As I'm publishing this, I'm continuing to plan PNG's future arcs and this chapter title goes well.

Year Three: Strange Things Are Happening

Two Years Ago - Asgard

While Thor was travelling within the realms, Apollo staying by his mother's side to help her and distract himself from his growing madness, and Sigyn doing anything to avoid everyone, Freya went back to training. She's still a warrior-in-training and amid Thor's absence, she and her comrades couldn't dwindle. They know how to run through drills although it would be more fun if Apollo joined them.

Her fellow warriors are testy, on their toes. They've noticed a shift in the palace dynamic ever since Apollo and Sigyn came to stay. They've seen their training schedules shift and Apollo's absences from sessions. Freya couldn't blame them or hide it herself since she could only do so much.

Her battle armour wasn't built for this.

"Freya."

Freya looks up from fastening her gauntlets and sees her fellow warriors looking at her curiously with concern. Nobody seemed in the mood to even spar.

"You live in the palace so you've seen it firsthand. What's happening?"

Freya sighs. She wouldn't know where to start. "It's not my place to say but we're Asgard's front-line royal warriors so you should know. The worst is to come. Apollo and Sigyn are losing themselves in Fate, Thor and Jane as well. Vanaheim wasn't kind to us, especially towards Apollo and Sigyn. All we can do for them is prepare and fight when the time comes."

-o-

Present Day - Camp SHIELD - 8:34 AM

Xavier wakes up to the sound of freshie cadets running through the military phonetic alphabet while running laps. He feels nostalgic about that drill despite hating it back then. He also feels old thinking of it that way since it was only two years ago.

It's the first day of Camp since arrival day never counts. Arrival day is where the frantic freshie cadets get settled in their cabins and their counsellors give them their schedules while answering any of their questions. Xavier's group seemed scared of him and he wasn't sure if it was because he was the counsellor, head counsellor, or if they know his SO. If Xavier had to guess, it was all three.

He showered and got dressed in his Camp counsellor uniform (which was his Operations uniform with a Camp windbreaker. It was bright blue for Operations and had COUNSELLOR on the back above a SHIELD logo. His jacket had the word HEAD written on the base of the logo to show he was the lead counsellor). He walked over to the dining hall where he saw his fellow counsellors. Some of their cadets were grabbing meals and he saw the other counsellors. Sci-Tech in bright green and Communications in yellow.

Xavier takes a seat with his fellow counsellors and notices they were in the middle of discussing their cadets.

"One of my cadets was going on about how perfect her boyfriend is," one of Xavier's fellow counsellors, Priya complains about her cabin. "I swear I could tell you their whole relationship story because she wouldn't shut up about it."

"How long have they been together?" Another counsellor, Joseph asks. Everyone at the table, including Xavier, was invested in this story.

"Three. Months."

Everyone winces.

"It's too early for them to have discovered the weird stuff," Xavier says.

Priya smacks the table before pointing at Xavier. "That's what I said!"

"You seem to speak from experience," a third counsellor, Rowan, says to Xavier, "so what did you discover about your long-lost love?"

Xavier laughs to himself. A freaking lot even before the three-month mark. "My long-lost love was my life-long best friend's long-lost cousin."

Everyone's silent but they raise their morning coffees or teas as if they were drinking shots.

"Camp's off to a great start," Joseph says. "Speaking of, we have to start planning on taking down Sci-Tech. It was undecided who won last year."

"We creamed them," Rowan says. "I was here. Sci-Tech thinks they won but maybe we should keep them on their high-horse."

"We can handle James," Xavier states.

"Isn't he screwing your sister?"

Xavier cringes. "Unfortunately."

"Then he has the upper hand already."

"And the upper hand on his sister…" Priya mutters.

"Hey!" Xavier exclaims, pointing at her. "That's my sister you're talking about."

Priya grins and nods slowly. "Now we have a head counsellor. Rowan says last year's counsellor was a wimp who caved into the pranks early. Vander picked a good one this time."

"Vander's my SO."

The table is silent.

"Oh god…" Rowan mutters. "He sent you here for a reason. We have to make him proud."

-o-

Academy's Commando's Lounge - 9:16 AM

Angela walked into the lounge before her morning training session. She expected to see her friends since they planned to meet there and head to class together. It was normal. She heads over to their seats and sees Orchid, Ashton, Brody, and even Merida bowing their heads. Orchid looks up and smiles at Angela's confused expression, mostly at the picture of Xavier being presented on Orchid's phone. It was a photo of Xavier back when he was playing football in high school. It was after another winning game since he had Britney on his arm, embracing her with one arm wrapped around his waist. It was an older photo since she was wearing a cheerleader outfit. Big, bright smiles that make her heart hurt.

How Orchid got the photo is beyond her. Angela assumes Merida sent it in their Xavier's Besties group chat.

"Xavier's not dead," Angela says. She knows that the argument being at Camp is basically being dead but still. He isn't dead.

"My dorm is quiet as hell," Ashton complains. "We had a dorm inspection the other day since Morrison got caught being on steroids, and that was the highlight of my week, and I was in class when it happened!"

"It's been one day."

"Easy for you to say," Brody adds, "you're the twin. You have a psychic connection."

Angela shrugs. "Probably something about Britney."

"Exactly."

Orchid snorts a laugh. "City Boys better come back alive. I'm talking about Xavier and James."

"I'm more concerned for James because he's in charge."

Orchid folds her hands as if she was praying. "Dear God, please bring James back alive so Angela won't have to practise celibacy anymore. Amen."

Angela glares at her. Orchid shrugs without regretting it as Brody and Ashton look anywhere else but at them. Merida's snickering to herself which draws Angela's eyes to her.

"Why are you here?" Angela asks her. It still surprises her that Merida is in a group chat worshipping Xavier and now she's here.

Merida shrugs. "It was either this weird shrine or Communications."

-o-

Wakanda Royal Board Room - 9:40 AM

Iqadi was always happy to join her father on debriefings with his counsellors and delegates from other tribes. At first, when she was old enough, it was a part of her training. When she would assume the mantle, she would be leading these sessions. Sometimes, her father would ask if she had comments or opposing opinions. She's been accompanying him more ever since her miscarriage since it never took a toll on her. Most of the time she didn't.

Until now.

Everything in Wakanda was the same. Their scientific and militaristic strategies and plans had no changes or noteworthy developments but some news from outside the borders got her attention.

Growing tropical storm headed for Fiji. Category 5.

And that was it. Nothing more about it. Meeting dismissed.

She wasn't even asked to comment.

"Father," Iqadi says, standing to approach him once the room clears out.

"Iqadi," her father cuts her off and Iqadi doesn't object. She could tell that he knows what she's about to say. She's his daughter, after all. No wonder he kept her quiet. "You know why we don't get involved with political corruption outside our borders."

"But that's different," Iqadi argues. "Those are people and this is a storm. I could make one myself."

"That's my point." His voice grows strict with her. "This isn't a war against people and their stances or beliefs. This is against the elements. They're deemed as natural elements for a reason. We'll leave it."

"Father, they need us. I could -"

"Iqadi, aside from what I just said, you've been through a lot. I don't want you to throw yourself into a literal storm. You'll lose yourself. Let nature take its course."

Iqadi holds back and nods. She's been taught that war was a disease to be avoided. It's a topic her parents never wanted to talk about with other officials, let alone her. Ironic for a militaristic country.

But this news of a tropical storm in the Pacific? Iqadi could manipulate the weather, her mother could. Why couldn't she talk about it let alone resolve it? If she can control the elements and it's a war on elements, then who better to fight it?

-o-

Edison Residence - 11:09 AM

After class, Daniel heads back to his dorm to drop his stuff off. The closer he gets to his room, something catches his attention. He turns the corner and sees two agents at Keith's door with Keith standing at the doorway. Daniel stops. He isn't sure if he should walk past them since it looks like a serious conversation and the rest of the hallway is empty, but his dorm is past them.

Instead, Daniel leans against the corner and goes on his phone to wait for that to end. He has time to wait. Daniel doesn't mean to eavesdrop but he can't help to listen since they're talking so loud for something that's probably classified.

"There's been a break-in into the Academy's academic grading system," the first agent tells Keith.

Keith doesn't even blink. "And you think I did it."

"Your record makes you a suspect despite being on parole," the second agent responds.

Keith sighs tiredly before waving his hand across once. "This is not the droid you're looking for."

Daniel bites down on his lips and holds back laughter, especially since the first agent is amused while the second one looks like they'd ice him and their partner on the spot.

The second agent narrows their eyes. "Your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me."

Keith shrugs. "Worth a shot."

The agents leave and Daniel decides it was the right time to head back to his dorm. Before Keith closes his door, he makes eye contact with Daniel and it's no secret that he heard everything so Keith invites him inside.

"Why would they accuse you of that?" Daniel asks as Keith closes the door.

"You heard them," Keith responds, "I'm on parole."

" … could I ask why?"

Keith sighs as he sits on his bed and starts typing on his laptop which was already open. "So I'm from a small town. Very suburban, everyone knew each other type of town. If you started as a popular kid in school, you're popular for the rest of your life. The same applies to any high school character. So the SATs come around and I wanted to make it big before I left that crummy town, you know, show them I was more than a face they shoved into toilets. So I hacked the SATs and sold the answers. I know, it's unhackable, but only for them. Anyways, got my name floating around and a shit-ton of cash. Everyone kept quiet about it but then the school became suspicious when everyone scored oddly high, even the stupid kids. I didn't think anyone would memorize the booklet. I even got some wrong to throw them off so I could make it up on a retake, but they eventually found out it was me."

"How?"

"Easy. I'm the only smart kid in that school. Besides, everyone had to retake the first try and I was the only one who did well, not surprising there. So now I'm on parole for my crimes and everyone in my graduating class hates me, but the Academy recruited me so take that justice and social system of Mesa County."

" … wow," is all Daniel could say about the whole story. "So what'll do about the Academy grade problem?"

Keith doesn't look up from his screen. "We're finding the real hacker."

Daniel pauses. " … you want me to help?"

"You know too much now and who knows, maybe you'll be useful. Besides, it'll get the Academy off my ass, teach them how to secure their stupid system, and maybe, just maybe, get me off parole."

"Alright, I'm on board."

Keith looks at him for a second. "You want to help?"

"It's better than my SO wanted me to work on a second dissertation."

Keith laughs a little. "Good choice. Besides, you won't have to do much."

Keith turns his laptop to face Daniel and all Daniel sees is a rush of codes spill through the screen. If Daniel could guess, Keith managed to break into the Academy's mainframe while sharing his backstory. He does have his Ph.D. in computer science. It honestly impressed him.

"Sometimes, passwords are obvious because they'll think you won't guess them," Keith says before turning his laptop back to him.

"So, you can really solve this?" Daniel asks.

Keith shrugs. "Might as well try. If I'm going to get kicked out, I might as well go out heroically. And I'm not letting these people with swapped grades go down with me."

" … so what would happen if this all fails?"

"They'll kick me out. I'll go to jail and become a villain SHIELD will fail at stopping."

Daniel pauses.

Keith looks up at him and grins. "If you're asking how I got into all this, it's because of these."

He gestures up to his glasses and Daniel smiles.

I just realized this chapter has three of the big arcs for the next few chapters: Xavier and James at Camp SHIELD, Iqadi dealing with a tropical storm, and Daniel and Keith clearing Keith's name. It'll be fun.