Hello everyone! I'm super excited to release this chapter to y'all. It's totally not over 5,000 words long...

*looks off and laughs nervously*

Be sure to listen to the song when I inform you to!

Before we begin though, I do have an obligatory warning to make.

Warning:

This chapter includes strong language and possibly offensive themes via song lyrics. Please read and listen at your own discretion.

"Five minutes remaining," a monotonous voice droned out. Ashley turned around and took quick surveillance of the other people who were taking the test. Fortunately for her, she appeared to not be the only one who wasn't finished. Actually, nobody was really finished yet.

Two questions left, Ashley thought to herself in relief. She had taken the SciTech test first, which had proved to be an absolute breeze and she easily finished within the first 10 minutes, and then had taken the much more difficult physical exam, where she had to race against the others to come up with a solution to an issue with one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fancy tools with limited resources, but now she was taking the Operations exam. While she could still answer the questions, they required more thinking and strategizing than just pure information.

"What's wrong, little girl? Can't keep up?" William Tylers teased as collected his paper and purposefully bumped into her on his way to the turn-in tray. Ashley bristled and scowled, but decided to keep her mouth shut and continue working. She didn't have time to come up with a snapback.

"Two minutes re..." Ashley didn't get to hear the rest of it as she pushed her chair back and stood up.

Phew.

Ashley was sure to send William a smirk as she returned to her seat. Raine was right behind her, but Blaire had to randomly fill in her last to answers due to lack of time.

"Well," Blaire panted as the thee girls clustered together and sat down. They had a 10-minute break before they would begin with their physical exams, "that was definitely more difficult than I was anticipating. I mean, who would make you choose between finishing the mission or saving your partner in a stupid exam?"

The teenager couldn't help but wince. That had been one of the more difficult questions to answer.

"I'm sure we'll all do fine," Ashley convinced the other women, then added in a passive-aggressive tone, "It's not like we rushed through our tests."

They all snickered and looked over to William, who was busy leaning back in the seat with confidence written all over his face. Ashley couldn't help but hope that he failed the exams.

The rest of the short 10 minutes was spent by the girls rambling on about random topics to ease their nerves. Blaire and Raine were definitely on edge about what they would be performing in the physical tests, and Ashley was sweating bullets at the thought of taking the physical exam for Operations after seeing how difficult SciTech's had been.

"Alright everyone, follow me," the same senior agent from before suddenly said as he walked into the room. With a gulp, Ashley, Blaire, and Raine stood up and started making their way over to him. However, without much surprise, William jumped up and cut them off right as they were about to walk out the door.

"Oh my bad," he sarcastically said with an eye roll, "I have problems with being able to see idiots."

Blaire and Raine practically started growling, but Ashley simply smirked. "Oh that must be terrible then," she began.

"What?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"It must suck not being able to check your appearance in the mirror. That must be why you look like you just got ran over by a train."

The only one who wasn't laughing was William himself. Shoot, even the senior agent couldn't help but stifle a chuckle.

"Well, well," he sputtered, trying to regain his composure. "At least I don't look like I sleep in a manger."

"Once again, that must be your eyesight acting up, because that doesn't seem to be what the public thinks."

Even Raine and Blaire turned to look in confusion, but realization suddenly hit their face as they made the connection. Ashley proudly declared, "Oh yeah, that's something about myself that I forgot to mention. I'm a model."

An embarrassed flush rose upon his face and he just looked down. William mumbled a few words before they followed the senior agent into some random room, but Ashley couldn't hear anything. When she looked up, she noticed that they were standing in a gun range of some sort.

Oh great, she thought grimly. The one thing that Natasha and I have had little practice with.

"At first we will start with some standard shooting," their guide explained as he handed out safety goggles and firearms. "Then we'll move onto moving targets. Unfortunately, we can't test sniper skills due to lack of facilities."

Everyone nodded and filed into the stalls accordingly. Then, on the agent's mark, they began shooting their rounds.

Remember what Tasha said, Ashley thought to herself as she shakily held the handgun in front of her. Thankfully William couldn't see her because he would've been consistently teasing her. Breathe, aim, focus. Don't hesitate. Steady your heart rate.

Ashley looked down at her wristband. It read 96. That was way too high. She needed to calm her nerves and lower it.

Breathe, shoot. Breathe, shoot. Breathe, shoot.

After her third shot, Ashley looked down at her wristband again. This time it read 79. It was better but still too high.

Breathe, shoot. Breathe, shoot. Breathe, shoot.

This time when she checked it, she was down to 65. That was perfect.

The teenager peered down the barrel of her firearm and looked at the target.

Aim, focus.

She slowly blinked, then opened them again and fixated her eyes on the dead center of the paper target's chest.

Don't hesitate.

Then, just as Natasha had previously instructed, she emptied out the rest of her magazine without a second of hesitation. Apparently she had been the one to take the longest because, by the time she was done, the entire range was dead silent.

"Alright, let's check your work," the agent said to everyone as he pushed a button that hauled all of the targets up to the front. The four of them pulled down the posters, then lined up and held out the papers for him to inspect.

"Top goes to Ms. Courtina. Very nice job," he noted out loud. Ashley turned to the woman and gave her a smile. If elation was a person, it would be Blaire.

"Ms. Tanner following right behind, then third is tied between Mr. Tylers and Ms. Kittsmen."

Ashley nodded at her placing. She couldn't have asked for better. Of course, first is always nice, but she hadn't practiced much so that was too much to expect. She was just happy that it hadn't gone to William.

"Enough standing around," the agent suddenly snapped. "Get your butts back to your stalls and get ready for the next exercise."

The four of them quickly scurried back to their stations and replaced their magazines with new ones.

Breathe, aim, focus. Don't hesitate.

Ashley trembled as she watched multiple targets start inching up, moving back, shifting side to side, then hide behind blocks. This wasn't something she and Natasha had practiced at the gun range. There was little hope for her.

"Begin."

Even her fingertips were shaking as she fired the first shot. She had no clue how or why, but it miraculously managed to nudge its way into the right shoulder blade of one of the targets. Just like that, it was down and making room for all of the others.

"So that's how this works," Ashley mumbled to herself with forced positivity as she focused on one of the targets. I mean, how hard could it be? Just shooting targets that were moving in completely unpredictable ways...

Right.

Ashley wasn't sure how in the world her conscience was telling her this, but she decided to just go with it. After all, it wasn't like the targets were about to tell her anything, so she might as well listen to herself.

Sure enough, Ashley fired a shot to the right of the target, and it ended up hitting it dead in the chest. Just like the one before, it fell down.

That was easy, she thought hesitantly to herself. She really didn't want to end up jinxing anything. She decided to narrow in on another target and see if it would happen again.

Close, left.

Ashley nodded to herself and shot accordingly. When the bullet cleanly sailed through the target's torso, she let out a sigh of relief. Things might be looking up after all. She looked down at her watchband and found that it read 73. It was a little too high, but she wasn't going to worry about it.

She continued to wait for instructions, listen to them, shoot accordingly, then watch as the targets flipped down onto their backs. Now there was only one left.

One round, one target, Ashley thought to herself as she steadied her hand and fixated her gaze on the moving target.

Right.

Ashley tensed her finger and prepared for the shock of the bullet. She was a half-millimeter away from firing the shot when she realized where it was truly going. She was going to end up shooting the block and wasting her bullet.

It was a lie to say that her heart didn't skip a beat as she quickly retracted her finger and relaxed from the position. Thankfully she hadn't been too late and hadn't pressed hard enough.

Alright, let's try this again, Ashley thought to herself as she regained her stance and raised the gun back up to point.

Up.

"Up?!" Ashley whispered to herself in shock. That wasn't something she had seen yet. However, she didn't have a reason to not trust her conscience, so she tilted up her firearm and took the shot. Just as promised, it went straight through the head and caused the target to topple back.

Ashley trembled and set her gun down. She had done it. She had truly done it. Every single last one of the targets had a hole blasted through them. The teenager ripped off her goggles and staggered out of her stall, still weak from nerves. She waited a minute besides William, who, to no surprise, had finished first, and watched as Blaire and Raine came out of their stations.

The icy-haired girl didn't realize she was holding her breath as she watched the agent study their stations until she started feeling dizzy. With a sheepish smile, she forced herself to pull her attention away from the agent and take several breaths.

"The results were surprising," the agent admitted. "Usually they are the same from the first exercise and the second, but they are quite different. Mr. Tylers, you might've had this if you hadn't rushed through it like your d*mn *ss was on fire, but the one who will take the top placement is Ms. Tanner. She didn't miss a single target and had quite impressive precision."

"Good job, girl," Blaire whispered as she gave Ashley a pat on the shoulder.

"Next came Mr. Tylers, who missed one but finished first, then Ms. Courtina, who missed one and shot a couple through just the arm, and then Ms. Kittsmen."

If looks could kill, Ashley would've been dead right then. Let's just say that William was not happy being showed up by girls twice now, especially the second one being a 14-year-old that hadn't even gone to an academy.

"Now time to move on to our next exam," the agent simply said, then walked out the room without further instruction. The four of them filed out, William trailing behind due to lack of confidence at this point, and followed him down the halls and up a few floors. This time, when they turned into a room, it ended up being lined with padded floors and cut into quarters by boxing rings.

"Wait, we're not...?"

"Sparring, yes. We'll do a round-robin, then elimination. Am I clear?

Everyone nodded and followed his instructions on which ring to head into. Ashley was paired with Raine first, then she would go against William, then against Blaire. With a steadying breath, Ashley shed her Aviators and cover top (see media from the previous chapter if ya don't know what I'm talking about ;)) and quickly ran through some stretches. The last thing she needed was to pull something.

"Begin when ready."

Ashley looked to Raine and shared a reassuring smile. Then, without further wait, they started.

±

"Ms. Kittsmen and Mr. Tylers will be the first pair in Ring One. Ms. Courtina and Ms. Tanner will be our second pair in Ring Two. The winners will compete for top ranking in Ring One after that, and the losers will be paired in Ring Two. Am I clear?"

Albeit nervous, they all nodded and dispersed into their designated areas. When Ashley realized that her heart rate and breathing pace was much faster than what Natasha would've liked, she decided to nestle AirPods into her ears and play some tunes that would help get her mind off of her nerves.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

"Good luck," Ashley said with a smile as she took a ready stance. The teenager had been pacing herself in the earlier scrimmages and would probably do the same this time. She knew that the senior agent would be watching the final round very closely and wanted to save her energy and moves for then. If there was one thing that Natasha had been sure to pass on down to her, it had been her hand-to-hand combat.

With a mutual nod, they began. Blaire was the first one to strike, which wasn't very surprising considering her very straight-forward personality. She threw a punch, which was dodged by Ashley who countered with a kick to the side. Given its purposeful loose form, it was easy for Blaire to sidestep. She went to reach for Ashley's ankle in attempts to gain leverage.

I told you homeboy, you can't touch this.

Yeah, that's how we living' and ya know you can't touch this.

With a small smirk at the irony of the situation, Ashley ducked her leg down and out of Blaire's reach and instead used it to swipe the woman's feet off of the ground. Instead of landing with a hard thump, Blaire used her agility to her advantage and rolled backward upon impact. However, Ashley was faster, and did a front-flip over the woman, landing right behind her. Before Blaire could stand up, Ashley hooked a leg around her neck and pressed her weight on it, inhibiting Blaire from being able to stand up.

Ashley thought she had Blaire right there, but due to her being rather petite, the woman simply reached back, grabbed ahold of Ashley's waist, and threw her forward.

"It's times like this that I really wish I wasn't a lanky little 14-year-old," Ashley grumbled as Blaire pinned her down and readied her fist.

"We're still friends, right?" Blaire asked as she hesitated.

"Depends on how hard you hit me," Ashley shot back with a wink. When Blaire launched her fist towards Ashley's face, she leaned her head to the side enough for Blaire to end up just punching the padded flooring.

Yo, I told you, you can't touch this.

Why you standin' there, man? You can't touch this.

Ashley winced because she didn't really want to hurt Blaire that much, but she had to in order to get free. So, she cleanly kneed the woman in the gut, then used her distraction towards the pain to slam the side of her head into one of arms that Blaire was pinning her down with. When the woman's arm buckled, she used the opportunity to push Blaire off of her and roll on top of the woman. Using her body weight and one of her arms to hold Blaire down, she cocked her arm in a threatening position.

"Don't make me hit you, Blaire."

Blaire wiggled as hard as she could and tried to pull the same maneuver that Ashley had, but the teenager was in too good of a position to get out of. With a sigh, she yielded and hit her arm against the ground a few times.

"Good choice," Ashley beamed as she stood up and straightened her clothes out. She looked over to the other ring where she saw Raine sitting on the edge with a bloody nose and William standing around with a smirk.

"It appears that we have our next pairings," the senior agent announced, surely shocked by the fact that a little kid beat one of the most experienced students from the Operations Academy. "Ms. Tanner and Mr. Tylers in Ring One, and Ms. Courtina and Ms. Kittsmen in Ring Two."

"Going against the little girl? Pfft. That'll be easy," Ashley could hear William mumble underneath her breath.

Easy? As if. He isn't even going to know what hit him.

"You may begin."

Ashley walked over to Ring One and climbed over the barrier wall, taking place on the opposite end of William. Just the smug look on his face was enough to make Ashley throw up.

"Are you sure you even want to try? I wouldn't want you to cry because you got her."

"Pah-lease," Ashley growled with a roll of her eyes. "Just try to keep up, idiot."

William only huffed and took a fighting stance. Just before she did the same, she turned on a different song to listen to.

*Begin playing music in media*

Mmm

I ain't tryna

I ain't tryna

I ain't tryna

Ashley and William danced around in a circle like cougars waiting to pounce. Neither knew which one would be the one to strike first.

Yeah, ain't tryna be cool like you

Wobblin' around in your high heel shoes

I'm clumsy, made friends with the floor

A smirk danced across her face as the song gave her an idea. Before he could react, she threw herself into a forward roll, crouched when she made the full circle and swept her legs across the floor. Just as planned, William's legs came out from underneath him and caused him to fall to his knees.

Two for one, you know a b*tch buy four

Before he could regain his balance, Ashley leaped up and sent one fist flying into his left cheek, one fist flying into the right cheek, one foot crashing into his side, and one foot crashing into the other, totaling four hits.

And two left feet, you know I always drop

When William tried to stagger back up, Ashley drove her left foot into his as hard as she possibly could. He doubled in pain, giving her an opportunity to body-slam herself into his back, causing him to drop back to the floor.

First thing a girl did was a bop

Ashley rolled over the top of his body to where she was in front of him, then turned on a dime and gave him a not-very-soft 'bop' on the nose, resulting in blood to begin pouring out of it harder than Raine's had been. What could she say? Karma's a b*tch.

I'm the whole d*mn cake and the cherry on top

Shook up the bottle, made a good girl pop

In an almost exploding manner, she gathered up all of her energy and channeled it into one roundhouse kick that she delivered right to his side. He staggered to the right, almost falling, but managed to pull himself back together enough to throw a punch. She simply caught his arm and twisted it until a sickening snap came from the joint.

You ain't even here to party

Ken in the club tryna pipe a Barbie

I don't wanna go, go, go with the flow

Backbend 'til I touch my toes

Ashley performed an exemplary back-walkover, hitting William on the underside of his jaw, causing a loud clanking sound from teeth hitting together. He had either bit his tongue or his lip because all of the sudden blood started to drip from his mouth as well.

I don't wanna row, row, row the boat

Wrist full of rocks and I hope I float

The teenager spun back around and got a running start, then leaned back and slid between William's legs, turning to only ram her arms into the back of his knees.

Big up yourself 'cause you know they don't

I chew, chew, chew 'cause they hope I choke

Then, with a beaming grin, she wrapped her arm around his neck in a head-lock and used her leverage to harshly throw him to the side. He hit his head against the floor pretty hard, but due to the ground being padded, he remained conscious. As she listened to the music play on, she backed up and waited to see if he had the guts to challenge her again.

I'm a b*tch, I'm a boss

I'm a b*tch and a boss, I'ma shine like gloss

I'm a b*tch, I'm a boss

I'm a b*tch and a boss, I'ma shine like gloss

I'm a b*tch, I'm a boss

I'm a b*tch and a boss, I'ma shine like gloss

I'm a b*tch, I'm a boss

I'm a b*tch and a boss, I'ma shine like gloss

Ashley watched in amusement as he let out a groan and twitched his muscles. Yeah, there was no doubt that he was a little sore.

Said, b*tch, I'm the after you been the before

I been a stallion, you been a sea horse

Don't need a report, don't need a press run

All of my bad pics been all my best ones

I wear the hat and I wear the pants

I am advanced so I get advance

And I do my dance and cancel the plans

Said, boo, don't be mad 'cause you had a chance

A shocked expression washed over her face as William gave a determined grunt and pushed himself up off the ground. Another trait to add to a growing list that Ashley was keeping score of. Stubborn.

Drop, said, I took it and I ran for it

With a roll of her eyes because of the fact that he apparently hadn't learned his lesson yet, Ashley took off at full speed in a circle around the ring, edging closer and closer to the wall. She finally used her momentum to jump up onto the wall and use it to gain leverage and height, ran a couple of steps around to complete her circle, then pushed off of the wall and a sideways roll in midair. In the middle of her twist, she hit the side of William's head cleanly with both of her feet. The impact caused his already-poor balance to be completely lost and send him crashing back to the ground.

I run it, then I stand on it

Money on the floor when we dance on it

Ashley landed right on top of his abdomen with a crap-eating grin etched into her face.

"Dang, I really should've just forfeited to you," Ashley mocked sarcastically, then drove her heel into his gut. His features were twisted in pain and his eyebrows were knitted together.

Shine bright, let them put a tan on it

Said, I took it and I ran for it

I run it, then I stand on it

Money on the floor when we dance on it

Shine bright, let them put a tan on it like

Ashley shifted her weight to her right foot and pressed it firmly into William's neck.

"Yield," she hissed, leaning forward and practically spitting in his face. He wriggled and tried to break free, but she only jabbed her heel into his neck harder. "Yield!" She practically yelled, causing him to flinch. With a defeated look in his face, he weakly hit his arm against the floor three times. Ashley turned down her music to where it was just a faint beat playing in the background, then let a proud look grace her face as she stepped off of him and exited the ring.

She turned and waited for the senior agent to announce the placings, but everything was silent. She finally landed her gaze onto the faces of everyone else, which were all completely blank with their jaws slack. When the agent realized that Ashley was standing there awkwardly, he shook his head and cleared his throat.

"With an... um... impressive performance, the top placing goes to Ms. Ashley Tanner. Second goes to Mr. Tylers, third to Ms. Courtina, and fourth to Ms. Kittsmen."

"You're crazy. That's impossible," William snapped at Ashley as he gingerly lifted himself out of the ring and sunk to the ground.

"It's not impossible when you've been training under the Black Widow," Ashley pointed out, causing William's eyes to widen in shock. However, the expression was quickly wiped off his face as he realized that given everything else that he had learned about the 14-year-old, he really shouldn't be surprised at this. He simply bowed his head and respectfully took the ranking of second.

"Girl," Ashley heard Blaire whisper as the woman walked up to her and took a stance by her side. "If you could do... that... then what in the world were you doing in warmups and our match?"

"I was making you look better," Ashley simply replied with a smile and a pat on the woman's shoulder. Blaire just shook her head and proceeded to pay attention to the senior agent.

"I've just been alerted that results for the exams are in. Take a 10-minute break, then meet me in the Main Hall two floors below us for the Operation Agents Initiation Ceremony." With that, the agent briskly walked out of the room.

"Well, I can see why Fury requested for you to go through initiation," Raine dryly joked as she sat down. Both Ashley and Blaire took a seat next to her after grabbing waters.

"You want to know something crazy?" Ashley asked with a chuckle after taking a few sips of her water.

"What? You're also the president's secret granddaughter?" Blaire asked in a completely serious tone.

"What?! No!" Ashley laughed. "I mean, I might be, because I really don't know my biological parents, but that's beside the point. No, I was going to say that I was training under Natasha without even knowing who she was until like last week."

"Imagine that," Raine sighed with a wistful smile. "Training under an undercover agent only to figure out that she's the one and only Agent Romanoff. I mean, how do you even know her?"

"That's a story for another time," Ashley replied, deciding that it was probably something that she should keep to herself for now. Not only would it cause drama, but it might blow Natasha's cover as Bethany.

"I'll hold you to that," Blaire laughed with a raised eyebrow before taking another swig of water.

±

"I'd like to congratulate the four of you for making it through these exams," the senior agent began, standing next to another agent who was ready to pass out a multitude of things that were on a table. "I'll begin with the placing in the written test. First was Ms. Tanner with a clean score, then Ms. Kittsmen, then Ms. Courtina, then Mr. Tylers. First to be initiated is Ms. Courtina."

Claps from everyone, surprisingly even William, sounded out as Blaire walked out of the line they had been filed in and up to the table. She accepted the jacket with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem imprinted on the top of the sleeve, put it on, then stood still as the agent attached a pin to the left chest area of her jacket. She shook hands with the agent, then turned to the senior agent.

"Welcome to Level 6, Agent Courtina. Your exam results were quite impressive."

Blaire grinned and slightly bowed to the senior agent, then giddily speed-walked back into line.

"Next to be initiated is Ms. Kittsmen."

Raine followed the same procedure as Blaire; walked up to the agent at the table and patiently waited as the woman attached the pin to her jacket. She shook hands, then excitedly turned to the senior agent.

"Welcome to Level 6 as well, Agent Kittsmen."

The woman grinned and jogged back to the line, giving Blaire a big hug and reveling in the fact that both of the close friends had done so well in the stressful tests.

"Next to be initiated is Mr. Tylers."

Ashley raised an eyebrow at the fact that she wasn't the next one, given that it was first alphabetically, but shrugged it off and clapped as a partially-bloodied William hobbled up to the table. He gingerly shrugged his jacket on, then stood as the woman put his pin on.

"Welcome to the upper levels of Level 4, Agent Tylers."

*Note that this means he is almost Level 6. Level 5 is normally for SciTech agents*

He bowed and resumed his place in the line.

"And, last but not least, to be initiated is Ms. Tanner."

Ashley flashed Blaire and Raine a smile as she walked up to the table. Her eyes just managed to catch a few locks of red hair out of the corner of her eye and her face lit up. Natasha had been watching in the shadows. She proceeded without drawing much attention to Natasha and walked up to the table and put her jacket on. The feeling of the firm, yet comfortable material against her skin almost gave her a high. It just felt so right. There was no doubt that this was her calling.

The teenager peered down as the agent stuck the pin through her jacket.

"Hold still, silly," the agent scolded as Ashley shifted excitedly.

"Sorry," Ashley whispered back, then tried to stand still as best as she could. When she watched the agent back off, the teenager turned to the senior agent and practically jumped in her spot.

"Welcome to Level 7, Special Agent Tanner."

Ashley felt an even larger grin spread across her face as she heard the title be announced. She repeated it over and over in her mind silently. Special Agent Tanner. Special Agent Tanner. Special Agent Tanner.

"Th...thank you," Ashley finally managed to stutter as she joined the others. She finally directed her attention over to Natasha, who was finally walking out of the shadows and joining the other agents and shared a glance with the woman. This was it. This was the part where a whole new chapter of her life began.

The chapter where she was now, Level 7, Special Agent Tanner.

Ayyy, whatcha think of that title? I can't believe my baby is a specialist already. She's growing up too fast. ;-;