exists."

"To the public eye, yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been disbanded. However, between you and me, S.H.I.E.L.D. has just been taken underground."

She was skeptical. "Why are you here then?"

He shrugged, "The world needs your help." Chills went down her spine, her grip on the baseball now tightening and her stance becoming more rigid. "Or more specifically, Nick Fury needs your help."

"Now I know you're lying. Nick Fury is dead."

"Another thing you and I now know to not be true."

He seemed honest, but he broke into her home so she wasn't quick to trust him. "I want you out of my home, now."

"I'm sorry, Miss Eldridge, but I cannot leave until you agree to cooperate." He passed her, grabbing his jacket and pulling it back on.

She scoffed at the man's audacity, "You clearly believe you are above the law. You break into my home and expect me to go with you? No, no way."

"This is above you or me, Miss Eldridge. This is about saving the world, and we need your help to do that."

Her stance fell again, the bat hanging near her feet, "I don't know why you came to me to help you save the world, but I can assure you, you've got the wrong girl."

A smirk lifted Coulson's face, "I do in fact have the right person. You could save the world, Miss Eldridge."

"No I cannot. I'm a normal girl!"

The smirk widened at her feeble lie, "Now you and I both know that's not true."