Chapter 3
Much to Skye's surprise, training with Natasha hadn't turned out to be as painful as she thought it would be. Perhaps because the spy was taking her time with her pupil. Yes they would spar, but mostly Natasha was helping the younger Agent to build endurance. It would then be easier to make combat lessons last longer, thus, more productive.
"Come on," Natasha called Skye. "To the mattresses."
"I swear if you push me any harder today I'm going to collapse right here," Skye panted. She'd been doing jumping drills. Natasha claimed not only would they help her condition her heart but they'd also come in handy when she had to make her escape and jump through obstacles or over walls.
"You'll be thanking me when you're in a situation where you need all the endurance you're building. It's quite simply the difference between pushing yourself to fight and giving up."
Skye nodded and followed the red haired Agent to the center of the training room, to the mattresses.
"What are we going to practice?"
"Hand to hand combat," the spy said. "The very basics of it. And first off… stance and footwork." Natasha approached Skye and assessed her posture. "Give me a box stance. Now… in a real battle everything is game, you mix and match your qualities to upper your game and make it less predictable to your enemy, but right now you need a foundation, discipline."
Skye adjusted her posture, widening the distance between her feet, left foot forward.
Natasha took her right arm and pressed it tightly against the younger Agent's chest.
"Make sure you keep your elbow against your chest. Remember, elbow protects the ribcage, the fist protects your chin. Keep your head down so that even if you're throwing a punch with your left, your shoulder protects your chin. Give it a try, punch my hand."
Skye looked at Natasha's hand and focused before she attempted the punch.
"How does that feel?"
"I don't know. It's awkward."
"Exactly. You're stiff. Don't plant your back foot on the floor, it's going to slow your movement and you'll be better off punching a marshmallow. The ball of your foot is enough, move your hips when you punch, keep your face low and your arms up. Go," she explained
Skye punched tentatively. "Yeah that feels better."
Natasha nodded. "Again." They repeated the exercise until Skye's arms started to give in.
"Getting warmed up? Now with movement," the red haired Agent said. "I'm going to be your moving target, you try to hit my face. Come on babe, if you land me a punch I owe you one."
Skye lifted her brow in suspicion. "And what if I don't?"
"We'll see about that later."
"That's so not fair."
"Less talking..:"
"More punching, yeah, yeah…" Skye muttered.
"Stop!" Natasha let out after a few attempts. "You're losing your balance. When you move you always have to compensate the distance of your feet, otherwise I can easily throw you down. Step and slide, Skye," Natasha told her, showing her herself how to move around more efficiently. "If you move your front foot backward 10 inches, your back foot will also have to move backward 10 inches. You're just stepping all over yourself, if a bird lands on you you're going to tip over," Natasha mocked playfully. "Try again."
"Better! Again! Try to hit me."
"Trust me, right now I do have the motivation to hit you. " Skye smirked.
"Skye where did I tell you to hit me?"
"The face!" she breathed out, as she attempted to punch Natasha.
"Exactly. Why are you jab – crossing then?"
"What?" Skye stopped, static, panting. "How else am I supposed to do it?"
"You jab at the face, you cross to the stomach. Here let's try it a couple of times so you understand. Jab to the face, get lower and aim to the stomach with a cross and as you lift yourself up, hook to the face and uppercut to the chin. Slow motion it for me."
"Okay." Skye nodded, frowning slightly in concentration.
"That was sloppy but you'll get there," Natasha told her. The brunette still had a long way to go, but Natasha had no doubt she'd pick it up easily now that she actually had someone willing to invest their time on her. "Again, but slowly! And move your feet and hips."
"Bossy," Skye panted as she jabbed at Natasha.
"You two have been spending an awful lot of time together," Jemma said one night, during dinner.
Everyone had noticed, of course, that Skye and Natasha would spend most part of their day in the training room but Jemma was the first one to actually bring it up. Suddenly everyone stopped eating and all attentions were on Skye and the spy.
"Yeah. It's true. I've noticed that too," Fitz said, backing Jemma's statement.
Skye swallowed the steak in her mouth and straightened her back.
"So?" she asked.
"It's a good thing that Natasha is taking the time to help you with your training," Coulson told her, sensing her defenses surfacing.
"She's a good student… Mostly," Natasha said, taking another bite of her meal, unfazed by the topic. Certainly there was nothing wrong in helping someone of her own team to fend for herself instead of relying entirely on someone else.
"Yeah, Natasha is helping me with my combat skills. I actually feel like I might survive a little one on one in the field," the brunette joked. "Seriously, I'm sore all the time, but I've noticed a difference."
"I may have to challenge you to check it out for myself," May told her.
"She's not quite there yet, but she'll be as soon as I'm done with her."
"It's nice that you're friends and that you're fitting in nicely Natasha. We're really glad you joined our team."
Natasha looked at Coulson and nodded her appreciation. "I'm doing alright. Skye keeps me entertained, but you may want to check her insurance is up to date because as of tomorrow I'm taking the training wheels and I'm going to start challenging her."
Skye coughed. "You weren't challenging me?"
"I told you I'd teach you the basics before I attempted to do anything more aggressive."
Coulson chuckled. "Just don't break her, Natasha."
"I can't exactly promise you that."
Skye coughed. "Uhm… Hello? Of course you can!" Skye protested, her eyes dilating. "Are you serious right now?"
Natasha lifted her brow and looked at Skye with so much calmness in her eyes it only frustrated Skye further. "I couldn't be more serious. You thought I was pushing you before? Sweetheart you're in for a huge surprise tomorrow." Natasha smirked.
"Oh, that sounds like it's going to be fun," Jemma perked up. "Maybe Fitz and I will come over and cheer for you Skye."
"No! No, no, no. No way! There will be no committee watching as I get beat up by her!" She looked accusingly at Natasha.
"Come on! It will be so much fun!" Jemma protested.
"Yeah, to whom?" The brunette glared, making Jemma quickly avert her gaze and wipe the thrill in her face.
"Oww…" Skye whined, lying on her back panting on the mattress. "How can you look like you just got up from a peaceful slumber when you've spent the past 2 and a half hours trying to break my bones?" she asked, sitting up slowly and massaging her back with her hand.
"You're hardly exhausting me. Your movements are predictable, you're slow and you're not even attempting to defend yourself appropriately," Natasha started.
"Yeah, yeah, fine… I get it."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Are you going to keep on whining or are you getting up from there and keep going?"
"I'm tired! Come on… You weren't the one landing repeatedly on your back. Let's just take a break, please?"
"You have no discipline."
"That's hardly true when you're the one keeping me here all day…" Skye muttered.
Natasha shrugged. "Just because I keep you here all day that doesn't mean you're working as hard as you should be. You need practice. If you're not passing out or throwing up I'd say you're not as exhausted and you think you are."
"Jeez… your SO must have been really cruel with you," Skye let out as she crawled to grab her energy drink.
Natasha stiffened and turned her back to Skye, grabbing a pair of grappling gloves and putting them on herself. She started punching the heavy bag forcefully and rhythmically, her jaw clenching. Red gloves, hitting the red heavy bag violently, causing the training room to fill with loud thuds and sharp, cold sounds of metal rattling from the bag's suspension chain.
She didn't notice Skye approaching her or when the younger Agent tapped softly on her shoulder. In a swift movement Natasha took a hold of the brunette's wrist and turned, pulling on Skye's arm violently so the brunette's arm was twisted as she fell forward. Just before Skye fell on her knees, Natasha, still keeping a strong grip on the younger Agent's twisted arm, turned her body again. It almost looked like a step of dance as the assassin's back hit Skye's front, except that as quickly as everything happened Natasha used her left elbow to hit her attacker on the face.
"Natasha!" Skye screamed as she fell back, both her hands immediately covering her mouth and nose.
But the assassin didn't process, she was engaged in a fight and she was going to finish it. She let go completely of her opponent's arm and turned to face her, throwing a hook punch to the side of her face. As Skye, on her knees, tried to hold herself steady not to fall forward, Natasha delivered the final blow with an aerial move. She spun in the air, almost as if she was a ballerina performing a deathly fouetté turn, and with her left leg she hit Skye hard on the back of her head.
The younger Agent fell limp on the floor.
Natasha took a deep breath, the red fogginess clearing off her head. She looked at her target lying on the floor, by her feet. She frowned when she noticed the resemblance of her target to Skye and looked around her, remembering where she was. She swallowed the knot on her throat and slowly, carefully, she crouched. She took another deep breath and, placing her hand on her opponent's shoulder she turned the body.
Natasha gasped and fell backwards, scurrying backwards like a crab. Her expression wasn't blank anymore. No, Natasha was terrified and her eyes were glistening with tears she hadn't even noticed had started pooling in her eyes. Her breathing was erratic too and she just couldn't stop staring at Skye's battered body lying there.
She had done that.
Natasha's body trembled. She couldn't move.
She noticed when the team stormed in the room and watched in slow motion as Coulson kneeled in front of Skye, placing his fingers on her neck, for sure trying to assess if she was alive. She felt as May pulled her arms behind her back and cuffed her wrists. She deserved this. She wouldn't fight May even if she could regain control of her body.
Fitz remained by the door watching, petrified, while Jemma kneeled next to Coulson, shouting something Natasha couldn't hear through the loud humming in her own head.
"Is she alive?" she choked. "Is she alive?" she kept repeating, but she wasn't sure any sound was coming from her at all. All she could do was stare at Skye and when May finally pulled her body up and pushed her out of the room she offered no resistance.
She was dangerous.
