Saving Grant Ward

Chapter One

"Floor it!" yelled Agent Paula Pinske as she dove into the passenger seat, narrowly avoiding a bullet aimed at her head.

Her partner slammed on the gas and the car shot forward, hitting 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds flat.

"Thank God," muttered Paula. That had been a close call for the international spy.

"Uh oh. Looks like we're not out of the woods yet," said her partner.

Paula glanced in the review mirror to see a car gaining on them quickly. A man leaned out the passenger side window with a gun aimed at the driver's seat. The shot rang out as the bullet shattered the back glass of her car and...

"Samantha!"

"Huh? What?" I looked around wildly as I snapped out of my reading trance. I'd been so focused on my book that I hadn't even realized someone was trying to get my attention.

"You are Samantha Slater then?" asked a man standing in front of me. He had on a dark suit and dark sunglasses, and I was suddenly wary of replying. Maybe I'd been reading too many spy stories, but this guy looked like he'd leapt right off the page of one of my Paula Pinske novels.

"Uh... who are you?" I asked nervously, ignoring his question.

The guy looked around before answering, glancing at the other tables on the sidewalk outside my favorite coffee shop. He pulled out the metal chair next to me and sat down, keeping his voice low as he responded.

"I'm Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD."

"Shield?" I laughed nervously. "What's that?"

"It stands for the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"It... what?"

"It's a long story. But to make that long story short, all you need to know is, you're being recruited to the most elite secret agency in the world. I suggest you accept the offer."

I stared at him blankly without saying a word. I probably seemed incredibly rude, and who knew what the other people around us were thinking, but I was too busy processing to do anything about it. Was this guy serious?

"Samantha?" The guy repeated my name, waving a hand in front of my face. I forced myself to get a grip and tried to think through what I'd just heard.

It had to be a joke. Right?

"Okay, very funny," I said, shaking myself out of my trance. "Who put you up to this?"

I started running through a mental list. Most of the people I had graduated with knew about my craze for all things spy related, but I wasn't close with any of them. None of them would've gone to the trouble of setting up a prank like this, and I didn't have any family I could shift the blame to either.

"No one put me up to this. SHIELD is always looking for good new agents, and it's my job to do something when I see a promising candidate."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Promising how? I wasn't a straight A student, I wasn't the captain of a sports team, I didn't devote all my time to volunteering. What was special about me?

The agent seemed to read my confusion as he continued, "You have impressive skills in several different martial arts, and you've proven to be very independent of other people's pressures and influences. You have good critical thinking skills, and all our information shows you have an interest in our line of work. This is the opportunity you've been waiting for."

I just kept staring at him like he'd dropped from Mars. My interest in spy stuff had gotten me into martial arts and sure, I'd won a few competitions, but I wasn't that good. There was no way I actually managed to pop up on the radar of an organization like SHIELD.

Was there?

"I can see you're still not convinced," said the agent as he reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small card and passed it to me. "This includes my number, and a link to a SHIELD intake website that might be able to convince you my offer's legitimate. If you decide you're interested, give me a call."

I took the card, still not able to form a sentence, and the agent stood without another word. He turned to walk away just as I finally came to my senses, and I whirled around to start asking some of the questions pinging around in my head.

"Wait! Who are you? What's your..." I trailed off when I realized the agent was nowhere to be seen. In just about a second, he'd completely disappeared into the crowds of New York, sunglasses and all.

I looked back down at the card in my hands. Exactly like the agent had said, it listed a phone number and an insanely long website link, along with a name.

Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Agent Phil Coulson..." I muttered to myself. I stayed where I was for a few more moments, contemplating the choice in my head. It couldn't hurt to at least check out the website, could it?

I called for my check and quickly paid for my coffee, then left before I could change my mind. I was going to check out the website, and then I'd decide what else to do from there. Worst-case scenario, I got a horrible computer virus that totally screwed up my computer. But best-case scenario?

I'd just been recruited to a real life secret agency!

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A/N: Hey, just a heads up, this story starts years before Agents of SHIELD and the Avengers take place, when Ward was still at the Academy. I'll eventually get to the point where everybody's on Coulson's team, but right now Ward's still in school and Coulson hasn't been stabbed by Loki 😊