The next day comes quickly and back to the normal everyday grind. I have my computers class in programming. At this point we just create programs for shield to use. I'm working on a program that is unhackable. It works with accounts, and you can only access what you have clearance for. You can also message other agents, submit your reports there. It's an all in on hub. I am setting it up, so it has safety measures as well. Just because they said the titanic was unsinkable doesn't mean it didn't sink. So, I want safety measures.
So, there is multiple layers for shield. This is my final for this class. I know it will be well received because right now we use about three different programs. To communicate we just text or phone calls. Which isn't secure at all. This program will also allow us to do away with paper. I also want to put in a social aspect where agents can just chat with each other. Students can use it as well. I want people to be able to connect. That aspect I'm calling the cave. Like our hang out here.
The whole program is called The Hub. It's going well but there are some minor bugs. It is a massive amount of code. I wish there was someone else in computer classes with me. But because I don't, I'm on my own. The duel training is relatively unheard of, but no one denies Agent Barton and Romanoff anything.
So, I attend my classes from my bed. Which is also a bonus. Some days I'll log in to the class and fall back asleep. That's always nice when I get that chance. I work out a few more glitches in my program before my class ends. The professor wants our end of year project to be really good.
I get up and get changed for interrogation class. It's where we learn to properly interrogate and pass interrogations while lying. Give no tells and all that. Some of our class sucks at it. Teacher calls me the human lie detector. I never miss when someone is lying. I will make up very outlandish lies sometimes, to see if they can tell if I'm lying. They haven't caught me yet. I know Nat is proud of that. She is a master at deception. I hope to be good as her one day, but I'm not there yet. I see Grant walking to class as well.
"Morning," I greet.
"Morning," he greets back. "How was your class?"
"It was good." I reply.
"Skipped your run today?" he asks.
"Rest day today," I say. "I take two a week. One today and one Sundays."
"That makes sense," he agrees,
"You don't take rest days?" I ask.
"Sundays only," he tells me.
"I'll have to teach you the importance of them then," I say.
"Good luck," he says as we arrive at class.
I sit in my spot in the back corner of the class. Grant sits beside me. Teacher walks in and tells us we are going to the interrogation room. He sends to kids to the room beside. There is a one-way mirror to be able to see inside the room. The two students go over a scenario.
"What was the one lie told?" the teacher asks.
"They had fingerprints tying the person to the scene." One student offers.
"Why do you think it's a lie?" Teacher asks the student.
"Because no shield agent would not wear gloves," the student replies.
"So, you are using shield processes to tell the lie. That can be useful." The teacher says. "Samantha, your take is always refreshing."
"Every time the accused lied, he looked to the mirror. Probably to see if he had any tells." I say.
"What about the law enforcement?" I get asked.
"She rubbed her thigh as a self soothing technique." I reply.
"Agent Romanoff has taught you well. You will all now partner up and play two truths and one lie." The teacher says. He knocks on the window letting the students know they can come back in. "Grant Ward you will go with Samantha, maybe you can fool her."
He smiles at me. "Good luck," I whisper to him as I take a seat across from him.
"Yeah, I guess with Romanoff's training you would be good. You want to go first or me?" he asks.
"I can. it might give you a chance to figure something out." I say. "Alright, one I have an older brother. Two I have a dog named Kal-EL and three I'm the only person who does duel tracks in computers and special ops."
"Those are hard because I have no context to go off of. I'm thinking dog names Kal-EL is the lie because you can't have dogs on campus." He says with a smug smile.
"No, the lie was that I have an older brother. I don't know my family. I was in an orphanage when I was young. Kal-EL stays with Clint. Clint loves it because he's part deaf." I tell him.
"So, Kal-EL hears for him?" Grant asks.
"When Clints at home, yeah. He doesn't like to wear his hearing aids there." I say.
"Alright, my turn, I guess. One I have two older brothers and a sister. Two the moment I saw you I had an instant crush. Three in my spare time I like to write." He finishes.
"In your spare time you like to write," I say instantly.
"Yeah, you're right. I prefer to draw," he says with a shy look.
"Well, I would love to see the drawing some time." I say. "Well, my turn. One I love running. Two I regret not looking for my birth parents or family before I joined shield. Three I some tines fall asleep during my computer processing class."
"Fall asleep during computer processing. The punishments are definitely not worth falling asleep," he says.
"No, sadly that one is true. I have yet to get caught though. That I regret not looking for my birth family. I don't. I have a good family right here with shield. They gave me up. They were allowed to, but it showed me what I was worth to them. So, why would I go look for them?" I say giving him seasoning. "Sometimes it's just about paying attention to the little things they say and how they say it. When I talked about my birth family earlier there was peace in my voice. Showing that I had made peace with what happened. If I regrated anything there wouldn't have been that sense of peace."
"I hadn't thought about that," he replies.
"Your turn." I say.
"One I spent months alone with only a dog in the forest for company. Two I have met an avenger besides Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton. Three Garrett helped me out of a tight situation." He says.
"Easy met an avenger. The rest of them are less accessible then Nat and Clint." I tell him. "You being alone in a forest with only a dog explains the struggle with lying and telling if people are lying. Hopefully the more time you spend at the academy the better you will become."
"Yeah, it wasn't easy. But I never had to lie to Buddy, and he never lied to me." He says.
"What happened to Buddy?" I ask.
"He died," he says sadly.
I get this strong feeling that he is hiding something from me. I really hope he trusts me later and tells me. I feel like he feels like he's drowning and needs a floaty. Hopefully, I can help him learn to swim. We play a few more rounds with superficial stuff, like favourite foods and colours. Class ends rather quickly. We both head to sparring.
"Alright class, today we will all be doing one armed sparring. Your dominant arm will be in a sling so you must spar with your non dominant hand. Think your up for the challenge? Of course, you are. You don't have a choice." Coach tells us.
Natasha used to have me do this all the time. She used it to strengthen my fighting in my right side being left dominant. Grant and I both get our slings. I put mine on my left side. He puts his on his right. We get on our mat ready to circle up.
"Are you ready to go down?" he asks smack talking me.
"Bring it!" I say ready to win.
I guess being in a forest alone you have lots of time to even out your strength in both your arms and hands.
"Alright class. Begin!" Coach exclaims tweeting his whistle.
Grant and I start circling. I know he will be over protecting his right side. So, I fake going right and go left. He takes a hit, but he hits back just as hard. I try to get him down on the ground, but its harder bot being able to protect my upper body with both my arms. I need to protect everything with just one. That isn't good. Oh well, I can do this. He lunges at me this time. I dodge it gets him just enough off balance that I can push him over. I sit on him pinning his arm and legs to the ground in a hold.
"I win!" I exclaim.
"Well done, Samantha. Amazing work," Coach says.
We both look up and see the whole class staring. I felt gazes but since they didn't enter the zone of combat, I ignored them. So, I didn't realize the whole class was staring at us. I get up then help him up. Everyone else starts to spar again. We go a few more rounds. I win all but two. He keeps up nicely. We both head to the cafeteria.
"What do you have after this?" he asks.
"Hacking. Then guns class." I say. "You?"
"Another lie detecting class then guns. Then cyphers and codes. Then I have targeting." He says.
"I have the last two classes with you," I say.
"Targeting has to be the most practical." He tells me.
"It can be in most cases, but the other classes are also very useful," I say.
"Like your computer courses?" He asks.
"You can argue with me more when you need me to hack into a surveillance system to either shut it down or spoof it." I say then eating some of my fruit cup.
"Point made," he says. "What would we do with the history of shield?"
"Everyone has to take that. All divisions. It's something we all have in common. I think it's nice." I say with a smile.
"But why do we need it at all?" he asks.
"Because it shows where we came from and what we represent." I reply.
"Well, we will have to agree to disagree on that one." He says.
"I can agree with that." I tell him.
"So, what's hacking class like?" he asks
"We just hack different things ranging in difficulty. If we are having trouble the teacher will help us out. I've hacked shield files multiple times," I explain.
"You've hacked shield files?" He asks stunned.
"Yeah, it was embarrassingly easy," I say.
"Where do you have your class if you're the only one here that does it?" he asks.
"In the comfort of my bed. I can generally hack things wherever I am. It's one of the few classes that I really enjoy." I say.
"Well, it sure can be useful." He tells me.
"I imagine you will call me up a few times to hack a few things for you when we get released into the wild." I say.
He chuckles. "That's very likely. I'm hopeless with electronics." He tells me.
"No, high speed wi-fi in the forest?" I joke.
"Not even dial up." He plays along. I fake a gasp.
"No internet. How are you here, today?" I say with fake outrage.
"I barely did." He jokes. We both burst out laughing.
"So, what did you do in the forest?" I ask.
"I survived. Garrett would come visit." He says.
"Did you have any other contact with humans?" I ask.
"No," he confirms my thoughts.
Garrett must have been trying to mold him into something. Because no one leave a child in the forest with only a dog to talk to and you when you actually show up. Garett is very shady. He also said Garett saved him. So, he hero worships him. That isn't a good thing. I will have to break that. Only way I can do that is with his trust.