***OKAY I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T POSTED IT'S BEEN REALLY BUSY AND HARD WITH SCHOOL BUT I'M BACK***

I stared at the ceiling, trying to sleep and failing miserably. I sighed and rolled to my side, pondering tomorrow's mission. I wasn't worried per say, just anxious to know what SHIELD has on me. I got up and headed to the bathroom. Pulling open the mirror door, I grabbed a bottle of aspirin. Upon opening it, I shook a pink, very non-aspirin pill into my palm before swallowing it dry. I made my way back to bed and leaned back. The pill was harmless enough, a sleeping pill, but I wasn't allowed anything that SHIELD didn't subscribe to me. So Steve got me over the counter sleeping medicine for my nightmares after the battle. Within minutes, I was asleep.

Four hours later I was rudely awakened by an annoying beeping sound. My alarm clock. I smacked the alarm clock and it shut off abruptly. I opened one sleepy eye to see a bright red seven glaring back at me from the screen. I got up with a groan and showered and got dressed before heading to the SHIELD cafeteria for breakfast. I went to visit Pietro and Wanda, but Wanda was asleep and Pietro was having some tests being run on him so I went straight to the training room. Steve wasn't there yet so I changed and waited by one of the padded fighting rooms, wrapping my hands while keeping an eye out for Steve. He showed up a few minutes later.

"Hey. You're late." I handed Steve the wrap and he began winding it around his own fists.

"Yeah sorry, I wanted to walk Blue first." He placed his palm onto a glass panel before gesturing for me to do the same. I did and my picture, along with my security level flashed on the screen.

"Guess I can't blame you for taking care of the dog I made you take in." He laughed and we took our positions before beginning to fight. It was eleven thirty when we finally took a break, both breathing heavily, each wincing. While Steve had pulled his punches and I refrained from using the majority of my power, the fight had gotten a tad heated.

"So, you want to go grab something to eat? I'm starving." Steve wrapped a towel around his neck and tossed me a water bottle.

I gulped down water before replying, choosing my words carefully. "I don't think so. I was hoping to talk to Fury about SHIELD and better… understand who I'm working for. If I'm going to work for them."

Steve looked at me thoughtfully. "So you're going to agree to work with SHIELD? I think someone owes me money."

I laughed. "I don't know. I might; I need a job and SHIELD has dental. I just need to get some answers."

"Okay. Well, tell me about it after. Should be interesting."

I nodded and we went our separate ways; he went home and I hit the showers before hunting down Fury. I found him just outside his office, locking up before leaving.

"Ms. Baton. What a surprise."

"Director. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second. I have some questions about SHIELD and I need to get some answers." I began to walk with him, matching his pace.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Please? Over lunch?" I stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop.

Fury sighed, glanced at his watch, then back at me. "Fine, but not too long. I have a meeting to get to."

I smiled. "I ask only for your honesty." We went to the cafeteria, grabbed food and sat down at a table.

"So, Ms. Baton- what can I do for you?" Neither Fury nor I had touched the food.

"What is SHIELD?" I asked.

"We are an organization designed to help the world handle things it… cannot handle. We explain away the unexplainable, take care of the unknowns, or at least try and make sense of them. Why?" Fury seemed unruffled.

"You've been asking me to help you. I want to know exactly who I am helping and what they're motives are." I speared lettuce from my salad and waited for his response.

"Our motives are completely pure. The world is not ready for people like you and-"

"People like me? You mean freaks?" I shot at him.

"I mean people with inexplicable powers that others do not possess or understand. I mean people we can't explain." He looked at me curiously. "Why would you say freaks?"

I waved his question away and continued my interrogation. After several minutes of sparring over SHIELD and its motives, as well as my role in SHIELD, Fury stood up.

"This has been, as always, a joy, Ms. Baton, but I have a meeting to get to. I'm sure we will talk again soon."

"Thank you for your time, Director." I finished my drink and tossed my trash away before checking my watch. I had given Nat and Clint about half an hour. Hopefully that'd be enough.

•|•

I had several hours before meeting Clint and Natasha, so I went to Pietro's room to see if he was free to talk. I found him lying in bed, watching the news.

"Hey." I shut the door behind me and made my way over to his bedside. At his prompting, I laid down next to him on the hospital bed. "How are you feeling?"

He smiled at me. "I'm okay, getting better. The doctor said I should be able to walk again soon."

"Walk? What happened to running? Where's my Quicksilver?" I teased. We both knew that for him, walking meant running.

"Your Quicksilver?" He leaned in close, lips brushing my cheek. "I belong to no one." He kissed my cheek softly.

"Is that so?" I pulled away as he went for my lips and he looked at me, his face one of confused hurt, before he realized I was messing with him. He smiled at me slyly before pulling me closer to kiss me again. I laughed and rested my head on his chest and we watched the news play across the screen.

"Hey!" I sat up and pointed at the screen. "I know him." It was footage of Steve ushering people onto a helicarrier while evacuating Sokovia.

"And I know her." Pietro also gestured to the screen, which showed me carrying a young girl to her mother. "She's the girl one girl that stole from me and got away with it."

I looked down at him. "What do you mean?"

"I want my heart back, thief." I laughed laid back down and together we fell asleep. I didn't wake up until I felt my telecuff buzz. I looked down to see Natasha flashing on my wrist. I jumped up, waking Pietro, who had also fallen asleep. "What's wrong?"

"What time is it? Doesn't matter, I've got to go." I grabbed my jacket, which I had thrown onto one of the chairs.

"Why? What's wrong?" Pietro sat up slowly.

"I'm having dinner with Nat and Clint, and I'm already late," I replied.

"Oh. Well then I will see you later." I promised to visit again tomorrow and kissed him goodbye before leaving.

I met Clint and Nat in some cafe off of Main Street, too close to Steve's apartment for me to be entirely comfortable. They looked at each other before Clint pulled a manila folder labeled BARON, MADELEINE: SPECIAL CASE 271. He slipped it to me over the table and I took it from him quickly.

"So, everything went well then?" I asked taking a sip from the water a waitress brought us.

"Yeah, pretty basic. Get in, get out. Nothing we haven't done before." Natasha shrugged and cracked her knuckles restlessly. She shared a look with Clint before they turned back to me.

"...What?" I asked hesitantly.

"Nothing," Clint said. "But... having read your file, you're a pretty sick kid."

"Like, mentally or being amazing?"

"Yes" was the unanimous reply.

"Ha ha." I laughed sarcastically. "But seriously, thank you for this." I gestured to the folder. "You don't know what it means to me. Do I owe you something?"

Again, Clint and Nat shared a look. "Yeah." Nat said. "Answers."

"What?" I looked back and forth between the two.

"Your entire life is in the folder." Clint nodded at it. "We've both read it and yet there's one thing missing. The death of your parents and how you got your abilities."

I swallowed hard. "You can't convince me SHIELD didn't figure out about them, about their work."

"Your parents aren't even mentioned." Nat drank some water, not taking her eyes off of me.

I sighed, and rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, keeping my head in my hands while talking. "My mother and father were French scientists, brilliant for all their flaws. They worked on the human body, specifically, the skeleton. I was their only child, and, to be honest, a mistake; they made that very clear over the years. My parents' benefactors weren't seeing results or their money being put to good use. They began to pull out, even though my parents swore that, with a human test subject, they could produce results."

"Results to what?" Clint demanded.

"They wanted to develop a way to keep the cells that form bones from getting cancer. They thought that inserting the bones with implants that sent out electrical impulses would keep the cancer from growing. All of their theories made sense, but when they tried on animal test subjects, the skeletons were too weak to withstand the electrical impulses, and all died. So my parents took matters into their own hands. I was five when all this was happening. My parents were desperate, and they were so sure that they were right. I don't blame them; I know they did what they thought was right. They implanted the electrical impulses in me." I sighed and spread my arms, gesturing to myself. "Obviously it didn't work."

"And their death?" asked Nat.

I tried to speak several times before I finally could. "I... could not control my powers for quite some time after the surgery, even when it seemed I was fine." I paused, struggling to go on.

"You were abused, weren't you?" Nat asked quietly. Though it was framed as a question we both knew it was a statement.

"He hit me. I don't even know why. My response was just impulsive. I didn't even think. I grabbed his arm and... Then when my mother came and saw what I'd done she tried to kill me. Said I was too dangerous for this world and I had to go. That time it wasn't an accident. It was survival. And I'll never forgive myself for it. After that, I was sent to an orphanage. I ran away, met Pietro and Wanda and you know the rest." I wiped my eyes. I hadn't realized I'd been crying. "If you care about what happens to me at all, you won't ever tell anyone about it."

Nat stood up. "Don't know if I care about you, but I do respect you."

Clint joined her. "And that means a lot more. Your secret's safe with us, Kid. We'll see you around, I'm sure."