Your world had changed from the view of your apartment in New York. Or at least, what time you were inside before you evacuated yourself for safety.
Watching a wormhole open from atop Stark Tower, and watching what looked like the start of an alien invasion start was terrifying enough. Having one crash through your window was an entirely different experience on its own.
When it had happened, you were thankful to find that the thing was no longer alive. Peering outside your window and seeing The Hulk stare at you as he latched on to the building across the street was both terrifying and comforting.
You fled the apartment and were able to find safety without casualty. Catching a glimpse of a group who would later be labeled The Avengers fighting aliens that would later be publically acknowledged as the Chitauri was something that invigorated you. Something, for lack of a better term, motivated you to the point where you are now.
Sitting in D.C. in Director Fury's office across from the man himself. A rather annoyed expression splayed on his features, and a small smile on yours. You weren't smiling from good news, you were smiling simply because you were that anxious. It was a nervous smile, like the kind that you'd get speaking to a crush.
"You make my job a lot harder when you wait four years to change your mind, Y/n." Fury said. His disdain for your request was quite apparent.
"Are people not allowed to change their minds, Nick?" You asked.
You had always been comfortable with him. After all, the man more or less raised you.
You'd read the report a hundred times back when you were trying to figure out who you were, and you had long given up since.
SHIELD found you in a platinum bassinet in the middle of a field, the grass around you singed away. Because of your suspicious circumstances, SHIELD took you in and monitored you for weeks. When nothing odd happened with you, besides the fact that your DNA didn't quite match that of anyone on Earth, they were ready to hand you over to an orphanage. Only to find that in your place where they left you, was a parakeet.
They didn't get it for a while, not until you returned to your normal baby form. Ever since then SHIELD had decided to keep you.
They raised you, gave you top-tier education, raised you as a spy, while still trying their best as an organization to both manage your power usage and give you some sense of normalcy. They didn't do too bad. Their intentions were fully to make you a super-soldier. Keep you until the time came to form the Avengers Initiative.
Four years ago, was when Nick had officially approached you and gave you the offer. And to his surprise, you had denied it in exchange for a shot at a normal life.
And so a normal life you got. Of course, Fury kept in contact and kept tabs on you. But you were able to make it on your own. Find a job, a place to live, you were successful.
Until The Hulk threw an alien through your window.
"This is a lot of paperwork," Nick finally said, "If you go through with this, you're not going to be able to back out."
"I understand the consequences. I want to do this. Besides, you know you need me. This is what, the latest alien encounter in the past 25 years? Out of four? You're gonna need as much as you can get. The world is changing." You said to him. This, he already knew. But hearing it from you would become motivation for him to approve it.
"I hate that you're right." He sighed. He stared you down with his one eye for a good while. "Goddamnit Y/n." He said, finally earning a genuinely happy smile from you.
After that, the two of you hugged. Anyone watching the scene would have thought Fury had finally lost his shit. But in honesty, he loved you like the child he never had. And you loved him like the father you never knew.