Cold as Ice

Chapter Two

Season One, Episode Three: The Asset

It had been a few weeks since we had joined Coulson's band of misfits. Although our first mission together had been almost entirely a disaster, things had quieted down and the bus was fixed from all the damage it had obtained. Things with Ward were even beginning to look up ever so slightly, at least for me. Skye was still on thin ice, being as that she didn't take him seriously as her supervising officer. Even though he, on occasion, made me want to punch him in the face, he was easier on me given that I took whatever he threw my way. Even if that meant training sessions at seven in the morning.

My arms throbbed as I threw punches at the boxing bad that had been hung from the rungs of the second floor 'balcony' of sorts. I could feel my body practically begging me to give up, to stop throwing punch after punch at the stupid bag. Joining SHIELD, even though I wasn't officially an agent, wasn't all that I thought it would be. It was more like a 24-hour fitness from hell. Not only that, but I had been neck-deep in manuals and handbooks on SHIELD since I had gotten here. It was beginning to be a bit draining.

Almost as though he could sense that I was ready to give up, Ward spoke, his voice slightly condescending. "You said you wanted to be a field agent, like Coulson, right?" I simply nodded my head and forced myself to punch again. "Then you need to get used to this."

I knew that Grant was trying to be helpful, in his own way, by telling me that I couldn't give up or something along those lines, but it still irritated me that he couldn't cut me even the smallest amount of slack. "Got it." The words were nearly growled out of my mouth as I threw a final punch before he grabbed the bag and stopped it from swinging again.

"There will come a moment when you have to commit to this or bail. Every field agent has a defining moment." He gripped the bag tightly as I pushed through my fatigue and hit harder than before. "When you have to make the hard call to either dedicate yourself to this or to pull the ripcord."

"It's not like I have my hand on the ripcord, Grant." I let out a sigh. "I want to be here, and I am doing everything I can do to make sure I can succeed here." I knew that the frustration I was feeling due to training was clear in my face but he opted not to comment on it, which I was grateful for.

Although he was right, I needed to push myself harder, it still stung slightly to hear it. Ever since I met Skye, and began living with her, I had avoided physical altercations. Now, it seemed like being in SHIELD meant that there was a strong chance that I would have to defend myself at some point, not that it was unexpected.

The thoughts were soon shaken from my head when we heard the voice of May over the intercom, telling us that there was going to be a briefing in five minutes. My gaze went over to Ward who simply motioned for me to follow him.

The rest of the day had passed us all by in a blur, attempting to find out what had happened to Doctor Franklin Hall. Fitz and Simmons were immediately distressed by the fact that their former professor had been kidnapped and Skye had been all to enthusiastic about the fact that the kidnappers were 'invisible. It didn't take the team long before they had come to the conclusion that his location may have been leaked from within SHIELD, as well as the fact that it was Ian Quinn, who had taken the scientist.

I stood against the wall as the others spoke about having the 'specs', as Ward would say, and the fact that there would more than likely be a global outrage for SHIELD to go knocking on the wealthy man's front door, and that was even if they could get the permission from SHIELD to be able to do such a thing. My gaze went over to Skye before she spoke.

"We could go in." She motioned to me, only for Ward to speak over her, suggesting sending him into the hills outside of Valletta so he could spend a few weeks establishing a cover to get in. I rolled my eyes slightly before pulling my phone from my pocket, typing away to get what I wanted.