Etana is standing in front of the class, holding a textbook up.

"I am supposed to teach you about the Roman Empire from this. Well, let me tell you, this book has a great deal wrong and we are going to correct that. So, to begin with… the assassination of Julius Caesar. "Et tu Brutus"? I mean really. Right, new page. Title; "Assassination of Caesar and Civil War". And-"

Three men walk straight into the classroom. Etana turns to them.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

"You are Etana Bat Aleka, also called Etana Rogers?"

"Yes. Can I help you?"

"You will come with us."

"Of course. Can you come back after this lesson? The textbooks are rubbish and I haven't had time to type up the notes yet."

"Now, Mrs Rogers."

She barely turns towards them and suddenly they ram her head down onto the desk. The wings sweep open but two of the men leap onto the wings as the leader clamps a mutant inhibitor collar onto her neck. She struggles again and one of her students leaps up.

"MR KELLER, IF YOU TAKE ONE MORE STEP, I WILL HAVE YOU IN DETENTION FOR A MONTH!"

Then her wings are slammed onto her back and manhandled so they're flat. Anger wells up inside me. I know how sensitive those limbs are, how they are her most precious appendages and how easy they are to damage. I know how delicate the feathers are, know that handling them roughly messes with her flying ability. And these men are slamming their hands into the vanes, damaging long flight feathers and sending the gleaming inky wings into disarray. And I know how private her wings are. How she hates people touching them, how she only lets me touch them at certain points because they're so precious to her. And to see them being manhandled into a harness to prevent her flying away is terrible. Finally the wings are bundled up into the tight harness and the straps are tightened. The camera zooms in and I see the pain on her face, the way she grits her teeth. Then another student walks up.

"Sir, Miss Rogers wasn't doing anything wrong. She'd have gone with you without all this."

Suddenly the boy has his arms pulled behind his back.

"What you don't know Mister, is your 'Miss Rogers' is an incredibly dangerous woman. We've been keeping tabs on her for years. Dr Mengeles? Heard of him? Last thing he ever saw was this woman."

Her arms are pulled behind her back and handcuffs are snapped on. They ratchet and the man pulls them a notch tighter, so they cut into her wrists. Etana is dragged upright. Her eyes are defiant.

"You know, I would have come quietly. Class, read quietly until Mr Summers turns up. The chapter on the Siege of the Temple of Jerusalem is pretty accurate. When I get back, I'll tell you about fighting to protect the treasures."

Then Tora is standing in the door, her eyes flashing silver.

"Etana?"

"Hello Tora. Can you cover this class for me? I recall you have a free period."

"Let. Her. Go."

"I'm sorry Ma'am. Mrs Rogers has an influence over a number of high-ranking SHIELD officers and is the wife of a known fugitive. We have to take her in for questioning."

"Sir, if I recall correctly, Etana Bat Aleka is exempt for SHIELD protocol on the grounds that she is your Rogue Agent. The one who does the jobs no one else can do. Or wants to do for that matter. She does the unofficial jobs that you all know need doing. As a result, SHIELD does not have any jurisdiction over her."

"But she's not Etana Bat Aleka anymore, is she? She's Etana Rogers and there's nothing in the paperwork about that."

"Tora, seriously, it's no big deal."

"Etana, you're the one who always warns us of them 'disappearing' us."

"It's not disappearing. Dum-Dum will keep you informed."

And as the men move to grab her arms, she steps forward and neatly walks through the door, suggesting that handcuffs and wing-straps are actually quite a common occurrence for her.

I turn from the screen to Logan.

"When was this?"

"Yesterday. Dugan got in touch, said she was fine, but they're keeping her in custody until you're captured and they have definite proof she wasn't feeding you hints. She has a unique position in the SHIELD hierarchy that means a lot of the senior officers know and respect her. She won't come to any harm from mutie-haters."

"This is personal now."

"We also think they might use the fact she was arrested to stir up trouble for us. X-Man taken in for questioning about Captain America's whereabouts. It makes it look like we're backing the anti-reg forces and that's annoying Cyke 'cause we agreed to stay neutral. It's a threat. Either we join them or they make it look like we're discreetly helping you."

"You are."

"Yeah, but everyone knows I'm the X-Men's loose cannon, and I'm an Avenger. It's the Avenger part that's here today."

I look at the final still, Etana stepping into a car, a hand on her head to push her in.

"Will they let her go?"

"Probably not. They know she will probably stand by you after this. Heart over head and all that stuff. And they can't afford to have Etana with you. She's one of the best teleporters, fighters and has connections to Asgard, Olympus and the Otherworld. If she wanted, she could bring down the whole SHRA without so much as blinking. But what they haven't realised is, if she had wanted that, it would have already happened."

I look at her face again, the proud, stubborn face that I haven't seen for over a month. There isn't much time for marital visits when you're on the run.


A.N. To the reviewer who asked about the healing factor. Whilst Etana has a mildly accelerated healing rate (just like Angel) the reason she can't get drunk is because (as first stated in Chapter 6) she is immune to poisons, of which alcohol is strictly speaking one. Hence the reason she has to recover from injuries -except maybe taking two weeks to heal from something that would take a normal person three- but can't get drunk.