Rather than meeting in the training room, Fitz-Simmons had decided to take the pair to one of the teaching labs over in building four. They weren't here to impress upon them how to fight - how to hurt people and get information from them or just to eliminate a threat. Instead, their job was to try to impart some scientific wisdom. "Jemma, did you get the--" "demonstration kit? Yes I did," Simmons answered, giving her husband a smile.

The mere fact that the second training session was taking place in a lab and not a gym, led Sami to believe that this was going to be far less hands on. Normally he'd be itching to get out of a classroom environment, but after several broken bones, figured that whatever the couple were teaching would be useful, and less fracture-ridden. Nodding at Arc and giving him a grin, Sami looked to Fitz and Simmons curiously as they mentioned a demonstration kit.

"I'm guessing this is going to be a bit more complicated than my high school science, huh?" He asked teasingly, taking a seat.

"Given that in the United States, high school science is a farce, yes," Simmons pointed out with a sweet smile. "And of course, even your universities will try to pass of writing courses as counting for science credit, it's no wonder your scientific literacy rate is so low." Arcturus chuckled at this, before someone came inside the room and pulled him inside. They needed him to come take a look at some data they had received, meaning that he was excused from training for the day. He gave Sami and the others a salute, before he left the room.

"And then there were three..."

Sami had watched Arc curiously as he left the room, thinking it a bit of a shame they wouldn't get to train together, even if it was just in the area of science. Still, one less person made it less likely for him to suffer yet another fracture.

"Let's get this show on the road then. What tricks do y'all have up your sleeve?" He was still interested in seeing what this demonstration consisted of, though he'd be less than amused if it involved stone of any kind. Kennedy had shown him enough of that.

"No tricks," Simmons said with a laugh. "It's not like we're about to attempt to convince you of the Copenhagen philosophy, whilst you're a solid defender of locality and prescribe to Einstein's opinion that it's nothing more than regulated the quantum world to ghostly action at a distance - now that would be some trick." Fitz laughed, as if that was a completely normal thing for an individual to say.

"Oh, dear old Bohr would be rolling in his grave," he added with a chuckle.

"Maybe in this universe," Simmons chimed in with a wink.

"Maybe we ought to get a decaying substance, strap it to a geiger counter, and have the rigged to a doomsday device - and instead of a cat, we can use our new friend," Fitz suggested.

"Oh, that'd be cruel, and hardly anyone ever pursues that to the logical extreme, dear."

Sami watched the exchange between husband and wife, unimpressed and still waiting for an actual lesson to take place. Were they trying to prove a point by rattling off theorems and dead scientists or something? He wasn't sure if they were trying to act cute or if it was just something white people did to show off how clever they were. Whatever the case, he was missing Agent Kennedy's to-the-point demonstrations every second, broken bones or not. Before one of them could crack another chemistry joke that would just sound pretentious to anybody else's ears, Sami interjected with a grin.

"Maybe you guys ought to get on with the demonstration? Pretty sure Fury ain't paying us to be sitting round poking fun at... whatever the hell you guys were saying." He said jovially, though hoping they'd actually get the hint now and do their jobs.

Fitz-Simmons stared at him for a moment, frowning. Not everyone could appreciate the complexities of quantum mechanics - and the potential for faster than light signaling that could allow for messages to be transmitted into the past. They shared a look with each other that pretty much could've been interpreted as - typical Operations cadet. "So we thought it would be best to give you something that you might retain - a lesson in basic combat first aid. We'll start with CPR." Jemma said, pulling out a CPR dummy. Fitz then demonstrated the proper procedures, advising Sami to think of the song Stayin' Alive in order to keep the timing correct.

Sami had noticed the look going on between the married couple, but kept on smiling at them anyway. He was familiar with that look, having seen it plenty of times in high school. It was the look that popular girls shared with each other when a kid lower on the food chain didn't get the latest fashion trend, hairstyle or popular band at that time. It was the look the smart kids shared when a less talented or quick-thinking child struggled with a math problem at the front of the class when it came to them so easily. Even the Jocks would share that look when a kid who knew nothing about football tried to made conversation with them about it. Here, it was a pair of married nerds patronising a guy who hadn't taken science any farther than high-school for not knowing about wormholes or some complicated shit like that.

However, thankfully the nerds had actually started teaching him something. He was pleased to see something as recognizable as a CPR dummy, recalling the brief classes he'd taken in high school about the life-saving act. They'd also been taught the Heimlich manoeuvre, though most kids just saw the demonstrations as a chance to give their "choking" actor a bruised diaphragm for the next few days. He had too, but his buddy had dealt out just the same damage with a laugh when they had swapped over.

"Y'know, I saw an ad which said "Another one bites the dust" works for the tempo too." He said as he began his first 30 pumps on the dummy, hand over hand and applying as much pressure as possible. "Kinda fucked up right? A song about staying alive and one about dying, both for CPR." For the task at hand though, the former was probably more hopeful for the supposed victim.

"Honestly, it's quite appropriate for a situation where there best hope is an Operations cadet," Fitz said with a partial smile. There was a huge rivalry between SciTech and Operations, as was to be expected. Communications was like the Hufflepuff of SHIELD - they got along with everyone. SciTech was Slytherin and Operations was Gryffindor, two mortal foes destined to kill each other one day. "Good work on sticking to the correct pacing," Simmons encouraged.

Once again, Sami didn't comment on the snide remark made by Fitz, though Simmons' encouragement made the situation more positive. He had never understood the whole rivalry thing. Actually, that was a lie - he could understand two teams working together to the same goal having a rivalry, but that kind of shit was expected of kids and teenagers in high school. The fact that a bunch of adults between Operations and SciTech thought it was par for the course to regularly insult each other was frankly pathetic, in his eyes. They all had their role to play, and there was even crossovers between the two. He knew Operations folk who could hack with the best of them, and SciTech who could put you on your ass before you could say "truce". Hey, one of the people he got along with the most here was Niah, and she was SciTech.

Continuing several bouts of CPR through the coaching of his teachers, Sami recalled the grim thought he'd had when he practised chest compressions for the first time as a kid: hoping that he'd never have to do it in real life, especially on someone he cared about. However, with all the deaths that had happened already in the group, before they'd even started their first mission, he didn't hold much hope for the future about safe travels.

He wasn't too sure how this was going to go, for him it was almost like he had been asked to help out at the last minute. Steve wasn't too sure how things were going to play out during this training session or whatever, but it didn't matter too much. As long as the two learned something from this whole experience, then he'd be fine with it. He was holding his shield in his hands as he waited for the others to arrive, not sure what else to do.

Tinley, dressed to the nines in her training outfit again, entered the room, wondering what she would be doing with Captain America himself. From what she knew, Captain America was a Super Soldier from years ago, so she didn't imagine this would be power control. Was it combat focus? Leadership perhaps? Either way, she walked in and held out her hand. "Hello sir, a pleasure to meet you. Name is Agent Abercrombie. Mind if I ask what we are doing today?"

Novikova entered the room second, unable to be a bit giddy. Growing up, everyone knew about Captain America - the world's first superhero. And then roughly a decade or so ago, more individuals with powers began to show up in the news, saving citizens from threats and dangers. The program that created Captain America - that turned Steve Rogers into a living legend - eventually formed the basis of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Novikova's opinion, even if the SSR was technically absorbed into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s science division. "It's an honor to meet you," Novikova said, hesitating slightly over introducing herself. "I'm Agent Novikova - but you can call me Morgan if that's hard for you to say."

"Well, pleasure to meet both of you, so the plan for us today is probably going to be some hand to hand combat training, maybe a few other things if we have time, but we'll just have to wait and see about that," he said, giving the two a friendly smile, "First of all, let's see how strong you two are naturally, we'll start with you Abercrombie," he continued, walking over to a punching bag that had been set up. "Punch this..."

Tinley shrugged and stepped up to the punching bag. It wasn't unlike anything she hadn't done before. She got combat ready, holding her fists up and bouncing on her feet. She mustered as much strength as she could, hitting the bag hard. It moved and she stepped back. It felt good to train like this again and not have rock forms or power usage be a thing. "How was that?"

"Nice hit," he said, nodding his head, and looking slightly impressed, it kind of reminded him of how well Romanoff tended to do things, which wasn't all too surprising since she was a SHIELD agent too. "You seem to have done this before, and you seem to be pretty strong, so good job overall... Alright then Novikova, your turn, let's see how strong you are," he continued, turning to look at her.

Novikova wasn't surprised that Tinley did so well - she was the team lead and trained through Operations. Sci-Tech wasn't as rigorous on the physical side of things when it came to their agents, but Marygold had taught her some hand-to-hand combat skills throughout her training sessions with her. She just hoped she didn't injure herself punching the bag and Novikova tried her best, punching the bag and resisting the urge to shake out her hand afterwards. It stung slightly.

"Didn't expect you to be as strong, no offense, but you're Sci Tech right or something like that? Anyway, let's see if you two can at least see about fighting each other somewhat... I'm not going to fight you, as I have a slight edge when it comes to that, so you two will have a little sparring match against each other, and Novikova, maybe it'll help you get better, and Abercrombie? It might help you out with practicing a few things you already know." he said with a nod of his head, backing away slightly from them. Steve still wasn't too sure how this whole training thing was going to work out, but hey, at least he was trying something.

It seems fighting would be on the agenda again. Granted, this time around it seemed that he was focusing more on standard hand-to-hand combat than applying powers, which was fine. "All right, but I hope we do more than just fight. I already got that my last training session." Tinley stood ready in her fighting stance as she faced Novikova. She wasn't sure how a Sci-Tech agent would handle fighting, but she had been proven wrong during the simulation so she looked forward to seeing how this played out. "Ready when you are, Agent Novikova."

Novikova bit her lip slightly, shifting into a fighting stance. It had made sense when Marygold showed it to her - and she could feel herself be balanced. Yet she had no doubt that Agent Abercrombie would win this fight. Her main goal was to at least not make a complete fool of herself in front of Captain America. If she could do that, she'd consider this training session somewhat of a success. She threw a punch at Tinley, yet critically mis-measured her distance and didn't even come close to hitting her. She was a foot too far away. I am so dead...

Tinley braced herself for the attack, but Novikova seemed to overestimate her distance as her punch never went near her. Tinley saw an opportunity to grab her and stepped forward, trying to latch on to her arm to flip her, but it seemed Novikova saw this and attempted to backtrack. However, the poor girl got tripped up and landed on the ground. Tinley didn't have the heart to do anything more than that and walked over and offered her a hand. "Here, let me help you up. Let's try that again with better results, yeah?"

Novikova nodded, taking Tinley's hand to get up when her glasses slipped and fell off her face, hitting the ground. Fortunately the lenses didn't break or anything but as she caught a glimpse of Tinley, she seemed to space out for a moment as her mind was plunged with images. There was Tinley, clad in all black with a whip in her hand as she stood over Nick Fury. Novikova felt a bit sick at that one. And in another, she was in a business suit, greeting the Queen of England. The last one was the most troubling - it was Tinley fighting Jim. Novikova gulped, trying to put her glasses back on before she saw too much.

"You didn't have too bad of an idea there, if you kind of put yourself in that sort of position, trying to slightly backtrack and getting away from them isn't a bad thing. Sometimes you need to step away from the fighting, at least a little, before you can strike back effectively..." he said, giving her a smile as he walked over to the two of them, before he noticed how she was trying to avoid looking at anyone until she could get her glasses back on. "You should also try to keep those on as much as possible or something, to make sure that your abilities involving your vision doesn't cause too many problems..."

Tinley wasn't quite sure about the whole glasses bit, but Novikova seemed shaken. Once she felt the girl was ready, Tinley resumed her fighting stance. This time, she didn't hesitate to make the first move. However, she threw a punch at Novikova, but she didn't put too much force behind it. Enough to hit her and get her to move, but hopefully enough to leave Tinley open for her to try something. This was more about helping Novikova than helping herself.

Novikova scrambled to put her glasses back on. She kept a subtle retort to Cap that of course she knew to keep her glasses on to herself. As Tinley punched her, even if it was soft, Novikova moved backwards with a small yelp. Marygold had been way less intimidating than Tinley. Maybe it was the accent. She tried to throw a punch at Tinley, only to barely graze the side of Tinley's arm. It was like a baby mouse trying to defend itself against a cat.

He shook his head, they weren't getting anywhere with this. Tinley knew what she was doing, but Novikova clearly had no clue. Maybe hand to hand wasn't for her, but still, she needed to learn more about defending herself. "Alright... Think we're going to end it here, we aren't getting anywhere. Agent Abercrombie, nice job, you know how to handle yourself in a fist fight, which is always a great skill to have. Novikova? Might I suggest practicing a little bit, you might find yourself in a situation where you can't use your powers." he said, nodding to her as he picked up his shield and headed out of the room.

Tinley sighed, watching Captain America walk away. She had been looking forward to this and now it was over. She lent a hand for Novi to stand back up. "Look AgentNovikova, you're a smart girl. However, if we're going to be on a team, I need to know you'll be out there and not falling on your bum every time there's an enemy. He was right, you need to train. If you want, I can help with some one-on-one training. The basics to start."

---

---

---

---

---

Once again, Mary found herself waiting in the training room for her next group. It was interesting for her to say the least, though she knew that she tended to be a little nicer with training sessions than the ones she started out with when she first joined the team. Training with Wolverine tended to make you want to keep track of what you were doing, and always stay focus, otherwise, you would usually end up injured in some way.

Maria entered the training room as she looked over as she noticed Marygold there and gave her a friendly smile and wave towards her as she quickly ran up towards her. "Hey there, how are you doing today?" Maria asked, she was pretty excited to be training with the leader of the X-Men as she extended her gloved hand over towards Mary. She wanted to make a better impression this time with her than when they all came out of the Framework.

Niah was tired. She hadn't been sleeping well and everything felt like it was weighing her down. She wanted to work on her powers though so she had signed up for some training with Marygold. When she showed up Maria was there, she gave her running friend a small smile. Then nodded at Marygold. "Thank you for the gloves."

Last to arrive, Grif walks into the room in the same training outfit he had on last time. Agent Lee reporting for duty. Pleasure to be training under you again ma’am. Setting his eyes on Marygold before stepping into a brief salute. He thinks to the last training session, his fall left bruises across his back and they were still sore as they are; not that he would admit it, of course. Nevertheless, today was a new day to further improve his skills.

"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking Maria's hand, and giving Niah a smile before she turned to Griffin. "Nice to see you again too Lee, though might I say, don't feel too bad about falling like that. Try getting pushed out a four-story window by Pietro Maximoff, before he kind of ended up becoming a friend... Anyway, we are going to still be working on power control. I've noticed we've got a few people here who I haven't already met, so let's see how much control you have over your powers, at least for the moment, and you are welcome for the gloves. I might have raided a few things from the old team that they had left lying around, the gloves the pair of you have are from my friend Rogue... Anyway, I want you two to show me at least somewhat how much control over your powers you have... And Lee? Let's see if you have better control over yours..." she said with a bit of a smile.

Maria looked over towards Niah and nodded towards her. "Good morning." Maria said, though she felt bad for her friend after hearing the training session with Cass when they lost Z for some weird reason. She didn't even know what happened in the first place, but she would be there for her friend if she needed. Then Griff came in as well and she nodded towards him as well, before her attention went back over towards Marygold. She was also grateful for the gloves as well, though she couldn't really touch anyone unless they wanted to feel their life trained from them, and also copying their powers if they had any. She gave Marygold a friendly smile for a moment she was looking forward to the training session. "I'm really looking forward to be training with you as well by the way." Maria said as she rubbed the back of her neck slightly. "Speaking of Rogue, it seems I sort of have the same powerset as hers, anyone okay if they share?" Maria asked.

"I'm okay with sharing. I have the ability to amplify my senses as desired. But depending on what I amplify I lose something. My other power is psychometry, touching things tells me something about them. I haven't used that one at all yet." Niah pulled her glove free and offered it, Maria. She then looked at the latecomer "Hello I'm Niah Bautista."

Grif eases from his salute and looks to the two agents, nodding back to Maria before greeting Niah, "Griffin Lee, Operations. I'm called a 'photokinetic' meaning that I absorb and control light if you put it simply." He briefly considering sharing his own powers with his fellow Operations agent but Bautista had already offered and truth be told, he was looking forward to putting his powers through a good showing today. Stepping away from the others, posthaste, he crosses his arms in an 'X' shape with hands spread out wide. It was all a matter of control, gather up and convert the light energy in his body into proper constructs before shaping them as he pleased. Small rounds of highlight would materialize between his fingers on both hands, none being any larger than a marble, each one giving off this intense glow. "I strongly recommend that you all shields your eyes for this." Without another moment to waste, he fires them up into the air at once, the whole barrage instantly flaring up like some high-grade fireworks. The sudden, blinding light fills the entirety of the training room.

"Looks like you might have gotten better at this Agent Lee," Mary said to him with a bit of a smile before looking over at Maria and Niah. "So I heard... Don't worry Bautista, she can try out mine. Chlorokinesis is the technical term for my powers, not to mention I am somewhat used to having my powers get zapped at a moments notice," she said, shaking her head slightly at Niah as she held out a hand to her, "Though should warn you about a few things that can happen with your powers if you aren't careful, namely you could potentially put someone into a coma if you aren't careful, or nearly kill them. If you hold onto someone else who has powers for too long, well, odds are that you'll knock them out cold, for like ever, and permanently gain their powers... I know this based around a few stories I've been told over the years. So be careful when you try to absorb powers, especially from a teammate. But feel free to try out my powers, they can be a little difficult to control, I will warn you... When I first got them I couldn't walk on grass since I'd just make everything around me burst into flowers," she said before with her other hand she tossed out a few plant seeds from her pocket and they started swirling around into vines.

"No need for all that saluting stuff really Lee, I wasn't a soldier before joining SHIELD." Maria said giving Lee a slight smile for a moment, she watched as Lee started to show off control with his powers and shielded her eyes. Seeing the display was rather impressive for her to see and smiled. "That looks amazing Lee." Maria said as she listened to her friend Niah as she spoke about hers and offered to let her use her ability. But she listened to Marygold as she warned her about her powers and nodded, it was something that she didn't want anyone to go through at least those that were enemies. But friends and allies she wouldn't let that happen to them, she watched Marygold showcase her powers seeing the seeds grow into vines which was pretty cool. "I'll take Mary's I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone of you guys." Maria said as she then went to take off her own glove and gently took Mary's hand and started to manipulate the vines that Mary had just made and smiled to herself.

But I was and still am. A chain of command within any military institution should be properly respected, I'm just giving my dues. Grif replies back to Maria, he pauses and hopes that he didn't sound too snappish, "Thank you for the compliment. You're quite adept at using Marygold's power after seeing it for the first time yourself." He'd shift into a light warm-up, mostly some stretches to work out any kinks, just to prepare for a more hands-on, physical exertion of himself later in the training session. As he was stretching out his deltoid, he was reminded of something he had to tell Marygold about his own powers. Grif walks over to the instructor, "Marygold, ma'am. I've had a development concerning my powers and to put it frankly.. I can't sleep."

"Nice job, you are a quick learner aren't you?" Mary said with a smile. Though when she let go of Maria's hand, she looked a little pale after that, maybe a little tired even. "Keep it up like that, and you'll easily be able to take on a lot of people, using their own powers against them..." she continued, now the slight exhaustion could be heard slightly in her voice, but she wasn't letting it get in her way. She turned to Griffin, "So... What? You can't turn it off or something? That could be a little bit of a problem."

Maria looked towards Griff and Mary and smiled towards them as she moved the vines around her hands and arms a little bit just to get used to them. "Thank you." Maria said towards both Mary and Griff as she looked at Griff for a moment as he asked about his power, and not being able to sleep. "Your power is like what controlling of light and stuff right?" Maria asked then looking over at Mary for a moment. "Could be sort of like solar panels, there's light all around us, they absorb light and then be used as power which probably keeps you running at night as well since it's stored?"

"I couldn't have put it better myself. With all the light I absorb throughout the day, physically speaking, my body doesn't have any real need for sleep." Grif explains, nodding at Maria's theory behind his newfound insomnia. At first, he was genuinely concerned with the lack of sleep ever since when he first gained his powers, thinking it be some sort of debilitating side effect of the Phase Three experiment. But now, after learning he was still more energized than ever even after going days without any sleep. His powers were already developing past his expectations, "To be honest, I don't feel any fatigue. Really I feel more bored if anything, my days are considerably longer now and I'm looking for some way to put the extra hours to good use."

"That would make the most sense, your body is also probably still getting used to the amount of energy and whatever that you constantly have... So, with that out of the way, we are going to do a similar little chase or whatever, you are going to see about hitting me or whatever, or stopping me in whatever way possible. Lee was in the last group I was helping out, and since you three should know at least somewhat how to control your powers, it'll be you three against me, but this time, I'm going to keep things on the ground since I don't want anyone falling 20, 30 feet again. Things also might be a little easier, since Maria has my powers, but we'll see," Mary said, before she got more seeds out of her pocket and tossed them, creating more that she moved around by her, and she stepped on one of them, and got away from the group rather quickly, before she stepped off, she was about 100 feet away from them on the ground.

Maria gave Griff a smile and nod, but she wasn't a scientist it would probably be a better question asked by one of their SciTech colleagues anyway. "Could ask the SciTech people when we are done I'm sure they know a thing or two about powers." Maria then turned her attention back towards Mary and gave her a nod, as she got the vines in her arms again. However, the vines had something other in mind, as they moved the complete opposite direction that she wanted. Not getting very far.

Niah listened to the conversation slipping her glove back on. Everyone's powers were so spectacular sounding, hers, on the other hand, didn't seem to add much in the way of combat help. She could probably track better, she hoped. Niah pushed away the other senses and focused on her sense of hearing. Her mouth got the now familiar tasteless-ness. There were a lot of sounds to sort through, but the strange sound of plant matter against the hard surface of the training room was easy enough to pick out. As long as Maria didn't get too exuberant with her plant making Niah thought. "She went that way." Niah spoke in quietly. She pointed the way Marygold had gone and kept her finger in the general direction she was currently. "About a hundred feet out." She added.

Maria looked over towards Niah as she started to use her own powers as well, as she started to get ready to use the vines that she borrowed from Mary. "Thanks for the info Niah." Maria said towards Niah. "Keep relaying where she is and track her." She then turned to look over at Griff. "Try and knock her down or something with your lights or something." Maria then extended her hand forward, only to have it not work and just flop uselessly in front of her. Grumbling to herself Maria decided to get closer, using the information that Niah had given her and ran in the direction of Mary.

Grif gives an affirming nod to Maria before she ran towards where Marygold had taken off to, "Affirmative. But first.." He trails off as he turns back to Niah, "It doesn't seem like you have much in the way of offensive abilities or training." Beams of light are given off of Grif's stretched out, left hand, slowly coalescing into a solid form; being shaped into a hard-light construct, resembling a machete. The glowing blade of light would hover in the air, floating within Niah's reach, "You'd be more effective against the vines with a bladed weapon, nothing overly complicated." With that said he'd make off to follow behind Maria, sparks flashing across his hands as he rushed to catch up.

Niah nervously took the light sword. She had absolutely no skill with it except the ability to swing it wildly. She might be able to use it like a machete, but it was better than nothing she supposed. She followed behind Grif listening for breathing or even footfalls that didn't belong to either Grif or Maria. Niah frowned, she thought she had heard Marygold land, but she wasn't hearing her walk. She could, however, hear her breathing and quietly gave directions accordingly to Maria and Grif.

Maria looked between Niah and Griff for a moment, before running forward a bit more trying her best to keep up with Marygold, with the vines wrapped around her arms. She concentrated and then finally forced the vines forward, watching them fly forward and couldn't help but smile proudly when it managed to hit her mark. Knocking Mary directly into the wall, but she realized that she used a little to much strength in it and quickly ran over towards Mary holding out a gloved hand to her. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to hit you that hard." Maria said looking a bit worried.

"Don't worry about it... I've definitely been hit by worse... Though that's a first getting hit by vines like that..." she said with a slight smile, accepting her hand to stand up. "Oh the stories I could tell you about every fight I've been in since I was 16... Anyway, nice job... You guys completed the goal and actually caught up to me... In a normal fight, odds are it wouldn't end with you having a conversation or anything. So, I think we're going to end the training session here, I think you guys are going to be fine, so don't worry about it... Also, Bautista, I didn't mention this before, but I heard about what happened during your last session with someone. I know how you feel, the second mission I was leading we lost someone. I still blame myself for it, since we split up and I changed the lineup of who was on which team at the last minute. Switched him with myself... That sort of thing... It will never go away... But you can use it to help yourself, to push yourself to make sure that it never happens again, that you protect the others around you... That's what I ended up doing, despite the guilt I still feel. Anyway... Thought you should hear that... I might see you all around, I might not, we'll see what happens, our session here is over," she said with a smile and small wave, heading out of the room. She helped them out the best she could, and now she was going to see about tracking down some painkillers for her headache.

Niah nodded at what Marygold told her. "Thanks." It would be difficult, Niah knew that. She also knew that Z and Antoine both would want her to push on. They had wanted her to better herself. Z had even said they would work on hand-to-hand, even though that had obviously never happened. She took a deep breath and offered the unused light back to Grif. "I appreciate it."

"Anytime." Grif replies back as he eyes Marygold's back leavinng the room, though his training under her was brief; the leader of the X-Men had helped hone his newfound powers for better use, in and out of combat. He grabs the blade as Niah handed it over, the hardlight construct shattering into traces of light while his gaze turned to the other two still in the room. "Nice going today the both of you. I can rest easy knowing I'll have capable agents to rely out on the field, hopefully, you can think the same as well. Until next time." Before stepping out of the room, he gives a curt salute, and then heads off to retire for the day. He'd need to find something to do to, with all the time free to himself during the nights. Maybe this could be time well spent for some individual training, the more he does the better he would on his first mission, whenever that may be. The gym it is.

---

---

---

If you received a skill reward, please edit it into your CS within 48 hours or it will be considered lost in a drunken haze. Skills indicate where they should be placed as well.

---

---

---

Novikova was sitting in the lounge, having found a pair of headphones and plugged them into her phone, listening to one of her favorite songs - Paranoid by Black Sabbath. The remastered version, of course. She tapped her foot quietly, thinking about the events of the last week. Captain America had been more interested in giving her and Abercrombie traditionally combat training, with Tinley offering to mentor her some as well. She had gotten better by the end of the week, yet she couldn't help but despise the image those two had in their mind that she was some weak and delicate thing.

She clenched her hand. There wasn't a lot of earth on this plane - mostly just tracks of dust that people had tracked in with their feet - yet she could feel them. They were too distant to do much of anything with and she let it go. Five different people had left the program in one way or another - Hale had gone with a team to Canada to look in on an old facility as a favor to Dr. Jiang, as rumors of activity had popped up on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar. Kelley had returned from his mission to Eastern Europe, just in time to be sent along with Hale on the Canadian mission. Val had gone home due to a family emergency and both Nikolova and Rivera were, tragically perhaps, deceased.

It had been enough of a loss in numbers for Fury to reabsorb Team Beta into Team Alpha - something Novikova privately realized had been his intention all along. A few different names had been thrown around S.H.I.E.L.D. command as to what to call them - Phase Three didn't seem to do them justice. Of all of them, Novikova found the Secret Warriors to be the absolute worst - yet it seemed to be what Fury had decided fit them best.

They had received some new members, of course - ones experienced in the field and with their powers. Agents Blake, Vasyutin, and Renroir had all joined. The command structure remained largely the same. Agent Kennedy was in charge of them all, assisted by Agent Reed. Agent Abercrombie would lead the team in the field. And the rest would follow her command.

---

---

---

Fury wasn't actually on the Bus. No, in reality he was back at the Triskleion, sorting out the latest crisis. Yet the C.O.'s office had a private television, making it ideal for a live conversation between him and the upper command agents. Of course, its privacy had also caused two others on the Bus to choose to use it for some...less than respectable purposes, causing Fury to sigh and inform them that he could damn well see them fucking over there. That was a mess he'd have to deal with later. It was against S.H.I.E.L.D. policies but he had bigger fish to fry at the moment than worry about who Agent Raynor chose to have sex with.

"Let's cut to the chase," Fury said, as soon as Agents Kennedy, Reed, and Abercrombie were in the room. "As I hope you all know, since otherwise I clearly need to hit you over the head with briefing reports instead of just sending them along, Lucia von Bardas was elected as Serbia's prime minister. She's from the Latveria region - a fucked up place that we believe is now exporting tech based weapons to some of the greatest pains in our asses. And the Cheeto in charge won't do shit about it. Intel says that we are just weeks away from Von Bardas sending advanced tech to the Ghost, the Vulture, the Brotherhood...You name it, she supplies them. Your mission is to shut down the weapon trade covertly, since I don't have to remind you that one fucking tweet and we could all be out of work, even if it is to save the world."

"At least Jakobsen wouldn't fuck around with stuff like this..." Kennedy muttered. The man had his flaws, that was for certain, but he was the best one currently running for office. And he doubted that Jakobsen would just sit around and do nothing while von Bardas was arming the criminals of the world with high powered weapons. He rubbed his hand for a moment. It had been a while since he had been to Serbia. Last time he was there, he was human - he had a normal life. And then, thanks to Isotope E, that all had changed...

"Well he hasn't been elected yet, unless I need to remind you how to use a calendar, Kennedy," Fury pointed out without a trace of humor in his voice or face - but on the inside he was cracking up. "Shut it down. Lethal force is authorized if necessary, but I'd like to avoid a nuclear war. I don't have enough Advil to make that headache go away."

The last few days had been rough for Niah. She was trying to deal with the tumultuous emotions. Two of her closet friends were dead, and Arc was off on some other mission. That left her little of her social circle. There were others, like Sami, thank goodness. Even though they hadn't gotten a chance to really hang out recently cause the training took up so much of their time.

Niah sat in a chair cross-legged. She was taking slow long breaths cycling through her senses testing the limits of them. She was trying to let her senses shift between and focus on each. Maybe it was the emotions in her own mind that she couldn't get a grip on any of the senses strongly. She couldn't even hear the music Agent Novikova was listening to. Niah could feel her frustrations rising. Why was her power so finicky?

She released the meditation pose and leaned back into the chair. She should also work on how to use her Psychometry. There were applications she could see for Forensic Science, but she had no idea how the power actually worked. She hadn't used it at all yet.

---

---

---

---

---

Sparky knew that odds were that she and Raynor would get caught eventually, there was no way that they wouldn't be, but the way that it did happen, and who caught them, well, it made her want to go run and hide and pretend that she was not there. The fact that Fury had caught them, and he wasn't even on the Bus, showed just how careless they were being, and she had expected Fury to yell at them about it overall, but still. They had been caught by freaking Fury himself which made things about one hundred times worse.

Now, after that entire altercation, Sparky had gone into a sort of hiding place. She had gone into her room, and was really wanting to be off of the Bus right then. Though at least Fury wasn't actually on the ship and had caught them through a video instead of actually walking in on them, that would have been worse. She had a blanket kind of pulled up over her head, not even really saying anything to Raynor who was with her. After a few minutes of hiding, she kind of poked her head out from underneath the blanket and looked at him, still not saying anything.

---

---

Cassandra walked into the C.O.'s Office seeing Nick Fury on the TV screen that was there and took her seat across from the table and turned to look at Kennedy as he entered along with Abercrombie as their briefing started up in good old Fury fashion. Cass leaned back in her seat, they were going to Latveria, Serbia it instantly reminded her of Quicksilver who was from there. Lucia von Bardas was selling weapons to various people like the Brotherhood. "I would have thought that the Brotherhood would have at least changed after the whole thing with Jakobson." Cass said giving a slight shrug.

"Any idea what kind of weapons they are trying to sell off, and where they are located?" Cassandra asked, it would help that they would know what kind of weapons that they were selling and if they decided to use them against the team. She then turned towards Kennedy, since he had been to Serbia before he ended up getting his powers. "And whats the weather and terrain usually like there?" She wanted to get as much information as possible.

---

---

---

---

Maria had spent about the last hour catching up with her sister for a little bit over the phone, eventually she had to hang up she of course didn't tell her younger sister anything about what she did in SHIELD other then that she recently just finished training. She of course couldn't see her as much as she'd like to anymore as Maria stretched out slightly and left the safety of her very small cabin. She looked around before heading into the lounge seeing both Niah and Dominika there as well, she smiled as she started to approach the two of them.

Maria vaulted over the couch and sat down next to Dominika while she listened to her music, she couldn't really hear what she was listening to, Maria then lifted up one of the headphones off of her ear. "So hows it going?" Maria asked before leaning back looking over at Niah as well wondering how she was holding up as well. She remembered hearing what happened with Nikolova and then a few of the other agents leaving to do other missions. But they had a few other fresh faces to the group as well, more experienced agents who knew what they were doing which was probably a good thing.

Maria was getting a little bit antsy as to what their first mission was actually going to be, they would be cooped up in the Bus for awhile not to mention the cabins were fairly small as well. She could have sworn hearing Sparky and Raynor going at it, it didn't make her uncomfortable or anything Maria couldn't really touch anyone unless they ended up passing out. "So Sparky and Raynor have gotten rather friendly."

---

---

---

Tinley sat in the office along with Cassandra, Fury, and Kennedy. She had been practicing extra hard in training, knowing fully well that she was meant to step up now that she was Field Commander. Since the teams were now pushed into one whole one, she had a lot more to consider. She had already poured herself into learning what she could about those in the Communications and Sci-Tech schools since she already had a decent grasp on those in Operations. And, to top it off, she had new people coming in as well.

Needless to say, she was stressed.

But she didn't let it show. She wouldn't. She was given a great honor and she was bound and determined to prove herself. So she listened intently as Fury highlighted the mission. Latveria was not often talked about in her understanding and that often worried her. Especially if there was weapons trading going on. That spelled disaster for all involved. Lucia von Bardas rubbed her the wrong way. Every time she saw the woman on TV or in some newspaper or journal article she wanted to punch her. "So are we looking for a get in, get out stealth mission or do we go in full force? I'd opt for stealth, of course."

---

---

---

Tempest entered the Loung riding a high of beating the ever-loving stuffing out of all parties in Fortnite. She bounced on her feet as she entered, unaware that there were people in there she hadn't met quite yet. She only recently got there, but she was briefed before. Her hair was black, but it had streaks of dark purple and blue in it. She wore all black, save for a pink panda bear on her shirt.

Her energy was boundless, it seemed. She was looking forward to actually getting to work. She grabbed a bottle of water before she turned to face the room, seeing those inside of it finally. "Oh, whoops. Sorry for ignoring you all. Name's Tempest and yes, you heard that right. Looks like I'll be joining you guys, hope that's cool."

She made her way over to a seat and plopped down, taking out her phone to check her data. "So, anyone play games? I just totally creamed noobs in Fortnite."

---

---

---

@BlueSky44: Raynor was standing in Sparky's cabin, leaning against her desk. He had decided to just let her hide under the blanket, not sure if she wanted to talk to him or not. While Fury seeing them was less than ideal, he had a wary suspicion that his cousin might have had something to do with it. It was the sort of thing he did - putting people into awkward and compromising situations. He was unbearable on Valentine's Day, yet he knew it likely wasn't him. He was an entire reality away, after all. "Hey, Princess..." Raynor greeted softly, seeing Sparky poke her head out at him. "Look, I um....I'm really sorry that happened...I'll take full responsibility..."

@Peridot: Wherever Sami is, he'll receive a message from an unknown source. Of course, his gut will tell him that the sender must have been from someone high up in S.H.I.E.LD. command, if not from Fury himself. It also corresponds to the brief conversation that had previously. Unfortunately, it isn't news about his still missing uncle. Instead, it's a simple message, under five words: Eliminate von Bardas.

---

---

---

"I'm fine, listening to Black Sabbath," Novikova said, taking her headphones off. She set her head lightly against Maria's chest, careful not to touch any of Maria's skin, as she relaxed slightly. They were friends first and foremost, and she felt incredibly safe around her. As Maria brought up Sparky and Raynor, Novikova nodded slightly. "There's something weird about him, Agent Blake...Like he knows something..." Of course, if he hurt her BFF and former roommate, he'd be dead, no doubt about it. Novikova then glanced up at Maria. "You don't think he's HYDRA, do you?" she asked softly.

As Tempest entered the room, Novikova couldn't help but appreciate the girl's looks. She was stunning. And helping to repair the imbalance between Communications, Operations, and Sci-Tech on the Bus. Yet her mind was still on Agent Blake, not knowing that they were going to be plunged into a mission shortly. He had been spending an awful a lot of alone time with Sparky - and maybe Tempest knew something about him? They both were agents with experience. She didn't know if they had worked together previously or not.

"Tempest...What do you know about HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD? Is it really over?" Novikova asked, curious. She was leaving Niah be, not sure if she wanted to talk or be a part of this conversation. Evidence had come to light that Nikolova was involved with HYDRA as well. "And Agent Blake....What is he? A mutant?"

---

---

---

Jim shook his head at Cass' comment about the Brotherhood. In his experience, movements like Jakobsen's only served to further empower groups like the Brotherhood. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - and with O.M.E.N.'s transgressions against mutants, more were beginning to think that Magneto was right. They only narrowly avoided genocide - if they stood by idly, what's to say that wouldn't happen again? "If it was that simple to discourage Magneto and his band of asshats, the X-Men would've retired ages ago," Jim pointed out.

Fury gave Jim a bit of a side eye. "The weapons vary in design - they're constructed out of salvaged remains after fights involving the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Defenders, Alpha Flight...You name it, they're picking up the leftovers and seeing what they can put together. Intel says von Bardas' top engineer is calling himself the Tinkerer - since everyone needs have a fucking codename these days."

"The location is Castle Doomstadt in Hassenstadt, the most populous city of the Latveria region. Fucking medieval ass castle was converted into the state house, von Bardas will be there. It's also where we believe the weapons are being shipped off to the highest bidder - and of course, made in some dank ass basement below. Weather is prone to rain like shit, so be prepared for that, and the temperature is fairly cool...And yes, Agent Abercrombie, stealth. This cannot and I mean cannot be traced back to the United States." There was a silent implication to that. If they were caught, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be able to come save them.

Despite the fact that they were now essentially living on a plane, Sami was settling in quite well in his new room. He'd never been a fan of moving, but the transition from the Academy to the Bus felt far more liberating than any other time. Even with the the newest deaths hanging over the group, finally being out on a mission together felt like things were finally coming to a head. All that pain, suffering and risk to get their powers was over with... replaced with a whole new one, but at least they'd have a fighting chance working as a group. You couldn't really do much against the mutations shutting down your body as had happened to poor Antoine.

Just as Sami was thinking that he should track down Niah for some TLC, his phone buzzed. Not recognising the number, he wondered very briefly if perhaps Fury had taken him up on his request and was keeping him posted about his Uncle. Unfortunately, the subject of the message was something entirely out of Sami's comfort zone. The vagueness of the message didn't help, nor did the unknown sender. He knew it must have come from someone high up, possibly even Fury himself. Thinking back, Fury had even mentioned von Bardas when they discussed killing enemy foes in battle... but still, this seemed too far. Sami had no qualms about killing people in self-defence or the defence of others, but being told to put someone down during the mission felt like an assassination. He hadn't signed up to be an assassin, and he certainly felt uncomfortable about the shady way they had gone about doing this. Why couldn't they ask the rest of the group, if it was so important? Was the threat of HYDRA still so abundant that they felt they could only trust the gay black guy who couldn't possibly be a Nazi? Or perhaps it was his relation to the esteemed Colonel Rhodes. Whatever the case, he didn't like it, but had no idea how to broach the subject with the others - or if he should even risk discussing it.

Leaving his room in a far dimmer mood, Sami made his way to the lounge, hoping he could get a bit of alcohol in before their mission truly started.

There was something calming about everyone talking around her. She listened to the conversations but decided to not participate. Her stomach twisted over the possibility of anyone else being part of HYDRA. Why would anyone join them? She frowned. She wasn't certain she could believe the allegations that had been brought forward about Z either. Z had been a lesbian. HYDRA would have destroyed her. Niah closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When Sami walked in she smiled at him and waved. She was too friendly to not be happy when a friend came in, despite everything. At least Niah could be certain he wasn't part of HYDRA, he was everything they hated. She patted the seat next to her offering it to him when he finished getting his drink. "How are you doing?"

---

---

---

---

---

"I-I-It's fine... I knew we'd probably get caught eventually... Just... N-N-Not like that..." she stammered, before she covered her head with the blanket again, still somewhat hiding from him. Sparky was panicking, quite a bit actually, because of everything. Things were flying through her head, and she was trying to calm down a little. She was glad that Raynor was with her, and that she wasn't alone in the room, but she didn't really know what to say about the entire situation.

"I know, I didn't expect that either..." Raynor said softly, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't know exactly what to say to her. His mother was particularly gifted when it came to words, being a descendant of what he considered to be the most powerful entity in the known universe. She could sell bacon to a pig or tax increases on the rich to a steadfast republican. "But I promise you, it'll be okay...I'll figure something out."

"It's okay... It doesn't really matter..." she muttered, before she poked her head out from under the blankets again. This was a horrible situation that she did not want to be in, especially since what was likely going to happen because of it. They were going to end up in some pretty big trouble for breaking protocol about this, and she hated that.

Raynor got up and sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms. "Hey, you know, my cousin? True love deity? Always told me that if there's something or someone you love, it's always worth fighting for...I'll pay the price so you don't have to, since I love you, Princess. And that's not going to change, even if Fury fires me. I'll just take a job working for the Avengers on security or something - CIA could be fun too."

"I don't want you to leave or get fired because of me Ray... I mean really... It wasn't just your fault... And it isn't just your problem... I love you too, but I don't want you to be the one paying the price by yourself..." she said softly, looking him straight in the eye when she said it.

Raynor put a hand on the side of her head, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. "I'm not going anywhere, alright?" he reassured her. "Anytime you need me, don't hesitate to call and I'll be there."

She blushed slightly, looking at him. "Alright... If you say so... I trust you Ray, and if you say you aren't leaving, then I'll believe you. I love you..." she said, giving him a slight smile.

"I love you too, Princess," he said, before kissing her on the cheek.

Sparky gave him a smile, she really did love him. He also was probably the first boyfriend she ever actually had when she really thought about it. She didn't even understand why she was drawn to him, but that didn't really matter. All that mattered was how she felt about him, and even if Fury wanted to get rid of one of them, her feelings towards Raynor weren't going to change.

---

---

Cassandra simply just shrugged slightly towards Jim, though it would have been better if the Brotherhood did end up changing sides like Pietro did. She turned towards Tinley as she spoke up about their upcoming mission if it was stealth or guns blazing, it was certainly and obviously going to have to be a stealth mission. "It obviously cannot be tied to the US so it has to be stealth." Cass said towards Tinley as she leaned forward, nodding slightly the weather could be both a good and bad thing with it raining it would make it harder for both sides to see each other.

"And if we happen to end up bumping into Ms. Von Bardas what do we do?" She could understand people wanting to make a quick buck off of the various fights coming from the various groups and selling them off at the black market was always a great way to make a lot of money for criminal groups and help them gather weapons and supplies as well. "And once we locate all of the black market gear are we bagging and tagging it, or destroying it?"

---

---

---

---

"They are certainly a really great band." Maria said towards Dominika as she let her friend rest her head on her chest, adjusting her head slightly making sure that she wouldn't make any form of skin contact with her friend. The very last thing she wanted to do was hurt her as well, she had to make sure she wore a lot of long sleeved clothes so that she could avoid any skin contact with the other agents. She gently ran a gloved hand through Dominika's hair, as she turned her attention towards the new girl, well not really she had been an agent longer than they have. Maria looked down towards her friend asking about Raynor and if he was HYDRA or not, she honestly didn't know it seemed that they have had two HYDRA moles within the team.

"We could always sneak into his room, and Niah could look at information on what she touches or something like that, or see what his alternate self is like that could give some insight?" Maria suggested giving a slight shrug, she didn't like the idea of more HYDRA agents within SHIELD but it felt like it was something that couldn't really be avoided it felt like HYDRA was just about everywhere. Maria eyed Tempest up and down for a moment, she certainly did look very different with the hair and so on, she gave her a friendly smile and wave.

"I don't game as much as I'd like to." Maria said towards Tempest before leaning forward slightly and extended a hand towards the new girl and smiled. "Maria Smith, nice to meet you Tempest." She said, as Sami came in as well and gave the guy a nod as Niah notice him coming in as well.

---

---

---

Tinley began formulating plans in her head. She was confident in her Operations team, but the Sci-Fi and Communications team weren't field trained in combat, apart from the virtual scenario. She would have to get them squared away. Hopefully, the training sessions paid off. She knew Novikova was handling her training as well as could be.

"What of these new agents, Director? What skills do they all possess?" she asked, ignoring Cassandra's comment. It wasn't obvious to her. She could easily go in guns blazing and have no one be the wiser. It just depended on how you handled it. But she was unsure of these new people. And she didn't like uncertainty.

---

---

---

Tempest sat down, not so much with anyone but nearby. "Niceties all around yeah? Back to biddness. If you think HYDRA is done infiltrating us then you haven't been around much, have you? They won't rest and neither should we. Not going to be easy to spot them and I, for one, don't want to play "Guess the spy" like they did during the communism scare. So, just keep a level head and I am sure all will be well."

She eyed the others as they entered. She took out her phone and scrolled through Tumblr. "Gonna see if I can nab any info before whatever mission we are on. Better intel always helps and you'd be surprised how lenient they are on their cybersecurity. Or maybe I am just that much of a badass. Both equally possible."

---

---

---

@BlueSky44: Raynor gave her another smile, kissing her hair. He didn't like it that she was going on this mission since, in his opinion, she was far safer in a laboratory than out of the front lines. Fury saw potential in her to be a leader, to one day be a peer of Abercrombie and others when it came to mission strategy, and Raynor saw it as well - which worried him. Leaders were the type to make suicide plays, to sacrifice themselves for others. "So, we should probably go see the others..." Raynor recommended softly to her.

---

---

---

Novikova smiled slightly, feeling Maria run a hand through her hair. She supposed that they couldn't exactly be friends with benefits anymore, not with Maria's new abilities. Or maybe after enough time, she'd be able to control it enough to the extent that it would be possible. It was one hell of a stress reliever, that was for certain. Of course, Novikova always wondered if there'd ever be a day where one of them would catch feelings for the other.

"I feel like that's a mild personal space violation," Novikova commented to Maria softly, a hint of a smirk on her lips from the sarcastic comment. She was referring to the breaking into his room suggestion. Yet when Tempest started nonchalantly talking about hacking and just chilling while she did it, Novikova couldn't help but find herself becoming more and more interested in the agent. "SHIELD's security does seem to be awful lately...Since apparently Quicksilver managed to beat up the Director..."

Of course, there was a chance that wasn't really Fury and it was an LMD, the entire reason he would have then let the speedster beat him up. Novikova wasn't certain. She honestly found LMD's creepy. At what point did the person just stop...living? And let robots do everything for them? Griff and Nikolai hadn't shown up yet, both of them currently busy down in the cargo hold, using it as a makeshift training room. "Looks like it's everyone here but leadership...And Raynor and Sparky..."

---

---

---

"Exchange insurance information and get an accident report," Agent Kennedy joked, grinning at Cassandra. There was just something about hearing the Brit describe finding the hostile as bumping into them that just amused him, reminding him of the phrasing used for minor car accidents - the type a kid just learning how to drive would get and have a meltdown over. Fury gave him a disapproving look, before he snorted slightly.

"In the event that you encounter Von Bardas, knock her out and have SciTech use a memory loss serum on her. There should be some stocked in the laboratory of the Bus," Fury answered. "Bag and tag the gear. Tony Stark broke his agreement about eight years ago, so we need to take what we can get," he replied, being purposefully cryptic as to what that agreement entailed. The bill would come due, eventually. He then nodded at Tinley and briefing packets would pop up on her phone a few seconds later, detailing the background, training, experience, and abilities of the new recruits.

"Agent Raynor Blake, Operations. He's got light manipulation and what he calls Charm - which as far as I can tell, means he's the best damn liar there is. Tempest Renroir, Communications. A badass healer who could take down almost the entire civilized world with a few strokes of a keyboard. I recommend not pissing her off if you have electronic bank accounts. And Nikolai Vasyutin...Be careful with this one, we left a kill switch in him, Soviets did a number on his head. He's got pyro flight and can turn himself into fucking fire."

"So, you know, totally normal and stable people," Jim muttered.

Fury sighed. "One of these days, I'm going to find the off switch on your mouth, Kennedy. Anyways...Now that the briefing is covered, Agent Abercrombie, you should be aware that Agents Blake and Sparks have entered into a relationship. I caught them fucking in the seat you're in right now. Nasty. As field commander, I'm leaving the punishment up to you - just don't kill them, that's a lot of paperwork..."

The screen then went dark before displaying the SHIELD logo, as Fury ended the call.

---

---

"I'll make sure that you give them your insurance information instead." Cassandra quipped back towards Kennedy and gave him a slight smirk, before turning her attention back towards Fury as he answered her questions and nodded, knock out Von Bardas and wipe her memory if they run into each other on the mission. As well as bag and tag the black market tech that they had in stock and bring it back to the Bus, she then listened to Fury as he gave descriptions of their newest additions to the team as well as she gave a slight nod the last guy seemed to be a bit of a wildcard if they have a kill switch in him.

Cassandra smirked slightly for a moment when he brought up Sparks and Raynor's relationship, although she did not like the two of them having their romance in the C.O's office but seeing that Abercrombie was seated in the very chair that they did the deed in was a bit funny. "I'll make sure to install a padlock or keypad on the door so that they don't do it again if you'd like." Cassandra teased as she stood up once Fury signed off, looking at the two other officers. "We should get ready then shall we?" She said looking towards Kennedy and Abercrombie.

---

---

---

---

Maria looked down at Novikova and gave her a friendly smile, it did suck that they couldn't have their own stress relief anymore she did think that Novikova was cute and she did always enjoy her company whenever they had the time. Maria's attention then turned over towards Tempest as she went and sat down across from them in the lounge as she started to take out her phone. The girl certainly did have the balls to hack into the SHIELD files. "Arent you afraid to I dunno get in trouble for doing that or something?" Maria asked looking back at Tempest while she went through her phone.

She also did notice that it was just them in the lounge area, she did catch Lee and the new guy working out in the cargo hold before she went to talk to her sister over the phone. Then she smirked slightly towards Novikova when she mentioned it being a breach in their privacy, it may have been but it was an interesting idea to play with. "I could always do it, that's if you let me touch you that is." Maria said teasingly, but she wouldn't really actually do it unless she was told to or if they were going on a mission which was most likely very soon now.

Despite the tumultuous thoughts going around his head, Sami still managed to crack a smile at Niah as she waved him over. Drink in hand, Sami slumped into the seat next to her, glad to see a smile on her face. She'd gone through more shit than anyone else here, as far as he was concerned. Dead boyfriend, dead friend, and every other issue that they were all facing. "Not too bad, sweet thing." He answered, deciding that dropping the whole kill order thing in the room would be a bad move right now, and he could leave it with his team leaders when the time came.

Still, it didn't seem like the room was carrying too many positive topics anyway, with potential HYDRA snakes still hiding in the brush. Everyone seemed to have their own theories, but he couldn't see Raynor being one. Sure, it was weird that he pretty much breathed on Theresa and suddenly they were fucking, but it seemed like an odd MO for a HYDRA. If they wanted to sleep around to get something useful, it wouldn't make sense to start off the bottom rung of Agents. Sami personally didn't have any theories himself... better to just have a healthy paranoia of most people he was working with instead, keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour. Looking back to Niah, he doubted he'd have any paranoid thoughts about her.

"How 'bout you? You ready for the mission?"

---

---

---

---

---

Sparky knew that he was right, that she needed to see about meeting up with everyone else. Problem was, she figured there was a chance that they might know what had happened, and the thought of that was freaking her out, causing her to panic a lot. She kept huddled, hiding, trying to pretend that she was not anywhere on the Bus, but somewhere else entirely, but she knew that the odds of her getting her wish were next to zero, so it was obvious that she'd have to get over it and move on.

"...I hate to admit it, but you're right... Probably should go see about meeting up with the others, though who knows what they are doing right now..." she muttered, before she stood up, nodding slightly at him, and then she walked out of the room. This whole thing was definitely weird for her, but she had to deal with it, and live with it, so there wasn't much she could do. After a moment, she edged slightly into the lounge area where everyone else was, hoping to stay in the corner or something and not have to talk to anyone.

Niah didn't think breaking SHEILD rules would be a good idea, but her fear of being betrayed again was pretty high. She definitely wouldn't take people at their face value anymore. She hated herself for that thought, but her trust would be hard to earn now. She had thought Riveria was on their side with how she had acted. And of course she had thought Z was on their side, how could she not have been? She didn't know Raynor at all, how could she?

At Sami's question, her smile faded a bit. "I'll be okay, eventually." She saw Sparky enter the room and saw how nervous she looked. Niah both wanted to greet her and wave her over and let her be. Sparky looked like she would rather be anywhere else at the moment. Niah decided on a smile and small wave, but a non-committal one that allowed Sparky to make the choice. To Sami, she added quietly, "Can we talk alone later?"

---

---

---

Tinley fought a wave of disgust as it passed over her. She gingerly stood up. No amount of hot showers would make her feel clean, she realized. She shook her head. "There's something I need to do first." With that, she stormed out of the office and made a beeline for the Lounge. Anyone that dared get in her way was pushed back or knocked over. Whatever peace had been instilled in Tinley during the course of training had broke.

Once in the lounge, she saw her prey. "Agents Sparks and Raynor, front and center. NOW!" Once the two had moved over to her and in front of her, she made sure she had the attention of the room. "Look, what you two dumbasses do in the privacy of your dorms is your thing, but I don't wanna see any googly eyes, flirting, hanky-panky or all of the above on a mission or so help me I will kick your sorry asses from here to fucking Asgard! And for the love of all good and holy, do not FUCK in the C.O's OFFICE! Do I make myself clear?"

She didn't bother waiting for a response. "That goes for all agents. I get we are grown-ups and have needs, but we are also what stops Hydra from taking over the world, so if I catch ANYONE in any form of the Kama Sutra, I will send you to your gods myself. GOT IT? Now, we are going to be going to Latveria on a covert mission to stop illegal arms trading. Get prepped and get ready. I need everyone at their best." She glared at Sparks and Raynor again before turning to leave the room to head to the showers. She needed one. Badly.

---

---

---

Tempest waved the comments away. "Psh, like they could stop me if they tried. I was actually referring to hacking Hydra's servers. Though SHIELD needs to up their security too, now that you mention it, but they did catch me before. I got better though." Before she could continue, a blonde bombshell (literally) exploded into the room and chastised two of them. It seems they had been doing the dirty and now bore that load.

Once she was gone, Tempest let out a loud whistle. "Yikes, someone snapped her stilettos, huh? Anywho, Latveria eh? I can probably see about getting some intel before the mission, should anyone wish. Other than that, down to play some Mario Kart or Fortnite to pass the time? Anyone?" She sighed, she would be the only gamer, it seemed. "Then I'll get to hacking then."