"Are you sure these lines are safe?" I asked him while he was holding out a phone for me to use. It was now my turn to call on my mother to make sure she was okay, and that she knew that I was more than fine where I was. Everyone else made calls to their own families and loved ones, Scott was the one before me. After he called Hope and Cassie, telling them to talk to the others so he wouldn't be on the phone for too long, The King wanted me to have a turn. it felt rather pathetic that I was only calling one person and the others had plenty of others to call and talk to.

"I promise you, our lines are secure and non-hackable," he replied to me as I was in his office, the mahogany desk that a near the open wide window and a leather chair with some of his trinkets along the top of the office and his library on the one side of the room with two more blue chairs and a few more trinkets of his kingdom that showed its beauty.

"Thank you, your highness," I said to him in hesitance there as I grabbed the cellphone from him gently and he smiled at me, once again showing the youthfulness of his face and the kindness there too. He was once again dressed as someone who was rich and lived in New York: style and comfort and swagger at the same time.

"Of course, I'll leave the room for your sake of privacy," He explained, finally smiling at me once more before he moved out of the room and closing the door behind him softly. I was left alone there within the King's office, his home personal office that he would have important meetings or do important signings of documents and laws. And here I was: not even close to royalty and standing there in the office like I belonged there.

I started dialing the phone, which looked like it was beyond the future technology of what the newest phones looked like, this one looked 20 years in the future as the numbers were being seen on the screen. Once I pressed the green button, I pressed the phone to my ear and I held it close, heading the ringing on the other side. It made em hate the waiting, hate waiting to hear my mother's voice and to hear that she was okay. It felt like years since I last talked to her and hear her voice that was soothing and calming in the middle of my hardest storms in life. It made me realize I missed her, much more than I ever had in my life.

"Hello?" It was her, having me sigh in relief now from hearing her very voice that I thought was dreaming of in my sleep.

"Mom?" I said, almost desperate now as she gasped on the other line.

"Emma? Oh, thank God! I haven't heard from you in so long, how are you? Are you alright?" She asked me desperately now as I started to pace the room from one place to another.

"I'm fine mom. Really, I'm okay I promise," I reassured her.

"How do I know you're okay? I haven't heard from you, and when I tried to reach you I get nothing! I was worried sick about you," She went on, almost sounding like she was about to cry about the whole thing now as I sighed and tried to think of another way to calm her down. I was still under orders not to give too much away, for her sake and protection. But then again I never wanted to lie to my mother, I've done that enough already.

She has to know. But now?

"Mom, please believe me when I tell you that I am okay. I'm safe, and I'm okay," I tried to reassure her once more, hearing nothing at first from her side and I thought I mad her mad again now from how I was both avoiding telling her where I was and trying to make it seem like there was nothing dangerous going on.

"Emma, I can tell you're lying in the sound of her voice," I cringed, not moving at all and thinking that I was going to be in a world or hurt there since she caught me, "However, I won't push it since I know you won't budge."

I sighed in relief.

"Will you a least tell me when you'll come home?" I had tot think about that one, how to tell her that I had no clue and if I could ever come home again. Everything was not as it should be, and as much as I was glad that I was alive, I had to remind myself again it was all hanging in the balance for me . Not just for me, though, it made me panic and think for a moment or two about my mother. I would hope to god, from all that I knew about the superheroes and the important people that were already after me, they would try to find a way to get me to go to them. I didn't think tony Stark would be that dark, but that one guy from HYDRA would: kidnap my mother as bait.

"I don't know, but I have an idea for you,"

"Security cameras?" Scott asked me as I was tapping away at the laptop that they were letting me borrow. I was sitting in one of the lounge rooms with some of the others, Fury included, as I was talking to Hank Via FaceTime and giving him my own kind of idea for my mother's protection and her safe mindset. Once I knew that both sides of our communication were safe from any hacking or tracking, I wanted to talk to Hank.

"Does your mother approve of this?" Hank asked me over the laptop, having me raise an eyebrow at his picture there on the screen.

"You're gonna lecture me?" I asked him back, hearing him chuckle a bit now as Scott pulled up a chair to sit next to me as Captain America and Fury were talking to each other under each other's breaths.

"How's Cassie?" Scott asked him now as I was getting the equipment online ready for shipment to Hank while he was talking to him.

"She's perfectly Fine, Scott. We have it under control here," He explained to Scott, "Trust me, you don't have to worry about us here. Stark's been in the papers, though."

"What are the papers saying about him?" Scott asked as I was making the final payment there with my purchase, "Last time I checked he was glad about his victory."

"Yeah well his company's not doing so hot. Apparently, since the whole incident in Germany, his company's been going a bit downhill, and the papers already have their own share of gossip around the whole thing." Hank explained as I saw both Fury and Captain America looking over at us and the laptop, apparently hearing what Hank just said to Scott and me.

"He's not focusing on you anymore, if that's what you're thinking Emma," Hank reassured me as I looked back at Hank on the screen.

"How do you know?" I asked him now.

"The last few conferences that he held, you were not even on topic. He was talking about his company and how he's losing his own focus on its progression. But I wouldn't rely on that too much. As good as I know Stark Industries, and Tony himself, he's hiding something else from the public," Hank answered, having me bit my lip and think to myself for a moment or two. What could he be hiding and not bringing out into the blue? Was else was there behind all of us? And most of all:

Was I involved?

"Please keep us informed Hank of anything that you do hear," Fury said to Hank as he walked over to stand behind both Scott and myself and Hank saw him from his spot on the computer.

"Will do, keep my two friends here out of harm's way. That would be nice on your end," Hank replied to Fury.

"Will do," Fury answered him back as I tapped a few more keys on the laptop and I hit the send button there on the screen.

"A delivery is going to be made and sent over to my mother's house: a bonus from PYM Technologies under your name. Make sure those cameras get set up in my mother's house and fast before anything else does happen, " I explained to Hank as he nodded in agreement.

"No problem there Emma. We'll take care of her and make sure that she's okay," Hank reassured me, Scott grasped my shoulder there, giving it a reassuring squeeze and having me look over at him to see a small but kind smile there. He could tell I was feeling a bit out of it because of me being away from my mother and out of the country, and I think he was feeling the same way as well as I was.

"Thank you, Hank," I thanked him, seeing him wave at us before he clicked off the screen and we were there alone with Hank now, having me lean back a bit there in the chair and feel Scott rub my back soothingly.

"Don't worry about your mom, she'll be okay," Scott reassured me, having me have a sense that he was seeing the uneasiness on my face. Leave it to Scott to try and bring me some kind of peace when I was feeling a bit out of place and out of my element.

"Thanks, Scott," I muttered, feeling him squeeze my shoulder one more time, "I'm still worried about her. She's only a nurse, she can't handle herself against people like HYDRA."

"But SHIELD can, she'll be watched by them for certain," Fury reminded me, having me finally get up from my chair and eye him since it felt like I had to ask him what was on my mind for awhile since this whole thing started happening to me within a year.

"Why are you doing all of this for me?" I asked him, the others were watching as well when I asked him this, having him watch me with his one eye carefully. I really wanted to know the truth about why I was involved in all of this, why he didn't just let me let me be dragged all the way out here. There had to be more of a reason behind what he already told me. I knew that I wanted to come out to at least help get the superheroes out from that floating jail cell, but other than that, Fury shouldn't have anything to do with me, even if I was a great hacker or not.

"You were on our radar for some time," He merely replied to me, as if it was another conversation. But now I was eyeing him in a suspicious way and moved away from my chair and away from Scott too and near him, almost squaring off with him and feeling a bit defensive about it.

"How long was I on your radar?" I asked him slowly, thinking that I was about to go and step on a land mine and this was all going to blow up in my face. All of the eyes of the people there in the room were on the both of us as fury thought about it for a moment or two. It made me more nevus as to what he was going to tell me if it was some kind of truth or maybe something else to cover up more things. Anywho, I wanted to know.

"For a few years, give our take," It made me freeze there, watching him with the unbelief that he knew about me more than I thought he did. It felt wrong, almost a bit morbid now as I was losing my own tone of voice to ask him why for so long, why in general. It was like all of the oxygen left the room, no one moved an inch and they were now looking at Fury in a bit of shock from what he said and what was unfolded.

"What?" Scott asked juts as shocked as I was now as he was standing near me, almost having em feel him press behind me now in defense as Furry looked at the both of us.

"She was on our radar for the past few years from the hacking that she's done and all of the feed that came up with SHIELD. As soon as some of her work came online, we confiscated it so no one else can find out about her and we've kept tabs in case something came up." I wanted to yell at him, for finding out that they were going to watch me like I was a bug under the lens and he was not going tot ell me about it at all. Was he waiting for me to mess up so he can grab me first like I was some kind of prize?

"So you can grab me like I'm some kind of item on your laundry list?" I hissed at him, Captain America and Sam squinted a bit from the venom that they heard in my voice. Fury shifted a small bit, still looking stone in the face like he knew that I was going to react like this, which was even more infuriating.

"So we could make sure that you were safe," He reminded me, having me scoff at him a bit and suddenly feel like I didn't want to be there anymore, or anywhere else near him or the rest of this group of superheroes. It felt too complicated to be in something like this, some kind of web of lies and secrets that were weaving all over the place and I had to be okay with it?

"Well I sure do feel safe being here on the other side of the world with one evil organization after me and a billionaire who can make weapons," I said in a sarcastic tone, moving away from him and the others now and I was walking out of the room and back to my own room. Just being back in that same room with those people who knew about the kind of life and way of life that SHEILD was all about made me question it even more.

I placed my hand on the door when I heard Captain America talk to Fury once more, "You really need to work on your people skills there, Fury."