I was way, way wrong about the situation being no big deal. "I so should've gone to the Hamptons anyways," I say out loud. I was talking to myself, because everyone else around me on the street were running for their lives, like I should've been. Instead, I stood there, staring at the creatures descending from the hole in sky above Stark Tower. Should I go into work? Should I go home? I doubt any planes are flying out…

I stood there on the sidewalk, frozen in fear I figured out later, staring at the chaos unfolding. It was like everything was in a dream, or as if I was watching a movie rather than this actually happening. Never, in my wildest dreams would I have imagined an alien attack happening. But there I stood, right in the middle of one. People around me were telling to run, trying to pull me along with them, but I was rooted to the spot. I saw, rather than heard the jet above me get hit with a ray of light and then saw it start spinning towards me. Then, like a vacuum, I was snapped out of my daze and ran to get out of the way. I could feel debris from the crash hit my back as I neared a store front. I hid behind a pillar, not sure who was in the jet, good guys or bad guys. I peek out and let out a sigh of relief when I see Steve, Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton exited the jet. Immediately, they go into attack mode, fighting the creatures that had followed them there.

I stay behind the pillar, catching a glimpse of Iron Man joining the trio, and then hearing Thor appear. After a little while, the noise of fighting ceases. I peek around the pillar once again, seeing the group, now joined by a ragged looking man in a purple shirt, talking amongst themselves. I couldn't spot anymore of the creatures, so I step out from behind the pillar, to try to get to better safety. As I do, I see the guy in the purple shirt transform into the Hulk. As he does, more of the creatures appear. I try to run past the group, who had resumed fighting. As I see my opening, I make a break for it. Running as hard as I can (I am far, far from being any sort of athlete. Yoga is the extent of my exercise.), I'm stopped by a creature jumping in front of me. Letting out a scream, I try to turn around to run away, but the creature grabs me and tries to pull me back. After hearing a *zing* above my head, the creatures grip loosens on me. I turn to look at it, seeing Steve's shield sticking out of its neck. "Rhiannon?" Steve says as he runs up to me to retrieve his shield. "What are you-"

"I think saying 'wrong place, wrong time' would be a bit of an understatement," I say.

"You're bleeding," Steve says, reaching up towards my neck. Concern was all over his face…or what I could see under the mask anyway.

I reach up and clap a hand over it, feeling the warm liquid under my fingertips. "I'm fine-"

"Let's get you-"

"Steve," I cut him off, giving him a hard stare. "You've got way bigger fish to fry than your tech girl having a cut on her neck. Now go save Manhattan. I need to get back to headquarters."

Steve's lips purse for a second before he nods his head. I watch him as he steps around me, grabs his shield, and then runs off. Once he's heading towards more fighting, I turn to head towards headquarters; I knew Fury would want me to start scrambling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security codes in anticipation of a cyber-attack along with the literal, physical attack. I pull out my phone and dial Alex's number as I round a corner, sending up a silent prayer that it looked deserted. "Alex, please tell me you're safe."

"Yeah, I'm good. Tiny Tim-" "Don't call me that!" "-is here too. We're at the lab. Where are you?"

"I'll give you one guess," I say, picking up my gait.

"Holy crap…you got caught in the attack!" Alex practically screams into the phone. I vaguely hear a scuffle as Tim apparently tries to grab the phone from Alex. "Are you-"

"I'm fine guys, I've just got a small cut. I'm on my way there though," I hear a loud growl in the distant. Was it my imagination, or was it getting closer too? "Listen, start scrambling the codes. Scramble to the fullest extent, but remember what you-" I stop talking when I hear the growl right above me. That's also when I see the chunk of the building I was standing next to falling down on top of me.


I wake with a start, immediately sitting up. "Hey, hey, hey, you're alright Rhiannon, you're alright," After a second I realize I'm in a hospital…and my head is killing me. I feel a hand holding mine; looking to my right I see Steve standing there, leaning towards me.

"Steve?" I say, more because I was confused as to why he was at my bedside. "What-"

"I'm going to grab a nurse," he says. I lay back in the bed as I watch him halfway step out of the door. When he comes back in the room, I'm still giving him a confused look. "How do you feel?"

"My head hurts," I say. "So does my leg…and basically my whole body, really. What are you doing here?"

Steve lets out a sigh as he sits down in the chair next to my bed, pulling it closer so it was easier for me to see him. "When the battle was over and we had Loki and Thor back to Asgard, I asked about you back at headquarters." He says. "Turns out you were the only S.H.I.E.L.D. agent seriously injured in the attack."

"How long have I been out?" I ask. Steve doesn't get a chance to answer me before the nurse and a doctor comes in. By the way they're dressed, I can tell I'm in a S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital. The nurse and doctor go through a series of questions with me, check my vitals, and administer some more pain medicine in my I.V. Luckily, it has an instant effect on my aching body.

"You gave us quite a worry, Miss Saggart," the doctor says. "After the first couple of weeks we weren't sure-"

"I've been out for weeks?" I practically screech.

The doctor looks at me for a second before turning to the nurse. "Let's give her five of Ativan," she says to the nurse. I watch the nurse as she leaves the room before turning back to look at the doctor. "Miss Saggart, you've been in a coma for about a month now- don't get yourself worked up, let's calm down-"

As I start hyperventilating, I feel Steve grab my hand again. "Please leave," I say. The people around me aren't sure who I'm talking to. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the doctor look at Steve, thinking I was talking to him. I turn my head sharply to glare at her. "Get out of my room…please."

The doctor purses her lips before walking out of the room. The nurse meets her at the door with the medicine, who also turns around and walks away. "I was asleep for a month?"

"You may as well as know, you're not in New York either," Steve says. I shut my eyes, trying to fight back the tears. "They transferred you to Washington D.C. once they realized how serious your condition was."

"So what are you doing here?" I spit at him. When I open my eyes, I see him looking at me confused. "What, you just hopped at train to D.C. to bring me flowers?" I was being unfair to him, I knew this. I doubt anyone else visited me. "I'm sorry…I just-"

"Hey, you're okay." He says. "If you must know though, Fury transferred me here. Not everyone is the biggest fan of the Avengers right now."

I nod my head, still trying to calm myself down. "Was it bad?" I ask hesitantly.

Steve's head hangs down for a second before he finally looks me in the eye. "Yeah, it was bad." He says quietly. A heavy silence falls between us for a few minutes. "They, um, the first responders that found you, said that you had to have been under the rubble for a couple of days. You were really lucky."

"Seems that way." I say. "You don't happen to know anything Alex and Tim…do you?" Alex and Tim were really my only friends.

"They're still in New York," he says. "They visit when they can…but they're staying busy after the…incident."

"I bet," I say. "Thank you though."

"For what?"

"You want the laundry list?" I say, a corner of my mouth turning up. "Saving me from the alien, saving Manhattan, saving the world really, coming to visit me-"

"Alright," Steve says, a smile finally gracing his features. "And I'd say it's all in a day's work but…"

"Not your typical day at work." I finish for him.

"I'm glad you woke up though," Steve says. The slight pitch in his voice makes my heart jump.

"You didn't break your laptop again did you?" I say with a chuckle. It hurt to laugh.

"No," he says. "I've learned my lesson with that. But…" he pauses for a moment before giving me a small smile. "I'm just glad you're okay."