well...

this is...

awkward.

it's only been OVER A MONTH SINCE I FREAKING LAST UPDATED

honestly, I think I was more mad with myself than all of y'all combined. but, math homework and sports is a thing, so there really wasn't anything I could do.

well, without adding on any more to this already stupidly-long wait, let's jump into it.

---------------------------------------

 "I told you, I'm not okay with this," Natasha snapped, briefly taking her hands off of the wheel to make a wild gesture. All Ashley could do was groan. She was more exhausted than she had ever been before. The flight from D.C. back to Queens has seemed painstakingly long, and on top of that, the teenager was up nearly all night working on homework. Thanks to a good-for-nothing slacker that she had been paired with for a project, she had a lot of work to do in order for it to be presentable for the next day. And now, on top of all of this, Natasha was taking the drive to school as an opportunity to voice her disagreement against Fury's orders.

"Tasha, I already explained this to you. Neither of us have a say in this. Fury needs me on the team."

"D*mn right I have a say in this!" Natasha practically shouted. "Not only am I your S.O., but I'm your..." her voice quavered as she tried to figure out the appropriate term to use, "your legal guardian."

Ashley tried to push back the tiny bubble of disappointment that grew when Natasha said those words.

"So, I'm deciding that you doing something so dangerous this soon is not a good idea. My decision is final."

The icy-haired girl, once again wearing her brunette-to-blonde wig, could only sigh. "As much as I'd like to respect your choice, we both know that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It's Director Fury's decision."

Natasha bowed her head in defeat. Ashley was right. Once again, she didn't have a say in the things that were happening in her life. Her girl, one of the only things in life that she even cared about anymore, was now subject to dangerous situations. She knew it was her fault. She should've just kept Ashley a secret and not have let her get on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar. If it hadn't been for her reckless actions, Ashley would still be back in their cozy apartment curled up on a couch and practicing her telekinesis abilities with the marshmallows in her cocoa.

But then she wouldn't be able to protect society. She wouldn't have this opportunity to build character and morale. She wouldn't have the chance to become the best person she could ever be.

"Maybe this won't turn out so bad," Natasha managed to mumble out, only half-believing her words. She cleared her throat and momentarily made eye contact with Ashley before commanding. "But you have to promise me one thing."

"And that is?"

"Do not, I repeat, do not do anything reckless. Don't do anything I would do. And don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little gray area in there, that's where you operate."

"Um..." Ashley chuckled nervously, rubbing her neck with the palm of her hand. "Okay?"

"Alrighty, well, have a good day at school miss secret spy," Natasha chuckled as she gestured to their surroundings. Ashley hadn't even noticed that they had already pulled into the school parking lot.

"That's going to be a fun secret to keep," Ashley remarked in a slight grumble as she grabbed her bag and climbed out of the vehicle. "I'll see you after school, Beth."

Ashley did a two-finger wave as Natasha pulled out of the school parking lot, leaving the teenager to head up to the front entrance.

"Let's see what this is~" Ashley hummed, pulling out an insulated bottle of some caffeinated drink that Natasha had concocted for her earlier that morning. She unscrewed the lid and took a sip, then almost spewed it out all over the place. "Ew! What the heck is this stuff?!"

Ashley pulled off a note that had been attached to it and read it carefully. "Drink at your own discretion. Contains coffee, an energy shot, a Monster, and Red Bull to top it all off. Those who consume are subject to going mental."

"Well, that would be an upgrade from my current status," Ashley admitted to herself with a shrug. "Why not?" She decided to take a second sip and continue walking. It still didn't taste the best, but it was slowly growing on her. The extremely heightened senses and churning feeling in her organs was much better than what she got from thinking about her new status as the leader of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team. The student shoved her backpack into her locker, withdrew the necessary items she would need for her first class, then started down the halls. Just as she was about to enter the classroom, she caught sight of the one and only Flash.

Of course, she knew what everyone had been expecting her to pick. Did she go with that choice? nope. Was she going to regret not going with that choice?

...

...

...

Nah.

On the first day that she had come to this school, she had sworn to herself that she wouldn't fall for the playboy. And where was she now?

Following the exact same words she had told herself.

She had wanted to believe that Flash was true to his statement and only wanted to be friends, but he had proven himself otherwise when he had decided to ask her to homecoming. So, as a result of her self-set rules, she gently turned him down and broke off their friendship. She knew exactly what would've come out of that relationship if she had chosen to let it happen. And believe me when I say that she didn't half the time or effort to deal with a broken heart.

So, proving the stereotype views from everyone else wrong, she had stuck up for her future self and gone with a different choice. If she went to homecoming alone, who cared? Being single was definitely the least of things that she had to worry about. Shoot, what if she ended up meeting someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of some wimpy nerd from the school? She had to admit... there were several agents that did look pretty fine...

"Ashley, snap out of it," she barked to herself, forcing her feet back into work and making her way into calculus. She shuffled past a pretty defeated-looking Flash, then landed her sight on Peter and Liz.

"Hey guys!" Ashley chirped, sliding into a seat and secretly sneaking another sip of her caffeine concoction.

"You seem chipper this morning," Liz noted. "What's up?"

Ashley practically choked on her drink as she imagined the outcome of actually telling her friends what had happened the day before. "Oh you know, just the regular. Modeling went well yesterday... I was asked to be on this pretty elite team..."

"For modeling?" Peter asked incredulously.

"Yeah..." Ashley mumbled sheepishly. "Modeling, that's what it's for."

Peter quirked an eyebrow at her after she quietly muttered the statement. A nervous shiver ran down her spine as she could almost see a glimmer in his eyes informing her that he wasn't falling for her lies. However, instead of saying anything, he just smiled and looked away.

There's something off about him, Ashley thought to herself. She searched through his aura in efforts to figure out. Her eyes widened exponentially as she finally put something together.

"You..." she whispered, her mouth slightly ajar.

"I?" Peter answered, looking confused.

"You're my neighbor!" Ashley exclaimed. "I just realized that we live in the same apartment building."

"Then how come I've never seen you?" Peter asked.

"I'm hardly ever at the apartment," Ashley shrugged. It was true. Between modeling and her newfound S.H.I.E.L.D. job, she rarely spent time at home.

"Ms. Tanners and Mr. Parker, would you care to share to the whole class what you are saying in my lesson? Or would you care to be quiet?"

The teenagers bowed their heads in embarrassment. "Sorry ma'am," Ashley muttered.

±

As Ashley was transitioning from lunch to her next period, she heard her phone vibrate in her locker. Puzzled, since texts from Natasha in school were rare, she quickly pulled it out of her backpack and looked. However, contrary to what she had predicted, this notification was far from being about Natasha.

Director Fury:

I need you to come in right now, Agent.

Ashley scoffed at this. Right now? During school?

Ashley:

You do realize it's noon... on a school day...

Director Fury:

Does it look like I care?

Ashley:

I hate to break it to you, but I can't see your face through the phone screen

Director Fury:

One more smarta** comment from you and I'll have you demoted.

Ashley:

Alright, alright, geez

Director Fury:

This is the last time I'm saying this. Get in my office, now.

Ashley:

I'll be there soon

Ashley put everything in her bag and slung it over her shoulders. Sorry human geography, you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow.

With hurried steps, she walked over to the front office and peeked her head in. "Sir?"

The principal looked up from the paperwork he was going through and raised an eyebrow at Ashley. "Ms. Tanner? What brings you here?"

"Something has come up with Bethany," Ashley half-lied, obviously not going to spill the truth about her being a special agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. "I'll have to leave for the rest of the day. I'm sorry."

"Er? Um, alright. I hope Ms. Everglade is alright," he stuttered. Ashley was a star student, and he couldn't imagine that she would leave in the middle of school without an extremely important reason.

"Thanks!" She shortly replied with a smile, then ducked out of the office and exited the front doors. Since Natasha hadn't shown up or contacted Ashley at all, the teenager assumed that this was only a 'Fury' issue. However, something suddenly crossed her mind. How exactly did the director expect her to get from Queens to Washington D.C?

Just as the thought was replaying through her head, her back pocket buzzed. She pulled out her phone, noticing that it was another message from Fury. This time, instead of a demand, it was a location. She shrugged, then typed the address into her phone and hastily jogged where the directions told her to go. She groaned in exhaustion and annoyance as she arrived at another parking garage.

I guess I know what I'm here for, then, Ashley thought to herself. Walking up countless floors to get to the roof did not sound very appealing at the moment. However, reminding herself that Fury would do everything short of killing her if she didn't get her butt to D.C. soon, she forced herself back into a jog. She was just about to start making it up the first ramp when something caught her eye.

An elevator.

In pure celebration, she threw her hands up in the air and starting racing to the lovely machine, hollering and cheering all the way. Of course, she got a multitude of confused and disgusted glares cast her way, but she didn't care. As long as she didn't have to run up all those levels, she was chill.

It only took about a minute for the elevator to finally return to the ground-level floor. The second those doors started to crack open, she was in. In less than a fifth of the time it was originally going to take her to run up the floors, she was on the roof.

"Well, I have always loved cloaking," Ashley muttered to herself as she noticed that there wasn't a Quinjet in sight. With a sigh, she lifted her hand in the air and began feeling around through her powers. It was incredibly difficult, given that she still wasn't very experienced with the magic.

She almost let her hand fall to her side with a defeated sigh when suddenly she noticed something. The air in a certain area seemed off.

"This must be it," Ashley said quietly as she walked up to it. However, her powers had miscalculated the distance the strange area was from her, and she managed to run head into it.

"That hurts like a butt cheek on a stick," she mumbled after falling straight onto her bum. Not only did her hind end hurt from the hard concrete, but her head was already developing a headache.

"Great," she rolled her eyes. Then, using her powers again, she located the door and lowered it. For some reason, controlling doors was something that she had been naturally better at.

She watched with a slight smile as the cargo door lowered and turned into a ramp, revealing the interior of the Quinjet. It was quite odd being able to see the inside of the jet and not the outside, but she shrugged it off and strode inside.

"That never happened," Ashley firmly stated, referencing to her crashing into the jet.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," the pilot assured her with a smirk. Then, with a slight hesitation, he added, "although it will come at the cost of knowing how you opened the doors."

Ashley froze in her place as she contemplated what to tell the pilot as he lifted the Quinjet off of the roof and directed the course towards D.C. With a slight hitch in her voice, she shortly replied, "Just a little something that earned me the name of Special Agent."

The pilot momentarily glanced back in shock. "Special Agent? Who are you?"

Just like Fury, Ahsoka shook her head. Never telling anyone anything.

"Special Agent Tanner at your service," Ashley replied with a smile. "Level Seven."

"Wait a minute," he said, his eyes widening. "Not the one that just passed initiation and beat up William Tylers in a sparring match?"

"That'd be me," Ashley chuckled.

"Then I'd prefer if you stay a good five feet away from me at all times," he nervously laughed. "All I can do is shoot and fly."

"Calm down," Ahsoka rolled her eyes in amusement. "I'm an agent, not a karate master that is liable to blow up any second."

He relaxed, but not by much. "So how does someone like you end up as a favorite of Fury?"

"Having Agent Romanoff as a teacher has its perks," Ashley shrugged casually. She could hear him audibly choke.

"The agent?"

"Jazz hands don't hurt either," Ashley added, picking up the pilot from his seat by an inch in two with her powers.

"Avenger?!" He squeaked as he tried desperately to pull himself back down. Once Ashley released him from her invisible grip, she tried to figure out what he had just said.

"Am I an Avenger?" She attempted to clarify.

"Yes...?!" He hastily replied, still shook.

"Nah man," she replied with a laugh. "Not yet, at least."

"Well, if you're on Fury's radar with powers like that, it won't be long," he warned, giving Ashley a slight shiver. What would she do if she was on the Avengers? Just the very thought of it was terrifying. There was no way she'd be able to handle everything on top of being a famous superhero.

"Not long," she echoed, sinking back into her seat as she slipped into her thoughts.

±

"Agent Tanner reporting to Director Fury," Ashley monotonously replied, lifting up her badge to be studied and placing her index finger on the fingerprint scanner. For some reason, security seemed a lot more tight and harsh. There wasn't even a person there before, rattling off questions for her to answer to.

"Director Fury?" The security officer echoed with an unimpressed tone. Once again, her age was getting her second-guessed. Ashley sighed, rolled her eyes, then put her left hand on her hip and returned his question.

"Yes, Director Fury. Look it up in your logs or whatever. I'm the head of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team."

"S.T.R.I.K.E. team?" She repeated, then shook her head and looked down to the information tablet she was holding. Just as Ashley had requested, she looked up any relations between the name Tanner and his so-called S.T.R.I.K.E. team. "It's... it's..." she wandered off as the files popped up. "They're classified. I'm not granted access."

"Well, having someone like me on the team might explain it," Ashley mumbled to herself, flexing her hand. She looked up to the security officer and added more clearly, "If I know about it and you don't, that's probably a good enough sign that I belong in this building. Now please let me by. Fury is probably already agitated about how long it took me to get here from New York."

The officer gave one last glance to the classified file on her tablet, then sighed and stepped aside. "You're free to go, Agent Tanner."

Ashley nodded, still annoyed at how long the screening took. Once inside the building, Ashley practically bolted into the elevator. There was no way she was wasting any more time. A quick minute or so ride later, she was standing on the entrance to the Director's floor. She could practically feel the tension coming from the office before she even entered it. By the time she had completed the security check into his office, her senses were going off the wall with anxiety.

"Director," she greeted with a nod of respect. "I came as quickly as I can, but apparently being a 14-year-old isn't very convincing to some people."

Fury couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at Ashley's struggles. Just as quickly as he had relaxed, he straightened out and stood up from his seat.

"Display Special Agent Tanner's mission."

Ashley was slightly startled when a white backdrop rolled down from the ceiling and spread across a wall. The blinds then tightly closed themselves, dimming the room enough so the teenager could see what was being displayed on it.

"This mission requires Level 7 status. Are all participating members of the ranking or higher?" A computer A.I.'s voice questioned before the file was opened.

"Yes. Approved by Nicolas J. Fury."

With that, the file unlocked and began displaying all sorts of information. Ashley began to read through it, but she found it incredibly difficult to understand. So, with a slight look of defeat, she turned to Fury in hopes of a verbal description.

"A mobile satellite launch platform: the Lemurian Star," he explained, gesturing to a beacon in the middle of the Indian Ocean. "She was delivering her last load when pirates took over."

"Why not just take it back with firepower?" Ashley asked in confusion as she paced a couple of steps. "You've got the resources to do it. There's no need for a specialized team like mine."

"They've got hostages," Fury countered, causing the teenager to freeze dead in her tracks.

"How many?"

"Too many," he sighed, turning away in frustration. "My right-hand man, or woman you could say, as well. Maria Hill."

"Oh no," Ashley mumbled, looking back to the map. "This isn't good at all. How could we let them do this?"

"Beats me," Fury grumbled, plopping down to his chair. "They're demanding a billion and a half in exchange for the ship and the hostages."

"A billion and a half?!" Ashley exclaimed loudly, ripping her gaze from the screen to stare at the director. "Why the heck are they asking so much? It's not like we're made of money. For God's sake, do they have a grudge against us or something?"

"Well, I suppose trespassing doesn't get us off on the right foot," Fury noted dully.

"Trespassing?!" She half-shouted. "With all due respect Director, what the he** were you thinking?"

"It wasn't just my choice," he argued back. "And there's plenty of reason behind it."

"Then explain!" She demanded, wildly gesturing to the map of the Indian Ocean and the lone ship that was trapped within it.

"It's classified," Fury replied through gritted teeth. "Whether we like it or not, nobody else is allowed to know."

"That's stupid," Ashley growled. "If I'm on this mission, I need to know what's going on. There's no way I'm going in unprepared."

"You don't have a choice," he firmly stated.

"Like heck I don't," Ashley fought back, crossing her arms sassily.

"You sure do like pushing your uppers' buttons, don't you Agent Tanner?!"

"Only when they press mine," Ashley stood her ground. Sure, she was treading in deep waters and could very easily have her title stripped clean from her, but she'd rather that happen then be left out of the loop on this. There was no way she was going to potentially risk her life and all the others going on the mission with her because of some stupid classified rules.

"You wouldn't last one day as any of the others' agent," Fury began, referring to all of the other senior agents and board members of S.H.I.E.L.D, causing Ashley to huff in annoyance. She could sense a speech about respecting the Director coming up already. However, a longer pause than necessary ensued, causing Ashley to eventually look up and make eye-contact with Fury.

"But you might make it as mine," he sighed. "I get it. I know where you're coming from. I simply can't help you."

"Why not?"

"Because... the truth is... I don't know much about it myself."

"The Director doesn't know?" Ashley mocked. "The person whose secrets have secrets? Fat chance."

"Believe what you want to believe," Fury shrugged her off, gathering a stack of papers on his desk and sliding them into a manilla file folder. "I've got no reason to lie to you, Agent."

"Everyone's got a reason to lie," Ashley countered. "It's just a matter of time until you can really find out what it is. But you?" She paused, staring at him so hard that he could practically feel holes burning into his face. "You've got the biggest reason of them all. You've got an agency to run, no?"

"I don't understand where you're going with this," Fury sighed. "I told you the truth, and you refuse to accept it."

"Ah ah ah," Ashley shook her head. "You missed the topic. What I'm trying to say, Director, is that you are lying. You're lying to yourself. I can tell. You just don't realize it. You don't let yourself realize it for the sake of S.H.I.E.L.D..." She paused, searching her mind for any tidbits of information that would flow in. Sure, it hurt worse than a knife to the throat, and she had a killer migraine right now, but she had to keep pushing. Ever since she started, she knew something was off. It was just up to her to figure out what it was.

"There's a conspiracy," Ashley finally murmured, looking up to Fury for any recognition in his gaze. However, his eyes still kept their lost look.

"If it's involving me, you're sadly mistaken," he shortly replied. "Now if you don't mind, I've got-"

He was cut off by Ashley. "No, Director, for once it doesn't involve you," she stopped short, finally realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere. She had no leg to stand on in this conversation. Her sources of doubt were questionable. There was nothing factual and strong in her argument. With a sigh, she bowed her head. "Just forget what I said. It's not important."

"Good," Fury groaned in exasperation, "because I've really got about 20 other places to be right now. Here's the rest of the information about your mission. There is something you need to know, though," he added as he handed her the manilla folder.

"And it is...?"

"It's the S.T.R.I.K.E.'s team mission as a whole to rescue the hostages. There's something else I need you to do."

Ashley looked up at him. What else could there possibly be on that ship that was important enough to worry about?

"The cargo originally delivered wasn't the only thing on the vessel. There's something else that nobody knows about. Not even the pirates. In the second-lowest level, there's a special 0-8-4 that I need you to secure."

"0-8-4?"

"Object of unidentified origin," he explained shortly. "You'll learn about it more in your file. You'll meet the rest of your team on the Quinjet. Time's ticking, Agent."

"Yes sir," she replied, turning on her heel and heading towards the door.

"And Agent?"

She turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sending an agent on a mission in those worthless school clothes. Your suit is two doors down."

"Hey!" Ashley exclaimed in mock offense. "I'll have you know that these clothes could hold their own."

"Sure they could," Fury shook his head and chuckled. With a playful roll of her eyes, she obliged and walked down the hall. Walking into the second door, her mouth fell open.

"No. Way." Ashley ran up to the desk that the suit was lying on. It was like Natasha's, except the buckle obviously didn't have an hourglass on it. S.T.R.I.K.E. was written down the right sleeve, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem was embroidered onto the upper left chest area. The wrist and forearms were reinforced, along with almost-knee-high boots. She ran her fingers up and down the leather of the suit, relishing the tingle of excitement that it sent through her spine. This was it. This was her first mission. This was where she would truly prove her worth.

Without further hesitation, she scurried off to a ladies' room and changed into the suit. Then, once it was on good, she sprinted down the halls and towards the elevator. Of course, she could several shocked and confused glances were thrown her way, but she shrugged them off. This wasn't about them. This wasn't about her. This was about the mission ahead of her and how well she was going to complete it.

The minutes it took her to get down to the hanger and find her assigned Quinjet seemed to pass like seconds. Shoot, if you asked her, she probably couldn't even recount what happened. All that she knew was that she was so nervous and so excited that she felt like she might actually get sick. She wasn't used to having so much riding on her. Lives were at stake. Billions of dollars were at stake. An entire agency was at stake.

"This is it," she mumbled to herself as she hung a sharp right down the row of aircraft and jogged up to a sleep Quinjet. It was surely one of the newer models, with a build so sleek it rivaled that of the most luxurious sports car. She craned her head and picked up on faint voices coming from inside. Apparently everyone else that was assigned on the mission as well had already gotten there.

"Hello?" Ashley called out as she climbed in, giving the interior a quick one-over to see who all was there. Her muscles suddenly went slack.

"Oh sh-"

Welp I wonder what is shocking/scaring Ashley so much hehee

Also, there was over 4,500 words in this chapter. No wonder this took so freaking long to write.