Christie was lounging around on her sofa in her black tracksuit bottoms and white crop top for the first time in a while, as she got to scoffing some of the leftover pizza from Ashley's birthday. Having high metabolism allowed her to be somewhat free with her food choices, although she tended to keep to a stricter and healthier diet to keep her energy levels stable for her missions.

Today was different though.

She decided to take Thor's advice and try and let herself feel things in an attempt to heal from her lover's untimely death. She'd tapped out of her missions until further notice so that she could mourn possible.

But then came the surprise call from her mother and aunt. Their faces flew up on her holographic screen from the coffee table and all she could do was gasp. "Mum?" Christie blinked rapidly in surprise.

"Hello Christianna," Mella sighed heavy-heartedly, whilst Aunt Meredith pitifully shook her head on the other screen. "I take it you've heard the news?"

"News?" Christie repeated, still trying to cope with the fact that she was speaking with her mum for the first time in years.

"The news, dear. Yesterday afternoon, your sister was removed from S.H.I.E.L.D," Aunt Meredith announced whilst popping red grapes into her mouth. Christie's heart sank and the shock enveloped her face.

"What?! What…what do you mean?" she spluttered.

"I mean she's gone. She called me last night from the mansion an absolute wreck. Fury kicked her out," Mella put it in simpler terms miserably. "I thought she was doing well there?"

"Well, you can never be too sure," Aunt Meredith grumbled.

"No but she was!" Christie insisted to them both with widened eyes. "She loved everyone, they all loved her and she even went on a date-"

"Yes and on that date she saw silver, Christie. She ended up floating and it's all over the internet - so perhaps the whole thing made Fury realise how hazardous she was," Mella murmured sadly.

"How bizarre of him," Aunt Meredith tutted.

But Christie was incredibly confused.

"Have you spoken to Fury to ask him?" she quizzed them as she opened the S.H.I.E.L.D database and scrolled down to Ashley's name.

There it was. 'DISMISSED' in those massive, bold, intrusive letters.

"Your sister made me swear that I wouldn't get involved. The girl is far too proud for her own good sometimes," Mella rolled her eyes back, making Christie groan and slam her hands over her face. "She's heartbroken. She thought that this was a forever home but Fury just sent her back like a bad pet."

"Incredibly distasteful on his part," Aunt Meredith shuddered. "I don't understand what makes Ashley so different from, say…Banner?"

"I know. Perhaps the world isn't as ready for mutants as we thought," Mella hummed glumly, looking so incredibly fed up. But Christie still said nothing. She knew that something didn't sound right about this entire ordeal, but couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"Well you promised that you wouldn't speak to Fury - I didn't," she suddenly muttered as she scrolled through the database for his contact.

"Make sure you keep me on the line," Mella grunted bitterly. "I have a few words lined up for him myself."

"Me too. I can't believe he speared this nonsense. He's becoming the very thing he promised not to become," Aunt Meredith tutted once more. Just as they both launched into a rant on Fury's unreasonable behaviour, Christie's front door buzzer went off. She snapped her head up to see who it was via the intercom, and couldn't help but sigh once she saw.

She muted the phone call so that she could talk to Steve in peace.

"How the hell do you guys keep finding my house?" she groaned down the talkback system. Steve gave her an apologetic grimace.

"It really wasn't that hard. Can I come in?" he blinked. Christie bit her cheeks and fell quiet, which Steve quickly picked up on. "Please, Christie. It's about Ashley…something's not sitting right with me."

That was when Christie actually listened to him.

"Fine. Follow the steps down," she muttered, buzzing him straight through before returning to the call. The two women were still wrapped up in the ordeal, somewhat enraged. "Mum? Aunt Mez? I'm gonna have to go, I'll call you guys later," Christie spoke over their clashing voices loudly.

"Because the cheek of him to- oh, alright sweetie, talk later! The CHEEK of him to-" Mella was cut off just as the solid knock of Christie's front door came through. She hopped to her feet and rushed to let Steve in. He looked incredibly uneasy, drawn out and tired - it took her aback.

"Steve," she breathed, yanking him in and shutting the door behind him. "I-"

"I keep thinking it's my fault," Steve muttered in admission. "If I never took her to the Thai place, she would've never experienced the kidnap and if she never experienced the kidnap, she wouldn't have ever quit."

Christie recoiled at his last word.

"Quit? Steve, she…she didn't quit," she scoffed. But then it was Steve's turn to jerk his head back.

"Pretty sure she did, Christie," he gave an uncertain slight chuckle, cocking his head to side to determine whether or not she was being serious.

That just confused Christie even more.

"No…she didn't. Fury literally kicked her out," she argued back. Her skin was getting hot and she felt herself grow agitated with him, which was unusual. "Steve, I think you've-"

"Wait, wait," Steve blinked, raising his hands in the air to try and soothe the ever-growing tension. "Christie, who told you that Fury kicked her out?"

"Ashley? She told my mum, in floods of tears last night! Who the hell told you that she'd quit?" Christie shot back, folding her arms defensively. Steve looked up and waited for a few seconds of empty confusion before answering,

"…Ashley."

"What?!" Christie blinked, her blood running cold and her mouth going dry. Steve didn't have any answers for her, but one look at his face confirmed how truthful he was being. "Right, come and sit down. Clearly we have some calls to make," she murmured, leading him to the sofa and sitting next to him. Christie leaned across the coffee table and pressed the holographic call button to call her mother and aunt back, praying that they were still on the line. To her relief, their faces swiftly popped up.

"That was quick- oh!" Mella gasped, the shock evident on her face at the sight of the handsome hero sitting next to her youngest daughter. "Captain America?! With you?!"

"My goodness, what a handsome young man you are," Aunt Meredith raised a shameless brow. Christie ignored them and focussed on finding Fury's contact number whilst Steve was busy giving the ogling women slightly uncomfortable waves. Before long, Fury's holographic face suddenly flew into the air as well. He was in a fluffy black dressing gown and the pure sight of it caused Aunt Meredith to burst out laughing.

"Oh sh*t," Fury grunted, looking less than impressed once he saw the women on the line.

"Wow. You've never looked cosier, Nick," Aunt Meredith smirked down the lens as Christie found the last contact to add to the call.

"Meredith, I am retired," Fury explained through gritted teeth. He glanced at the other face on the call and frowned. "Mella? Damn! You got a face like death, what the hell's goin' on with you?" Mella let out a sarcastic 'HA' and leaned back in her seat.

"You sound confused as if you weren't the reason," she muttered back. Fury's face contorted in confusion as Coulson's face finally joined the rest of them, much to Steve's surprise.

"The reason?" Fury repeated. "What the f-"

"Guys!" Christie clicked her fingers roughly to regain everyone's attention. All of them fell quiet and stared at her. "I wanted to get you all on the line to discuss Ashley's departure-"

"Devastating, just devastating," Aunt Meredith tutted again, back to being sombre again.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either when I heard," Fury grumbled moodily. "Can't believe she's returned to that damn school." Christie and Steve glanced at each other, just in time for Mella to jump in again.

"When you heard?!" she yelped, "Fury, why are you acting like you didn't make her leave?! You are taking the piss now!"

Now Fury really did laugh, throwing his head back and everything.

"I made her leave? Mella, I don't know if you're aware but I am legally dead," he broke it down for her slowly as if she were a child. "I haven't spoken to any of the team bar Romanoff, Christie and Rogers over there since I 'died'. Why the hell you think I'm sitting here in a damn robe?!"

"For fashion of course - it suits you wonderfully, Nick," Aunt Meredith smirked cheekily.

"Wait," Coulson suddenly piped up, his eyes already painted with extreme confusion. "Wait, what? Mella, Ashley came to me and told me she was leaving. Nobody in S.H.I.E.L.D forced her out!" Christie observed Coulson's earnest face and took a deep breath, for some reason believing it.

But Mella was totally adamant. She believed her daughters before anyone else.

"Phil," Mella murmured with warning tones edging in her voice, "I literally saw Ashley over video call yesterday. She was in tears saying that Fury kicked her out and that she had-" Fury released yet another groan of irritation.

"For the last time - I, am DEAD! I haven't spoken to her!" he stressed, getting more and more irate. Mella rolled her eyes and waved him off, opening her mouth the argue again - but Christie had to get there first. All the bickering was getting on her nerves.

"Waittt wait!" she clicked loudly to get their attention again. "First of all…Coulson, hi! It's been a while!"

"Hey, Chris. I've been busy," Coulson yawned apologetically.

"So I've heard. Um, so could you do me a quick favour and just explain what Ashley said to you?" Christie asked him seriously.

"Sure," Coulson confirmed. All eyes were on him as he took a preparing breath, and launched straight into it.

"So, I was sat at my desk…"

Coulson scrolled through his tablet with a sigh. Being the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't something he'd asked for - but it absolutely had to be done regardless, and he knew that.

Suddenly, there was a rapid knock at his office door. The door was glass, so he could already see who it was. It was Ashley, up and walking so soon after the accident? It had only happened all of 8 or 9 hours ago-

"Wait, what time was this exactly?" Christie quickly interrupted with her eyebrows knitted together.

"Around 10, 10:30am? Steve carried her back from the date at about 8:45pm and she'd passed out in the Tower, so I expected her to still be asleep or at least recovering," Coulson quickly explained. Christie gave an understanding nod and told him to continue.

"Come in," Coulson waved her in, blatantly amazed to see her looking so healthy. Ashley swung the door open and boldly strode in. "You look good!" Coulson commented brightly. "How you feeling?"

"Sir, I want to leave," Ashley blurted out, looking him dead in the eye.

"To go where?" Coulson murmured distractedly as his tablet popped up with another notification.

"I want to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and return home." Coulson's head shot up and he finally put the tablet down.

"You wanna leave S.H.I.E.L.D? For what? Why?" All the questions were tumbling out at once because nothing was making sense.

"Last night showed me that I can't be here anymore. I can't be in the city and I miss my fellow mutants," Ashley answered, dropping her head at the 'mutants' comment. "I miss being around people like me. That's where I felt the most safe."

"What?!" Christie and Mella both gave a simultaneous scoff, both in as much disbelief as the other.

"That doesn't sound like my daughter," Mella laughed immediately afterwards. "Phil, you know that doesn't sound like Ashley?"

"Mella, I haven't seen her since she was a kid and I barely got the chance to talk to her throughout her time here, how the hell was I meant to know?" Coulson pointed out irritably.

"Ashley, are you sure you want to leave? You handled it perfectly yesterday. And after speaking to Bruce, he said that he might be able to come up with a counter-serum that would allow you to somewhat monit-"

But Ashley wasn't listening, she was already shaking her head and rolling her eyes in a rather aggressive and impatient manner.

"No! No, thank you. I'd like to officially leave S.H.I.E.L.D. I've already contacted the school to send a car to transfer me back. I'll be in my room awaiting them. I just have to leave. This isn't for me anymore," she told him firmly, appearing somewhat apologetic but mostly angry. Before Coulson could even dispute it, Ashley had turned on her heel and practically flown back out of the room, leaving him sitting there in a stunned silence.

"Wait a damn minute. This doesn't add up," Fury was the first one to pipe up after a few silent seconds once the story was done.

"You're telling me, Nick! Because that is certainly not what my daughter told me and it doesn't even line up with how she behaves normally," Mella insisted, feeling a little stressed now.

"With all due respect," Steve suddenly spoke for the first time since the line connected, "I saw Ashley too, presumably after she spoke to Coulson. And she seemed a little out of it then, too." Christie chewed the inside of her cheek and fell quiet alongside everyone else, so that Steve could tell his side of the story.

Steve was outside of the new S.H.I.E.L.D mini base, shutting off the moped that he had arrived on. He had to go and check on updates of The Winter Soldier, on Ashley's condition, on everything.

'Stressed' wasn't even the word.

As he walked towards the entrance, the front door suddenly burst open and out walked Ashley herself. She looked healthy and radiant, wearing light makeup and everything - but it took him aback. "Ash?" he spluttered, making his way over to her. Ashley gave a stiff smile and tucked her hair behind her ear, saying nothing. It was awkward. "Are you…are you okay? How do you feel?"

"I'm leaving S.H.I.E.L.D," she stated bluntly. "I'm going back to be with people like me. I'm sorry."

Steve could barely believe his ears.

"What?! Are you serious? Is this…is this because of what happened last night? Ashley, please - you don't have to do this," he rambled out in a panic. "I'm sorry, I don't want you-" Suddenly, mid sentence, Ashley had lunged towards him, slamming her lips onto his-

"What?!" Coulson and Fury yelped, both of them as unexpectedly as the other.

"Yeah see now…that's weird," Christie admitted. "She could barely construct a sentence around you two days ago, how the hell did she must up the courage to slam one on you like that?"

"I don't know, but I…didn't kiss her back," Steve grimaced slightly ashamedly.

"Ash," Steve rushed out as he gently pushed her away from him. He didn't mean to, it was a natural reflex. He wasn't expecting it and more importantly, it felt…weird. Ashley glared at him up and down for a few seconds before shaking her head pitifully.

"Just forget it," she grunted, before spinning around and walking away.

"And you didn't find that a little odd?" Christie double checked, looking directly at Steve in disbelief. "Steve, you've known Ashley for nearly four months, been with her all day nearly every day - and you thought that was normal?"

"Christie, there was nothing normal about anything that happened for the past two days," Steve pointed out fairly, looking undeniably fed up. "I thought I knew her but I clearly didn't. The point is - she wanted to leave."

"She didn't want to leave," Mella started again, but this time Fury had enough of her adamance.

"Mella, maybe you don't know your daughter as well as you thought!" he rebutted back.

"Oh please Nick, you're one to talk!" Aunt Meredith suddenly jumped in with a disapproving frown. "For someone that allowed her to be removed-"

"She wanted to leave, Meredith! Cap and I can't both be making that up!" Coulson overrode her firmly, causing Fury to extend his hands as if to say 'THANK YOU'.

"So what, I am?" Mella scoffed angrily, sparking off a loud heated debate between the four old friends. Steve just watched them go at it in shock.

"What do you make of all this?" he murmured to Christie as the group continued to bicker amongst themselves.

"I don't know, Steve. I find it weird because I'm a decent judge of character and…I don't think anyone is lying here," she answered quietly, the uncomfortableness growing all over her face. "But after her birthday, your date and how happy she always was…I don't think she'd leave on her own accord."

"Which would validate your mom's story, but not Coulson's nor mine," Steve concluded with a sigh as he rubbed his head in frustration. "I swear it's like we were all talking to two different Ashleys."

Suddenly, something clicked in Christie's mind. She remembered the conversation from when she first ever picked Ashley up - and she finally understood.

"Oh god. You're not Mystique, are you?" Ashley asked her wearily, taking a few uncertain steps back. Christie made a face and her head jerked back.

"Now who the hell is that?" she spluttered. Ashley rolled her eyes - but took her word for it.

"Mystique is a shapeshifter and a friend of Dad's," she explained as they both began walking down the street, pushing Scott's bike between them. "She can morph into anyone, and has the ability to change her voice, too. She fools the very b-"

"Sh*t. That's because you were…!" Christie murmured to Steve, her eyes suddenly lighting up in realisation. Steve frowned over at her. "People!" she clapped her hands loudly, making them all suddenly stop. "Mum, you were talking to Ashley. Coulson and Steve were not."

"Makes sense to me! I win," Mella sang smugly without even thinking about how she won.

"If we weren't talking to her then who were we talking to?! Looked like her to me," Coulson frowned.

"Mystique…Misty…something like that. Ashley told me about her ages ago, she seems to be some mutant that can shape shift into anyone she wants and she can even imitate their voice, which is how she imitated Fury to Ashley and Ashley to you guys. She must've been the middle man that orchestrated it all," Christie explained clearly, the situation becoming more and more apparent the more she thought about it. "One thing I guess she can't do as well is the little characteristics, particularly if she hasn't been around the person in a while. That's why it looked like her, sounded like her, but had completely different personality. I mean kissing Steve out of the blue? Ashley would much rather die." The group sat there in silence, Steve with the most innocent look of surprise registered on his face.

"But why would this chick come all this way to quit for her?" Coulson frowned, still majorly confused. "What's the bigger plan here?"

"Well Ashley did tell me that she's a friend of my father's," Christie began with an annoyed sigh. "So I'm guessing that-"

"Oh my goodness. They did it to force Ashley back home!" Aunt Meredith concluded as Mella's face hardened. Christie nodded with her hands outstretched and flopped back into her sofa beside Steve, exhausted from using all that brain power for the first time in days.

"But…why would they force her back home?" Steve blinked, still not quite understanding.

"It makes sense. Ashley's dad never thought that we'd be able to handle her, so when she had her little incident, it spooked him into forcing her home even though she handled it fine," Fury muttered, looking annoyed at himself for not catching it sooner. "Damn. I should've known that bald headed son of a-"

"Right, but why not just wait until she comes back on her own accord?" Steve continued to press on, still confused.

"Because he always thinks he knows best and that's not the case - ever. He's bound by strict government law that prevents him from coming to retrieve Ashley himself for as long as she's on S.H.I.E.L.D's premises, the decision always has to be hers and has been for years now. I'm guessing he knew that if he were to wait - she wouldn't come back. So he took matters into his own hands and cheated the system, the little bastard," Mella hissed. Her voice was getting sharper and sharper by the word and her eyes were blazing with anger. "I don't think anyone understands. What he's done here is incredibly dirty."

"You're telling me! We lost one of our best assets!" Fury yelped back expressively.

"So what can we do?" Steve sighed, internally very grateful at the fact that he refused to kiss her after all. He had been feeling guilty about it ever since. "Do we go over there and get her back?"

"No," Mella muttered, as Fury let out a matching 'nope!'

"Why not?!" Steve frowned.

"Because that makes us no better than them," Christie answered through gritted teeth, angry that the words were even leaving her mouth. "So, we just have to sit here and pray that Ashley will do what she does best."

"Which is?" Aunt Meredith blinked.

"Run away."