"Ok, Now remember. This is the safety.."A finger pointed to a second trigger situated where the actual trigger was "And this is the Magazine release" The finger moved to an identical trigger on the side of the gun, mere millimetres away from the safety.
I stared at the gun for what seemed like an hour. I was about to go into my S.H.I.E.L.D. Recruit examination where I would be cleared for level 1. The Glock 17 was the standard issue weapon for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the only thing separating this gun form the rest was the identification code engraved along the side which verified its owner. Agent Grant Ward.
"Skye, you'll be fine" I looked up and was met with the incredibly handsome face of Agent Ward, not that I'd ever say that out loud.
"I know. I'm just nervous" I lifted the gun out of Ward's hands and clicked off the safety, but instead of the resounding 'click', the magazine cartridge dropped out and hit the floor with a thud. Ward gave a small snort and picked it up, handing it back to me. "Just try, ok" He gave a small smile after that and gave my shoulder a small squeeze.
"Just smile, answer the questions, and remember which trigger is the safety and which one is the magazine release"
"Impossible, maybe i should just dedicate myself to another few months of training, then i can go back and-"
"Ma'am" two men in standard dark suits stood before them.
"Good luck" And with that, Ward had shoved me infront of the two agents with a quick nod in their direction and a smile in hers.
"Ma'am, please follow us" Man in Black no. 1 said before leading me away from the bus and onto the Tarmac, where a shiny Mercedes awaited them.
The Helicarrier was massive. Absolutely Massive. I felt like a small twig in the middle of the forest when I stepped on board. I was immediately pulled from my daze and led down a large expanse of corridors. After many twists and turns, the corridor only led to one room. A dark, dreary room which only had a table and a chair infront of it.
"Sit" They told me, and I finally took orders for once.
A Moment passed before someone finally entered the room, two people, actually.
"Skye. I'm Agent Maria Hill, This is Agent Clint Barton, and Agent Natasha Romanoff is behind the wall right now, but will be joining us later" Agent Hill stopped and gave me a once over.
"You've received plenty of praise and a large recommendation from Agent Coulson, Agent May and Your Supervising Officer-Agent Ward. Anyway, this examination is built of 5 parts. The first is an IQ test, the second is weapons, the third is speciality, the fourth is a polygraph test and the last is endurance. You will be spending the night here, as every other initiate, and will be given the verdict tomorrow after the exam ends" She stops for a minute before nodding towards what I thought was a mirror.
"Alright. Shall we begin?" Agent Hill asked me,
"Yes Ma'am".
The test was easy and for once, I didn't screw up the Safety and the Magazine release, but under my breath i still muttered 'bang' when i emptied my clip into the test dummy. Speciality basically consisted of me rummaging around on a laptop for an unnamed file which had the release numbers of a Russian warhead. The polygraph test was a small problem though, straight from the start.
"Whats your Name?" Agent Romanoff had asked me,
"Skye"
"Your Full name"
"Nobody knows"
That earned her a sympathetic look from Agent Romanoff, but that was quickly masked up with a serious face.
"Have you ever committed a crime?"
"Have you released government secrets?"
"What is your relationship with the members of your team?"
All the questions were answered with a sarcastic comment, naturally.
It had been 40 minutes since her Polygraph test and it was totally silent. Was this the Endurance test?
"Skye?" A voice pulled her from her thoughts,
"Yes…?" She answered , her voice quivering at the end. Was she in trouble?
"There was a problem with your results. Please come with me" Agent Romanoff had just reminded her of a book Ward was just reading, 'Divergent'. It would be super, mega, awesome if I was the Glitch in the system.
I was led through the confusing Corridors once more and then pulled out onto the deck of the Helicarrier. I gave out a small squeal when I saw the clouds right infront of me.
"We're in the sky, aren't we?" I squeaked, looking terrified.
"Yep. Fun times ahead" She answered,
"HEY WARD!" Agent Romanoff gave a massive wave in the general direction of a small plane that was stationed on the edge of the Helicarrier. Wait, Ward?
Romanoff jogged on ahead and i could see a figure of a man reveal himself from behind the small plane.
Ward?
I looked out for oncoming planes or whatever you normally looked out for in a place like this and jogged my way to where Agent Romanoff and Ward were standing next to the small jet. As soon as they saw me coming however, they stopped talking and turned to me.
"You have 1 hour back with your team to make your decision, then you're being shipped back here until 0600 tomorrow morning"
"Why am I going back? What Decision?" The questions were flooding out of me and had to hold myself back before i asked 'Am i being rejected from SHIELD for what happened with Miles?'
"Don't worry Skye. I'll see you in 1 hour? Romanoff placed a hand on my shoulder and jogged off back to the door on the other side of the tarmac.
"Ward? Whats going on?" I questioned, but he just shook his head and pulled me onto the plane, which was big enough to hold our whole team. The small jet was flung into the sky and i was seated across from Ward, who was busy checking his gun.
"Skye. Can you answer a question for me?" He pulled me out of my thoughts with his words,
"Yeah?" I asked quietly.
"Do you know why you were released for a few hours?"
"No" He took a deep breath before walking over and sitting next to me,
"Skye. Whats my name?"
"What?" I was genuinely confused, what was he going on about.
"Whats my name?" He repeated, his tone level.
"Grant Ward" I answered.
"Good. Now whats yours?"
"Skye-" I stopped for a second. What was my name?
"Ohhhhhhh. Thats why. I didn't have a proper name"
"Natasha called Coulson and told him there was an error. You need a full name to be successfully qualified as a SHIELD agent"
"Well, they should of thought of that before ether destroyed all the files on my parents"
"The files are above Natasha's clearance level. She couldn't even get a birth certificate or a name"
Silence…
"So what do i do?" I took his hand and gripped it. Hard.
"We'll be discussing that when we get back to the bus. Its only ever happened to one other SHIELD agent, so its a pretty rare occurrence that an agent doesn't have a name"
"Which agent?"
"Maria Hill. She took the last name of her adoptive brother during initiation. She was like you, an orphan, but she knew who her parents were and why they put her there, but they were ghosts, no last name"
"So I need a name? Why can't i just make up one?" I inquired.
"Against the rules. But-hey, look at this" He interrupted himself as his attention diverted to the overhead glass which stretched to the front of the plane where the pilot sat.
"10 minutes until we land in LeGuardia, Grant" The pilot stated, seemingly familiar with Ward.
"Thanks Joey. Do you think you can do 'the thing?'"
"Sure thing Mate" The accent of the pilot intensified, he was Australian.
"Whats 'the thing'" I looked up at Ward as he stood up and pulled me along with him,
"Look" He nudged his head to the front of the plane, where the New York City landscape came into a full view. The sky was streaked with Red and the statue of Liberty contrasted greatly with the Blood red sky background.
"Woah" I stated simply. Best view ever.
"Thought you'd like it" The plane went next to the statue, so close that i could see the details on its face.
"Thank you" I whispered, he nudged my shoulder with his arm and smiled at me.
"Approaching LeGuardia. Buckle up guys" Mr. Australia said, i felt the plane dip and my stomach went along with it.
The bus was exactly the same as when i left it, although i didn't know what i was expecting exactly. Fire? Flooding? Explosions?
"Skye, Good, you're back. Meeting room, now" Coulson stood at the top of the staircase in the cargo hold and smiled down at us. I smiled back up, but he was already gone, vanished into the main cabin of the bus.
FitzSimmons were standing next to the large screen while May was off to the side, staring at nothing in particular.
"Skye!" Simmons rushed to embrace the young woman,
"Hey Simmons!" Sky said, awkwardly patting her back.
"We have a conundrum" Coulson said, tapping the screen slightly. My id photo came up with no name next to it.
"Skye is lacking in the name department, and since her full name is unknown, she will adopt a name"
"Adopt one? Like one of yours?" I inquired.
"Yes. I, for one, am putting my name out there, so is May"
Fitz jumped in and smiled at me, "You can have mine, if you want"
"Oh no. The only people that will ever have the name of 'Fitz' other than you, are your mother and someday, Simmons over here" Simmons' jaw dropped and she paled slightly.
"You can have my last name?" She offered quietly, Coulson put up his hand and shook his head,
"No, 'Skye Simmons' isn't a good choice. There are 2 'S's and it doesn't sound right" May shot him a look and quietly added,
"And two M's are okay?"
"You can have mine?" Ward offered.
"Skye Ward sounds like a name we'd give you if you ever got together…" Fitz pointed out,
"Shut up Fitz" Simmons nudged him gently and the room went silent.
"You gotta go before Natasha gets antsy" Coulson said moving aside so i could pass.
"Yeah, you're…umm…right" I all but ran through the door and into the cargo hold where a black car was waiting, with the two same guys next to it.
"What? Is it your jobs or something to pick me up?"
"Ma'am, please get in the car"
"Jesus" I whispered quietly.
As soon as i stepped foot back on the helicarrier, Agent Hill marched me straight to a room with a single bed in it. A Bed and nothing else. Not even a window.
"This is your room for the night. Its supposed to look like a prison cell, just saying" She said before closing the door and leaving me dumbfounded.
I sat down on the bed and stared at the wall for a while, then i got bored and started doing sit ups and planks.
"Well, I see Ward has rubbed off on you" A voice interrupted my plank and i hit the ground with a thud, Agent Romanoff stood infront of me with a plate of food.
"I was bored" I stated, getting up and sitting on my bed again,
"I know the feeling" She said and sat down next to me, her bright red ponytail swishing as she passed me the plate. I raised my eyebrows and looked at what I was having for dinner.
"What? You were expecting something else?" She stared at me, a light smirk playing at her lips.
Because in front of me was a delicate plate of fish and chips, with a wedge of lemon and some tomato sauce.
"I was expecting something more….scary" I admitted taking a bite out of a chip, Agent Romanoff gave a chuckle and added on with "Last night we had Steak with Mashed potatoes and the night before that we had smoked trout with a green pea puree"
"Good god. You guys have it good" I laughed and stuck some fish in my mouth and almost moaned because of how good it tasted.
"Let me ask you a question Skye?" Agent Romanoff looked at me,
"Whats Agent Ward like now?" I almost choked on my fish as she finished her question.
"Now? What'd you mean by that?" She laughed as i tried to stutter out a response,
"Did you manage to get that stick out of his ass?" I started laughing with her at the question she just asked.
"The stick has reduced in size since i've arrived, but he isn't completely Anal free" I said pushing my plate off me and brushing the crumbs to the ground,
"Good. He's changed since the last time i saw him. He looks better. Happier" I raised my eyebrow at her response and turned to face her fully.
"I was his S.O when he was just a little wide-eyed rookie. A quite serious one at that. I still remember training him. He was so young, only a few years younger than me but he was amazing. His shooting skills were-wow"
"So you're the one who sent him all those books?"
"Yep. He was always reading, but one day he stopped and i never saw a book in that mans hands again, so when i found out he was reassigned to Coulsons team, i sent him a care package with more than enough books" She gave a short laugh and smiled at me,
"You know, i asked to oversee your initiation" She stated, leaning back on her elbows,
"Why would you do that, i'm not the best trainee" I scoffed and leant against the wall.
"I wanted to see how my rookie trained his rookie" With that she got up and walked towards the door,
"And fair warning. Maria is about to waltz in here and ask for your full name and details"
And with that, she left.
The next day I woke bright and early and got ready before Agent Barton was knocking on my door, I had a bounce to my step on the way to wherever they were taking her. That 'wherever' was verified 3 minutes later when they arrived at a large office with an even larger view of the bright blue sky.
"Hello Skye" Agent Hill was dressed in a blouse and suit pants, rather than her normal SHIELD uniform and was seated behind a large desk with a manilla file placed infront of her. She opened it and pulled out a piece of paper with a shitload of writing on it.
"Can you please sign here" She handed over the paper and a pen,
"What am i signing?" I asked curiously,
"Your Agreement. As a SHIELD agent" I squealed as i signed the dotted line and almost hugged Agent Barton who was standing stoically next to me.
"You officially become an agent in a week, after your credentials get published, but you can call yourself an agent from now on"
I was taken back to the bus and i immediately made a beeline for the living space, where i was sure Ward would be.
"WARDWARDWARDWARDWARD!" I yelled as i saw my S.O with a book open infront of him,
"Hey, you're back! How was it" Before i had a chance to say anything, Coulson appeared next to me.
"Agent Ward" He stated simply,
"Yes?" Ward asked suspiciously,
"No, not you. Her." Coulson smiled at me and continued as I swayed on my feet from excitement,
"Welcome to SHIELD, Special Agent Skye Ward"