I barely slept that night and I was wide awake as I bounced down the stairs of the hanger. It was surprisingly busy for so early in the morning. I'd been tagging along behind 2 fully armed STRIKE units. I only knew they were STRIKE by the patches on their shoulders. By the serious looks on their faces I didn't think they were going on a training mission. Below me, Quinjets were already started and a few were started to taxi out. At the bottom on the stairs I took a few moments to watch the scene in front of me.

It was still weird to think that this was going to be my life for at least the next year. That I'd be one of those pilots sitting in a Quinjet dropping a team off to whatever mission they were doing. I still didn't know a lot about what SHIELD actually did behind closed doors. What those fully armed STRIKE units were doing and where they were going was all still a mystery to me. Part of me was dying for real security clearance so I could really find out. But the other part of me really didn't want to know. What if the guy at the back with black hair I walked a few steps behind, was going somewhere that he wouldn't come home from? Would I be the one taking someone's body back home in a coffin? To have a pretty flag draped over it and hand to their family at the end of the day. Would his family take his body to be buried somewhere private or would it mark many of the other tombstones for SHIELD agents set aside in Arlington. I'd seen the wall for fallen agents in the lobby of the Triskelion. It wasn't small by any means. I hadn't been surprised at all when I had to provide an up to date copy of my will. What I was surprised at was how much SHIELD supported the families if an agent was killed in the line of duty. SHIELD not only covered all funeral expenses, but sent 60% of your wage back to your nominated person until you would have reached retirement age.

When I questioned Jared about it he had shrugged and told me I was the one who got his money if he died. I didn't have anything to say to him after that. I was blown away not only for what SHIELD did to provide for those left behind, but Jared's quiet declaration as well. I wouldn't have to worry about that until I became a fully fledged Agent in a few weeks. Jared had made my life easier to decide who mine was all going to. That's if he didn't kill me when he found out I took his car without asking this morning.

Ian was nowhere to be seen so I hung around at the bottom of the stairs just watching the world scurry on in front of me. It was insane the amount that was happening so early in the morning here. It made me wonder if it was always this busy. What could be going on in the world to need so many agents milling around?

"One vanilla latte for my star pupil," Ian's voice made me look up. He was sedately walking down the stairs balancing 2 cups of coffee on a clipboard. "And guess what? We did get that unit of STRIKE boys for a parachute drop. I bet you the coffee for tomorrow that one of them will puke in the first five minutes if you fly like you did yesterday."

"I bet you coffee for the next two weeks it'll be much quicker than five minutes," I laughed at Ian. He handed me my coffee with a huge grin on his face. For two people awake at such an ungodly hour, we both were awfully cheery. Then again, this was my first real taste of what my life was going to be like for the next year. It could be a lot of fun or a complete disaster.

"I will strap myself in hard and hope it's not me then." Ian motioned towards a Quinjet that was already powered up. There was a team already hanging around the open ramp looking bored.

"In flight school, we had to buy the instructor a bottle of whatever spirits he drank if we made him throw up." I walked with Ian towards the Quinjet. The memory of back being in flight school made me smile. "I was very broke for the last six months of training. One of my instructor's had a very weak stomach and an expensive taste in bourbon."

"Now that's something I'd wish I brought in here." Ian winked at me. "Damn a bit late now. Mine is expensive taste in whiskey. Oi, boys fucking move out of the way."

We had come to the ramp and Ian had raised his voice for the last sentence. Most of the guys waiting near the ramp jumped and quickly moved out of the way. There was the only one who didn't and I could have groaned in frustration when I saw his face. Fuck, Rumlow was here. This was going to be interesting. His raised eyebrows were the only indication of his surprise when he saw me walking with Ian.

"Please tell me this is a joke," Rumlow said in a teasing tone. I was taken back slightly by that. I was expected him to give me some attitude about this. Not to start teasing me.

"Nope," I smirked at Rumlow coming to stand in front of him. He was playing in my court now. This was going to be sweet payback for the number of chin-ups he made me do yesterday. "Hold onto your balls, if you have any Rumlow. Because this is going to be a wild ride."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Rumlow stood aside and swept his arm out. "Please don't kill us. I have a hot date tonight that I can't miss."

"Then make sure your parachute opens," I kept the smirk on my face as I walked up the ramp. A few of the STRIKE guys were shooting me curious looks. But no one else spoke to me. Ian sat back drinking his coffee in the co-pilot seat while I got us ready to get into the air. Behind me, the team were speaking quietly as they strapped themselves in. Rumlow was still standing and once everyone else was settled he spoke up.

"Right everyone, no one is happy about being here at fucked o'clock for a night parachute drop but here we are." Rumlow's little speech caused quiet laughter in the back. Even I smiled at that. Ian and I were probably the only ones excited for this. "So, let's get this done. If anyone freezes on the ramp I'll throw you off myself. That way we're all done for another year. Understood?"

There was everything from Yes Sir, to yeah whatever from everyone in the back. To my surprise, Rumlow came and sat in the chair not far behind the pilot seat.

"So you know how to fly one of these?" Rumlow asked kicking the back of my chair lightly.

"Act your age. Not your shoe size." I said, trying to scowl at him without laughing. "No, we're just letting me go with one of these and see how it turns out for everyone. So unless you know how to fly, shut up."

"Oh fuck no," Rumlow laughed at me. "I'm the leader of STRIKE Team Alpha, I don't need to learn to fly. People do as their told around me."

"You might need to learn to fly if I throw you off here for giving me sass." It was getting harder to keep my laughter contained. This was not what I was expecting when I'd seen Rumlow tonight. He was actually quite funny.

"I would like to see you try." Rumlow sat back crossing his arms smugly. "So are we going or what?"

"Oh, keep your fucking pants on tough guy," Ian scoffed before I could make another smart ass reply. "We're going. Kari, she's all yours."

I put my coffee in the cup holder provided. Another thing that had amused me greatly when I first noticed it. Ian was handling traffic control, SHIELD had its own dedicated tower which made everything very straightforward. There was only a minute wait before I could taxi out onto the ramp. As I powered the Quinjet I noticed Ian tighten his seatbelt and sit up a little straighter. I glanced at him and he held his hand up vertically. I fought to keep the grin off my face at his suggestion. I had forgotten about my comment about doing a vertical take off. I looked at the monitor down near my left leg which was the camera for the back of the jet. Everyone was seated and talking amongst themselves, not paying attention at all.

I took off carefully, making sure I had enough power to do the vertical take off. The jet rumbled underneath me as I couldn't stop myself smiling. This was going to fun. I eased the Quinjet up and then pushed the nose up vertically and gunned it as hard as I could in one smooth movement.

"Fuck." Rumlow cursed loudly.

I looked over my shoulder and gave him a smug look. He couldn't reply, he looked pale and was gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles were white. I faced the front again and did a simple barrel roll before levelling out and climbing to altitude. Looking down at the monitor, not many other agents were faring well. One of the guys lent forward and promptly threw up as we went level.

"Ah fuck," Ian swore, hearing the sound of retching. He looked at the back and scowled at the agent who'd been sick. "Thanks, asshole, now I owe her coffee for the next two weeks. I'm taking that out of your pay."

"That wasn't funny," Rumlow growled at me. I looked back at him again and this time I couldn't stop myself laughing.

"Oh come on Rumlow, it wasn't that bad. Don't be such a pussy."

"I'm going to get you back so bad in PT this morning." Rumlow glared in mock annoyance. He was having a hard time keeping a smile off his face. So was I. "Just you wait. I'll make you fall off that chin up bar because your arms will be so sore."

"Yeah whatever," I laughed at his threat and turned back to concentrating on flying. The parachute drop zone wasn't far, it was just a case of getting to 12,500ft and then opening the back. According to my flight plan, I'd then circle back to the drop zone. Land and pick up the team and back to the Triskelion. All up it'd only take about an hour, depending on how quickly I could get into the hanger of the Triskelion.

"I take that as challenge accepted," Rumlow smart tone made me quirk an eyebrow in surprise.

"Always challenge accepted Rumlow." I turned so I could see him again. "You won't ever see me backing down."

"Yeah?"

"Bring it on bitch." I was mentally kicking myself for the cocky streak coming out. This was going to get me into so much trouble.

"Yeah, well how about you come and jump out of the jet with us?" Rumlow challenged. "Let's see if that wipes that cocky smirk off your face. You can jump with me."

"Please," I snorted in disbelief. Of all the things he could challenge me with, it had to be doing a parachute jump. "I already have parachute qualifications. Skydiving doesn't scare me."

"Come on then," Rumlow challenged again. "If you jump, I'll be nice to you at PT."

Ian was watching our exchange with interest. He'd put his feet up to the side of the control panel, drinking his coffee. I looked at him for permission. Despite my cocky words, Ian could very easily say no and tell me to keep my ass where it belongs.

"If you want to jump out of a perfectly good plane that's your problem," Ian looked as if he didn't have a care in the world right now. If anything, he was enjoying the exchange between me and Rumlow. "I'm happy to swing around and do pick up."

"Done," I said quickly unbuckling my harness. We were approaching altitude already and I'd need to get myself strapped into a parachute. Of all the things Rumlow could throw at me, it had to be this. I loved skydiving, I'd already done solo drops before I joined the Air Force. It was another one of those things that was an ultimate adrenaline rush. If nothing else, this would make me happy before another day of torture when I went back to the real world at SHIELD.

"Seriously, done?" Rumlow looked at me in surprise as he unbuckled himself. "You're serious about this?"

"Yeah, why?" I grabbed a parachute and started to strap myself in. I wasn't the only one. As soon as Rumlow was out of his seat, the rest of his team were out of theirs. I didn't miss the dirty look that got thrown my way from the guy who threw up. I grinned at the snarky glare I was getting, too pumped to care about what he thought about me at this stage.

"Because most sane people don't like jumping out of a perfectly good plane." Rumlow shook his head, but he still looked amused. "Especially on a dare."

"Hey I'm sane, my last psych assessment told me so," I laughed pulling up the straps over my shoulders. "It also told me that I'm the most perfect person in the world."

"All I'm hearing is Jared's words coming out of your mouth" Rumlow shot back at me, a pained expression crossing his face as he watched me buckle in. He was right, those really were Jared's words spewing from my mouth. "And SHIELD does not need another Jared running around. Regardless if your his twin."

"Yeah but I'm the awesome twin," I smirked in response. Lack of sleep was sending my ego out of control. At least that's what I'd blame it on. "The youngest is always the best."

"And usually has the superiority complex as well."

"It's not a complex when I am the superior one."

Rumlow didn't have an answer to that. He laughed and shook his head. A few of the other agents were laughing quietly at our exchange. Once I had my parachute on correctly, Rumlow handed me a pair of ordinary looking goggles. I took them, fiddling with the strap to get the size right while Rumlow spoke again.

"Dropzone is pretty much directly down, it's marked by fluorescent markers. You'll know it when you see it."

"Awesome." I pulled the goggles on and adjusted them over my face. I blinked a few times not believing what I saw seeing. The goggles brought up a display right in my face. It was giving me altitude, airspeed and coordinates in small writing in the corner so it didn't obscure my vision.

"Nice." I grinned fiddling with the goggles one last time. "These are cool toys."

"And night vision too," Rumlow added. He was pulling his own goggles on. "They'll activate as soon as you hit darkness and automatically adjust to the brightness. No more getting blinded by flares or anything like that. So you jumping first?"

"Of course." I didn't hesitate. I walked to the back of the Quinjet and hit the button to make the ramp lower. The freezing night air rushed in as I stood on the edge looking into the blackness. My heart started to pound with excitement. This bit was always the most fun. I turned to Rumlow and gave him a smart salute before dropped off the edge of the ramp. I didn't miss the brief look of horror on Rumlow's face as I dropped off the ramp and started to plummet through the sky.

The air rushed around me as I squeezed my eyes shut tightly for the first second. Adrenaline kicked in and I rolled over so I was going down stomach first. I could feel myself laughing but I couldn't hear it over the sound of the wind rushing around me. Jumping at nighttime was a whole new experience. There was a bit of cloud cover tonight so it was just me and the green glow of the night vision kicking in all around me. I put my arms out, pushing against the wind enjoying my brief sense of freedom and weightlessness. I was disappointed glancing at my altitude, it was time to pull my chute already. That 45 seconds of free falling never seemed to last. It always got swept away and only felt like a second or two had passed. Reaching around I pulled the cord on my chute and braced myself for the inevitable jerk of the parachute opening.

The familiar jerk and yank upwards hit me hard. I grinned and held onto the toggles as I sailed back down to the earth. It'd take at least two minutes before I hit the ground again. The clouds had come away and right underneath me was a tiny SHIELD symbol in the field. It was only illuminated with the night vision, not subtle at all. No wonder Rumlow had said I'd know it as soon as I saw it. For something that was meant to be a fairly secret organisation SHIELD sure did like to put its logo on nearly everything.

I closed my eyes, inhaling the cold air around me. If I could stay up in the air forever I would. Up here all my worries got left behind. I was so grateful for having Ian around these last few days. His carefree attitude had really helped me when I needed it the most. Not too many instructors would just let you get up and decide to go skydiving when you were meant to be flying. Or let me pull some of the moves I did with the Quinjet. I just hoped whoever I got assigned to had half of his sense of humour.

The ground came up far too quickly for my liking. I sighed in disappointment as I came into land, deciding just to skid along instead of trying to stick a proper landing. I put my legs out and skidded across the grass on my ass, coming to a stop in a few feet. I quickly pulled my parachute back in, knowing that there'd be someone else right behind me. I was right, Rumlow was right on my tail. He must have jumped nearly straight after me. He touched down on the ground feet first, and nearly promptly fell flat on his face. Only a sense of coordination kept him on his feet.

"Oops," Rumlow laughed at himself as he quickly pulled his own parachute back in. "Nearly lost it. Good thing most of the team are still up there fucking around about actually jumping. I'd be the laughing stock otherwise."

"So why aren't you up there pushing them out like you threatened?" I laughed with him. The adrenaline was still pumping and I felt breathless. "I would be."

"Because this crazy ass recruit just decided to jump and I realised I had no idea if you were being serious or not that you knew how to do this," Rumlow shot at me. I could see him rolling his eyes behind the goggles thanks to the excellent night vision. "Thought I better make sure that you didn't end up splattered on the ground."

"Yeah because I'm dumb enough to jump out of a plane with no training." I rolled my eyes at Rumlow. "I might be blonde but I'm not that stupid."

"Well, I didn't know if you teleported like Jared does, or something like that," Rumlow argued back, sounding exasperated. "And I didn't want to find out the hard way if you got into trouble. Then halfway down I realised you were a fighter pilot and it was really dumb of me to jump out after you."

"I can't teleport," I scoffed at Rumlow. Most people assumed I could teleport because of Jared. "I can turn invisible though, so lock your shower door."

"Why does that not surprise me in the least." Rumlow shrugged with a grin playing on his face. "Though if you want to see me naked, you just have to ask."

"I'm sure your hot date would object," I laughed at Rumlow. "Like strongly. And I'm not that desperate either."

"Ouch, burn," Rumlow made a sizzling sound and grab his arm like I had just burnt him. I laughed even harder at his childishness. Maybe Rumlow was an okay guy, his gruffness during PT was looking more and more like an act now. His real personality was shining through being with his team.

"So you got a boyfriend then?" Rumlow asked after I'd stopped laughing.

"Nope." I shook my head as I started to repack my parachute. "Why would you ask that?"

"No reason." Rumlow tone made me suspicious. I glanced over at him, trying to figure out where this was going. "Just digging around for someone. He'll be pretty happy about that bit of news."

"Well, tell whoever it is to grow some balls and ask himself, I won't bite too hard and he might enjoy it." I brushed off Rumlow's meddling. I wasn't surprised that was coming up already. I didn't do this whole tap dancing around with a guy if he was interested. If he wanted something then ask. If not, leave me alone. Saves a lot of heartache along the way. I didn't have the confidence to go chasing either. "Don't meddle otherwise."

"I did try and ask Jared but he threatened to teleport me into the middle of a black hole if I meddled," Rumlow said, making me laugh again. I didn't doubt Jared would give him a very short and nasty answer if Rumlow really did ask him. "Can't say I wanted to find out if he was being serious or not."

"You know he can't do that, don't you?" I shook my head at Jared's antics. He always came up with the best laid out threats. Even if they weren't true and there was no way he could pull them off.

"I dunno," Rumlow mused, looking mildly serious for once. "You can live in space for about 90 seconds without any oxygen supply. Apparently, that's enough for him to teleport you there and him to get back without too much of a hassle."

"Yeah space, not a black hole." I pointed out the flaw with simple physics. "A black hole will kill you instantly. Duh."

"Not all of us are smart like you," Rumlow sighed dramatically. "You know we're just the dumb brawn here."

"So I've heard." I had to stop myself from laughing. I wiped my hand over my mouth to try and stop the grin forming. "Do you need to take your boots off so you can count to 20?"

"No, I can count with my boots on, any higher than 20 and I have problems."

The smart reply I had died on my lips as one of his team came into land. I went to stand away from the group and Rumlow grabbed my arm lightly before I could disappear too far.

"Where are you disappearing to?"

"Leaving all you boys to give yourselves manly ass slaps and all that," I joked to cover my discomfort of being with a group of guys I didn't know at all. Even though Rumlow was being friendly I wasn't sure if I was ready to be thrown in with an entire team.

"Yeah we're not USAF, we don't do manly ass slapping," Rumlow joked and gave my arm a small tug. "Come on I'll introduce you to everyone. Be good for you to get to start knowing people before you get assigned to a team. I promise we're all nice and well behaved. Well, most of the time."

I couldn't argue with that logic at all. I let myself get pulled over to the group where Rumlow loudly announced.

"So this crazy ass fucker is Kari. We all know her asshole of a twin brother Jared. Gentlemen, you have been warned."

Rumlow was right. His team were nice guys, even though I had pretty much forgotten most of their names by the time Ian had landed to pick us up. It was nice being included in the conversation for once and not just drifting on the edges feeling awkward or forgotten about. Most to of them were curious about me and had no problems asking questions. I had to admit, I really didn't mind the attention either. Getting back onto the Quinjet I took over the controls from Ian. He shook his head at my crazy antics but didn't say anything to discourage me from doing it again. By the time we'd made it back to the Triskelion, I was dead tired. I didn't know how I was going to make it through the rest of the day. According to my schedule, today after hand to hand I was meant to be with Ian all day.

"So my schedule says I'm meant to be with you all day," I said to Ian as I piloted the Quinjet back to the hanger. "Are we flying again today?"

"Fuck no." Ian shook his head rapidly. "Once we land I'm heading back home and going back to bed. We can count this towards your hours today. So you're free if there's nothing else planned for you."

"Sounds amazing," I said truthfully. I might be able to get some more of my room sorted out with most of the day free. I had still barely unpacked anything besides the bare essentials. I also planned on using all the hot water and indulge in that bubble bath I kept promising myself. I had a small obsession with buying organic bath bombs and I'd ordered a few just before I left Langley. There was a citrus crush one that was just screaming my name ever since I had smelt it. But I had to get through PT and another gruelling hand to hand session just yet. I put the Quinjet back in its parking spot and drained the last of my now cold coffee before getting up. I looked at my watch and it was 0413, I had ages to go until I had to be at PT. It was pointless having a shower beforehand. I was just going to get sweaty all over again.

"We are all heading out and grabbing breakfast before I have to take PT," Rumlow said as I walked past him. I stopped in my tracks, Ian walked past me with a small wave goodbye. "Coming? And if you are, need a ride?"

"Sure, I'm starving." I had no reason to turn it down. It was really nice of Rumlow to ask. It was the answer to not only my problem of needing to waste some time. But also to shut my stomach up with it's complaining. The Triskelion had a cafeteria somewhere in these walls. But I had no idea where it was or what time it operated. Another thing I was going to have to ask Jared about.

"Cool, let's go." Rumlow fell into step beside m. "I'm driving because after your flying I don't think I can trust you with my car."

I laughed at him. It was true. I didn't blame him at all for thinking that.

Breakfast was at a cafe just after the main road into the Triskelion. They opened at 4am every morning to cater for the early workers like us. I dare say they did a fairly big trade as the cafe was fairly huge. It looked like it could easily seat 100 people. The cashier didn't even look perturbed by having 15 guys and me in there so early in the morning. Nor did they complain about how loud it got when we sat down and all had coffee into us. I was getting grilled with questions about my time as a Raptor pilot from everyone. I'd finally given up trying to explain things and just pulled out my phone, showing off the videos I had taken of me at Air Shows when I was doing demos.

"That is so fucking cool." The guy who I had made throw up handed my phone back to me. I think his name was Gibson or something along those lines. "No wonder you can handle a Quinjet like that."

"Yeah just a wee bit easier than an F-22," I said with a small grin. This was fun. I was actually speaking in a group situation and not being ignored. Or just on the edge of the conversation barely contributing. "So do I get to see videos of you guys doing cool stuff?"

"I have one of me blowing up a fish tank full of ballistics gel with a rocket launcher," Rumlow laughed and motioned for one of the guy's phones. "It was fun."

I laughed with Rumlow, taking the phone from him to watch the video. Maybe, just maybe life wasn't going to be so bad after all here at SHIELD.

By the time I'd finished breakfast I was more than ready for bed. There was no way I wanted to head back and do another two hours of work. I'd eaten myself into a happy little food coma and couldn't wait to go to bed. It was only Rumlow and me in his very nice newish Ford Mustang, with a surprisingly easy conversation. I found out his date tonight was with one of the girls who worked in Data Entry. She'd been doing PT regularly with him for a few months and it wasn't until now he'd actually asked her out.

"You should talk to Riley more," Rumlow said suddenly changing the topic completely. I looked over at him with a surprised look. I was not expecting something like that to come out of his mouth.

"Why?" I asked carefully.

"Because he's shy and it'll do him the world of good," Rumlow elaborated. "He was Navy before he joined SHIELD, so you guys kind of have something in common."

"It sounds like you're trying to set me up with him," I chuckled. Why did I get the funny feeling the question of me being single from earlier was part of this conversation. "How well do you know him?"

"Well enough," Rumlow said simply. "He was STRIKE Team Alpha originally but got transferred to Bravo because they needed another marksman. And I'm not trying to set you up. I've just seen you jogging with him and you both look bored as hell. So talk to him."

"Fine." There was no argument from me. Making some friends would be good for me. As long as Rumlow wasn't meddling in my complete lack of love life I'd happily talk to Riley. Not that I needed much encouragement to really talk to him. I just never knew where to start the conversation. "What was he in the Navy?"

"Now that's just telling." Rumlow glanced over at me with an infuriating small smirk on his face. "So you'll have to ask him. Go get changed, meet you there soon."

We had pulled up in the garage. I tried not to groan in protest at having to move again. It took a lot of effort to drag myself out of the car and walk to the locker room to get changed out of my flight suit. The coffee at breakfast hadn't helped me in the slightest to wake up. I couldn't stop yawning by the time I walked out onto the track changed into my workout clothes. I was early, Rumlow hadn't made it there yet and there were only a few scattered people hanging around near the running track. No one was paying any attention to me, so I lay down on the artificial grass, throwing my arm over my face. I could have a tiny nap here and no one would be none the wiser. Five minutes might be enough to perk me up to keep going.

"Should I kick you if you start snoring?" Riley's voice interrupted me before I could even doze off for a few seconds.

"Only if its loud or we have to move," I chuckled quietly removing my arm from my eyes to look up at him. I squinted in the morning sun. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of Riley here talking to me. "I'm dying, I did a night flight and I haven't been to bed yet. I was too excited to sleep."

Riley chuckled and dropped down to the ground next to me, sit cross-legged. I pulled myself back up into a sitting position, smothering yet another yawn.

"How did it go?" Riley asked looking over at me. He was cleanly shaven again and looked like he'd had a haircut. His hair wasn't as long or messy this morning. He was sitting close enough for me to notice, unlike me, he smelt really nice as well. Whatever cologne he was wearing wasn't overpowering, I could only just smell it. But it was divine. I'd caught a whiff of it yesterday but today it smelt even better. I had to stop myself leaning over and sniffing him up close. That would probably freak him out completely.

"I only made one person throw up which was disappointing," I laughed at the memory. "Rumlow's team came with us and did a night parachute drop. I decided it'd be fun as well, so I jumped first."

Riley stared at me for a moment looking like he wasn't sure how to reply to that. I'm not sure if I freaked him out completely by my casual statement. Most normal people probably would be with what I just said.

"Has anyone told you that you're really cool?" Riley finally said with a lopsided grin. He looked completely and utterly adorable with that grin. "Like seriously cool. Next thing you'll be telling me you know how to shoot and you drink beer."

"And pizza, you have to have pizza with beer. Heineken or Coronas," I added with my own grin. "Yeah, I have to admit, I'm not a flower and chocolate girl. It's more come over naked with pizza and beer type girl. I know how to shoot well enough not to embarrass myself."

"Your boyfriend is a lucky man," Riley said with a small laugh. "Have you been able to hit the range yet?"

"I don't have a boyfriend," I said instantly. I don't know why I had to blurt that out so quickly. I quickly covered my blunder. "Chronically single here. Most guys found what I did for a job really intimidating. And no, hopefully, they'll give some range time sometime soon."

"Chronically single," Riley laughed again. "I like that, suits me as well. Well, at least you'll fit in here with Operations. I think we have the highest rate of single people in any workplace in the world."

So Riley didn't have a girlfriend. That was an interesting little piece of information to know. Despite Rumlow's assurance that he wasn't meddling, I wasn't so sure now. I'm pretty sure I was being set up. Any trace of annoyance at Rumlow was gone as Riley smiled at me.

"So I heard you were Navy before you joined SHIELD," I steered the conversation away from both our love lives before it got awkward. "What did you do?"

"Fucking Rumlow and his big mouth," Riley muttered under his breath so quietly I nearly didn't catch what he said. He cleared his throat and spoke up again. "I was a SEAL, spent six years in the Navy and then SHIELD decided I was good enough to show up on their radar. Made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and well here I am."

"How so?" I was curious now. I only thought it was very special cases SHIELD recruited outside of its own.

"I'm a good shot," Riley said but didn't elaborate on it any further. "Plus the money is heaps better in SHIELD."

"After seeing all the nice cars Rumlow's team were driving this morning I don't doubt that in the slightest," I said, fighting back an envious sigh. My old car was a piece of shit that broke down every other month. "I can't wait to get my own pay, my car didn't come with me and there is no way I'm begging Jared to keep driving his."

"Like Jared drives anywhere," Riley snorted. "I didn't even know he had a license until I saw him pull up in the garage the other day. What kind of car are you getting?"

"Kawasaki Ninja motorbike," I let myself grin a bit. "Brand new, I've been eyeing it off for months but I never went through with actually buying it. I had a motorbike before I joined the Air Force and then decided a car was a bit more practical, much to my Mom's relief. Now I don't care about practical and just want a fast bike."

"And in red, so it goes faster?" Riley joked making me laugh.

"Blue, my favourite colour," I corrected through my laughter. "Red is Jared's thing. It's bad enough we're twins sometimes, we don't have to act the exact same."

"And the world thanks you for that as well," Riley's serious tone only lasted for a second before he laughed as well. "Your brother is crazy. He's always in trouble for the stunts he pulls. He's nearly as bad as Hawkeye and Romanoff. Probably why they all get on so well."

There are those names again that have popped up. I wondered if I would ever meet the two infamous top Agents of SHIELD.

"Everyone up, let's go," Rumlow's voice called out from across the field. Riley and I both looked over at the sound of his voice. I'd been too engrossed in the conversation I hadn't even seen him arrive. Or paid attention to the growing amount of people milling around. Riley jumped to his feet and offered me his hand. I took it and let him pull me off the ground. It was a massive effort to even get my body moving again. I shuffled along for the first few paces before my body warmed up enough to actually make my legs function like a normal human again.

"So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" Riley asked as we settled into and say rhythm of jogging.

"Sleep," I said with a wry grin. "After my hand to hand class, which is going to suck again. Rollins doesn't like me at all."

Was it my imagination or was there a brief flicker of disappointment on Riley's face? It was gone too quickly for me to really get a good look at it. I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Rollins doesn't like anyone." Riley pointed out, giving me a sympathetic look. "He's an asshole and the only reason he got lumped with that class is because he disobeyed a direct order on his last mission. Caused a big problem too."

"Seems to be the growing theme around here, from what Jared told me he did the same thing in Helsinki which is why he's stuck here at the moment."

Riley's statement gave me a bit of confidence back. Maybe I wasn't completely terrible and Rollins just thought it was easier to take it out on me that he didn't want to be there.

"And Rollins doesn't like Jared either," Riley explained with a visible wince. "Jared kind of slept with his girlfriend last year. When Rollins found out, well it was a bit messy. Lets just say Jared was fucking lucky he had Barton and Romanoff with him and he can teleport to get his ass out of trouble."

"Why am I not surprised?" I groaned in disgust. Jared had a reputation for being a ladies man. I shouldn't have been surprised something like this happened. "Great, not only am I dealing with a fucking annoyed instructor. My slut of a brother just happened to steal his girlfriend too. I'm going to die."

"I find it hard to believe you can't hold your own," Riley looked at me in surprise with an encouraging smile. "I imagine you could kick ass if you needed to."

"That's the problem, I've never needed to," I tried not to be huffy in my frustration. "I mean, I'm skinny and I have no power behind me. And according to Rollins I can't even get a basic fighting stance down right let alone swing a good punch."

Riley didn't get a chance to reply. Jared teleported right next to me shoving Riley out of the way. He grabbed my arm being completely oblivious to the fact he'd nearly caused a pile up of joggers as we both screeched to a halt. Plenty of nasty looks and swearing were thrown our way as people had to do some fancy footwork to avoid us.

"Kari, if you ever touch my car again I'll break your legs," Jared snapped at me. He looked like he was barely awake and if wasn't for his workout clothes I'd swear he had just gotten out of bed. "Seriously, if you need a lift, ask. Don't touch my stuff."

I was five years old again and Jared was pitching a fit over me touching what he deemed to be his. I yanked my arm out of Jared's grip and gave him a hard shove. He wasn't expecting it and flailed backwards slightly. Being the mean sister I am, I stuck my foot out and he tripped over it, promptly sending his ass crashing to the ground. In front of everyone. The world seemed to come to a screeching halt as all the people on the track stopped to gawk at the scene. By the looks everyone was giving me, I'm guessing it wasn't something they were used to seeing.

"Just remember, I know what your afraid of," I snapped at Jared in Russian so no one else would understand our argument. "Be nice."

"You're so on," Jared replied back in Russian. The pissed off look fell from his face as he looked up at me with an irritating smirk. "Keep watching over our shoulder little sister. Bring my car back in one piece or else."

With that threat lingering between us, he teleported away again. I glared at the empty spare before quickly jogging back to the group that had started to move away without me. I caught back up to Riley who looked at me with a small smirk of his own.

"My Russian teacher would have been very proud of your accent," Riley said to me in perfect Russian. "Probably not the best language to speak around here. Most of us now know it thanks to Romanoff."

I looked at him in surprise before laughing. Even with Jared's threat, I hadn't felt this lighthearted in a while.

"Right, remind me next time to choose another language to yell at him with. Something nice and obscure like Icelandic."

"Or Latin," Riley suggested, laughing with me. "Nobody speaks Latin. Then again why Icelandic? Obscure doesn't quite begin to cover that."

"Because its long, complicated and sounds awesome when you swear in it," I explained with a smile. "I can teach you a few phrases if you'd like?"

"I don't know if my brain can handle another language," Riley admitted with a laugh. "My brain is bad enough for mixing English and Russian together on a bad day."

"I feel that," I grinned. I was disappointed suddenly realising our jog was finished. As usual, I went to the chin-up bars first. Riley didn't even need to ask. He just threw me up like I weighed nothing. No matter what happened next with Rollins, today had been a good day.

Authors Note

I hope everyone is enjoying the first few chapters!

Edited and reuploaded 27th May 2018.