Elsa was nervous, nervous enough to actually be sweating, which was rare for her. She took a deep breath. Her hands gripped the object in front of her with intensity, as she stared straight ahead. Very cautiously, she lifted her foot up and pushed forward. There was a gentle rev of the engine... but nothing moved.

"It's still in park," the instructor told her gently.

"Park, right," Elsa said. She reapplied the break and shifted the car into reverse. She then tried again, and the sedan slowly backed out of the parking spot.

"Really, Ms. Elsa," the instructor told her. "You just need to practice. I realize it's a few hundred pounds of metal, and, yes, it can be deadly when misused. But millions of people use automobiles every days, and mostly don't get into accidents. Just keep that focus, as it keeps you careful."

"...thanks," Elsa said, dryly.

"Not even a smirk," he said in mock sadness. "I'm losing my touch. You're fine, Elsa. Trust yourself and let's go."

Elsa sighed. That was something Anna had been saying for a while now.

After about forty five minutes, they pulled back to the SHIELD building.

"Have a good afternoon, Elsa," the instructor said as she got out of the car. Once she was clear, he quickly pulled some Dramamine from the glove compartment and took his water from the cup holder. Her sister was on deck, and she didn't have any confidence problems at all.

"Norsk, excuse me, Norse," Elsa began, "As well as English, and German. Some Swedish, as well."

"Not Danish?" Sitwell asked.

Elsa and Anna turned to Sitwell with cold looks on their face.

"You've not forgotten Hans, I see. But... some?"

"Yes, some," Anna told him. Her expression told him flatly she was not interested in using it.

"Have you considered learning any other languages?" their trainer asked.

"Anna's wanted to learn Japanese," Elsa said, lip twitching.

"Elsa..." Anna said, alarmed.

"Japanese?" Sitwell asked, surprised.

"For watching anime," Elsa replied, grinning.

Sitwell put two fingers to his head.

"Alright, today, by request, we'll be working with swords. Doesn't all have to be modern weaponry..." Taskmaster began. "Elsa?" he snapped.

Elsa flushed as the yawn finished.

"It's usually Anna who has trouble getting started in the morning. What's your excuse?"

"Agent Clark loaned her a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone," Anna told him.

"Ah yes, a good book and an inadequate respect for tomorrow," Taskmaster said. He shook his head. "Did you at least read the entire thing?"

"I did," Elsa admitted.

"Seven laps then, one for each book in the series," Taskmaster said, grinning.

"There's more?" she asked excitedly.

Steve sat down across from the girls in the cafeteria. "What's Sitwell have you working on today?"

"Computers," Anna said distastefully, "Neither Elsa or I like them that much. Maybe because we didn't grow up with them."

A young man with curly brown hair, who'd been eating alone, looked over to them. "They're not so bad," he suddenly realized who he was talking to, and flushed a bright scarlet. "If, if, if," he stuttered, "If you need help with something, I could help."

"What's your name, agent?" Steve asked.

"Oh, I'm, uh, technician Klein. I served on the Helicarrier during the Cube crisis." He paused, conflicted about his next words. "Captain, you and the howling commandos saved my grandfather in World War 2. My father served with SHIELD under Agent Carter, and, well, here I am."

Steve smiled at him. Elsa suspected he'd heard this thing more than a few times, and he never would tire of it. "Glad to hear it, Mr. Klein." The captain turned back to the sisters. "What does he have you learning?"

"Basics, I think. How to find files, word processing, that kind of thing," Anna said.

"That's not that bad," Steve said.

"I didn't say it was bad," Elsa told him, "It's boring."

"Computers don't have to be boring. There's games and things," Klein protested.

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Like Galaga?"

"That wasn't me!" Klein protested. "Not while on the job!"

Elsa laughed while Anna looked puzzled. Elsa glanced up at the clock. It was about time to go.

"Besides. I prefer role-playing games, action adventure kinds of stuff," Klein said. "Oh, let me write down a few to try," he told them. "None of them are very long. Pleasure to meet you."

They had been given the day off. It was a rare opportunity to investigate DC proper, and for Anna, sleep in a bit. The apartment was, yes, a lot smaller than Tony's multiple bedroom penthouse, but it was still plenty big enough for the two of them.

"So, where should we go today, Elsa?" Anna asked, after she'd finally gotten up.

"How about we go to the Smithsonian?" Elsa offered. "Take a tour back to SHIELD's founding? I read there was a new exhibit about the Howling Commandos."

"I like that idea," Anna said, "Then maybe to a movie or something?"

Elsa shrugged. "We can see what's playing... or we could stay home and watch more Mythbusters."

"Let's hope there's something playing," Anna told her, rolling her eyes. "We need to make some friends outside of SHIELD."

"You could always write another letter back to Kristov," Elsa suggested. "I'm sure SHIELD could deliver it for us, even if the Postal service can't. Take some pictures with that new camera phone you have."

"Weapons are good, magic's probably better, but sooner or later, you're going to get into a fight without either of those things," Natasha told them. "Ready Elsa?"

Elsa adopted the stance she'd been taught. "I'm ready, Natasha."

Natasha started slow, trading punches, kicks, and blocks. Elsa responded in kind, trying her best to land some sort of blow on the master spy, but to unsurprisingly no avail. It ended with Natasha grabbing Elsa's wrist above the bracer, and flipping her onto the mat.

"Those bracers are a point of vulnerability," Natasha told her. "If I were someone who was actually fighting you in earnest, I'd be actively trying to break them, for the psychological damage if nothing else."

Elsa took a deep breath. Natasha was right. But...

"Look. You need to just go a day with out them. Wear them, but leave them deactivated. I think you could control your powers. Eventually, you're going to have to." Natasha bored into Elsa's eyes.

Elsa looked away, she could feel her body shaking. "Pick a day and do it. Maybe I can't officially give you an order," Natasha continued, relentlessly, "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Anyway, Anna, you're up."

Anna wiped her eyes as she moved to stand across from Natasha on the rubber mat.

"What's gotten into you?" Natasha asked. "I can see your eyes darting. A good habit for a spy, but I know you're just nervous."

"I made the mistake of playing Five Nights at Freddy's last night, in the dark."

"So the first time they got you, how loudly did you scream?" Natasha asked.

"It was pretty loud," Elsa said, her eyes wide and innocent, grateful for the reprieve.

"Thanks, Elsa," Anna said. "Going to beat night five tonight, though."

"But first you need to get past me," Natasha told her.

"Let's go!"

It was supposed to be lunchtime, and Anna's stomach was gurgling. But they were sitting, foodless, in one corner of the cafeteria, watching.

Barton was treating this like some hellish version of eye-spy, "Always notice everything," he had told them.

"Isn't that a contradiction in terms, like expect the unexpected?" Elsa asked, watching the lunchroom, convinced there was going to be some kind of event that they were about to be quizzed on. "Since noticing one thing will take your attention away from something else?"

"Heh, most people don't catch on to that," Barton acknowledged. His eyes continued to scan his surroundings, while still making casual conversation. "It's a fair assessment, but if you don't notice the right thing... you might find yourself dead right away."

"So is the right thing is something out of place, like the argument taking place over in the far corner?" Anna asked.
"It can be," Barton agreed, "Or something simple, like someone taking more than one tray, anyone do that?"

The girls frowned and began a focused search through the lunchroom.

"Wait," Anna said, pointing out the window. "Did someone lose a bet? Is that man in a gorilla suit?"

"Very good Anna," Barton said, grinning. "Yes, that's what happened to the last person to fail my observation test."

Elsa's phone rang, and she jumped to answer it. Anna came running from the bedroom, guessing at who the caller was.

"How is he?" Elsa asked without preamble.

"The surgery went well," Pepper said. "He's still in recovery, but they got it all out."

"That... that's great news!" Anna exclaimed.

"It is," Pepper told them. "For all his bluster, all his cockiness, I think there was some part of him that thought he deserved the shrapnel. That he deserved to have nearly lost his life. The shrapnel reminded him of why he'd changed."

"That may have been true at one point," Elsa said. "It's certainly not true now. Tony's a good person, maybe not a perfect one, we have our faults. Ouch!"

"And it'd be helpful if you remembered that, Elsa," Anna told her.

Pepper laughed. "Did Tony or I tell you what happened at the end? When we could go home?"

"The Clean Slate Protocol," Anna said. "Yes, he did. You that's not going to stick, right? He needs to be Iron Man. It's who he now."

"But I think he's remembered it's not the only he is," Pepper said. "He's still a mechanic. He wants to fix the world, so he doesn't have to be Iron Man anymore."

"He should make you one, too," Anna said. When Pepper was too shocked to reply, Anna continued. "Oh come on, it's a good idea! People aren't going to suddenly forget you're his girlfriend. And what if he needs your help?"

"Anna," Elsa sighed, "Not everyone's the adrenaline junky like you and Tony are."

"Your sister's right, Anna" Pepper said, but Anna didn't think she sounded so sure. "Anyway, I should go check up on him."

"Can you ask him to call us when he feels up to it, please?" Elsa asked.

"Absolutely, Elsa. Have a good evening, you two."

"Take care of yourself, Ms. Potts," Elsa said.
"Goodbye," Anna added.

"Eventually, you're going to have to deal with a code, or a cypher," Agent Sitwell explained. "A code will use some sort of agreed upon third party device, or book, for its decoding. For example, a specific chapter, page, and word in a given book. A person who knows what book to use will get the message, a person who doesn't has no chance of solving it. A cypher, on the other hand, is procedural. You use one procedure to cypher something, another to decipher." He put some papers on the desks in front of them, then glanced up at the clock and made an unpleasant face. "I almost forgot, I'm supposed to have a meeting with Fury this afternoon. Keep those with you, consider them homework. Elsa, you're with Taskmaster this afternoon. Anna, Natasha wanted to give you some firearms training."

Anna did not like guns. Guns didn't feel heroic to her. Maybe it was because she didn't see the skill involved. There was no strategy, not even real effort, it was draw, point and shoot. Or maybe it's because she had heard no stories of heroic, legendary, gunslingers. In her mind, heroes used swords.

Or magic. They definitely could use magic.

She would have preferred a bow, but learning that would take more time than they really had to spare, at least for now.

She put on the ear protectors, and looked down toward the silhouette. She instinctively turned her body to line up her shot and fired downrange. After five shots, she unloaded the gun, placing both magazine and pistol on the counter, removed her hearing protection, and stepped back as the target was pulled toward her position.

Natasha stepped forward to examine the results. "Head shots get all the glamor, but you only hit the target at all once. Guns are killing weapons," she smirked for a moment, "so unless you're really good, or you know the target is wearing armor, you should aim for the center of mass."

"Alright," Anna said, then her face lit up. "I'll give it another shot."
Natasha sighed. "Really, Anna?"

"Sorry, sorry," she said, she turned back to the range, reloaded her weapon, and turned to continue practice.

"Alright, Elsa, let's see you in action," Taskmaster said.

Elsa stood, hands close together, forming the perfect snowball, and fired. Her form had improved in the few months since their encounter with New York mobsters.

"Alright, nice shot. I'm going to go ahead and turn on Stark's program. He's upgraded it."

"Upgraded it?" Elsa wondered aloud.

She found what the upgrade was just five shots into the pattern.

"Ohno! I'm sorry, sorry, Tony! Wait..."

Taskmaster raised an eyebrow, "Tony?" Taskmaster examined the hologram that Elsa had hit. "He put himself in his own training program as a civilian target? Good grief."

"Alright," Elsa said, bemused. "Hit the aliens and don't hit other humans... and Tony."

Taskmaster snickered.

After a good half an hour of practice, Taskmaster turned the program off again. "Think that had better be enough," He told her. "Your stamina is improving, not sure how much damage your snowballs will do, but you work with what you have, I guess."

"Thanks, I think," Elsa said.

That night, after dinner, when the pair were working on Agent Sitwell's homework, Elsa had finished the second phrase in her list, and narrowed her eyes. "That... is that serious?" Elsa asked.

"What's it say?" Anna asked.

"Do not trust me in person," read the deciphered message. "Trust only these messages."

They looked at each other. "Wait... what?"

(A/N: Up next: Cold Mage, the Winter Soldier story. As always, any favorites, reviews, or alert requests are small little thank yous to my in box. And if you have a moment, go back and favorite Cryomancy... so everyone knows this series is worth starting. :) See you soon!)