When I got into the chopper with Fury, I could feel a despairing feeling in my gut. The rain and thunder didn't help to calm my nerves either.

I watched as The Raft sank back into the sea as we gained altitude. We headed due southwest towards New York. Soon that depressing rain led to clear skies. The white clouds floated below us, endless as the ocean below that.

As we started to descent, the clouds gave way to the New York City skyline.

"It's quite a view, isn't it?" Fury said next to me. I blinked and shook my head, I had forgotten what a city really looked like.

Civilization looked.....new.

"It's been a long time, Director."

"In about an hour, we'll be approaching the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in DC.  There you'll be undergoing you psychological and physical examinations. After that you will meet your new team, they will protect from whoever wants you and in turn they'll also train you for missions. It's a simple exchange."

"Missions?" I asked as I ripped my eyes away from the view and shot a glare at the Director who looked out the window. "So I'll have to go on your missions and in exchange these guys will protect me?"

He didn't say anything as the city gave way to the country side.

It was the same thing for an hour until I could see Washington DC.

Eventually, a facility came into view with the SHIELD insignia on the top. No wonder these morons got attacked. They put their logo on everything and then they call themselves a secret agency.

I snorted at the irony. For a secret agency, they really weren't that secret.

Eventually we landed and Fury being Fury, didn't hesitate to get down before the chopper even landed. I was struggling as I tried to get the harness off. Eventually I did and then I took off in the direction of Fury.

"Keep up, agent!" He said without even looking back at me.

"Agent, huh?" I unzipped the upper half of my ehite jumpsuit, exposing my black top. I tied the sleeves around my waist as I followed Fury.

"From this day on, you're an agent of SHIELD."

We entered the building and were instantly filled with people on all sides of me.

After five years of isolating myself of any human contact, it felt odd to see so many people all at once. What I didn't expect was my heart to start racing and my palms to start sweating. My knees wobbled slightly as I temporarily lost track of Fury. He disappeared within a sea of people.

I didn't feel like I was there at all. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the hairs on the back of my neck that were standing up.

I had to control my breathing and my heart rate. 

"Agent!" Fury turned around and waved at me, noticing how lost I was. Next to him was a man in a white coat handing him papers to sign.

"Ah! Director Fury! I have-" a wild eyes man with blue eyes and graying hair came up to Fury handing him files. He wore a long white lab coat with the SHIELD insignia on the back "I've pulled up her medical records and-"

"Agent, this is Dr. Franz. He will be your Medical Supervisor for you evaluations."

The man turned to me and smiled, he held out his hand without any hesitation. 

"It's nice to meet you, Doctor." I nodded stiffly instead. He cleared his throat, bringing back his hand. Hopefully he wasn't offended by me.

"Okay then, I'll take her with me then." He gestured to a hallway. "Don't worry, Miss. We won't hurt you. You'll be safe with us. It's just a psychological evaluation."

I turned back to Fury who nodded his head at me. "You're safe here, Maya. You have my word."

That felt slightly reassuring.

I followed the Doctor through the crowd, leaving Fury behind.

The man didn't shut up as he went on and on about my medical history. Then again, I wouldn't blame him. My abilities were odd and quite frankly deadly. Any scientist would be interested. I was  perfect specimen. 

"You're abilities are fascinating, Miss. I've been researching-"

"So how does the psychological evaluation go?" I asked. 

If I had offended him, he hid it well and answered me.

"Well, it's really a basic examination that assess your mental, cognitive, and reflex abilities. We'll also assess you IQ score but that's just a formality, as long as you're in the normal percentile you are okay," he stopped and opened a door for me. "After you."

I nodded my head, feeling a small amount of dread in my stomach. I sat down in the white room sitting opposite of Dr. Franz as he looked through a file. Specifically, my file or what's left of it at least.

Behind him was a one way mirror and I knew that Fury was sitting just behind it, watching us.

"So.....Miss-"

"Just address me by my first name. That's fine," I said quickly. "Why does this feel like an interrogation than an evaluation?"

"You know how those spy types are. Always about intimidation. Right, then." He picks up his pen, "The facility has been keeping track of your vitals and weight for the past five years however a year prior you had a....slight decrease in weight. Would you like to tell me why?"

"I wouldn't really like to tell you why but I just wasn't hungry."

"Maya, you were ten pounds underweight. The guards had to force feed you. " he said in a deadpan. "Anything you want to say about that?"

I sent a glare behind at the mirror.

"No."

"Very well, we'll talk about it when your more comfortable. I'll make sure to schedule you in. Now then.....we'll start with some basic tests," I crossed my arms and leaned back into the seat. "I will read out list of words and I want you to tell me what you associate these words with."

"Sure, Doc. Let's get this over with," I said.

"Dog?"

"Fluffy."

"Food?"

"Survival."

"Warmth?"

"Cold."

He scribbled some notes down as he said: "Home?"

I didn't know how to respond to that. Matter in fact, I didn't exactly have a stable home. Not since I was ten.

"Maya?" Dr. Franz looked up from his notes. "Home? What's do you associate it that with? If you want to pass on this-"

"I'll pass," I said a little too quickly. 

"Okay. How about Friends?"

"Targets."

"Needle?" I raised my eyebrow at this. This was an odd word.

"Painful."

"Blood?"

"Messy."

"Touch?"

"Pass," I said.

"Anger?"

"Pass."

"Hope?"

"Obsolete."

"Powers?"

"I think that's enough, Dr. Franz," I said. "I think we should move onto other tests."

"Um.....very well then. Maya, I've been going through your medical histories. You've suffered from a severe allergy to peanuts when you were a child and after your thirteenth birthday, it simply disappeared. I want to know exactly how is that possible."

"I got stronger," I said. I shrugged my shoulder as he gave me a look. "What else do you want me to say?"

"Maya, this is a secure room. Whatever you say will stay between me and you," Dr. Franz said in a calm and even tone.

"Yeah," I scoffed. "You and both know that Fury and someone else is standing behind that mirror watching the both of us so let's just get this psychological examination over with so we can move onto the real training."

"Look, I see that you have slight PTSD---"

"Slight?"

"---- and some trust issues that may or may not be due to your parents or guardians," I sent a glare at him that made him lower his tone. "But you are to be a SHIELD agent. You need to prove to me that you are sound of mind to enter the field and if you can't........."

"Fine. I got it," I groan. "Hurry it up."

"Why don't you like touching people, Maya. When I held out my hand for you to shake you looked at it as if I were holding a weapon to you. Do you want to elaborate on that?"

I sighed and turned to Fury. "I really hate you," I growled before turning back to Dr. Franz. "Its true......I don't like to touch people or people touching me."

"Your abilities?" He asked.

"That and the fear that I might hurt them."

"So you have Haphephobia? It's-"

I cut him off. "It's the fear of touching people. I know. I've looked it up. I've got the symptoms when I'm in a room full of people. It stemmed from my abilities. There's a reason I cover up most of my skin."

"So that's why you looked nervous the moment you entered the faculty?" He asked as he scribbled more notes down.

"I was really hoping that you didn't see that," I muttered.

"Do you feel nausea, vertigo, anxiety, trembling , breathlessness, fear or heart palpitations when you entered the building today?"

"A bit," I admitted. My hands were slightly trembling from earlier. I closed my hand into a fist underneath the table.

"Just a bit?"

"Maybe more than that. Shaky knees, breathing problems and sometimes I fell like I'm about to pass out. It's rare though."

"Perhaps because it was the first crowd you've seen in a very long time?"

"I'm hoping that's the case."

"I think I've come to a diagnosis," he soda suddenly. "Maya, I wouldn't recommend you joining a team for fieldwork-"

"Gee! So surprised about that, Doc," I said sarcastically. "Hear that, Fury."

"But maybe I don't think that's what they care about. As far as their concerned you're physically healthy enough for fieldwork. As far as I'm concerned, you aren't but my opinion doesn't matter at all. The higher ups have a plan for you regardless of your mental health."

"How is a low key PTSD, anxiety filled, haphephobiac women gonna fit into some team of heroes? I've done bad things, Doc. I'm not some hero, I'm much worse than a villain."

"This is off the record but I'm going to give you some advice," he said with a serious expression. "Look at it this way, you been given an opportunity to turn over a new leaf. You can either push it to the side or you'll take that leave. Maya, you have abilities and I know how hard it is to come back from the dark but just remember that without the dark there is no light. There is no balence. No harmony. No harmony, no stability. It is up to you, Maya. Either you will stay in your cell and close yourself off from the world or you'll embrace your powers as a part of you and do some good to make up for past mistakes. The decision doesn't lie with Fury or even me, it all lies with you. Whether you'll get up and fight  or let the dark things consume you. I can only try to assist you in overcoming those things."

"But how do I come out of the dark?"

"It's simple. You find some light to guide you."

Doctor Franz got up and picked up his notes an my file.

"I hope that you'll listen to my advice, Maya. Remember-"

"The decision lies with me. Got it." I flashed him a thumbs up as he left the door, leaving me alone.

I turned to the mirror wishing I could burn holes in it with my eyes.

"Fury, let's get the hell out of here."