Chapter 27: A Girls Day Out

Natasha centered herself as she stood in the training room, her fingers dancing over her pistols. Then suddenly, the room came alive. Turret guns lowered from the ceiling, tiny targets attached to them. They began to fire, and Nat twisted to dodge, firing at the small targets. Once she hit them, the turrets stopped firing and retracted back into the ceiling.

A few dummies popped out of the ground as well, machine guns attached to them. Nat shot at the dummies' fatal points, and they retracted as well. Eventually, she ran out of bullets and brandished her stingers, attacking the dummies with a series of takedowns that would make even the most seasoned fighters question their skills.

As Natasha continued her training, Jan wandered into the room, seeing the former Russian spy at work. She watched for a few minutes, then shrunk herself down and flew up to the control room. Once she got there, she returned to her full size and paused the program. Nat saw the program halt and looked around.

"Clint?" she questioned.

"Nope, Janet." Wasp corrected, flying down towards Natasha. "Clint, Hank. and the rest of the guys are having some sort of poker game at the Fantastic Four's place, Rick took Dr. Banner out fishing, and I think Peter's on a fieldtrip. That leaves just the two of us."

"I can do the math Jan." Natasha replied, heading towards the control room to restart the session.

Jan quickly moved in front of her to block her way.

"Then answer me this." Jan offered up. "Why are two fine young women like us staying cooped up here in this mansion?"

"Because I have a very strict training regime that I keep to." Nat replied.

"Oh, come on." Jan insisted. "Can't you take a single day off?"

"And do what?" Nat questioned.

"Well, I was thinking that as the only female members of the Avengers, maybe the two of us could have a girl's night out." she suggested.

Nat stared at Jan, then attempted to walk past her to restart the program. Jan intercepted her once again.

"Oh, come on, Nat." Jan insisted. "Being a normal woman for one day isn't gonna kill you. Who knows? Maybe you'll actually have fun."

Natasha paused for a moment, considering Jan's offer. She then looked the woman in the eyes and sighed.

"You're going to keep pestering me until I cave, aren't you?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"And you are aware I've been trained to resist most interrogation techniques and torture."

"I assumed as much." Jan replied.

"And yet you are going to continue to try anyhow."

"Hank says I'm stubborn like that."

Natasha sighed, then slipped her stingers off her wrists.

"Give me ten minutes to get ready." she insisted.

"Not a problem." Jan assured her with a triumphant smile.

The two women walked down the street like two close friends. Jan was wearing a yellow blouse over a black tank top with skinny jeans and a pair of boots. Natasha wore a simple black shirt under a brown jacket with dark jeans and boots of her own. Her stingers poked out under her sleeves, and Jan was pretty sure she sat the glint of a knife hidden in her boot.

"Jeez, where's the war?" Jan joked.

"In my line of work, war can happen in the blink of an eye." Natasha replied. "Better to be prepared for the worst than caught off guard."

"Sheesh, do you ever relax?" Jan questioned. "Seriously, when was the last time you just kicked back? Maybe read a magazine? Saw a movie?"

"That's never really been… my thing." Natasha admitted.

"Well it's gonna be today." Jan declared, grabbing her arm. "I know this great restaurant downtown that makes the best manicotti."

"This is gonna be fun." Natasha let out sarcastically.

Lunch proved to be rather uneventful. Though the meal was good, Jan found it nearly impossible to strike up a conversation with Natasha. Outside of superhero work, neither of them had anything in common. Once they left the restaurant, Jan thought over other things for them to do.

"You know… The theatre's playing a new release of Love Amongst the Dragons." she suggested. "It's this movie about a man who visits china and falls in love with one of the emperor's consorts."

"Sounds dumb." Natasha commented.

"I'll have you know that it's a timeless classic." Jan remarked a bit off put. "Hank took me to see it on our first date."

"I'll bet it was wonderful for you." Natasha replied.

"Just lighten up and give it a chance, okay?" Jan insisted. "That's an order"

"Fine." Nat relented. "Though technically, I outrank you."

"Whatever." Jan dismissed. "Let's just go."

...

The movie proved to be a disaster. One couple in the back row had been trying to make out, but Natasha made sure to ruin their evening. Even worse, one unfortunate young man had been on his cellphone, only to have it snatched out of his hand by Nat before she zapped it with her stingers. The two women didn't even make it halfway through the film before the usher kicked them out.

"Well that was a fiasco." Jan griped as they walked out of the theatre.

"Can we go back to the mansion now?" Natasha requested.

"No." Jan replied. "I am going to make the most of this day."

"And how are you going to do that?" Natasha asked.

Jan pondered for a minute, then she noticed a local boutique that was having a clearance sale. Her eyes lit up and she grinned.

"By doing the one thing every woman enjoys doing." Jan answered. "Going clothes shopping!"

Jan practically bolted towards the store as Natasha walked after her, rolling her eyes.

"Of course." She let out.

The two women entered the store, and Jan was immediately flitting from rack to rack like the insect she named herself after. She filled her arms with various outfits as Nat followed her, not really interested. That is, until Jan dumped her entire armful out clothes into Nat's hands.

"Here." Jan insisted. "Go find a fitting room and try these on."

"You expect me to try on all this?" Nat asked.

"Not all at once, silly." Jan told her. "Think of it as… creating an ensemble to go undercover."

"Well… I suppose." Nat relented. "Though am I to assume you'll be back with some of your own?"

"You expected anything less?" Jan asked, heading to another part of the store.

Nat watched her go, then looked down at the pile of clothing. She was mildly surprised to find them in various shades of brown or black, and even a few reds thrown in. Jan had taken her style preferences in mind, which brought a small smile to Nat's face.

Nat found the fitting rooms just as Jan came up with some clothes of her own.

"Yeesh, you buy the whole store?" Nat joked.

"I haven't bought anything yet." Jan informed her, smiling. Though I'm happy to see you finally opening up."

Natasha just smirked, then the two began trying on various outfits. Jan's outfits consisted of a wide variety of different styles. She tried on a tasteful, yellow evening dress with a pair of black high heels and a leather clutch one time, then she tried on a halter top under a loose hoodie after that.

Natasha's outfits were far more comfortable and casual, hugging her curves and showing off her muscular figure. One composed of a pair of shorts with a tank top under a tied of short sleeved button down. After that, she put on a short black dress with high, strappy pumps.

"You know, I think I once conducted an interrogation in something like this." Nat mused.

"Really?" Jan questioned, coming out in a long, flowing skirt with a strapless top on.

"Yeah. I was in Russia at the time. A smuggler had me tied to a chair after I failed to seduce him."

"No way." Jan let out. "How'd you escape?"

"Coulson called one of the smugglers." Nat explained. "Clint had gotten himself into a bit of trouble with some HYDRA agents and had been captured."

"So, he called one of the smugglers to get to you?" Jan questioned. "How did that work?"

"He threatened to blow up the block if he didn't hand over the phone." Nat replied with a shrug. "We had an F22 about eight miles out at the time, so he wouldn't have been able to make to lobby of the rundown hostel he had me in."

"You S.H.I.E.L.D. guys never do anything halfway, do you?" Jan asked walking back towards the fitting room.

"If you're not willing to go all the way to complete a job or protect your partner, then there's no place for you in S.H.I.E.L.D." Nat explained, slipping out of her heels. "Besides, I'm sure you've been willing to risk everything for those you care about."

"Care about?" Jan repeated before turning towards Nat. "Hang on… Don't tell me you and Clint are more than just partners."

"Well," Nat began. "There was that time in Budapest-"

Before Natasha could answer completely, a loud crashing sound came from the back. Both women immediately went into hero mode, slipping out of the fitting rooms and leaning against the wall. Nat slipped her stingers back onto her wrists, powering them up. Wasp slipped her gloves on, much to Nat's amusement.

"Where's the war?" she quipped.

"Apparently busting up the store." Jan replied. "Besides, these things are a lot handier than pepper spray."

Nat smirked as the two made their way towards the source of the explosion. The two peered around a corner to see a group of thugs in ski masks entering through a blown hole in the wall of the back room.

"See?" one of the thugs spoke. "I told you we can blow our way in here."

"Yeah I see," a second thug admitted. "I could also hear as well. And I bet anyone in the store could have heard us and called the cops by now."

"No way." the first thug insisted. "Cut the phone lines and knocked out the cell towers. We're in a dead zone!"

"Well you're gonna drop dead in a few moments." Jan remarked stepping around the corner.

The thugs turned to see the two women in their borrowed attire staring them down. They both let out laughs

"And what are you gonna do?" a third one asked. "Throw your heels at us?"

"Something like that." Natasha replied.

Natasha then ran towards the thug and leapt into the air, bringing her stingers down on the unfortunate thug's neck. The thug then dropped to the ground with a thud. Jan then fired her blasters at another one of the thugs, knocking him into a wall. The two girls ended up back to back as the third thug closed in on them.

"So, you want this one, or should I?" Jan asked.

"Together." Nat offered.

Jan nodded, and the two women punched him at the same time, knocking him to the ground. As he landed, some round object bounced out of his hands and towards the fitting rooms.

"Bomb!" Jan shouted.

Nat grabbed her, pulling her behind a shoe rack seconds before the bomb exploded, destroying a good half of the store, including their original clothes and wallets. The two peaked over the edge of the rack, exchanging glances.

"Did that just-?" Jan began.

"Yup." Nat confirmed.

"And our stuff was-"

"Uh-huh." Nat nodded.

There was a moment of silence as they just stared at the burning wreckage of the fitting rooms.

"Now what?" Jan asked.

"Well you wanted a fun girl's night," Nat reminded, unzipping her dress. "Might as well end it with a little streaking."

Jan snorted, pulling off her top.

"You're insane, you know that right?" Jan told her while smiling.

"That's not what my shrink says." Nat replied.

...

Hank stood in the doorway of the mansion with Clint, staring in utter shock as Natasha and Jan walked into the mansion in only their underwear and weapons.

"So…" Hank started to say.

"Don't ask." Jan replied as she went to her room.

Clint meanwhile couldn't help but smirk at the sight.

"Seems like you two had a fun time." He remarked.

Natasha paused for a moment as she opened the door to her room.

"Actually… yeah." she admitted. "I think we did."

...

Another slice of life chapter. Don't ask what we were thinking, I don't think we were.