"It's good to see you again, (Y/N)." Phil nods to me as soon as I'm out of Daisy's van.

"Could've had this little meeting sooner had you told me you were back from the dead." I cross my arms over my chest. "Why didn't you let me know you weren't dead?"

"Didn't have permission. Can't really go behind the director's back when the director is Nick Fury. Or was, I guess. Doesn't matter."

"Yeah yeah, sure sure. Gimme a hug, old man." I demand, spreading my arms.

"I thought you were too old to be calling people names," He admonishes, not hesitating to wrap his arms around my shoulders, trapping me in a bone crushing hug.

"And I thought you were too old to be this strong, but I guess we're both wrong." I pat his back a few times, trying to imitate tapping out so he'll release me. He laughs and loosens his hold on me, pushing me away from him and holding me an arms length away from him.

"You sure have grown up, (Y/N)."

"Well, that's what happens when you don't see someone for almost a decade, Phil. They change. Sometimes they even lose an arm."

He barks out a laugh. "Don't I know it." He detaches his prosthetic momentarily before pushing it back into place. My eyes widen involuntarily and Phil chuckles good naturedly. "Caught a cracked terrigen crystal and, apparently, I don't have any Inhuman DNA, so the mists didn't exactly agree with me. Mack helped me out and chopped off my hand and saved my life."

"Good heavens, man. I wasn't trying to start a pissing match on whose life has been worse, but I think you may have won."

He laughs again and claps me on the shoulder before leading me down a hallway.

"So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" He asks.

"Well, I think you're going to want to sit down with a beer before I say anything."

"Sounds like some heavy shit you've got bottled up there, (Y/N)." Daisy comments.

"Yeah, well it's been nearly a decade, so I think I'm entitled."

–

"Hydra, huh?" Coulson raises his eyebrows. I shrug and nod, leaning back against the back of the couch. "I'm so sorry, (Y/N), I had absolutely no idea. If I had known-"

"You would have grabbed me and run, I know. There was nothing you could have done, Phil, it's fine." I shake my head. "I protected the kids they brought in after things picked up as best I could and made sure if anyone got in trouble, I would get the punishment. In the end, Hydra got the short end of the stick."

"Oh?"

"They got someone that they couldn't control. The memory modifications they used on me never seemed to hold for more than a week or so, and I managed to kill more than one of their agents whenever I came out of it. Steve and Sam found me on a Hydra transport when they were looking for Barnes. Hydra was sending me off to someone they felt could better control me after one of my outbursts and they decided to take me in. The team got someone with first-hand knowledge of what Hydra can do."

"I thought Romanoff had connections to Hydra." Daisy butts in.

"She was with the Red Room. Kind of similar, but not the same thing. The Red Room is Russian, Hydra has German origins." I explain. "The two would occasionally team up, from what I know, but she's not directly connected."

"Huh,"

"It's hard to keep track of all these super secret organizations, but someone's gotta do it." I laugh somewhat darkly. "So I hear you guys have been dealing with some major Inhuman population spikes?"

"We have." Daisy nods in confirmation. "How'd you know about that?"

"Well, someone had to have been dealing with the emergence of all these new powered people, even if it's just to check into where they got their powers."

"I've been meaning to ask," Phil pipes up. "How did you get your powers?"

"My mother gave me a lovely deep blue crystal one year for my birthday when i was really into rocks and gems. It sat on a shelf in my bedroom for almost three years, I think. Turns out it was a chunk of processed terrigen. I guess one day it got knocked over and rolled off the shelf and shattered. The rest is history."

"Wow." Neither of them really know how to respond, but Daisy hates the silence. "And you managed to get a hold of them on your own?"

"For the most part, yeah. To be fair, S.H.I.E.L.D. helped me along quite a bit before Hydra took over. After a certain point, you mostly just have to run on instinct." I rub my hands together before lacing my fingers and cracking my knuckles. "Is there anything I could do to help out around here?"

"Well, you might as well earn your keep." Phil smiles at me and pushes himself up off the couch.

"That sounds a little vindictive, Phil. What've you got planned for me?"

"You'll see, (Y/N)." He says, shooting Daisy a look. She nods back knowingly and motions for me to follow her. I look at Coulson in confusion but follow after Daisy regardless.

–

"I thought you said you weren't going to be tracking her, Tony."

"I did, but I got a notification that her signal disappeared from detection and I got worried." He spins his chair away from the monitor in front of him. "I mean, can you blame me?"

"No, not really." Natasha pushes herself off the doorframe and saunters over to the table Tony's working at. He turns back to the monitor and Natasha leans on the back of his chair, looking over his shoulder. "Where'd she disappear?"

"That's the thing, I don't know." He types out a line of code, his eyes never leaving the screen. "The GPS history shows her moving around California for a while before the trail just vanishes like it never existed."

"I'm guessing the tracking system works regardless of whether or not the phone is on."

"Right."

"Does anyone know about your tech features aside from the team?"

"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. knew all about it, but they disbanded after finding out the whole organization had been infiltrated by Hydra, right?"

"I wouldn't be so sure. You of all people should know that S.H.I.E.L.D. would persist even in the face of obliteration." She squints at the screen, pursing her lips. "She had connections to people in S.H.I.E.L.D. when she was younger. Maybe they took her in for a bit while she's out there finding herself again."

"Even if that's true, not knowing where she is has got me all wigged out."

"That's understandable. Maybe she'll check in soon, yeah?"

Tony sighs and hangs his head, pushing away from the table. "I hope so. She's got a bad habit of leaving us in the dark."

"She's trying to get her head straight before she comes back and she's been good about keeping her promise to check in so far."

"It's mostly just been texts, Natasha."

"But she's checking in. Even I know that's no reason to go charging off to find out what happened." A pout shapes Tony's mouth and Natasha rolls her eyes. "If she doesn't check in within 24 hours you can do a deeper search," Tony perks up immediately. "But not a minute before that."

"Fine."

"I swear it's like you're twelve and not in your forties."

–

"Hey, watch the arm!"

"Sorry, but the scarring under the metal plating has such an interesting shape!"

"That's because I made it." I scowl at the young woman in front of me. "It's a handprint."

"A handprint? You've got to be joking." She scoffs. "How could you possibly manage to cauterize your own wound?"

I lift my eyebrows at her, unimpressed. "I'm an inhuman, Simmons. I have fancy fire powers. It's like my entire body was made to cauterize wounds."

She waves her hand at me. "No, no, that's not what I meant. There's no way you could have sealed the wound on your own because you would have let go due to the pain. It simply wouldn't happen!"

"You do realize I was brainwashed from the time I was fifteen till about a year and a half ago, right? Sometimes shit doesn't register the way it's supposed to and I can do quote unquote "impossible" things." I turn towards the door, expression blank. "When I agreed to help you, that didn't mean your techs could poke at and patronize me, Phil, I demand a refund."

Coulson just laughs. "Maybe next time, (Y/N.)"

"Lay off, Jemma." Fitz calls from a short ways away. "If she hasn't got any pressing injuries she's probably fine."

"Oh alright" Her brow furrows slightly. "Would you mind if I took a small blood sample? I'd love the opportunity to compare your DNA to that of the other Inhumans we've met."

I shrug. "Why not."

She lights up and pulls a syringe out of seemingly nowhere and sets about looking for a suitable vein. It doesn't take her very long and I barely notice the needle piercing my skin, and the extraction is over and done with quickly.

"Thank you," She nods to me and turns away to begin processing her new sample.

"Yeah, no problem." I scowl at her and rub at the crook of my arm before putting my shirt back on.

Fitz gingerly lifts my forearm and looks over the plating of my arm, examining the way the joints move. "Vibranium, isn't it?"

"Yup,"

"Amazing," He shakes his head and articulates the my fingers, gently bending each knuckle and carefully watching the way each plate recedes when the joint is fully extended. "Who could have engineered such delicate machinery?"

"It's a mix of Stark and Banner tech." I watch as he ghosts his fingers over the seams of plating of my bicep. "Getting a little handsy there, dude."

"Right, sorry." He practically drops my hand. "Got a little mesmerized there for a moment."

"It's alright, it just gets to be a little much when people are touching it."

"Because it makes you uncomfortable with the loss of your arm?"

"Not at all. It's just that I can feel everything and I guess you could say that it's overstimulation." Fitz looks at me with a perplexed expression on his face. "Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist, figured out a way to install touch sensors throughout my prosthetic."

"That is so cool."

"It definitely is that." I laugh.

"Would it be alright if I took some scans of it for reference?"

"Knock yourself out kid."

–

The phone on Tony's desk rings, startling him out of the nap he ad accidentally taken. He immediately snatches the phone from off of the receiver and presses the speaker to his ear. He's greeted by a chorus of hello's from the rest of the team, and it take his sleepy brain to realize that everyone else in the tower has picked up the call as well.

"Hey guys,"

"(Y/N)!" Tony exclaims. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing? I'm completely fine." She sounds perplexed. "Why?"

"I got an alert that the GPS tracking on your phone was disabled. After England that shit just about gave me a panic attack."

"What do you mean, Stark? Her location went dark and you didn't tell anyone?!" Steve demands.

"He told me."

"Not helping, Romanoff."

"Why would you tell her and no one else?"

"He wanted to give her time to check in and explain before going into full panic mode."

"No, I wanted to track her down and make sure she was alright, but she stopped me before I could go anywhere."

"Can you guys sort this out later? I'm set to head out in the morning and I'd like to get some sleep before I have to go."

Tony can hear a round of sighs across the line and rolls his eyes. "Sure."

"Alright, cool. What do you want to know?"

"Where are you that would block a GPS signal?"

"I'm at S.H.I.E.L.D. right now visiting some old friends. I'm helping them out with a little research."

"Research?" Steve asks.

"Inhuman stuff."

"Anything you can talk to us about?"

There's a long silence on the other end of the line.

"Alright, the boss has cleared me to talk to you about the project."

"Boss?" Cint inquires.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the man in charge at this time. Wish I could, but the orders are coming from someone above even his head."

"Who has greater power than the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Pietro questions.

"Fury," Everyone else on the line answers.

"You are all one hundred percent correct."

"Isn't it even a little bit weird that everyone's still afraid of Third Eye Blind, or is that an opinion shared only by me?"

"The name Nick Fury had a reputation before he was even born because of his father. No one is stupid enough to fuck with him." Natasha says bluntly.

"Right, well. Okay then."

–

"As fun as it is to listen to all this back and forth, I have like five minutes left on my calltime allowance.

"Right, of course S.H.I.E.L.D. would limit your minutes."

I roll my eyes. "Doesn't matter, I'll be able to call you on my own phone tomorrow. Would it be alright if I spoke to Bucky alone?"

"What about the rest of us?" Clint asks, his tone filled with mock hurt.

"You know damn well that you'll survive without talking to me for a couple days." I scoff. "Everyone get off the line. I'll wait, but if I run out of time I'll blame each and every one of you."

"Fine, we're going." Tony grouses.

"Take care of yourself, (Y/N)." Pietro pleads.

"You know I will. Now go. You've probably got shit to do. It's not like the Avengers can function without me for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, okay. We'll talk to you later."

"Yes you will. And I have three minutes left, so thanks for that."

"Right, sorry, bye."

I roll my eyes and wait for the seven necessary clicks before speaking again.

"You there?"

"Yeah, it's just me now."

I sigh softly and lean on Coulson's desk. "Hey,"

"Hey yourself."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm alright. You're with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Yeah, it's a total trip too."

"Oh?"

"I can't exactly talk about it, but it seems like people coming back from the dead is becoming a trend."

He laughs softly. "Well that would definitely trip someone up. Were they at least happy to see you?"

"They were very welcoming."

He's quiet for a moment, like he's trying to think of something to say. "I'm glad you're somewhere safe."

"I figured that if I hung out in one of the safest facilities in the world, you guys couldn't complain too much." He laughs again and I can't keep the smile from my face. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about, and before you say anything, It's nothing bad."

"O-okay." He stammers out. "What's up?"

"I'm headed back to New York tomorrow."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I'm going to stop off upstate to check up on a friend first."

"But you're coming back?"

"Yeah, I think it's time for me to come home."