I made my way through the S.H.I.E.L.D. building to my mother's office. Since I was at school all day, by the time I got to Manhattan, most people have gone to either their rooms at HQ or their own homes. A few agents were walking around, but most of them didn't pay attention to me.

I knocked on her door before walking into my mother's office. The second I stepped into her office; a small child instantly clung to my legs. I looked down to see my younger brother, Toby, staring straight at me with the biggest smile on his face. I smiled back at him and picked him up.

"Ara, I missed you," he said as he buried his head into my shoulder. I rubbed my fingers through his hair, but I looked up to see my mother and father giving me disapproving looks. "You promised you would visit sometime after my birthday."

"I know, Buddy. I am sorry I couldn't see you before now. I was busy with school and work," I answered before I put him down. My father gave me a slight nod as he grabbed Toby's hand and pulled Toby out of the room. They just left my mother and me alone in her office.

My mother scoffed, "So now you grace us with your presence, and it is all because you need more medicine."

"If it weren't for the fact that you had Toby and I need medicine to keep myself in control, you would never have seen me again after I graduated high school," I snapped back as I sat on the examination table. I just wanted to get this over with, so I could go back to my apartment.

"That is no way to talk to your mother." She came over to start the routine checkup, blood pressure, heart rate, reflexes, etc. This was just the beginning, however. It will only get worse.

"You quit being my mother the day you found out you were pregnant with Toby. You didn't even care about me after you found out Toby was normal except to make sure I wasn't going to explode. Sorry if I am a little bitter towards you, just like every other time we meet up for my medication."

She scoffed once again, but we continued through the rest of the basic checkup without speaking to one another. If anyone ever decided to come into the room on their own, they would feel the tension between us. It wasn't a pleasant feeling when we were forced together in the same place.

Once we finished our routine checkup, there was a knock at the door. Neither one of us responded as Nick Fury and Tony Stark walked into the office. Tony smiled at me, which caused me to roll my eyes. It was never a good sign when I was trapped talking to Tony Stark alone, but with Fury just meant I wasn't going to be able to say no.

"Director Fury. Mr. Stark. I wasn't expecting to see you guys today. I just finished giving Adara her routine checkup," My mother said with a fake smile. I scoffed, which caused her to glare at me. I hated it when she tried to play a perfect mother. She fooled no one, but that didn't prevent her from attempting.

"Actually, we are here to talk to Adara," Fury said. My mother looked surprised that Fury would say that he wanted to talk to me. Then again, she probably didn't know that Tony Stark has continuously tried to get me a job at S.H.I.E.L.D. "Alone."

My mom coughed to disguise her shock and said, "Of course. I'm just going to run this to my lab and finish making her medication. Adara, behave." I rolled my eyes at her as she left her office. She treated me like a child whenever her superiors are around.

"What can I do for you, Gentlemen?" I asked as I got off the examination table.

"I come with a compromise for you since Stark has failed to recruit you willingly," Fury said. This was going to be interesting. "How would you feel if you were able to complete your Ph.D. in biomedical engineering under Dr. Banner here at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"That would be great except for the fact that Dr. Banner has disappeared, and none of you know where he is. Plus, what school would I be attending since he works for you two?"

"Actually, Dr. Banner is on his way back to New York as we speak," Tony said. I gave him a look telling him that I didn't ask for his opinion.

"That still doesn't explain the whole school thing. I'm almost done with all of my research. Do you expect me just to drop what I have already completed to come work for you? It has taken me years to get this far," I practically yelled. I was burning up with anger. I was going to lose control if I didn't calm myself down. However, the looks on their faces told me something different. "No. You want my research. You want the designs for my machine to help find people like me. Don't you?"

"It's not like that," Tony starts to argue.

I scoffed, "Then what is it like? I already know I am a danger to society and that you have people watching over me constantly. Are you making sure that there isn't someone else out there like me? We all know I'm a ticking time bomb."

"Adara," Fury said. His tone of voice told me to stop, and I listened. "We want to use the machine to help people like you. We aren't tracking them down, but we want to help if we manage to find them. Using a machine created by someone who understands the difficulties of having powers they can't completely control, we can use it to help find a safe way of controlling their powers."

I sighed, "Fine, but what do I get out of it besides being advised under Dr. Banner?"

"Smart kid," Tony said.

"We will pay off your student loans and your apartment. This will allow you to quit the job you are currently working. On top of that, you will be making $60,000 a year until you finish your research." $60,000 a year was slightly more than what a biomedical engineer would be making at a job straight out of undergrad. However, they are paying off my student loans and my apartment, so I can't really complain about the money.

"Fine. You got a deal, but neither one of my parents will know, and I want to work somewhere where they won't see me. If they find out that I am working here, all hell will break loose. The less they know about me working here, the better. My parents will continuously check up on me while I try to get my work done if they know."

Fury nodded, "That can be arranged. You will start working on Monday." Fury walked out with Tony following him. The second they left; I was able to breathe for a second.

"What was that all about?" My mom asked when she came back into her office.

I shrugged, "They were just checking to see how school was going." She handed me my pills, and I took off out of the building as fast as I could. I just agreed to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., and something told me that I would regret it.