Truth is Overrated: I was a late bloomer. An old man swooped in and then dropped me into the crazy world of his School for Mutants my senior year of high school. To the surprise of everyone else, I turned out all right. It's been a long time since I called the Institute home, but now I'm back and I think I might be here to stay. Sequel to Normalcy is Overrated.

Disclaimer: The X-Men, SHIELD, the Avengers, the Brotherhood of Mutants, and any other familiar characters are not my property. I claim no ownership of them. They are the creation and property of their creators and the rich assholes that control their every movements. I simply like to toy with them.

Author's Note: I have had several readers PM me asking if Dani is going to start liking Sabretooth... The answer is, definitively, yes! We're laying the foundation now for whatever it is that sizzles between them. I can assure all of you that the moment we are waiting for is only a few short chapters away... And I can promise that it will be worth the wait!

"The truth is overrated." – Paul Westerberg

~Chapter Eleven~

"You can leave any time, you know."

She smiled and I found myself wondering just how many men – and women – had caved and given her everything she'd requested simply because of that same smile. But, it wouldn't work on me, and she knew it.

"I offer you the deal of a lifetime and you choose to pass it up, Danielle." She clucked her tongue and tucked dark red hair behind her ear. I rose from the chair and crossed the room to sit down on the edge of the king size bed. Her eyes were on me as I unzipped one boot and then the other and toed them off. "Fury will not be pleased."

"He's never pleased," I reminded her as I threw a boot in her direction. It landed on the floor at her feet, but she barely spared it a glance. "Fury gave me the boot without any hesitation whatsoever. I'm not stupid."

"You're stupid enough to meet with a known SHIELD operative and a politician in a very public place."

"You're stupid enough to try to push a woman with superhuman strength." I gritted my teeth and glared at her. "Get out of my room before I throw you through a Goddamn wall."

Her laughter was as familiar as it was unnerving, but I continued to glare at her as I ran my hands through my long and dark hair. If there was one thing that the woman excelled at, it was annoying the shit out of me.

"You are passing up on the opportunity of a lifetime. Do you realize that?"

"I bet you don't realize that they gave me that same speech when Coulson and Hill recruited me, do you?" With a snort, I leaned back, palms braced on the bed and eyes narrowed on her lithe form. It wouldn't do, I knew, to underestimate her in any manner whatsoever. "I've given all I care to give to SHIELD and to Fury. I was read out and I don't care to be read back in."

"And what," she murmured, voice laced with the accent she usually tried so hard to eliminate, "would you say if I told you that Fury told me that he had overreacted?"

I snorted again, rolling my eyes. "Fury's name and the word overreact are practically synonyms, Natasha. If he is so gung ho to sign me back on, why isn't he here himself?"

I searched her face, but she betrayed nothing. Despite my police training and my specific training within SHIELD for the SRU, I couldn't find any signs. I wondered, however briefly, if someone with enhanced senses like Wolverine could have picked up a change in pulse or breathing.

"Exactly." I rose to my feet in one smooth fluid motion to hover several inches off of the floor. I paced the air in irritation, bare feet walking an invisible line in the air. "You watch the Institute. I'm not foolish enough to believe that you'd ever let Xavier have exactly what he wants. So, word got back that someone had left the grounds, and in a hurry, in one of the jets. A cursory check would place me with the others on the Capitol earlier today. Two and two makes four."

I turned on my heel, still hovering several inches in the air, and folded my arms over my chest. But, Natasha still said nothing. She sat stone still, the picture of relaxation and intimidation in a wing back chair that did little to put me at ease.

"For the sake of our former working relationship, I will say that your intel is correct." She lifted a brow at my admission, but said nothing. "Dozens of powerful and influential politicians attended an important and private meeting wherein the mutant problem and the possibility of Project: Wide Awake were discussed. Does that answer your question?"

For the first time, there was a chink in the woman's impenetrable armor. She furrowed her brows together and her lips thinned as her green eyes darted from my face down to where my feet hovered over the floor and back again.

"You do not sound so surprised, Danielle."

With a sigh, I floated down so that my feet touched down on the carpeted floor. "Considering that I worked closely with the SRU – the very same group commissioned to deal with the mutant problem – and had my own contacts, is it really that surprising? Of course I know what the PWA is, Natasha. And I also know that SHIELD has had its hand in that particular cookie jar for a number of years."

"It is a protective measure, of course."

"If by protective you mean unnecessary, dangerous, and threatening – then yes."

Natasha slowly pushed to her feet, displaying an agility that I had seen her use to disarm and dispatch of twenty armed men in the same room. Her green eyes narrowed, but her lips curled into a seemingly innocent smile.

"You could make a real difference if you were to reconsider, Danielle. SHIELD has unlimited resources."

"SHIELD used me from day one," I stated calmly. Amazed that I was so calm, given the unbelievable circumstances, I could only stand a bit taller and prouder. "I knew that, I always knew that. But, at the time, I could use my position for my own personal gain. I have no use for SHIELD anymore."

She ran a hand over her hair and I half-expected her to produce a lethal weapon from somewhere on her person. While I had no doubt that she was seriously packing, she did not attempt to attack me. Instead, she produced a plain business card and placed it on the black entertainment center next to the television.

"Should you change your mind, SHIELD could always use another agent such as you. Goodbye, Danielle."

She strolled toward the door and pulled it open, pausing only long enough to glance over her shoulder at me. If she expected me to say something, she was disappointed when I only stared at her. The moment that the door clicked shut behind her, I fell heavily onto the bed, arms and legs sprawled out.

I stared up at the ceiling and tried to remind myself that in spite of everything, my time with SHIELD had been beneficial. I had learned so much and I had grown as an individual. I had supplied information to Hank and Xavier that had saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. I had learned more about technology and the way the darker side of the world walked than I ever would have if I had stayed with the X-Men upon my graduation from the Institute.

My time at the police academy had been tumultuous. I had excelled in the physical aspects of the Academy's requirements, but I had struggled with the mental and emotional aspects. I hadn't been comfortable with the other trainees, always secretly afraid that they would discover that their seemingly normal friend Danielle was a mutant.

The Academy had never voiced a negative opinion about mutants in general, but several of the trainees had voiced their own opinions. Hate ran rampant and talk of keeping muties in line had almost been as popular as talk of the next football game.

No, I had struggled to make personal connections with strangers after leaving the Institute. I'd had too little time to adjust to the fact that I was a mutant before I'd removed myself from a situation wherein I was constantly surrounded by others that shared the same unique genetic difference that I carried within me. And, suddenly, I was around strangers; some of whom shared the same hatred and ignorance that I had feared all of my life.

But, I'd been so determined to see things through to the end that I'd thrown myself into training and learning everything about being the best police officer. I aced the exams, set new records for physical exploits, and shaped my body into something that the drill officer Scott Summers would have been proud to see. Yet, things hadn't seemed real until I'd graduated from the Academy.

I received recommendations from all of the training officers to any large department in the country. Given the proximity to the Institute, and therefore Marie, I'd chosen the New York City Police Department.

The first year had been the roughest, that much I knew for sure. I spent all of my time doing paperwork and riding shotgun with an asshole that was forty-five pounds overweight and of the opinion that women didn't belong on the police force to begin with. He drank coffee like it was water, ate greasy food and anything with high sodium, and made disgusting comments about tits whenever he could.

But, if there was anything that Harold Gill had taught me, it was the fact that there are always going to be assholes in the world.

I'd climbed the ranks steadily, but not so quickly as to draw any unwanted attention. I didn't need as much sleep as my fellow officers, so I was able to work doubles and triples without any ill effects. I did paperwork for my senior partners and researched cases on my own time and made friends with the men and women in the Computer Crimes and Investigation Department.

When the Captain stuck me on patrol with a new partner, a guy six years older than me, I'd been happy. Anyone would have been better than my former partners, and Bartholomew Jackson had seemed like the perfect partner. We worked the late shift together and spent more time in a cruiser than we did behind a desk. We went to the range together on a weekly basis and grabbed breakfast together at least a couple times a week.

I smiled as I stared up at the ceiling and remembered how well the two of us had meshed together. We'd worked so well together that we got a reputation within the department for one of the highest arrest rates. We responded to any call within our vicinity and handled every situation with by the book perfection.

At least, I thought to myself, we did handle everything by the book. Until I got Bart killed.

No matter how much time passed, I knew that I'd never forgive myself for his death.

Never.

Less than six months after his death, several disciplinary hearings, and more than one threat from my superiors about losing my badge and my gun, I'd left the department. I'd given the force every ounce of my attention and commitment, but they'd turned on me.

Phil Coulson and Maria Hill had approached me at a watering hole near my apartment two weeks after I'd handed in my badge.

And I'd never looked back.

"Now I've gone full circle," I realized, slowly sitting up.

When I had graduated the Institute, I had left to pursue my goal of becoming a police officer so that I could serve and protect the innocent. I had wanted to use my strengths to keep people save and put the bad guys behind bars. Despite the offer from Scott, I had declined leading the Bravo Team of the X-Men. I had walked away from the opportunity to be an X-Man.

Now, however, I had to wonder if perhaps it was time to broach the topic with Scott and Xavier once and for all.

If there was one place I could belong, it was with the X-Men. Given the lies and deceit and everything that had happened, I wasn't even sure if there was still a place for me. But, there was only one way to find out.

"Later," I decided with a shake of my head. "I need to get something to eat."

Since the rooms were on Xavier, I wisely walked toward the phone to call for room service.

Then I planned to turn my attention to the mini bar.