The Viper

Chapter 3

Washington, D.C.

2014

3 Months Later

Serena tightened her long black wrap coat around her as she walked into the restaurant. She had been working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.T.R.I.K.E for 3 months now and have already made her place firmly known among them. Much to her surprise, they had a great deal of respect towards her...probably because they all knew what she was capable of, but, otherwise, she found it rewarding. In the past 3 months, she found herself training younger and incoming agents, and being shipped around the world to handle assignments with Captain America and S.T.R.I.K.E. giving her much more action and adventure than she had with the CIA. But with all the action...she never had any downtime...until now.

Tonight, being the first real night off, she decided to grab dinner with her mother and aunt, since her father was away in Berlin on official S.H.I.E.L.D business. To be honest though, Serena was just happy to see her family for the first time in 3 months.

As soon as she walked in, she saw her mother waving her down to a table in the back corner of the room. As she walked through the restaurant and got closer to the table, she could see her aunt, rolling her eyes at something, which made Serena frown.

"What's wrong?" Serena asked as her mother got up to hug her.

"Nothing's wrong sweetie." Felicita replied giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she sat back down.

"I'm not asking you, Mom." Serena explained as she took off her coat to reveal her black turtleneck sweater and pair of dark jeans. "I was asking Aunt Val."

Val rolled her eyes again. "You look thin."

Serena looked down then looked back at Val as she sat down in her chair. "I do not."

"She does not." Felicita groaned before hitting her sister playfully in the shoulder.

Val put her hands up in defense. "I'm just saying that you could gain a couple pounds...what do they not feed you at S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Serena smiled. "They do, very well actually."

Just as Val was about to reply, the waiter came over and asked for the wine order. Serena quickly grabbed the wine list glanced it over quickly before making her decision.

"Let's do a bottle of the Bordeaux, the 2005 Chateau Margaux." Serena said with a warm smile.

The waiter's eyes widened before nodding quickly, before rushing to the wine cellar.

"You're balling quite hard with that choice." Val said with a shake of her head.

"As if you aren't going to drink any." Felicita said playfully before turning back to Serena. "Seriously though, how is it?"

"How's what?" Serena asked as the waiter came back and began to pour glasses of wine for the three women.

"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Felicita and Val asked simultaneously.

Serena shrugged. "It's alright. This is the first time I've had off on a weekend since working there. Every other weekend I feel like I'm being shipped off to another part of the world. I'm tired all the time, but...I love it. I always get an adrenaline high with it, plus it helps that I'm working with a great group of people."

"Fury assigned you to S.T.R.I.K.E, right?" Felicita asked.

Serena took a sip of her wine before nodding. "Yeah."

"You're welcome." Val said with a smirk.

Felicita glared at her sister.

Val shrugged. "What? Without Everett and I, she probably wouldn't even be Clearance Level 1. What's your Clearance Level?"