Chapter 3

Expectations

Alberta, Canada

Logan exited the building with Morty.

"It was nice seeing ya Morty" Logan said getting on top of his motorcycle.

"Always a pleasure Logan" Morty said as he left.

Logan was about to put his helmet on when he stopped. He heard the sound of heavy vehicles approaching. He sniffed the air, familiar ones.

Two, blue camouflaged, armored vehicles stopped right in front of Logan.

On the sides of the vehicles there were symbols. A blue eagle inside of a circle.

Armed soldiers came out of both vehicles and awaited further orders.

One last person stepped out of the vehicle and stood in front of Logan.

He stood taller than Logan, then again who didn't he was only 5,3. He was a middle aged Caucasian male, with brown hair combed to the side, and a fancy black suit.

"What do you want Coulson?" Logan asked.

Coulson flashed Logan his signature smirk, "Nothing, I'm actually surprised to see you here Logan. I've tracked down a Hydra recruiter to this area, I'd be shame if you were involved"

Logan was once an agent of SHIELD years ago, he didn't have the patience for all the secrecy and lies the organization was built upon. So he left, not so long after he met Chuck, best decision he ever made.

Logan inched closer and stared him down, "And what if I was? You think that little baby pistol of yours could take me down?" he mocked.

Coulson's smirk never faded as his gaze never left Logan's, "Let's hope I won't have to"

"Whatever bub" Logan put on his helmet and started up his bike.

"The Director sends his regards" Coulson said.

"Tell the eyepatch he can go fuck himself" Logan hit the gas kicking up dust in their faces as he left.

Dean finally arrived at the transport. He looked outside and saw a jet with the Hydra logo on it.

"This is as far as I go. Are you sure you're ready?" The man asked.

Dean nodded, "My life is a shit hole, it can't get any worse" he left the vehicle.

The man smirked devilishly, "You have no idea how wrong you are" he said ominously.

Dean entered the jet. There were several others in regular clothing just like him strapped to their seats.

A person approached from the pilot seat. A soldier dressed in a green outfit, wearing a helmet shaped like a skull which covered his entire head.

"You" He pointed at Dean, "Are you joining as well?"

"Yeah" Dean said.

"Then sit down and strap in, we're taking off" The soldier said before returning to the pilot seat.

Dean did as he said and sat in the last remaining seat.

At the Institute

Rogue was looking at a Harley-Davidson magazine in the lounge area. She was just browsing. You see since Rogue is an orphan she doesn't get money allowances like the others get from their parents. Which means she has no personal spending money, and that bites.

She can't buy new clothes, accessories, food, and most importantly a motorcycle like she always wanted.

Scott passed by and saw Rogue with a frown, "Hey Rogue"

Rogue noticed him, "Hey" she went back to her magazine.

"Whatcha looking at?" Scott asked curiously.

Rogue showed him the page she was looking at. A classic black Harley with a brown leather seat.

"You like motorcycles?" Scott asked.

"Yeah ah do" Rogue said turning the page.

"So you want to get one?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, but I don't have any money" Rogue said.

"If you get a job you'll have money" Scott said.

"Yeah but these things are expensive, I'd have to work for a long time to get one" Rogue said.

"You make it sound way worse than it is. Hey last year when I was a freshman I really wanted to get a car but I didn't have cash either. So I got a job and saved up all the money until I had enough to buy my convertible" Scott said.

"I guess" Rogue looked skeptical, "But where would I work?"

"They're hiring at my job, all I have to do is put in a good word for you and you'll get it" Scott said.

"Fine, ah'll try it out" Rogue said.

"You won't regret it" Scott said.

Northern Africa

The jet finally arrived to its destination and Dean, along with the other recruits, gathered in the hangar they were in.

Dean and hundreds of others stood idle, waiting.

The hangar was closed off from the outside and the jet he traveled in didn't have any windows which meant Dean had no clue where in the world he was.

Dozens of Hydra soldiers showed up along with a woman who led them.

The woman had green hair, eyes, and lipstick. She was dressed in a skin tight green outfit that highlighted her athletic body. And to complete her outfit was a green cloak.

She had a handgun strapped to each of her thighs and a sword strapped to her waist.

All the recruits remained silent, waiting for her to speak.

"Welcome, recruits. You've successfully taken the first step to joining Hydra. For the next few weeks you will train, hard, to become the soldiers that Hydra needs you to be. I am Madame Viper, and I will personally oversee your training. You'll be split up into group units where you will learn to fight on your own and as a team"

A recruit raised his hand.

"Yes?" Viper asked.

"When do we go on missions?" He asked.

"When I have deemed you worthy enough you'll be given assignments, until then focus on your current task. Hail Hydra!" Viper shouted and raised two fists in the air.

The soldiers next to her did the same.

The recruits simply stood, unaware of what they were doing.

"You'll start your training by learning our salute" Viper said.

The recruits were split up into different squads and sent to different areas.

Dean looked around at his new courters.

6 beds were the only thing that filled the room. At the end of each bed was a large chest with a lock on it.

"Each of you gets their own bed and a case for their personal belongings. Training begins at 0500" A soldier said before leaving.

"What the hell is 0500?" One of his teammates asked. He was an above average size fellow with a shaved head.

"That means 5 am" Dean said as he opened his chest and put the duffle bag full of money in there.

"Fuck" The bald one said.

"What's our unit called again?" Another teammate asked. He was a slim fellow with messy brown hair.

"Delta Squad, idiot" Another teammate said. She was a blonde girl with green eyes and a snippy attitude. She looked too pretty to be here, which raised the question of why she was here.

The fellow with the messy brown hair glared at her.

Dean and 5 others were now teammates and roommates. Wonderful.

"I guess we should use these next couple of hours to get to know each other" Another teammate said. He had orange hair and freckles on his face, "I'm Greg"

"Jordan" He was dark skinned and bald with a fit body.

"Tobias" the messy brown haired one said.

"Bob" the above average size bald one said.

"Dean"

They all looked at the girl seeing as she was the last one.

"I don't need to share my name with people who're beneath me" She said putting her things in the chest and locking it.

"Whatever" Tobias said not getting her deal, "What are you guys here for?"

"Money" Greg said.

"Money" Jordan said.

"Money" Bob said.

"Money" Dean said.

"Same here" Tobias said.

"Peasants" The girl muttered.

A loud alarm rung as the 6 recruits slept waking them all up.

"Is it time already?" Jordan mumbled.

All the lights turned on automatically.

"Aw man" Bob said shielding his eyes from the blinding light.

A soldier walked in and threw down a pile of worn outfits, "Put these on, now" he ordered.

The recruits quickly put on the given clothing.

"Follow me" The soldier walked out and the recruits followed swiftly behind him.

'It's too bad I'm getting a bad feeling about this now' Dean thought.

Once again all the new recruits gathered in the hangar, this time Madame Viper was waiting for them, "Your training begins now. I will do everything in my power to make you competent soldiers or kill you in the process of doing so"

'She's probably kidding, hopefully' Dean thought.

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta squads will start with a little morning jog" Viper said with a smirk.

"Move out!" A soldier commanded as he led them towards the hangar exit.

Viper continued to bark orders at the new recruits as Dean left but he paid no attention to them, he was focused on the task at hand.

The soldier they were following accessed the panel by the hangar door and opened it.

The metal doors slid open letting in the immense heat from the outside.

Dean looked outside, a fucking desert, great.

Bayville High

Rogue walked out of school feeling relieved it was over.

"Hey Rogue!" she heard.

Rogue looked around until she spotted Scott waiting for her in his car. She walked over and got in.

"Alright, time to go to work" Scott said driving off.

"I forgot to ask, where do ya work?" Rogue asked.

Scott laughed sheepishly, "Gut bomb" the local fast food burger place.

Rogue was not pleased to hear this, "Really Scott? I don't wanna be goin home smelling like food. Take me home"

"No wait, just give it a try" Scott said.

Rogue gave him a bitchy look.

"It's really not that bad. If you don't like it you can just leave anyways" Scott pleaded.

Rogue sighed, "Fine" she already regretted her decision.

Northern Africa

Dean and the others entered the hangar, panting and drenched in sweat from the heat.

"Take a breather you'll need it" The soldier said before reporting to a higher ranking officer.

Tobias fell backwards from exhaustion.

"Well that was…breath taking" Greg said breathing heavily.

Dean smirked, "You don't say" he stood up straight as he caught his breath.

"You don't look so tired" Jordan said.

"I know how to fake it" Dean said still sweating.

The nameless girl remained silent.

The soldier returned, "Break's over, follow me"

All the tired recruits followed his lead down the stone corridors until he stopped at an entrance with bulletproof glass on the sides to see inside.

Dean peeked through the glass, other recruits were going through a sort of obstacle course one at a time.

After they were done they exited the obstacle course room, their clothing singed from burns and red stains of blood.

Two Hydra soldiers dragged out a bleeding corpse or better yet two parts that had been sliced by who knows what.

"Damn" Bob said staring at the two halves.

"You'll share the same fate if you don't proceed with caution in the training area" The soldier said as he led them somewhere else.

The soldier finally stopped at a shooting range, "Here you'll learn proper aim before moving on to the training area"

Tobias gulped, "Isn't that a little soon?"

The soldier got in his face, "Practice while you can, your group is next" he grabbed one of the high tech machine guns on the wall, "This is the newest plasma rifle model, the X-EL3. The standard magazine capacity is 100 rounds and it can fire up to 5 rounds per second. The fire selector has 3 settings, single fire, semi-auto, and full-auto. Remember that the more automatic it is the less powerful each plasma shot is"

He handed the gun to Bob, "Try it on a target" he lined up a dummy.

Bob aimed the weapon at the dummy and took a few shots using single fire.

He hit nowhere near the bullseye.

"Practice, I'll be back soon" The soldier said as he stepped outside.

Greg took the weapon from Bob, "This thing is pretty cool" he lined up a new target and took a few shots. His aim was considerably better than Bob's.

"Hey let me try" Tobias said and Greg gave it to him. He took a few shots but the recoil of the weapon made him stagger and completely miss the target.

"You should definitely practice more" Jordan took the weapon.

"Heh" Tobias said sheepishly.

Jordan fired at the untouched target and got decently close to his mark.

"Not bad, let's see what you got Dean" Greg said and Jordan passed him the weapon.

Dean grasped the plasma rifle feeling its weight and estimating its recoil. He aimed down the sights and fired a single shot.

He hit the bullseye. Dean was no stranger to handling firearms, his father let him shoot his guns quite often.

"Nice shot" Tobias said.

"Hmmm" The nameless girl didn't seem impressed. She lined up another target and took the weapon from Dean.

She set the gun to full automatic and fired the entire clip at the target, leaving barely anything left.

"Damn" Jordan said.

The girl smirked and dropped the weapon, "Waste of my time" she left the room.

"She's really somethin" Bob said staring at her rear as she left. The blond girl was in fact quite shapely.

"You better check those looks before she puts holes in you" Greg said.

Bayville

Rogue stood next to Scott behind the register. They were forced to wear a red uniform and a hat with an exploding burger on it.

"This is degrading" Rogue said frowning.

"Just remember what you're doing this for" Scott said trying to look at the small bright side of this situation.

"Somehow I think my dignity is more valuable than that motorcycle" Rogue said hating herself.

Kurt walked through the door.

"Hey look, your first customer" Scott said.

Kurt spotted Rogue, "Rogue? What are you doing here?" he said with a smile.

Rogue glared at him, "Working"

Kurt couldn't help but snicker at the sight of her.

"Rogue needed some pocket money so I got her a job" Scott said.

"And how fortunate, I'm here to buy some burgers" Kurt said.

"Ok, what do ya want?" Rogue asked.

"No, you forgot to say it Rogue" Scott said.

"What? But Kurt knows me" Rogue said.

"He's still a customer" Scott said.

Rogue sighed uncomfortably, "Welcome to Gut bomb, home of the gut bomb burger, can I take your order?"

Kurt bursted out laughing.

Scott couldn't help but laugh either.

"What the hell is so funny?" Rogue didn't understand.

"Dude, that was genius" Kurt high fived Scott.

"I know right" Scott said.

"Did ah miss something?" Rogue still couldn't figure out what was so funny.

"What you never saw the movie Good Burger?" Scott asked.

"No" Rogue said.

"I still can't believe she said it" Kurt said still laughing.

Rogue grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, "Listen fur ball, order something or get out"

Kurt gulped, "Ok, give me 10 Gut bomb burgers"

Northern Africa

The soldier returned to the shooting range.

"That's enough target practice for now, let's move on" He said and the recruits followed him to the training room.

"Now listen carefully, you're tasked with surviving the training room. As a team or individual, it doesn't matter. Try not to die" He said plainly.

Tobias looked worried, "That's it? That's all you're going to tell us?"

The soldier looked at him, "If you're good enough that's all you'll need"

Tobias gulped.

"Don't worry Tobias, if we work as a team we'll be able to handle anything" Greg said.

The nameless girl smirked, "You're never going to make it" she bumped into Tobias as she went to take a weapon.

The rest of them armed themselves and waited in front of the metal doors.

"Guys, just remember, this isn't Call of Duty. Don't charge in by yourself, or you'll end up like that guy who was chopped in half" Greg said.

"I'll take point, I have good reflexes" Jordan said.

"I'll be right behind you" Bob said.

"Tobias stay in the middle and I'll watch our 6" Dean said.

Tobias nodded.

The doors opened and the recruits entered with caution.

The training room appeared to be a large room in the shape of a cube. The walls, floor, and ceiling had black metal square plates. Like a massive Rubik's cube.

Certain squares on the floor rose out of the ground to create walls leaving a single small and isolated pathway.

The recruits took the only available path and as they did a couple of plates opened to let out defense turrets.

The turrets all aimed at the recruits.

"If it moves shoot at it!" Bob shouted as he opened fire.

The turrets shot green plasma bullets at them.

One hit Dean in the shoulder, "Ah!" the plasma bullet burned right through his outfit, he felt the sting of it on his skin.

"Out of the way!" The girl rolled and shot both turrets, destroying them, and moved on her own.

"What the hell is she doing?" Jordan asked.

"She's on her own let's keep moving" Greg said and they did.

They turned left, there were no turrets so they kept moving.

Suddenly a vertical row of squares from each wall came out and collided with each other.

Jordan jumped back, "Whoa!" he avoided being crushed.

Each adjacent row of squares would collide stopping at the 6th one and after a 5 second delay the process restarted.

"There's a pattern, if we move slowly we can get past it" Dean said.

"Good eye, let's go" Greg said.

They took a step forward and two plasma turrets came out ahead of them on the bottom row of squares on each side.

The plasma turrets shot at their feet.

Jordan and Bob were both hit.

"Stupid laser turrets!" Bob shouted as he switched his gun setting to fully automatic and held the trigger.

He took out both turrets and the recruits advanced in time to avoid the extending walls.

They encountered a crossroad.

"Which way do we go?" Tobias asked.

"Let's go right" Greg said.

They went right and encountered a dead end.

"Wrong way" Jordan said as he turned around.

The two lines of vertical squares opened on each wall and projected a wall of flame.

"Oh fuck me" Bob said not believing his eyes.

The wall behind them sprouted metal spikes and started sliding towards them.

"Shit what do we do?!" Tobias started panicking.

"Role through the fire it's the only way" Dean said as he did it. A few spots on his outfit caught on fire, he quickly pat them to put them out.

The others followed his lead.

They put out the fires on their outfits as well.

"I guess left" Greg said.

They went left.

"It's like a labyrinth, we need to make sure we don't make any more wrong turns" Dean said.

"Let's hope we don't do that again" Greg said.

They encountered more defenses as they continued.

"We should be getting close" Dean said judging by how long they've been at this.

They came across a new corridor. As they stepped in 4 turrets came out of the walls in front and behind them.

"Take 'em out quick" Jordan said as they started firing.

As they tried to take out the turrets, buzz saws started periodically coming out of the lines between the squares.

That caught the recruits by surprise getting all of them.

A buzz saw sliced Jordan's calve, "Ah!" he dropped to the floor.

"Not good!" Tobias shouted.

"Jordan can you walk?" Greg asked as he destroyed a turret.

"I can't man, mah leg's hurt bad" Jordan said wincing.

"I'll help him, you cover us" Dean said as he carried him.

They destroyed the turrets and moved as swiftly as possible. They made a turn and found themselves with 3 ways to go.

"Great" Greg said sarcastically.

Dean looked in all three directions. The right had swinging blades and the left had electrified walls. But the middle had turrets, buzz saws, and flamethrowers.

"Go for the middle" Dean said.

"WHAT?!" Tobias said.

"That's got the most defenses" Jordan said.

"Which means it's more likely to keep us from going through" Dean said.

"He's right" Bob grabbed Jordan's gun, "Let's do it!" he started spraying with both of the guns, one in each hand.

They quickly destroyed the turrets and did their best to avoid the buzz saws.

"How's he going to get through?" Bob asked about Jordan, he can't just slowly walk through flames he'll get barbequed.

"I'll throw him" Dean said.

"Can you throw him that far?" Greg asked.

"Yeah I got this" Dean said.

The other's passed through the flames without too much trouble.

"You sure about this?" Jordan asked.

Dean lifted him up, "Nope" he threw him.

Jordan flew through the flames and rolled on the floor to make sure he wasn't on fire.

Dean jumped through and put out the flame on his arm.

"Nice we finished" Greg said.

They stood at the end, the nameless girl already there.

"Last" the girl said with a cocky grin.

"It wasn't a race" Tobias said.

"That's because you couldn't keep up with me" she said.

"Regardless, you all survived. Mostly" The soldier looked at Jordan's leg, "See the medic, the rest of you follow me, the day isn't over yet"

Dean groaned, this day is going to be painful.

Bayville

Scott and Rogue were on their way back home.

"So what'd you think of your first day?" Scott asked.

Rogue threw her outfit on the side of the road, "I'm never going back there again"

"What? Why?" Scott asked.

"The whole place stinks, the customers are rude, I couldn't stand the outfit, and the guy doing the fries was staring at me all day" Rogue said.

"Rob's just a little lonely he's not—"

"Scott, shut up" Rogue said.

"Ok" Scott said not wanting to incur her wrath.

As he was driving Rogue spotted their local mechanic/gas station that was close to them. There was a help wanted sign on the window.

Rogue wondered if that would work.

Northern Africa

The recruits entered their room and collapsed onto their beds.

"Holly shit" Tobias said feeling pain throughout his body.

"I'm actually happy I got hurt now" Jordan said as he saw them come in.

"First day is the worst, it'll get better" Greg said being optimistic.

Dean remained silent, he still didn't know what to make of this place. Hydra's clear intentions were still unclear to him, he didn't trust them at all. But while he was here he would take advantage of their equipment and training to improve himself.

Author's Note: Hydra is trying to prepare it's recruits pretty fast, no wonder they drop like flies. Dean's got his work cut out for him on this one, let's see how much he improves from this. And I wonder what's that girl's story?