The continuous ticking of the clock, and the bleeping machinery surrounded the stiff hospital bed. Drip bags hung from cold, steel rods attached to the unconscious body on the bed by webs of IV lines, feeding tubes and catheters. Save from the symphony of machinery, the white room was quiet and smelt like cleaning fluids and wet dog. Orion.

"And Tia," Ackerly said. The light intensified. Meyer glanced back at Ackerly to find her wearing a soft expression, "take care of Orion."

Meyer nodded with a small smile. "Always."

The ECG beeped in a steady rhythm and the no longer used ventilator sat quietly to the side. Analgesics and antibacterial drugs pumped through her blood stream. The bright, white, thin lights blared on the equally bright painted ceiling; it burned into her sensitive eye lids.

O.R.B.S fulminated, shattering everywhere. The equipment disintegrated and the laboratory erupted into pieces.

Sterilised bandages wrapped around the body on the bed. The stickiness and smell of blood was long gone, and the blood lost was soon replaced.

A group of people chattered in the busy hallway, standing out of the way of the occupied doctors and nurses who tended to their patients. A patient shouted not too far down the corridor.

The room was a mass of blurred shapes and neutral colours. A large blob of variations of blue and white stuck out among the dull, and a soft snoring sound came from it. Alas that was not the oddest thing in the room. Something felt off. The fog lifted from her groggy brown eyes and she stared down at her body. Around her torso she felt clean bandages wrapped around it but something further down concerned her. She lifted her aching head to get a better look of her situation.

Horror flooded through her body. She paled, breathing hitched. Ackerly yelped. Her words stuck in her throat; no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't speak. Ackerly shrieked. Ringing whined in her ears, her heart palpitated, and she trembled uncontrollably. Her stomach churned, and a tingling sensation filled her fingers. Ackerly shrieked louder and longer this time. Orion started barking.

Doctors rushed into the room barking orders at each other. Barton, Romanoff and Meyer rushed to the door but were stopped by a nurse, preventing them from going any further. "My leg!" Ackerly screamed, staring at the agents by the doorway, "My leg!" Everything from the left thigh down was gone. A doctor injected her with enough drugs to calm her down but not enough to sedate her. The panic attack subsided and she flopped back on the bed muttering quietly with sweat beads dripping down her temples.

The three agents looked at each other with concerned expressions. They stepped away from the door as the doctors and nurses finished with Ackerly and returned to their other patients. "At least she's now awake." Barton said attempting to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, but she's got one and a half legs." Meyer uttered.

"It's was the only way we were gonna get her out." Barton said. "It was either lose her leg or lose her."

"I know." Meyer replied. "I guess her reaction put me off." She straightened her shirt. "I'm gonna let Fury know that she's awake." The others nodded and Meyer walked away.

Romanoff looked back into the room. "Does Phil have her prosthetic?"

Barton nodded, "Yeah. I'm surprised it didn't take longer to convince Stark to make a leg for her."

"He's intrigued by her as much as everyone else is, she should have died back on the Helicarrier."

"She didn't though, did she."

Romanoff shook her head, "No she didn't." She looked at Clint curiously, "Did you ever find O.R.B.S?"

Barton shook his head. "We looked everywhere. It's completely vanished."

Shrapnel fell around her, crushing her under it. She couldn't breathe. Her chest was restricted. The organs of O.R.B.S sprawled out around the lab. They slowly merged together to become one. The new ball of energy slithered towards the half dead Ackerly and merged itself around her legs. It crawled around her lower half before wriggling up the rest of her body and engulfing her in blue light. The light faded and joined with her.

Coulson and Fury strode down the hall towards Ackerly's hospital room with Meyer in tow. Romanoff and Barton watched as they approached. "How awake is she?" Fury enquired.

"The sedatives are wearing off. She's still coming to terms with the loss of her leg." Romanoff said. "Visitors are one at a time."

"If you don't mind I would like to go in first." Coulson said. "She needs to see a friendly face, plus I've got her leg from Stark."

Fury nodded. "Don't take too long, I would like to talk with her." Coulson gave Fury an understanding nod and walked into the hospital room.

Ackerly's watched him enter and close the door with sad, useless, red eyes. She blinked slowly at him. "Hello, Phil."

"Hey, doc." Coulson said. He patted Orion on the head, the dog laid at the end of the bed.

"What have you got there?" She asked, speaking slower than usual.

"Your new leg courtesy of Tony Stark himself." Coulson replied with a smile. "It's a one of a kind."

Ackerly didn't reply with a smile she usually would. "Oh." She said simply.

"I'll leave it here." Coulson placed the prosthetic on the armchair beside the bed.

"How long have I been out?" She asked.

"You've been in a coma for about 2 mouths." Coulson replied. Ackerly's eyes widened. "You didn't miss much; you already know Fury approached Stark about the Avengers Initiative. So yeah, not much."

"Must have been a boring couple of months." She said with a blank expression.

"It kinda was." Coulson said. Fury knocked on the door and gestured for Coulson to leave. "Looks like I've got to go." He said heading for the door. "You'll be just fine." Ackerly nodded at him and watched him leave the room.

Fury then entered in Coulson's place. "How are you doing, doctor?" He asked.

"I'm stuck in bed, so not good." She replied. "It sounds like I've missed a boring couple of months."

Fury nodded, "Yeah, you did. We couldn't find O.R.B.S."

"Oh," she said indifferently, "Shame."

"You don't sound too bothered by the news." Fury uttered.

"How the hell did they know where it was Fury? Hmm?! How do they know?" She sat forward speaking bitterly, Fury was steadfast, "How?! Only you, the guards, to an extent, Phil, Natasha and Clint, Hill, Meyer and I knew what was in there. How?!"

"Ackerly, calm down. I don't-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" She shouted fuming. "Answer the question! How did they know!?"

"Ack-" Fury started, again he was interrupted.

"They cost me my leg because they wanted O.R.B.S! The woman cracked the shell causing all this to happen!" She yelled. She waved her hands about as she shouted, "How, Nick?! How?!" She screamed the last word and threw her hands out to the side. Her veins sparked blue and her eyes flashed the same colour. A ball of blue energy shot out both palms striking the walls on either side. Both Fury and Ackerly stared at her and her hands in silence. All anger faded from the room and was replaced by alarm, confusion and disbelief.

"I think we found O.R.B.S." Barton said staring into the room.