A/N:

I just decided to update whenever I can. Seriously, I'm not even kidding. Schedules were made to not be followed. Anyway, this chapter is shorter than the last one, because I basically had no idea how to really fit Paige into it. Sorry guys, not much action for Paige in this one.

Shout outs to NN010 for reviewing. I don't consider my writing to be the best, so your comment means a lot to me! Also, I want to thank Rubi Yuki. And by the way, that resolution is so not fair! You can't do that to an author who relies very heavily on the encouragement from her viewers!

Also, I should warn you all about my best friend, PhoenixDemon58. She has an account but is inactive. She will, however, send you a reply if you decide to leave a nasty review. Don't worry, Demon's harmless. As long as she hasn't had sugar, you're fine. The other night, she stole my Kindle and sent a reply to a reviewer (on another story) who left a nasty message. -_-

P.S. I'm typing this up while listening to TheRPGMinx and KrismPro on YouTube. It's having a very interesting effect on my concentration.

Disclaimer:

Paige is complaining because I keep hurting her! I only own her, her actions, and I am fully responsible for her injuries as well. (You guys are going to hate me by Captain America: The Winter Soldier!

-:-

Needless to say, neither Natasha or Clint were very pleased at my less-than-perfect state. They had demanded to speak to the leader of the team, only for me to shut them down. Hey, I wasn't the only one that got hurt that last mission; Ward got hit too. It was seven at night, and I was down in the cargo hold doing my nightly push-up sets, despite Simmons's warning not to strain myself too much. I'd had worse injuries. Besides, I healed fast. Like, faster than even Natasha, who had her body altered in the KGB by force. Most of the minor grazes were practically gone by now, and the moderate ones were much smaller than they had been. I suspected it had to do with whatever brought me here, which I also suspected was an Infinity Stone.

Yes, I really, really, really hated Infinity Stones, all right? I have my reasons.

Let down, pull in breath, push up, let breath out, repeat. It was a cycle I was used to by now. Back in the beginning, I complained after four correct push-ups. But Clint had a strict regiment and it was to be stuck to, no matter what.

Soon, Ward joined me. "Shouldn't you be resting?" he asked as he pulled out a punching bag. I made a mental note of where it was stored for future workouts.

"Shouldn't you?" I countered, doing one last push-up and rolling over to do sit-ups. Ward glanced at me as he started wrapping his hands.

"You got hit more than I did," he said.

"I'm fine," I told him. He was only saying that because I was the youngest on the plane. Well, that and because he was trying to get me to trust him. Newsflash: I could pretend to trust him without actually trusting him. "I've had worse." I crossed my arms over my chest, fingers clutching my shirt to keep them anchored there, bent my knees, and began to sit up and count in my head. Ward didn't say anything, and looked at the clock. I knew Skye was late for training. She had come in, all excited about Ward being her SO, and I warned her that it wasn't going to be all fun and games. The sound of Ward hitting the bag filled the room. By the time I completed all five sets of fifteen sit-ups, it was seven thirty and Skye was just walking in.

Ward stopped punching the bag. "You know you're late."

"I'm tired," Skye complained. "From this morning's workout. I thought I was joining SHIELD, not twenty-four hour fitness." I snorted quietly and moved to the bar that was used for pull-ups.

"It's called Relative Strength Training, starting with the basics," Ward said, checking Skye's wraps. "And next time, you do fifteen push-ups for every minute you're late." Ouch. I jumped up, wrapping my hand around the bar, and began pulling myself up. My muscles were already tired and sore, but I kept going, pushing through the pain because you never know when you might just up and land in the middle of a war.

I learned that lesson the hard way.

"Fine, Mr. Fun Machine," Skye replied. "Better than pull-ups. I don't ever want to do another pull-up again."

"When you find yourself hanging off the edge of a building twenty stories up, you'll be a little more reasonable," Ward replied. "Just ask Paige."

Skye turned to stare at me, and I nodded, still doing the dreaded pull-ups. "Norse god threw me off of the top of the Stark Tower during New York. Not fun. And you won't always have another Norse god to pull you back up." And then they totally ignored me. After I finished my pull-up sets, I left, heading for my bunk, where I showered and changed into comfortable clothes. My whip, as per usual, was coiled around my waist, and there was a gun in the waistband of my pants. My knife was secure in my bra.

"Changing course, briefing in three," came May's voice over the intercom. "SHIELD Six-One-Six with new orders, set for Colorado airfield, north." I rebraided the strand of my hair and headed for the commons to meet the team, throwing my hair up into a ponytail. I stood behind the couch FitzSimmons was sat on and waited.

Coulson arrived shortly after. "A few minutes ago a SHIELD transport was attacked while carrying a Priority Red protected asset off of Rout Seventy-Six near Sterling," he told us.

"Priority Red?" Simmons asked, looking excited.

"The asset was Canadian physicist Dr. Franklin Hall." Coulson showed us a picture of a balding man on the tablet in his hands. "Known for his work—"

"Oh no, not Frank," Simmons said, cutting Coulson off.

"Dr. Hall?" Fitz asked, sitting forward. "He was out Chemical Kinetics advisor our second year."

"Yeah, he was so enthusiastic about science we just adored him," Simmons continued. "We can rescue him, can't we?"

"He's one of ours, we're going to try," Coulson replied.

"And the attackers?" Ward asked.

"Invisible," Coulson said and began to move off. I looked around that the various expressions of surprise and confusion.

"Wait, invisible?" Skye asked. "So cool!" While yes, it was cool, it also made our job a lot harder, which she had yet to learn. At Ward's look, the smile left her face and she continued, "That's terrible."

-:-

When the Bus landed in Sterling, Colorado, we all made our way to the attack scene. Skye asked a bunch of questions on the lingo and everything, while I climbed up into the tree to investigate the SHIELD-issue SUV that had been flipped up into it. The driver was dead, and they had already moved the body. Of course, I already knew what had caused the vehicle to end up in the tree, but I had to keep up the pretense that I didn't. When I heard Simmons shouting for Fitz, I climbed down with ease, even in my heeled combat boots, and made my way over to the team as Fitz was struggling to shut down the device that had caused all of this. Once he did, Simmons picked it up. Coulson took the device from her and examined it.

"What is that?" Skye asked.

"Something big," Coulson replied grimly.

-:-

Fitz and Simmons worked on the device, Ward was sent off to question suspects, and Skye and Coulson talked about the QNB-316 "truth serum," May motioned me to follow her. She led me straight to her phone that leads directly to Fury's office.

"This is what we use to report," she said lowly. "It goes directly to Fury, no middle man. Pick it up, hit three, state your name and level." She then proceeded to do so, and inform him of the possible mole situation. "The communications are being sent over," she told me after she was done. "Grab them and tie them together." I did, sticking the huge stack of papers in a large binder. May took it and gave it to Skye for her to read.

While Coulson and Ward questioned a suspect in aiding whoever attacked SHIELD, FitzSimmons worked on the device, Skye read the communications, and I did my schoolwork. Perhaps I should be doing something to contribute to the mission, but my education kind of came first unless it was life-or-death, which it wasn't. Yet, anyway. Ward and Coulson came back with several gold bars, and FitzSimmons tracked them down to a mine owned by Quinn Worldwide. The CEO of the company was Ian Quinn. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to go undercover in place of Skye. Besides, I had to let fate run its course, and I had the perfect excuse to do it.

The team was arguing. Quinn's facilities had laser grid fences impossible to breach from the outside. SHIELD had no control in Malta, and bringing them into it would break international law. However, if we went in alone, SHIELD could basically disown us and be fine. We would take the fallout.

"Without a man inside, it's impossible," May said. "Unless you're immune to pulse-laser missions."

"If we had a monkey, we could get in," Fitz said, but was cut off briefly by an exasperated exclamation by Simmons. "If we had a small monkey, he could slip through the sensors and disable the fence's power with his adorable little hands."

"I could go in," Skye said from her position leaning against the doorframe of the briefing room, tapping away on her phone. I was the only one that seemed to hear her. Ward suggested having a few weeks to establish a cover, but Coulson shut that idea down. Hall didn't have a few weeks.

"What about me? I could go in," Skye said again, and this time Ward acknowledged her.

"Skye, this is serious."

"Wait," Coulson said. "What are you saying?"

"Well, I'm not an agent of SHIELD," Skye said, "so I can go in without breaking all these stupid rules." While she was talking, she was typing on her phone.

"International laws," Simmons chimed in.

"This isn't something the Rising Tide can hack, Skye," Ward said, but I knew what she was doing. The team descended into arguing again. At least until Skye showed us her invitation into Quinn's annual stockholder's gathering. Even then, Ward argued.

"If anyone is going in to go undercover, it'll be Paige," he said. Coulson turned to me, considering the idea.

"Don't even think about it," I told him. "I can't. Quinn knows me because I was part of the reason he ran to Malta. I may or may not have blown up one of his facilities here in the US. He knows my face and he knows who I work for. Besides, Skye got the invitation and she's right: she's not an agent of SHIELD and won't break international law. I vote Skye goes in." She gave me a grateful smile.

-:-

"Skye will walk in the front door," Coulson said. "The only external access point to Quinn's underground facility is from a beach cove. A two-man extraction team can slip in there, but it's not easy. FitzSimmons."

Fitz stepped forward. "The perimeter is surrounded by a twenty-foot high Demian laser grid. Touch it and you're toast." How delightful.

"Dead toast," Coulson clarified. Even better. "The only way to disable the grid is to pack the system and trigger a reboot. This will give the team three seconds to cross. Of course, Quinn is too smart to allow any wireless access on his property."

"That's where I come in," Skye said, a little unsure.

"Yes," Simmons said, opening a case and giving Skye a tech-savvy blush compact that would get us in. "Easy as pie."

"Or it will be," Ward said gruffly. "If you stick to the plan."

"Got it," Skye said. "Plan, green, drop, walk."

Coulson nodded. "Paige, help her get ready, and maybe give her a few tips." I nodded in affirmation, and led the way out of the room. Skye followed me, compact in hand, and I stopped and turned around in the commons, sizing her up.

"Hmm, I doubt you'll have anything good for a stockholders meeting in your closet," I said, tapping my chin. "So let's go to mine. I might just have something that would fit you." I led her to my bunk and opened my closet, digging into the way back for the bright pink dress that I've worn once. "Here, try this on." She did as I said, and it fit wonderfully. We then went to her bunk where I chose heels—two inches, suitable for a gathering like this yet easily can be worn in combat, but she won't be doing much of that. "Hmm, you look good in that dress. You can keep it. I don't like that color on me. Time for makeup and accessories." While I worked on her, she was silent, up until she asked,

"What's with the braid in your hair? You always have it."

I wondered when that was going to pop up. "It's called a remembrance braid," I told her, smoothly applying eyeliner. "Almost every female SHIELD agent wears one at least once during her training. It's to remember something. Maybe from your past, who you were before you joining SHIELD, someone you loved, someone you lost." I gave her a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet, leaving her hair as it was.

"I feel like I'm in one of those movie sleepovers," Skye said as I worked.

"Sorry," I replied. "I'm not used to getting someone else ready. I usually just know my mission and dress accordingly. There, all done." I pulled her to her feet and had her look in the full-length mirror. "Now look at your face."

"Okay," she said, unsure of where this was going.

"When I say an emotion, I want you to make the facial expression," I told her, running through an exercise I used to have to do all the time for missions like this. "Sad. Scared. In pain. Happy. Welcoming. Uh huh, just as I thought."

"What am I doing wrong?" Skye sighed, slumping some in defeat.

"Your facial expressions are fine," I assured her. "But your eyes don't change, and that's what Quinn will be looking at. When you go to make an expression, you actually have to feel the emotion inside. Think of a moment when you were the happiest you ever remember."
She thought about it, and began to smile. Her eyes lit up, making me smile too. "See? That's what I need. Eventually, you'll just get to the point where it comes naturally and you don't have to think as long about it."

The plane started going down, signaling that we were about to land in Malta. "Okay, remember to feel, and you'll be taking a taxi to Quinn's place. Oh, and here." I took the compact out of her hand and slipped it into a hand purse. "Don't loose it."

Thirty minutes later, we were on the ground and Ward, Skye, and Coulson were gone. FitzSimmons, May and I were waiting in the briefing room, with May giving Skye everything on the man she was talking to while I gave her tips on how to act through the comms. I hoped we weren't overloading her with information, but she seemed to be doing fine so far.

And then Quinn offered her a job.

"Ward, what's your status?" I asked, moving around to the other side of the table. With a few taps, I pulled up a tracking location.

"Just arriving," he replied. "Going dark."

"All right. Be careful." I swiped the tracking map over to the side and began pulling up the map to Quinn's facility.

"It's locked, but there's no lock," Skye said, referring to the door to Quinn's office.

"Uh, check for a keypad," Fitz said before popping a handful of popcorn into his mouth. I shot him a look that obviously said, Really? Now?

"Nothing," Skye reported back. "Wait, you can hack a keypad?"

"No," Fitz said. "But it would be fun to open." I rolled my eyes at him. Now was not the time for this.

"Is there a reception desk?" May asked.

"Okay, yeah," Skye said. "Wait, now what do I do?" And then I heard Quinn's voice and cussed. He had followed her.

"Skye, play it cool," I ordered. "Make up a story—keep it simple so you can keep track of it. Remember, lies require commitment and an element of truth." We were all tense and silent for a moment, and then she sweet-talked her way in.

"How's our girl doing?" May asked.

"Oh, for a minute I thought she was done for, but she just sweet-talked her way into Quinn's office," Simmons said, and only if she knew that "sweet-talking" involved her ratting out on SHIELD.

May looked surprised. "How did she manage that?" Fitz made a very rude insinuation before realizing he was in a room full of women.

And then Skye's comm cut out and the panic began,

"Paige, you need to go in," May said. "Make sure nothing went wrong." We both knew that wasn't an option. She reported the circumstances to Coulson and Ward.

"I won't get past the end of the drive, May, you know that," I said. "Whatever happened, it wouldn't have cut out so suddenly unless she did it herself. Whatever happened, we have to trust Skye to do her part of the bargain, May." Still, it didn't help settle the panic thrashing in my gut.

Suddenly, there was a beep. "We're in!" Simmons cried. Fitz went to work immediately, fingers flying, and then caused a reboot. Both made it in. Now all we could do was wait, I hated this feeling of helplessness, unable to do anything.

I hated being useless.

-:-

After an almost-really-bad situation, everyone was back onboard safely. May reported for combat, and Skye finally started taking her training seriously. The team was finally starting to pull together and tighten ties.

It was a shame I'd have to be leaving soon.

-:-

So, yeah, Paige'll be leaving the team soon to head to London. But she'll go back. After Thor: The Dark World, come back to this story and continue.

Love,

Angel