Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, or anything in the Marvel Universe, I do, however, own my characters and, well, anything you don't recognise ;3

SKIES

chapter one: muffins

"Director Fury, sir, there's been a breach in our database security. It's pretty serious actually, it looks like they can access basically everyth-"

"Can you trace it?"

"Uh, yeah, they're in North Carolina, in Raleigh – but it looks like that whoever's behind this is doing it from their apartment."

35 minutes. That was her estimate. Just 35 minutes and then operatives from S.H.I.E.L.D would arrive on her doorstep.

Surprisingly, though this thought would usually strike some fear into most people, it just brought excitement and mild apprehension to a small woman - four foot and eight inches – in the capital state of North Carolina.

The petite girl was sitting at her laptop, tapping away at the keys quickly as she flitted through the secret agency's files with both speed and precision. If she was correct – which she typically was – then there would be a small response unit coming her way in under an hour. A satisfied smile pulled up the corners of her lips and she placed her laptop to her side on the sofa, not bothering to close the innumerable amounts of windows up on her laptop – she had nothing to hide now – and stood up assessing her living room.

For someone who felt the need to tidy and straighten most items around her, the place was from an outside view a disastrously cluttered dump. From her view, it was a little haven with artfully positioned objects of where she knew the place of all of them. There was barely any remaining floor space which hadn't been taken up by gadgets, maps, unsteady piles of books, pieces of paper, scattered stationary, a passenger bag, wires, the occasional broken down printer or dilapidated computer and the what seemed like the only three fixed objects in the room: the sofa, the chest of drawers and the coffee table.

Now, she realised that this would probably not make a great first impression, but she liked how her room was. Deciding that it didn't matter she walked into the kitchen through the open-plan archway which separated the living room from it. She'd moved to this apartment for one reason: it was cheap. Just three rooms, two of which were adjoined. After all, all she need was a kitchen, a small bathroom and what the estate agent had advertised as a 'living space'. True, she knew that prolonged sleeping on a sofa may cause back problems, but she was small enough not to have her feet dangle off the ends.

In the kitchen she took a plate from her cupboards and placed it on the counter, pausing to run her tongue over lips in thought before smiling widely and rushing over to the breadbin beside the fridge. Pulling out a packet of blueberry muffins, she ripped the cellophane packaging off them and placed all six of them on the plate. Might as well be a respectable host.

Thinking about being respectable she darted into the bathroom to prune herself in front of the mirror. She was wearing faded skinny jeans and a scoop-neck white t-shirt with pale blue sleeves. That'd do. Most likely she would be judged for both her height and age, so she might as well go casual. Focusing on her dark chestnut waves which fell to past her shoulders, she tugged a brush through them, scowling at the tangles as she did so. The ends of her hair always curled up, and each of those loops liked to entwine with the others. Once upon a time she used to sit petulantly through her mother straightening her hair, but now she just let it take its own cause. She'd never been one for trying to look 'pretty', though apparently her mother wanted the kind of daughter who she could dress up and treat as a doll. And apparently her mother just wanted a girly child, just wanted a sweet little angel, and just wanted a normal daughter.

Aware that her thoughts were taking a bitter turn – as they always did when they turned to her parents – she put down the brush and quickly left the bathroom. Striding over to the plate of muffins, she brought them over to her coffee table. Checking her watch and seeing that she had about 10 minutes left, she sat back down on the sofa and decided to pass the time by playing tetris in her head. It was a simple exercise which she did – picturing a twelve by thirty grid and various different blocks at a random order. She liked the way she could order them anyway she wanted; for it was her head and the game could take any direction she wished.

She'd just finished placing a block in the corner when she heard the soft click of her lock, hurriedly bringing up more blocks in her mind the complete all the remaining rows in her head – she couldn't cope with the idea of an unfinished game – she let her sky blue eyes flash open and grabbed the plate of muffins as she picked up on the sound of quiet footsteps which had been muffled by years of experience.

"Muffin, anyone?" She asked flippantly, standing up and turning around with the plate in her hands and a broad smile on her face.

The girl was facing three agents, each looking at her with a not so carefully hidden expression of surprise. She guessed that there were probably many factors for their shock and so it would leave her a good few moments to assess the intruders to her apartment.

Her eyes scanned them over as she factored in the handheld guns in each of their right hands (they must be all right handed) and the concealed knives strapped to only two of the agents ankles – the one at the front had their knife on the belt at their hips, instead opting for a small, pocket-sized gun at their ankle instead. They all wore sharp suits except for the ginger haired woman at the front, who wore a cat suit. Definitely a person who was in the spying industry. All of them obviously worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, though the one at the back right seemed to be in a slightly more forced and stiff position whereas the others were comfortable and had easily slipped into threatening stances. He must be a new recruit. Interesting.

Clearly all of them had not expected to see her, or her shambles of an apartment. Perhaps they were looking for some dark criminal mastermind, possibly with a snow white cat on their lap and greeting them with the classic 'I've been expecting you'. Most likely they were looking for someone who was an obvious threat, someone who had weaponry and bodyguards (judging by what they were wearing and holding they clearly expected a fight), someone who was mysterious and probably someone was taller than five foot.

They definitely weren't expecting a chirpy 18 year old with a plate of muffins and little pineapples on her socks. But the evidence that she was who they were looking for was clear: her laptop could be seen as it perched on the sofa's arm rest, the screen facing them and holding the mighty secrets which the government tried to protect so fiercely.

The silence following her question had lasted several minutes and she was now getting mildly irritated and even a little bored. The whole point of this was for something exciting, not to just be in a silent stand-off.

"Look, do you want a muffin or not?" She huffed, putting her spare hand on her hip and looking at them with expectant raised eyebrows.

"Uh," The woman began, then shook her head as she looked at the girl disbelievingly, "No. I don't-"

"Shame that, but please, come in." She welcomed them warmly, gesturing with her arm for them to stop hanging around the doorway and come into her home. Turning around, feeling comfortable despite the fact that she had her back to the people who were pointing guns at her, she placed the plate back on the coffee table.

Grabbing a muffin she turned back to them to see that the men had their guns slightly lowered, though the woman was still wary. Sighing, she took a large bite of her muffin and eyed them speculatively as she chewed. Swallowing, she stepped around the sofa, rolling her eyes as they all immediately tensed. The girl held out her hand for the woman at the front to shake.

"Sabrina Arnold, nice to meet you."

Well there you go, first chapter done. This is going to follow the Avengers plotline, and then we'll see what happens after that. But anyway, what do you guys think? A review would be lovely, but if you don't have time that's fine. Anyways, umm, happy reading!