A/N: Yikes this one definitely took me a lot longer to upload than I would've liked, the next one should be up sooner, I just ran into a bit of trouble with life. So guys I can't help but notice this story hasn't got any reviews yet, I really love hearing feedback from you guys, positive or negative, I really don't mind I just really want to know what you guys think of the story. Anyway as always lovely readers, read, review and enjoy.
Twice Natasha knocked on Phoenix's door with no answer. It was early in the morning, and although Phoenix wasn't supposed to meet her in the gym for another 30 minutes, but Natasha was eager to start early, she and Clint had a full day lined up for Phoenix.
Phoenix still did not answer as Natasha rapped on her door for a third time. "JARVIS locate Phoenix," Natasha ordered.
"She is with Dr Banner in his quarters," the AI informed her immediately.
Why she was with Bruce was a mystery to Natasha, but she had every intention of finding out as she began making her way towards where Phoenix was. There was the possibility that Phoenix had injured herself somehow and needed medical attention from the doctor, but that didn't seem likely. If that had happened Natasha would've been notified, although there weren't many other plausible reasons as to why Phoenix was in his room.
As she came to his room Natasha was surprised to find it open, and when she looked into the room she saw both Phoenix and Dr Banner seated side by side on the carpet with their legs crossed. Natasha leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed and cocked a head just as Phoenix noticed her arrival.
"Meditation," Natasha stated. "I didn't think that was your thing."
Phoenix shrugged, looking up at Natasha in a sheepish manner as she made a breathy noise of uncertainty. "Bruce recommended that it might be good for me," she pulled herself to her feet and looked to Natasha cautiously. "I thought I wasn't supposed to start training today until 7."
"You're not, I was looking for you because I couldn't find you in your room," Natasha told her, noticing that Bruce still meditated, with no chance of being disrupted anytime soon. He was blocking them out and trying to reach inner peace or at the very least a state of calm thinking.
However he was still aware of their conversation, and could tell that Natasha wanted to steal Phoenix away. "You did well on your first lesson Phoenix," he informed her, still remaining seated on the ground with his eyes closed. "Work on your breathing."
"Ok," Phoenix nodded and flicked her left hand upwards in an attempt at a goodbye wave at Banner, even though his eyes were closed and he could not see her, and followed Natasha out of his room. "Uh, goodbye, Bruce." Her attempt at a friendly farewell did not go as smooth as Phoenix would've liked, and came out scratched and fractured, like it was damaged in some way.
Phoenix shook her head as she walked away with her face clenched, as if scolding herself for messing up. She made a noise that came from the back of her throat sounding like a mixture of mild anger and disappointment. Natasha recognised the sound. Phoenix had set herself a personal test and failed.
"I didn't know you were on first name terms with Doctor Banner," Natasha mused as they stepped into the elevator and she pressed a button for the training room. Rather than allowing Phoenix to focus her thoughts on social interaction, Natasha changed the subject to something Phoenix actually understood, and that was her training.
Phoenix leaned against the wall of the elevator and shrugged with her arms crossed. "He preferred that I call him Bruce rather than Dr Banner," she looked at Natasha carefully and tilted her head. "Did you want to start training early this morning or is there another reason you were looking for me?" Phoenix asked.
"Training early," Natasha answered. "Clint and I have got something planned for this afternoon, so I figured we'd get as much practise in this morning as we could."
Natasha caught Phoenix continuing to eye her strangely, obviously still confused about something. That was the expression Phoenix seemed to be wearing on her face practically every day, confusion. When she saw Pepper and Tony flirting, whenever Steve asked her about her day and any other instance of normal human interaction. Phoenix didn't understand, literally couldn't understand.
Natasha had cracked a few jokes about Phoenix's lack of understanding with Clint but the issue ran deeper than comedic relief. Natasha wasn't entirely how sure deep the issue ran, because Phoenix was still young there was a possibility that she may recover and learn, but there was also the possibility that she may never understand.
The lift doors slid open and at that same moment there was a barely inaudible sound that Natasha recognised instantly. Phoenix reacted quickly, ducking forward and rolling out of the lift as an arrow shot through the space where Phoenix's head had been mere seconds ago and bounced off the metallic wall. Phoenix came out of the roll at a quick run and rushed towards her assailant.
The second arrow fired once Phoenix had nearly reached the shooter, she reacted by side stepping, so she facing her attacker with her left side. She bent forward, arms tucked into her side and allowed the arrow to fly over her back harmlessly. Her right foot came upwards as she pirouetted on her left foot, kicking the attacker in the face.
He was thrown off balance and Phoenix wasted no time in striking. First she elbowed him in the throat, before serving several fast hits to the stomach. Winded and experiencing difficulty catching his breath, Phoenix had the attacker in a vulnerable position.
Still he managed to clock her in the head with his bow, but Phoenix barely reacted to this attack and stepped behind him, hitting him in the back of the knees so he fell onto them, Phoenix then kicked him in the back hard enough that he fell face forward onto the ground.
Phoenix grinned in triumph as she stepped backwards and allowed Clint to turn over onto his back. Natasha walked towards Phoenix with an eyebrow cocked, twirling the first arrow that Clint had fired in her hands. "It is just too damn hard to catch you by surprise," Clint groaned. "Your reflexes are insane."
"You were going too easy on me," Phoenix stated as she offered him a hand. He took it and Phoenix pulled him to his feet with little effort. "You could've retaliated better than simply hitting me with your bow."
"You seem to forget Phoenix; I am only pretending that I'm trying to kill you," Clint reminded her as Natasha tossed the two arrows that he fired back to him. "That's why I rubber tipped these," he held up the arrows for her to see before he put them back into his quiver.
"Maybe you should've been more convincing in your act then," Natasha commented from behind Phoenix. While the others had been bickering, she started to set up. At her feet there were two blue gym mats, laid out at about a metre distance from each other. "Now are you ready to start?"
"What are we doing first?" Phoenix wasted no time, she practically galloped over to Natasha, eager to start training, and this was evident in the way she bopped up and down on the soles of her feet as she stood in front of Natasha on the other side of the gym mats. Training to Phoenix was like heroin to an addict. Which wasn't exactly healthy, but it was something that Phoenix enjoyed doing, and Natasha wasn't planning on depriving her of it.
"We're going to start with a few techniques that'll help you take down an opponent larger and stronger than you," Clint explained, taking over talking for Natasha who nodded along with his words. Phoenix nodded, looking between the two spies, awaiting further instructions. Clint stepped onto the centre of one of the mats while Natasha shifted so she faced him a fair distance away. "Nat will demonstrate."
Practically the second the words came out of Clint's mouth, Natasha took off at a running speed, headed directly for Clint. He took a defensive stance that proved ineffective, Natasha used her technique and leaped at Clint, throwing her legs around his neck, she spun her entire body. Clint spun and hit the mat in front of him face first, while Natasha stood behind him.
"Did you catch that?" she asked Phoenix as Clint pulled himself to his feet with an exasperated groan. Phoenix quickly looked Natasha up and down, before nodding to show her understanding.
"Can't we tackle Stark to the ground instead?" he asked, stretching his arms out in front of him as he spoke. "I'm getting a little tired of being your punching bag."
Natasha pivoted on her left heel to look at him. "Stark's so wrapped up in whatever he's working on in that lab he probably doesn't even know what year it is. Besides, it's more fun to beat the crap out of you anyway." She cocked her eyebrows as a way of solidifying her statement before pivoting back to Phoenix.
"More fun to beat the crap out of me," Clint quietly mimicked what Natasha had said in a ridiculously high pitched and childish voice as he scrunched up his face into a ridiculous expression and titled his head side to side as he said each word.
Natasha quite obviously heard him but chose to ignore him, focusing her attention primarily on Phoenix. "Your speed is an important part of this technique; you need to go fast in your run-up. Newton's second law, force equals mass times acceleration. You don't have a lot of mass, so if you want to execute a powerful force, acceleration is the key."
Phoenix nodded, taking in the information as she ran through Natasha's words carefully. "I think I got it, and you use your right leg as the control?"
"Correct," Natasha nodded, impressed that Phoenix had picked up on that from one demonstration. She snapped her fingers in the general direction of where Clint was, without looking, as a command for him to get into position. "Now do you wanna give it a try?"
Phoenix nodded, and Clint sighed dramatically where he stood yet again in the centre of the mat. He made no complaints though as he readied himself for the attack and took up his defensive stance. Natasha put her hands on Phoenix's shoulder and gently guided her to where she wanted her to start the run-up.
"Remember to tense your muscles once your legs have a grip around his neck so you don't fall off," Natasha reminded her as she patted Phoenix's biceps. "You can use your arms to steady yourself but it's important that you don't let them get in the way when you execute the final part of the technique."
"You know the thigh strangle is only fun when I'm watching it happen to other people!" Clint called out to the girls.
Natasha put a hand on Phoenix's shoulder, while looking Clint directly in the eye with a cocky half-grin, and whispered into her ear "Take him down."
Phoenix wasted no time. She took off at a run as fast as she could possibly move, heading directly for Clint. Natasha watched her closely, processing every move she made carefully. Just before she reached Clint her acceleration decreased, she slowed, attempting to methodise the actual takedown carefully.
It was easy to spot that Clint was resisting the force of the attack as Phoenix spun and pulled herself up to his neck. Phoenix's attempt took time, at one point she seemed at a standstill with her legs wrapped around Clint's neck, attempting to twist him to the ground. Eventually brute force won through, and Phoenix managed to get Clint in a position face down on the ground, but with obvious difficulties.
"Not bad for a first attempt," Natasha commented, bending down to offer a hand to Clint, who had decided to lie on the ground and give Phoenix a respectable thumbs up after his beating. "You hesitated though. Don't think I didn't see that."
Phoenix looked down sheepishly, she'd realised the minute her feet hit the ground she'd screwed up, and failure wasn't something Phoenix was conditioned to tolerate. "I'll try again," the determination in Phoenix's voice almost convinced Natasha to allow Phoenix to attempt to move once more, but she wouldn't be swayed that easily.
"No, I've seen all I need to see," Natasha dismissed her request. "I've noticed you use a lot of isolation in your moves. An attack where you're using your whole body rather than just one part isn't your kind of thing. Usually I wouldn't be too keen on a fighting method like that, but you're quick and that makes up for it."
Phoenix paused, biting on her lip thoughtfully, but as she sighed and allowed her shoulders to slump it was clear that she decided against arguing. Which was a wise move regarding Natasha's skill of winning any argument she participated in. Clint, who quickly recovered from the brief fight, now stood a little way behind Natasha with his lips tightened into a small smile, barely visible in the corner of his mouth.
"Stop smirking," Natasha commanded, face flat, while looking at Phoenix, facing the opposite direction from where Clint stood. He quickly removed his face of all expression, and began nonchalantly whistling whilst inspecting the ceiling.
Natasha stopped, let out a deep breath, and rolled her eyes. "Start stretching. Then when you're done, we'll spar."
As expected, Phoenix immediately became confused when Natasha gave the cue to finish. Clint had her in an arm lock and she was just about to knock him to his feet with a well-executed kick. Seeing Natasha's hand gesture, Clint stepped away, but Phoenix didn't move.
"I've got a treat for you Phoenix," Natasha's positive expression was enough to confuse Phoenix so much that she actually took a step back and titled her head towards the right. Clint shook his head and came up behind Phoenix, putting one hand on her shoulder as Natasha spoke. "You've got nothing to worry about Phoenix."
"You get to go on an adventure to the real world," Clint spread his arm out in front of him to provide emphasis for his words. However Phoenix didn't understand what he was talking about, as was the norm whenever Clint tried to explain something in joking way. "We're taking you out on the town Phoenix."
She didn't understand that either.
"We're leaving the tower for the afternoon and taking you into the city to show you around," Natasha explained before Clint made another attempt to explain. Natasha nodded to the elevator as Phoenix followed her gaze. "Go up and get changed out of those gym clothes. Meet us in the foyer in 15 minutes."
Phoenix nodded and walked away towards the lift, without even looking back once. The second she was gone, an arm went around Natasha's waist and Clint's lips came crashing down onto hers. They remained lip-locked for less than a minute before Natasha pushed him off.
"C'mon Tasha," he murmured, while pouting.
"Go and get changed out of your sweaty gym clothes Clint," she ordered.
He pursed his lips like he was contemplating an argument. However he huffed in annoyance and exited the room, heading towards the lift. Natasha followed behind him, slipping into the lift as it was just about to close. She decided to have some fun and gave him a teasing look as she stepped to the other side of him and leaned against the wall of the lift.
As the lift opened onto the correct floor Natasha began to walk away but turned around as she exited and put a hand on Clint's chest, pushing him backwards so he couldn't leave. "Don't forget to pull the car around out front." With that, she took her hand off his chest, and strutted away as the lift doors closed in his face.
In her wardrobe Natasha found breathable black tights and a simple, knee-length black dress. Sensible enough for a trip into New York, as she wasn't likely going to be doing much leg work, but if it came to that point, Natasha could fight in anything. She found a pair of sunglasses in one of her drawers and slipped them onto her face. It seemed like a silly idea, but a pair of sunglasses tended to fool a large percentage of the general public.
Downstairs, Phoenix was already waiting for her, wearing an adornment of overlarge garments she had borrowed from various members of the Avengers tower. A white t-shirt was slipping off her shoulders, the sleeves of the black hoodie went well past her hands and the jeans she wore, although smaller, still seemed too baggy on her thin frame.
"We really need to get you some clothes of your own," Natasha muttered as she looked Phoenix's attire up and down.
"This is fine," she shrugged, and the hoodie slipped off her right shoulder.
Clint pulled up out the front of the building in one of Tony's stylish black cars and Natasha ushered Phoenix out of the front door and into the back seat. Clint, in one move, swiftly emerged from the car and threw the keys to Natasha who took her position in the driver's seat while Clint slipped into the passenger seat as Natasha started the ignition.
Clint took one look at Phoenix and furrowed his brows. "Is that Steve's jumper?"
Phoenix had obviously heard the question but ignored Clint as she proceeded to stare out of the window at the moving buildings. As they drove by each street Phoenix would count off the street names, memorising the geography of Manhattan.
"First on the agenda is new clothes," Natasha spoke to Clint while directing her attention at the road. "Pepper's old jeans aren't exactly practical."
"I know exactly the place, they have clothes that would be great for Phoenix," Clint bounced in his seat as he pointed to the traffic lights ahead. "Turn left here."
Natasha obeyed, cutting in front of a taxi as she accelerated to avoid a red light. "You're getting far too excited about this."
With the navigational skills of Clint, Natasha managed to find a parking spot underneath the mall complex minutes later, after having weaved through traffic with determination, managing to annoy a large amount of evening commuters as they did so.
As Phoenix stepped of the car she glanced around her briefly, inspecting her surroundings, her eyes fell on a young couple, arms wrapped around each other as they made their way to their vehicle. She watched them go by with a cautious look but returned her attention to Natasha and Clint, like a soldier awaiting orders.
"Why are we here?" Phoenix questioned. She practically never questioned anything, and from the frown on her face it was obvious that she wasn't happy.
"Showing you around the city will help you adjust to a normal way of life," Natasha answered her question as she put a hand against Phoenix's shoulder and begun leading her towards the elevator that would take them up to the mall.
Phoenix looked scandalised at Natasha's words and opened her mouth as if she wanted to launch into an argument. Instead she hesitated, taking a moment to process Natasha's words. A thought suddenly occurred to her and she looked to the ground and rubbed her eyes as she inhaled a deep breath.
With what looked like an expression of reluctance Phoenix shadowed close behind Natasha as they made their way through the mall complex. Natasha and Clint's demeanours remained calm as usual, blending in perfectly with their surroundings. Phoenix tried her best to act ordinary but Natasha caught her eyeing all the people that walked by, with suspicious glances that bordered dangerously close to terror in the way her face was set.
Natasha knew exactly what she could say to immediately fix Phoenix's behaviour and allow her to operate correctly in her current environment. All she needed to do was adapt their situation, and make Phoenix believe that this was in fact a mission. Natasha wasn't prepared to take that step, to permanently meld Phoenix into the mindset of a spy.
Clint escorted the two women into a trendy looking clothes shop with the latest top 40 pop songs blaring from a loudspeaker somewhere inside the store. Natasha gave Clint a sceptical look and he shrugged, with the outline of a faint grin across his face.
Phoenix inspected the interior of the store and traced her hand across one of the racks of skirts and looked at all of the other people, customers bustled about checking all the clothing on display. Phoenix gave the shop one more up and down look, before she took a step back.
"I don't like this," she looked at Clint and spoke in a flat voice.
Clint pointed upwards at the loud speaker. "Yeah well I don't like Arianna Grande but you don't see me getting cranky about it," he responded to Phoenix's glare by handing her a jacket that he plucked from the racks. "Sometimes, in life, we have to deal with things that we don't like."
Natasha and Clint had differing opinions on what would look good on Phoenix so she ended up with a variety of clothes piled up in her arms. It took some convincing before she was willing to enter the change rooms, at one point she looked like she was going to bolt out of the store. With significant efforts on Natasha's part, Phoenix stepped inside the change room.
She emerged minutes later wearing a buttoned up blue blouse and a white skirt that reached down to her knees, made from clingy material. Clint was enthusiastic, giving Phoenix a thumbs up as she stood there, awkwardly pulling at the bottom of the skirt. Natasha's reaction however was less than positive, as she pulled a face and shook her head.
Clint looked ready to argue with her but Natasha held up a single finger to silence him. "The shirt is fine, what I don't like is the skirt. Besides skirts are difficult anyway, you can't move in them."
Clint huffed and turned to Phoenix, who looked like a soldier awaiting orders. "Try that shirt with the green floral pants I picked out for you."
"I don't like the pattern ones," Phoenix murmured to her shoes, fidgeting with her hands as she avoided looking Clint in the eye.
"But floral looks good on you," he argued. One hardened look from Natasha was enough for him to give up his stance quickly. He threw his hands into the air and sighed. "Fine, hand me all the clothes with patterns on them, you don't have to try them on."
Phoenix gladly tossed the garments into his arms before retreating back into the change room. Clint moved around the store, placing the items back where he had gotten them from. Natasha walked close to him, watching as he scrummaged through the racks.
"You know you're problem is that you're picking things out for her that you think will look good on her, and you're not giving her things that she actually wants to wear," Natasha informed him in a matter-of-fact voice.
"And how exactly am I supposed to know what kind of clothes she likes?" he retorted bitterly.
"It's easy," Natasha faced him on the other side of a sundress rack and leaned forward, lowering her voice slightly. "You're looking at her, but you're not noticing."
"Yes thank you Confucius," he quipped sarcastically, he made an annoyed face at her before continuing with what he was doing. "I'm not like you, I can't figure out what a person's favourite food is by looking at their fingernails."
"You're making me sound like Sherlock Holmes," Natasha chuckled.
"Whatever. I read cues, body language. I can tell what move a person is going to take five seconds before they take it. I don't decipher the fashion choices of teenage girls."
"Phoenix likes plain clothes, no patterns of words," Natasha began explaining to Clint who was shaking his head in amusement. "And I knew that before she told you, it's obvious, because despite her complex mindset Phoenix is outwardly simple. She doesn't stand out in a crowd and neither do her clothes."
Their banter ceased momentarily when Phoenix stepped out of the change room and called out to them, catching their attention. Her outfit of choice for round 2 was a purple sweater, loose but not so big that it slipped off her shoulders, and regular black jeans that reached her ankles.
"Do you like this one?" Natasha asked.
Phoenix nodded.
"The pants aren't too tight on you are they."
Phoenix shook her head.
With a simple wave of the hand from Natasha, Phoenix yet again receded into the change room. Clint folded his arms and mused to himself. "She really is an oddity isn't she," he said this in an affectionate way, smiling in the direction of Natasha.
Natasha wanted to chide him about the fact that Phoenix couldn't help the way she acted, but she knew that wasn't what he was talking about. Natasha smiled lightly. "You're getting soft," she stated, taking a step closer to him and grabbing one of his hands, tracing her fingers slowly across his bruised knuckles. "Late nights punching the wall?"
He tried to pull his hand away, but Natasha gripped him tightly, making him wince. "Something like that," he sighed, avoiding her eyes, however after a minute he bowed to the strength behind her glare. "Things got heated with one of the dummies in the gym. I was half-asleep and forgot to protect my hands."
"Uh-huh," Natasha made an unimpressed sound that sound like she only half-believed what he had told her. She looked around for anyone who might take particular notice of them, before she put a hand on Clint's shoulder, pulling him down to her height, and pressing her lips against his. "My room tonight," she murmured into his ear as she pulled away.
They stepped away from each other as two things happened at the same time. Phoenix stepped out of the change room in a dark blue sundress, at the same moment as Natasha's phone buzzed with an incoming text. Phoenix, who looked like she had warmed up to idea of clothes shopping, looked at the phone in Natasha's hand with concern.
"It's Tony," Natasha announced as she read the text. "He wants us back at the Tower ASAP, Maria has extremely important news for us, and that includes Phoenix." Natasha glanced upwards at Phoenix and turned her phone off. "Those were Tony's exact words."
Clint shrugged. "Well then let's pay up and get out."