Chapter 2

"Listen up maggots. My name is Colonel John Casey NSA and I'll be overseeing the test to see if you sorry excuse for Agents get to start your training."

"But I thought this was the CIA." Someone asked, and Casey glared.

"What's your name maggot?" He growled out, looking at the young man who had asked the question.

"Daniel Thorne sir."

"Well Daniel Thorne, let me be clear. I do not want to do this. I cannot even begin to tell you just how much of a waste of my time playing babysitter is. However, it seems that people with more pull than I have decided that you need a real Agent to see what you're made of. So here's what's going to happen. You lot are going to try and be better than the usual bunch of idiots that I deal with, and if by some miracle you manage to pass this test, than you will begin your training. However, if I hear one more whine about how this is the CIA you will be out of here so fast what little brain you have in your head will be splattered all over the concrete. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

"I said AM I CLEAR?"

"YES SIR!"

"Good, now which one of you maggots wants to go first?"

"I will."

Clark and Tim spoke at the exact same time, making Casey smirk. He could sense the rivalry between the two younger men, and as much as he may want Clark to succeed he knew he couldn't play favorites or try and help him more than the others. If anything he had to be harder on him because of the target he had foolishly put on his back. Casey's friend had made some bold claims, and now it was time to put up or shut up.

"Alright you two since you're so eager let's make this interesting. The test is simple. Get through the obstacle course behind me. The first one of you two to do that gets to call it a night. The loser has to do it until I say otherwise."

"Well what are you waiting for? Clock's ticking!" He yelled, and Clark and Tim immediately ran toward the first obstacle, crawling under a row of barbed wire. Clark moved through the barbed wire, forcing himself to keep his mind on the task at hand. All he wanted to do was race through this and beat Tim, but he knew that was a fool's choice. If he tried to rush through this he could get hurt, and if he was hurt too badly he would basically be handing the other young man the top spot. Who was he kidding there was no basically to it. If he got hurt Graham would probably try and use it as an excuse to get rid of him, and then he was screwed. Oh he knew Beckman put his training program together, but he didn't know how much pull she had over the CIA Director. They were on his turf after all. Clark came out from under the barbed wire just after Tim and ran towards the rope that the other man was just beginning to climb. Clark quickly grabbed hold of it and began his ascent, grateful for the hours he had been forced to spend climbing a rope back at Smallville High. He overtook the other man and swung forward, jumping over a ditch and rolling onto his feet. He started running, hearing Tim's footfall's behind him, but he forced himself to tune that out. The only thing he focused on was the sound of his own heartbeat as he ran towards the weapons station that Casey had set up. He quickly donned the protective gear and loaded the magazine into the gun in front of him, before aiming and firing at the target, hitting him right between the eyes. Clark dropped the weapon and ran as fast as he could until he reached the warp wall. No he wasn't seeing things there was a warp wall. Maybe Casey liked American Ninja Warrior. Clark stepped back and ran up the wall, pulling himself up and over just as Tim did the same. Clark ran over to the zipline at the end, grabbed the handles on either side and jumped into the air, feeling the wind whip around his body. Clark could see Tim right beside him out of the corner of his eye as the ground came closer and closer. Clark saw Casey at the bottom with the other recruits and he jumped. He jumped off the zipline and felt himself hit the ground just seconds before Tim.

"You cheating-"

"Shut up Roberts! Kent won, you lost and that's all there is to it."

"But sir, he cheated. He jumped off the zipline." Another recruit spoke up and Casey nodded.

"You're right he did. Good for you Kent, you passed your first real test here."

Clark just nodded, knowing that this was not the time to say anything.

"The most important lesson that you will ever learn is to get the job done by whatever means necessary. In the real world, there will be no rules or people telling you to stop. There will be you and the target. The only difference between victory and defeat, life or death, success or failure is if it's you or them. Those that learn that will do well here. Those that don't...well I hope you haven't bothered unpacking."

The recruits nodded, absorbing his words.

"Roberts, get ready to run it again. Thorne see if you can beat him."

The two men groaned but did as he requested, the others turning to watch. This gave Casey the chance to walk over to Clark.

"Good work Clark. Now get over to the dining hall and grab a bite, then get some sleep. You'll need it."

"Casey?" He replied in question, grateful that the others couldn't overhear them. They had eaten dinner before the test and as far as he knew the dining hall was closed.

"Just move it, and don't get caught." Casey said gruffly and Clark nodded before doing as he was told. He wondered what Casey had planned but no sooner had he reached the entrance to the dining hall when he felt someone grab his arm. Acting purely on instinct he grabbed his assailant's wrist and flipped them over onto their back, surprised to see Sarah's face illuminated by the moonlight.

"Are you going to stare at me or are you going to help me up?" Sarah asked, and he grinned before helping her off the ground.

"We shouldn't be doing this you know." He said as he kissed her softly.

"You're right we really shouldn't. Especially not with me having to kick your ass tomorrow. Apparently Graham decided I would teach martial arts to the new recruits. He said it was so I would know the capabilities of whoever my new partner was."

"Well we both know that's a load of shit. He just wants to make it harder on both of us so that he finds some excuse to fail me."

"I know." She replied quietly.

"Sarah, what is it? What aren't you telling me?"

"Part of your training is how to deal with advanced interrogation."

"Torture." He replied and she nodded.

"Clark they will put you through hell when that happens...I will be forced to put you through hell when that happens. Graham will make me do it just to get under your skin."

"That's what you meant. When you said the things they would do to me you were talking about torture." He said and she nodded.

"Well I can't say I wasn't expecting this." He said, making Sarah look up at him.

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because you're not going to be the one putting me through that Sarah."

"What are you talking about?"

"I knew that that was going to be part of my training. I also knew that based on his reaction it was likely that Graham would want you to torture me. So on the flight down here I called the President. I knew he couldn't do anything to stop me from having to go through it, but he could change who tested me."

"What did you do Clark?"

"I asked him to call a friend. To have him administer the test." The way Clark wasn't looking at her, coupled with his tone had Sarah immediately on guard. She knew that whoever he had gotten to test him she wasn't going to like it.

"Who's administering your test Clark?"

He sighed, and then looked her in the eye. He was silent for a moment and then he spoke.

"Jack Bauer."

"Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea who he is, what he's capable of?" She asked after a moment. She knew who Jack Bauer was. Hell, she didn't think there was a person in the intelligence community who didn't know who he was. His success rates were legendary, but so were his methods. Methods that made what she had been taught look like nothing because at the end of the day there was a line that she refused to cross. There was even a line that Casey wouldn't cross. Jack Bauer had no such limits. He would do whatever it took to defend this country and that's what scared her.

"I know what he's capable of. Like I said, he's a friend."

Sarah didn't say anything; instead she grabbed him and pulled him inside the dining hall, being sure that they were truly alone. Then she sat down beside him and looked into his eyes.

"Start talking. Now."

"Let me start out by saying I didn't intentionally keep this from you. I promised Jack and President Palmer that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?"

"Do you remember a year ago when the President was almost assassinated?"

"Yeah, the official report said it was a race thing. Even the CIA got told it was a race thing."

"It wasn't a race thing. It was a man named Victor Dreizen He was the target of an op that the President authorized back during Jack's special forces days when Palmer was still a Senator. Jack's entire team got taken out, but he thought that Dreizen was dead. He was wrong. You remember when I told you about my summer in Metropolis?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Before I went home I ran off to LA for awhile. I couldn't face my parents so I kept running. The day I arrived I listened trying to get a read on the people. That's when I heard Jack. He was being asked to assemble the gun that would kill the Senator. If he didn't the bastards were going to kill his wife and daughter. I did the only thing I could. I stopped the assasin, and promised Jack that I would help him find his family.."

"And in the process you saw him torture someone."

"Yes. I didn't like it, but it was necessary."

"Wait so when we met and you acted all surprised-"

"I was surprised you were CIA, and honestly it wasn't an act. The CIA is different than CTU."

"Clark...are your sure about this? I mean-"

"I don't like the idea of being tortured Sarah, but it has to be done. Besides, I didn't just ask Jack to do it so you wouldn't have to. I asked him to do it so that I know for myself that I won't crack. If I can take a beating from Jack and not talk, then I'll never talk."

Sarah nodded, knowing that he was right, but also knowing that Jack Bauer had never failed to make someone talk. She prayed to God that Clark would be the first, and she also promised that when that time came she wouldn't cry.

"So enough about the depressing stuff. Not that it's not great to see you Sarah, but I thought we agreed to keep all this on the down low while I was going through this."

"Well that plan kind of got shot to hell when you decided to get territorial."

"Graham was trying to offer you up like some prize. I wasn't just going to stand there and do nothing."

"So instead you put a larger target on your back." She said with a smile, making him know that she wasn't mad.

"I did what I had to. Besides, you didn't look too upset about it. If I recall you even offered to buy me a drink once I break your record." He said with a smirk.

"Awfully sure of yourself."

"I'm going to have the most amazing woman in the world as my partner and she's already my girlfriend. By some miracle she loves me, and we're going to spend our days saving the world and our nights making love. What's not to be sure of?" He replied, and she smiled before she kissed him. Clark placed his hands in her hair while she wrapped hers around his neck and before long the two were deepening the kiss.

"Now that is what I call a kiss."

The two quickly broke apart, whirling towards the voice. Clark tensed as he looked at the person intwerrupting them, wondering how he could have been so stupid as to forget where they were.

"Clark it's okay. It's just Roan. Roan Montgomery, meet my new partner Clark Kent. Clark meet your instructor for what we call seduction 101."

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Kent. From what I can tell you will be a natural at the four steps of seduction."

"He is. In fact, he barely touched on step one before he jumped straight to step four."

"Step four?"'

"Being a total bastard or don't you remember how you acted in the bar?"

"Oh I remember." He replied with a smirk, making Sarah blush slightly.

"You mean to tell me that you seduced the Enforcer?" Roan asked, obviously impressed.

"He did." Sarah confirmed with a smile making Clark's smirk grow. He knew he should be annoyed that they were talking about this so casually, but he couldn't help but be proud.

"Well I can tell that you will be an interesting addition to my class Mr. Kent."

"Call me Clark."

"Very well, but you must call me Roan, and don't worry I won't mention tonight to anyone. I look forward to seeing you both later." He said before walking out of the room, taking a drink with him. Clark had been so caught up in the kiss and subsequent conversation that he had totally missed it.

"Thank God it was just Roan. If it had been Graham or Beckman..." Clark trailed off and Sarah nodded.

"Look it's getting late and you need to get some sleep."

"Any chance of you joining me?"

"I did say sleep and you know we can't. I'll see you tomorrow." She said, giving him a soft kiss before walking away, Clark watching her until she disappeared into the night. He knew that there would be challenges and that he still had far to go before he got his place as Sarah's partner. But in that moment Clark Kent couldn't deny that his life was pretty close to perfect.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please read and review and the next chapter will be up soon!