So... hello. The story of this fanfic is pretty simple, it takes place after the Avengers and doesn't take the same path that Thor: The Dark World takes. But I hope you enjoy!

As always, let me know what you think, comment, favourite, you know what to do :)

His face was haunted. Something broken behind the mask. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was the cause of his actions. His eyes pierced me. Reaching the outer limits of my heart, where my true person lay. But I knew it would be harder to reach even the outer limits of his heart. And that was my job. I only knew as much that he had a heart. I could see the small glimpse of surprise that played in his eyes when I walked in the room. Our eyes on each other. Sizing one another up. This would be hard. That much I had been told. But something told me it wouldn't be as hard as predicted. Something tugging at the edges of my closed heart. Something that tickled my mind. But then again... I wasn't sure if that was him playing his mind games on me, just like he did with anyone else. But they said I was different. And that would be the driving force, the reason for success further down the line. A line that would long and trying. I knew my place, my reason for being here, so I sat down on the chair placed in front of him. I took a deep breath as he kept his eyes on me, a strong unrelenting gaze. But somehow it didn't faze me. I could see the pain behind the eyes.

And with that,

I begun.

Everything was in shambles. My apartment was a mess I had never seen before. Pots and pans littering the kitchen floor, cupboards flung open with force, furniture pushed this way and that. A cold wind echoed into my apartment from the large hole gaping in the side of my apartment wall. The street below in more shambles than my humble dwellings. And then I remembered how lucky I was. I'm alive. That's the most important thing. I took another look at my near destroyed apartment, knowing I needed sufficient cleaning supplies to even attempt such a clean up, I closed the front door behind me, grabbing my bag on the way out. Locking my apartment door didn't seem to alleviate the worry lingering on my mind about securing my apartment... considering theres a giant hole in my wall leading to the street. The only comfort I could find in this fact was that at least my apartment was three stories off the ground... And everything had basically already been trashed anyway.

When I came to the foot of the last flight of stairs, I climbed through the entry, where the door hung off its hinges, the glass smashed and jutting out in many dangerous directions. As I walked down the street, through the masses of rubble, and unfortunately...dead bodies, both human and alien, I wondered how many of my neighbours had died today. My thoughts however were stopped when I had to right myself as I stumbled over a lone hand. I looked at the culprit, and knew immediately it was human. It wasn't a friendly. I followed the trail of bright green blood that had poured out of the disembodied hand, the alien body not far away. I looked at it for a while. Its skin, eyes and facial structure was almost completely different, with only a few similarities. It was fascinating to look at the creature. Somewhere in a distant galaxy, his kind lived on a planet... I contemplated the beauty of such a thought on my way to the supermarket a block down. When I arrived, I wasn't surprised to find Louis sweeping his debris filled floor. He looked up, and his worn and weathered face relaxed with ease, a smile forming.

"Thank God." His voice was full of relief. I gave him a warm hug as he rested his broom on a knocked over shelving unit. Canned food and cartons were toppled over everywhere, things leaking and beginning to stink.

"Do you need a hand cleaning up?" I asked, Louis, with his greying beard and balding head shook his head.

"No sweetheart, I can manage. I'm sure you've got your own cleaning to do huh?" I nodded.

"I actually came to pick up a few things." I said as I moved around the shop, stepping over spoiled food, grabbing the only cleaning products I could find.

"And to think I was going to cancel my order of multi purpose cleaner last week... It'll sell out now." Louis chuckled.

"Sure will Lou! I gave him a wad of cash and smiled goodbye.

"Thanks Sam! And be safe!" Lou shouted after me, I waved in acknowledgment and headed back to my apartment.

The next few days I spent cleaning. Re-positioning furniture, returning pots and pans, unbroken or only chipped plates and mugs back into their chosen spots in the kitchen. But every night I would stand in front of that hole. I was low on money. Trying to make it as a writer is hard. I always knew that going into it. I didn't have the money to fix a massive hole in my apartment wall. So for the time being I had put up a large blanket to cover it. But I dreaded when it would rain. I hand't even called my insurance company, knowing it would be completely inundated with calls from everyone else in New York City. But the morning when it did decide to rain, in fact pour, I knew it was time to do something about the hole in the wall, at least, a little more than the blanket covering it. I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. My apartment was still a mess, parts of the floorboards near the hole had been ripped up, shards of wood everywhere. I guessed my vacuum cleaner had been taken during the invasion as I had searched everywhere and couldn't find it, to vacuum my floor. I had managed to tidy the place to a reasonable standard for a trashed apartment thanks to a bunch of aliens, but I knew it would take time for everything in this city to get back to normal.

I took two buses to get to the hardware store. I picked up a few bits of wood, nails and a nice big hammer. I knew it wasn't a completely water tight solution, but it would do until I had some money to pay someone to actually fix it. And I knew the basics of handy-work. Watching my father as a builder might have helped in that field. After climbing off the bus, I walked up the many flights of stairs to get to my apartment. Opening the door, I set the wood down against the wall. I put my bag on the chest of drawers next to the door and turned around, where I froze.

It took me a moment to process what I was meant to do in this situation. But my mind eventually clicked and I reached into my bag for my pepper spray. I aimed it at the man. As I did, he lifted his hand as if to tell me to stop. He reached out a badge and I lowered my pepper spray.

"Samantha Riverswood?" I nodded. "My name is Agent Coulson. I am with shield. I'm here to talk to you about something, very important."

"...Ok." I stood stock still, not entirely sure of what to do.

"Oh, and you will be pleased to know theres no need for that." Coulson gestured to my other hand. I noticed I was still holding onto the hammer I had just bought. "We fixed it for you." He smiled at me as I looked for the large gaping hole in my apartment. He wasn't lying, somehow my wall was fixed, as if there had never been a hole there in the first place.

"How did you-" I began.

"I'm sorry to be so blunt Miss Riverswood, but I'm on a tight schedule."

"Ok then, fine. You can tell me why you're here. But before you do... what is shield?" And then I saw a slight glimpse of exhaustion cross Coulson's face. He sighed, sat down on my couch and began to speak.

"Well..."