The Academy

Chapter 8

"Hang on," Skye said as she pointed at Natasha with her French fry as they sat in Skye's room with the food they had smuggled in, "so you two both knew my SO?"

Natasha grinned as she finished her burger. "Grant was a part of our ragtag team. He was mostly the mind behind the pranks."

Clint chuckled as he sipped his beer. "Pretty much the whole school was convinced that the two of them were together."

Natasha scoffed as she picked at her French fries. "They still are. Although nowadays no one can tell if I'm with you or him."

Skye watched the banter back and forth between the two and realized that the school had a point. The two assassins in front of her were practically psychically linked. Clint stopped talking all of the sudden and turned to Skye. "Hang on, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Why are you here? Ward never told us why you were here. If he's your SO then why is Fury making you stay here for so long? Ward's one of the best."

Skye shrugged. "I'm not sure. Apparently if I want to officially become an agent then I have to take at least three classes here and work with other people besides just him."

Natasha scrunched up her nose. "Well that sucks. Which classes are you taking?"

Skye shrugged as she leaned back in her seat and finished off the rest of her burger. "I haven't decided yet. Probably the weapons class, hand to hand, and a language. Haven't decided which one yet though. Ward said either Italian or Russian."

Natasha nodded. "You should do Russian, that way I can help you out while I'm here."

Skye nodded, "sounds like a plan."

"When do you start classes?" Clint asked as he returned from throwing out the wrapper from his burger.

"Fury said next week, can't wait," Skye said sarcastically.

Natasha waved a hand. "It'll be fine. I'm sure with Ward as your SO you'll probably know way more than most of the first years, no matter how much they brag about being a martial arts champion or something."

Skye raised an eyebrow and smiled as she raised her beer bottle, "well here's to hoping."

____________________

"Welcome first years," a man only a few years older than Skye announced to the group, "we have a new student today."

All eyes turned to Skye and she felt like she just wanted a hole in the ground to swallow her. She hated being the new kid, it never got easier.

"Sarah Jackson," the man called out, "you're reassigned as her new partner."

An average height, blonde haired woman around Skye's age walked over to her and stood beside her as the man continued to talk. "Since today is her first day, I'll test her to see how much she knows while Anthony takes over the first half of the class. When I return, she'll have been brought up to speed and we'll continue classes as normal. Everyone in positions please. Skye, with me."

Skye left her spot and followed the man through a door leading to a smaller gym than the one that classes were being held in. He smiled at her. "I'm Nick. Fury said you have a little bit of training already?"

Skye shrugged her shoulders. "Kind of, yeah. Not really sure how great I am."

"Feel like finding out?" Nick asked with a hint of a smile across his face. He handed Skye some tape and she wrapped her hands.

Nick stood across from her and lifted his hands to guard his face. "I'm not gonna go easy on you," he warned, "I want to see how much you know."

Skye grinned. "I'm ready."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Nick swung a punch at her. She easily blocked it and she threw a punch towards him in return. He grabbed her hand and twisted, forcing her to move from her stance. While she was down, she maneuvered her other arm and swung at the back of his knees, knocking him to the floor and making him release his grip on her. He quickly stood back up and he smiled at her. "Nice."

Skye smirked. "I try."

She threw a punch towards his face and he blocked it with his arm and then tried to land a kick by her abdomen. She caught his foot in between her hands before it collided with her stitches and she released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She twisted her hands and Nick fell to the ground. He swung his legs and knocked her feet out from under her. She pressed her hands to the floor, behind her head, and jumped back up in one quick motion. Nick nodded, clearly impressed with how much she knew after only having a little training.

The fight lasted for a few more minutes before Nick successfully pinned Skye to the ground. When Skye was removing the wraps from her hands, Nick shot her a teasing glance. "Only a little training, huh?"

Skye chuckled. "Maybe a little more than that."

Nick rolled his eyes and smiled as he opened the door for her and led her back to the class.

Skye made her way over to Sarah, who was waiting for her. Sarah smiled and held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Sarah."

Skye shook it and smiled. "Skye."

They started to go through the techniques as they were fighting and Skye asked. "Why did he pair you up with me? Didn't you already have a partner?"

Sarah laughed as she blocked a punch. "Actually no, there was an odd amount of people in this class before you came. I was in a group of three."

"I think I prefer working one on one than having two partners," Skye chuckled as she threw a kick in Sarah's direction.

"I agree," Sarah smiled. "So why did you join so late? Why didn't you join at the beginning of the year?"

Skye reminded herself not to say anything about Coulson or her team and she answered. "I was already a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D and before I became an official agent, Fury wanted me to spend a while here."

"A consultant?"

"Yeah," Skye replied as she dodged a blow. "I'm also a hacker."

"So then why did you come to this academy and not communications?" Sarah asked, puzzled by her new partner.

She shrugged. "Not nearly challenging enough. Besides, you don't see much action when you're inside a van typing on a computer."

Sarah nodded in understanding, "I guess. So where did you learn to fight? You look like you've had practice."

"Knew a guy," Skye answered vaguely, knowing that she wasn't even supposed to reveal who was on her team. Besides, she didn't really want anyone to know that she was Grant Ward's protégé, it put a lot of pressure on her to do well and she didn't know if she would be able to do as well as he did.

When class was over, Skye walked with Sarah to the cooler with waters in it. Sarah picked up two bottles and handed one to Skye. Sarah asked. "So what other classes are you taking?"

"Weapons and Russian," Skye smiled.

"Weapons and Italian," Sarah replied with a smile.

Skye chuckled. "It took me a long time to decide between Russian and Italian, but I have a... friend who's going to help me with it."

The bell rang as soon as Skye said that and Sarah looked up at the clock. She turned to leave and she waved at Skye. "I'll see you later, I guess."