Chapter Thrity-Three

After Grant left I went looking for FitzSimmons, but I was intercepted by one of my old teachers from SHIELD academy. Professor Thompkins, year-one strategy teacher.

"Samantha! You're just who I was looking for," she said.

"Hi Professor Thompkins! Why were you looking for me?"

"I was hoping you would agree to give the speech to our incoming recruits this year."

My mouth dropped open. "Seriously? I would love to! That would be so much fun!"

"Good! They're coming in two days, so you'll need to be at the academy tomorrow night."

"Perfect! I can't wait!" She smiled and gave me a nod before heading back on her way. I looked left and right to make sure the hallway was empty before completely losing it. "YES! I'M GIVING THE WELCOME SPEECH! I'M GIVING THE WELCOME SPEECH! HA!"

I punched the air as I jumped up and down, then looked around again to make sure no one had seen me. I didn't need people looking at me like I was crazier than I actually am.

Instead of continuing my search for FitzSimmons, I headed back to my room to start writing my speech. It was a while before I could even get past the first line. I kept hearing Grant in my head, mocking my openings. After hours of pulling my hair out and crumpling dozens of pieces of paper, I finally finished a pretty good rough draft.

Unfortunately, I felt like I was going crazy.

Just as I was getting ready to scream at the top of my lungs to let off some steam, my phone rang. It was Grant.

"Dude, you have no idea how good your timing is," I said, not bothering with the normal hello, "Please tell me you're calling to say you accidentally wound up in Paris, Texas."

"No, I'm definitely in France."

I sighed. "Oh well. Guess what?"

"What?"

"Professor Thompkins asked me to give the opening speech to the recruits!"

"What? Are you kidding? Why would she ask you and not me?"

"Maybe because you're in Paris? It's ok, I'll knock everybody dead and then I'll get asked back and we can do the next speech together."

"Fine. You better give a damn good speech then."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I will. You read my Siberia mission report, I'm an artist. Those kids are going to be so inspired that the academy's successful ranks double."

"Sure, Slater, sure. I'll believe it when I see it."

"You'll see it as soon as you get back! When is that, by the way?"

"Should be in a couple days. This is another recovery mission like yours, it shouldn't be a problem."

"You know, I said the same thing, and then Rising Tide leaked the location and everything went to hell.

"Wonderful. Hopefully I'll have better luck than you did."

"Seriously. Be safe. I'll see you when you get back, and call me if you need me."

"I will. Good luck with your speech."

"Thanks! I'll let you read it when you get home."

"Looking forward to it. I'll see you later."

"Later. Good luck."

I hung up and turned back to my speech. A distraction was just what I needed, and now I could edit my speech without losing my mind.

I worked through the night to get my speech perfect, then packed in the morning and boarded a Quinjet to go from the Triskelion to the Academy.

I arrived after dinner, feeling completely exhausted as I face planted onto the bed, not bothering to change before drifting off to sleep.

****************

I woke up bright and early the next morning, feeling rested and ready to address the newbies. I walked confidently to the auditorium, greeting Professor Thompkins backstage.

That confidence immediately disappeared when I peeked around the curtain to see thousands of eyes starting back in the audience.

"Geeze. I didn't realize how many people would be here," I muttered.

"That's right!" exclaimed Professor Thompkins, "I forgot you missed orientation when you were new. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll do wonderfully."

"Thanks," I said, giving her the best smile I could and gripping my speech to try and stop my hands from shaking as I walked out onstage. After everything I'd been through, I couldn't believe an auditorium of freshmen was making me shake.

Everyone in the audience had been whispering excitedly to one another, but they all quieted as I took my place at the podium, staring at me. Great.

I took a deep breath and jumped in.

"Welcome recruits!" I called, speaking into the mounted microphone excitedly, "My name is Samantha Slater, and I was sitting right where you are about eight years ago."

I paused.

"Yeesh. Has it really been that long?" The audience laugh and I felt my confidence growing.

"I've been out in the field for the past three of those eight years, and let me tell you, I've done some crazy stuff. From facing down gangsters to being lost in Siberia, I kept my cool. I never once felt nervous. And do you know what?"

I paused again, scanning the audience as they all shook their heads.

"My hands are shaking with nerves from standing up here and speaking to you."

The students laughed good-naturedly.

"Think about that for a minute though," I said, leaning forward and forgetting my carefully crafted speech, "I'm a level five field agent, and all of you already have the ability to make me nervous."

I took the microphone from its stand, walking out from behind the podium to walk the stage as I spoke.

"Each and every one of you just got here, and you're all probably feeling your own dose of nerves, which is normal. I came a few days late, so I avoided the masses during orientation, but I was still shaking on my first day of class.

"Whenever it starts to feel like too much, though, just remember: you made the orientation speaker nervous. On your first day as a SHIELD agent, you were already enough to get in the head of a level five Specialist.

"You know, I had this whole big speech planned out, but I think there's a better way to say the same thing in fewer words.

"Ops academy is tough. More people wash out of this academy than the other two combined, and I'm sure most people will say that most of you won't make it."

I glanced into the wings and looked at all the teachers who I'd heard say the same things to me so many years ago before looking back at the wide-eyed, hopeful recruits.

"But I think that's bull.

"Maybe you won't all be Specialists, and maybe you won't all airdrop into the middle of hostile territory, but I believe that if you put in the work, you'll all find successful careers at SHIELD doing something you like to do.

"You just have to keep at it. Don't let anything stop you from continuing to fight and follow your dreams. And when things get really tough or if you start to doubt, remember: you intimidated a level five on your first day, without any training. You can get past whatever's facing you next."

I paused again and felt proud to see the entire auditorium smiling and paying attention. I was trying to give these kids the encouragement I'd never gotten to hear from my teachers, and it looked like I was succeeding. Now it was time to tell them what I considered to be the best part of the speech.

"Finally, I want you guys to remember this. It's the most important thing I'm going to tell you.

"Don't let this job change you. Don't let the pressures and hardships of this job destroy the person you're coming in as. I know it can seem pretty grim sometimes, but there's nothing wrong with being a ray of light in an otherwise dark world."

I paused a final time, considering my next words carefully. I thought about Grant, and decided that this was really the most important part, especially for all these lone-wolf types.

"And support each other. Sometimes this job can get lonely, but seriously, everything is so much easier when you have someone to trust and talk to. The people sitting around you in this auditorium are now your friends and family, so take advantage of it. Make connections and friendships that will last the rest of your life, and trust me, you'll be able to get each other through anything." I thought of Siberia. "And I mean anything."

I moved back towards the podium for the conclusion of my speech, feeling hopeful as the auditorium nodded that they would listen to me.

"Good luck to all of you, and congratulations on joining SHIELD. Do us proud." I nodded as I set the mic back in its holder, and everyone stated applauding. I smiled and picked up my unused speech script, then turned back when something occurred to me.

"I'm going to leave my number with Professor Thompkins, so if any of you need me, please don't hesitate to call or text. I may not be free to respond for a while, but I'll do my best to always pick up," I added. I didn't know if anyone would need help, but I wanted to be there if they did. I wasn't familiar with SHIELD's normal recruiting process, but I wanted to make sure everyone had an agent who was there for them like Phil had been for me.

I walked offstage to be congratulated by Professor Thompkins. She was smiling and proud of my speech, even though most of the other professors were not happy with my message. That's why she had always been one of my favorite teachers.

"Wonderful job Samantha," she said.

"Thanks! I'm glad at least one of the professors thinks so."

Thompkins glanced around at her colleagues, then gave me an apologetic shrug. "For what it's worth, I think that's exactly what these kids needed to hear."

"Thanks. Here's my number and everything, I was serious about that. If any of those kids have a problem, I want them to be able to call me."

Thompkins nodded, positively beaming. "Samantha, I'm so glad I asked you to be our speaker."

"I'm glad, too. Although Grant's not going to be happy, I promised I'd give a good speech so we'd be invited back together. I don't think the other teachers are going to agree to me coming back."

"You never know. They all loved Grant, maybe I'll be able to convince them to bring you back if he comes too."

"That would be awesome," I said with a smile.

"I'll see what I can do. Now let's head out into the courtyard, I'm sure the new recruits would like to talk to you."

I spent the rest of the day hanging out with the newbies. I know that sounds like it would be terrible, but it was actually a lot of fun! They were good people, and I was happy SHIELD had such good recruits.

I was having so much fun that I didn't want to leave. I delayed returning on the Quinjet as long as possible. I stayed until late at night, so I slept on the ride home. I didn't get back to the Triskelion until 9 in the morning.

I went straight to my apartment, throwing down my bags and turning on the water for a nice, hot shower. In my single-minded focus, I almost missed the note on the table.

It was from Grant. It said:

Call me when you get back.

I furrowed my eyebrows and pulled out my cellphone, starting to feel a little worried. I hoped nothing was wrong.

"Slater!" he answered, picking up on the first ring.

"Hey, everything ok?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be. Is everything ok there?"

"Yes, but you just left a note saying 'call me' so I was a little worried."

"Don't be, I'm fine. I got recruited to a team though, and you did too. Come to that small airfield outside Los Angeles, we've got a plane."

It took me a minute to respond. "Are you kidding? Why wouldn't the person running the team talk to me directly? And if you're in LA then why the hell are you awake?"

"Slater, it's normal for most agents to be up at six. And I'm not kidding, just get down here now. Pack a bag first though, this is long-term."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Grant was calling to tell me about a long-term assignment with some team I knew nothing about? If I hadn't known him so well, I would've thought he was pranking me.

"Okay, I guess I'll be there. When do I need to leave?"

"As soon as possible. Oh, and one more thing; I'm a level seven now."

"WHAT?"

"See you when you get here."

"GRANT DOUGLAS WARD-" I was cut off by the click of him hanging up.

I couldn't believe the nerve of him! I mean, I actually could believe it, but I wasn't happy about it!

I decided to take my time, in no rush to shower or pack. I left on the Quinjet at around eleven New York time, which put me in LA at eleven their time (yay time difference!). I had insisted on being dropped off with my motorcycle around LAX, partly because I wanted to annoy Grant by taking as long as possible, and partly because I wanted my bike with me.

I had expected to have a nice, relaxing day back from the academy, filled with sleeping and eating junk food and finding May and FitzSimmons. Now Grant was dragging me into who knew what.

At least we'd finally be working side by side again. I just hoped he was lying about being level 7.