Chapter 1
Finally, I was standing in front of the building I had been dreaming about for so many years.
The glow of the morning sun made it look almost like a second heaven, and my feet were moving there even faster than my mind, but I still paused for a moment in front of the entrance.
I had to take a few deep breaths because excitement and nervousness had mixed into one little tangled ball, and fear in the shape of a kitten was playing with it.
But what could possibly go wrong when it’s such a beautiful beginning of May.
And with a determined mind, I stepped inside.
The equipment was modern and everything was in neutral colors, and people were walking back and forth like giant ants, but the only thing I had to focus on was that huge S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, and I knew I would do everything I can to serve here as best as I possibly could.
I came up to the receptionist. “Good morning, I’m Emily Smith and I’m here for training,” I said my memorized sentence.
She looked me up and down and I felt that awkward moment, so I just looked at the ground. She searched for something, then pointed at me, then toward some direction with doors, and walked away.
I started to feel a slight panic about what I was actually supposed to do. Where was I supposed to go? I didn’t have that feeling of certainty anymore, but I’m here to become a member, not just a spectator, so I went toward those doors, but when I opened them, it was dark.
“Hello?” I whispered into the room and turned on the light. And there, behind the desk, was a man.
He had slightly messy blond hair and was just looking at me with an icy gaze. “Good morning, Miss Smith… Didn’t anyone teach you how to knock?”
His voice was almost elegant, so the comment didn’t even sound rude, but his expression contradicted it again.
“I’m really sorry, I’m a bit stressed,” I said.
He just adjusted some papers. “You have to get used to stress, Miss Smith, otherwise you won’t even fit into this profession here.”
I walked to the desk and sat down in front of him, even though he didn’t offer me a seat.
“Well… um… you confirmed I’ll be here for three months on a trial, more precisely training, and then we’ll see,” I tried to change the topic from how he was basically picking at me.
He just nodded in agreement and handed me the papers. “Sign this, it’s the contract about what we agreed on.”
He handed me a pen and just watched my handwriting as I signed it. He immediately took the contract, put it away, and gave me a copy.
“I will be training you myself… I am Steve Rogers, and I warn you in advance… I do not tolerate late arrivals… training starts today at 8:00 PM.”
He immediately escorted me out of the room back into that swarm of ants and pointed at one agent. “She will guide you.” He just said goodbye and went back into his bunker.
And I just think to myself… what have I signed myself up for.
***
After the agent had shown me this whole building, she pointed at a door that looked a little older than all the others, which all looked so strict and modern.
We went inside and she pointed at another door. It was so different here compared to the rest of the building. “This is the library behind these doors… a lot of things about weapons, fighting techniques, but that’s all I know,” she stopped and I just kept looking around the room we were in. “Not many people go there, everyone goes to the main one, there are basically more books there, more famous ones, and more light. Here you have to use flashlights, the light doesn’t really work and the windows don’t either.”
She walked a bit further and my eyes admired the walls of this room. “I’ll look at the library later,” I whispered and stepped closer to the paintings, where were probably the founders, but also that guy I met at the beginning.
“That’s… Rogers?” I looked at the redhead agent and pointed at the painting.
She nodded and her mouth slightly twitched into a smile. “You don’t really watch TV, do you?” I just shook my head. “I haven’t seen news for over 10 years. At home my aunt used to watch it all the time.” I explained and kept looking at the picture.
He was there hugging some brunette man, but the photo is already so old, even black and white, already yellowed.
But he looks… happy… very happy. I can see it in his eyes, but today when I saw him he looked completely different than before, just grumpy.
I moved away and looked at my watch. “I’ll go to my room… I have training soon, thank you for showing me around.” I smiled at her and quickly rushed to my room, because training is in half an hour and I don’t have anything sporty on.
After I was in my room, I quickly changed and was looking through the papers where I was supposed to go, but I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I tried going in front of the building, but he wasn’t there, and after like 10 minutes I realized I’m supposed to be somewhere else, so I was trying almost the whole building.
When training was already half an hour ago, I was definitely warmed up, because every hall was somewhere completely different.
I leaned against the wall and breathed. “Damn it! First day and I’m already late.” I tried to breathe deeply but it didn’t really work.
“Where were you?” I heard someone coming and I already knew who it was, even if I saw him only a few minutes today. “You didn’t tell me where,” I whined and straightened up.
“Agents don’t whine, you can just leave early then if we’re wasting time.”
“I’m really sorry sir, but you didn’t tell me where and I didn’t realize it right away. I ran through the whole building and only B10 was left, and the outdoor one, but I don’t know how to get there,” I said and I wanted to keep thinking out loud how it could be possible, but he just raised his hand for me to stop.
“Fine… that was partly my mistake too, but don’t get used to it. We will train morning and evening always outside and now it’s already almost three quarters, so we’ll just stretch it a bit, hope that’s okay?” he said in a calm voice and walked away and I followed him like a puppy.
My heartbeat was still high, maybe even worse after he came, but who wouldn’t be like that when you’re trying to get into what you want and you mess it up on the first try? I’m scared with every step of what I’ll do in the first training, but still… it can’t get worse than this… right?
