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Chapter Text

On the last day of school before summer vacation started, absolutely no work got done. Nobody expected it to. It was a short day and grades were already submitted so there were no assignments to be turned in or tests to take. The main purpose of the day was for each student to meet with their teacher during their English period to get their report cards and to fill out their class requests for next year. Skye was one of the first to go in her class.

Professor Coulson was pleased with her report card and he went over her choices for next year before helping her fill out the form and sending her on her way with a list of books that she would need to choose from to read over the summer.   He also mentioned that he would be teaching some summer theater classes if she was interested, but she wasn’t sure that acting would be her thing. Natasha, however, who seemed to be planning for a future as a super spy, thought that acting classes sounded perfect, and Skye suspected that she would be dragged along.

He wasn’t the only teacher to suggest summer activities. Thanks to a generous donation from one of the school’s patrons, the school was issuing lap tops to every student for the next school year, and Professor Collins requested that all of his computer science students come in to help him get them set up when they arrived. Professor Magneto reminded Skye that he still planned to meet with her to work on controlling her ability when classes were over, and Aunt May told her class that she would be having a few special cooking classes over the summer, which Peter Quill and her boyfriend, Clint Barton, seemed quite keen to take.

On top of all of this, Skye would start her two-week training class with Principal Fury on Monday. She was apprehensive about it, but also looking forward to it. She was happy to have the weekend break before it started, though.

When the school day finally ended, the entire school made their way back to the dorms together. Everyone seemed to be headed to the pool, which opened officially that morning.

“So, are you gonna show me your report card, Skye?” Clint asked, as they walked through the wooded path. “Here’s mine.” He handed her a folded-up piece of paper.

She pulled her own out of her bag and handed it to him, before unfolding his and looking it over. “Look at you, Hawkeye,” she grinned. “I can’t believe Aunt May gave you an A in Home Economics.”

“Of course, she did. Quill and I might have fooled around, but you know we took the cooking part very seriously. Well, at least the eating part,” he chuckled. “Your report card looks great. I’m surprised at this B in Science, though, young lady. It’s quite disappointing. I’m going to have to have a little talk with Kent. As your lab partner, he must be responsible.”

“Actually, Professor Richards gave Clark a B too. I guess there was no bonus for getting kidnapped and surviving for either of us,” she giggled.

Clint made a pouty face at her, and she grabbed her report card from him before giving his back to him. “Maybe if you two try hard not to get kidnapped next year, you can get an A.”

“Well, it isn’t part of my plan for eighth grade, if that helps.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him along to catch up with the rest of the group.

They spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool before going back to their rooms to shower and change for dinner. After dinner, Harleen and Joker organized a game of Pictionary and Skye was glad to have Steve on her team. He was easily one of the best artists in the school. Unfortunately, the rest of the team wasn’t anywhere near as talented, and they ended up losing to the Joker’s team, much to Harleen’s disappointment.  

**********

The weekend had been a lot of fun with no homework and lots of free time. Monday morning, however, Skye’s alarm went off early, and she shut it off quickly so as not to wake her roommate, Wanda Maximoff.

Even though today was the first day of Principal Fury’s fighting class, she decided to go for her usual run with her running buddy, Sam Wilson, before she had to report to class. When they were done, she grabbed a muffin and a bowl of mixed fruit from the dining room for breakfast, and making her way to the basement a few minutes early. The door to the room was locked, so she took a seat on the floor in the hall, and started eating her breakfast.

A few minutes later, she was joined by Brock Rumlow. He’d been out running too, so she wasn’t surprised to see him there early. “So, are you excited for this?” Brock asked her as he took a seat next to her in the hallway.

“Do I have a choice?”  She started picking grapes out of her bowl to hand to him.  He gave her an amused look as he took them from her, and Skye realized it might seem like a strange thing to do.  When they were kidnapped together back in February, she always gave him her grapes because she didn’t like them.  Once again, they were sitting on the floor sharing fruit, but at least this time, they weren’t locked in a cell.

 “No, I guess you really don’t. Still, it will be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to finally get that rematch.”

 “Of course, you can’t,” she giggled.

“Are you still going on about that contest, Rumlow?” Diana Prince asked, as she and Clark came around the corner. “I don’t understand why you are so anxious to get your butt kicked again,” she teased him.

“Yeah, yeah. She gets lucky once, and I have to spend the rest of my life trying to live it down,” he grumbled, but Skye knew very well that he wasn’t really upset about it.

Soon they were joined by Dick Grayson, Anna Marie and Scott Lang. Principal Fury showed up right at 7:30am. “Looks like everyone is here,” he said, as he unlocked the door.

Skye had never been in this particular room in the basement. There were small and large punching bags set up to one side, mats for sparring on the other, and a full-sized boxing ring in the center of the room. Principal Fury motioned for them all to take a seat inside the ring.

“I’m sure it’s obvious why I picked you seven to be my first group this summer. From everything I’ve heard, you all handled yourselves quite well when you were kidnapped last February, but a little training never hurt anyone. This class will not only teach you different fighting styles, but we will also work on situational and mental awareness as well. I expect each of you to work hard and we may even have a little fun along the way.”

“Is fun the right word, Sir?” Scott looked at Principal Fury with a grin.

“Fun is a matter of opinion, I suppose, Mr. Lang, but yes. I think you’ll have fun.” He turned his attention back to the whole group. “Okay, so rules.  Don’t be stupid.  If you aren’t sure if you should do something, you probably shouldn’t. Be on time and work hard. Safety first. Those of you with abilities? Don’t use them in here. Eventually you will want to learn to use them in a fight, but this is not the time or the place. Any questions?” When nobody seemed to have any, he motioned for them all to stand and spread out on the mats on the floor.

They began a warm up routine that Skye was pretty sure was created by HYDRA as a means of torture. Sit ups, push-ups, squats, burpees and more of the same. Just when she thought they were done, Fury passed out jump ropes, and Brock cackled at Skye’s disbelieving face. She lost count of how many times they jumped rope, but the way her legs felt when they stopped, she was pretty sure it was in the billions. Finally, they were given a quick water break before Fury began teaching them the basics of boxing.

“Let’s get some gloves on and try out some of these moves,” Fury finally said. “Gloves are hanging up in the corner. Grab them and split into groups of two. Anna Marie, why don’t you start with me first?”

“Sure,” she nodded. “Ah’m still not sure that boxing is a great idea for me.”

“You’ll be fine,” he assured her.

“Sir, how is anyone going to fight me anyway, considerin’ they can’t touch me?” Anna Marie’s ability wasn’t one that could be shut off, and as such, no one could touch her bare skin. She had dressed herself in long pants, a long shirt and, of course, her gloves. Skye couldn’t help thinking how awful that must be in the heat, but she seemed used to it.

“Professor Magneto suggested these jumpsuits for whomever with partnering with you,” he responded, waving his hand toward another corner where the suits were hung up. She seemed to accept his answer and wandered over to where the rest of them were checking out the wall of gloves.

“How do I know what size gloves I need?” Skye asked as she looked at the different sizes hanging on the wall.

Dick took down one of the smaller pairs. “I’m pretty sure these will fit.” He helped her put them on before grabbing his own pair.

Boxing gloves were very strange. They were like curved mittens, only huge. How she was supposed to do anything with them on, she had no idea. It made her miss her gauntlets.

Anna Marie seemed to think that the gloves were hysterical. “They are so squishy,” she giggled.

“Yeah, but you can still hurt somebody when you are wearing them if you hit’em hard enough,” Brock reminded her.

They spent what seemed to be a full hour practicing basic moves. Diana and Skye worked together, Scott and Clark paired up, and Brock and Dick partnered up, which worked for them since both of them were familiar with the basics of boxing already. Anna Marie worked with Principal Fury in the middle of the ring as he demonstrated what to do.

After a while, they were given a short break before they moved into wrestling. This was at least familiar to Skye, thanks to Natasha’s training, and she and Scott teamed up for practice.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Principal Fury stopped them. “That’s enough for today. Normally we’ll start the day with a run, but today we’ll end the day with it. Rumlow? Show Skye how to use the bags, since I know you both ran this morning. Next time, wait to run with the rest of the class.”

Dick helped Skye get her gloves on again before he and the rest of the class headed outside for their run. Skye dutifully walked over to the large punching bag and considered it for a moment before attempting to hit it a few times. She wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen, but she sure didn’t make it move.

“You aren’t doing it right, Skye.”

She sighed in frustration. “You want to show me, or just stand there and tell me I’m wrong?”

“Yeah, of course I’ll show you.” He came closer, and she moved away from the bag to give him room. He gave her a confused look. “Where are you going?”

“I thought you were going to show me?”

“I am, but you aren’t going to learn by standing over there. Come here.” He held out his hand to her.

She took a few steps toward him and allowed him to take her by the shoulders and position her in front of the bag. “First thing you need to do is plant your feet firmly on the ground and bend your knees. Balance is important. You only move your feet when you aren’t punching. Keep your hands up at all times, and your elbows in toward your body.”

She straightened up a bit as she set her feet on the floor following his example. He moved behind her and reached around either side of her to grab her wrists. Skye found herself glancing around nervously, before realizing that she was being ridiculous. He was in teacher mode, and didn’t seem to notice at all.

“Now, to start out, you want to throw three to six punches at a time in various combinations. Fights are fought in combinations, not just a single action.” Hearing a giggle escape from her, he grumbled. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but we weren’t throwing punches, were we? You won’t always be that lucky.”

“I know. Still, it makes me laugh,” she continued to giggle.

“Well, I’m glad that I entertain you. Can I move on now?” Using his grip on her wrists, he set her hands into position in front of her. “There are a few ways to hit the bag, but for now turn your hand like you are turning a doorknob as you throw the punch. Make sure you are hitting flat on your knuckles. Like this.” Slowly, he stretched her right arm out and turned her hand slightly before it made contact with the bag. After pulling it back, he did the same with her left. He repeated it again, this time twice in a row on her right and once on her left. “See? Three to six hits at a time. You should mix it up.”

They did this a few more times, a little faster each time before he stopped. “Hey, it would help if you would breathe.”

She hadn’t realized until that moment that she was holding her breath, but she exhaled and tried to relax. “It would be easier to breathe if you weren’t crowding around me.”

He sounded like he was trying very hard not to laugh. “Oh? Am I making you nervous or something?” She couldn’t see his face, but she could easily imagine the smirk that was there as he spoke.  

“No. I’m not nervous. I’m just trying to concentrate on what you’re telling me,” she grumbled.

“Yeah? Okay, if you say so.”

“Can we just continue, please?” He went back to directing her hands, but she could have sworn that he was holding on to her a little tighter.

A few minutes later, she was punching the bag on her own while he looked on approvingly. “There ya go. Great job, Skye. You’re gonna need a lot more practice, though.”

She stopped and glared at him. “I’m not gonna lie. I’m pretending that this bag is you.”  She hit the bag a few more times, as hard as she could.

He glanced behind him at the ring in the middle of the room. “Well, whatever works for you. We could step into the ring, and you could try it out for real if you want?”

Skye shook her head and held up her hands in surrender. “Oh no. I think I’ve had enough punching today. I’m probably not going to be able to lift my arms up over my head in a few hours as it is.”

“Ice. Trust me. It will be your friend over the next two weeks. Use it and take it easy tonight.”

“Sure. Will you help me get these gloves off?”

His face broke into a wide grin. “Nope. Sorry. I’ve gotta get out of here. I’m meeting Garrett and some of my team for shooting practice. I’d hate to be late. Later!” He turned to walk away.

“Brock Rumlow, you are not going to leave without helping me!”  She was trying hard not to laugh at the way he turned around, threw his hands up in front of him, like he was surrendering.

“All right. Sheesh. I don’t want you to shake my insides out or something. Give me your hand.”

He made quick work of the Velcro straps on her right hand and smacked her hand away when she started on the left herself, before doing it for her. He handed both gloves to her and smiled. “You did really well, today. You should be proud of yourself, Skye.”

She could feel her cheeks getting redder. “Thanks. I don’t think I’ll be challenging Steve anytime soon, but it’s a start. It helps that I had two great teachers.”

“Fury’s good. We’ll all learn a lot from him, I suspect.” She noticed that he purposely didn’t acknowledge the other part of her statement, but she could see the satisfied look on his face.

They put their gloves away, and walked back up to the lobby together before walking in opposite directions. As she made her way up to her room to get changed for the pool, she couldn’t help thinking that it was going to be an interesting two weeks.

Chapter Text

By Friday, Skye was starting to get the hang of Fury’s training and feeling a lot more confident.  It was raining when training started, and Principal Fury wanted to work with Anna Marie and Clark, so he sent the rest of the group to the treadmills in the gym, since they couldn’t run outside.

“30 minutes on the treadmills, and no slacking off,” Fury ordered, before leaving them to it.

“Alright, guys, how about a contest?” Brock suggested after Fury walked out of the door.  “Let’s see who can run the farthest in the 30-minute time period.  What do you say, Sunshine?”  He was baiting her, and she knew it. 

“Is that really fair?  You’ve been running much longer than some of us have.”

“Oh please.  You’ve been running long enough.  Besides, it should be pretty fair all around.  None of us have super speed since Clark is busy with Anna Marie and Fury right now.”

Dick hopped on his treadmill.  “I’m in.”

“Me too,” Diana grinned.

Scott nodded in agreement.  “Suppose I am too.  Skye?”

She looked at the others and shrugged.  “I guess so.”

“Okay, everyone has to stop when their treadmill clock says 30 minutes.  Everybody ready?”  He got on his own treadmill and grinned over at Skye.  “Go!”

Each of them started their treadmills at different speeds and began to run.  Skye glanced over and caught Brock looking at her machine, setting his speed to the same as hers.  She realized very quickly that whenever she raised her speed, he did the same.  She was pretty sure that his plan was to stay with her, then go faster in the last few minutes to get ahead, and she had no intention of letting that happen. 

Ten minutes went by and both of them kept a close eye on each other’s speed and distance.  She was a little ahead of him, so she gave him a smug look and sped up a little more, getting into a nice running pace.  She wasn’t quite sure that she could maintain it for the next 20 minutes, but if it meant beating him, she was sure going to try.

They were pushing each other pretty hard, and after another five minutes passed, Brock suddenly reached down to grab his leg, crying out in pain.  Skye pushed the stop button on her treadmill immediately, and jumped off to make sure that he was okay.  She realized that he was faking it when she found that he hadn’t stopped his machine, and had actually sped up even more.  She glared at him angrily before starting up her treadmill again. 

Scott, who was running beside her, couldn’t stop laughing.  “I can’t believe you fell for that, Skye!”

“Yes, pardon me for being considerate,” she grumbled.  Brock just gave her a big grin.

She got her treadmill back up to speed, but he was ahead of her now, and she was mad.  She looked around the room before holding her hand out slightly.  Brock’s treadmill began to slow down and stopped.  He looked around to see what happened, and cursed a little louder than he meant to when he saw that his treadmill had come unplugged.  Plugging it back in quickly, he hopped back on it and started it up again.

Skye looked at Scott, who was grinning at her from ear to ear, obviously realizing what she had done.   He wasn’t the only one.  Brock looked over at her and she realized that he knew exactly what happened.

“Stop, Skye,” he complained as he got his treadmill up to speed again. 

She just laughed as she sped up a little more.  “Is there a problem, Brock?”

Scott was laughing so hard that Skye wondered if he might fall off of his treadmill.  “You two are going to kill each other one day, aren’t you?”

“Probably.  If my treadmill magically unplugs itself again, that day may be today,” Brock grumbled as he sped up a little more for the final few minutes.  They all finished around the same time just a couple of minutes later.

“Oh!  Sorry, Brock.  So close.  Better luck next time,” she giggled.  She had done 3.5 miles in the 30-minute period to his 3.4 miles.

She kind of expected him to be mad, but he just shook his head and grinned at her.  “Yeah, it’s the funniest thing.  I’d have done much better if my treadmill didn’t unplug itself.  It’s almost like the plug just shook itself right out of the wall.  Odd, huh?”

She gave him a fascinated look.  “Wow. That is very strange.  Bad luck for you.”

“Uh huh,” he grumbled as he wiped down his treadmill and handed her the bottle.

“Ahem,” Dick cleared his throat loudly.  “I wouldn’t celebrate too soon, Skye.  He pointed to his own treadmill.  Dick had gone 3.9 miles in the 30 minutes, beating Skye and Brock both. 

Diana just laughed at them all.  “6.4 miles for me, and I was barely trying,” she grinned.

Skye groaned loudly.  “Why did we get into a running contest with an Amazonian Princess?  I didn’t know you could run fast too, Diana.”

“Not as fast as Clark, Barry or Pietro, but I can hold my own.”

“Way to win one for the girls, my friend.”  Skye gave her a high five.

As they walked back to the other room, Brock came up beside her.  “Care to try that contest again outside when the weather is better, Skye?  You can’t unplug nature.”

“Sure.  We can do that.  Like the little boy who cried wolf though, if you say that you’re injured, I’m just gonna leave you out there to rot in the woods, buddy.”

He chuckled as they both grabbed their gloves.  “Fair enough.”

**********

Skye partnered with Dick for boxing, and as they finished up, Principal Fury decided to assign them partners to work on the hand to hand portion of the morning.  Skye had spent the past four days managing to avoid having Brock as a partner until she heard Fury say, “Rumlow and Skye?  You two take the far mat.”

She groaned as she made her way to the mat that he had indicated, and rolled her eyes when she saw the stupid grin on Brock’s face.  “Sweeping the leg isn’t gonna work this time, Skye.  I told you this day would come.”

“Yeah, yeah.  I hope this is everything you’ve dreamed of, because I don’t wanna hear about it anymore, Brock,” she teased him.

“Well, admittedly, I was hoping for a bigger audience, so that when I beat you more people could see it, but this will have to do, I guess.”

She looked at him and couldn’t help wondering if, after everything that they had been through, he would actually consider getting payback at this point.  She would have thought that they were beyond that now, and the whole thing was more of a joke than anything else.  However, standing on the mat with him, and seeing the way he was looking at her, she wasn’t so sure.

She got her answer pretty quickly as Professor Fury started showing them things to work on, and Brock went right into teacher mode as they worked together.  He was in his zone and he made sure that she understood everything that Fury was teaching them.  Skye realized that when Brock told her that he’d be a good teacher for her, he wasn’t flirting or joking, he was just being honest. 

He didn’t go easy on her, though.  She found herself flat on her back a few times before she finally managed to get him off his feet and pinned to the ground.  She couldn’t help giggling when Diana glanced over from the mat next to them and cheered her on. 

“Way to go Skye!  Look at you, Rumlow.  On the ground again.  Is that just a thing with you now?”

Brock sat up and looked between Skye and Diana.  “Did you not see me destroy her like five times before this happened?”

Diana grinned wickedly.  “Nope.  Sorry.  Clark and I were pretty busy practicing ourselves.  Clark?  Did you see anything?”

Clark held up his hands in surrender.  “I’m wisely choosing to stay out of this one,” he grinned.

Skye held her hand out to Brock and he grabbed it.  She pulled him up before he used her arm to bring her closer to him, so he could knock her leg out from under her and send her down to the ground.  She looked up at his smiling face and groaned.

“Surely you saw that, Diana.”  He indicated Skye on the ground.

“Oh what?  Sorry?  I was watching Dick and Rogue.  Did you trip, Skye?” 

Skye started laughing so hard that Principal Fury frowned over at them from where he was working with Scott.  A smirk spread across Brock’s face as he put his own hand out to help her up.  This time she tried the same move on him, and he obviously wasn’t ready for it, falling back down to the mat himself.

“Awesome move, Skye.” Diana grinned.  “Once again, back on the mat, buddy.”

Brock looked between the two girls and grumbled.  “I see how it is.  That’s fine.  You two just carry on with your practice, alright?  Just ignore what’s going on over here.”  He was acting all tough and mad, but the amused look he gave Skye as she helped him up for real this time, told her that he wasn’t mad in the least.

They went back to work and once again, he wasn’t easy on her.  They ran through everything that Fury taught them for the whole week more than a few times.  By the time they were done, Skye was sore, exhausted, and she suspected that she would have a few bruises to show for it.  Still, she felt like she’d had the most successful day so far in the class.  After Fury dismissed them, she sat on the floor a little longer, catching her breath. 

“Are you satisfied now, Brock?”

“Ehhh.  Not quite, but if we partner up a few more times, I’ll get there,” he grinned.

“Good.  I am probably not going to be able to move tomorrow, you know.”

That made him chuckle.  “You’ll manage.”

“Thank you for not holding back with me.”

“Why would I?  You aren’t gonna learn anything if I did that.  As we learned in February, bad guys aren’t gonna hold back, so neither am I.”

She took the hand he offered and braced herself just in case he tried anything as he pulled her up.  This time he didn’t.  “Good.  I suppose we can practice together again sometime then,” she grinned.  “Have a good weekend, Brock.”  They both joined the rest of the group as they made their way back toward their dorm rooms. 

**********

Skye woke up the next morning, and as predicted, she was sore all over.  Since she was tired and had been running all week, she skipped her Saturday morning run with Sam to sleep in a little, but got ready and headed down to breakfast with Felicity to meet Clint and Oliver for archery.  Skye accepted long ago that she was never going to be an expert in archery, but she didn’t feel like she had to be.  She went mainly to spend time with Clint.  Plus, watching him and Oliver compete against each other was also a lot of fun. 

This, of course, is how all of their Saturday archery sessions ended.  They’d shoot together for a while and eventually Clint and Oliver would start trying to show each other up, while Felicity and Skye sat to the side and watched, or pretended to watch while they talked about computers or whatever else caught their interest that day.  Soon, Nat would show up and they’d go off to the shooting range.  After that, sparring in the basement of the dorms.

“So, I was thinking about going back to my room and reading a book or napping while you all go sparring,” Skye suggested hopefully while they were walking back to the school.  “After all, I’ve been sparring all week.”

Natasha shook her head.  “No way.  I want to see what you’ve learned.”

“But I ‘m sore and tired.  Look!  I have actual bruises!”  She held up her leg to show the few little bruises that she had from yesterday.  Oliver and Clint gave her sympathetic looks, but Natasha just smiled.

“I’m sure you’ll survive.”

“Ugh.  You sound just like Rumlow,” Skye groaned.  “You are a slave driver, Natasha Romanoff.”

“Maybe, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I want to see what you’ve learned,” she grinned, as she took her arm and dragged her away from Clint and down toward the basement.

One thing that had changed since Clint became her boyfriend was that he refused to spar with her anymore.  Skye thought it was kind of silly, after all, it wasn’t like she was going to get mad if he beat her, but he wasn’t going to do it.  Even if Natasha made him, he didn’t try very hard to beat her.  It was sweet, but annoying at the same time. 

Luckily, there was always someone around who was willing to train with her and on this day, it was Peter Quill, Clint’s roommate, who volunteered to be the guinea pig for her skills demonstration, while Clint and Oliver practiced together.  Natasha mostly just watched Skye and Peter.

She tried out a few of the moves that she had learned in Principal Fury’s class, and actually managed to beat Peter more times than he beat her, which she was quite proud of.  Drax asked to step in, and she wasn’t as lucky with him, but she got in a few good victories of her own before Natasha suggested they all go get lunch. 

Chapter Text

As the second week of summer came to an end, so did the training class with Principal Fury.  It had been a long and exhausting two weeks, but Skye learned a lot and she was glad to have been a part of it.  Spending time, not just with Brock, but with all of the people that HYDRA took last February was fun and really cathartic.  They had a shared experience that would link them all together, at least for the foreseeable future, and Skye was grateful for every one of them.

They were wrapping up on the last day, after spending most of it sparring with each other, when Fury called them all into the ring.  Skye crawled under the ropes and collapsed between Brock and Dick Grayson dramatically.

“Ugh, everything is going to hurt later today!”

“At this point, I think you’ll manage, Skye.”  Brock chuckled.  “You say that every day and yet I still see you at the pool or running around the grounds, and you seem just fine to me.”

“It’s worth it, though,” Dick added.  “This has been great for skills and confidence building.  I can’t wait for Bruce to start taking it next week so we can practice together.  I’m feeling more confident that I could beat him now.  Who knows, maybe I’ll even change my code name.  Robin isn’t going to strike fear in the heart of anyone, is it?”

“Maybe not,” Skye giggled, “but who are you trying to terrify anyway?  Hopefully we are done with HYDRA.”

“It’s not just HYDRA, Skye.  There are all sorts of bad guys out there, and one day, I’m gonna help bring them to justice.  I couldn’t save my parents, but once I am done here, I’m gonna make sure that I can help others.”

“That’s very noble of you, Dick.  I’m probably just going to live in a van in some big city and hack into the government’s computer systems for fun.  Make a name for myself as a bigtime hacker.”

“No, you’re not, Skye.”  Brock frowned at her.  “You’re too talented to waste your skills on something like that.”

“Not a lot of need for someone who can destroy stuff like I can, Brock.  Coulson jokingly suggested that I could be a one man wrecking crew, but I don’t see that working out for me.  Luckily, I still have time to figure all of that out, at least.”

“I want to be a journalist,” Clark added, as he sat down next to Brock.  “Maybe work at the Daily Planet in Metropolis or the Bugle in New York.”

“You might do that, but you’re also going to be fighting bad guys with me and Dick, and you know it, Clark.”  Diana joined them.  “Skye, you should join us too.  A real Justice League could use someone that can do what you do!”

Skye couldn’t help giggling.  “Yeah, I suppose that is always a possibility.  I’ll need a really cool Superhero outfit, though.  Do I get a cape?”

“No.  You do not get a cape,” Brock sniggered.  “The last thing you need when fighting someone is a cape to get stuck in something, or to be used to grab you and drag you around.  Capes are dangerous.”

“What?!”  Clark and Dick yelled at the same time.  Clark continued, “Capes are awesome and look cool.  Especially when you can fly!”

“Which I can’t, buddy,” Skye lamented.

Principal Fury cleared his throat as Anna Marie and Scott joined the group.

“First of all, I want to let you kids know how proud of you I am.  Out of everyone at this school, you seven kids understand the importance of all of this.  It isn’t about going out and causing trouble, it’s about being able to protect yourself no matter what you do with your life.  I know that this type of fighting isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but hopefully I’ve given you all a strong foundation that you can build on if you’re interested, and if you’re not, you can at least defend yourself if you have to.  When school starts up, I’m thinking about starting up a little fight club, and I hope you all will think about joining.  Have a great rest of your summer and keep training.  By the way, if any of you are interested in helping with the other two sessions, please stay behind.  The rest of you can consider yourselves dismissed.” 

The kids all thanked Principal Fury as they got up and Scott, Anna Marie and Clark climbed out of the ring and began putting their things away.  Skye took a step toward the ropes, but Brock raised an eyebrow at her and she stayed put along with him, Dick and Diana.

“I know you kids have travel and field trips and that sort of thing coming up, but I think it would be really helpful to have you all here when you’re in town.  Leave a note for me in my in-box by the end of the day, letting me know what your plans are, and I’ll set up a schedule.  I appreciate it, and it will be great leadership training for you all.”

After Fury dismissed them, Skye put away her gloves and helped Brock put away the mats and store the rest of the gear as she normally did.  When they were done, they headed out into the hall together.

“Good for you, Skye.  I’m glad you volunteered to help, even though I know you won’t be around much over the next couple of weeks.”

“Based on that look you gave me, I didn’t think that I was being given much of a choice,” she teased him.  “I won’t be here next week, though, since I’ll be with the Parkers.”

“I’ll be on the beach trip with the rest of the 9^th graders the week after that.”

“Oh.  Well, I guess we won’t see each other for a while.  I’d ask you to send me a postcard, but that seems unlikely to happen.  Still, I’ll miss seeing you around.”

“Yeah?”  Brock gave her a wide grin.  “I’ll miss seeing you too, but you better not slack off while I’m gone.  When I finally get to fight you in a contest next year, I don’t want any excuses.”

“Me?  Slack off?  Have you met one of my best friends, Natasha Romanoff?  I don’t think the word ‘slack’ is in her vocabulary.  Besides, what makes you think I’m ever going to willingly risk getting my butt kicked by you in front of the whole school next year?”

“A guy can dream, can’t he?  Anyway, Diana and I were talking about trying to get the group together a few times a week for running and training once school starts.  What do you think?”

Skye shrugged.  “Sure, why not.  As long as I can still run with Sam sometimes.”

He nodded.  “No problem.”

“So, I’m curious, Brock.  What does Mr. Scary STRIKE leader think he might like to do with his life when he grows up?”

“I’m joining the military,” he shrugged.  “I already know that.  Maybe the Marines, but probably SHIELD.”

Skye shot him an amused look.  “Switching teams now, are you?”

“No.  I mean real SHIELD.  Not your team.”

Her amused look turned to confusion.  “What are you talking about?  We are SHIELD.”

“Oh, come on, Skye.  Don’t tell me that you’ve never asked where the name came from? SHIELD is a real organization.  Under the radar, but it exists.”  Brock shook his head in disbelief.  “You never wondered what SHIELD stands for?”

“Uhhhh…….Well, to be honest, I thought Peggy picked the name because of a shield, you know, like Steve uses?”

“Yeah, but Steve wasn’t here our first year.  S.H.I.E.L.D.  Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.  It’s a multi-National organization started after WWII.  You know how obsessed Peggy is with that time frame.  It helped that Fury, Hill, May and Garrett are all part of it, or were before they came to teach at the school.  Garrett still technically is, and I am pretty sure the others are too.  Fury is the boss.  Who knows who else.  Rumor is that Fury helped start it, but he won’t confirm that, because he’d have to explain how a guy who helped found a group in the 1940’s was still around and running it in this day and age.”

Skye leaned against the wall and tried to take all of this information in.  “How can Fury still be running it if he is the Principal here?”

“Garrett says that Fury and Xavier made a deal to get him here as the Principal, so that he could do both.  It’s one of the reasons he’s gone so often.”

“Wait.  If SHIELD is real, and you join, I might actually see you in a SHIELD shirt one day?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be on one of the STRIKE teams and from everything Garrett says, they operate within SHIELD, but are pretty much their own entity.”

“STRIKE is a real thing too?  This is all kind of insane.  What are they doing?  Using this place as a personal training ground?”

“Well, yeah.  Probably.  But not everyone here is part of it.  As far as I can tell, the only other group that exists outside of here is the Fantastic Four, and they are their own little group. Professor Xavier has had a group of X-Men before with Storm and who knows who else, but if they exist now, they are pretty small.”

“Wow.  I guess I should have been more curious when I got here,” Skye shrugged.  “I was just so happy to be somewhere that I was making friends and fitting in.  Not that it matters, I guess, if they aren’t forcing people to join.”

“Naah, I don’t think they want anyone who doesn’t want to be there,” Brock shrugged.

“Maybe I really will live in a van and spend my time hacking into SHIELD.  Organizations like that are bound to have secrets.”

“No, you won’t, because I’ll probably have to hunt you down if you do, and I’m not sure how fun that sounds if it involves you going to jail at the end.  Now come on.  Let’s get upstairs before Ward comes snooping around.  I’m sure your boyfriend is looking for you by now as well.”

Skye narrowed her eyes as she started walking.   Brock usually didn’t talk to her about Clint, so she was a bit surprised at the sarcasm that she could hear in his voice.  “Yeah, he probably is.  We’re actually going on a date tonight.  Okay, so it is really just the ice skating trip that Professor Pym organized, but it will be nice to get out for a while.  You coming?”

“Ice skating isn’t really my thing.  Besides, you’ll have to pardon me if my idea of fun isn’t watching……” Whatever he was going to say, he seemed to think better of it.  “Never mind.  Have a good day and enjoy your skating trip, Skye.  I’ll see you later.”  He didn’t wait for her to say goodbye before turning and heading toward the boy’s elevators. 

**********

After a quick shower, Skye made her way into the dining room and grabbed lunch, taking a seat between Clint and Loki.  Loki had just returned from Asgard the night before in order to go with the new 7^th graders on their trip to Colorado next week.

“How was your last day of training?”  Clint asked as she ate.  “You look like you survived.”

“It was actually a lot of fun.  It’s kind of weird, but I’m going to miss it.” She turned to Loki.  “Did you have a good time going back home?”

“It was delightful,” Loki grumbled.  “I spent most of the time listening to Sif and Fandral go on and on about how excited they were to be coming to the school next year, and helping Thor answer their annoying questions.  The rest I spent pretending to care what my father had to say.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry it wasn’t more fun, I guess.  I bet the trip to Colorado will be nice,” she shrugged.

“Of course.  It can’t be worse.”

“Hey guys?”  Skye asked the table at large.  “Did you all know that SHIELD was a real thing?”

She wasn’t surprised when everyone seemed to know.  Steve gave her a brief history of the organization and Tony, who was leaving in a couple of days to go back to California for a while, just shrugged.  “I guess we forgot to tell you that.  Oops!  Don’t worry though, no one is going to draft you or force you to join.  My father helped found SHIELD, but I have no intention of joining it.  The last thing I want is some corruptible government agency telling me what to do, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

**********

Later that evening, they loaded up the buses and headed for the ice skating rink.  Professor Pym had the entire place rented out for them, and Johnny Storm was once again playing DJ.  Professor Pym and his wife, Janet, even donned skates and joined the kids on the ice, much to Hope’s embarrassment.  Coach May, Vice Principal Hill and Professor Waller joined in as well. 

Although Skye had gone ice skating once before with Peter, Tony and Peter’s friend Harry in Central Park last Thanksgiving, the experience didn’t exactly make her any better at it this time around.  Skye and Clint both spent a lot of time falling on the ice, and laughing at themselves.  Trying to hold on to each other just led to more falling as they made their way around the rink, but they were both determined to do it.  Skye was pretty sure that they spent more time sitting on the ice laughing than actually skating.

They weren’t the only ones.  Very few people seemed to have been ice skating before so there was a lot of falling at first.  Slowly though, people began to get the hang of it and soon most people were able to make it around the rink without too many wipe outs. 

Of course, Natasha caught on very fast.  She was a trained ballerina, and had all the grace and balance that came with that.  Bucky, however, gave up and decided to go play video games in the arcade while Steve and Peggy appeared to figure out how to skate pretty quickly.  Bobby Drake, who was not unfamiliar with ice, also seemed to have no trouble getting around the rink, but Clint grumbled that he had an unfair advantage as Bobby sailed by them and waved. 

After skating and spending time in the arcade with Scott, Hope and Logan, it was time to go back to the school.   “Hey, Skye?  We still have a little while until curfew, want to go for a walk or something?”  Clint almost seemed nervous when the bus pulled into the dorm parking area.

“That sounds good,” she replied, as they made their way off the bus.

They weren’t the only people who decided to stay outside.  A basketball game immediately started on one side of the school and a volleyball game on the other.  People were milling about and it was difficult to find anywhere that wasn’t occupied until they found an empty bench down near the woods by the pool and decided to sit for a while.

It was a surprisingly cool and clear evening, and there were stars everywhere.  Skye didn’t get to see many nights like this in Los Angeles or New York City and it was quite pretty.

“Do you know anything about the constellations?” she asked, as she rested her head on Clint’s shoulder and looked up at the sky.

“I know the big ones.”  Clint pointed to an area where the stars seemed to look like a measuring cup.  “That’s the big dipper.  Over there is the little dipper.  The three stars there are part of Orion’s belt.  See how there is sort of an X around it?”

“Well, you officially know more than I do.”

“Where we lived in Iowa was pretty dark at night.  My mom would take us out sometimes to get away from my Dad for a while, hoping he’d finally drink enough to pass out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to dredge up bad memories.”  Clint didn’t talk a lot about his parents, but between him and Natasha, Skye knew the basics.  His father was an alcoholic who drank and took out his aggression on his wife, as well as Clint and his brother, Barney.  His father was driving drunk one night when he caused an accident that killed both himself and Clint’s mom.

“Actually, those are pretty good memories.  She’d take my brother and me out to the middle of a field and we’d all lay down and look at the stars.  She only knew the real names of a few of them, but we’d make up our own stories about the different star groupings and how they got there.  It was nice.”

“I’m not sure I’ve seen this many stars in my life.  Being near big cities makes it hard to see them at night sometimes.  I had a foster family in California who loved to go to the beach at night.  If it was dark enough, you could see the stars over the water.  They said they’d take me to the mountains sometime and I’d be able to see a lot of stars, but they didn’t keep me around for very long,” she shrugged.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re seeing them with me, then.”  Clint rested his head on hers and they sat together silently looking into the sky, both lost in their own thoughts.

Soon, Clint moved, causing her to look up at him.  He glanced over at her, and she could see a nervous look in his eyes.  “Is everything okay, Clint?”

He shrugged and looked down at their entwined hands.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“Just thinking that I’m glad that you’re my first girlfriend,” his smile seemed suddenly anxious.

“Yeah, me too.  Well, that you are my first boyfriend.  Don’t forget that you were also my first dance partner.”

“Oh yeah,” he brightened.  “You were my first date.  I guess Sam got to be that for you.”

“Well, that’s true.  Nat got to be the first person you danced with though, so that balances out.  Not that it’s a contest,” she giggled.

He nodded and resumed watching their hands again.  She could tell he had something else that he wanted to say, but he seemed to be having a hard time figuring out exactly how to say it.  After a few minutes, he finally looked back up at her.  “I was just wondering if maybe, since we have all of those firsts between us, maybe we could also be each other’s first kiss?”

Skye froze.  Her mind was racing and she had absolutely no idea what she should say next.  She was perfectly fine with Clint kissing her, that wasn’t the problem at all.  She just didn’t know how to answer his question. 

She couldn’t tell him the truth.  There was absolutely no way that she could tell him about kissing Brock in the woods not very long before Clint asked her to the dance.  She’d have to explain the whole thing, and she wasn’t willing to do that for Brock’s sake or her own.  Besides, she was pretty sure Clint would be upset about it.  He seemed fine with the fact that she and Brock were kind of friends, but kissing would be a whole other level.

She briefly considered telling him that her first kiss was with her friend from the Saint Agnes orphanage in New York City.  She’d told Clint about him before, and it wasn’t like they were ever going to actually meet each other, but Clint knew that she was nine years old the last time she saw Matt, and that was pretty young for kissing. 

Ultimately, she decided that the best way to answer the question was to not answer it at all.  He gave her a perfect opportunity to do just that, when he seemed to take her silence as a sign of not being interested.  “Hey, if you don’t want to, that’s okay.  I understand.  I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomf………”

Before he could finish his statement, Skye leaned over and pressed her lips against his.  His eyes went wide for a few seconds and she couldn’t help laughing at his shocked expression as they broke it off.  “You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable at all.”

“Oh, okay.  Wow.  That was kind of unexpected.  Nice, but unexpected.”

“Really?  I thought that was what you wanted?” 

“Well, yeah, but if you said yes, I had this whole scenario in my head with awkward looks, slow motion and stuff.  Just like on TV or in movies?”  Judging by the grin on his face, she was pretty sure that he was teasing her.  “I also thought I’d be the one doing the kissing.”

“Well, there’s still time for that.  I don’t have anywhere else to be right now.” 

Apparently, he got the hint, and this time he kissed her.  It was much longer than the first one, and she completely failed to not giggle through it. 

He pulled away and raised an eyebrow at her.  “You know, admittedly this is my first time, but I’m pretty sure that if you’re laughing at me, I’m doing something wrong.” 

“I’m sorry, really.  I’m not laughing at you and I think you’re doing really well.  It’s just a nervous reaction.  You should know that by now,” she sniggered, remembering how she completely fell apart laughing when he finally asked her to the dance, much to his horror.

“Well, I guess it’s worth it.  You’re really cute when you laugh.”  He kissed her again, and she managed to get control of herself this time.

They stayed outside for a little while longer before they had to go back to the dorm.  They weren’t five steps into the lobby before they ran into Natasha and Bucky, who had just come in before them.  Nat gave them a knowing smirk that caused them both to turn bright red.

“I guess that’s what happens when your best friend fancies herself a super spy.” Skye whispered to him after Bucky and Natasha walked away.

“Yeah, the girl can read me like a book.  It’s a little creepy.  Anyway, it’s almost time for lights out, so I’ll see you tomorrow morning for archery?”

“Yep.  I’ll be there bright and early for breakfast.  I had fun tonight.”

“Yeah, me too,” he grinned.  “Sweet Dreams, Skye.”  

She considered hugging him, but settled for squeezing his hand before letting it go and catching up with Natasha who was heading for the elevator.  She expected Nat to drill her on what happened, but she didn’t.  Skye appreciated that, because she wasn’t sure she could get through it without giggling again.