Nothing could quench her hunger.
The usual, twisting churn of her stomach triggered her to open her cargo-green duffel-bag which laid expectantly between her feet. Jordyn Hunter rummaged through the bag, stacking at least 5 decently-sized, empty lunch boxes before she found one filled with leftover dinner from last night. The bottom of the box had a thumb-length layer or rice and spicy sauce, topped with three marinated chicken breasts and various vegetables. She downed the whole box in a mere half-minute. Fortunately, no one could see her from the very end of the auditorium, except if the lecturer happened to look at her among the other hundreds of students by chance.
Jordyn Hunter tapped the end of her pen against her blank notebook, the drawling words of her lecturer causing no more than endless taunting as the clock above his head puttered towards the end of this day. Another twenty minutes and another box went down before their sweet release from their professor. Her stomach wouldn't rest. Once the clock's longest arm struck twelve, she stood up and hung her bag over her chest in one, swift motion as she rushed towards the door behind her. First in, first out. That had always been her tactic for as long as she could remember.
The past months blended together to one, straining day of constant pressure in keeping up appearances and keeping herself on a short leash. Don't get too creative, she told herself. She did not want to meet the consequences for too much freedom of will. Wake up. Eat. Go to lecture. Eat. Go home. Eat. Sleep. Wake up. Eat, eat and eat. That was all she could do.
"Hey, Jordyn!" A voice called out as she stepped outside the building. A group of people around her age had gathered by the side of the road leading towards Washington Square Park.
Jordyn displayed a toothy grin and exchanged pleasantries with them. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't escape small talk in a social environment. Yet somehow she found herself unable to resist. Common themes were how dull their parents have been lately, the next essay for this and that month, last weekend's extreme drunk regrets, things Jordyn thought of as privileges.
«Why don't we go out today, oh and Saturday too! They're having one of those themed costume party nearby.»
There came an eruption agreements and excitement from everyone around . All except for one.
«Oh, actually, I can't,» Jordyn waved off the invitation, «I'm going out of town to visit my parents, but you guys go ahead.»
"Aw, that's too bad. I'll drink for you, then." Another girl with a wide and energetic smile, Sarah perhaps, attempted to lift up the mood after Jordyn's rejection. Jordyn recalled that she was.
"You do that. I'll see you next week."
Whether she did or not mattered little to her. Jordyn would never join them. She couldn't bear the consequences if she did one little mistake. Not again.
The campus was surrounded by the towering buildings of New York City which drowned the young woman to its core. She was now among the crowd, just another human about her business within the Big Apple. In a sense she was no longer alone. What she also liked about this city was the amount of fast food chains lined up just for her on her way home. A number large as to not arouse suspicion about her orders. Three sandwich wraps from this place, two pizzas from the other, a couple of burger and fries from the local barbecue, another pizza or two from her last stop. All stuffed in her large duffel bag she was always seen with. This would last at least for two days at most. It's about a third more than she would usually order just a month ago. She would have to call it in for her budget to increase before her card declines.
Only a few blocks away, to the east side of Central Park, was her student accommodation safely situated. With a security guard . She passed the library and the gym to reach the elevator. Top floor with the easy access to the open roof.
Her accommodation included two rooms; her bathroom and the rest. The interior didn't match the exclusive feel of the . While she had the luxury of her own kitchen and a living area, its mood was dampened with the lack of personal effects. Rather, it was a wasteland. Multiple scratches of various sizes on the wooden floor, a simple desk piled with empty, greasy cardboard boxes and used wrappers, and the lack of personality in the décor. She only had her small shelf with her favorite books she could read over and over, and her library card sitting patiently on top of a mythology saga.
Immediately as she entered, Jordyn whiffed out a sweet scent in the air. She sighed and slung her duffel bag on her tattered, mossy green pull out couch. She brushed off the seat with the palm of her hand, the mossy green revealing to be dark fur hugging the lime-coloured fabric. Placing one of her orders on the assigned seat, a meat-loverpizza with five different types of meat, Jordyn started chomping down piece by piece.
"How's work then?" Jordyn asked between gulps.
As she spoke, a tall, uniformed woman walked out of hiding from the dark corner of her kitchen, placing herself between the counter and the couch.
"What do you want? I'm already checked for my run this week." Another slice down, only half left. "Also, I'm gonna need more of that allowance if we're down to one run a week. I think the studying is stressing me out."
"I need you to come in." Hill said sternly.
"I'm already here. Mind you, its my apartment not yours," Jordyn pointed an accusing finger towards the intruder which was completely ignored.
«To S.H.I.E.L.D.,» Jordyn tensed up at the sound of the name. Agent Hill was blunt, as to be excepted of the commander herself.
She picked up another slice, rolled it up, and chugged it down,"What's the occasion? Thought you guys said you weren't gonna push anymore."
"Circumstances have changed. Fury believes you could be of more use somewhere else.» Hill crossed her arms above her chest, grazing the tip of her shoe along a large gash on the wooden board beneath her.
"Of course he does," Jordyn brought the cardboard box closer to her chest and sank down on the couch, "What, he wants me to be his lapdog?"
At that, Miss Hill pulled out something from the pocket of her suit. Jordyn shifted warily in her seat, but by seeing the small rectangular shape of a phone she let out her breath. The older woman swiped on the phone a couple of times before handing it over to Jordyn. She glanced at it. A bright blue color emitted from the screen. A cube. Quite beautiful, and ominous looking. Nothing Jordyn had ever seen before.
"This is the Tesseract," Hill introduced her to the strange concept, "A powerful source of energy from space that could destroy the whole world. It has now been compromised, fallen into the wrong hands. We need you along with an assigned crew to return it safely.»
Jordyn nodded slowly as Agent Hill spoke, keeping her eyes on the strange, blue cube, "Sounds like you got your hands full. You know, I have this exam coming up that I'm really busy with."
"I can see that," Hill flickered off empty plastic wrappers from Jordyn's vacant desk sitting lonely beside them. Hill rested the palm of her hand on the desk, thinning her lips as she chose her next words carefully, "You've been pretending for months now, Jordyn. It's time to stop."
Jordyn looked up from her slice properly for the first time since they conversed, ceasing her chewing to a halt.
"Does this look like I'm pretending to you? I've been trying my damn hardest to fit in, like I told you I would. Anyways, what the hell do you think I can do? Save the world?" she scoffed to make her point, "I'd end it. How about you get that rich dude on board and call it a day."
"We've spent a lot of time and effort giving you the requirements to live the life you want. You are progressing every week, but a stagnation is reaching. We have someone that might help you. He's in a similar situation like yours and can teach you how to cope with it." Hill had slowly stepped towards the young woman in front of her, squatting down to her eye level in hopes to reach her, "He hasn't had an incident in one year."
Jordyn looked up from her food for the first time and met Hill's determined gaze. Someone like her? She knew there were so-called other superhuman beings in the world, they were all over the news. None of them looked like the beast she felt she was. Strong, attractive, charismatic, none of those described her.
Being trapped within this routine she had made for herself felt suffocating. From a third perspective, it could also be seen as extremely unhealthy. But it had worked so far. At least, it was better than before she had her last attack.
Jordyn shuddered at the memory, her shoulders clenching up uncomfortably by her neck, "Are you going to do tests on me?"
«That's up to you," Hill shrugged, "Like we've informed you before. But I would highly recommend it if you want to find out more about your condition. You help us out with this mission, and we can help you."
The Tesseract, such a beautiful little item that could end everything. Saving the world; the common plot of a fictional story. The taste of those words didn't sit quite well with Jordyn. However, the little hope of her being able to control her condition lightened her hart. A year without an incident. She could actually start studying, have friends, see a future of a normal life without an endless appetite ahead of her. No judgments nor a life as a ticking time bomb. Her stomach finally fell silent.
"If something happens-"
"I'll be there," Hill interjected, "And I'll stop you. Just like I did before. So how about it?"
A long moment passed the couple. The women staring each other down, attempting to find common ground or perhaps reminiscing about their past encounters together. In the end, it was Jordyn who cut the silence. She lifted the cardboard box with the meaty and cheesy pizza up to Hill's nose.
"You want some?"