The Importance of Stealth

Training with mom was brutal today. Its getting easier but its kinda hard to meet Black Widow's standards sometimes.

I enter Jamie's room and I can tell she's wondering about her junk food. Hehe. Training is hard and I sometimes pay Uncle Clint to stash some for me in his vents. Ok, maybe more than sometimes. But I mean, she should find a better hiding place for her stash…

"You ready?" I asked her. Today was the day I would attempt to teach her stealth, a very important skill.

"What if said no?", she responds, looking a little less than thrilled.

"I'd force you to learn some how."

"Fair enough. So where is this lesson taking place?"

I point up, towards the vents. What better place to learn stealth than in the vents?

"Isn't that sort of Uncle Clint's territory?"

"Yeah. But I'm his favorite niece so he's letting us go up there today."

"Of course. So. Where do we begin?"

I go into the living room and with a little force, open the vent and crawl inside. Jamie follows me and closes the vent. Its really roomy in here for some reason.

We go a little ways, and being trained not to, no noise comes from me. Jamie, however is banging almost every wall. I really should get her some sound cancelling shoes.

I face her now, to begin the first part of the lesson. "Lesson one, instead of using your whole hand, use the heel. That way your hand won't make a slapping noise on the metal."

I show her the technique, making her copy it. After she gets this down, I'll show her how to use her toes for silence.

We crawl towards the space above Uncle Sam's room. His kind of annoying pop music is playing and he is dancing around while he cleans. I smirk, not being able to make a sound due to the stealth mission, but I can hear Jamie's adorable giggle behind me. His music is loud enough to cover her sounds, and I make a mental note to teach her how to be amused quietly later.

We keep moving and before long we stumble upon Uncle Bucky's room. Everything is silent in there so we can't afford to make a sound. He is quietly doing maintenance on his arm while humming a Russian lullaby he used to sing to us as children. As we start to move again, Jamie slips and makes a banging sound. Damn. We were doing so well. I shoot her a glare as Uncle Bucky freaks out and grabs his gun, with lighting speed, scaring poor Jamie. I hear her gulp.

"Who is there?" He asks all dark and menacing.

"It's just me. Please don't shoot." Jamie squeaks out.

"Jamie?"

"Yes…"

"Damn it Jamie. You scared the crap out of me. What are you doing up there?"

"Learning to be stealthy."

"Well I'd say you failed this one."

"Yeah tell me about it," I responded. It's Jamie's turn to glare a little bit.

Bucky sighed when he heard my voice, and I can practically hear him shake his head. He goes back to what he was doing, minus the humming.

We reach the area above the lab.

"I want you to go to the vent all the way on the other side of the room and come out there without dad knowing." I tell her. Jamie looks at me like I'm out of my mind. Maybe I am, but she's got to practice.

She slowly makes her way across the vents, doing her best to be stealthy. It's slow, but she's doing it! She's halfway there when I notice the loose block in the vent. She doesn't. Just as I make an attempt to stop her, she falls through. Crap. She lets out a horrifying scream as she crashes into who knows what. Oh crap. I cringe when I hear the mini boom of a small explosion. I hear Uncle Cap and Uncle Stark come in to find the vents on the ground; Jamie in a pile of broken glass and blood.

As if in slow motion, the candy in a secret vent falls upon Jamie below. Crap.

"What the f-" I hear Jamie begin, but Uncle Cap cuts in, saying her name sharply, before she can finish.

Mom runs in and I can feel her assessing the situation before yelling my name in a tone I know all too well.

"Entropy Alexei Banner! Show yourself right now!"

I prepare myself for reprimanding, sighing and swinging down. I make a note of the mess, inwardly groaning at the clean up I'll be forced to do. Dad is the corner, trying to calm down. He's looking at me with a sigh.

"Hi mom."

"Did you convince Jamie to do this?"

"Fall from the ceiling? Nope. That was her own doing."

"You know what I mean."

"If you're meaning teaching her an important life skill, then yes. Yes I did."

Mom turns towards Jamie

"Are you alright?"

Jamie replies that she's ok, but wonders why her junk food was in the ceiling…

I shrug, hiding all evidence of knowing, while mom gives me a knowing look.I help Jamie up and guide her to her concerned father. He picks her up, careful of the glass shards in her back before taking her to the medical wing with Mom and Dad following her.

"We are not finished with this conversation young lady." States dad as they leave the mess.

I nod and follow. Of course it's not. I catch up to Uncle Cap.

"Why do I let you drag me into this?" Jamie asks

"I don't know. I guess you're just stuck with me." I tell her, smiling. I make a mental note to try stealthiness in a less dangerous place next time.

"Yep. You're stuck with me too." she laughs.