A girl's eyes fluttered open to a bright light. She squinted, twisting her neck so it clicked into a comfortable position. Once her eyes had focused, she propped herself up on her elbows, looking around at a bare, white room which was starved of any furniture, with the exception of the plain bed that she was lying on.

'Where am I?' She though to herself, brushing her blonde hair out of her face and sitting up properly.

She looked down at her hands for a moment, inspecting them curiously, 'Who am I?'

She couldn't remember those hands. Their size, her skin colour, it was as if she was seeing herself for the first time. She couldn't remember anything apart from the last two minutes since she had woken up.

"Wait," she thought, "there was a fight." She remembered a group of people, a man, a shimmering set of blue eyes. They were fighting off...an army? She searched her skin for any cuts and bruises but found nothing. She was wearing a hospital gown, giving her no sense of identity or any idea of who she was. She got up, now frantic and in a state of panic, "Who am I?" She whispered to herself this time, her head snapping up towards the door as a group of five men walked in.

They were dressed in suits, looking sternly towards her. As if it were a reflex, a chain reaction, a surge of energy flew out of the girl's hands. The men yelled as they were thrown back into the walls of the white room and sank to the floor. Her breathing quickened and she looked down at her hands in horror. The men's shouts had caused more agents to enter the room.

The girl trembled, holding her hands up and staggering away from them, an orb of energy forming around her and pushing the new regiment of suits away from her.

"What am I doing?" She quivered as the agents weakly pulled themselves off the ground.

A man got to his feet, walking towards her with his hands up. He had a sympathetic and wary expression on his face, telling her that he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Don't come any closer," She yelled, her hands in balled up fists at her sides. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and she had no idea what she was capable of. What was she?

"Get me Fury," The man spoke into his comms unit, not breaking eye contact with the powered girl for a second. She staggered backwards, pressing her back against the wall and sliding to sit on the floor. She shut her ocean-blue eyes and a single tear creeped out of the corner of one, her heavy head tilting back against the wall.

/

When the girl awoke she was back in the bed but was seemingly alone. She felt a presence in the corner of the room and her eyes shifted to look at a man who was leaning on the wall by the door. One of his chocolate brown eyes was covered by a black eyepatch.

"Morning," His voice filled the room and, though he had only said one word, the girl could tell that he was authoritative. He shifted his weight, standing up and walking towards her as she quickly sat up.

"I don't remember anything," Her voice was filled with worry and alarm. She didn't know what to tell this man. She didn't have anything to tell him.

"Our medical team," he began, sitting on the edge of her bed, "has concluded that you have retrograde amnesia." He said solemnly, "that means that-"

"I have permanent memory loss," She finished for him, realising what that meant as she said it. She had to start again, alone. He looked surprised, impressed even. Did this girl have a medical degree or something? "Why? Where am I?" She asked urgently, her eyes flicking about warily.

"You are at a S.H.I.E.L.D facility until we know if we can shift the block on your memory…and the full extent of your powers," He said slowly.

"What's S.H.I.E.L.D?" She asked, her eyebrows creased.

He nodded, "We protect people. The world."

"From people like me?" She asked in a small voice, her fingers curling subconsciously.

"You are in a fragile state," He ignored her question, "we couldn't just drop you off at home because we don't know where that is." He paused as she held her head in her hands for a moment, "And I'm pretty sure you don't either."

"So you're just going to keep me locked up in here until you figure out if I'm useful or not? Because I don't really think that that is going to work out for everyone," She sighed, looking at the ground as she pulled her knees towards her body.

He sighed too and she looked back up at him, "You got a name?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She looked away from him for a moment, racking her brain for anything. Her name was her identity and she hoped that it hadn't been torn from her like everything else had. When she didn't say anything, he looked down at the ground. "Gratia." She said the word clearly and his head snapped up to look at her once more.

"Do you speak Latin, Gratia?" He asked, half of his lips curling into a smile.

Her eyebrows fused together, "I...I don't know."

"Gratia is a latin word…for Grace." He smiled at her. A twinkle entered her eyes and she smiled for the first time that she could remember. Grace. That was her name. It fitted her, it felt right.

"Grace." she repeated, "I-I recognise it…" She glanced up at him, "What about you?" She asked, "Authority figure, black eyepatch. I'd say there is a story there. What is it? Captain..?" She joked, earning a smile from the serious man.

"Nick Fury," he extended his hand to her, "Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

She nodded, smiling approvingly as she shook his hand, "I hope you aren't going to dissect me Nick Fury." She laughed slightly, shaking her head as she retracted her hand.

"Oh, no. I don't think so," He smiled before his expression went more serious, "I give you my word that no harm will come to you." He stood up, walking towards the door, "We won't hurt you...if you don't hurt us." He said, not turning around as the door opened and he strode away. Sitting in the bare room, Grace had a moment to catch her breath and recount what she knew. She was being held by SHIELD. Nick Fury had given her his word that they weren't going to hurt her. Her name was Grace. She didn't know who she was, what she could be, what these powers were, but maybe being with SHIELD meant she'd be safe at least. She hoped from the bottom of her heart that that was true.

/

"Gratia," Coulson smiled as she watched the video feed of the girl's room, he looked up at Fury as he entered the control room, "Not a bad hero name, just saying Sir."

The Director scoffed, "I don't think we are looking for any new recruits for the Avengers at the moment. We don't want to rile them up." He strode over to the series of screen tapping on various icons.

"We're already recalled them to Stark tower after the media aftermath of New York. They know she exists, we shouldn't keep them in the dark anymore." Coulson reasoned. He had seen the terror in Grace's eyes. He wanted her to have people that she could relate to, people to trust so she didn't have no one in her life, as she currently did.

"We have more pressing matters than the Avengers right now," He clicked on his screen and the video feed from earlier popped up, showing Grace throw back several agents whilst barely moving a muscle. That worried him, "She is powerful, God knows what she is capable of." He sighed.

"She doesn't seem dangerous," Coulson thought out loud.

Fury scoffed, "Don't speak too soon, Coulson. We can never be sure." He turned back to his screen.