Fifteen minutes later, a knock on her door jolted Nancy awake. She'd just barely fallen asleep, too.

A soft (ish) voice filtered through the door. "Agent."

With a groan, she pushed herself up from her bed and dragged herself over to the door. She opened it just enough to see the director. "Yes, sir?

"Have you been to the medical ward yet?" Fury raised an eyebrow at her and folded his hands in front of him. He'd have answers, or she'd never be rid of him. And, of course, he had already checked to see if she had found her way in for the check-up she was required to undergo.

"They're just broken ribs, sir. I'm sure the doctors have other, more severe patients to attend to."

"Your report says you were hurt." Fury lightly shook his head. She was really out of it, wasn't she? Had she read the rulebook? "Do you remember protocol?"

Nancy sighed. Protocol. At a time like this. "Right now, sir, I'm lucky I remember my own name."

Fury gave a small smile. Sarcasm. At least that meant he didn't scare her, like most people. He'd make a note to keep her around for a while. "Med ward, agent. Be there in ten."

Nancy nodded slightly and pushed out past him, closing her door behind her. Honestly, these people had no respect for sensitive traumatized psyches.

"Hours?" she mumbled to herself as she made her way down the long stretch of agents' quarters, "It'd be great if those were hours. Or days. I could go for days. Ten days. Yep."

"Still here, agent." Fury spoke from behind her, "Still have two good ears."

Nancy winced. Of course he heard all that. "I know, sir." She slouched down the hall as quickly as her legs dared to carry her. The sooner she got checked out, the sooner she could go back to sleep.

As Nancy made her way out into the main corridor, Agent Maria Hill strode past. She stopped momentarily and stared after Nancy, watching her stagger down the halls. So, she had survived. Lucky girl, surviving a kidnapping by Loki. She looked terrible, though. Like she'd been through hell.

"Agent Hill. A moment?"

Hill turned and started after Fury as he walked in the opposite direction. Her long strides easily brought her to his side.

"She looks awful." she commented, "Did Loki harm her?"

"Says she was hurt when the carrier started to crash." The director shoved his hands in his pockets. Far be it from him to speculate about her physical health. He'd leave that to the professionals. Just suffice it to say he had his doubts.

"We all were, sir." Hill admitted. She subconsciously reached to finger the healing cut above her right eye, but caught herself and refrained, "You wanted something?"

"She's going to med bay. I need a sympathetic ear and a report on her injuries. She doesn't seem to trust me."

A creepy guy in a black trench with an eye patch. Of course she didn't.

"Really, sir?" Hill asked with her usual serious aloofness, "I can't imagine why." Pleased with her subtle jab, she nodded once and turned to leave.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Fury stopped in his tracks. He hated to do it, but it might have to be done. For everyone's safety, including Agent McAllister's. "And, Hill…"

Agent Hill stopped mid-stride and turned slightly, glancing at Fury out of the corner of her eyes. "Yes, sir?"

"If she's in too deep, I'm authorizing you to pull her off the Asgardian nut's case."

Hill nodded once more and turned away, immediately heading for the medical ward. So, McAllister was hiding something. Strange. She'd never seemed the type. But lately, Hill was finding out that not everything was as it seemed.

As she made her way down to the medical ward, Hill thought on all the destruction. The explosions. The brainwashed agents. All the people of New York. So many agents would be down there in med bay, dying or already dead.

With a sigh, she stepped through the glass double doors, the white S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle spreading its wings to allow her entrance. Covered cots lined the walls, white sheets covering the bodies of the dead. As she passed one, she stopped momentarily. Out of respect, she told herself. Only out of respect. She turned her face slightly away, unable to stand the sight of blood pooling on the thin sheet. Then she remembered, she'd picked up the cards the director had dropped. She told herself she'd put them back in the locker. They deserved to be where they belonged.

With a steady hand – it was only steady because she willed it to be – she carefully plucked one of the cards out of her pocket. He would've wanted it. Just one to keep with him. Hill gently placed the card above the pool of blood, the faded image of Captain America smiling up at her from the card. She swallowed hard and continued on.

Beyond those cots, living agents moaned in pain as doctors darted back and forth between them. She didn't count how many agents lined the walls. She didn't want to. Some other official would give Fury his required body count. No, she'd do it. Eventually, she'd do it. But right now, thankfully, she had other work to tend to.

Finally reaching the end of the hall, Agent Hill pushed open another set of glass double-doors. These led to the minor-emergency clinic. Agents with broken wrists and sprained ankles lined the small waiting room. She glanced around, finally spotting Agent McAllister.

"McAllister." she said, walking over to her.

"Oh. Agent Hill. Hello." Nancy's blood ran cold. The director had sent Hill. She could fake all she wanted to Fury. Hill would see right through it. She carefully leaned back in her chair, "I'm guessing the director sent you?"

"He did. You mind explaining why?"

"You didn't hear? Loki kidnapped me."

"I know that, agent. Mind telling me why I'm here?"

Nancy shrugged, causing Hill to raise an eyebrow. How could she shrug with something broken? "Doesn't that hurt?"

"No. Why would it?"

"You're here for something."

"My… my ribs. I broke them."

Agent Hill narrowed her eyes at Nancy. There it was. The lie. "Then how can you shrug?"

Nancy sighed, knowing she couldn't hide her secret forever. "Loki healed me."

"He healed you?" Now that was impossible. He was a mass murderer. How, no why, would he heal a woman he'd barely met?

Nancy winced slightly at Hill's disbelieving tone. "Yeah. I ruptured something. I still have the bruises to prove it." Nancy carefully untucked her shirt and lifted it slightly. Her whole right side was purple and swollen. It still hurt, and she'd definitely ruptured something, but at least she was alive. Hill placed her hand over Nancy's, signaling for her to put her shirt down.

"Why would he do that?"

Nancy shrugged again. "I guess he wasn't done playing. He called me his 'plaything'."

How awful. "Hm. Anything else?"

"He… I saw him when he was injured. The Hulk tossed him around. I tried to offer medical assistance. He didn't want it."

Hill nodded slowly. Of course he didn't. "And?"

"And when we were on the quinjet he let me have my eye-drops. My eyes were itching from my contacts and he let the agents untie one of my hands so I could use them."

Now that was news. "That doesn't sound like him."

"I know. But, because of this new information, I was able to finish my psychoanalysis."

Hill glanced around at the other patients. There was no need for McAllister to be here if she was uninjured.

"And your ribs? The director said you were injured when we fell."

"I was. It was the rupture. I'm fine now. Really."

Hill glanced around again, debating breaking protocol. These other agents needed real medical attention. The doctors couldn't waste any time on already healed patients. After this mess was dealt with, she'd send McAllister back down here for a full medical evaluation. But, for now, it was unnecessary.

"Come on. We'll walk and talk."

Nancy stood and joined Agent Hill in her walk down the hall.

"You know the director will want your complete statement in writing. And all your reports." As well as her own report of McAllister's 'miraculous' healing.

"Yes." Nancy sighed, "I know."

"Why did you hide this from him?" She could tell McAllister was hiding. It was written on her plain as day.

Nancy shrugged again. "I thought he'd be mad. Mad that I let Loki take me. That I didn't fight back. That I tried to help him. Am I going to get demoted for this?"

Hill scanned the bodies along the wall, searching for an answer.

"I'm not sure." she finally decided, "That's up to the director." McAllister was, however, getting removed from the Asgardian case. That much was certain. She'd been a kidnap victim. She was, by definition, too emotionally involved.

Nancy nodded slowly. Of course the decision was up to the director. Every decision was up to the director. That's why he was the director. Because he was in charge of everything.

As they continued on, Nancy spotted a small card lying on top of one of the bodies. Strange, that someone would place a lone card on top of the deceased. She stepped over to the cot and looked down at it. A vintage Captain America trading card.

"Hey, isn't this Coulson's?"

"That is Coulson."