Loyalties Lie [s. r.]

.07

It wasn't unusual for Steve to find his way over to Camryn's apartment. Modern day left him confused and in need of help quite often, and she was the only person he knew to ask. His questions always ranged from how to play CD's to how to get his phone to do something specific.

To Camryn's credit, she was always patient with him. She never snapped at him and she always answered every question he had for her. She grew used to his company and his presence, and Steve feared he was beginning to grow reliant on hers.

Despite how often Steve found himself at Camryn's place, it was never late at night. And certainly never two in the morning.

It was the frantic knocking that had Camryn sighing, pulling away from the bag she was packing for a new mission. Her watch had only buzzed minutes ago.

His face was of pure and utter frustration when she opened the door. He felt bad, believing he had woken her up.

"Steve? What are you doing here?" She asked in confusion. It was the middle of the night. Sure she was awake, but she didn't figure he had any reason to be.

"It's my watch. It won't shut off. And it's all frozen." He frowned, holding the small device toward her.

She glanced down at the watch that had an alarm going off, the screen frozen with the words 'Mission Alert' in bright red.

"Did you try resetting it?" She asked curiously, hitting a few buttons. The watch instantly turned black before completely restarting, the Shield logo popping up.

"No, I did not." He replied with a frown. "How did you do that?" He asked her with wide eyes as he took the watch back, looking at the mission like he had tried to the first time. Only this time it didn't go as wrong.

"I just hit these buttons." She said, reaching over and holding the power button and the volume button until a screen popped up, giving the option to restart the device.

"Oh. Thanks. I'm sorry for waking you up." He said. "I guess I freaked out a bit."

"You didn't wake me. I'm up for a mission, and by the looks of it the same mission as you?" She said, nodding to the screen.

"Depends on if you're getting briefed for a steakout." He said, knowing it was too much of a coincidence to not be the same mission.

"Yeah. Have to be there in twenty minutes. You might want to get packed." She said. "Welcome to Shield, Steve."

Camryn wasn't stupid. She knew this meant he had officially accepted Fury's offer to join the agency. And it wasn't a surprise he was so quickly on a mission. She assumed though she would be training him in a sense, considering she was the level six agent, and he was a newbie.

"Yeah, thanks. When I met with Fury yesterday he mentioned something about being level eight?" Steve asked, his brow furrowed. "I don't really know what that means."

Camryn stopped, her eyes narrowing. "I'm sorry, what? Level eight?" She asked.

Steve tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. "Yeah? Why? What does it mean?" He asked.

"Level eight means how high a clearance level you have is. I'm a level six." She snapped. She was mad. She had worked for the title she had since she was a teenager, and he walked in and was just handed a level eight clearance.

Steve frowned, not at all understanding why she was getting so mad at him. "Camryn, I didn't do anything wrong? Why are you getting so upset?" He asked.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Go get ready before you're late." She said sternly. "I'll see you there."

She had been planning on offering him a ride, but she wasn't sure she wanted to anymore.