A Time of Gods

Two years previous

"I'm still not sure what you expect of me."

"Only your assistance Ms. Hardy, should a time arise when it's needed."

"Oh Nick, I thought you knew me better. I'm no ones assistant," Felicia sighed. She didn't look to her right at the man of authority, whom she respected even when she didn't show it, and who had gone out of his way to track her down. He would usually have sent an agent and she knew this, which only inflamed her curiosity. The topic on his mind was his pet project, so there were few he trusted.

Felicia's bright jade eyes flicked over the exquisite detail of the surrealist painting, while the inner workings of her mind calculated it's worth.

"You could make a difference in the world." Nick Fury moved to her side, hands behind his back, feigning interest in the painting for the sake of the museums visitors wandering near them.

Felicia didn't require the hypersensitive hearing she had been bestowed with in order to pick out the sound of patent leather flats and worn souls as two young women left, leaving Felicia and Fury alone. "I don't want to be representative of S.H.I.E.L.D." She glanced at him with a small smile, "Perhaps you should focus your energy on reigning in Tony Stark. That's your poster boy."

"Stark doesn't play well with others."

"Neither do I," she shot back, moving on to the next piece.

Nick Fury forced his lips into a tight smile. He knew that Felicia Hardy was a fickle character, and that she only seemed willing when there was a prize at the end of the road. He often wondered how much easier his life would be, had the latest super soldier serum -the closest to the original so far- gone to someone else. Someone without a blurry sense of right and wrong, like Erskine intended. Someone who wasn't Felicia Hardy.

Having tried his other tactics, Fury went against common decency and pulled out the big guns. "Your father would have wanted more for you than this."

"Don't you dare," she warned him.

"Why do you think he kept his alter-ego hidden from you? because he was ashamed of being a criminal, a thief. He didn't want you to follow in his footsteps."

Felicia snapped around, eyes blazing, "You know nothing about my father," she hissed.

"I'm offering you the chance of redemption," he said, "join the initiative."

A family walked into the surrealist room and their presence helped diffuse Felicia's mood just enough for her to lower her tone, "I never asked for redemption," she shook her head, refraining from biting her lower lip. "I never asked for any of this."

He said nothing more, but watched her walk away. A wavy-haired girl of eight walked into his line of view as Felicia disappeared. She was full of carefree giggles, a wave of blond curls dancing as she jumped up and down excitedly and pulled on the edge of her fathers jumper.

As he watched, the anxious frown grew on Nick Fury's tired face. He couldn't ignore that sense of unease settling inside of him. The worry of what would happen if Felicia, once a sweet girl, allowed herself to be consumed by the volatile feelings of resentment which swam inside the guise of her alter-ego.