The next day, I went to do some clothes shopping, and when I came back into my apartment, I immediately knew something was off.
There was a bald black man in a trenchcoat standing at my balcony aurafarming with his back turned.
"You could've just called."
He turned around slowly.
"I could've, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see your apartment."
I looked around the apartment. It had been given to me by Fisk, so it was a nice place, but it wasn't anything incredible, nor did I have anything interesting hidden in it.
"Learn anything useful?" I asked whilst putting down the bags.
He came inside from the balcony and tapped the trash can overflowing with my old clothes using his foot.
"Looks like something's changed recently."
I observed his actions carefully. He was more or less exactly as I had expected. Eyepatch, baldness, nonchalantness, the whole package.
"You broke into my apartment, not really something an arbiter of the law should be doing, right?" I asked sarcastically.
He hummed for a moment before answering. "I operate in a space where the law is more of a guideline, I mean, after all, we're the good guys."
His tone was completely unbothered as he shamelessly walked around the apartment. He eventually stopped at the counter, glancing at the shopping bags I'd set down.
"So, clothes shopping, huh?"
"I'm sure you've put two and two together."
"It's what I do." He folded his hands behind his back and faced me directly for the first time. "You grew."
"Guess so."
"That happen often?"
"Yeah, last year I was two feet tall."
He looked at me silently with an unknowable expression upon hearing my answer. Apparently, my joke wasn't very effective.
I made my way to the living area, taking a seat on the sofa whilst Fury remained at the kitchen counter.
"Not gonna sit?" I motioned towards the sofa a few meters away from me.
He looked at the sofa for a moment before walking over with a relaxed demeanour, plopping down and staring at me.
"So, let's hear it," I asked him to start his pitch.
He leaned back on the sofa before beginning, clearly noting that I wasn't interested in small talk.
"As far as we can tell, you've been around for no longer than two months. In those two months, you've walked into a classified S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, neutralised almost a dozen agents, rattled two of my best agents, and apparently allied yourself with one Wilson Fisk."
I considered his words for a moment, but before I could speak, he continued further.
"Oh, right, you're also bigger than you were two days ago."
"When you say it like that, my resume seems pretty impressive."
"It is impressive, that's the problem." He agreed.
I said nothing, waiting to see where he took it.
He studied me for another moment before continuing.
"I'm not here to threaten you, nor am I here to recruit you. Not yet, at least."
He wasn't hiding the fact the was considering me for the Avengers initiative.
He leaned forward, clasping his hands together.
"I'm here because I make it my business to understand things that don't make sense, and right now, you don't make sense." He spoke with slight exaggeration.
"Yeah? What doesn't make sense about me?"
His single eye bore into me.
"Everything, starting with how you know the things you know." His tone lowered into something more serious.
I held his gaze without flinching.
This was the moment I'd been thinking about since the encounter at the coffee shop.
I took a second to consider how to play it.
Giving him a clear explanation, if that even existed, was off the table. It would be in my best interests to keep him guessing, keep him losing sleep over how I knew what I knew. For now, I decided to deny his question entirely.
"I'm not willing to answer that."
It seemed he had expected such a response.
"Then let me rephrase. You knew Barton's children's names. Names that exist in no file, classifed or otherwise. You knew Romanov's full birth name, her history, her sister, hell, apparently you even knew about me." He smiled widely as if he found the situation amusing.
"Yeah."
"Not gonna tell me how, right?"
"Nope."
He nodded slowly, not at all disappointed with my refusal.
"Alright, let's go with something else." He relaxed once more, leaning back into the sofa. "What exactly do you want?"
Natasha had asked me the exact same question the other day. I replied with the same answer I had given her.
"For you to leave me alone."
Fury pressed his lips whilst nodding his head slightly.
"And in exchange?"
It seemed he was expecting some sort of trade.
"Nothing."
Fury looked at me as if he was looking at an idiot, something I didn't appreciate, even if I had been one at times.
"See, that's the issue. A man who knows what you ku know, can do what you can do, and is actively working with a crime lord at Fisk's level doesn't get to just ask to be left alone. That's not how this works."
"Then, how does it work?"
"You give me something. Something valuable enough to look the other way."
"So, a bribe?"
"If you want to consider it that way, sure."
It seemed he was serious.
This was, more or less, exactly the opening that I wanted. He wasn't threatening me; he was negotiating, which meant he'd already accepted that bringing me in wasn't a realistic option.
This was significant, coming from Nick Fury, even if he would never say it out loud.
I decided to go with the easiest option for the timebeing.
"When something catastrophic shows up on your doorstep, which we both know will happen, I'll be there."
His eye didn't flicker in the slightest at my forewarning of an apocalyptic future.
"That's a very vague promise."
"It's a promise nonetheless, better than nothing, right?"
Fury remained silent.
I shifted slightly on the sofa.
Even if the chances of me joining the Avengers were abysmal, I decided to at least entertain the idea.
"Alright, hypothetically speaking, what would it look like if I joined your little boy band?"