Agent Raven of S.H.I.E.L.D. (COMPLETE)

Car Trip

Not only did the previous mission get me on respectful terms with Smith, but I seemed to have earned the favor of everyone else in the unit too. I was training in the weight room, and trying out the Field weight room rather than sticking to the Espionage gym like I normally did. Much to my surprise, I was approached more than once for the sake of conversation.

Apparently word traveled fast between units. People had either seen Kyle and Taylor get carted off to the medical wing, or they had heard about it from the others. For the third time since transferring departments, I made small talk.

It was mostly people who already knew Kyle and Taylor, saying that they appreciated that I had looked out for them. Some of them asked when I had transferred, or how long I had been at SHIELD, and of course, the golden question: Was Romanoff actually my S.O.. I kept my answers pretty simple, if not slightly impressive. I just transferred in the past week, I started at SHIELD Academy three years ago, and yes, I was training under the Black Widow.

I finished around noon, and was planning to head down to Records to kill some time. I didn't expect to have a text, though, and definitely not from Tate. 'We're headed to McDonalds because Taylor doesn't want to eat hospital food. Wanna come?'

Honestly, I didn't blame Taylor. McDonald's was trash, but it was so much more appealing than the high nutrition, low taste meals in the med wing. As far as joining them, though, I had my reserves. Natasha didn't want me revealing too much about myself, and she had a good reason to want it. This was a very easy way to let something slip, but it would also be a good test. I had to make sure I could keep my trap shut when she wasn't around to keep an eye on me, especially if the Avengers was ever going to happen.

'Sounds good,' I sent back. 'Meet you in 10?'

'We'll be in the garage'

I switched into a sweater and jeans, since a SHIELD suit wasn't something you would see at McDonald's on a regular basis. If I had pulled my ponytail out, I would have had that weird bump around my head, so I left it in. Stuffing my phone, wallet, and a small pencil taser from Natasha in a purse, I wove my way down to the basement level and began looking around for Tate and whoever else was with her.

She was standing with Grace and someone I didn't recognize. Great, more people. You know, barely anyone knew me down in Records. It was a lot easier to keep a low profile.

Tate looked over and saw me, and pointed my way. The person I didn't recognize turned and started walking over, sticking out her hand to shake. "Raven?" she asked, and I nodded, accepting her gesture.

"I can't say I know who you are," I confessed, and Tate introduced her.

"This is Kate O'Neil, you replaced her on the unit after she got burnt by an explosion," she explained.

Kate slapped her with her other hand, scowling. "You gotta throw me under the bus like that?" To me, she rolled her eyes. "You'd think they'd be a bit nicer about it."

I raised my eyebrows, a bit doubtful. "I don't know, I've seen her drag someone else through the dirt before. She seems to get a kick out of it."

"Only when it's Smith," Tate clarified with a smug grin, before holding up a set of keys. "Shall we?"

We all climbed into one of the hundreds of cars parked in the underground lot. Kate called shotgun, and Grace rode in the back with me. As Tate got in line to pull out, Kate twisted around and started talking to me. "I heard you helped Taylor out in the field today, on mission. I don't suppose you've been making a lot of friends since then?"

Nodding, I looked around at all three of them. "Is compartmentalization not a thing between units? Or do none of you care?"

"Yes," Kate replied, and the Grace snorted beside me. "We don't know most of the details about the actual mission, but when something really good or really bad happens, most of the department knows about it within hours. You'll get used to it."

"Seems like I'm going to have to," I groaned.

"The same thing happened when she went down," Grace added, opening her phone and beginning to scroll. "Everyone knew before the end of the day. A lot of news passes through the locker rooms and the Hub."

"In other words," Tate concluded while merging onto the highway, "the next time you walk into the Hub, expect people to know who you are."

I crossed my arms and looked out the window. "Already happened. I stopped by the weight room for a few hours, and I think I spent more time talking than actually lifting."

Grace smirked, but didn't look up from her phone. She must have been looking for something. "Sounds about right. Agents on the 7 teams like to scout out the 6 and 5's, in case they get a chance to pull someone up. Kind of like what Doug did with you."

"Yeah, I heard you're only 16?" Kate turned around and looked at me again. "How did that happen?"

Time for test number one. I leaned back in the seat and crossed my legs. "SHIELD started a part-time training program at the Academy when it booted back up. Guess who was one of the first testers?"

Her eyebrows shot up, and she glanced at Tate, looking for answers. "What was that like?"

I guess I passed. She was more interested in the program than me. "I took classes during the regular semesters, and worked in Records during breaks," I explained, remembering how glad I was to finally be done with that. "It was really nice when it came time to pay fees for the classes."

"I bet," she groaned, turning back to face forward. "Not to mention nothing ever happens in Records. Don't need to worry about bombs blowing up in your face."

"It was two feet in front of you," Tate argued, slapping her with one hand while she kept the other one on the wheel. "How did you not see it?"

Probably pretty easily, I imagined. Distractions were everywhere on a battlefield. I had a different point to make though. "You weren't in Records when HYDRA came back. Do you know how long I was buried in paperwork? I got through 6 feet of forms in a week. That's taller than I am."

"How the hell?" Tate wondered, but I uncrossed my arms and shook my head as I grinned. "Where does 6 feet of paperwork even come from?"

"Government, mostly," I admitted. "Always the government."

"Look," Grace leaned over towards me, holding out her phone so I could see. While we had been talking, she had pulled up my Field profile, the one Smith had explained to me on day one. "You've only been on two missions, but you're already racking up points."

I didn't have much of a reference for how many points was a lot, but I could clearly see where I was making gains. Not getting shot was helping me a lot, and I was doing decently in most of the other areas. The one where I was really doing well was the 'Other' category.

"Mind explaining how you already have 10 points in Other?" she demanded, passing the phone up to the front row so they could see. "I've been on missions for years now, but I've never gotten that many Other points."

"Probably from the mission reports," I guessed, shrugging. "I mean, I audited them for years, so I know how to do it right."

"You get points for doing the reports?"

"Only if you don't need corrections. If it gets sent back, you don't get any."

Tate rolled her head back and groaned for an extended period of time. "Seriously? That's all I had to do?"

"Eyes on the road, woman!" Kate abolished her, and Tate corrected her driving right before she veered off the road.