Most girls don't spend the night of their senior prom listening to a startlingly upbeat Beatles playlist while sobbing their eyes out on the couch wearing a soaking wet dress.

I am not most girls.

No lights illuminate my entire house. I didn't bother to turn any of them on when I came in. At least I shut the door. That's something. No one's going to break in and interrupt my mental breakdown.

Why? I think. Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?

The rain hammers against the windowpanes almost as loudly as my music. Maybe if I listen to 'Here Comes the Sun' enough times, the sun will actually rise and I'll wake up from this nightmarish day. Unlikely, though.

I've been everyone's sunshine for years now. It's hard to stay positive no matter what, but I always find a way. Now, though, the silver linings seem pretty slim. What people never seem to realize is that the sun can set. How much more of this can I take?

In the dark, I reach out for my phone. I can barely read my contact list through my tears, but I see well enough to click on the one person I need most. I raise the phone to my ear with trembling fingers, trying to stifle my sobs, hoping beyond belief that he will pick up.

"Hey, it's Banner. Leave a message."

I try a few more times before lowering the phone, not bothering to record any voicemails. If my brother cares at all, he can call me back. Come home once in a while.

All of my frustrations from the last few months begin to resurface. Jackson, the musical, missing my parents, loneliness, Bruce, college letters, neglect, inferiority.

"Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear."

My phone buzzes in my lap. I glance down at it to find a text from Mandy, my best friend.

MANDY: Where r u? I can't find u in here

ME: i'm not there anymore. i left. i'm at home.

MANDY: What? Why?

ME: look at jackson and you'll know.

She doesn't immediately respond, and I know she's scanning the room. I wait for the inevitable text that confirms my boyfriend to be a lying, cheating jerk.

MANDY: I'm coming over.

ME: no, don't. have fun with everyone. i'll be okay.

MANDY: R u sure?

I want to type that no, I'm clearly not okay and I'm not going to be. I know I'll be alone all night and hate the idea, but I've always been too soft. I want her to be happy.

ME: yes.

MANDY: Hang in there, Liza. I'll call you tomorrow, ok?

ME: ok.

I set the phone down on the coffee table and lay down on the couch, hugging a pillow close to my shivering body. Hot tears slide down my cheeks, carving little rivers through my smudged makeup. I wish I could take all the emotions away for a while, but that's not how pain works. It's like that quote from The Fault in Our Stars: "That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt."

I feel it, all right.

I don't know how long I stay in that position, sobbing without any effort to stop the tears, but I eventually drift off. Three sharp knocks on the front door startle me awake, and I drag myself off of the couch to answer it. Maybe it's Mandy, or Chad, or even Bruce. If my scumbag boyfriend showed up, he's going to wish that he hadn't.

The moment I swing open the door, something feels wrong. Standing on the doorstep is a man I'd never seen before, casually leaning against the post. He wears all black, including an eyepatch, and his grim expression matches his overall dark appearance. Fear courses through me and I try to shut the door, but he sticks his foot out to keep me from closing it.

"Miss Banner," he says, his voice even. "Nice to finally meet you."

Mine, however, jumped three octaves. Brushing my bangs away from my eyes, I ask, "Finally? I- I- how do you know my name?"

"I know much more than you could possibly imagine." He holds out a gloved hand, which I take hesitantly. His grip nearly crushes my fingers. "Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD."

"Eliza Banner," I say, even though he already knows my name. "I- what are you doing here? I'm not involved in anything illegal, I swear-"

"You are not the concern of the day," he replies, raising his eyebrows sarcastically. "I need you to come with me."

"Yeah, sorry, no. Listen, I've had a really bad night as you can probably tell, and I'm not going anywhere with someone I don't know."

"It's about your brother."

I freeze. "My- my brother?"

"There's been an accident in his lab. I need you to come with me," he repeats, though I only process half of what he said anyway.

There's been an accident in his lab.

That project he'd been working on for months, the one he was so excited to test a few days ago, must have gone wrong.

"Is he okay?" I ask worriedly.

Fury shakes his head. "I can't tell you that here. It's not secure."

"Okay." I'm halfway out to his sleek black car when Fury calls over my shoulder.

"We have time if you want to change your clothes, Banner."

I glance down at my yellow gown, mud-caked at the hem and still wet from the rain. "My brother's been in an accident, Director. I don't care what I'm wearing."

He doesn't say anything, but I think a trace of amusement crosses his scarred face.

*

"Where are we?" I ask, staring up at a massive government building in shock. Fury pushes me forward to keep us moving. I think it's a bad time to bring up the fact that I'm not wearing any shoes. Luckily, the long yellow dress covers my feet pretty well.

"SHIELD Headquarters of New York," he answers. "Keep up. We don't want you getting lost."

He leads me through a crowd of people. They give me odd looks, and I don't really blame them, considering my outfit and overall appearance, but it's uncomfortable. I stay as close behind Fury as I can without it being weird and try to ignore the staring as best as I can.

Fury pushes open a door, where a man dressed in a suit sits at a small table. He stands to greet us.

"Director Fury," He says, holding out a hand.

"This is Agent Coulson," Fury says, introducing the two of us. "And this is Eliza Banner."

"Good to meet you," he says formally. He gives me what I believe to be a genuine smile, making me feel a bit more at ease.

I take his hand and shake it. "Hi," I say.

"I trust you to handle this situation, Coulson. Report back to me when you're finished." Fury leaves without a goodbye or any further instructions. I bite my lip and hover awkwardly by the door, unsure of exactly what I'm supposed to do.

Agent Coulson gestures to a chair. "Don't worry about him. Have a seat." I do as he says, and he pulls a thick file closer to himself. "Are you okay?"

"What gave it away?" I gesture to my wet dress and mascara-stained face with a slight smile. "I'm kind of having what people call a bad day."

He grins a bit. "Looks like it. Listen, I know you're probably worried about your brother, and I understand that, but I need to ask you some questions first. It's procedural. He's kept you pretty under the radar, so our information might be faulty or incomplete. We need to know the truth."

My stomach squirms. Up until about a half an hour ago, I barely knew what SHIELD was, let alone that Bruce was involved with them. "Okay."

"I will tell you that he's alive. He's not in any danger of losing his life."

My shoulders sag as I sigh. "Thank God."

"Now, let's see what we've got." He flips open the file. "You're Eliza Rey Banner, eighteen years old, senior at North Manhattan High School, valedictorian of your class. Correct?"

"I, uh, wow. Yeah, that's all correct."

"The only living family of Doctor Banner?" I nod, my heart sinking at the thought of my parents, but Coulson doesn't let me linger in my sadness for long. "And you're set for Stanford, right? Pretty big achievement. Congratulations."

"Thanks! And yeah. I'm majoring in biology, sir. So I can eventually get my doctorate. They've offered me a full ride, and I'll be moving to California in a few months."

He leans forward. "How close are you with your brother?"

"He's my favorite person in the entire world," I say, but then I continue on. "He's never around anymore."

"Oh?" Coulson looks up from his notes, a curious expression on his face.

"He's always in his lab. I feel like he doesn't know me anymore."

"Tell me about it."

I laugh a little. "How much time do you have?"

"As much as necessary."

This is really personal, I know that, but no one has invited me to be real about my emotions for months. I don't want to tell someone, I need to tell someone. And if that someone is the SHIELD agent sitting across from me in a dimly lit government building on the night where I'm supposed to be dancing with my classmates in a fancy dress, then so be it.

"Okay. I guess all of this started when my parents died."

"And when was that?"

"Two weeks before I started my senior year," I say. My eyes fill with tears, but I'm all cried out already. There's no danger of them spilling. "It was just Bruce and me. He'd been away most of the summer, and he told me about a new experiment."