"Harder. Harder, Ava. Come on, they're gonna hand you your butt in training if you hit like that in front of your SO." Ryan said, or as he called it 'encouraged'. Ava continued to throw what she thought were pretty good punches at the bag. "No," She hit it again. "no." Again. "NO. You're doing it all wrong." He stopped her completely and the girl glared. "Then why don't you show me how to do it again instead of just saying that I'm doing it wrong." The young man nodded, showing her how to hit the bag 'correctly', although Ava swore that was how she had been doing it the whole time. "Now you try..." She punched the bag and Ryan sighed. "What!?" the girl asked annoyed, instead of punching it again she took the moment to brush a few strands of hair off her face. "It wasn't that bad, honestly, it was better, but not good enough." "I'll get better, I have four months." "Yeah, but will it be enough time?" Her friend asked, genuinely concerned it seemed. "It will be, I'll keep practicing, every day." "Good, cause you need it." At the last comment Ava rolled her eyes, "Okay, you're right. But we both know that hand to hand is not my specialty. And it's not likely that I'll ever even need this knowledge, Ry. I'm going to be a field medic, not a specialist or anything. Besides I'm good with a side arm, what else do I need?" The young man scoffed. "Everyone needs to have hand to hand combat as a specialty, I don't care who you are or what you can do and you know that the big guy would say the same thing." Ava groaned, but nodded in defeat. She really hated when he was right. "Good girl, now go and unwrap your hands, jump rope is next. And don't you dare say that you have good stamina, because technically you're just above average." The girl did as she was told. "But, if I'm above average, why the heck are you pushing me so hard? I have four more months and right now I could pass the field test with a pretty good score. I'm not even done with the online portion. You need to lighten up. Besides, you'll have the rest of your life to yell at people and tell them to work harder." She waited expectantly for an answer only to see a smirk on her best friends face. "Why wait when I can just yell at you?" "Because I'm special thats why." Ava stomped her foot and pretended to pout. "And what makes you think you're so special? Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the rope." "I'm special... because everyone is special in their own way." "So you aren't special then." "No. But I'm gifted. Technically, I was once called a super human. And I'm on the index." She said the last part sarcastically. Ava wasn't supposed to be on the index of gifted people that SHEILD had put together, it had been a paperwork mishap and they had made her info available to level 9 security only. Ryan laughed and they both recalled just how mad everyone had been. "You shouldn't rely on your gift, you need more skills than that." "Thats what my weapons training is for." "We both know you were taught better than that." The girl just shrugged. "You're right..." Ava hesitated and then sighed, now seemed as good a time as any to bring up the elephant in the room. Ryan had been here too long, he hadn't been called on another mission yet. No agent was given this much leave time, unless something pretty serious had happened on their last mission. "So are you going to tell me why you haven't gone back into the field yet? Because two weeks ago you showed up and told everyone you were on leave and that's all we got. Jim said I should wait until you were ready to talk about whatever happened in Egypt, but I think now's a good time to talk." "So your'e just going to ignore Jim's advice? What happened to listening to him cause he's 'in charge'?" Ryan grabbed his water bottle and chugged it. "I'm impatient and... and I'm really worried about you." The young man sighed. "I was emotionally compromised during a mission, so they gave me leave to get it all under control... I have another four days before I head to New York to be evaluated."

When Ryan had been recruited into SHEILD over a year ago, leaving Ava behind to follow him into the agency a year and a half later he had left her broken hearted. Even though they had kept contact when it was safe for them to do so, something had been missing... her best friend. And now he was back and different. The morning after he had shown up he had started training Ava, pushing her to some of her limits and beyond them. At first she had been polite and not asked about the field at all, but after a particularly hard workout she had asked he what had happened. Ryan hadn't told her much, just that specialists go through particularly though exams before being let into the field and that he had seen some things since he had gone out, Egypt had been the last place he was stationed. When Ava pressed him for more information he had told her that the workout was done and that he needed to make a call. Now that she had a bit more to go on she decided that she needed to get the story from another source... and she knew the person to go to.

"Ready to go?" Ryan asked as she stepped out of the ladies room of the gym. No one had been there when they finished the workout, but now there was a group of men who were obviously stopping by after work. "Yeah, what time is it?" "5:45, why?" Ava frowned, "We're late for dinner. Jim isn't going to be happy with us." Ryan laughed, "Is he still anal about time? Now that is one thing that I don't miss about being home, the schedule is actually much more lenient at most bases." Ava just shrugged, smiling. "Poor man has to have some stability in the house, he lives with a bunch of teenagers. I don't blame him." "Your'e just saying that because your'e just as OCD as he is." "This pot is not going to judge the kettle... but seriously we should hurry." The gym was only a mile from the house and Ava was happy that they had driven, it would be quick. "How much trouble do you think we'll be in?"

The car turned onto the street where their house sat and slowed, "Are we expecting company?" Ryan asked, frowning at the four black SUVs that were parked in front of the large white house that they had both spent the last eight years calling home. "No... back up." He didn't question her, just put the car in reverse and kept driving. They drove half a mile down the road, "Turn here." Ava said as they pulled onto a small dirt road. She told him to stop and they sat for a moment. "So, you wanna take a little trip through the woods?" Ryan nodded and gave the girl a small smile. They got out of the car and started the trek towards home. "I have one question..." the young man said and the girl made a 'hmm?' noise. "How do you know how to get home this way? This isn't an exit plan and there's no path." "You remember who my guardian is, right? She didn't raise no fool." "Technically Agent Romanov didn't ra..." He was stopped by his friend's raised hand. "They've set up a perimeter... alright, plan B." Ava whispered and she gave him a knowing look. "What's plan B... oh, right, I'm an idiot. How are we going to do this?" He held out his arms and the girl bit her lip. "I can't carry you for long... three hundred yards is my limit and I cant get up much higher than a few stories with the extra weight. How much do you weigh?" "That's a rude question." Ava glared and he sighed. "Like 195ish." "Okay, we're going to have to get closer. Then you're gonna have to climb a tree or jump or something." Ryan nodded, not questioning her, this was Ava's territory and she knew what she was doing. He had no right to question anything she had said. He couldn't help but think that she would be a great specialist, but that would mean following Romanov's footsteps and it didn't matter how much Ava adored her guardian, he knew she never wanted that life. If only he could change her mind.

Once they were to the tree line Ava gestured and Ryan started to climb. He got about twenty feet up and almost jumped when he looked up and saw his friend sitting casually on a thick branch above him. Ava just rolled her eyes and nodded, waiting for him to join her. Once they were sitting together he raised an eyebrow, not wanting to risk being heard. The girl raised her arms over her head and he did the same, understanding. Ryan just hoped that Ava wouldn't drop him.

Once Ryan's feet hit the roof Ava let go, landing next to him, out of breath. "You weigh more that 195." Was all she said as he waited for her to catch her breath. "Alright," the girl said, standing once her breathing had evened out. "do you think you could swing through the attic window without any help?" Ryan nodded and the girl stepped off the roof only to step back on a moment later. "Window's locked. They know about me, maybe they're SHELID?" "Why wouldn't anyone tell us they were here?" Ava shrugged, "I can check to see if my windows open." The young man nodded and Ava took off again. A few minuets later and Ryan was starting to get worried about his friend when he heard a lock unlatch and a window slide open. He held onto the edge of the roof and peeked down to find his best friend smiling up at him. She waved him in and he swung in as quietly as possible. "There are two out front and six or so in the living room. It doesn't look like there's been any kind of struggle." She whispered and he nodded. "I say we go join the party." Ryan opened the hatch that led out of the attic and Ava grinned before dropping down without a sound.

The two friends stood at the top of the stairs and waited, listening. Ryan leaned forward and frowned, gesturing that he would go down first and check everything out. He had had training for this kind of thing, if he wanted to go first, fine. Ava watched as he turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and disappeared. She waited for some sign, freezing as a man's voice called, "Miss Romanov, would you please join us? We have much to discuss and have been waiting." Ava scrambled down the stairs, frowning when she turned to see Agent Jones standing in her living room with her housemates and house guardian, Jim, and four agents against the wall. She knew Jones, vaguely, had met him a few times when dealing with some legal stuff for 'gifted individuals'. "Thank you for joining us, please to take a seat. I have something important to tell you." Ava didn't trust him, but maybe she was just paranoid. Like she had said before, Natasha Romanov didn't raise a fool. Sitting was submitting to authority and would make it a lot harder to make a quick escape "I'd rather stand... thank you." Ava attempted to be polite. The Agent sighed, looking around the room before speaking. "I'm afraid that your current location has been compromised and we have been sent here to move you to separate locations for your own safety." The housemates looked at each other in shock. "Most of the information is classified, the locations of your other housemates are also going to be classified for the time being. We don't know if once everything is settled you will be completely out of danger. Now, if you don't mind please go ahead and pack. We want to leave in fifteen minuets." The housemates got up and moved towards the stairs. They knew what compromised meant, a quick exit was necessary for survival with the lives they led. The agent cleared his throat, as Ava went to join the rest of the group heading up the stairs. "Miss Romanov would you please stay for a moment?" Ava looked towards Jim, who nodded and sat back down. "What's going on, Agent Jones?" The girl asked, frowning she had no idea what the heck was going on. The agent looked towards Jim, attempting to get some help but the man just nodded. "While the location of this house has been compromised there is more, there was a direct threat... to your safety." Ava's eyes went big, "M- me? Who threatened me? W- why would someone threaten me? " "I wasn't there when the threat was made, Miss Romanov. Director Fury can explain more, or even Agent Romanov can explain. But you need to go and pack, we are leaving in five."