The destruction of central New York was immense. Complete streets were destroyed, over a dozen buildings had crumbled and the dust was still settling from the crash of all the inert Chitauri and Leviathan. But the Avengers left that all behind for S.H.I.E.L.D to deal with. Loki was also taken in by them, and this time there was no way he was going to be able to come out of his cell. This gave everyone time to go back to either Tony's tower or the Helicarrier to change into civilian clothes. As for me, I took a pass on heading back to the tower and the Helicarrier, and flew over to Queens in a near panic. Relief washed over me the closer I got to my destination - the Chitauri hadn't made it this far.

Luckily, May and Peter weren't home, most likely at work and at school, respectively. I glided into the window of my room which I had to force open, then dashed over to the alarm to punch in the code before the police were alerted. I pressed my wrist, making my suit flow back into the cartridge, and then collapsed my helmet after I took it off. I don't think a shower ever felt this good, but washing off the caked dust, dirt and Chitauri blood off my body felt like I'd just spent thousands of dollars at the spa.

We all met up at a footbridge near all the devastation to see Thor off, as he took Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard to be locked up. I don't think I'd ever say this out loud, but since the last time I'd seen him, Thor had grown quite a bit. Not in height of course, that man was and always had been a giant, but he was more mature than before, and more importantly, less annoying. I was sort of sad to see him go, but it was all for the best, and it wasn't like this would be the last time he'd visit us.

And then we parted ways. Clint, Natasha and I made our way to a large black SUV where we were to be taken back to S.H.I.E.L.D, Tony and Bruce headed into one of the billionaire's fancy cars, and Steve left on his motorcycle. I had to admit I was jealous of that one. Natasha, Clint and I took the time to get to know each other while we drove back to Headquarters, which made this the most normal part of the past week. Clint and Natasha had an amazing relationship, and if everyone could get along like that, then maybe the Avengers would get back together outside of work hours. But the happiness was short-lived.

"Miss Sable," Fury called, the second I stepped onto the Helicarrier.

I rolled my eyes at Clint and Natasha, making them snicker, then turned to Fury and followed him to an office.

"Director Fury," I acknowledged.

"I promised you the permanent return of your abilities and the re-connection to the Xandarian Worldmind for helping us with this... endeavor."

"Are you planning on returning on your promise?"

"No. But she might."

Fury clicked on a large screen, the white hair of Nova Prime jumped out at me. I immediately straightened out, as if on command, and saluted to the woman before me.

"At ease, Centurion," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," I said, putting my hands behind my back.

"I would like to congratulate you on your victory on Earth."

"I... wouldn't exactly call it a victory, Ma'am. Too many victims. Well, you know the Chitauri."

"Chitauri? How many?" Nova Prime asked. "They didn't come up on our scanners."

"You have Loki, son of Odin to thank for that." Nova Prime sighed and leaned back in her chair, annoyed. "There were a dozen Leviathan that made it to Earth, so I'd say thousands of them," I stated. "One of our own went up there and saw if there were more, but I haven't had the heart to ask."

"Haven't the heart to ask? Have you forgotten your orders, Centurion?"

"No, I haven't. Considering that I no longer take orders from you, Nova Prime."

Nova Prime rose and eyebrow and leaned forward. Suddenly, she looked much more intimidating than Nick Fury, to me.

"Excuse me?"

"I stopped taking orders from you the second you refused to hear me out, set a death warrant to my name and banished me to Earth." I chuckled humourlessly. "You know, Xandar and Earth have something in common. They both treat their soldiers badly."

"How dare you-"

"Speak to you this way? Oh, shit, would you look at that I interrupted you too!" I said sarcastically. "Look. I take orders from no one, now. You promised Director Fury that I'd permanently regain connection to the Xandarian Worldmind, regardless of whether I continued to help S.H.I.E.L.D. after this endeavour. And as I have never known you to go against your word, I expect this to remain true."

"It will."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home."

"Home is Xandar, if I'm not mistaken," Nova Prime said.

"Have you never heard of, 'Home is where the heart is'?" I said with a smile, then turned to Fury. "Cut her off. Call if you ever need me."

Fury nodded and cut the connection to Xandar.

"I pray, for your sake, that this kind of thing doesn't happen again," I said before exiting.

"Nova Prime won't be contacted unless asked or obligated, don't worry. I didn't want to talk to her either. She's the one who called."

"Thanks."

I casually made my way through the mostly repaired halls of the Helicarrier and headed towards the hangar. One of the uniformed men brought me down in some remote area of New Jersey, and someone on the ground was there to greet me with two cars. He tossed me a small plastic rectangle and got into one of the two cars, driving off with someone in the passenger seat, most likely the driver of the second car.

"Wait - do I get to keep this?" I looked at the car. "This shit is too fancy, man. There isn't even a key..."

I sighed and shrugged stepping to the car. I checked the keys to unlock the car doors, but there were no buttons. I tried the door, and the car beeped, startling me - then the door opened on its own. I stared at it, confused, then tentatively lowered myself inside the car, watching almost nervously as the door closed itself.

"Time to put those driving classes to good use, I guess."

I searched for ignition which was apparently a button, and pressed it, bringing the car to life... Almost quite literally. The display turned on and nearly rolled my eyes at the Stark Industries logo that was showing. But I nearly jumped out of my skin when the damn thing started talking.

"Welcome, Miss Sable."

"WHAT THE- Why is this car talking!?"

"The car is not talking, Miss Sable. I am - T.A.D.A.S.H.I.," the voice said, and finally I noticed some variant of an Asian accent. Considering the name, it was probably Japanese. "The Artificial Intelligence installed into this car by Mr. Tony Stark."

"Metal man," I cursed under my breath. "Um, can you tell me why, Mr. AI, man?"

"After the events of the Battle, Mr. Stark saw it fit to keep an eye on everyone, but he thought you would prefer this to being watched. Something about keeping an eye on Fury together."

I let out a short laugh.

"I can't have this, though. It's too much. This car is worth more than the bakery I run."

"He thought you would say that, which is why he also scheduled for my systems to be installed inside your bakery and home."

"He made it worse!? For Christ's sake Tony!" I shouted, buckling up. "Okay, T.A.D.A.S.H.I, get me outta here."

"Of course, Miss Sable."

A map of the surrounding area soon popped up on the display screen, and I drove off in the direction the AI instructed me to.

"Call Tony while you're at it too."

Moments later, Tony picked up.

"How's the new toy?"

"Stark, you idiot!" I shouted. "You know I can't take any of this!"

"I thought we had a rapport. I was kind to you, decided tell you I was spying on you." Tony said hurt, though he was probably smiling at the other end.

"Okay, fine, thanks for the car and Mr. AI man. But don't install anything in my home!"

"So, the bakery's fine?"

"I don't care, just not my home!"

"Why not? Don't the kid and his mom know about your alien-ness?"

"His aunt, and no! Peter's too young to remember, and May saw nothing!" I shouted, turning a corner. I think I may have smashed a garbage can, too. "I don't want them involved in any of this."

"Sure thing, Sailor Moon. I'll call off the installation in your house."

"Thank you. Now, no more gifts from you, all right. And you're paying for the parking tickets!"

"No promises."

He hung up. I shook my head, and continued driving. Soon I made it back to New York, which meant I had to be more mindful of my driving. Without much more incident than a few honking cars, I made it back to Queens in one piece, stopping by the bakery first. Ian and Lorraine were working quite well together, managing the bakery quite well without me. They handed me a few letters which I opened in the back office. Most of them were just spam, but a few of them had to do with Pascal. I was being left the restaurant, under the sole condition that his grandson be hired as help. That could only be good, as I'd met Jules and he seemed like a decent kid. Besides, we could always use the help, especially if I was going to be absent on occasion doing things for S.H.I.E.L.D.

I grabbed a box that Ian had prepared for Peter, which contained about every single kind of pastry we sold, and returned to the fancy car that I would most likely never get used to. I checked the time and smiled, driving off to Peter's school instead of home. Today was Peter's first day at Midtown School of Science and Technology. It was much further away from home, so the car was convenient in a way, otherwise Peter would have to take the bus. He'd probably want to - taking the bus was cool, apparently. I got out just as the bell rang, and I dropped the box of pastries on the roof of the car before leaning on it to watch the students file out. It didn't take long for me to spot Peter walking out of the school alongside someone else. I'd never met him, but I could only assume this was Ned, Peter's best friend.

"Ilaria!" he shouted happily upon seeing me. He continued talking, but it was muffled because his face was in my shirt. "You're back!"

"Hell yeah, I'm back," I laughed, ruffling his hair.

"Pete..." the boy I assumed to be Ned whispered to Peter. "Is that your sister?"

"Yeah, it's Ilaria."

"She's really pretty..."

"You know, she can hear you Ned."

Ned looked spooked for a second, and he stared at me, then eventually introduced himself properly which made me laugh. Then he ran off and jumped in his parents' car just as Peter saw what I was driving.

"Woah, where'd you get that!?"

"Uh... I picked up a second job. A rich guy - he gave it to me for practical purposes? Here, stuff your face with cream puffs."