Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one introduces a couple of new characters for ya and also brings back a familiar face.

Enjoy!

Placing the last of her framed family photos on one of the wooden shelves pre-nailed into the wall, Ava takes a small step back and rests her hands on her hips, letting out a content sigh as she looks around her side of the dorm room. All of her belongings are unpacked and put away right where she wants them to be, making her new room feel more like home.

"So, are you ready for Orientation?" Ava asks her roommate, turning around and leaning back against her desk, watching as the other girl finishes unpacking her own belongings.

"I think so," Lacey responds, setting out the last of her things.

Ava looks at her roommate with furrowed brows. "You think so?"

Lacey nods. "Yeah." She turns around. "I'm just a little worried I won't be able to handle Communications and I'll completely freak out somehow."

Ava waves off her concern. "Oh, you'll be fine. Communications is not nearly as tough as Operations or Sci-Tech. My Auntie Jemma said that she had to have at least one PhD before she was even admitted into Sci-Tech. And she was younger than we are."

Lacey's eyes go wide. "Whoa, seriously?"

Ava nods. "Mm-hmm. She and my uncle are super smart when it comes to science. She's a biochemist and he's an engineer. They work together a lot. Kinda like my parents do. While my parents are the dream team for field agents, my Auntie Jemma and Uncle Fitz are the dream team for the science aspect of all things SHIELD."

"Your mom heads up Communications, right?" Lacey asks.

"Sort of. She and my dad helped my Papa Phil build SHIELD back up after the Fall, and so she was in charge of getting the Communications department back up and running since my Papa Phil really trusted her with that kind of stuff. And she took charge of redesigning the Communications section of the Academy once they decided to reopen it all on one campus instead of three separate ones in different parts of the country."

"And what does your dad do again?"

"Well he helped redesign the Operations section of the Academy, with help from my Nana May and a few other agents. He helps out in the some of the classes sometimes like my mom does with Communications. He also started the K9 Unit, which I like to think is probably his greatest contribution besides me and my brother since I love dogs and a K9 Unit is a really good idea."

"Wow."

"What?"

Lacey shakes her head. "Nothing. It's just…you really do know a lot about SHIELD and the Academy."

Ava shrugs. "That's what happens when your parents are two of its top agents and you and your brother spend most of your free time hanging around the different bases."

"Certainly sounds like you've had an exciting life. And that you have a bit of leg up on the rest of us here."

Ava shrugs again. "I guess so." She takes a deep breath and glances at the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. "So, should we head down to Orientation now?"

Lacey nods. "Yeah, we should probably do that. I want to get a good seat in the lecture hall."

"I told Adian that he could sit with us, so we might have to wait a little while when we actually get there." She grabs her cell phone off the side table, unplugging it from its charger, and slides it into her back pocket. "I'm not sure if he'll already been there or not."

"Okay, that's cool. He's your twin, right?" Lacey asks.

Ava nods as she grabs her dorm room key and slides it into her pocket as she flips the lock on the door while holding it open. "All my life."

"What's it like?" Lacey asks as Ava closes the door behind them as they step into the hallway. "I'm an only child, the closest thing I have to a sibling is my cousin Pierce who's three years older than me and he's kind of odd."

"It has its ups and downs," Ava tells her. "Some days I love Adian more than anything and want to tell him everything that happens in my life, and other days I want to pummel his face because he gets on my nerves. But even when he drives me crazy, he's my brother and I'd do pretty much anything for him. Just…don't tell him I said all that. He doesn't need to know."

Lacey laughs quietly. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."

Ava nods once. "Good, thank you."

"No problem. I mean, being a spy is all about keeping secrets, right?"

Ava smiles and nods. "Yes, I suppose it is."

.

.

.

"Adian!" Ava shouts when she sees her brother approaching the doors of the large, main lecture hall, sticking her hand up in the air to help him find her and Lacey in the large crowd making its way into the room.

"Hey." Adian gives the two girls a smile when he reaches them.

"Hey. Did your roommate come with you?" Ava asks her brother.

He shakes his head. "No. I guess he had to go and do something before Orientation, but we're meeting up later for the separate Operations Orientation."

"Oh, that's good."

"Yeah." He takes a deep breath. "So are you two ready for Orientation? I don't think it's supposed to be super long, just a short introduction into the basics of what we're doing here."

"Then let's go find some seats," Ava tells him. "Dead center?" she asks her brother.

He nods. "Hopefully there's still some seats open."

"There should be," Ava says, pulling open the door and stepping through, Adian and Lacey right behind her. "I don't think most cadets are going to want to sit in the direct eye line of whoever's leading Orientation."

"I wonder who's doing it," Lacey says. "I only know of a few agents in the organization, but I can't remember any of their names. Except for your guys' parents, obviously."

"Maybe it'll be Uncle Lance," Adian suggests, walking down one of the aisles toward the center of the seats, the two girls right behind him.

Ava shakes her head at the thought of her Uncle being in charge of Orientation. "No way. They'd never let him lead an Orientation. He'd probably inadvertently try and convince everyone to set something on fire," she says with a laugh.

"Or to do something completely reckless that ends in everyone involved having at least one broken or fractured bone."

"Wait, this guy is an agent?" Lacey asks with raised brows and wide eyes.

Adian and Ava both nod, walking down one row of seats to the middle and sitting down.

"He's not as crazy as we made him sound, though," Ava tells her roommate. "He's a good agent; he's just a little crazy and out there most of the time. But he's a lot of fun to be around, we like hanging out with him. Mom and dad didn't exactly like leaving him in charge of us when we were kids, though. But sometimes they didn't have any other options."

"Those were some of the best days," Adian says with reminiscent smile on his face at the crazy times he and his sister used to have with their Uncle.

"Attention, Cadets."

The three teens shift in their seats, turning their attention to the front of the lecture hall, Adian and Ava finding a familiar looking woman in a standard Agent uniform, an all black tactical outfit, standing behind a podium, her long blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail on top of her head and her hands clasped together in front of her.

The chattering among all of the cadets quickly dies down as they all face the agent in front of them.

"Aunt Bobbi," Ava whispers to herself with a small smile. She leans over to her brother. "Why didn't mom or dad tell us Aunt Bobbi was going to be one of our instructors?"

Adian shrugs. "I don't know."

"My name is Bobbi Morse," the older woman speaks up, drawing the twins' attention, "but you'll all be calling me Agent Morse, and I'll be one of your many instructors here at the SHIELD Academy. Over the next four years you will attend and participate in various lectures, both as one large group as you are now as well as within your individual divisions, training for your specific field of study. You will also take part in various simulations ranging from all levels of difficulty. All of this is to get you ready for your graduation when you will receive your badge and ID, becoming an official agent with SHIELD."

Adian and Ava both grin at each other in excitement.

"You will also conduct a minimum of one hundred hours of community service each year you are in attendance at this Academy. Some of your community service hours will be conducted at the local school for children of current agents as well as the training facility for the K9 Unit that was started not long after SHIELD began rebuilding."

"We just got out of that school," Adian says to Ava. "Now we're gonna have to go back there and help out?"

"You knew we'd have to," she reminds him. "And you loved it there."

"The layout of the Academy is much different than it was when it was first built," Bobbi explains. "It used to be three separate campuses located in various parts of the country. However, after the initial Fall of SHIELD, when we were beginning to rebuild, it was come to the decision among the remaining agents that placing all three campuses together on one central location would be beneficial to all cadets."

"Mom and dad helped redesign and rebuild," Ava says quietly.

"Yeah, I know, doofus."

"I know you know," she replies with a small roll of her eyes. "I was just stating a fact."

"Well can you stop?" he asks her. "I'm trying to pay attention."

"So am I. It's just kinda weird hearing all of this since we pretty much lived through a lot of it even if we can't remember some of it. And we grew up here so we already know the layout of this place like the back of our hands."

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't listen."

Ava sighs. "I never said it did, Adian. All I was saying is that I—"

"Am I boring you, Cadets?"

Adian and Ava quickly whip their heads toward Bobbi, seeing the older woman looking at them with a stern look on her face, one they've rarely seen directed at them, usually only at their Uncle when he'd irritate their aunt.

"No, ma'am," Ava replies immediately. "We're sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not." She takes a deep breath and turns her attention back to the rest of the group. "As I was saying, while the campuses are all combined, cadets are expected to stay within their dorms at night as there will be head checks to make sure everyone is accounted for. However, we highly encourage you to intermingle and get to know your fellow cadets, even if they are not studying the same thing that you are. In your first year, all of your classes will be the same as your fellow cadets who share the same area of study. However, in the years following, your classes and training schedule will become more personalized based upon your skill set and what exactly you want to do within SHIELD. There are many pathways to choose from, so study hard, do your best, and figure out what best suits you and your abilities."

"We already know what we're gonna do," Ava says to her brother with a small smile.

Adian smiles back. "Yes we do." He holds his hand out to his sister for a low five, which she gives him.

The twins turn back to the front of the auditorium and listen attentively as Bobbi continues to address the cadets in the room, telling them all they'll need to know about their upcoming time at the Academy.

"Alright," Bobbi says after a few more minutes, "that's about all I have for you today as a whole group, but you do have Orientation within your respective fields in about twenty minutes. If you ever have any questions, or need anything, do not hesitate to ask me, or any of your other instructors. We're here for you, we want you to succeed." She waits a beat and then gives a small nod of her head. "You're excused."

All at once, the cadets in the room stand from their seats and begin making their way out of the lecture hall, their voices filling up the space and then filtering out as they leave.

Adian and Ava both wait a moment for their own row to clear out a little before standing and slowly making their way toward the exit, Lacey walking with them.

"I know we're going to our own Academies for Orientation," Adian speaks up, "but can we all meet back up in the cafeteria for lunch?"

"Obviously," Ava says. "We hardly know anyone here yet, of course we're going to sit together."

"Cool. And I might bring my roommate too."

"The more the merrier," she says with a smile. "We'll have our own little close-knit group, like mom, dad, Auntie Jemma, and Uncle Fitz."

"I don't think anyone has a friendship like them, but we can definitely give it a shot."

"Adian, Ava."

"I'll catch up with you outside," Ava says to Lacey, giving the other girl a small smile.

Once Lacey's up the stairs, Adian and Ava both turn around and smile when they see Bobbi approaching them. They walk a little ways to meet her near the bottom of the steps.

"Hi, Aunt Bobbi," Ava says with a smile. "I mean, Agent Morse. That's going to be so weird to say whenever I see you around campus."

Bobbi smiles softly. "Yeah, I'm sorry about all of that earlier. I didn't want to have to call you guys out, but I needed to set an example and I knew you wouldn't take it personally and that you'd still like me afterward." She lets out a small laugh.

"It's fine," Ava tells her. "We really don't want to be treated any different than any of the other cadets."

Bobbi nods. "Right. Then there will be no special treatment whatsoever. Promise. Now get going, you both have Orientation in your respective fields. You really don't want to be late and make a bad first impression on your instructors."

Adian nods. "Right. We'll see you around, Aunt Bobbi." He gently grabs Ava's wrist and pulls her along behind him and toward the door of the lecture hall.

"It's Agent Morse," she calls after the twins with a small smile and shake of her head.

"So remind me who the people we're sitting with are?"

Adian sighs in response to the boy next to him as they walk through the cafeteria, lunch trays in their hands. "I've already told you, Tyler."

"Yeah, I know. But I wasn't really paying attention."

"We're sitting with my twin sister Ava and her roommate Lacey," he tells his roommate.

Tyler nods. "Right. And are either of them cute?"

"Dude, seriously?"

"Yeah, man, I'm completely serious. Do you know how often we're going to be out in public while we're here? Hardly ever. Which means my only chance at meeting girls is right here at this very Academy."

"Well I'm pretty sure most of the girls here are focused more on becoming an agent than they are on finding a relationship."

"And maybe I'll be the one to change their mind," he says with a sly smile. "I'm known to be very persuasive."

Adian laughs quietly and shakes his head at his roommate's confidence. "Yeah, whatever. Just please don't use your so-called persuasion on my sister, okay?"

"Alright, man. But I can't promise she won't want me anyway."

"Trust me, Tyler. If I know my sister, and I do know my sister, she isn't going to want to be with you. Ever."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to go over there and see what happens, won't we?"

"You're really confident about this, aren't you?" Adian asks his roommate.

Tyler smiles and nods. "Oh, definitely."

"Care to make a little wager on it, then?"

Tyler stops and smirks. "What did you have in mind?"

"Fifty bucks says she shoots you down immediately after you put the moves on her."

"You're so on, man. Easiest fifty bucks I'll have ever made."

Adian laughs quietly to himself and shakes his head, continuing in his path to the table where his sister and Lacey are already sitting, talking quietly to each other.

"It's about time you showed up," Ava speaks up when she notices Adian approaching the table out of the corner of her eye. She turns to face him more. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"Sorry," Adian says, sitting down and setting his tray on the table. "We were just having a little bit of a disagreement."

"About what?"

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over," Tyler remarks with a sly smile on his lips.

Ava quirks a brow at him. "Excuse me?"

Tyler sits down right next to her, leaning over and draping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her a little closer to him. "You heard me, gorgeous."

Ava's quiet for just a moment before she throws her head back and starts laughing loudly, drawing the attention of a few tables around them. "Are you serious right now?" she asks Tyler. "Did you honestly think that was going to work?" She looks over at her brother. "Adian, who is this idiot and why is he sitting next to me?"

Adian smiles amusingly at his roommate immediately being shot down by his sister. "Ava, meet my roommate, Tyler Parks. Tyler, this is my twin sister Ava."

Ava looks back at the boy next to her. "Nice to meet you, Tyler. Why is your arm still around me?"

Tyler pulls his lips tight. "Right, sorry."

"Just don't do it again," Ava tells him, turning to look at her brother again. "So how did Operations Orientation go?" she asks him.

He shrugs. "Pretty okay. I already knew most of the stuff they were talking about, so it was only a little boring. We did get to run a few basic drills though, so that was sort of fun. What about you?"

"I honestly zoned out for most of it," Ava admits, picking at the food on her tray.

"Wait, you guys seriously didn't pay attention during Orientation?" Tyler asks, glancing back and forth between the siblings. "Why wouldn't you pay attention?"

"Did you not tell him?" Ava asks her brother.

Adian shrugs. "It never came up."

"What don't I know?" Tyler asks. "What's so important?"

"Adian and Ava's parents are Grant and Skye Ward," Lacey explains.

Tyler's eyes go wide. "Seriously? Grant and Skye Ward are your parents?" He lets out a breath. "Damn. Skye Ward is certainly one very fine piece of—"

Adian and Ava both cut the boy off with a punch to either arm.

"Dude, that's our mom," Adian says with narrowed eyes.

Tyler holds both of his hands up in defense. "Sorry, man. I'm just telling it how it is."

"Well you'd better not say it when my dad's around," Adian advises his roommate. "Doesn't matter if you're just a cadet, he'd most likely use his abilities on you and blast you in the behind without blinking an eye and you'd have some serious burns."

Tyler nods. "Duly noted. Though, your dad is a very lucky man for getting to be with your mom. She is very good looking."

"So is your dad," Lacey speaks up. "I'm actually a little jealous of your mom because of that."

Ava's head whips around to her roommate. "Lacey!"

The blonde girl shrugs. "What? It's the truth."

"And if you spoke that truth while mom was around, she wouldn't think twice about tossing you across the room with her abilities," Ava warns her friend.

"Well we can't exactly fault them for it," Lacey says. "They know they've got a good looking spouse and want to keep people off them."

"No we cannot," Tyler agrees. He shifts in his seat. "This is a bit off topic here, but I really have to ask, which one of you is older?" He gestures between the twins.

Adian raises his hand into the air. "By two minutes."

"Best two minutes of my life not having to share a space with you," Ava jokes, a small smile on her face.

Adian rolls his eyes. "That's probably the thousandth time you've said that," he tells his sister. "It's kind of lost its potency by now."

Ava shrugs. "Eh."

Tyler and Lacey laugh quietly at the bickering between the two siblings, turning their attention on their food as the conversation continues.

"Well look at what we have here. Two SHIELD prodigies sitting right before our very eyes."

Adian, Ava, Lacey, and Tyler look up from their conversation to see a tall boy with dirty blonde hair standing above them, a sneer on his lips and a hard look in his eyes; two other boys are flanking him, matching sneers on their faces.

"Who are you?" Ava asks the boy who's clearly the ring leader of the three.

"Of course you wouldn't know me," the boy says. "Two SHIELD prodigies like yourselves couldn't be bothered to know the names of anyone else outside their close knit circle that they've clearly already designated who gets to be a part of it."

"Dude, just calm down for a minute, okay?" Adian speaks up. "My sister and I have never met you before, which is why we don't know your name."

"My name's Dylan Cafrey," the boy tells them. "And you're Adian and Ava Ward. I know all about you two. The twin son and daughter of Grant and Skye Ward, two of SHIELD's top agents and world-renowned Inhumans Quake and Hellfire."

"Just because you know basic facts about our family doesn't mean you know anything about us," Ava cuts in with narrowed eyes. "So don't go around judging us before you do."

Dylan scoffs. "Whatever. But just because your parents are SHIELD royalty around here, don't expect any of us to go easy on you."

"We wouldn't want you to anyway," Adian tells him. "We worked hard to get here, just as much as anyone else here did, and we're going to prove that every single day that we're here. If you have a problem with us being here, fine, just don't talk to us and we'll be okay. We don't want any kind of trouble, we just want to make it through the Academy and become agents. Just like everyone else that's here."

"But you're not like everyone else that's here," Dylan reminds them.

"Well obviously," Ava says with a roll of her eyes. "We're all individuals; no one is the same as anyone else. The world would be pretty weird if everyone was the same."

Dylan whips his head toward Ava. "I don't need any lip from you."

"Hey. You better watch how you talk to my sister, Cafrey," Adian says, standing from his seat and sizing Dylan up.

"What are you gonna do about it, Ward?" Dylan asks him, stepping closer so they're toe to toe.

"Adian, stop," Ava speaks up, reaching out to place a hand on her brother's arm when she sees his hands curl into fists. "Just calm down."

"Yeah, Adian, calm down," Dylan taunts.

Adian's jaw hardens and his fists clench tighter as he stares down the other boy. He breathes in deeply, slowly, trying to slow his heart rate back down the way he'd been taught to do when he was younger.

"Cadets. Is there a problem over here?"

The small group turns to see one of their instructors at the Academy standing near them, hands behind their back and a stern look on their face.

"No, there's no problem here," Dylan says with a smirk. "We're just talking, getting to know each other a little better."

"Good. I'm sure you're all aware of the consequences of getting into an unsanctioned fight outside the designated training gyms."

"Yeah, we're aware," Adian says through gritted teeth.

The agent nods. "Good. I'll leave you all be." She turns around and walks away from the group, leaning them alone once again.

"Don't think this is the end of it," Dylan says quietly to Adian. "You better watch your back, Ward."

"And you better watch yours."

Dylan lets out a low laugh as he turns and walks away, his friends following right behind him out of the cafeteria.

Adian lets out a breath, sinking back down into his seat dejectedly, dropping his head into his hands as he rests his elbows on top of the table.

"Don't let him get to you, Adian," Ava says to her brother. "He's obviously insecure and just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't give him the satisfaction."

Adian sighs. "I know. And I managed to control my breathing and calm down. But I can't promise I'll be able to the next time he comes at me."

"Just as long as you don't lose control, okay?" she asks him with a pleading look. "Promise me you'll try not to lose control. Adian," she says a little more insistently when he doesn't respond. He looks up at her. "Please promise me you'll try not to lose control."

Adian nods slowly. "I promise I'll try. But I can't promise that I won't at some point."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you, Adian. You may annoy me most of the time, but you're still my brother."

Adian gives her a small smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks, Ava-loo. You're a good sister, you know that?"

Ava lets out a puff of air as she tosses some hair over her shoulder. "Obviously I am. I'm surprised it took you this long to finally notice."

The other three teens around the table laugh quietly amongst themselves, Ava quickly joining in with them as the conversation shifts to lighter subjects.

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Alright, so we've now met Adian's roommate Tyler who's definitely a fun character, just wait and see. And we've also met Dylan, someone who isn't particularly happy about the Ward Twins being at SHIELD Academy. Stay tuned to find out why. :)

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!