I have no clue why I decided to update this book instead of the other ones that actually needed to be updated. I guess I was excited? I dunno.

I watched the season 5 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the other day and it would be a lie if I say I didn't cry. Bittersweet tears, though. I kinda don't know if I want to watch season 6. I watched the trailer and it already looks terrifyingly wild. But then again, I know I need to so if I'm absent for a bit, that's what I'm doing lmao.

Also, I can not tell you how many kriffing times I wrote Bethany instead of Natasha. *le facepalm*

"Ash, we're going to be late," Natasha groaned in annoyance as the girl ducked back into her room to grab her gym clothes. Ashley had almost forgot them... and we all know what happens when you show up to athletics without the proper uniform.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know," Ashley grumbled as she slung her gym bag on her one shoulder and her book bag on the other. She took a deep breath in attempts to wake up her brain a little bit more but she was ultimately unsuccessful. It would be a lie to say that she didn't stay up too late listening to music and doodling. She wasn't really sure what she was drawing to be honest, but whatever it was, it felt right when she got it down on paper.

    Once the teenager made her way back into the living room of the apartment, Natasha grabbed a hold of Ashley's wrist and quickly pulled her out of the residence. "You know it doesn't look professional when you're late," the undercover redhead gently scolded.

    Ashley deadpanned at the woman before arguing, "Even if we hit the worst traffic in the history of traffic, we'd still be an entire 30 minutes early."

    "Punctuality as an agent isn't the same as punctuality as a normal person," Natasha explained as they began heading down the hall of the complex.

    "Meaning?"

    "Meaning being early is on time and on time is late."

    "That's not fair," Ashley play-pouted, though she was inwardly quite serious. She knew that in the near future she would have to be getting up even earlier to work a morning-jog into her schedule, but she still couldn't bear getting up that early in the morning. She was definitely not a morning person. Ashley just felt more productive and alive in the dead of night and would much rather stay up late and sleep in.

    "Life's not fair, but we all have to get used to it," Natasha sighed as they passed by a door that led into their neighboring apartment. However, instead of continuing on like a normal person, Ashley came to a dead halt in front of the door and stared at it in both amazement and confusion. "What on Earth are you doing, child?"

    "One of my abilities," Ashley began after remembering that Natasha did know about her inhuman powers. "Is sensing people's presences. There's someone in this room that's energy signature is really familiar but wildly different at the same time. It almost gives me a headache without the actual pain. It's really interesting."

    Natasha looked at her with a dumbfounded face as she was slightly bothered by this.. "Alright, um... stop so we can actually leave."

    Ashley looked at Natasha in confusion about why the brunette wasn't pleased at her discovery. She quickly shrugged it off and jogged down the hall to catch up to the undercover agent.

±

    "-and that is why sleeping in class gets you in trouble," the teacher snipped in a slightly passive-aggressive tone as he stared down the student that had just failed to answer his question. Ashley couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for the girl considering that she herself found it hard to not doze off in class. Of course, she was sure that the majority of the kids didn't have to do half as much stuff she did in a day in their entire week, but it didn't sway her pity towards the girl.

    "Ms. Tanner, perhaps you might actually be able to answer the simple question?" The teacher suddenly asked as he looked to the girl. A small smile etched itself onto her lips at this since she was hardly ever called on anymore. All of her teachers had eventually stopped calling on her because she always managed to have an answer to the question better than what they could come up with.

    "Earthquakes can easily be triggered by human activity. Drilling, mining, construction and so on can all affect tectonic plates and or create vibrations strong enough to trigger movements amongst plates," Ashley answered confidently. The teacher gave her a nod, but all around her she could hear the annoyed grunts of students that secretly wished they could be as intelligent as her.

    The human geography teacher was opening his mouth to continue his boring speech but the students were saved by the bell. Even Ashley was thanking her lucky stars that she didn't have to hear him drone on and on anymore about the boring topic. Calculus was interesting enough and their engineering courses were exciting, but human biology was by far the most boring class ever. Perhaps in later semesters things would ramp up, but as of right now, Ashley would drop out of the class if she could.

    The teenager quickly swept all of her pencils and books off of her desk and headed towards the door. She had noticed in the other class transition that she had a notification on her phone from Natasha, but given the fact that transitions are so short, she hadn't had the time to check it. So, here she was, practically barreling down the halls with all of the other students to her locker. The spun her combination as hastily as she could on her lock, then immediately whipped out her phone in a rush and read through the messages.

Natasha:

I hate doing this, but catch a subway or bus home. There should

be extra money that I slipped into your smallest zipper of your

backpack that will cover the cost. When you get home, change

in to some training clothes and start warming up.

                        Ashley:

                        What's going on? You would never let me go on a subway alone.

Natasha:

Things have come up and I need you ready as soon as I get finished

with my work and get home. I'll make it up to you later, k?

                        Ashley:

                        Alright. You're kind of scaring me though. Everything is alright, right?

Natasha:

Yeah. Everything's fine. Just make sure you do what I asked.

    Ashley couldn't help but be weary of this. It had taken Natasha a little too long to respond to her last text and the girl just had an overall uneasy feeling about the matter. Something seemed terribly off. Ashley suddenly pulled herself back to reality as she noticed that the crowds in the hallways were beginning to thin out as they made their way towards their next classes. Ashely shut her locker and turned to scurry off, but not before picking up two slips of paper that fluttered to the ground.

    Ashley quirked an eyebrow at the pieces of paper, then decided to read them as she jogged down one of the many halls in the school. The first one requested that she sit at a certain table during lunch and the other said to meet by the right side of the school after dismissal.

    "Odd," Ashley remarked under her breath with a shrug. However, she really didn't have much of an opportunity to do anything but shrug and continue her dash to her next class.

±

    "Right... here?" Ashley asked herself as she looked up from the note that she had in her hand and to the table that she had been asked to sit at. At first she thought that it was empty but she soon caught sight of two people sitting next to each other a couple seats down.

    "Parker?" Ashley questioned as she slid on to the bench across from him and the other person. She turned to see who the other student was and immediately recognized him. "Ned," she acknowledged with a smile.

    "Hey Ash," Peter greeted before popping an orange slice into his mouth.

    The girl raised her eyebrows at the boy while silently wondering why he'd ask her to sit with him. They hadn't been talking very much on account of both parties so Ashley had assumed that the friendship was pretty much dead. "What's up?"

    "Uh, nothing much," Peter mumbled, then took another bite of the orange. Ashley was about to take his word for it and begin to eat her lunch when Ned suddenly elbowed the boy in the side.

    "We didn't talk for hours over this for you to just claim it's 'nothing much'," Ned snapped.

    "Fine," Peter sighed. "I just have a feeling that you're holding something against me. What's wrong?"

    Ashley took a sharp breath in at the question. She wasn't exactly the most comfortable with answering it, but she knew that this would come up sooner or later. "Flash, he..."

    Peter was almost instantly fuming. The nerve of that good-for-nothing, lying, pig-faced...

    "He said that you..."

    When the girl faltered and trailed off, Peter took the liberty to reply to her unspoken response. "Ash, you can't trust a single thing that comes off of his lying tongue. He's just trying to win you over so he can get his grimy hands on your heart. Please, you have to trust me," Peter pleaded.

    Ashley wanted to believe him. She truly did. It felt like she was practically torn down the half as she searched her thoughts for who she should believe. Both had the motives to lie. Both were enemies. Both wanted to be her friend. Why? She wasn't sure. Perhaps the one thing she truly didn't have a clue about was why the two guys would go through so much effort just to make sure that the other never hung out with her.

    "I don't know," Ashley finally admitted with a sigh while resting her head in her hands. "I don't know who to believe. I literally just met you guys."

    "I get it," Peter reassuringly smiled with a nod. "Don't worry about it. We've got lunch to eat."

    The remainder of school was pretty awkward and long. Class after class continued where there was a silence that hung between Ashley and Peter like a heavy cloud of fog. When the dismissal bell finally rang out, Ashley couldn't be more relieved. But then, just as she was about to get excited about a normal rest of the day, she remembered that she had to meet the mystery person by the school and then catch some public form of transportation back to the apartment so she could warm up. Yeah, this day was definitely no ordinary one.

    "Hello?" Ashley called out as she peered around the corner of the school. She practically ran into someone and immediately started spewing out apologies.

    "Smokey, chill. It's fine."

    Ashley looked up in confusion to see that it was the one and only Flash.

    "I told you not to call me that," Ashley huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and pouting.

    "I know. It's just more fun when I do," Flash chuckled, but suddenly grew quiet. Ashley finally took notice of the fact that his hands were being held behind is back.

    "What's up?" Ashley asked with a quirked eyebrow.

    "I...uh..." he paused and pulled his hands from behind his back. There, between his palms, was a beautiful bouquet of red and white roses. "Will you be my date to homecoming?"

    Ashley's eyes flew wide open and she took a couple staggering steps back. "Date? As in... date?!"

    Flash laughed nervously and replied, "Yeah, date."

    The girl's eyes shot between the roses, Flash's eyes, and her own self. "I...I," she stammered.

    She finally drew a steadying breath and looked up at him. "I..."

±

    "I still don't get why I'm doing this. It's not even on my schedule," Ashley remarked to herself as she finished pulling on her outfit (in media at the top of the chapter). Natasha had texted saying that she would be home in 15 minutes, so Ashley would have to rush through her warmups. She started with some basic stretching, consisting of lunging, splits, knee tucks, quad pulls, some arm and shoulder stretches, and a number of others. Next came some yoga poses that worked on stretching the remainder of her muscles and helped her practice her balance.

    After that was more aerobic warmups. She ran through a mental list of ones she did frequently with Natasha. For example, high knees, butt kicks, jumping jacks, pushups, curl-ups, four-corner touches and so on. By the time that she was on one of the last moves, the apartment door swung open and revealed a slightly excited and slightly nervous-looking Natasha.

    "You ready?" The brunette asked as she pulled out a couple water bottles from the fridge, then two pairs of sunglasses from a drawer. She put one on, pulled off her wig and allowed her straight, shoulder-length red hair cascade down. No matter how many times Ashley had watched the woman do that over the past several days, it never failed to amaze her. Ashley forced herself to stop staring at Natasha's hair when she handed her the other pair of Aviators and gestured for her to put them on.

    "Yeah, one sec," Ashley mumbled as she unfolded the sunglasses, slipped them on, then grabbed a cover tank top and her phone off of the couch. After she wrestled the top on over her sports bra and nestled her phone between her hip and the waistband of the leggings. With a satisfied nod to herself she followed Natasha out of the apartment complex and into the Lexus.

    "So Beth," Ashley began, but quickly corrected herself. "Tasha, is it okay if I call you Tasha?"

    Natasha shrugged and gave her a half-smile. "My nickname's usually Nat, but Tasha works too. It's different."

    "Alright, Tasha, where are we going?"

    "You'll see," Natasha hummed, then drove down a couple blocks until she pulled into a parking garage. Ashley looked around with a puzzled expression as Natasha continued to drive further up and further up the levels. They finally came to a stop in a parking spot on the roof of the parking garage. Without any explanation, Natasha got out of the vehicle and waited expectantly for Ashley to as well.

    "I don't understand?" Ashley half-stated, half-asked.

    "Like I said, you'll see," Natasha repeated, then proceeded to walk towards absolutely no where.

    Ashley stood and watched the redhead continue to walk towards several vacant spots, then sighed and began following her. However, a few steps after that, she noticed that Natasha had begun walking up what seemed to be an invisible ramp.

    "What the actual heck?" Ashley demanded as she planted her feet and stared at Natasha in shock. The agent was now turned and facing Ashley, still hovering above ground.

    "Huh? Oh, yeah," Natasha laughed, then held up her wrist and tapped a couple times on the watch screen. Suddenly, out of quite literally no where, a special type of jet materialized around the redhead.

    "A Quinjet?" Ashley asked in confusion as she reluctantly began walking again and headed up the ramp.

    "Duh. What else would a level seven S.H.I.E.L.D. agent fly?" Natasha pointed out as though it was the most obvious thing ever. Before Ashley could question it further, Natasha pressed a button on the the control panel that triggered the ramp to close back up. Then, before any civilians could see, Natasha flipped the cloaking back on and slid into the pilot seat.

(I know Clint can fly but I can't remember if Nat can. If she can't, then just pretend that she can for this fanfic :3)

    "Are we going on a mission?!" Ashley suddenly exclaimed as she hopped into the copilot seat. Of course, it wasn't like she had the license to actually copilot, but it was still a really nice view.

    "What?!" Natasha sputtered, turning around and looking at her with wide eyes. "Of course not!"

    "Oh," Ashley replied, slightly crestfallen but still in a mostly positive mood. "Then what?"

    "We're going to the Triskellion," Natasha shortly explained as she flipped some switches on the dashboard and fired up the engine. "You have your..."

    "My?"

    Natasha paused to look at Ashley and give her a broad grin. "Your initiation."

    Ashley's jaw practically hit the floor as she listened to the words that came out of Natasha's mouth. "My... my initiation?! As in like being dubbed an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D?!"

    "Something like that," Natasha nonchalantly answered as she lifted the Quinjet off of the parking garage roof. "I've been updating Fury about your progress and he's deemed you ready to take exam. This is really quite an honor, you know. It's definitely not everyday that you get chosen by the Director himself to be initiated without even going to an academy. Even if you were to go to an academy, Fury couldn't decide if he would put you in SciTech or Operations. It really shows how much of an asset you'll be to S.H.I.E.L.D."

    Ashley only half-listened to what Natasha was saying. There had to be some mistake. It was practically unheard of for someone to be granted the role of agent without going through one of the academies. Shoot, it was practically unheard of for someone her age to be even considered as a possibility of being an agent. And, to top it all off, she was picked by the Director?

    "I'd tell you to do well and make me look good, but I don't even think I need to," Natasha laughed.

    Ashley nervously laughed along with her. What was she even going to be tested on? Communication skills? Random knowledge? Strength? Hacking skills? Before she let mind wander even further into the deep end, she finally forced her jaw to start working so she could talk to Natasha. "I mean why is Director Fury even interested in having me as an agent?"

    "For starters," Natasha began with a chuckle. "You've been getting trained by me, so that's definitely a plus. Your powers don't hurt either. Then, as the cherry on top, you literally haven't missed a single question on any single one of your papers on one of the most difficult schools in New York. Also..."

    "Alright, alright, I get it," Ashley interjecting, raising her hands in defeat. "I guess I'm not your average teenager."

The remainder of the flight to the Triskellion was not a comforting one. Ashley knew that Natasha was sure that the exam would be a breeze for her, but that didn't do much to ease her nerves. What if she seriously flunked? What if she made a serious mistake? What if she was literally a laughing joke for the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. after this exam?

    "Girl, chill," Natasha gently scolded as she guided the Quinjet onto one of the Triskellion's landing platforms. Ashley gulped and nodded as she stared in awe at the towering building that stood before her. It was truly majestic. Shoot, just working at a place like this would be like living a dream.

    The second that the Quinjet touched ground Ashley was already leaping out of her seat. Natasha watched in amusement as Ashley stood, shaking partially from excitement and partially from nerves and gazed across their surroundings.

    "Let's get going," Natasha said after removing her headset and powering down the engines. When Ashely didn't move in the slightest, she sighed and grabbed a hold of the girl's wrist and practically dragged her out of the aircraft.

    "This can't be real," Ashley finally managed to mumble as she stumbled behind Natasha. As far as first impressions went, Ashley was sure she was killing it. Or no, perhaps the right word was murdering it.

    "What? You don't expect me to pinch you, right?" Natasha deadpanned as she proceeded to lead Ashley into the building and towards an elevator.

    "No," Ashley replied firmly. "My mind is not creative enough to come up with the day I've had."

    The girl couldn't help but let her mind wander to what had happened right after school as they were in the elevator. Had she made the right decision? Would she regret her choice? It had been so hard to choose. However, before she could get permanently sucked under by her thoughts, Ashley pushed the topic away and decided to focus on making sure she was calm. She wasn't going to make a good agent if she didn't know how to keep a handle on her nerves. So, practicing a technique that Natasha had taught her, Ashley counted the time in between her breaths and cleared her mind.

    "You're already showing traits of a true agent," Natasha remarked as she watched Ashley calm herself.

    "Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Ashley warned her with a slight smile. It was a saying that Ashley had quickly picked up after she heard it for the first time. Natasha gave her a reassuring nod, then walked out of the elevator and confidently led the girl into a hall.

    Ashley looked around and saw that there were about ten or so other people that appeared to be there for the same reason. However, Ashley did find herself to be the youngest by a minimum of ten years, so she frowned to herself and tried to figure out which people she would sit by. She eventually settled on sitting next to a few young women that appeared to be the nicest out of the group.

    "Hi," Ashley awkwardly whispered, "I'm Ashley."

    "I'm Nicole," a brunette with green eyes and a heavy Britsh introduced herself quite loudly. "This is Blaire and Raine." Nicole gestured to a ginger and blonde sitting next to her that both had green eyes.

    "Nobody cares," a man, just about their age, growled from beside them.

    "Shut up Deke," Nicole snapped all the whilst giving him the hardest death glare Ashley had ever seen before. "You're just salty because a girl beat you in a simple hydraulics competition."

    Once this so-called 'Deke' shrunk back into his chair, Nicole practically hit a switch on her moods and immediately became bubbly and positive again. Ashley wasn't going to lie, it was slightly frightening. "We've all been friends since high school, but I went to SciTech and they went to Operations."

    "Yeah, poor Nicole couldn't make the cut," Blaire joked.

    "Oh whatever," Nicole fired back. "We all know SciTech is way harder to get into. Anyone can buff up and throw a punch if they want to. You can't just magically gain brains out of thin air."

    "Buff up and throw a punch," Raine scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Honey please, that isn't even the beginning of what you have to be able to do just to be considered a potential candidate for the academy. Hardly anyone doesn't drop out."

    "Since we obviously disagree," Nicole suddenly concluded, turning to Ashley. "Why don't you be our tiebreaker? Which academy did you go to?"

    "Me? Academy? I didn't go to any," Ashley laughed as she took a seat next to Nicole. All three girls continued to have their eyes trained on her with their mouths slightly open in shock.

    "Then why are you... here?" Nicole asked in confusion. She suddenly got a good look at Ashley's face and stopped short. "Wait a minute, how old are you?"

    "Almost 15," Ashley exclaimed joyfully at the thought of her upcoming birthday.

    "What the bloody h*ll is a 14-year-old that hasn't been to any of the academies doing here?" Nicole exclaimed in her heavy accent, voicing all of her friend's thoughts.

    "I'm taking my exam so I can be initiated," Ashley answered matter-of-factly.

    "Under whose orders?" Blaire asked, obviously not buying it.

    "Mine and Director Fury's," A voice from behind them spoke up. They turned and practically fainted as an idol that they practically worshipped stood behind them.

    "Tell me I'm seeing things," Raine mumbled to Blaire as she blinked continuously.

    "I'm not going to lie to you," was Blaire's only response.

    "Agent Romanoff," Nicole finally managed to cough. "What are you doing here?"

    "I'm overseeing Miss Tanner's initiation," Natasha simply explained, walking over and resting a hand on Ashley's shoulder. "I'm going to be her S.O. after all."

    "You're joking," Blaire deadpanned. "The one and only Black Widow is going to be a 14-year-old's S.O.?"

    "You have a problem with that?" Natasha asked, crossing her arms.

    "Of course not!" Nicole responded. "That's so cool! I'm so excited for her." Nicole turned to give Ashley a fist-bump. And, in all honestly, Nicole was genuinely happy for the girl. Being that young and apparently that special was surely no easy feat. That girl deserved it. Would it have been nice for her or one of her friends to get Agent Romanoff as an S.O.? Of course! However, they all knew that it was unlikely, so they were perfectly fine with this. Although, the same couldn't be said for several other fresh academy graduates who were silently fuming in the back.

    Suddenly one of the higher-ranking agents entered the room and gestured for everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, this is how this is going to go. You will be split up into your respective groups, be given a written exam, then have to perform a series of hands-on tasks that are specifically designed for each academy crop. Questions, comments, or concerns?"

    When nobody spoke up, he gave an affirmative nod to the class. "Okay, in Communication will be Sophie Romero, Jackson Quill, Liam Kentridge, and Dianne Fosters. SciTech will be Nicole Springs, Deke Wentley, Hana Yearly, and Brian Chetman. Operations will be William Tylers, Blaire Courtina, and Raine Quintin. Last, but certainly not least, will be Ashley Tanner taking both the SciTech and Operations exams."

    A murmur echoed through the room and several glances were passed Ashley's way as the agent said this. Not only was she taking two exams, but she was taking the two hardest exams. She would be incredibly lucky to actually make it out alive.

    "Wait what?" Ashley gasped quietly to herself, turning to Nicole for help.

    "I hate saying this, but you're on your own kid. All I can say is good luck."

    Ashley turned back to the agent with terror and grief written all over her face. This was going to be a... fun... next few hours.

Sorry if they were any mistakes I didn't have time to check thoroughly! Good night!