OKAY, I know this is like kinda early.

I wasn't expecting to update this soon either, alright?

I'm just insanely excited. It's all coming together. She's an agent now. The action can finally begin.

I gotta admit, I kinda miss not writing about Peter and stuff in a while, but he'll come soon enough. I have more important things to talk about >:)

"So level 5, ay?" Ashley asked with a smirk as she elbowed Nicole. The brunette had done nearly as well as Ashley in both the written and physical exams for and had obviously passed.

    "Agent Springs at your service," Nicole replied with a laugh. Raine was to the woman's right and Blaire was to Ashley's left.

    "We're going to be all that the agents talk about," Raine giggled, her blonde waves bouncing up and down.

    "Especially you," Blaire pointed out, gesturing to Ashley. "Watch. You're about to become Fury's personal pet. I can't blame him though. For such a little package, you pack a punch."

    All of the women laughed and commented on their agreements. All that the teenager could do was flush in embarrassment and mumble her argument against it.

    "Hey! Brian!" Nicole suddenly called out. Ashley looked up to the direction the brunette had yelled out and saw a man about the same age as the woman walking towards his car. The guy stopped and turned around. "Well? Are you going to come over here or...?" Nicole asked impatiently with a playful tap of her foot.

    "Geez, Agent Bossy," he chuckled with a roll of his eyes as he walked over and fell into pace with the girls.

    "This is Brian, everyone. And Brian, this is Blaire, Raine, and Ashley."

    "Wait a minute," Brian interjected. "Ashley? As in the 14-year-old-girl-that-whooped William-Tylers'-butt-and-then-aced-both-the-Sci-Tech-and-the-Operations-exams Agent Tanner?"

     "That'd be me," Ashley chuckled, speeding up so that way she wasn't hidden behind Nicole and Blaire. "How'd you know all that?"

    "Word gets around fast in the Triskelion," Brian nonchalantly shrugged.

    "So how do you know Brian?" Raine asked, turning to Nicole.

    "He's a friend of mine from SciTech. He was one of the students that took the initiation exams today and passed, too," Blaire proudly answered.

    "Wait a minute, I think I remember hearing the senior agent call out your name," Ashley noted, recalling the experience from a couple of hours prior. "Brian Chetman, right?"

    "Yep," Brian smiled. "So where are you guys headed? I'm always up for hanging out with people."

    "I think I'm free for the rest of the night," Nicole said after silently running through her schedule. "How about you, gals?"

     "I can come," Blaire responded. "I've just gotta shoot my roommate a message and let her know I won't be there tonight."

    "I can, too," Raine added.

    "Ashley?" Nicole asked, turning to the teenager.

    "Wish I could, but I've got homework due tomorrow that I haven't even started on and it's currently..." Ashley looked down at her wrist and checked the time, "Seven-thirty. Guess I'll have to hang out another time."

    "I forgot you still go to school with you being smart and all," Blaire chuckled, brushing her red hair back behind her ear as she pulled out her phone from her pocket. "What's your number?"

    Ashley droned out the ten digits and watched as Blaire type them into her phone.

    "Thanks," the ginger cheered as she stuck her phone back into her pocket. "I'll make a group chat later."

    "See you guys later!" Ashley called out as she fell out of their cluster and turned to where she was supposed to meet Natasha at. After waving goodbye one last time, the teenager finally turned back around and continued walking. She was about 50 yards away from the meeting point when a notification vibrated her phone.

?

It's Director Fury. Meet me in my office in five minutes.

                        Ashley:

                        How do I know you're not some creep trying to kidnap me?

?

And how in the world would some random 'creep' manage to get in my secure office?

                        Ashley:

                        You might kidnap me on the way there!

?

Just get your *ss in my office, Agent Tanner. I don't have time for your nonsense.

                        Ashley:

                        Alright, now that sounds like the Fury I've heard about. Right away, sir.

    Ashley changed the contact name to Director Fury, then turned back and started returning to the Triskellion entrance. She finally realized something as she was a few steps away from the door.

    "My homework," she groaned, stopping and looking up at the darkening sky. "Well, it's already obvious I'm not going to get any sleep tonight, so I guess I'll just drink an extra coffee or something in the morning. Even though I hate coffee."

    Ashley chuckled to herself in a chaotic manner and decided it would probably be best if she stopped talking to herself. She took a deep breath, then unclipped her newly earned badge and placed it, and her thumb on the scanner.

    "Welcome, Agent Tanner."

    The teenager smiled as she walked through the automatically-opened doors and headed towards one of the many elevators. The Triskelion was a rather... large building and Ashley knew she would be extremely late to Fury's office if she took the stairs.

    "Excuse me, sorry, excuse me," Ashley cleared her throat as she pushed past some agents to make it into one of the elevators. When she finally got in, a middle-aged female agent rested her hand on Ashley's shoulder.

    "Hey sweetie, are you lost? I believe staff children and crime victims are supposed to remain over there," she said sweetly, gesturing to another area of the Triskelion.

    "Nope," Ashley beamed, politely wiggling her way out from underneath the woman's hand. "I'm Special Agent Tanner."

    "Level?" The woman asked. "I'm sure that you aren't meaning to go the floors that this elevator is heading."

    "Well, what floor is Director Fury's office on?"

    "Floor 20...?"

    "And this elevator is for floors...?"

    "10 through 20?"

    "Well then yes," Ashley smiled innocently. "This appears to be the right elevator."

    "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your ranking?" The woman asked, still confused and slightly shocked.

    "Level 7."

    "Alrighty then," the agent replied with a nervous chuckle and wide eyes. "I guess you learn something new every day."

    "So who are you?" Ashley asked as she felt the elevator rumble into motion and start rising.

    "Agent 13 at your service, but my friends call me Sharon."

    "Wait... Agent 13," Ashley wandered off as she recalled a little piece of information about S.H.I.E.L.D. that her condition had told her about. "You're Peggy Carter's great-niece, right?"

    "That would be me," Sharon confirmed, brushing back a strand of her blonde hair. "So how did someone like you end up being a special agent?"

    "I have this knowledge condition where I kinda know everything. Oh, I also have been training under Agent Romanoff if that means anything."

    "No, I mean seriously," Sharon reiterated.

    "I am being serious?" Ashley said in confusion.

    "Wait really?" Sharon's eyes widened. "Who woulda known? I never guessed that Nat had a soft spot for teenage girls."

    "I guess you could say we've been through some pretty interesting circumstances," Ashley half-mumbled, flexing her hand and feeling the energy surge through it. Of course, she always could've used her powers in the exams, but that would've made her feel like she was cheating. It was just kind of an added bonus to her repertoire.

    Ashley could tell that Sharon was about to question her for more information, but the elevator dinged and opened the doors. "Well, I'll be seeing you around Agent 13," the teenager quickly exclaimed, practically jumping out of the elevator.

    "You too, Agent Tanner," Sharon smiled, then proceeded to exit the elevator and walk off in her own direction.

    The walk to Fury's office was far too short. The entirety of it was spent by Ashley pondering what could be so important that Fury would have a need to tell her personally. After all, was she really that special or important? Sure, she did well in her exams, but surely so did plenty of other agents that had already made a name for themselves. Would what the girls said really come true? What if she really was Fury's pet project?

    The icy-haired girl looked up as she realized that she had finally made it. She, once again, scanned her badge. However, instead of a fingerprint this time, it was a retinal scan. She held open her eyelid as best as she could as the green line made its way down her eye, then waited for a moment as the information registered.

    "Welcome, Special Agent Tanner."

    The door opened rather dramatically, revealing a modern and fairly tidy office. On the far side sat a desk with the one and only Nicolas Fury behind it.

    "Agent Tanner," he acknowledged. "Glad to see you could finally make it."

    "I came as fast as I could," Ashley pouted, walking up to the desk. "But no one would believe me when I said that I was an actual agent that really needed to go to the 20th floor."

    "And I can see why," he chuckled. "Take a seat, Agent."

    Ashley obliged and sat down in the chair that was on the opposite side of the desk as him. "What did you call me here for, sir?"

    "It came to my attention that you are already one of the best agents that have ever gone through initiation," Fury noted, leaning back in his chair. "And then on top of that, you are enhanced?"

    Ashley looked across his desk and noticed a jar of pens. She extended her hand and used her invisible energy to pry off the lid, then lift about five of the pens out and circle Fury's head with them. "I'm not sure, you tell me."

    Fury laughed lightly at her sarcastic remark. "I see you've been practicing."

    Ashley nodded. "Every night for about an hour. Sometimes it's even more. I've worked in the morning occasionally, too."

    "See?!" Fury exclaimed slightly loudly, standing up from his chair and waving a finger in her direction. "That, that is what makes a good agent. Practice. Persistence. It proves my point that you might earn yourself the title of the agent soon. Agent Romanoff sure knew what she was doing when she picked you up from the streets."

    "I wasn't a street ra..." Ashley began arguing defensively but was cut off when Fury raised a hand.

    "Take a compliment, Agent. I can assure you they don't come from me very often."

    "Yes sir," Ashley respectfully nodded.

    "Anyways," Fury hummed, sitting back down and collecting himself. "Obviously, as previously discussed, Agent Romanoff will be taking you under her wing as your supervising officer."

    "I have a feeling that's not the reason you told me to come here," Ashley thought out loud with an eyebrow raised.

    "Then give your gut a pat on the back," Fury deadpanned. "There's something that I'm proposing for you."

    Ashley looked at him in confusion. She literally just got the title of agent today. What could he seriously be wanting to assign to her or whatever?

    "There's this tactical team that I and some other S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities have organized," Fury began, then looked at a wall with a projector mounted near it. "Open the S.T.R.I.K.E. file."

    "S.T.R.I.K.E.?" Ashley whispered to herself. Just as she was expecting, a small amount of information flooded into her head about the mentioned topic. "Special Tactical Response for International Key Emergencies, right?"

    Fury paused the procedure to open up the encrypted file to look over at the teenager. "I'm sorry, is there something that I don't know about you?"

    "What? Natasha didn't mention anything about my information condition to you?"

    "You're joking with me," Fury dryly stated, waiting for a smirk of some kind to replace her serious face.

    "Nope."

    "All cards on the table, I didn't believe her," he admitted, then turned back to the screen. "That's going to take some getting used to."

    "Well, it doesn't seem like I'm going anywhere anytime soon," Ashley chuckled, nervously rubbing the nape of her neck. "So I guess you've got all the time you need."

    Fury only shook his head in amusement, then gestured to the agent profiles that were beginning to pop up on the screen. One of which was Brock Rumlow, a name that she had heard a time or two.

    "You want me to join the team?" Ashley asked.

    "No."

    "You want me to study my S.O. that will be joining?"

    "No."

    "You want me to keep an eye on them?"

    Fury finally let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I want you to lead it."

    The room was dead silent from a solid minute. Ashley continuously shifted her gaze between the screen and Fury's face, waiting for something to give.

    "Me?" Ashley finally managed to cough out.

    "No, I meant the cat that lives in the basement."

    "Why would you want me to? I'm literally just a 14-year-old that had had my title of agent for less than an hour."

    "I guess you're just my pet project," Fury chortled, then returned to his desk and left Ashley frozen in her place.

    "I don't know what to..." Ashley wandered off and collected herself. "Thank you for this opportunity, sir. I'm honored that you thought of me for this position. I'll ask Natasha tonight..."

    "I guess I didn't really make myself clear," Fury interjected. "I'm not really asking you to, I'm ordering you to. I need a skilled and powerful agent to lead this team, and you're the only one that doesn't have any other missions going on at the moment that I trust with this position. Agent Romanoff's opinion isn't needed in this matter."

    Ashley stayed silent for a moment, still shook from how firm he had been in this. "Right... um... yes sir. I guess I'll accept the position."

    "Good," Fury hummed, then turned serious and looked at her dead in the eye. "Now get out of my office, pet. I'm busy."

    Ashley laughed and walked out of the office. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel. Nervous? Excited? Proud?

    The teenager looked down at her phone as she noticed it was vibrating. Natasha was calling.

    "Hey, Tasha! Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up in some stuff. Yeah, I'll be out in a minute. Oh, and Natasha? I've got something crazy to tell you."

Hehe... It's getting spicy. We all know what movie the S.T.R.I.K.E. team is in.