No more fear, No more pain, No more stumbling by the way, No more longing for the day, Going to run no more - Going Home, Libera

Chapter One

Two days had passed. Two days since I decided to join SHIELD and take Fury's offer. Two days since I last saw Beck in person, and stopped by to see the Grid one last time.

In two days I was already bored out of my mind. SHIELD was offering a safety debriefing before I went on my first mission. And the other new recruits around me kept staring at me like I wasn't even from their world. Well, at this point I might as well not be.

For most of my life I lived in a place known as the Grid. Kevin Flynn had designed it to be a digital utopia, filled with life. But Clu, an almost exact copy of Flynn, turned on his Creator and nearly destroyed the Grid. He killed thousands of ISOs in his time as ruler. He killed a hundred more programs that fought back during the infamous Purge.

Clu had finally been taken down when Flynn's son Sam decided to investigate his father's disappearance. Flynn had ended up killing himself in the process though, along with destroying half of the Grid. Now Sam, Quorra, Tron and Beck were working together to rebuild what was left of a broken system. As for me?

I was stuck here, listening to some old guy prep us about safety briefs during missions. He was showing everyone a video about a mission going wrong.

"And that's why you should always stick with your partner during a mission," he concluded after the video came to an abrupt end.

"Is it true, what they say about you?" I tried not to roll my eyes as we started leaving the room. Thankfully the class didn't require books, so we left empty handed. The person speaking to me was a young man, probably in his early twenties.

"Is what true about me?" I retorted after fixing the gloves that wrapped around my hands. Every day I wore a pair of biker gloves that Tony had thankfully given me before I left. It was the easiest way to hide the scars that covered them. I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt and pants while out in public in order to keep people from gawking at me, but that didn't hide the scars on my face.

Long story short, when I lived on the Grid, I was captured by a program known as Rinzler. He was Clu's perfect soldier. Always did what Clu told him to, even if it meant derezzing another program. And he would take his frustration out on me while I was his prisoner. I always wondered why he never took me directly to Clu himself. Clu would have done far worse damage to me, being a User and all.

"I mean about you being their daughter and all," he replied after we reached the man entrance.

I stopped short at the mention of my birth parents. Technically he didn't mention their names. The more I thought about it, the more I had gotten used to it. They were master assassins, and I was training to become a SHIELD agent. But we did have more in common than I would like to know.

"What makes you think that?" I asked after taking a deep breath.

"It's just that... you look just like them," the new recruit said shakily.

"That's enough, Agent Marcus." The new recruit flinched when a new voice spoke up from behind us. "We already have a full report on her."

"Sorry Agent Coulson," Marcus replied sheepishly.

He immediately turned and made a run for the door, cheeks turning bright red. I tried not to laugh as I watched him leave. Somehow I couldn't picture a SHIELD agent acting that way.

"I'm sorry, about that," Agent Coulson added once he was gone. "Some of the newer agents tend to forget that asking questions isn't always a good idea."

"It's okay," I replied after studying him carefully. So this was the famous Phil Coulson. I remembered Natasha mentioning him more than once. Even Tony talked about him every now and than. But from the stories I'd heard, he was supposed to be dead. "Aren't you supposed to be..." I couldn't bring myself to say the word as he just stood there and smiled like an idiot.

"Dead?" he answered for me. I simply nodded in response. "It's a bit of a long story," he explained warily. "The Avengers can't know that I'm alive."

I had a feeling he would say that. Something told me there was more to that story than he let on. From what I heard, he was killed by Loki, Thor's brother. Natasha regarded him with respect, and even Clint had some kind of respect for him.

"They are right about you looking just like them," Agent Coulson added when an uncomfortable silence fell between us. "Minus the uh..." He cut himself off before he continued. I tried not to roll my eyes when I knew what he was about to say.

"I've lived with these for most of my life," I replied as calmly as I could. "I'm used to them."

Coulson's face paled when he realized what I meant by that. He quickly recovered and smoothed down his hair in embarrassment. "I'll be seeing you soon, miss Barton," he said in a quiet voice.

I'd rather not be called by that name, I tried yelling as he left the room. But I couldn't find the heart to say it out loud. It's not like I chose for Natasha and Clint to be my parents. It just happened out of the blue. And we found out quickly once I returned to the User world with Beck.

With a sigh of frustration, I turned towards the doors and made my way back to my apartment. The city itself was crawling with people as usual. I made a point to avoid them. I wasn't much of a social butterfly to begin with. Even on the Grid I didn't have much time hanging out with friends. There was always something to keep me busy.

Thankfully it didn't take me long to reach my apartment. It was only a few blocks away from Steve's, and right beside the gym I'd be visiting in a few hours. It was slightly reassuring to know that I'd be close to a friend. Well, Steve wasn't technically my friend. He was more like a big brother that watched my every move. Otherwise he'd receive death threats from Natasha and Clint.

Almost as soon as I opened the door I was tackled by Rinzler. I tried not to laugh as Rinzler purred and rubbed against my cheek. He's an black kitten mixed with red streaks in his fur. Back on the Grid those red streaks would have been red circuits. It was really the eyes that gave him away. Any normal User would realize that he wasn't from around here.

"What have you been up to?" I asked after getting up. Rinzler only tilted his head to one side before jumping off of my shoulder.

Beck still questioned me naming him after the guy that threatened my life. I don't know why I chose that name. Part of me realized that it wasn't Rinzler's fault he had become who he was. Clu was the one that had repurposed him into a killing machine. It was hard for me to stay angry with someone. Better to forgive and forget than let anger build until you're ready to take it out on them.

I pulled out my phone that once again Tony bought for me (he decided that he was going to act like the uncle I never wanted), and noticed that there was a missed call. With a sigh of frustration I didn't miss the fact that it was from Tony himself. Probably checking to see what it was like being a SHIELD agent.

"Hey kid, you got a minute?" I rolled my eyes when I listened to the message. Obviously I didn't. "Well, I need to chat with you about the Grid. Something's up, and you might wanna stop by Stark Tower on your way home." The message ended with a loud beep.

Something was up with the Grid? Somehow I had a feeling that wasn't a good thing. Gridbugs were still an ever present threat, and so were viruses. But Tron had already organized a team of programs to take care of them. So this must have been more serious.

"You stay here," I told Rinzler as he began to follow me. He only looked at me with those large red eyes and blinked. "I won't be long," I added after patting his head gently.

Warily, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he didn't follow me after closing my door. Stark Tower wasn't far from here. A few blocks and I'd already be there. But the moment I stepped outside, I noticed that Tony was already waiting for me. In his Iron Man suit. The looks people gave him were priceless. As was the anger I began to feel towards him.

"I was wondering when you'd get back," Tony said after lifting his helmet. "You're late."

"Excuse me for having a meeting I had to attend," I snapped.

"Always a pleasure working with you too." Tony smirked and folded his arms. "You ready?"

I braced myself as he took flight. Wonder how Natasha and Clint would take this one. Going on a joy ride with Iron Man wasn't exactly on my list of things to do in the User world. But at least we would get to the tower faster this way. And the sooner I found out what was wrong, the better off I was.

. . .

Agent Coulson stood beside Director Fury as the pulled out the files on the team they were forming. Back at the Hub, everything was quiet. For now. Coulson knew that wouldn't last long when it came to peace. And Director Fury had already assigned him as leader of the new team to tackle threats that ordinary SHIELD agents couldn't.

"Sir, what about the girl?" Coulson asked after pulling out her file. The reports on her were impressive. She had already survived several near-fatal incidents. And she mastered several forms of martial arts due to her mentor's past experience.

"I'm not sure she's entirely qualified for this job," Fury replied.

"And Agent Ward is?" A smirk played along Coulson's mouth as Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. Grant Ward was more of a wild card than Hawkeye. Made the master archer look like a saint. But Coulson did have a point.

"If they find out, it's on your head," Fury muttered as he walked out of the room.

Coulson didn't even flinch at the remark. He knew all too well what they were capable of. He had fought alongside them many times. And now he would get to see what their daughter was capable of. The smirk widened slightly at the thought. He was looking forward to that.

AN: So here's the beginning of Promise. It's going to be a ten-part story, and it will be a tie-in with Agents of SHIELD. If you haven't seen that show, than there will be spoilers for it :P It is also a sequel to Different, Rogue and Freedom. So I highly recommend you read those in order before reading this. Just thought I'd put that in there.

It's also going to be a bit different from my other works. Mira's point of view will be in first person, while the rest will be in second person. Hope you don't find that too confusing /= Anywho, please let me know what you thought of this chapter.

PS: Have I mentioned that I got to chat with Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) on Twitter twice already? Love him!

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