Rose was trying really hard not to shoot herself in the foot.

When Tony had said she had good aim with a gun he wasn't lying. Natasha was having her on a mobile shooting obstacle course and it was becoming blindingly apparent both her body and mind were not into it.

Rose had done cross country in High School because it was the only sport she trusted herself not to face plant in. So when her nonexistent coordination and perfect aim was paired with running, jumping, and dodging. . . It could be said she missed spectacularly.

"You are at the absolute height of your physical capabilities at this age, Rosalyn!" Natasha called across the room.

Rose grunted in response, both too tired and too annoyed from being called by her full first name to respond.

She vaulted over a metal beam placed lengthways across the ground and fired at the moving target on the left wall. She missed. Again.

"Stop!" called Natasha. She jumped down from the ledge she was perched on and began walking towards Rose, who was breathing heavily.

"I have to say, Rosalyn, your aim is actually not bad. However, when you are concentrating on your feet so much your shots are haphazard and spontaneous. I'm afraid you are not ready for spontaneity yet," Natasha quipped.

Rose was still breathing heavy. "Thanks," she mumbled out and began to shake out her sore arm.

"Rose. Look at me," Natasha said. "You are not as uncoordinated as you think you are. It will just take time and practice. You said you wanted to learn how to fight, yes?"

Rose gave a slow nod.

"You will never learn unless you start believing you actually have the physical capability to do this. I wouldn't train you if I thought you were a lost cause. Now we are going to get back to work. And you're going to fight like it's your last lesson. If you train that way you will only see improvement."

Rose looked up at Natasha. "I want to learn. I really do. Feeling weak is something I've always hated. But I just feel stupid jumping over stuff and am helpless at hand to hand combat. Is there anything on the side I can do? Push ups or something?"

Natasha gave a small smile. "This kind of thing just takes time. You are already reasonably fit. If you want to work out more on the side it wouldn't hurt. As for actual hand to hand, it would help if you had someone a little more your size and speed."

"Are you calling me short?" Rose glared.

"Of course not, hon. You're a solid five feet of pure ferocity." Natasha smiled.

That earned a frown from Rose and a light pat on the head from Natasha that she ducked to avoid.

"See, you can be fast if you try!" Natasha laughed.

"Only if involves me avoiding my midget physique," Rose said.

"Awe come on. You're not a midget, Rose. Just vertically challenged, is all."

Natasha suddenly sidestepped at a speed that didn't seem humanly possible to avoid the punch Rose had sent her way.

This, for some reason, made Natasha laugh. "Ok, Rose. We'll fight and practice hand to hand. Apparently all it takes to improve your aim is to insult your height. Come on!"

Reluctantly, Rose followed her to the sparing ring, all the while glaring holes into Natasha's back.

Her head was still killing her, but she neglected to say anything to Natasha, both not wanting to seem weak and have her deem Rose unwell and, therefore, unable to train.

Natasha had made Rose her personal project. It had been two weeks since the bombing in Vienna and three days since Barton had taken Wanda. The disappearance of Rodgers and Wilson seemed to throw Natasha into a frenzy. Wanda's leaving and Barton's choosing of Cap's side was enough to drive her insane.

Rose wasn't really sure what she believed at the moment. Everything was just too confusing. But Natasha seemed determined to teach Rose even if it was grueling and required infinite patience.

Tony had been holed up in the lab for a week now. When Rose commented on this he said he was looking for something. Rose suspected he was looking for someone. The team seemed to be getting smaller every day, which did not bode well if there was to be a confrontation anytime soon.

Rose was actually panicking because Natasha had suggested she fight. She insisted that with some personal training she could really get into assassin-shape, a term she wisely didn't say in front of Tony.

Tony was all for Rose learning self defense, but he said under no condition would she actually be fighting. Rose didn't push it; she was extremely lucky that he had allowed Nat to teach her anything.

Natasha had started her with the basics of shooting and related exercises. Rose was confident with a gun: Tony had all but insisted she learn when she had come to live with him again. JARVIS, before he became Vision, had led her through a basic training program that left her with a deadly shot. Rose wondered if he remembered that. Probably.

Natasha quickly found her problem was not in anyway physical exertion. It was all agility. Rose would have gotten a tattoo on her face or something equally as awful to change that. She was slow to react an move; Natasha had come up with the wonderful analogy that she was more like an old, overweight man than a young, spiritedly teen. Rose took too long to calculate her moves. It was imperative that she move faster and her reflexes became much quicker.

Natasha's method of improving Rose's coordination was to throw literally everything within reach at any given moment at her.

The eightieth time Rose was hit with a tennis ball, hard, mind you, she began to react faster and her reflexes improved. Rose had now been training nonstop for almost two weeks; she hoped she would continue to achieve little victories.

Natasha continued Rose's training as if her life depended on it.

Rose sidestepped out of the way, just in time to avoid a rather vicious kick from Natasha. She threw her whole body into an uppercut, her other arm blocking an oncoming punch from Natasha.

Natasha blocked her easily, and followed her previous attack with an elbow to Rose's stomach. Ouch. Rose was solely on the defensive and her breathing was coming in short gasps.

Rose kicked out at Natasha's knee, her other leg firmly planted between them. Immediately after Rose followed with a left punch, only to find herself seemingly flying through the air and then in an extremely complex hold with her face pressed against the ground and Natasha's knee digging painfully into her back.

"How the hell do you do that, Nat?" Rose gasped into the ground. Her hair was sticking to her face and the smell of sweat was clinging to her as Natasha had her head still on the mat.

"A whole lot of practice and ability to see obvious openings." Rose knew Natasha was smirking. She just knew it.

"Is there, I dunno, a way for me to get out of this?" Rose said not without a hint of annoyance. Her wrist and neck were killing her.

"Yes," Natasha said.

Oh, real helpful, thought Rose.

Rose analyzed her predicament. Her legs were free for the most part, but her arms were crossed firmly behind her neck and held in a death grip by Natasha. Her head was pressed into the ground by Natasha's right knee, and her back was squished into the mat by her left.

Rose tried to move her back up slightly only to have Natasha's knee dig deeper into her spine. Rose let out a frustrated huff.

"Nat, I can't even move," Rose said.

"You sure as hell can, Rosalyn. Just think about it. And also as a side note: You will have to be a lot faster in a real fight when you find yourself in a situation like this. The faster you act the less time an enemy with have to strengthen their hold on you," Natasha explained.

"Ok, ok. But what if..." Rose started.

Suddenly it felt like her entire body was hit with an electric shock. At first Rose thought Natasha had tasered her.

Rose threw her hips upward and flew onto her knees, her teeth jarring at the sudden impact and speed at which she did this. This move startled Natasha, causing her to loosen her grip on her arms and lessen the pressure of her knees on Rose's body. Rose tore her hands out of Natasha's grasp and rolled to the side, away from her. Rose kicked out and hit Natasha in the shin.

Rose scrambled to her feet, her mind buzzing with newfound energy. Natasha looked as if she had been shot.

She looked at Rose for some time, taking in her poised stance and flushed cheeks.

A smile crept onto Natasha's face. "I am impressed, Rose. Very impressed. That was brilliant. "

Rose didn't quite let herself relax, but allowed a smile and a small laugh to escape her lips.

"I don't know what came over me," she commented.

"The adrenaline must have kicked in," Natasha shrugged. "Wonderful escape. We can start moving onto harder holds soon."

Natasha took in Rose's bruised and flushed body. Her grey t-shirt was soaked with sweat and she was beginning to look shaky on her legs.

"Tomorrow," Natasha said. "You are dead on your feet right now. That escape might have been luck, but we are going to work to make sure it wasn't. Get some rest and meet me here in the morning."

Natasha couldn't hide the smile from her face. Rose's escape had been excellent for a beginner. If her aim could improve so could her fighting. She was sure of it.

She wondered, though, how light Rose had suddenly seemed at the moment of her escape.

Rose felt happy. She had escaped the clutches of the infamous Black Window and hadn't been beaten to pulp right after. Natasha had actually smiled at her.

Rose rushed over to a bench in the corner of the training room to grab her water and bag. The electricity still seemed to be running through her. Making her giddy and jumpy. She was still as tired as all get-out, but the funny energy was persisting.

Rose hurried up the stairs and to her room, thinking that a cold shower was definitely in order. Oh, who was she kidding. She never ended up actually taking a cold shower. She stripped off her sweaty clothes and unceremoniously tossed them on the ground. Rose had never been a neat freak.

The water felt amazing on her sore muscles and the steam helped clear her head. What had happened down there? Rose had suddenly found herself out of Natasha's grip and she had felt weightless as she had sprung from the mat.

Rose was so caught up in her small victory that even twenty minutes later, she hadn't realized something was missing.

As she lay down in bed, with a smile still plastered on her face, a sense of unease suddenly overcame her.

Then it hit her.

Her headache was gone and that funny electricity had replaced it.

A/n

Thank you again for reading! Remember, FF writers get paid in reviews so don't hesitate to drop one!

You'll notice I expanded the time frame of CW a little bit - I needed time to develop Rose's character. If there are any serious holes in the plot line, please tell me. I want this to be accurate. I forgot to mention in my last a/n (I'll probably add it in later) that CACW happens ONE YEAR after Age of Ultron. This gives a lot of wiggle room for me to add in flashbacks and such.

FYI: I plan to have Rose meet Peter (aka Spiderman soon - I know the summary says OCxPeterParker!)

I really want to let you get to know Rose and what is happening first.

Again, thank you for reading and have a great day!

- Stella