"Hey Jared?" I asked with a frown at the pages of the SHIELD manual I was reading. I wanted to make sure what I was reading was absolutely crystal clear. I'd read the paragraph about ten times now and still couldn't believe my eyes on what I was actually reading. We'd gotten home a few hours ago and being the good little nerd I was, settled in to read the mountain of books supplied to me. The things like the SHIELD Code of Conduct could be left for a time while flying on autopilot. I wanted to know more about Operations, so I had grabbed the first book about that. Only halfway through it, I wasn't sure if I was going to cope with all of this. There was some heavy shit in there and what I had just read really took the cake.
Jared was sitting on the couch, beer in hand watching a DVD. He looked up as I walked from my bedroom into the lounge room.
"So I'm reading this weird thing about working with partners and all that jazz." My frown deepened, skimming over the offending paragraph again. "And there's actually something written here about if your partner goes rogue, then you're the one sent to eliminate the threat. Am I seriously getting what it's saying? That SHIELD sends you in to scrub your partner out if they go nuts?"
"Yeah." Jared nonchalant shrug made both of my eyebrows climb up into my hairline. "Standard protocol."
"Wow, that's cold." I couldn't quite believe how chill Jared was about this. "Didn't you have a partner at one stage? Peter? Paul? Started with P anyway. I think I met him once."
"Phillip," Jared corrected me. "Yes I did and you did meet him once. I work better alone. Makes it easier when I can just teleport. Another person working with me is just dead weight."
"Oh." I stood there feeling even more unsure of myself now. The brief feeling of being bliss at able to handle a Quinjet without any hassles had now flittered away getting halfway through my SHIELD manual for Operations.
"Don't read into it too much Kari," Jared said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Chances are if you have a partner and they go rogue, they'll try and kill you as well so it makes it easier. Besides, you'll probably have a team rather than a partner. So a lot of that stuff isn't going to apply to you."
"I seriously can't get it all straight in my head." I huffed out a sigh of annoyance. I walked over to the couch and flopped down on it next to Jared, throwing the heavy book on the coffee table. "I mean why all the different operational fields? Why can't SHIELD be easy and just have two categories, people who kill people and people who sort out the paperwork for the people who kill people? I mean I don't even know what your real job title is."
"Specialist." Jared reached over and paused the DVD. The serious look on his face meant he was actually going to be helpful for once. "It's a grown-up term for a super spy. So, don't worry about specific terms. SHIELD seriously comes up with new jobs and words every different week. You'll go nuts trying to learn every single job out there. Break it down into 4 divisions. You've got Operations, which is basically your tactical and arms security units. They're the muscle who handle everything on the front line. So that's who you'll get to play with. Then you've got Science and Technology, which is where all the nerds work. You should have worked there with your smart brain. Dad would have loved that."
I pulled a disgusted face at Jared's remark. Dad had made that exact comment many times. I'd go nuts working in a lab all day. He kept going so I couldn't reply to him.
"Communications are generally the scary computer hackers who you never let near anything you have electronic because they'll either screw it up or make it so they can spy on you. Those are the people who hack the Pentagon in their lunch break for a bit of fun at work. Then you have Administration. That's Moms side of things, along with all the usual fields that you need to run a big company like accounting, HR, PR and all that stuff."
"I hate being a newbie all over again." I sighed heavily sinking down into the couch. It was hell trying to absorb all the information. "I mean I'm grateful I know what SHIELD is and what they do, but all this stuff I've been given makes me feel like I'm cramming for an exam I know I'm never going to pass. Like that semester of music, I had to take and it was the only class I'd ever come close to failing."
"They are trying to cram two years of work into your head in a month." Jared reached over and gave my leg a small squeeze. "I can remember this shit because I went to the Academy and I did have to remember it for exams. You only have to know the bare bones of it so you can be thrown in the field ASAP. From what I remember you got an A- for music. So stop stressing over that shit and have a beer with me. I'm watching Mean Girls because my brain needs to switch off."
Jared kicked the manual off the coffee table. It landed with a heavy thump on the floor. I wouldn't admit it but there was a certain satisfaction seeing the heavy book land on the floor. I'd seen Mean Girls before but it didn't stop me from doing as Jared requested. I got up and grabbed my own beer and sat back down on the couch. Jared hit play and the movie started again. It was enough to make me forgot about my worries for a while.
"So how did you get along with Lucky Charms?" Jared asked me halfway through the movie.
"That's so unoriginal." I didn't bother to drag my eyes from the TV. "He was funny, let me fly to Texas and back so he could have a nap. Apparently, I can fly without needing too much supervision."
"I should fucking hope so, the Air Force let you fly a 150 million dollar jet," Jared said with an amused snort. "SHIELD's 20 million dollar jet shouldn't be so much of an issue. So that'll be fun for the next month, just flying around not really doing anything."
"Can you fly a Quinjet?" I asked thinking back to the conversation with Ian about how SHIELD had designed them to be idiot proof in case of emergency. Worst case scenario the Quinjet could be flown remotely, or so I'd found out while reading one of my other books. Even I was impressed at how easy it was to fly. It still didn't make it any less fun though.
"Hell fucking no." Jared shook his head rapidly. His quick dismissal of my question made me smile. Jared had a fear of flying. Apparently, it hadn't diminished over the years. "Last time I went in one was because I had to get my parachute qualification. That was bad enough, let alone sitting in one and learning to fly it. I'll keep my feet firmly on the ground thank you very much."
I laughed under my breath at Jared. I had completely forgotten about his fear of flying. Having the ability to teleport anywhere he needed made any kind of normal mode of transport redundant for him. I really didn't blame him though. I hated flying when someone else was the pilot. I knew what can go wrong and how quickly it does go wrong. It didn't leave me much confidence leaving my life in the hands of someone else. I had trust issues with things like that.
"I start with some of the other stuff tomorrow as well," I said, enjoying the light conversation with Jared. I'd gotten the email on the way home outlining my schedule for the next two weeks. "I'm doing a hand to hand combat class straight after PT. Hill wants me to sit in on some of the mission briefs to learn what goes on. The bottom of the email had something about doing some other training if they can fit it in. It feels like SERE training all over again."
"Yep, where we don't have to play by the rules of interrogation and torture." Jared looked over at me with an evil grin appearing on his face. "If you get the class where they ask for a volunteer to get waterboarded, be the volunteer. Otherwise, you cop the full brunt of a proper one instead of half a bottle of water splashed on your face."
"You are absolutely terrifying," I laughed despite the seriousness of his words. Odd didn't even begin to describe this situation. Sitting here on a Tuesday afternoon, drinking beer while watching Mean Girls, discussing the weird shit that goes on behind closed doors in SHIELD. The things I was reading was all in a manual for basic recruits. It made me wonder what I'd know and learn about when I got the proper security clearance.
"Yeah well, wait until the day you ask me how to get blood off your clothes," Jared laughed with me. "I have a different trick for every fabric out there. It's a delicate but necessary subject. You seriously can't soak an Armani suit in coke, it just ruins it."
I had taken a drink of beer when Jared started to talk. At his last sentence, he made me laugh so hard the beer shot out from my nose. I quickly held my sleeve up to my face to stop the offending liquid spraying everywhere. My reaction just made Jared laugh even harder. Neither of us could stop it, I nearly fell off the couch I was laughing so hard. My stomach hurt by the time we had both stopped laughing.
"This is so fucking crazy," I said when I got the breath to speak again. "I really don't know what I've gotten myself into."
"Nothing that you can't handle," Jared reassured me, handing me a napkin. "Trust me on that one."
I wish I had the same confidence in myself as Jared did in me. But his words were comforting. If my own twin believed I could get through this, then maybe I just might.
"I'll pay for dinner tonight. Wanna go out somewhere?" I changed the subject. Jared's face lit up at the mention of eating out.
"I know the perfect place. Let me make some reservations for us. You'll love HeeBeen."
PT was easy in the morning. Even though every muscle screamed at me for the torture Rumlow put me through yesterday. The hour long soak in an epsom salt bath after dinner hadn't helped that much. Mentally it was a lot better walking into the Triskelion knowing what to expect, at least for my first hour. I ended up jogging next to Riley again, which was silent except for the lift up onto the chin up bar. Rumlow didn't make me do 100 chin-ups, but he did make me change from chin-ups to pull ups halfway through. My arm muscles were not happy with him at all. I swore at him under my breath in Russian the entire time I was doing pull-ups. I was going to have some epic biceps by the time Rumlow was done with me.
When PT was finished I started to head back inside. It was only when I got to the door, I realised I had no idea where the gym was. I stood at the edge of the field and bit my lip in uncertainty. I'm sure there were signs somewhere. I wasn't confident of my ability to not to get lost and then be very late for the class.
"Lost already?" Riley's tone was teasing as he came up behind me. I turned around, grateful for a familiar face. Even if he didn't speak to me beyond saying hello earlier. Either he was really shy, or I'd already made a fool of myself. I had bets on it being the latter rather than the former.
"I have no idea where the gym is," I laughed to cover my embarrassment. It came out a bit too high pitched and off. "And I have to be there in 10 minutes for a hand to hand combat class. Which I'm going to suck at so this morning is going to be terrible."
Fuck Kari. I mentally smacked myself. Shut the hell up woman. Verbal diarrhoea didn't even come close to what I had just spewed out. Thankfully Riley smiled at me, not looking worried about my verbal shit at all.
"I'll walk you there if you'd like?" Riley asked. "I'm in no hurry to sit at a desk all day."
"Thank you." It was hard to keep the grateful gush out of my voice. That was sweet of him to help me out. We both walked off and I broke the silence quickly.
"So what happened to your arm?"
"I got shot through my bicep," Riley explained with a shrug, It made it sound like it wasn't an uncommon occurrence around here. "It was a stupid injury and it's taking ages to heal up."
"Ouch," I said sympathetically. I'd never been shot but I remembered when Jared had a bullet graze once. He whined about it for months afterwards. "How did that happen?"
"I put my arm up to fire at someone, didn't see the enemy on my side and he got me through the arm." Riley absently rubbed his left arm. I secretly enjoy the view of his arm muscles flexing under the tight shirt he had on today. "So yeah, no big exciting story behind it. Sorry to disappoint."
"I've never been shot so you've got one up on me." I wanted to smack myself for real this time. Why is it my brain just switches off when I talk to good looking guys? This is probably why I couldn't even hold a fuck buddy down. I just spewed out random shit making me sound like a total idiot.
"I'd hope not." Riley smile eased my discomfort. "After all, weren't you a Raptor pilot?"
"That was me." I smiled back ignoring the pang of sadness that came with thinking of my old life. I had to stop letting myself do that. Wallowing in my own pity party wasn't going to help me. "Not exactly a skill set I needed, learning the dodge bullets."
Riley chuckled but didn't reply. I hadn't paid any attention to where I was walking. I was too busy watching Riley out of the corner of my eye. He'd shaved today, but his hair was still messy. He smelt really good, despite being sweaty from PT. There was a very light lingering smell of some expensive cologne. At least if I wanted to do anything Jared wouldn't flip his shit over me trying to sleep with Riley. The gym wasn't that far away, still on the ground level which made sense. If the layout was done properly hopefully the locker room wasn't too far away. The size of this place was going to be the bane of my existence for the next year.
"Have fun," Riley said stopping at the double doors in front of us.
"I'll try," I grimaced, bracing myself for the inevitable of what was going to be a killer session. I was already sore and this wasn't going to help in the slightest with my aching muscles. I turned and put my hand on the door to open it.
"Hey, Kari?" Riley's voice made me stop. I glanced back at him.
"If you need a hand with anything just let me know, I'm bored out of my mind at the moment and don't mind helping," Riley said in a huge rush. By the look on his face, it didn't feel like I was the only one who couldn't keep their mouth shut. I felt a more genuine smile tug on my face.
"Thanks."
We stood there just looking at each other before I cleared my throat. I really wanted a few more seconds with him. The little chat we had on the way here had made my day so far.
"I better get in there," I said reluctantly after a few more seconds.
"Yeah sorry, see you at PT tomorrow," Riley spoke just as quickly as before. I gave him one last final smile before I opened the gym door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shy smile creep onto Riley's face as he turned away.
As I opened the door, I braced myself for what was about to come. I wasn't the first to arrive, but at least I was on time. Most of the people seemed to know each other. Everyone was in small groups and chatting amongst themselves. All the people in the groups were wearing some kind of shirt from the Academy. They were all fresh rookies doing their final rounds before becoming full agents. Technically I was no different from them. I hung on the edge of the crowd feeling awkward and a bit lost by myself. I wished Jared had walked me in, he might have known somebody to palm me off too. Anything was better than standing here feeling like a loner. It was a feeling I knew all too well. While I was never a complete outcast, in high school and the Air Force, I never really had any close friends. I was always on the edge of the social groups. Nobody hated me except for a few bullies in high school, but I wasn't exactly being invited to all the parties and social gatherings either. I ended up taking Jared to my prom because I was too damn unsure of myself to contemplate asking anyone.
"All those doing the hand to hand combat, here now." A tall, dark-haired Agent walked in and headed straight for the matts already put down. I followed the group, most of the people were glancing at each other looking slightly nervous. I'm glad I wasn't the only one looking unsure now. The group huddled around the edges waiting for further instruction.
"I'm Agent Rollins," the agent spoke folding his arms over his chest. He looked like a typical STRIKE guy, big muscles and short haircut. "I'll be your instructor over the next few months. First things first, I don't like complainers. If you're going to complain and not do as your told, the door is over there."
Rollins uncrossed his arms and pointed towards the door.
"Two, except for one special case, the rest of you are doing your last semester at the Academy. I will be sending regular reports back. Piss me off or slack off in class and you'll find yourself behind a desk and definitely not in the field. Which one of you is Lyngley?"
I tentatively raised my hand. It was hard not to shrink under the glare Rollins sent in my direction. My earlier thoughts were confirmed. This was not going to be fun at all.
"I don't like special cases." Rollin's glare made me want to disappear and never come back. All the people standing near me parted leaving me standing there by myself. "Especially not ones that I have to pass regardless of what happens in this class. Just because you're a mutant and the twin sister of Fury's favourite pet spy doesn't give you special privileges. Am I clear?"
Ouch. That burnt. I hated being called a mutant for starters. Gifted or Enhanced was such a nicer term. I didn't expect any special treatment and this wasn't my choice. Right now I'd be more than happy to be far, far away from him and this class. But here I was. Most people backed away from me even further when they heard that. Great, I was going to be treated like a leper. Jared being Fury's favourite was something new though.
"Crystal clear Sir." I hoped a little obedience and respect might be helpful. Judging by the heated glare Rollins kept levelling at me, I doubted anything I did was going to help now. I squared my shoulders and gritted my teeth. It was only for a few weeks. I could deal with it for that long. Well, I hoped I could deal with it for that long.
"Pair off," Rollins commanded shortly. "Let's move people."
I looked around with growing dismay. Of course, there had to be an odd number of people and I was left standing there by myself looking like an idiot. I folded my arms across my chest, clearing my throat. Rollins just looked at me with another hard glare.
"Guess I don't need a volunteer for today then."
Yep. Today was going to suck.
By the time I'd limped my way back to the locker room, I was running late for my flying session already. Rollins seemed to enjoy making a complete idiot of me in front of everyone else. No matter what I did I couldn't get anything right. Every move he showed me and I tried to replicate at him ended up in another bruise and more aching muscles. Any confidence I'd been feeling was shattered all over those damn matts in the gym. It felt like there wasn't any part of my skin that wasn't bruised or red. I'd had copped an absolute ass kicking from Rollins. All because he didn't like having me there.
I wasn't normally a crier. But right now I could feel tears of frustration welling up inside of me. This rollercoaster of emotions I kept going on was terrible. One minute life didn't seem so bad here at SHIELD. Then the next I wanted to go and find a deep, dark hole to crawl into and never come out. What's worse was I didn't have time for a shower. I just sprayed myself down with deodorant and changed into my flying suit. Here's hoping Ian wouldn't mind too much. I don't think I could take anymore yelling at today. I let myself have one sniffle of disappointment before wiping my face and leaving the locker room. I managed to make it to the hanger without getting lost. Ian was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me, two cups of coffee in his hands.
"I'm so sorry I'm late," I apologised quickly as I ran down the stairs as fast as I could without tripping over my own feet. "I had a hand to hand combat class and it ran over."
"Doesn't worry me, you get here when you get here." Ian brush off and smile did nothing to make me feel any better. He handed me the coffee cup in his left hand. "Vanilla latte as requested, you look glum. What's wrong?"
"Glum," I forced myself to chuckle. I had to otherwise there was a strong chance I might burst into tears in the middle of the hanger. "That sounds very British of you. Thought you were Irish."
Truthfully I didn't really want to speak about what happened in my class. It was better left there and just focus on everything else for the day. I could wallow in my own misery in private back at Jared's apartment. Preferably with a glass of scotch and dry. While sitting in the bath with music as loud as I could handle. That sounded like an amazing plan for when I got back to Jared's apartment.
"Through and through." Ian wasn't buying my brush off. "You're a Yank through and through so that's interesting for you to think that's British. You still didn't answer the question though."
"I spent four months in the UK over summer holidays when I was 17," I stalled for a little bit longer. Ian's raised eyebrow and steady gaze made me sigh. I wasn't getting away with this no matter how much I tried. "It's nothing, just didn't have a very good time in my class. Agent Rollins gave me a bit of an ass kicking because I apparently suck at hand to hand."
"Typical STRIKE boys." Ian rolled his eyes. "All brawn and no brains. I wouldn't worry about it love. If he feels that he needs to hit a skinny girl to make himself feel manly then he isn't worth your time worrying about."
I didn't have a reply to that. If only it was that easy to brush it off. I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the caffeine and sugar. We'd arrived at the same Quinjet as yesterday. Ian motioned for me to get in and I went straight to the pilot seat. Today the preflight wasn't done, so I grabbed my clipboard and started to go through the checklist. I was silent while Ian chattered about nothing of concern until we got into the air again. I nodded and faked a smile in the right places, well I hoped it was the right places. I was only half listening, still letting myself wallow in my pity party from this morning.
"Right. You know how I said yesterday that you can pick where we're going today?" Ian suddenly asked. I nodded in confirmation, sitting up a little straighter. I really had to listen now. "Yeah, that's not going to happen now. Swing out over the ocean and we're going to drop to 500ft and you're going to see how fast you can go."
"Seriously?" I turned to Ian with a raised eyebrow. "500ft is pretty damn low. I would have gotten my ass kicked doing that in the Air Force."
"Yes, seriously." Ian waved his hand in the air in dismissal. "Off you go. When we come back we'll go via Nevada so you can drop a few bombs as well."
I just stared at Ian not sure if he was joking or not. He looked at me with both his eyebrows raised as if he was waiting for me to argue.
"I am not sitting here watching you brood for the next 3 hours, so let's go fly really fast then go blow some shit up. That should make you smile."
"Are we really allowed to do that?" I asked. Regardless of the answer I quickly changed the flight path to over the Atlantic instead of the course I had set earlier. I was going to fly to California and back. It was the first place that had popped into my mind.
"No, but why the fuck not?" Ian smiled brightly. His excited smile made my lips tug up a little. "I retire in a month, what are they going to do? Fire me? Pfft, fuck it lets do something fun."
Despite my shitty mood I smiled back fully this time. My thoughts exactly, why the fuck not? If we weren't going to get into trouble for it, may as well. Blowing stuff up always put me in a good mood. Whether it was cans full of petrol or the full arsenal of a Raptor.
"You look too young to be retiring." I finally contributed to the conversation between us instead of just nodding and pretending to smile.
"Love I'm 65, more than old enough to be retiring," Ian laughed at me. "After working in SHIELD nearly my entire life, I'm happy I made it to retiring age. It's a rarity in our line of work."
"Were you always a pilot?" I asked curiously. Beyond casual conversation, I didn't know a lot about Ian. It'd be good to get to know my instructor at least a little bit. Something told me I'd be spending a lot of time with him over the next few weeks. I pushed aside his comment about retiring being a rarity on this line of work. After reading my manual last night it wasn't a surprise to hear a comment like that so casually flung around.
"No, I was STRIKE actually until my first child was born." Ian smiled looking lost in memory. "Then I found it harder and harder to deal with missions, so I requested to be transferred. I already had some flight experience so becoming a pilot was just the next step. All the adrenaline rush with about a quarter of the risk. As time went on I began to do some teaching along the way and eventually I was asked to take over the head instructor position, oh about ten years ago now. You're my very last student. I have to admit I'm happy to get someone so easy."
"I hope I don't disappoint you then." My lack of confidence from this morning was still gnawing at me. Glancing out the window we were clear over the ocean now. I pushed the jet downwards and felt the thrill of the acceleration the closer to the surface we went.
"Love, trust me. You're not going to be a disappointment. Let it rip," Ian said, casually lounging back in his chair. "Don't hold back. It's good fun. See if you can push Mach 2."
"We aren't wearing anti-g-suits." I pointed out while carefully applying more throttle. I kept my eye on the controls, not sure if I was ready to trust myself at this speed so low in a jet which controls I only had a basic grasp of. Ian was right though, it was a lot of fun despite my reservation about it. The speed was steadily climbing with very little input from me.
"Inertia negation," Ian said casually. "Ever heard of it?"
"Yeah in Star Trek," I snorted in disbelief. "Though it was incorrectly referred to as inertia damper. It's a theory."
"Yeah not so much," Ian informed me smugly. "SHIELD found on a way to apply it to its aircraft. So we can hit Mach 2 while doing a J turn and feel like your on a passenger jet. Come on, more stick there girl. Go faster."
I eyed the airspeed indicator warily but did I was instructed. I was sitting just on 600mph and without much input from me, we climbed easily to 700mph.
"Mach 1, let's go," Ian pushed. I couldn't help but laugh a little at his childish enthusiasm. He was unlike any flight instructor I had ever known. Most of them wanted you to fly sensibly, not push the aircraft to its limits just for the sake of it. Then again, this was SHIELD. An entire organisation that was about pushing the limits in everything they did.
"Actually, show me some fancy fighter pilot shit." Ian challenged me. "Come on, you didn't get to fly Raptors straight from flight school because we were average. My guess is you can bust some slick moves. Just remember these Quintets are idiot proof, you won't crash it even if you try."
I shrugged at his challenge. Then yanked back on the stick as hard as I could and put a lot of rudder input in the pedals. The Quinjet effortlessly climbed and rolled at the same time, putting us in an over the top high-g barrel roll. It had been a movement I'd worked on in my last ever flight in a Raptor. I'd been pretty happy that day because I'd pulled it off without a hitch. Even some of the more seasonal pilots were impressed by it. I had been impressed I had been able to do it without blacking out or losing control. It put a hell of a lot of strain on your body. But with the technology in the Quinjet, it just felt like I had given us a lazy roll over in the sunshine. When I pulled out of the manoeuvre even I was smiling. Ian was laughing at me. He reached over and clapped me on the back.
"Nice work, see that brought a smile to your face." Ian grinned. "Now, go faster and then we'll go blow some shit up."
"I can't argue with that," I laughed with him. I pushed the Quinjet back down to low altitude and hit the throttle harder than before. Watching the airspeed indicator, we hit Mach 1.4 and went Supersonic. It was only then I felt the real power sitting below me. How SHIELD ever managed to keep this kind of technology out of the military's hands was incredible. This was like nothing I had ever seen before. I always thought the Raptors would never be topped in terms of handling, speed and manoeuvrability. I was definitely wrong. The day's troubles melted away from me the higher the airspeed indicator climbed.
"So, will I get in trouble tomorrow if I attempt to do a vertical take off like you can in a Raptor?" I asked Ian. I made a high-speed turn, tipping us to the side before rightening back up. I was loving the handling on the Quinjet. It was a dream come true.
"Only if you do a sonic boom and break all the windows in the Triskelion," Ian grinned again. "Actually, please do something like that tomorrow. There's a group of Quinjets heading out at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning to log flight hours. If you can handle being at work by 0230, then that will get some night flying out of the way. I'll bring coffee again and we can take turns in having a nap. If we're lucky we might even pick up some agents who need a parachute drop and you can scare the shit out of them. We can take bets on how many will puke by the end of it."
"That sounds like a lot of fun," I said truthfully. "I'm guessing you don't care if we aren't cleared for that either?"
"Nope, don't give a flying fuck," Ian smirked. "Besides, it'll be fun. You can fly circles around most of the Quinjet pilots. SHIELD has a jet similar to the F-35 in development that they'll use off the Helicarrier. I'd love to be around to see you fly something like that when they finally become operational."
"Right." I tried to not let my confusion show one small thing. I couldn't hold the question back any longer than a few seconds. "What the hell is a Helicarrier?"
Ian took one look at my confusion and burst out laughing.
"All right love, let's get back up to a cruising altitude and back off a little bit. Stick her on autopilot and we can go over all of SHIELD's aircraft technology. You can finish your coffee too."
I did as I was told and turned to Ian, feeling like an eager student all over again. Maybe today wasn't going to be completely terrible.
Authors Note
Edited and reuploaded 27th May 2018
