"I can't believe he let us off that easily!" Max exclaimed.

"I know, right? I thought we were totally gonna get it and were seriously done for," Katie agreed.

"I'm going to be an agent, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. I can't believe it!" Vidia processed it.

"We should raid the pantries and have a party in my quarters!" I suggested.

"Sarah, we need to talk," Commander Howlett whispered in my ear as he came up behind me.

"Come on Commander, does it have  to be right now?" I asked him.

"Preferably."

"Alright," I sighed. "Hey guys, I'll have to catch up with you later."

"What? Why?" Vidia asked.

"Director Fury has a few more questions for Cadet Adams, but since she's your leader, he wants to speak to her alone," Howlett saved me.

"Don't take too long," Alice called as they went on their way.

"What's going on?" I asked Commander Howlett as we walked in the opposite direction.

"Do you understand what you did?" Commander Howlett asked.

"I'm moving up in the world where there aren't a lot of secrets and we're treated like adults," I answered.

"When Fury finds out what you are, you're in for a whole lot of trouble, the kind that I can't really help you with," he warned.

"If I'm already working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and don't lash out, wouldn't it be ok?" I reasoned.

"I don't know, but I don't want to see you get hurt," Commander Howlett said.

"I thought getting hurt was part of the job," I said sarcastically. He gave me a look.

"Being a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent is different than being your average Cadet or Trooper. It's something else entirely and if you aren't prepared, then you're screwed," Howlett explained.

"Maybe a need a bit of a challenge,"I said.

"Don't go too far. Have you had any dreams recently?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, I actually dreamed about us getting caught and how I tried to warn them beforehand. Obviously, it wasn't enough and it still turned out ok in the end," I answered.

"Since you'll be working for S.H.I.E.L.D. now, you need to do things their way and not let your dreams dictate how the team does things," Commander Howlett gave me the advice.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said as I realized what he was trying to say, "I know you're worried about me, but I'll be fine Commander."

"Will you? What if the wrong person finds out that you're a mutant and it gets back to Fury?"

"Then I'll explain everything to Fury and deal with the consequences later," I answered.

"Even if the consequence is death?"

"Commander Howlett, I don't think that you'd let them do that to me after everything you've helped me through," I stated.

"You're right, I wouldn't," Commander Howlett agreed with a hint of a smile.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked as I tried not to blush.

"I wasn't smiling about anything," Howlett argued as his smile grew.

"Yes you are! You're smiling right now and I want to know what you're smiling about."

"You're smiling now to! I wonder though, are you smiling because I'm smiling?" he playfully asked.

"Why? Do you think I like you or something?"

"I don't know, maybe you do, maybe you don't or it could be that you're teasing me."

"Would I ever do such a thing?" I asked sarcastically. We looked at each other and bursted out laughing.

"Look at you, first you got me to smile and now you got me laughing. What's it going to be next?"

"I guess you'll have to wait and find out," I smirked as I we walked up to my quarters. I was going to open the door when Commander Howlett stopped me.

"Hey," he said as looked me in the eyes, "you be careful out there, ok?"

"I will," I said quietly as I realized how close we were to each other. I let him stand there and stare into my eyes for a minute or two before I looked away.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned.

"My friends are waiting for me inside. I told them we should celebrate," I said, avoiding the question.

"But are you ok?" Commander Howlett asked again.

"I don't want to keep them waiting any longer than I have to," I tried to say. Commander Howlett put his hands on my arms, making me wish he would simply hug me.

"This isn't about the level up or hiding your powers, is it?" he asked. I wanted to make this moment last forever, to have him so close to me, but I also wasn't ready to tell Commander Howlett about Peter, so I stood there, refusing to make eye contact with him. However, something snapped inside of me and I couldn't let him be that close to me anymore.

"I'll tell you everything eventually," I mumbled as I gently brushed his hands away from my arms.

I was already awake, but not dressed yet when the expected knock came. I opened it to Commander Howlett who looked like he had just woken up. His hair was up all on one side, but flat on the other and he was showing off his big, bare, muscle arms again. "Your new schedule has arrived. It should be a lot more fun than the old one," Howlett commented as he handed me a file with my name on it. I read through it uncomfortably because I couldn't keep my eyes off of Commander Howlett's arms. It didn't help matters when he crossed his arms and leaned forward to try to see what my schedule looked like.

"Why are you so interested in my schedule Commander?" I asked with a smile.

"Maybe I'm trying to figure out if we could train together again," he answered.

"You mean, that  there's a possibility that could happen?" I asked delightedly.

"It's possible, since you're an Agent now, you'll get to train with the Captains, Commanders, and Lieutenants," Howlett explained.

"Wouldn't that be interesting?" I said sarcastically.

"You really like making fun of me, don't you?" he asked with a grin.

"Come on, you are such  an easy target," I said, trying to sound serious.

"Wow, I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment."

"Don't worry, I get the two mixed up, especially when it comes to Sarah's humor," Alice said with a bright smile.

"Alice! What are you doing here?" I asked surprised.

"I thought we could walk down to our first day as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents together," she said. "Unless of course, you wanted to walk down there with someone else."

"Oh no, it's completely fine. I was only dropping off her new schedule," Commander Howlett said hurriedly as he walked away. I watched him with a flirty smile until he disappeared around the corner.

"What were you two doing talking like that around each other?" Alice asked teasingly.

"I'm really not sure what just happened, but whatever it was, I really liked it," I admitted.

"You could do much worse. My advice, make a move as soon as possible before things get busy."

"You think so?" I asked Alice, feeling like it was Freshman year all over again.

"Why not? He clearly has the hots for you," Alice encouraged me.

"He said that we might get to train together again, like old times," I informed her.

"If that's the case, I'd use to my advantage," Alice said.

"Agent Coulson, what a surprise!" I said as Alice and I arrived at our very first S.H.I.E.L.D. briefing.

"Don't look so shocked, I oversee all of our strike forces and their progress."

"I'm sorry, did you say strike force, cuz I'm like, so excited right now, I don't know what to do with myself!" Katie asked for clarification.

"Oh boy, we have a lot of work to do before they can go do the serious stuff," Skye commented.

"Your mission this week is simple; sneak in, grab intel, and sneak right back out," Coulson started.

"Sounds easy enough," Vidia commented.

"Sure, until you check out the security of the building the five of you are going to infiltrate," Skye said as she brought up several schematics. "Every entrance has an alarm that is designed to detect anyone that isn't an alien."

"We're breaking into an alien facility?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Yes and you'll have the whole week to prepare for it, which is why we're briefing you now. It will give you time to come up with your own plan and make changes if necessary," Coulson explained.

"I can hack into their security system and turn the whole thing off," Alice thought aloud.

"Now you're talking! There will also be guards stationed randomly throughout the complex," Skye said. "The information you're looking for will be in the South corner in their master computer. You'll have to use this  flash drive to download the file labeled 'Phase 3.' Your team is also going to be the ones who read through it and report back any important findings," Skye instructed. "Another thing to remember, any closed alien doors require a password before you can keep going and the doors will only stay open for a five minute period."

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Coulson asked, "Good, you have until Wednesday to come up with a plan and present it to us, dismissed."

"This'll be interesting," Vidia commented.

"We can split up the work like we've been doing all along and meet at our usual spot to compare our ideas," I said.

"Sarah and I are the fighters of the group, which means we should be the ones to actually go in," Vidia suggested.

"I've got the hacking covered," Alice said.

"I'll study the schematics and map out your course. In fact, I could probably map out several different courses," Max volunteered.

"I could...um...come up with something I'm sure," Katie said, realizing that she didn't really have a designated job.

"Great! Meet up tomorrow at lunch," I exclaimed.

"Wait, none of us but you and Vidia have the same lunch," Max said.

"Have you not read through our new schedules?" Alice asked.

"OMG! V.M.A.S.K. is together again! This is, like, our very much delayed Christmas gift!" Katie cheered.

"I think we'll also have an hour training session together to," Vidia pointed out as she flipped through her file.

"Come up with something and be sure to have a few other ideas, even if it sounds stupid. Having lots of options makes things way more fun," I reminded them before we went our ways.

I went straight back to my quarters to rest up a little bit before my first S.H.I.E.L.D. training session. I read through my file and flipped through every single page. It consisted of my new schedule, what was expected of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, a printed copy of our briefing, a spot for notes, an empty debriefing section, a list of things to do as a stress relievers, a packet of workouts to try, and a list of officials that had their names, picture, and title in case we needed to talk to them. My schedule looked like this...

6-7:30am: Breakfast

8-10am: Morning Workouts

10:30-11:30am: Briefings/Daily Progress Meetings

11:45am-12:45pm: Lunch

1-3:45pm: Unit Training

4-5:30pm: Division Training

5:45-7pm: Dinner

7:30-8:15pm: Debriefing/Daily Conclusion Meetings

"Wow, I'm not going to have much time for fun. I understand now why Vidia couldn't always meet up with us outside of our meal times," I thought. Before I knew it, it was time to go to my Unit Training.