Dull murmurs. Frantic voices. I couldn't tell if I recognized them or not. I was tired, I wanted to go back to sleep.

"Rhodie!"

It was loud and concise. I almost opened my eyes, but I was overcome with a wave of exhaustion. Let me be! I thought.

"Agent Rhodes!"

There it was again. Couldn't they tell I was sleeping? God, the nerve of some people. 5 more minutes!

"Halle!"

My eyes snapped open, only to be blinded by a strong white light. I blinked several times to adjust, and I realized I was not in my bed.

"We've got her!" cried a man in all white. I gasped and realized I was in a hostpital. My eyes darted around the pristine white room as men in masks scrambled around the room. I took a deep breath through a tube around my mouth and tried to calm myself. The rest of my body was still numb, but my mind was alert.

"Halle?" breathed a voice.

I turned my head and saw Steve crouched at my bedside, holding my hand. He looked tired and unkept, like he had gone a week without sleeping. I smiled slowly.

"The situation has become critical," said a Doctor to Steve. "She needs to be operated on immediately."

Steve nodded , got up and left the room. But before he exited, he took one last look back at me, a look that said "goodbye forever."

But then I drifted into another peaceful slumber.

I awoke, still in the hostpital, and extremely confused. Piecing together my last memories, I gathered that Loki was probably defeated and that (hopefully) most of the team was still alive.

Then my mind shot to the bank. The aliens, the anger.

The water.

I shuddered as I replayed the events in my mind, but was cut off by a nurse.

"Oh good, you're awake," she smiled with a British accent. "You have a visitor."

My mind raced. Was it Natasha? Thor? Steve?

A tall, black man with an eye patched entered the room. I'd only seem him in person a handful of times, what with him being the head of S.H.E.I.L.D. and all, and whenever he came around, the matter was important.

"Director," I greeted.

"Agent Rhodes," he responded.

"Can I help you with something, sir?"

He shifted in the tiny seat. "Well, let me start by thanking you for your heroic feats at the Battle of New York."

I raised an eyebrow. "It has a name now?"

"That's just what the media has been calling it. They're having a field day."

"I can only imagine."

"The whole team's been invited to the white house for a public thank you, though I don't think any of them will actually go."

"Oh," I said. I lowered my eyes and slowly asked, "Director, what happened to Loki?"

He sighed. "After taking responsibility for his actions, he and the Tesseract were sent back with Thor to Asgard. He'll receive his punishment there."

"No," I mumbled. "It wasn't him."

"We have a confession, Agent."

"He's just keeping his dignity," I explained. "He was being controlled by the Tesseract. He told me everything at Stark's tower."

Fury froze. "You saw Loki at Stark's place?"

"Yes! He apologized for everything!"

"Agent Rhodes, you were never at Stark Tower."

I blinked. "What? Yes I was. I woke up in a bed and Loki was there and my leg-." I paused, realizing he didn't believe me. "Okay, if that didn't happen, what did?"

"Steve found you incapacitated, laying on top of a police car, and bleeding like crazy out of your calf," he explained.

"When?" I asked. "When did you find me?"

"Shortly after Natasha closed the portal."

He must have returned me to the ground after realizing he himself couldn't take me to the hospital. "So it's all over now? The aliens are gone?"

"As far as we know," assured Director Fury. Though our conversation seemed over, he made no move to leave.

"I'm guessing you didn't come here to thank me," I joked, hoping I was wrong. He let out a long sigh.

"Steve told me what happened at the bank."

My heart clenched in my chest. "What did he say?"

"He said you two were saved by an enormous wave."

I swallowed hard, trying to keep my composure.

"Now, personally, I think Cap's explanation of a pipe breaking is a bit naive and, well, too coincidental." He gave me a cold stare and I knew he knew.

I tried to shrug it off, but Fury's expression didn't falter.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Agent Rhodes?"

After a long silence, I breathed a breath of defeat. "How did you know?"

"Oh, I didn't," he said. "But after hearing Cap's story, I decided to do a little digging, and I found this." He pulled a beige folder out of his coat and handed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked, taking the folder.

"It's a file from your little trip to China," he answered. "We received it when you joined S.H.E.I.L.D. but didn't look too hard into it as it was one of your many files."

My eyes widened as I poured through the folder. Everything was there: photographs, reports, letters to my parents.

"So now you know," I said slowly. "Does this change anything?"

"I'm afraid so," said Fury. "You're being relocated."

"Not again!" I protested.

"You'll find this one a little different. It's a school."

"A school?"

"Yes." He paused. "A school for people like you."

"Say it."

"Agent Rhodes-"

"Say what I am!"

Fury lowered his head, almost as if he was ashamed. "It's a school for mutants."