Natalie's POV
The two of us walked to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. I glanced around but saw no one. Wait, I thought Ashlynn was supposed to be waiting for me in the cafeteria? Well, I guess Director Fury just asked her to do something. More like ordered her. Eh, screw this. I went and grabbed some food and Tessie did the same.
" So..." Tessie began, lowering her voice even though there was no one around. " Have you found your parents yet? I morphed my face into one of confusion and stared at Tessie weirdly.
" What do you mean, ' my parents'?" I asked convincingly. She sighed and put her head into her hands.
" I've installed the block. You can tell me now," she said and I looked around nervously.
" Really?" I asked. She nodded.
" Camera, audio everything blocked," she said, her head still in her hands. " Now?" I sighed in defeat and leaned in closer.
" Yeah," I answered reluctantly. Her face lit up. " Buuut they don't know about me." I informed her. Her face fell.
" Why?" She asked. I shrugged.
" Director Fury wiped their memories," I said, stirring my spaghetti and playing with it before scooping a mouthful into my mouth. She looked upset.
" Just like with my parents, huh," Tessie commented with a trace of sadness in her voice. I nodded.
" Don't tell anyone I know," I told Tessie. " They've brainwashed me too, but for some reason, I managed to regain my memories." I said.
" Hmm..." Tessie wondered while playing with her spaghetti. Just then, Ashlynn came up to me.
" Hey, Natalie," came Ashlynn sweet voice and I looked up from the plate of noddles covered with tomato sauce.
" Hey, Ashlynn," I replied.
" Long time no see, eh?" She said calmly. I was a bit confused. Long time no see? I just met her just now!
" But..." I started but Ashlynn cut me off.
" Wait!" She said, looking around. " Is this place safe?" She asked.
" Yes. I placed blocks over the camera and audio," Tessie piped up, looking curiously at the new brown haired girl. Ashlynn looked down at Tessie as if it was the first time she had noticed her. Which it probably was.
" Really?" Ashlynn asked and looked at me. " And this is...?" I immediately realized that they didn't know each other yet.
" Ashlynn, this is Tessie. She's my friend from before I joined Shield. Tessie, this is Ashlynn. I met her at Shield," I said, not knowing why Ashlynn said those weird words earlier and wanting to keep on the safe side.
" I've seen you before," Tessie muttered under her breath. Ashlynn didn't seem to hear what Tessie said.
" So this place can't be heard or seen by Shield personal, right?" Ashlynn questioned as she slid into the seat next to me. Tessie nodded.
" Well, then, Natalie," Ashlynn said. " You should probably know that Shield just tried to brainwash me."
" What?" I asked, looking at Ashlynn.
" Tried to brainwash? Or brainwashed?" Asked Tessie.
" Tried to," Ashlynn confirmed. " I will know if anyone tries to enter my brain, and then I won't let them." She said it like it wasn't a big deal.
" Whoa whoa whoa! Back up a second," I said. " You said that you will know if someone tries to enter your brain? How?" I asked. I couldn't read the look on Ashlynn's face.
" Yes," she agreed, fidgeting.
" How?" I asked. She sighed.
" Well, you see- its like that. I have powers," she said. I'm pretty sure my ear holes are clogged up or something, because there was no way that I could have just heard what I heard.
" You have...what?" Tessie asked.
" Powers," answered Ashlynn.
" What powers exactly?" I asked Ashlynn. She sighed.
" Mind control, telekinesis, manipulation, changing of density, and others I haven't discovered yet," came Ashlynn's reply.
" Whoa. That is awesome." Tessie murmured. Ashlynn smiled.
" Wait, so are your powers invisible or can they be seen?" I asked.
" They come in the shape of yellow hexes," she replied. I think my mind is offically blown. That. Is. So. Freaking. Cool. Just then, an agent walked into the cafeteria and headed straight for us.
" Okay, if he asks, you're Natalie Rushman, a level seven agent, best friends with me, Ashlynn Mather, a level seven agent as well. We've been working for Shield for five years now. We started at age ten, get it?" She asked and I nodded. We pretended to joke and laugh but when the agent stopped at our table, we looked serious and jumped up.
" Good afternoon, agents," he said. " Director Fury has a mission for you."
" The both of us?" I asked. He shook his head.
" You two with Agent Charles." He told us. Ashlynn obviously didn't know who he was, while I groaned internally at seeing James again after what had happened.
" The briefing will be in briefing room number 3," he said and went off on his way.
" Who's Agent Charles?" Asked Ashlynn.
" My friend that I got to know. He's okay, but he's been told not to reveal anything about my brainwashing. He doesn't know that I already know," I summed up, letting Ashlynn know the whole thing in a nutshell.
" Tessie, we're gonna have to go on a mission now," I informed the girl. She nodded, taking a bangle off her wrist and opening it up, turning it into a computer. I sighed. The things this girl does come up with...
" Well. Here we all go." I said and Ashlynn and I headed off, leaving Tessie eating her lunch while staring at her computer screen.
Ashlynn and I headed towards the briefing room. We walked together in a peaceful silence.
James met us at the door. The silence then turned undoubtedly awkward. After a long silence, I moved my hand slowly upwards and knocked on the door.
" Come in," came the unmistakable voice of Director Fury. We headed inside and stood next to each other.
" Agents, I have a mission for you in New York," He said. We nodded professionally. He handed us three mission files and a sealed envelope.
" Read the mission files and disguise yourselves accordingly. The envelope is filled with the money you will need. The jet leaves in two hours. Get ready and meet at hangar 12." Director Fury said. The three of us nodded and went on our way.
I walked closer to Ashlynn than James, as the tension grew. Soon it was so thick that you could almost literally cut it with a knife.
" So..." I made an awkward attempt at trying to start a conversation. " Where do we meet when we're ready?" I asked.
" Outside your dorm?" James asked. I shrugged.
" Fine by me," I answered. " Ashlynn?"
" Okay," she agreed. As James walked away with a mission file in his hand, I headed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that ordeal was over. Ashlynn looked relieved too.
" So, should we head to your dorm to read the mission files?" I asked Ashlynn. She shrugged, symboling that she was fine with anything. We headed towards her dorm. Ashlynn opened the door to her door. It was just the same as mine. We sat on her bed and started to read the files. We were supposed to disguise ourselves as kids going on a trip to a museum without our parents. I was to be Julieta Harmen, while Ashlynn was to be Sarah Harmen, my older sister. James was to be our good friend, Brandon Jones, who was accompanying us. We needed to be outfitted in causal attire. I shrugged and headed for Ashlynn's wardrobe and flung it open. The inside was basically crammed full of clothes, unlike my wardrobe. I stepped back to let Ashlynn pick her outfit. She chose a dark green shirt and blue jeans and a thin white wool jacket. Then, she picked out a blue top and jeans with a beige jacket for me.
" Thanks!" I exclaimed, taking the blue top and jeans. The two of us changed quickly and soon, we were in our disguises. However, we were still in our Shield black boots. Ashlynn sighed and opened a compartment in the wardrobe, which was filled with shoes of all shapes and sizes. Heels, platforms, you name it, Ashlynn has it! Ashlynn rummaged through her collection of shoes, and picked out heels for her and knee-high boots for me.

As I looked at my outfit, I sighed. There wouldn't be any space for my bow and arrows. Never mind. I would just use my guns instead.
After we had put the disguises on, we applied makeup, making sure that we did not look even remotely like our usual selves. After that, we read the mission files. Apparently we were supposed to eliminate a spy who had been on Shield's radar for quite some time. He would be at the museum as he wanted to pick up a package from his ' buddy' there. We were supposed to follow him wherever he went after that as Shield suspected that he would eventually lead us to his base ( which Shield also suspected to be Hydra). We would have to pack more clothes but only the essentials so that our suitcases would not be too big and bulky just in case the guy suddenly moved and we had to follow him. I glanced at my watch. It had only been an hour. Which meant one hour of preparation or free time. Given the option, I would choose free time but I decided that working on our cover was a better way to spend our time.
Julieta Karmen was a fifteen year old girl. She was a real person, in real life, because you couldn't make people out of thin air. That would not be a good cover. She enjoyed studying history, a great cover for heading to the museum. The Karmen family was generally very mysterious, so it helped with our covers.
Sarah Karmen was a sixteen year old girl. Like her sister, she really liked history and was generally around the top three in her class at it. Not much was known about the Karmen family, but Shield somehow knew that they would be going on a vacation soon, and no one knew where they were heading. A museum would be an ideal place for them to have their vacation, considering that their two kids were very enthusiastic about history, so it was quite a good cover.
Brandon Jones was a sixteen year old boy. He had been childhood friends with the two girls as they had been in the same grade ( Julieta skipped a grade). They went everywhere together, as Brandon was practically the Karmen family's adopted son.
Since we had some time after reading the file, we decided to head out to see Tessie. Heading to the cafeteria, we found Tessie with a finished plate of spaghetti beside her, immersed in whatever she was making with a few pieces of junk metal and her computer. Probably coding something.
" Hey, Tessie," I hailed the brown haired girl who was hunched over the computer. She looked up and looked surprised to see us. The two of us joined her at the table.
" Hey, I thought you guys were on a mission?" Tessie asked, placing the pieces of junk metal down. I laughed.
" Correction. We will be going on a mission in half an hour," Ashlynn said. Tessie then nodded.
" So what's the mission about? Nice clothes by the way," Tessie said. Ashlynn smiled and nodded.
" We have to follow a guy. Nothing much, I expect Shield thinks that the guy's Hydra. They'll do anything to uncover one of Hydra's secret bases." I said. We all shared a look. We knew that that statement was very true. Shield would do anything. We knew that was true, having experienced it firsthand. Tessie coughed.
" Anyways, here's a few gadgets to help you guys," Tessie said, rummaging around in her pockets. When she found what she was looking for, she slid it out of her pocket and threw it to us. I caught it deftly and examined it.
" What does it do?" Ashlynn asked Tessie, inspecting hers carefully. Tessie took one more out from her pocket.
" See. Press this button and type in a person's name. Then, place it onto your ears. The gadget will do the rest." Tessie informed us. " Actually, I'm surprised Shield didn't give you these things. They're supposed to be flawless." Tessie said, placing the device into her ear like a earpiece. Immediately, the device disappeared and Tessie's face rippled. Once, twice, then Tessie's face changed completely. It warped into Agent Hill's face and I winced at the uncanny resemblance.
" When you want to remove it," Tessie demonstrated, pulling the mask off her face, and with a slight shimmer, the mask was taken off and there was Tessie's face again, looking proud of her creation. I wolf whistled while Ashlynn clapped.
" Cool, but can you use it again?" I asked. Tessie nodded her head so hard I was surprised it didn't fall off. She showed the device and I realised that it came off and the mask was two-thirds gone. I realised that it was shimmering away.
" That's awesome! Thanks!" Ashlynn exclaimed as she placed the tiny device into her pocket.
" You have no idea how many tough situations that little thing helped me out of," Tessie laughed. " I'm being serious." Then, she started rummaging around in her pocket once more. She seemed to have a lot of things in that pocket. She then took out a packet of sugar that looked normal and tossed it to me again. I caught it with athlete's reflexes again and studied it. Nothing was wrong about it.
" So what is this?" Ashlynn asked, examining her packet.
" It's a sugar packet, duh," Tessie said, rolling her eyes. I resisted the urge to facepalm.
" She means: What does it do?" I corrected. Tessie' eyes immediately began to sparkle.
" They track people," Tessie explained. " You can put it in someone's food or drink and after they eat or drink it, the trackers will stay in their system until it's digested. I recommend using it on food, because it stays longer in the system. It's totally safe, don't worry. It's tasteless too. " Ashlynn's mouth fell open. I gagged. That was the most disgusting thing I had ever heard. Trackers? In your digestive system? That was revolting yet interesting at the same time.
" Here are more packets," Tessie said and threw them to me and I placed them into my pockets, making a mental note of pack them into my small bag later just in case I had to ditch these set of clothes. Tessie gave us a few more odds and ends, and then I realised that it was five minutes to meeting time. After bidding a quick goodbye to Tessie, we ran back to Ashlynn's room. You have no idea how big a Shield base is. When we reached the room, James was waiting. He was dressed in a blue top and jeans. He was wearing sneakers.

" Someone's been busy, huh?" James asked as he looked at us, panting from the run. I rolled my eyes. " Well then, grab your luggage. We gotta go." I went inside and grabbed the small bag that I had packed, emptying the contents of my pockets into it. We then headed off to hangar 12. We flashed our authorization cards and boarded the quinjet. As the jet started to move, I sat back into my chair and felt a tingle of nerves, not knowing how our mission was going to go.
A/N
Okay, so I updated! Not very good, but yeah. I promise the next chapter will be better than this. Okay, so any guesses about who Ashlynn might be? Put your answer down in the comments. The first person to get it right gets a shoutout in one of my later chapters. Also, do leave a vote. I'd like to thank everyone who reads this book for being such great supporters!
Stephanie out!