Location: Hidden

Agents: All

Section: Five

Novum panted, her blue-tipped hair sticking to her forehead despite her headband. The agent across the ring made a couple notes on the tablet, his dark eyes watching her. She regripped the bar, bringing her chin back up to it. She wobbled for a moment before her arms gave out, and she crashed onto the mats below her. "Ow."

"Two." The agent said, standing over her. His eyes peered down at her, and he stuck his hand out. She gladly took it, using the help to stand up on wobbling legs and arms.

"That hurt." She complained, massaging her hip as they both walked off to the side of the mat. The agency had been in a frenzy when someone had come in to wake her, and as a result only the agent testing her was there to watch the entire thing.

Novum made to take a sip of her water bottle but it was snatched out of her hand, disappearing in an instant. She stared at her hand peculiarly for a moment before her eyes travelled to Agent Fortis. He clutched her water bottle in his hands, a grim smile set on his face. "No water until the test is over."

"That's not fair!" she protested, stomping up to him. She made to grab it but it was already gone again, she could hear it bang into the garbage pail across the room. Her head dropped and she exhaled slowly, bringing up a hand to massage her temples. "I'm thirsty. You can hardly dehydrate me."

"Think of it as another test. Anyway, we must continue. I have to be out of here in an hour." He walked away, beckoning her over his shoulder.

"Another hour?" she grumpled, but jogged to catch up to him none-the-less.

"Yes," he snapped back, his head whipping back to look at her. He seemed to fit in perfectly with the gym; tall, he dressed in all black work out clothes that outlined every hardened muscle he had. "You have to run, do sit-ups, a flexibility test, and weigh yourself."

She stopped in her tracks, her voice raising in pitch to stop the Agent. "Weigh myself?"

"Did I stutter?" the Agent asked coldly, raising an eyebrow. He motioned to the room. "We have a job to complete, hurry up."

She shook her head, not even bothering to reprimand him at this point. She would just have to work hard to get into this place, before she filed a list of complaints straight to the classicus to deal with the crazed agents around here.

"Alright, do a three mile up-tempo run. Do you even know what that means?" If the phrase 'cold-shoulder' could actually happen, Novum swore that was what was occurring. He must hate her for no reason!

"Yes, I do." She replied back, rubbing her hip one last time before setting off. She called back over her shoulder. "And by the way, Conge wants her cold weather back!"

***

A three mile run, 100 sit-ups, a flexibility test and a weighing later, Novum was escorted back to her room where a thick envelope sat on her bed. She completely ignored it, choosing to jump into the large porcelain bath tub and relax all her muscles for a good hour before she finally got up. Towel 'round her head and sweats on her body, Novum laid on her stomach to open the packet. It seemed rather large.

Agent Novum,

Thank you for coming to our agency and going through initiation. I am sorry to deliver the news to you this way, but I'm afraid it's the only way I can. The agency has been dragged into a rather long, complicated mission, and we have lost some of our agents. We need all hands on deck at this point, so we are cutting the rest of your initation. Congratulations, you made it in! Normally we would throw a party but due to the circumstances, we have not. Your training and possibly the rest of initiation will have to occur in a short span of time. As a matter of fact, it will be occurring in the field. We need you for a mission. This packet of information outlines everything, and we would like to read it through and sign it. Congratulations again for making it in, I'm very happy.

Sincerely,

Classicus.

Novum shook her head, not believing it for a second. Another test, right? They couldn't seriously skip the rest of inititation. She was due for a total of 20 tests, and she had only completed 8. And as far as she knows, she was due for a one year training period. These people loved their rules, so she highly doubted that they were going to cut them now.

"Computer dude?" She asked into the air hesistantly, seeing if he was actually there. The last time she had talked to him, he said that if she just asked for him, it would put through an automatic connection.

"I told you not to call me that!' He snarled, his voice shocking her again. She screamed, even though she initiated it.

She smiled sheepishly at his face, before raising the packet. "Is this serious?"

He paled immediately, bringing his face closer to the screen. "Bring that closer to the screen, I need to see it better." She did, and his face paled even more before flushing. "Yes, that is very seirous."

"Shut up!" she shouted, dropping the envelope to the floor with a thud. "I made it through?"

He sounded so sour when he replied, his red face contrasting in a not-so-pretty way against the brown hair. "It seems so, yes."

"HALLALUJAH!!" She screamed, throwing her hands in the air. Jumping up and down, she yelled in excitement for a good twenty minutes before her door banged open.

Ignis and Conge burst in, weapons raised as if they expected a threat. Novum froze on the spot, raising an eyebrow. "What are you two doing here?"

"We heard jumping." Grumbled Ignis, putting his weapon away. "Anyway, what are you going on about?"

"I MADE IT PAST INITIATION!" That got her started all over again.

A/N: 1030 words.