Washington, D.C.

2014

Serena tightened her long black wrap coat around her as she walked into the restaurant. She had been working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.T.R.I.K.E for 3 months now and have already made her place firmly known among them. Much to her surprise, they had a great deal of respect towards her…probably because they all knew what she was capable of, but, otherwise, she found it rewarding. In the past 3 months, she found herself training younger and incoming agents, and being shipped around the world to handle assignments with Captain America and S.T.R.I.K.E. giving her much more action and adventure than she had with the CIA. But with all the action…she never had any downtime…until now.

Tonight, being the first real night off, she decided to grab dinner with her mother and aunt, since her father was away in Berlin on official S.H.I.E.L.D business. To be honest though, Serena was just happy to see her family for the first time in 3 months.

As soon as she walked in, she saw her mother waving her down to a table in the back corner of the room. As she walked through the restaurant and got closer to the table, she could see her aunt, rolling her eyes at something, which made Serena frown.

"What's wrong?" Serena asked as her mother got up to hug her.

"Nothing's wrong sweetie." Felicita replied giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she sat back down.

"I'm not asking you, Mom." Serena explained as she took off her coat to reveal her black turtleneck sweater and pair of dark jeans. "I was asking Aunt Val."

Val rolled her eyes again. "You look thin."

Serena looked down then looked back at Val as she sat down in her chair. "I do not."

"She does not." Felicita groaned before hitting her sister playfully in the shoulder.

Val put her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying that you could gain a couple pounds…what do they not feed you at S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Serena smiled. "They do, very well actually."

Just as Val was about to reply, the waiter came over and asked for the wine order. Serena quickly grabbed the wine list glanced it over quickly before making her decision.

"Let's do a bottle of the Bordeaux, the 2005 Chateau Margaux." Serena said with a warm smile.

The waiter's eyes widened before nodding quickly, before rushing to the wine cellar.

"You're balling quite hard with that choice." Val said with a shake of her head.

"As if you aren't going to drink any." Felicita said playfully before turning back to Serena. "Seriously though, how is it?"

"How's what?" Serena asked as the waiter came back and began to pour glasses of wine for the three women.

"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Felicita and Val asked simultaneously.

Serena shrugged. "It's alright. This is the first time I've had off on a weekend since working there. Every other weekend I feel like I'm being shipped off to another part of the world. I'm tired all the time, but…I love it. I always get an adrenaline high with it, plus it helps that I'm working with a great group of people."

"Fury assigned you to S.T.R.I.K.E, right?" Felicita asked.

Serena took a sip of her wine before nodding. "Yeah."

"You're welcome." Val said with a smirk.

Felicita glared at her sister.

Val shrugged. "What? Without Everett and I, she probably wouldn't even be Clearance Level 1. What's your Clearance Level?"

"Seven." Serena said with a sigh.

"See?" Val smirked at her sister.

"I thought Mom had something to do with that." Serena explained as she looked between her mother and aunt.

Felicita shook her head. "No, that was all Fury. Your father didn't even know. He was just as surprised as you are."

"It's because of your reputation." Val explained. "Face it Sera, you have a knack for drawing targets in…quietly, then making your presence known during extraction."

Serena sighed before taking another sip of her wine. "I'd like to think it was because I was trained so uniquely."

Val nodded. "That too. You excelled far more than anyone during your year in the CIA Academy. You are a prodigy."

"We established that when she was a child." Felicita explained. "My point is you deserve your S.H.I.E.L.D Clearance. You earned it. Even if your father wasn't in the position he is in, you still would've earned it."

Serena smiled and nodded as the waiter came back with their dinner orders. Felicita and Val ordered for Serena, as she was coming from work, and they already knew her order ahead of time. All was going well with dinner until a subject Serena did not want to speak about was brought up.

"So, did you meet The Fourth of July Stripper yet?" Val asked nonchalantly almost causing Serena to choke on her chicken and Felicita to choke on her wine.

"WHAT?" Serena and Felicita half shouted.

"Rogers?" Val said with a shrug. "America's golden boy – The Fourth of July Stripper – Captain America."

Felicita shook her head in disbelief. "What?"

"Come on, you and I both know he looks like a glorified stripper. The amount of thirst traps people make of him online…astronomical." Val explained. "Did you meet him yet? I heard he's working for S.T.R.I.K.E."

Serena nodded. "I have."

"You met Captain Rogers?" Felicita asked in disbelief.

Serena nodded again. "I actually met him prior to working for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"How?" Val asked before taking a bite of her steak.

"I was going for a run with Molly around the National Mall, and this guy was lapping me constantly. At one point Molly didn't like it and took off after him, and he caught her. I didn't put two-and-two together until I met him at S.H.I.E.L.D later in the day." Serena explained.

"And?" Felicita and Val asked.

"And what?" Serena asked as she sipped her wine.

"What's it like?" They both asked.

Serena shrugged. "As normal as it could be…I guess. I don't think he liked me very much in the beginning. Probably thought I only joined for murder…but now, we work well together. We both command the team together and so far, we haven't lost anyone and all of the missions have gone to plan."

"That's it?" Val said in disappointment. "That's all the Boy Scout has to offer?"

"Val." Felicita began with a sigh and a hand to her forehead.

"What?" Val said with a shrug turning to her sister before turning back to her niece. "The man is a literal walking Boy Scout."

"What did you expect me to say?" Serena said with an eyeroll. "That when I throw kitchen magnets at his shield they stick? That he makes me sing the National Anthem when we train?

"Yes!" Val said with a smile.

Serena sighed in annoyance and was just about to take another bite of her chicken when she got a buzz on her phone making her pull it out of her front pocket. No sooner she did, her once hopeful and carefree expression she had earlier in the evening was placed with a frown, as the S.H.I.E.L.D logo appeared on her screen.

"Fuck." Serena sighed.

"What's wrong?" Felicita asked.

Serena immediately turned the screen around to show her mother and aunt. "I have to go."

"I'm sorry honey." Felicita said in a somber tone.

"It's not your fault Mom, it's Fury's." Serena said with a shrug as she pulled her coat on.

"Ask the stripper to let you throw magnets at his shield." Val said with a laugh as Serena gave them both a hug before leaving the restaurant to head back to the Triskelion.

Sometime Later

Kazakhstan

"Secure channel 2." Rumlow began.

"Channel 2 secure." Serena concluded as she spoke into her earpiece.

Serena quickly grasped onto one of the overhead latches as the Quinjet shook with turbulence from their position in stealth mode. The mission was easy. They were to take out some terrorists that tried to hack S.H.I.E.L.D's systems to retrieve intel. They failed at hacking into the systems, but in doing so, they revealed their location which was in Kazakhstan.

Once the turbulence ended, Serena started to strap on her parachute, but just as she started, Steve started to begin his annual mission speech.
"Alright, intel said they shouldn't expect us, and be occupied on the northwest sector of the facility, but don't assume. Be prepared for anything. Pierce, anything you want to add?" Steve asked and the entire team turned to Serena.

Serena nodded as she pulled the final strap securing the parachute harness to her body.

"This is a stealth operation." Serena began as she walked up to stand next to Steve. "Which means, not to draw attention, hence why the Quinjet is currently in stealth-mode. Our assignment is to take out the terrorists to prevent any future attack. I want everyone to mentally and physically prepare themselves to take a lethal action. These guys are dangerous, as Cap said, be prepared for anything, they don't know we're coming…I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."

Steve nodded. "Watch each other, and watch yourselves, and we'll all make it out alive."

The group nodded and began to go over their final weapons checks. Serena checked both of her Glocks, to make sure they were loaded and ready before placing them in the holster around her waist and she checked to make sure her batons were securely strapped to the holster around her back. Her stealth suit was in dark navy blue but was modeled after the black stealth suit with hunter green piping the CIA gave her when she was on missions. Out of both suits however, Serena preferred the CIA one. Why? She loved green.

She quickly rose to the tips of her toes before easily settling back on to flat feet again. She did it before every mission to come her nerves and did it before every ballet performance to calm her nerves. So far, it worked like a charm.

"Eager to get this over with?" Steve asked as he came alongside of her.

Serena smiled and shook her head. "Honestly, I just want to go home. I was out to dinner with my mother and aunt when Fury sent me the memo about this."

"Dinner?" Steve asked in disbelief. "Must've been nice."

Serena nodded. "It was, I had a couple glasses of wine. You should try the place, it's this French Restaurant downtown, it's not too fancy, but it's fancy enough. You'd like it."

"I'll put it on my list of things to do." Steve said with a nod making Serena laugh.

"That list keeps on growing." Serena said in disbelief. "Did you discover reality TV yet?"

Steve shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "I didn't."

Serena's jaw dropped in amused shock. "Ok, just for that, I am coming over and I am educating you. I am educating you in all that Bravo has to offer."

"All it has to offer?" Steve asked in disbelief.

She nodded. "What're your plans this weekend?"

"Well, I would go and call up the guys in my barbershop quartet…but they're all dead." Steve explained making Serena cringe.

"Sorry." She said with a somber tone.

"Don't worry about it. Yes, I'm free this Saturday." He explained.

Serena clapped her hands together in excitement. "Perfect! We're starting with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It'll take us all night before we get to Orange County, New Jersey, Atlanta, and Miami."

"Prepare yourself for a lot of table-throwing Cap." Rumlow called from his position at the back of the Quinjet.

"Table-throwing?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"Just you wait." Serena smirked as she patted Steve's shoulder. Her smirk then immediately turned into a frown. "Oh my god."

"What?" He asked.

"Molly is getting a procedure done at the Vet's office on Friday. I want to be there for her afterwards." She explained. "I can't do it this weekend."

"Bring her too." Steve suggested.

"Really?" Serena asked in disbelief. "You wouldn't mind."

"I love dogs, she's no bother." Steve said with a small smile.

"Thanks Cap." She smiled back.

Just as Steve was about to reply, he was interrupted by the pilot.

"Cap, Pierce, we're over the drop zone." The pilot instructed.

"Let's move." Steve and Serena instructed.

Within a matter of moments, the button that opened the back hatch was pushed and the team started to jump out. Serena was one of the last ones to jump, but still jumped, nonetheless. After a few seconds, she pulled her parachute, which jerked her body from a free-falling position to gently descending among the clouds.

From her air position, she could see Steve already landing on the ground, and getting ready to begin the ground assault, and as soon as Serena and the rest of the team landed, that's when the plan started to take place. No one was surprised by how the mission went, as the mission went as a success. Within a matter of 20 minutes, the terrorists were successfully assassinated, and the entire facility was wiped clean of ever having a trace of S.T.R.I.K.E ever being there. In the back of her mind, Serena knew that her and Steve made a good pair, but it really showed in how many successful missions they had versus how many failed ones. So far, successful missions were at 14, and failed missions were at 0, which even Nick Fury had to say was impressive. In other words, under the leadership of Captain America and The Viper, S.T.R.I.K.E was practically invincible, which met Serena's wish of not being a failure. And that she would be eternally grateful for.