Corinne's breath was coming out in short huffs as she circled her barely sweating opponent.
Steve was smiling apologetically, after having subdued her on the mats for the hundredth time.
Rumlow stood on the side, sharp instructions coming out of his mouth. "Stay alert, Lin. Remember what I taught you."
Despite her being tired, she kept her hands up, ready to strike. At Steve's expectant countenance she nodded. "Ready."
She made the first swipe, catching him by surprise. Corinne then dropped down to kick out a leg. It knocked him out of balance, but he righted himself. Steve returned with a punch.
None of their hits are meant to even bruise each other, but it is still an invigorating spar. She leaned back, and managed to get a few jabs in. They go back and forth like this, until Steve tackles her.
Her back meets the mat as the air leaves her lungs. Again. Steve has her pinned, and she just lays there breathless. Corinne is not used to so much endurance, but even Steve seems winded. His face flushes from exertion probably, but they are close enough to count each others' eyelashes. Steve swiftly gets up and offers her a hand.
"Thanks," Corinne lets him pull her up, "Nice tackle."
He smiles, a bit embarrassed. The man had won every single time so far, but he knew Corinne wouldn't appreciate him going easy either. "Thank you. You did a really good kick."
She beamed back. Corinne had doubts about Fury's decision in having them train together. Sure, their knowledge of combat was the same, but he was a super solider. Having greater strength, speed, and endurance had its advantages. Force field powers were useless in a close range.
But she could see how it's got them to know each other better. By getting to spend time with Steve, it was beneficial for the team and for both of them. It's been a week since they've started training, and she could say they were friends.
They even watched The Incredibles when their strategy instructor had to go on a last minute mission. Steve had wanted to know why she was called Violet, and so she started up The Incredibles. The SHIELD break room had Netflix; who would have thought?
She didn't mind helping him catch up with everything either. It was fun to see someone's honest, first reaction to some movie, song, or whatever. Corinne suggested things for his notebook of things to know, and answered any questions he brought up.
In her opinion, Steve was so much more than the symbol Captain America. He was kind and brave, and wasn't just some mindless soldier. He proved himself as somebody who thought outside of the box during their strategy classes.
"Enough chit chat, you two. Let's get back to sparring." Rumlow drawls.
"There's nothing!" Tony lamented, swiping away the hologram of the scans from sight.
"Maybe we need a different angle." Corinne replied half-heartedly, more calm on the outside. In truth, her own patience was wearing thin. They've been at it for days now, and not a single anomaly had shown up in the results. She was grateful she finally got a chance to find answers, but at this rate, she was doubting they'd find anything.
Bruce agreed. "Let's keep on trying."
Corinne cast her attention back to the results on her screen. A particular sequence caught her eye and she expanded it. "Oh my god, I think-"
But just as quickly as she had spotted it, her mind stopped functioning for a moment. By the time she focused on the sequence again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She stared at the sequence in confusion.
I swear it was there.
The two other scientists had drifted over to where she was.
"Did you find it?" Tony asked excitedly.
Corinne shook her head, disappointed. "Sorry, false alarm. I must be going crazy with staring at this for a long time."
"We'll find it," Bruce gave her an assuring look.
Bruce had been an amazing lab partner for the past few days. Despite his alter ego, he was a steady anchor. Without him, she would have lost her motivation and sanity. Tony was great and a genius, but his eccentric ways was enough to put most people on edge. Bruce had studied at the same university as she had too, though his departure had worse circumstances.
JARVIS' disembodied voice spoke up. "I apologize for the interruption, but there are some guests awaiting your presence."
"Oh, right, I forgot," responded the billionaire, "yeah, don't send them up. Send them to the common floor. We'll meet them there."
"Understood, Mr. Stark."
Corinne exchanged a perplexed look with Bruce. He shrugged back.
"What's happening?" She voiced.
Tony stepped into the elevator, and motioned for them to join him. "It's a surprise!"
They just did it, used to the genius' eccentric ways. The glass elevator ascended swiftly, stopping at one of the floors that had been under construction for the past week.
The upper floors of the tower had been damaged from the Battle of New York, so it had not been accessible to anybody. The other floors were still functional. At the lower half of the tower were the rented floors of Stark Industries' subsidiaries. In the middle was where Stark Industries' R&D department was located. They had been working in one of Tony's personal labs on the upper middle level for their research.
The elevator doors opened and Tony spread his arms. "Welcome to the Avengers common floor!"
The space was huge. It was a sleek room made of glass and metal. Modern like the rest of the tower, it was both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Minimalist furniture and various entertainment objects were scattered about. In the center was a seating area with large white sofas. The guests JARVIS talked about were currently lounging on them.
Natasha, Clint, and Steve acknowledged them with their own greeting as they joined them.
Corinne gave a friendly grin to Steve, and waved to the two agents. She was surprised to see them, because they have had SHIELD duties most of the time for the past week.
"I thought this was an emergency, Stark," Natasha raised an eyebrow, "This doesn't look urgent to me." The two men beside her nodded.
"But it's just as important as one," he said easily, "okay, you know those revision plans I had? They're done and now I'm going to give you guys a tour." His eyes shined with excitement.
The man was so full of enthusiasm they couldn't decline.
"Might as well, since we're here." Steve relented.
Tony cheered. "Yes! Okay, this is the common room for everyone. We've got everything-lounge, bar, pool table, electronics, fully equipped kitchen, movie theatre. On the next floors," the other Avengers followed as he bounded over to the elevator, "are your quarters! JARVIS, pull up a map of the place."
"Of course."
A hologram of the tower appeared. The inventor pointed at seven of the floors marked by symbols. A bow, an hourglass, a hammer, a DNA helix, a shield with a star, and an Iron Man mask. Corinne saw what was probably her own symbol in between Steve's shield and the DNA helix. It looked like a traditional shaped shield created by spiraling lines. A 'C' was in the center of it.
"I told you I was an Avenger only a couple days ago," said Corinne, "how did you even manage to finish?"
The others shared a look.
"It was kinda obvious you were going to join." Clint grinned at her. "Welcome to the team by the way."
They went to each of the floors, and Corinne could see the amount of thought he had put into the tower. Each floor was personalized for its user. They went to Clint's floor since it was the closest and he wanted to go see.
Clint had whistled, impressed with his floor. "Sweet."
The archer's floor had its own levels, perfect for his habit of lingering in elevated places. Complicated targets that he could adjust by telling JARVIS to were all over the place.
"And if you wanna change something," Tony said, "just talk to JARVIS. The walls are movable so change as much as you want."
They decided to fully explore their own floors later, as Tony wanted to show them other places
Next, he showed them the training area. It was even more impressive than the one Corinne trained at in SHIELD. There was, of course, everything.
"Let's try this out." Clint shouted, running over to a firing range. Steve, Bruce, and Tony followed, the latter already babbling.
"Good to have another woman on the team," A husky voice spoke beside Corinne. Natasha gave her a sly smile. "Heard you're getting trained by Rumlow."
"Yeah," Corinne winced, "he is a strict trainer." She was still sore from yesterday, while Steve showed no signs of exhaustion.
She had been glad at first to be paired with Steve-their friendship had grown tremendously as a result, after all. Truthfully, Corinne felt like she wasn't making as much progress as she could. Something just wasn't working.
Corinne frowned to herself. She understood that he was a super soldier, but her ambitious nature couldn't stand being behind.
Natasha's perceptive gaze assessed her. "Follow me," she walked off to a storage room, closed the door behind them, and got out a dummy. "Show me what you've learned so far."
She was confused, but obeyed nonetheless. Corinne did a couple of different punches and kicks. She even did the move where she threw her weight to her opponent to knock them down. At the end, she was slightly panting.
"That's all I remember," she told the redhead.
The spy nodded thoughtfully. "Rumlow's not training you properly. The hand to hand combat is fine, but the rest isn't suitable for you. He's teaching moves where you use your weight against the opponent, and that only works well for Rogers."
That makes sense, Corinne thought.
"You need entirely different moves. I'll help you, but you can't teach these to anyone else. " Natasha sent her a sly smirk. "Us girls have to stick together."
Corinne was at a lost for what to say. The Black Widow was going to help her fight? That was definitely not something she thought was going to happen. "Okay."
"Instead of using your weight, you have to use their weight. Come at me." Natasha motioned her forward. Corinne hesitantly swung a fist. What happened next was both fast and smooth. She saw Natasha jump lightly and secure her thighs around her neck. Corinne's balance tipped and she was suddenly grateful for the mat underneath.
"That was amazing."
Corinne was given a shrug. "Perks of the job."
Natasha showed her a couple more techniques. Some using the dummy, some with the spy herself. Corinne grinned with each move. She felt more and more confident about tomorrow's training lesson.
"That's all for now. Just remember to use what they throw at you to your advantage." The former assassin concluded at the end, putting the dummy away.
Corinne nodded. "Thank you."
The spy gave her another smirk. "Kick their asses for me."
They came out from the storage room unnoticed. The rest of the Avengers had been so occupied with testing out the equipment that they hadn't realized their disappearance. Tony was explaining the features with glee as Steve and Bruce pressed buttons. Clint had gotten a bow out of nowhere and was hitting every target even as Steve changed the settings.
Clint turned around to them abruptly, bow string taunt. "Heads!"
Corinne's eyes widened as she materialized a shield to cover both her and Natasha. The arrow which had been aimed slightly above their heads, bounced off her force field.
"Seriously?" She said in exasperation. It wasn't directly aimed for them, but had given her a start.
"Clint." Natasha sounded unimpressed.
The archer shrugged. "Testing your reflexes."
"I have an idea."
Everyone looked at Tony warily.
She was keeping up her shield against oncoming attacks. Arrows came from all directions, and a shield with a star occasionally bounced off her own shield. A beam of light continually hit her invisible barrier. Bullets rattled its own rhythm amongst all the attacks.
"Time?" Tony said in his Iron Man suit. He had summoned the suit to the gym from his workshop.
Bruce, off to the side, yelled back. "Five minutes and thirty-nine seconds!"
"No weak spots anywhere," Clint's voice floated from the rafters. He was calculatedly aiming arrows at different spots. "Just what is this stuff made of?"
"Energy's my best guess." Corinne replied under the dome of her shield. Her hands were lifted as she contemplated. "Although, that could be another thing to test."
The scientist had agreed to Tony's plan dubiously. He had proposed to test the limits of her power by attacking the shield. While it sounded absurd at first, it did make sense. She would rather know her breaking point while practising now than during battle.
Corinne was getting tired though. The combination of fatigue from training yesterday combined with the weight of the attacks now was making her mind heavy. With the force of the attacks happening now, she would not like to have them hit her.
"I think we should take a break," She said, "I think I'm at my-"
Something in her mind clicked and the transparent shield she had formed over herself became opaque.
Instead of seeing nothing, the team could now see a glass like surface appearing. What used to be an invisible dome became a solid looking glass dome. It was made of varying shades of golden yellow, seeming to radiate its own light.
They all froze.
"That ever happen before?" Natasha asked Corinne, brow furrowed in apprehension.
She shook her head, and reached out to touch it.
A couple of them yelled for her to stop, but she continued. The curiosity was too much as she was transfixed by the surface. Her skin came in contact with it, and nothing happened. Her shield now felt like cool metal but she also felt a buzzing energy.
"You should get out of there," Bruce said hurriedly, "we don't know if air will be able to penetrate through this material."
Corinne nodded. "Stand back a bit please."
Her eyes fluttered shut and she conjured up an image of the shield around her. Then she imagined it shattering into small fragments, showering the gym floor like snow. Corinne heard cracking as soon as she thought of it, and smiled.
A shield materialized over her head as the golden glass pieces rained down. The team gazed at the glittering downpour with disbelief and slight awe.
"I see the weirdest stuff with this job," Clint murmured.
They approached her when the remnants of her shield were on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Steve queried.
"Yeah," Corinne picked up one of the pieces to examine, her scientist side activated, "this is still here. Solid."
The other two scientists crouched down and touched the pieces gingerly.
"More to study," murmured Bruce. He held up a piece against the light.
Tony was absolutely delighted while he gathered a bunch of the fragments. "This is just what we need instead of staring at gene sequences all day!"
The three fell into a deep discussion on possible experiments and theories. Seeing that there was no way they'd get their attention anytime soon, the rest of the Avengers shrugged and dispersed.
In another place, the same two people had a discussion.
"She has managed to solidify energy, though she has not managed the after-effects." They reported to the person in front of them. "Shall I contact her?"
The other shook their head. "No, it is still too soon."
"The others may find her before us, sir." Their voice was cautious, but firm. "The consequences of that occurring will be dire."
Again, the superior dismissed his subordinate's words. "She is resilient. If they do capture her, we will retrieve her. For now, she needs to develop on her own time. I understand your concern, but keep on observing her."
Hours later, the scientists emerged from their lab.
The three went to the new common floor intending to grab a bite. They were mildly taken back when they saw the remainder of the team there.
Steve, Natasha, and Clint were gathered around one of the flat screens, looking fixated at whatever was on the television.
Tony radiated smugness as they headed to the group. Deep down, he was relieved that they were using the Tower. "Enjoying yourselves?"
Clint grunted a reply, too distracted, and leaned over to Steve. "Shoot that shell now."
As they moved closer, they could see that Natasha and Steve were clicking away at two controllers. Each one was controlling a little car on a racetrack.
"We're introducing Mario Kart to him," the redhead said to their questioning looks. She dodged the shell that Steve had thrown.
"And you didn't invite me?" Bemoaned Tony. "I am the master of Mario Kart."
"Grab a controller and we'll see," Natasha gestured to her opponent, "I've got to warn you though, Steve's a quick learner."
Clint exclaimed with a mouth full of food. "Under my training!"
Tony took out a controller, then looked over his shoulder. "Are you in, Cor?"
"Sure, I'm not so bad myself." She accepted the controller. "Your creativity must be running low. It's not the first time I've heard that nickname."
Tony mock glared at her. "How dare you? My creativity is just fine. Anyway, Bruce?"
"No thanks," he called from the kitchen where he was putting a pizza in the oven, "I'll watch."
Earth's mightiest heroes spent the rest of the night playing the video game. Everyone won at least once due to skill or luck. Bruce put pizza on the table, and just watched bemusedly with Clint.
The man out of time surprised everybody by winning multiple times with his strategic thinking. He usually made mistakes from not being used to the game.
Tony was true to his word-good, but too erratic sometimes. This resulted in him falling off the road when he landed a flawless hit on another player and decided to do a victory dance.
Natasha played perfect, planned way. However she didn't seem too into it, as she was more interested in sabotaging whoever she specifically chose during each round. Otherwise, everyone knew she would win every match.
Corinne played with the ease of anyone who spent countless summer days playing as a child. She didn't play methodically, but rather instinctively. The woman seemed to know the tiny tricks in the game, and struck when the others least expected.
All in all, the team furthered learned each others' dynamics and improved their overall cooperation. Or, that's what they would excuse it as if anyone asked.
"Ready."
Steve and Corinne sprung into action. Steve aimed to knock Corinne's legs, but she avoided his kick. The blond swung a fist towards her, and she saw the opportunity.
Corinne grabbed his fist and twisted.
The momentum caused him to fall to his side and she smiled unabashedly. "Finally!" She exclaimed in glee, turning to gauge her trainer's reaction.
Rumlow gave her a grudging nod of approval. "Good work." To himself he muttered, "I've seen that move somewhere."
Steve, after getting over his surprise, gave her a genuine smile. He felt proud and happy at the matching smile that lit up her whole face. "Nice move. You really caught me off guard there."
"Thanks." She, for the first time, helped him get up.
Rumlow interrupted their moment of elation , "That was only the first spar of today, you two. Let's-" Their instructor's head snapped upwards where he shot an indifferent expression towards the vent. "Barton."
The archer dropped down to the floor from where he had been hiding. He gave a wave to his two fellow Avengers. To the stoic trainer he nodded. "Hey Rumlow."
"What are you doing here?" Rumlow practically oozed hostility.
Clint remained nonchalant. "You've got an impromptu mission. I'm here to take over."
Steve and Corinne's eyebrows went up.
Rumlow suddenly got a message from his earpiece, and nodded with hesitation. "Understood," he said to whoever was on the other end.
As the man left the gym, Corinne observed to Clint. "What is up with you two?"
"Rumlow just rubs me the wrong way." He shrugged, not quite looking at her as he said this. "He's good at what he does though."
Corinne could not help but agree. It was good that someone else regarded Rumlow the same way. Her mentor constantly gave her a bad gut feeling, though there was no reason to do that besides the difficult regimen he puts them through.
"Are you going to teach us combat?" Inquired Steve.
Clint shook his head and cracked them a devious smile. "You guys have had enough of that. Nah, it's time for target practice!" He bounded over to the weapons room on the side, where an abundance of guns were.
"I don't want to shoot anybody." Corinne stated, and Steve nodded.
One of the first things they learned about each other was that neither of them wanted to kill or fatally harm anyone. Steve had said he didn't want to end any lives, no matter which side they came from. Corinne had a similar moral code, and her very superpower was defense, not offense.
"Nobody's telling you to," Clint examined the selection, "but sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you have to. And hey, if you learn to have a good enough aim, you could disarm them without giving a major injury."
The other two saw the truth in his words. Reluctantly, they held the guns Clint gave to them. He got them some eye and ear protection, and set up bull's eye targets. The archer knew they wouldn't take well to the human shaped ones so soon.
Clint gave them a brief talk on the safety and parts of the gun. Then, after explaining the proper grip and position, Steve and Corinne fired into the targets so Clint could figure out where they were at. Steve aimed where he wanted to, but his shots only reached the middle ring. Corinne's bullets hit the inner middle, but were slightly off from where she wanted them.
Clint gave the other blond some advice regarding his the direction of his range of view. "Don't look at the gun, look at where you want the bullet to go."
He readjusted Corinne's stance slightly, and manoeuvred her fingers on the weapon. "Try and see if that's better."
Once they managed to not think about a person receiving their shots, they did better. It helped that Clint was an expert at targets too. He was constantly making jokes, and just being a nice breath of fresh air from the usually stoic teachers they had. Within the hour, Steve and Corinne were able to hit the red circle-though not dead center.
"We'll try different types later, and I'll see if I can get some bows for you guys…Anyway, good work. See you in two days." Clint concluded after they put everything away.
They exchanged goodbyes and Steve and Corinne got out of the gym.
"Any plans for the day?" Asked Steve conversationally.
"I've got a shift at the bakery in a bit, but other than that, I could do some work on my research." The material that she had made was nothing she had ever seen before, and she was always itching to get more work done in it. "How about you?"
"Visiting an old friend," Steve responded, omitting the name of the person, "and then maybe catching up on that list of movies you gave me."
She had composed a huge list of her favourite films for him. By huge, she meant huge. "Sounds good. How was the one I recommended yesterday?"
They chatted until they had to go their separate ways. Corinne got out of the SHIELD facility by herself-she finally got the clearance to do so- with a small skip in her step from all the accomplishments she had done today.
Life so far as an Avenger wasn't too bad.
But at the back of her mind, she knew she would be right in her initial indecision someday.
Thanks for reading!
School has started for me, so updates will unfortunately take a little bit longer.
Feel free to drop me a review ;) they always brighten my day-are you guys excited for Age of Ultron? The trailers look awesome
03.29.15.
