Middle School Heroes

Chapter 10 - A STRIKING Blow and a Team Assembles

Professor Coulson was already in his classroom when Skye got there. He smiled at her when she entered the room and glanced at his watch. "Only two minutes late, Skye."

"Well, it would have been much longer if I hadn't run into Sam, and much sooner if we hadn't run into Clint," she grinned at him.

"Mr. Barton has that effect on people. Good to see that you are making friends at least. Now, we were supposed to be discussing your options for your Special Interest class today but I got an email last night from Coach Garrett. Apparently you didn't do very well on your physical fitness test yesterday, and he would like you to take his Field Operations class."

Skye looked shocked. "What? Like strategies, weapons and fighting? Me? This is a joke, right? Sure, I might have blown off the test a bit, but athletics has never really been my thing. Wait. He can't make me, can he A.C.?" Professor Coulson raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh sorry. It just slipped out. I was thinking about Tony calling you Agent yesterday, and his explanation. It just seemed like a better nickname."

"As far as nicknames go, I've had worse. It is certainly better than some of the kids' names I've heard around the school. Now, Coach Garrett goes, I'm afraid he can. Look on the bright side. It's only five weeks now, and you might learn something new. I was really hoping to put you in Engineering, but that will have to wait. Good news, though. I believe Barton and Romanoff are both in it this turn. Sam too. Besides, I will make sure that Coach May keeps an eye on you. She's a good friend of mine."

"Joy," Skye mumbled to herself as she flopped down on a desk, burying her head on her backpack. She glanced over to the empty seat that Grant Ward was sitting in yesterday, and wondered if he had anything to do with this. "I suppose I should have done one more pull up," she grumbled.

Her thoughts were interrupted by shouting. "Professor Coulson! Look what we got!" Skye looked up and saw two boys come charging into the room. They were both tall and big for middle schoolers. One of the boys had his blonde hair cut short, while the other's was darker brown and longer.

Skye gasped out loud when she noticed that the second boy had what looked like a metal arm, causing them both to freeze and turn around to look at her. She noticed that they were wearing matching shirts. They were white with a flag on the front, and the words, 'Howling Commandos.'

"Nice shirts boys. I take it you had a good time on your field trip?" They both nodded enthusiastically. Turning to Skye, he said, "Boys, this is our new student, Skye. Skye, this is Steve Rogers and James Barnes." Both boys began to walk over to her, and she stood up awkwardly to greet them.

Steve got there first, and shook her hand. "Hi there, Skye. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Steve. I go by Captain America sometimes." She saw Professor Coulson wink at her behind the boy.

The other boy also took her hand in his non-metal hand, and introduced himself. "I'm Bucky. Really, it's James Buchanan Barnes, and some people call me the Winter Soldier, but I really just prefer Bucky. We heard some of the guys talking about you at breakfast this morning."

"Oh. I hope they were saying good things." She shifted on her feet.

Steve jumped in. "Oh yeah. They said that you were really nice and ace with a computer. Even Loki was being complimentary, and that guy isn't one to gush."

They both took seats in front of Skye and spent the next few minutes talking about their field trip and Skye's first day before other kids started arriving for homeroom. When Pepper and Jane arrived, they were very interested about her first night in the dorms. Clint and Natasha came in with Tony, who was yelling at Clint. Clint just laughed, pointed to a pinecone stuck in Tony's hair, and winked at Skye.