Standard Disclaimer: All rights belong to those whose rights they belong to, primarily Marvel, though quite namely not me. Don't own a thing aside from my OCs.

Sokovia. Undisclosed location.

"Sir, we have come across disturbing reports," the elderly scientist said nervously as he scuttled after his superior. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has started monitoring the region. They are looking for something."

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker scoffed as he strode down the corridor. "They will not find it. We have blinded them before and will do so again."

"But, sir, what if they send a team to investigate?"

Strucker paused outside a pair of clear glass cells. "We have hidden in plain sight before. And if we are discovered, then we will simply make whatever team they send disappear without a trace. Won't we, my lovelies?"

The man, a scruffy blond with a twitchy demeanor, nodded briskly before he shivered and suddenly reappeared across the cell. In the other cell, his redheaded sister simply smiled up at him from her seated position where she was entertaining herself by causing a book to turn and whirl in increasingly complex patterns as it levitated in front of her.

The underling, a grandfatherly-looking man with neat greying hair, cleared his throat. "Very good, sir. I will stay on top of things and let you know as they develop, at least until I return back to my lab overseas. Um, Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra, Herr Doctor," Strucker smiled. "Have a safe flight out tomorrow. Do let me know how your latest crop of subjects are coming along, won't you…"

New York City Docks.

The inconspicuous cargo ship looked like many others in port. It was perhaps a little better upkept, with less rust and fewer mismatched spots of paint. But it was alike enough that it blended in seamlessly with the other freight traffic that moved in and out of the busy seaside ports of the world.

Which suited S.H.I.E.L.D. just fine.

One of the most preeminent spy organizations in the world, the agency utilized several ships like this one to monitor worldwide communications and threats. They also served as viable backup sites for data since they were a floating data center in their own right.

The agent in charge of this particular surveillance mission, Agent Jasper Sitwell, was a veteran of S.H.I.E.L.D. and no stranger to the intricacies of his organization. So he didn't even blink at the news that there was a last-minute call from headquarters half an hour before departure.

"Carry on," he ordered the bridge crew as he exited through the hatch. He walked through the corridor towards the secure communications room, nodding to the personnel under his command as he went. He'd been in several operations before, sometimes by himself, other times leading a team. This was certainly the largest group of agents he'd ever been placed in charge of, but he was not a man to preen or feed his ego.

Sitwell was always mission-focused. He liked to think he could work outside the box, but if there was a job to be done, he would make sure it was done.

He was, however, often ridiculed behind his back for a lack of humor. It didn't bother him, really. He didn't mind fun being poked at him so long as his people focused on the job when the time came.

As Sitwell entered the comms room, the agent on duty nodded to him respectfully. "Sir, Secretary Pierce is on the line for you."

The veteran agent kept his face neutral and returned his nod. "Very good. I'm going to need the room, please. Go ahead and grab a coffee."

"Yes, sir," the pleased agent replied.

Sitwell locked the door behind him and then began to rapidly type into a console, first logging on with superuser privileges and then deactivating most of the monitoring failsafes. With a few keystrokes his conversation would be shielded from all eyes and ears.

A few more commands and the terminal switched over to the secure video line. "Secretary," Sitwell greeted his superior politely.

"Ah, Agent Sitwell," Alexander Pierce replied, smiling. "Good to hear from you. Any problems?"

"None, sir, we're on schedule to depart."

"And was the package uploaded successfully?"

Sitwell nodded firmly. "I handled it myself, sir. Even if someone knew it was there, or where to look, they'd have to break the encryption to just download it. And, as you know, it cannot be truly decrypted unless it is done so at the source."

Pierce smiled again in approval. "Very good, Sitwell. It's imperative we keep this backup copy safe and the data's integrity is maintained. It's still too early for Project Insight to fall into the wrong hands."

"You can trust me, sir."

"I know, and I do. Contact me again in a few weeks time when you're on-station, I'll have mission updates for you then."

Sitwell nodded and leaned in towards the microphone, years of cautious habit having driven the need for secrecy into his very being. "Hail Hydra," he whispered.

"Hail Hydra," Alexander Pierce replied soberly before closing the connection.

The Hub, S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility.

Agent Victoria Hand spent much of her formative years with S.H.I.E.L.D. under the tutelage of Nick Fury. While the two of them often differed on opinion, and could even clash vociferously over issues, the one thing she learned from the enigmatic man which she clung to religiously was his ability to stay on top of everything.

So it was that her usual morning routine as head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility called The Hub was to review the reports and advisements, not just from her own building but from across S.H.I.E.L.D. in general. The one she was currently reading, however, had her brows creased.

There was a knock at her door and she looked up with some small amount of exasperation. She knew that if someone had the temerity to interrupt her routine that there was something dire that surfaced in the world. "Yes?" she inquired sharply.

Agent Lovato, a pleasant-faced young woman with long light brown hair, nodded hesitantly at the prompt. "Ma'am, we just received notification of the Guest House's destruction. The failsafe was engaged."

Hand sat back with a concerned look on her face. The Guest House was an old World War II bunker that had been converted into a top-secret, Level Ten S.H.I.E.L.D. medical and research facility, though currently it should only have had a skeleton security force minding things.

As a Level Eight agent herself, Hand was not privy to the contents of the facility. It was yet another item she needed to contact a certain person about.

"Very well, Agent Lovato. Thank you."

After she left, Hand turned to her console and opened up a channel. After a few seconds a stern face came on, one she'd not seen in some time.

"Agent Hand," the eyepatched man greeted her amiably.

"Director Fury," Hand nodded back. "Am I catching you at a bad time?"

The man actually chuckled slightly. "No more so than usual, Victoria. What can I do for you?"

"Two items, actually. The first being the Guest House. I was just notified of the self-destruct activation."

Fury nodded neutrally. "I am aware of this, yes."

Bloody man could give the card sharks at Vegas a run for their money. "The second is a search op you have planned in Sokovia. I've reviewed the details of the mission planning-"

"Agent Hand, do you have too much time on your hands?" Fury quipped.

Hand looked at her former supervisor, eyes glinting hard. "You know I review all operations that could affect my facility."

Fury nodded, a somewhat pleased look on his weathered face. "All right, then. So what's your concern?"

"This Agent Caitlin Brown that you have assigned. I've been looking into her, quite frankly, rather remarkable file, but I'm concerned whether or not it's wise to involve her. Isn't she too close to this?"

Fury regarded her for a few heartbeats before responding. "On the contrary, her involvement goes deeper than most others would appreciate. I believe she will be invaluable on this operation."

Hand sighed heavily. "I hope you know what you're doing, Nick," she murmured.

"I always do," Fury replied with a smirk.

Hand laughed lightly, a rare sight for the usually driven and stoic woman. "Yes, I suppose you do." She leaned forward then, a deadly serious expression on her face. "One other thing. I'm concerned with the tone of some of the reports I've been reviewing lately. They seem… off. Perhaps modified? Sometimes they don't match the same tone as the rest of the report."

"Noticed that, did you?" Fury sighed.

The female agent stared at Fury for a long minute. "You be careful, Nick," she finally murmured.

"You do the same, Victoria." He paused, as if he were about to end the connection but changed his mind at the last second. "Something is coming. I don't know what it is, and that in itself worries me. But we all need to be prepared." And with that he finally signed off.

Victoria Hand sat back in her chair thoughtfully and pondered long and hard the meaning behind the enigmatic man's words.

Sahara Desert. Egypt.

"I do not like sand," Caitlin complained.

"Really? I must have forgotten the last five times you mentioned it," Jinx snarked back over the comm.

Caitlin was crawling across the dune to get a better vantage point over the sprawling complex. It consisted of several buildings, mostly made out of concrete, and housed their target, the very mad scientist Amir Rahal.

She shifted further until she was just poking over the edge. The setting sun was in her face, but that was better than at her back and presenting her profile. And as she didn't need binoculars she wouldn't give herself away with any reflections.

The diminutive brunette winced as a fresh torrent of sand trickled into her boot. Not for the first time she just wished she could have left her boots off. Or her newly-issued sand-colored fatigues, which did nothing to keep the chafing grit out.

"Alright, in position," she reported. "Three patrols in pairs, as advertised. Main workshop is in the middle, storage building next door, everything looks just like it did in the satellite pics… Okay, I can see a cluster of scientists moving from the offices over to the workshop." She paused and squinted in the bright sunlight. "Confirm, one of them is Rahal, he's on-site."

"Let's go, people," Boss ordered gruffly. "We wait for nightfall and we miss the opportunity. Need to take that Iron-Man-killing-robot offline before he can put it to use."

"Almost worth it to just let it do its thing," Caitlin joked quietly.

Boss chuckled lightly. "Yes, you made your opinion of Mr. Stark known already, Cat."

Caitlin shifted irritably again. "Hey, did I mention how much I hate sand?"

They waited for a break in the patrol pattern before all four of them headed down. Caitlin was on point, backed up by Dale with his rifle and Jinx with her pistol. Boss brought up the rear with his submachine gun and their backup plan slung across his back.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent them on this mission with a specialized bit of equipment, just the thing for dealing with giant killer robots. It was an EMP cannon the size of an overly large shotgun. It took twenty seconds to charge, but once it did the blast it delivered was enough to irrevocably fry any electronics targeted. Boss, with his weaponry expertise, was in charge of the contingency. Their primary plan was to apprehend the scientists and disable the controls before the robot was activated.

Once they got down onto the grounds of the compound the hated sand gave way to hard rocky ground. The four agents slipped through the buildings and almost reached the targeted building before they were spotted.

Dale's rifle barked twice. "Well, that's it then, subterfuge over," he murmured.

Four more soldiers rounded the corner and Caitlin dropped each one before they even had time to bring their weapons to bear. "Boss, we still moving?"

"Affirmative, continue to target. Stick together people."

More soldiers came pouring around the corners and from various buildings. The four deadly agents brought each one to an untimely end. Dale took a hit to his shin, just a graze really but it was enough to give him a slight limp, and Caitlin had one bullet burn its way across her back, though it was healing up quickly as it was rather superficial as well.

Finally they made their way into the large workshop, Caitlin breaking the doors down with a booted foot and rolling inside. She dealt with the few soldiers clustered there and called out an all-clear shortly thereafter.

The four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents crept through the cavernous room into the slightly smaller research area. Three men in white lab coats were hurrying about with their arms stuffed with papers while the fourth simply sat at a terminal and typed furiously.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, everyone down on the ground, now!" Boss barked out.

The three upright scientists immediately complied, but the fourth simply ignored them and continued his work.

"Amir Rahal, step away from the console or I will open fire!" Boss ordered one last time.

With a flourish of his hands Rahal finished his typing and looked up with a leer on his face. "You're too late!" he cackled manically.

Metallic groans and creaking noises sounded from the room they had just left.

"Oh, that does not sound good," Jinx murmured.

"Pull back, we do not want to get trapped in here!" Boss got them moving back the way they came, with the mad roboticist's ravings following them.

"He's not yet fully weaponized, but plenty strong to deal with the likes of you! You will all perish at the hands of my creation!"

"Can I just shoot him, please?" Dale grunted as he jogged along.

"Focus!" the team leader barked.

Caitlin led the way. She refrained from sprinting so that she could stay with her team but led far enough so that she might clear the area of hostiles. When she got to the main room, she looked about for targets but stopped incredulously at the sight of the robot towering at least ten feet high who was emerging from the shadows.

"Oh, shit," she whispered, backing up slowly.

The monstrosity had several weapons emplacements still empty, but it had long gorilla-like arms and a heavily armored torso. Its head was set low between its shoulders and a dim red light emanated from a slot by where the eyes would be in a human.

The others joined the petite brunette and moved towards the entrance. "Hold it off!" Boss called out as he unslung the EMP weapon. "Twenty seconds to charge!"

Their bullets zinged off of the robot's armor without causing it to even hesitate. It moved with an unanticipated speed and swung at Caitlin, who was closest, with a massive steel fist. She managed to dodge away as the blow sent shards of concrete flying, but then it focused its attention on the others.

Caitlin let out a low growl. It was going to smash one of her teammates before that EMP could fire, unless she did something, fast.

She sprinted towards the towering behemoth, nimbly sliding between its legs while kicking out and causing it to stumble slightly. Once behind, she jumped up and grabbed what handholds she could find to scurry up the back. If it wasn't weaponized, maybe there would be an open port or access hatch where she could do some damage...

"Cat, look out!" Jinx screamed.

The undersized agent looked up just as a massive hand clamped over her head. She felt herself become airborne before she was slammed into the concrete ground, knocking the wind out of her. She lay on the ground, stunned and feeling the twinge of pain from a broken rib or two. And then she saw both of the robot's fists descend down on her before she could even think of rolling out of the way.

The giant robot repeated his assault one more time and then picked up Caitlin's limp and bleeding figure, flinging it across the room to smash into the far wall where she crumpled into a boneless wet heap.

"Firing!" Boss shouted. There was a whirring noise and then a blue light exploded against the robot's chest. It staggered and then froze as the red light on its head sputtered out. The only noises left were the creaking of rapidly-cooling metal.

"Boss," Dale said in a strained voice. "Rahal is rabbiting."

The team leader nodded, unable to look away from the bloody smear that ran down the far wall to point towards Caitlin's resting place. "Right. Take the kill shot. Jinx, go… Please check on her."

There was a sharp report of a rifle's discharge as Jinx jogged over to where Caitlin's body lay. "Target neutralized," Dale said quietly. "Do you really expect anything left of Cat?"

"I don't know, Dale," he sighed heavily as he made his way over. "She's pretty tough-"

"Boss!" Jinx yelled. "She's alive! She's still alive!"

"Son of a bitch," he murmured wonderingly as he picked up his pace. Sure enough, as he approached he saw the brunette's eyes flutter as if trying to open. She was a bloody, broken mess, her limbs twisted and bent in all sorts of unnatural angles and her hair matted with the red sticky substance that seemed to leak from everywhere. As he got closer he could see what seemed to be a rib poking out from her side through one of the many tears in her fatigues.

"Jesus, Cat," Dale muttered as he crouched down, his medic kit clutched in his hands. "I don't even… I don't know where to even begin…"

Jinx was already on the comm to request an immediate medevac. The words 'agent down' often had a motivational impact on such requests.

Caitlin's eyes finally opened all the way, and she looked around. Her right eye was bloodshot and didn't seem to be able to focus. "Ow," she moaned breathlessly. Her every breath sounded like a struggle and rattled in what was left of her ruined chest.

"Shh, it's okay chica," Jinx murmured as she hovered over her friend, unsure where to even try and touch her. "We're gonna get you out of here, alright? You just hang on…"

"Can't… feel…" the brunette choked out.

Boss winced as he saw the twist to her back. Her spine was likely fractured in multiple locations, which would spare her from most of the pain, but at what cost? "Cat, what in the hell did you think you were doing," he admonished quietly, not expecting an answer.

Caitlin gave a wet cough. "Needed… twenty… seconds…" she gasped painfully before she blacked out again.

Medical Ward. Helicarrier.

Boss, Dale, and Jinx all gathered inside the surgery ward. Caitlin was still in critical condition, though she'd been under the knife for four hours as the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors tried to repair what they could.

"She seemed to have healed some of her internal damage," the surgeon, a man named Dr Davidson, was explaining. "But we've set what we could, aligned her bones…"

He trailed off as a newcomer stormed into the room, his sharp blue eyes probing the individuals within before resting on Caitlin's still form. The diminutive girl looked awfully frail and small in a hospital gown, swathed with bandages, hooked up to several monitors and IVs, and with inflatable casts on all four of her limbs.

"Doctor, status," the blonde man ordered quietly.

"Yes, Agent Barton, as I was just explaining, we fixed what we could in surgery, what she hadn't healed already, but she seems to have stopped healing herself. I understand she has some sort of accelerated process but once she was put under she seems to be healing at the same rate as a normal person."

"The one thing she is not, is normal," Barton murmured. "You said 'put under', is she drugged?"

Davidson nodded wearily. "We had to, in order to operate, she kept waking up screaming. Her body was ignoring the dosage until we increased it high enough to, well, tranquilize an elephant."

The blonde archer nodded thoughtfully, his probing eyes never resting on any one spot. "Agent Marshall," he finally said, "I need you and your team to wait outside, please."

Boss cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Sir, I don't want to be insubordinate, but Cat is our teammate…"

The newcomer looked up then, and the other team members were reminded of why he was called Hawkeye. His eyes bored into them, seemingly able to nail them to the proverbial wall. "I understand that, but this is now above your clearance level. Clear the room."

Nodding his head, Boss turned without another word and ushered the others out. Jinx walked backwards, unable to tear her eyes off of her friend's figure until the door closed.

"Doctor, what is your clearance level?"

Davidson looked over in surprise. "Um, I'm Level Five, is there a reason-"

"Not high enough," Barton cut him off. "You need to leave as well. Grab whatever staff you can, at least Level Seven, and get them in here." He glanced at him, bringing his piercing gaze to bear. "Quickly, Doctor."

"Of course…"

Davidson swept out of the room while the blonde muscular man stepped over and rested a hand lightly on Caitlin's forehead. "You in there, Cat?" he murmured.

After only a half a minute another doctor barged in wearing green scrubs instead of a white coat. "Agent Barton, I'm Doctor Green, chief surgeon," the older woman stated. "I have level seven clearance, what can I do for you?"

He gave her a curt nod before taking the medical professional's tablet from her hands and put in his authorization. He typed a few quick commands before pulling up Caitlin's file.

"Look this over. I need to wake her up and talk to her. I think the drugs are preventing her from healing."

Doctor Green scanned the file on the tablet, her eyes widening. "I see… But I'm afraid I don't understand, if we just let her heal naturally…"

"...Then she might not heal her bones correctly, or might get an infection, or would need physical therapy before she could be active again, if ever, with that kind of back injury," Barton finished for her. "She needs to shift to heal. Wake her up."

Sighing, she complied, walking over and dialing down the pain medication. "She's going to be in a tremendous amount of pain," Green reprimanded.

Barton nodded. "She can handle it," he whispered.

After another minute or two, Caitlin's eyelids began to flutter.

"Cat," Barton said urgently as he leaned over her. "Come on, wake up, girl."

Finally she opened her eyes fully and blearily peered around the room. Her normally pale green eyes were clouded and grey. "Clint?" she croaked out.

"Hey, kid," Barton said warmly. "Welcome back. You with me?"

Caitlin blinked her eyes slowly. "Hospital?" she whispered.

"Yeah, we're on the helicarrier. You got busted up pretty bad." Barton drew in a breath. "You're not healing, Cat. Can you transform to help with that?"

The petite brunette blinked again and frowned. "No," she finally muttered. "Too… too fuzzy… ev'rything's… cloudy…"

Barton sighed and looked down at her body. The inflatable casts had her limbs immobilized but even so he could tell that there were multiple fractures. "Doctor, how many bones are broken?"

"Honestly, Agent Barton, it'd be easier just letting you read the report," the greying woman replied. She typed in her tablet and then handed it over to the blonde archer. He perused it while Caitlin drifted in and out of consciousness. By the time he got to the end of it his eyebrows had climbed up his forehead.

"How…" He shook his head. "How is she even alive?"

"It's been the talk of the medical ward," she said with a slight smile.

Barton closed his eyes. He already knew what needed to be done, and this was unlike him to hesitate when a course of action was already decided. But this small girl had grown on him in a way few others had, and his fondness for her was going to make this all the more painful.

"We need to take her completely off of the meds," he said firmly once he opened his eyes again. "All of it. She needs it out of her system before she can transform."

"But…" Green shook her head. "Do you have any idea how much pain she will be in?"

Barton looked over at her sharply. "Believe me, Doctor, I know. Take her off."

Green sighed and complied, turning off the medication completely while the blonde agent leaned in again.

"Cat, can you hear me?"

The petite brunette peeled her eyes open again as she'd had them closed for awhile. "Hey, Clint," she whispered. "Am I… Are we in a hospital?"

Barton nodded. "Yes, we're on the helicarrier," he repeated patiently. "We're taking the pain meds off of you so you can transform. It's going to hurt like a bitch, though, when it wears off."

Caitlin blinked slowly once more. "'Kay," she said faintly.

"I'll be right here, not going to leave your side. You keep trying to transform, alright?"

She frowned slightly. "Tried to nod," she murmured.

"Yeah, you're pretty well immobilized. Spine's been broken in a few places. I'm hoping you can change before you start healing and feeling places you really don't want to right now." He glanced over at the doctor who was now standing back from the bed as if to distance her from any repercussions. "Doctor, you can leave. Please lock the door behind you."

She gave a curt nod and then left without speaking.

He sat with the teenaged girl for about ten minutes, talking to her quietly about mundane things, until her face began to crease with anxiety.

"Clint," she whimpered. "I can… I'm starting to feel it…"

"Come on, Cat, transform," he urged firmly. He stood up and placed his hands on either side of her face, careful not to touch the broken cheekbone on her right side. "You've got to change."

"I can't," she moaned. "Oh, God… I can't…"

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, concentrating hard. Clint could tell when her spine started healing as her back began to rise up slightly, and he felt his hands become moist from the tears leaking from her eyes.

"You can do this, Cat," Barton encouraged. "Transform. You've done it hundreds of times."

Suddenly her back arched completely off of the bed and her mouth opened to let out a heart-wrenching scream. The blonde agent held on and kept shouting at her, begging her to change.

And then, almost in the blink of an eye, he was no longer holding the face of the teenaged brunette. Instead there was a small black short-haired cat lying on her side, panting and mewling pitifully.

The door banged open behind Barton as Dr Green barged back in. "Agent Barton, I cannot allow-"

"Door closed, now!" he shouted over his shoulder.

He heard the sound it it closing and locking again before she approached, peering at the small feline with awe. "Is that… She did it?"

"She did it," he confirmed with relief. He stretched out his hand to pet the cat, but got clawed for his effort. Laughing in surprise, he snatched his hand back. "Alright, no touching," he said with a smile.

"I don't know what to do for her now," Green murmured, still looking somewhat perplexed. "I'm not a veterinarian."

"Relax, it'll be fine," Barton reassured her. He moved the inflatable casts off of the bed as well as the tubes and her sweat-soaked hospital gown. Then he leaned down to eye level with the panting cat, careful to remain out of scratching range. "Do you think you can change back? I think it would help you more, right?"

Caitlin flicked her tail slightly before she became a teenaged-looking girl once more, curled up miserably on her side in the fetal position. "Owie," she whispered weakly.

"Damn, girl, you're something else," Barton said admiringly. "Let's get you a new gown."

Green nodded briskly and rummaged in a cabinet before finding one. They got her dressed again and settled with the monitoring hookups in place, but without the IV.

"Really tired," Caitlin sighed. "That was, well, pretty horrible."

The doctor was feeling along her upper limbs carefully. "This is absolutely remarkable," she was murmuring. "All the bones are completely healed, proper and straight. We'll do some x-rays to be sure, but you should be able to be moved into a normal recovery ward soon."

Caitlin glanced down at Barton's hand where he was holding her own. "Oh, Clint, did I do that?" she asked worriedly as she eyed the long bloody scratches.

"Believe me, I've gotten worse," he chuckled in reply. "I do need to get going, though. I've got a three month assignment coming up that I was about to depart for when I heard about you."

"I'm glad you came by," she smiled at him gratefully.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood," he replied with a smirk. He glanced over as a fist began pounding on the door. "And that would be your very overprotective team."

"Oh, leave them alone, they just worry about me," she sighed good-naturedly.

"They're not the only one. Tasha's on her way, she left from a mission as soon as she heard about you too."

"What?" Caitlin sputtered. "Why would she leave a mission? She's going to get in trouble!"

"You know Tasha, she puts the mission before everything," Barton reassured her. "If she's on her way then she's already finished, just likely skipped out on her debrief." He leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Glad you're better now, Cat."

"Me too. Thanks, Clint."

He strode over to the door and opened it to reveal a furious-looking Agent Marshall. "What did you do to her?" he demanded hotly, both Jinx and Dale backing him up with murderous looks on their faces.

"Nothing, Agent Marshall, just helped her heal." He gestured behind him to where Caitlin lay, waving at her team weakly.

Boss shook his head obstinately. "Listen, Barton-"

"Stop," the blonde archer interrupted, much more gently than he could have. "I understand you are concerned for her. But you don't have the clearance. If you don't like it, take it up with the Director." He glanced back over his shoulder and smirked. "Try not to get flattened again while I'm gone."

"And you try not to jump off of any more buildings," Caitlin joked back.

"It was the one time," Barton sighed as he shouldered past the three agents and exited.

Her teammates gathered around her incredulously while Caitlin gave them a nervous smile. "Hi, guys," she started, twisting her hands in her lap while the Doctor checked her legs and feet. "Sorry to worry you."

"You're sorry?" Jinx asked incredulously. "You're sorry you worried us?"

"Um, yeah?" she replied anxiously.

The pink-haired girl eyed her critically. "Are you still hurting, or, like, broken anywhere?"

"Nope, all better, just a little sore and tired," the brunette answered.

"Good," Jinx huffed out before throwing herself across her in a tight hug. "You are such a freaking idiot," she murmured into the diminutive girl's shoulder.

Dale was shaking his head with an unreadable look in his eyes. "You are something else, that's for sure," he murmured.

"How long are you going to need to recover?" Boss asked gruffly as he tried to unsuccessfully hide his concern.

"Um, maybe a few days or so?" she replied, patting Jinx on the back. "I mean, a week would be great, but we usually don't get that much time…"

"Well, it would seem Director Fury has specially requested our team for a search and destroy op overseas," he mentioned much more calmly. "If you don't think you're up to it…"

"No, no I'll be up for it! No problem!" she said excitedly. "When do we leave?"

Boss chuckled. "We have two days. Rest up, and we'll handle the pre-op planning, okay?"

"Sure thing, thanks Boss!"

"Jinx, you need to let your teammate go now."

"Nope, I'm good like this. My cuddle-buddy needs me. Healing powers of friendship, and all that."

"Jinx…"

The pink-haired agent let out a very put-upon sigh and stood upright again. "Fine, I know, they still want our debrief." She glared at her friend and pointed a bright pink manicured nail at her. "Don't you go anywhere, alright?"

Caitlin grinned back up at her. "Promise."

"Hey, if you get moved to a recovery room tonight, I'll bring a movie by we can watch. How about Snakes on a Plane?"

She considered her words, briefly consulting Chris for the relevant data. "That's the one with the guy who says everything is 'motherfucking', right?"

"That's the one!" Jinx laughed. "He kinda reminds me of Directory Fury."

Dale snorted as he headed towards the door. "I could never imagine the Director saying 'motherfucking', I don't think it's in his vocabulary."

"Oh yeah, I can totally hear it now," Jinx giggled. "'I'm tired of these motherfucking Avengers on my motherfucking helicarrier!'"

Caitlin snickered and clutched her sides. "Oh, stop, please, it hurts to laugh yet…"

Sure enough, an hour or so later she was moved just across the hall to a recovery room. She fell asleep shortly thereafter, but was woken up by a soft noise after an interminable nap.

She glanced around the dim room to see Maria Hill crouched next to the small couch where a redheaded figure appeared to be dozing.

"Maria?" she croaked quietly.

The lanky woman stood and walked over with a smile. "Hey, Cat. You thirsty?"

Caitlin nodded gratefully and accepted the tepid cup of water. She drank greedily from the straw while peering over at Natasha. "When did she get in?"

"About an hour ago," Maria explained as she took the cup back. "Came right down to see you. I think she'd gone at least seventy-two hours without sleep. I figured I'd let her slumber on."

"Yeah. That'd be good," Caitlin whispered. "I'm sorry I worried everyone."

"Well, it comes with the job. But you do have a lot of people who care about you."

The diminutive brunette nodded, then glanced up into the other woman's bright blue eyes. "I heard Boss, um, Agent Marshall, mention an op overseas. Is that what I think it is?"

Maria smiled. "Yes, the Director has a region in mind to search now. It's a long-term op, at least until you locate the lab and call down a strike team to assist. Are you going to be up for it?"

Caitlin smirked. "Nothing will keep me away. I'll be fine, maybe not up to a hundred percent fighting form, but well enough for a search."

"Alright then," Maria sighed, glancing back over. "She looks so peaceful like that," she murmured.

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed softly. "I don't think she can relax that much around many people, right?"

"No, she can't. We should consider ourselves fortunate we fall into that category." The lanky Commander turned back around with a smile. "Want to hear a secret?"

Caitlin nodded eagerly, which made Maria chuckle softly. "I have never in my life been so head over heels for anyone, man or woman," she continued. "Scary as it is, I wouldn't want it any other way."

The woman reached over and pulled a strand of hair across Caitlin's face and tucked it behind her ear. "Well, Caitlin, you rest up. I've got to get back on duty. I'll stop by afterwards, though, alright?"

"Alright, Maria. Thanks."

The petite girl waited for the Commander to depart before she closed her eyes and rested her head against her pillow. "You can stop faking now," she murmured.

"Damn cat-ears," Natasha grumbled softly.

"You just wanted to hear what she'd say about you when she thought you weren't listening, didn't you?"

"Mmhmm. And I won't mention your crush on Summer Glau if you don't mention this conversation."

"That's fighting dirty, Tasha."

"That it is, kotenok koshka. Get some sleep."

Caitlin smiled softly. "Thanks for coming, Tasha."

She could hear the answering smile in Natasha's voice. "Anytime, Cat."

A/N: Caitlin should totally guilt-trip Stark about getting flattened like a pancake while trying to defeat a robot that was meant to attack him. Doubt it'd get him to stop calling her a junior scout, however.

So, as you might have noticed from the intro bits in this chapter, we seem to be drawing closer to the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier and all that entails. Stay tuned…

Many thanks to my awesome Betas, PandaAnimeLover (yes I will try to use 'diminutive' less often, I like the word alright?) and KellyConnely. Hugs and virtual plushie pillows for my reviewers (TooLegit, crazehfreakbehungreh000, Dracowoman, Trench gun, Aiphira, theradvlad - typo corrected and wet noodle flagellations applied to my Betas, chaosrin - I really try not to stray too far into AU territory, but all shall be revealed in due time, mwahahaha), holy crap there were a lot of reviewers this time! Also much love to my favoriters and all those who have followed me. Cheers, and till next time!