Reconnaissance, that was going to be my primary job working with SHIELD. Lucky for me, mermaids are designed for stealth. It's been over half a year since I started my training, and one week since I began running simulations. The training facility was state of the art, with a variety of sensors and traps, complete with trainers posing as guards.

Us agents in training were granted a few tools, small paintball guns in place of real ones, and a time limit. The tasks were a small selection of varied missions, collect intel, usually having to break through firewalls, sabotage a system by uploading a virus or bug, eliminate a target, things like that. In a real mission, we would be part of a team. So in simulated missions, we would partner up with our fellow trainees.

Agent Wise was my partner this time, his background in the Marines had him as the muscle of our duo. Despite needing to trust him to protect me, I'd been given an order that he wasn't aware of. One involving my powers. He was going to be pop-quizzed on his ability to handle both a traitorous team member, and an enemy super. At the same time.

"Ready?" I asked as we waited at the entrance to the course. I tugged at the skin-tight gloves I had been gifted as part of my uniform, a durable and water/bulletproof variation of spandex. It greatly reduced the pain in my hands and arms from physical contact with any surfaces and let me focus better on the task at hand. Beside me, Wise was inspecting his training gun.

He grinned at me, "I am." He took his starting line stance, and I took mine. I was anxious about having to fight him, even though it wouldn't be to the death. I'd even been asked to use my powers on him, since enemy supers were an unknown factor in any given mission and we would never know if we would face one or not. Better to have at least a little experience fighting at a disadvantage. Or in my case, an advantage.

The buzzer sounded and I went to work on the door. It was always locked, but varied in security measures. This one was coded, but I had a USB with a code cracker on it. My tech easily bypassed the system and the door unlocked. Wise and I made our way through the halls stealthily, using harmless versions of the standard armory to "neutralize" guards as quietly as possible. In reality, we were tagging them with a small sensor that would signal death or injury to the monitors.

It took about 10 minutes to reach the control room, and it was my turn to play. I went to the computer and mimed planting the bug. I waited, watching my partner out of the corner of my eye until he turned his back on me. The moment he did, I vanished. Wise was understandably surprised when I wasn't where I had been before.

"Thompson?" He asked in a hushed tone, raising his weapon in caution. His marine's instincts kicked in and he began to carefully make a sweep of the room. I waited until his back was to me before I made my move.

I reached out with my magic, pushing him against the wall hard enough to make him drop his gun. Uncloaked, I leapt onto his back, wrapping an arm around his neck tightly. Wise responded with a choked cry of surprise and anger, turning to slam me back into a wall. Both using what we'd been taught, I fought to hang on while he fought to shake me off.

With a grunt of effort, he managed to flip me over his shoulder, leaving me scrambling to put some distance between us. He jumped for his gun but I grabbed it first, firing in his direction without taking the time to aim. Wise dodged the paintball, taking cover behind a console. I took the opportunity to conceal myself again. He peered carefully over the large hunk of metal, looking right through me. I saw in his eyes what looked like surprised realization before he vaulted over the console and slammed right into me like a brick wall.

I gasped out loud, my skull hitting the floor hard enough to make me see stars. My magic failed me, leaving me visible as well as vulnerable. I fought blindly as my senses came back to me, attempting to put some distance between the two of us. Feeling like a minnow against a shark, I went on the defensive. I scrambled for the gun, choosing to push it away from the two of us than grab it myself.

When Wise chose to chase the weapon, I took the opportunity to tackle him as best as a person my size could. I aimed for his head. The sudden addition of my weight pitched him forward and smashed his face into the floor, but the momentum carried me the rest of the way. I tucked a rolled, as per my training, before turning to fight again. He parried each punch I threw, and I somehow managed to dodge his blows with some level of grace. The blows to my arms were painful, but the gloves were enough to keep the fragile scars from tearing. Thank the moon for armor.

When his fist managed to connect with my shoulder, I remembered that I had been ordered to use my magic too. Whoops. I staggered back, throwing up my hands defensively and pushed. He flew backwards a couple feet, tumbling to the ground. I raced back to the computer, searching to activate the program that would end the simulation. Some kind of doomsday program. I shoved Wise back to the floor again at a distance while I started to input the password. Suddenly, he was right next to me. Startled, I faltered as he moved to shoulder check me. I flew to the side, realizing with awe that he never actually came into contact with me. I hit the floor hard, the back of my head slammed against a metal table leg. I tried to jump back to my feet, but the sharp pain in my skull and overwhelming dizziness kept me grounded. Wise returned to the computer to run the virus program and the buzzer sounded, ending the training simulation.

"You okay, Thompson?" Wise asked. I groaned in reply, draping my arm over my eyes. "Can you stand up?" I groaned louder. He grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me to my feet.

"Hey," He said, "Look at me." I shot him a moody glare, and he laughed. "You'll be fine. Have to say I wasn't expecting that though."

"I just take orders, I don't give them." While his cheeriness persisted, it got harder keep up the grumpy act. We exited the simulation room to face the trainers and receive feedback. Largely, it was positive, though we were warned that if it wasn't a simulation we would both be dead for holding back the way we did. That was pretty obvious, but I didn't remark on that.

Finished for the day, I began to make my way to the cafeteria to meet up with Pendragon. I was halfway through an update text when I heard a shout behind me. Wise jogged to my side, the look on his face told me whatever he needed it would be serious.

"Can we talk?" He asked. I pressed my lips into a thin line, suddenly worried. I had a bad feeling about this. I followed him to an empty meeting room, as I glanced quickly around the space I saw that there wasn't any obvious security cameras. My anxiety kicked in and I felt my pulse start to race. But Wise didn't say anything.

Instead, he took a metal water bottle from his pack, unscrewing the lid and placing it down in front of me. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he held his hand out and flexed his fingers. Stunned, I watched as he lifted a small column of water.


AH. Update! I lost the will to write for a while and I finally made an effort to push through it and it took forever. Fight scenes are hard to write, so please forgive me. It's a short chapter, but I'm finally getting into the good stuff for this arc, so I hope you guys like it. I've already got another chapter in progress which will hopefully be longer than this one. We shall see.