Warehouse 13
High School AU
Eventual Bering and Wells

TW: slut shaming, child abuse/neglect

Starting to post this now due to AU Week on Tumblr. I will get the first few chapters up regularly this week, then it will slow down. I also plan on finishing Sight and adding more to my other WIPs this week, so keep an eye out for that.

Chapter One

"Who knew she's actually such a bitch?"

High school is a war zone. Myka Bering had known that since her first day freshman year. She had just always managed to stay away from the front line.

"She's so quiet; I never woulda thought she would be capable of this."

She had seen people torn apart by the bombardment of insults. She had seen proud students leave with countless battle scars. She had hoped to leave untouched.

"Can you really blame her, though? Look at her, it's not like she has many guys asking her out."

Myka curled further into herself as each comment rose from the groups she passed in the hall as she walked away from her last class.

They weren't hurled at her, that she could handle. Her skin was thick enough to handle direct attacks after years of a younger sister, and a father who never noticed exactly how much his words actually hurt.

No, these weren't cannons fired from the front. These were daggers, flung from the sides with a deadly accuracy that found the holes in her armor. Daggers that cut deeper than any cannon ever could.

She ducked into the restroom, hoping to find cover from the attack, but walked into an enemy camp instead. An enemy camp that just so happened to have the general in it.

"I'm just gunna go," Myka mumbled as she tried to escape, but one of the girls stepped up to her, and held the door closed.

"Why? You just got here," she questioned in an overly innocent voice.

Myka took in the girls around her. Most of them were seniors, except, she realized with a pang, Tracy, her little sister, who was clinging to the edges of the group, and watching Myka with cold eyes.

"Wrong door," she muttered, and tried once again to slip past the girl blocking her in.

"Oh, I'm sure it was," the girl said with a fake laugh. She draped her arm across Myka's shoulders and forced her away from the door. She stopped when Myka was right in front of the blond girl who stood in the center of their gaggle.

Myka couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear as she stood in front of the girls. She was taller than all of them, despite being younger, but after the battle she had been through during the day, her shoulders had sunk. They all seemed to tower over her.

"If it isn't the little slut herself," the girl sneered.

"Judy, I'm so sorry. He told me that…"

"Yes, please tell me the line he used to get you in his bed."

Myka blinked a few times as she tried to make sense of what Judy had just said. "What? We…I…I didn't sleep with him."

"That's not how he's telling it."

"Then he's lying."

The girls all scoffed in such harmony that Myka couldn't help but wonder if they had practiced.

"Seriously. He…he told me that you two had broken up, but let the truth slip out later. I left as soon as I learnt the truth, I swear."

"Was that before or after he fucked you?"

Myka saw red.

High school was war, and she had just been drafted.

She pushed the girl next to her, and escaped the bathroom. She ignored the yells she was leaving behind as she rushed through the school.

She knew exactly where to go; there was only one place Mike Madden would be right after school.

She stopped right before turning down the athletic hallway. She took a few deep breaths, then stalked down the hall.

The hockey team was, as always, blocking the hallway halfway down, just outside of their locker room. She could just make out Mike standing in the center as he animatedly told a story.

As she moved closer, one of the guys on the outside of the group noticed her, and got Mike's attention. His face paled.

"Myka, what are you…?"

"You know, Mike, I'm pretty damn sure sleeping with you would be something I would remember," she cut him off.

He stuttered out a few syllables as his team watched in stunned silence.

"Instead," she continued, "I have this rather vivid memory of walking out on you when you accidentally told me that you and Judy are still together."

Mike tried again to speak, but she didn't give him the chance.

"Tell me, did I remember wrong?"

"Myka, you need to understand."

"Understand what? That you used me, then lied about it to the entire fucking school? I'm pretty sure I understand that."

"I have a reputation to uphold, Myka."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot about your precious reputation. I was a little too busy worrying about the one you created for me. You know, the one where I'm a slut who will jump into bed with any guy who asks me to."

"I didn't mean to…"

"Of course you didn't 'mean' it, that's all that matters right? All's good in the world because you didn't 'mean' to ruin my life here." She let out a short laugh. "I would say 'fuck you' but that kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? So, I guess I'm going to have to settle with this."

She pulled her arm back, then punch him as hard as she could. She felt his nose crack beneath her knuckles, and a stream of blood coated his chin and chest.

"I'll see you around, Mike. Don't bother talking to me."

She turned away, but froze when she saw the hockey coach glaring at her.

"Office, now," he told her.

She kept her back straight and her head high as she walked away.

-oOo-

"You got what?"

Myka cringed at the tone in her father's voice. She could only be grateful of the fact that he hadn't been drinking that night.

"A week of ISS," she repeated in a small voice.

"In school suspension? How do you plan to get into a decent school with that on your record?"

"It's just one thing, Dad."

"Yeah, and she's lucky she didn't get anything worse. From what I heard, she broke his nose," Tracy called from the kitchen.

Myka glared in the direction the voice had come from. Her mom's voice came through the walls, muffled as she chastised Tracy.

"She's right, you are very lucky it wasn't worse. I'm not going to be as lenient as your school."

She sat in silence as he laid her punishment out.

Eight o'clock curfew. Fine, it's not like she ever went out anyway.

Working every free hour in the store. Okay, she practically did already.

To and from school, with no other destinations. Wait… did that include…

"And no fencing."

"No, Dad, please. I have a major tournament coming up."

"You should have thought of that before you punched a kid at school."

She wanted to throw some snarky comment at him. She wanted to let him know exactly what happened. She wanted to scream about how it wasn't her fault, but the words died in her throat. They formed a lump, and made it difficult to breathe. She let her head fall forward and her eyes dropped to the floor.

"Yes, sir," she mumbled.

"What?"

She raised her head. "Yes, sir," she repeated, her voice slightly louder.

"Good. Go check the shelves."

She nodded and left the room.

-oOo-

If anything positive could be said about ISS, it was that Myka could get her work done without the idiots in her classes constantly interrupting. She was able to concentrate on what her teachers had sent for the day.

She wasn't even halfway through the stack of worksheets, however, when she was interrupted anyway.

Unlike the other students in the room, she didn't look up when someone knocked on the door. She didn't care when the monitor and the visitor held a hushed conversation. She didn't care; she was more interested in her work.

"Ms. Bering."

Myka finally looked up. A tall woman with an old-fashioned hairdo was watching her.

"Bring a pen and come with me."

Myka nodded, grabbed her pen, and stood up. The woman walked out of the room. Myka followed her.

They walked silently through the halls until the woman turned into an empty classroom.

"Take a seat."

Myka slid into the closest seat. The woman slid a single sheet of paper onto the desk, then moved to stand somewhere behind Myka.

Myka resisted the urge to turn around, and looked at the paper instead.

The front of the paper asked for her information, then her schedule for both in and out of school. She double checked the information, then flipped the paper over.

The back held what appeared to be a personality test. Most of the questions were typical.

Would you rather be on time but unprepared, or perfectly prepared but tardy?

Would you consider yourself a perfectionist?

How often do you clean your room?

A few, however, made her eyebrows quirk.

Do you have any abilities you have never been able to logically explain?

Would you have any interest in learning hand-to-hand combat?

Have you ever smelt fudge when there is no fudge?

She made her way through the questions, taking her time to ensure that each was answered correctly. She closed her pen down, and leaned back in her seat. She twirled the pen slightly as she waited for the woman to walk back and take the paper.

After a few minutes had passed, she twisted around. The area behind her was empty. She turned back around and jumped. The woman was standing in front of her, already holding the paper.

Myka watched as the woman scanned through her answers.

"Ms. Bering," the woman said as she looked up from the paper. "My name is Mrs. Fredric, and I have an opportunity for you. One of the likes you will never encounter again."

Myka watched her with interest but reservations.

"If you decide to take advantage of it, you will receive training during the rest of your time here, and will, upon graduation, come work for me."

"Doing what?"

"That information will not be revealed until your senior year."

"Why not?"

Mrs. Fredric raised an eyebrow. "That is simply how we do things."

Myka nodded. Questions chased themselves around her head, but Mrs. Fredric spoke before she could choose one to ask.

"Before you attempt to barrage me with questions, read through this."

She handed Myka a pile of paper. Myka took them and started to read.

If she decided to take the opportunity, she had to wait a month before dropping out if she didn't like it. On the flip side, after the first day of her senior year, she would be required to spend three years on the job.

She would be partnered with another student and would have to attend training after school four days a week with them. Training would have physical and scholastic aspects. Her mind briefly wondered to the question about hand-to-hand combat.

She would, somehow but that part wasn't exactly clear, get a bachelors degree, then join a federal agency with her partner.

She couldn't tell anyone the specifics of what she was doing.

"Should you decide that you will accept this offer," Mrs. Fredric said as soon as Myka finished reading the final page, "everything you will need is in here." She took the packet and handed Myka a large envelope.

Myka nodded as she took it.

"Do you have any further questions?"

Myka shook her head. She fingered the flap of the envelope.

"Very well."

She heard the door knob turn, and the words burst free. "Why me?"

Mrs. Fredric turned around. She gave Myka a look the girl couldn't quite describe.

"We have been considering you for some time now, Ms. Bering. Between your academic record and extracurriculars, you have always been a strong confidence. Recent events, however, made it clear that you will do well."

"Recent events? You mean punching Mike?"

"In this job, you have to be willing to fight for a variety of things. For the mission. For your partner. And, for yourself. Yesterday you finally showed us that you will fight for yourself."

With that, Mrs. Fredric left.

Myka looked down at the envelope. A note for her to be in the halls was paper-clipped to it. She turned the envelope over. It was blank.

Her mind was still racing as she returned to the ISS room.

She handed the slip to the monitor, who nodded after reading it, and took her seat.

She forced herself to finish her assignments before going through the envelope, and was glad she did. The envelope held a pass to the school basement, a letter for her parents, and a single sheet of instructions.

She leaned back in her seat and just thought for the final hour of the day.

-oOo-

"What exactly is this?"

Warren Bering had his eyes on the letter Myka had given him. She had found the letter in the envelope from Mrs. Fredric. She thought about what it said.

"It's a career preparatory program," she explained, using the phrase the letter used. "They will teach me skills that will be useful my entire life, then help me get a job after graduation that will help me pay for college."

"I thought I was perfectly clear about the terms of your punishment."

"Yes. You said no destinations other than school, and this is at school."

He looked down to read through the letter again.

"The lady I talked to said that doing this will make any potential employees and college admission offices look past the ISS," she told him.

"Fine, but you will come right home after, and will put your hours in at the shop before doing anything else."

"Of course," she replied, nodding her head. She stood up, and walked to the door. She paused, and turned back around. "Thanks, Dad."

She left the room, and missed the slightly surprised look on his face.