Chapter 1; Field Agent
You were an Agent of SHIELD and had been for almost 2 years now and loved it. Although, as much as you loved your job, you were feeling lately as though something was missing and that something was action. Your day job was all about collecting and analysing data brought in from the field and sometimes interrogating those brought in from the field, but now you longed to be out there gathering the information and tackling the bad guys yourself.
The inspiration for this change in you had come largely from the Avengers Initiative. You couldn't lie, seeing the group all suited up ready for action reviewing footage of them in the field made you long to be superhuman like them. But for now, baby steps, first you needed to apply for the field agent position. The application process was not easy; you would be tested academically and on your current skill set, followed by psych evaluations and lastly a field test. Given the only thing you really did at present was desk work, this meant a lot of working out and a serious training regime, fortunately you had decided to start your preparations months ago so when the vacancy came up you would be in peak shape to apply and take on anything they threw at you. You were fine with the academic tests, using your skills in data and tech on a daily basis you were able to sail through these tests, physical training was a little harder. You had started 6 months ago, you found a gym, well not so much a gym more a boxing club with a few pieces of equipment that suited you. First it was near work and second it wasn't some new techo awesome gym filled with the super fit and super thin who would make you feel bad, this was a place for hard work, filled with hard workers and fighters and that's exactly what you wanted to be. You were quite happy to come up with your own routine, but after a few weeks the owner of the gym came over to you.
"so, you wanna get fit?" he asked you in a strong accent. " I seen you comin' here for a few weeks, you're doing good but could be better."
First off you were a bit annoyed by this, you were proud of your achievements so far and felt they were better than good! You stopped yourself before coming back at the guy with wisecrack answer, instead you could use all the help you could get. You scanned the man up and down, he didn't look much. Fairly short for a guy around 5"8 maybe in his 50's or 60's with a swarthy tanned look about him. His face looked like it had seen its fair share of action, his nose had clearly been broken a few times and there was a deep but old scar on his right cheek, which had healed and gone into a white spidery line down his face. He didn't wear typical gym clothing; instead he was in old beat up khakis a vest, which was stretched tight, over his gut and an unbuttoned checked shirt. The overall impression was that of an old boxer, a powerful man now gone slightly to seed.
He extended his hand to you; "name's Joe, this is my place. If you wanna get tough this is the place to be. I'll help you where I can, but you gotta help yourself too".
You took his hand in your firmest grip to try and impress on him that you weren't messing around. "Olivia Gold" you replied, "but please call me Liv". Joe smiled a crooked grin, it was clear a few swings to his jaw had previously misaligned it and taken a few teeth with it too. Removing his hand from yours Joe stroked his stubbled chin. "so whatcha doin' it for?" your face must have gone blank as Joe elaborated; " whatcha training for? Army? Special forces? I've seen the routine your trying and ain't for no new celebrity craze, you're trying to be serious about this".
" I am. You replied. "I …er…" you stumbled slightly, could you trust Joe? Would he laugh at you? Was he a plant by another Agent to get the drop on you in the test? You scanned him again. You were a good judge of character, you had to read people quickly in interrogation and learn whether they were telling the truth and detect what they were hiding and weedle it out of them. Joe's body language was open and he seemed pretty straightforward. You decided it was worth sharing a little more information " something like that, it's for a new job".
" ok, ok I won't press ya, but it can help to know what to give ya to do. I won't tell ya tell to do gym stuff 'cos ya don't do that in real life, I'll give ya practical skills to do".
"sounds good. When do we start?" you asked Joe.
"now".
Joe hadn't lied the training was tough. He took you out to a large room in the gym; in the middle was a boxing ring with a couple of guys sparring, fortunately that wasn't for you. Instead Joe directed you to a large chain piled up at one end of the room.
" see that chain? I want you to grab one end and run to the other side of the room dragging it across, when you get there stop and pull the chain towards you. Then repeat to the other side. You need to do this 6 times. If you're going to be doing the sorta thing I think you will, then you may need to drag bodies, equipment, anything out there, this is what I meant by practical skills, bench presses can't help you with this stuff".
Wow, Joe was right you hadn't really thought about that kind of scenario. You nodded to Joe and went to take up the chain, it was heavy to lift, and each link must have been about the size of your hand. Giving it a tug you realised this was going to be tough.
" it ain't going to move itself" Joe bellowed having retreated to a comfy looking chair by the door. You shouldered the chain and began to walk down the length of the room.
"faster than that princess!" Joe shouted, you tried to run but it felt more like jogging on the spot, the sheer weight of the chain kept you nearly still. After what must have only been minutes (but felt like hours) you reached the end, red faced and out of breath. Dropping the chain, breathing deeply trying to catch your breath you turned to Joe. "Good, now pull it all in". You bent over and began to haul the chain towards you, pooling it at your feet feeling all the muscles in your shoulders and upper arms screaming with protest at each pull. Once finished Joe shouted again, " now repeat to the other side! Hustle this time you gotta do 5 more" Oh my god you thought to yourself, those Avengers make this stuff look so easy! If only I was a super woman….
You completed the 5 further reps with difficulty and slowly, but completed nonetheless. You were really red now, gasping for breath, sweat had drenched the front of your grey work out vest into a V –shape front and back with beads rolling down your face. You turned to look at Joe, unable to speak. He got up and made his way over to you. " not bad for a start. Now let's get you skipping before push ups and a bit of boxing to finish today". You couldn't object, you couldn't find your voice; instead you followed Joe to a unit by the wall, which held weights and other gym apparatus.
" you'll need to be light on your feet, skipping will help you with agility, get you dancin'" he almost laugh out the last word and tossed you a rope. You hadn't skipped since you were a child and didn't know if you could. Positioning the rope behind your ankles you swung and jumped and completely miss timed your skip, falling flat on your face. Joe barked out a laugh and you glanced up in anger at him, he didn't look like he could manage a skip "come on toots get up! I know a 95 year old who can do better than that!" you heard someone else in the gym let out a "ha" to that remark which really got your adrenaline going. You would not be defeated. The new surge of adrenaline in your blood made you jump to your feet and try a skip again, this time you did it and kept on doing it. Joe nodded approval at your progress and after a few minutes told you to stop. "now, proper push ups" You didn't think your arms could take much more, but you followed Joe's instructions nonetheless. Your push-ups were wobbly, the mix of exhausted arms and lack of core strength was really telling in this exercise. After 20 shaky push up Joe stopped you once again and gave you some water. "now how to throw a punch" Joe said as he guided you to a punch bag passing you a pair of boxing gloves to wear in the walk over. He motioned to the bag, " give it your best shot" this was fine you thought, I know how to throw a punch, no problem. You swung at the bag hitting hard with your fist, and it didn't even move, but your hand hurt like hell. Joe let out another humourless cackle at your efforts. " no this is how you punch" with that Joe struck the bag and surprisingly, despite his appearance, made the bag swing around. He showed you how to make your fist and how to swing with more body weight than just your arm alone so your next punch swung the bag a little. "good! Now keep doing it, left then right, jab and hook" This was more like it, despite the burning in your arms, you felt this was going to be your best exercise. Joe called you to a halt after a few minutes " that's it. Keep doing this and you'll be as fit as a marine." "how about as fit as an Avenger?" you managed to say in between ragged breaths. Joe grinned, nodded and laughing lightly he walked away.