Spider Vs. Spider

SHIELD Helicarrier

One week later

Agent Natasha Romanoff, or the Black Widow, was in virtual training mode. It was required of all the agents to take the tests so that they know how to take action in case of certain situations that involve a crisis. The agent would simply be put in a specific environment that's specially designed to fit their mission, and the actual agent would be "asleep" throughout the entire session with the help of a helmet hooked to their heads and transfers all the data to their brain, causing them to "dream" about the mission. Everyone else could watch what goes on in the mission through a monitor that has numerous high definition camera angles. Virtual training sessions can include combat, mind games, stealth, obstacle courses, and team sessions such as capture the flag. They could be quite exhilarating at times, but for Natasha, it wasn't a game. It was almost too real for her. She was the best in all of the virtual training exercises. No one could top her record, not even her partner Hawkeye, which was also one of the top agents of SHIELD.

Right now, Natasha was doing a session where she was in New York City once again. It was starting to bug her that she kept on ending up in the Big Apple because she keeps remembering that it's not her fishbowl. But, duty calls.

Natasha was leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper with the additional help of her grapple lines. Her objective right now was to be on the lookout for her target. She wasn't informed what her target was or even looked like. She was told that she would know when she saw them. The reason it was so cryptic was because SHIELD agents need to be prepared for anything that could come their way, without even knowing their enemy. That's unfortunately the case sometimes, and that's exactly why they have that particular training exercise. Natasha, however, was generally the best at this kind of exercise. Once again, she was the best at all of the training exercises.

As Natasha made her way on top of a skyscraper roof hundreds of feet in the air, she heard a sound coming from around the generator area. She quickly turned to face the area and pulled out her pistol while firmly holding it with two hands. She took slow steps over to the area. She was planning on sneaking up on the target and taking them out from behind. But at the same time, she had no idea who her target was. She didn't know how big or how small.

As she approached closer and closer towards the generator, Natasha's heart began to beat faster and faster. She wasn't technically afraid, but she was cautious. Once Natasha was getting ready to haul herself up onto the generator, her target suddenly leaped right over the generator and kicked her gun out of her hand. The gun slid about 15 feet away from Natasha and was right at the edge of the skyscraper. It was such a sudden surprise that Natasha didn't even have time to shoot or aim when the target came out. When Natasha turned around to see who the target was, she was surprised. It was Spider-Man in full costume this time. Natasha obviously couldn't see through his mask, but she could tell that from his stance, he was ready to attack. She didn't know how she was going to defeat him easily, but The Black Widow was prepared for anything.

Spider-Man made the first attack by lunging forward and attempting to kick Natasha directly in her face. Easily, Natasha slid forward and ducked down backwards while dodging the kick at the same time. She then turned and slid back in place with her legs planted spaced out firmly on the ground, her upper body bent down, and her right hand placed on the ground in front of her. It was a pretty spider-like position of her. Spider-Man then turned his head quickly to see Natasha pull out her second pistol. Without hesitation, Natasha quickly pulled the trigger without any trouble and a bullet was sent racing towards Spidey at 870 feet per second. With ease, Spider-Man back flipped over the bullet, and as he landed, continued to perform a series of quick multiple backflips towards Natasha. As he landed a few feet away from Natasha with his final backflip, this time he leaped upwards and attempted to kick Natasha across the face, which he almost got away with, but Natasha was too fast to allow for that. As Natasha ducked down, she aimed to deliver a blow in his abdomen, but Spider-Man somehow was quick enough to block her attack with his arm after he just got finished performing a difficult kick. As he blocked her fist, Natasha tried kicking him in his calf where it would cause his leg to bend, bringing him down, and giving Natasha an opportunity to deliver another blow in a weak area.

As Natasha swept her leg for his calf area, Spider-Man impressively flipped completely over her and kicked Natasha directly into her back, causing her to grunt in pain. The force of the kick caused Natasha to fall forward, but as she was about to fall, she quickly caught herself by rolling forward about five feet away from Spider-Man. As she got back up to face him, Spider-Man shot several webs at her as if they were bullets. Natasha fortunately had the astounding ability to evade projectiles coming her way at high speeds such as bullets, and swiftly cartwheeled herself out of the path of the web bullets. After landing, she quickly threw down instant knockout gas pellets towards Spider-Man. Once the pellets landed right in front of him, they instantly exploded with gas, which would hopefully instantly knock out Spidey. However, within only a few seconds of the smoke being released, Natasha looked up in surprise to see Spider-Man coming down right on her with his foot extended out towards her face. With quick reflexes, Natasha bent backwards completely and planted her hands firmly onto the ground , as Spider-Man zoomed right over her with his kick, and landed behind her. She then had her legs off of the ground as well, and could've easily done a backflip, but quickly pushed her feet back down, and brought herself back up. Natasha tried to turn back in time to face Spider-Man once again, but was too late, and was turned to see a fist slam straight into her face, causing her to fall on her back violently with another grunt of pain. With the aid of his super strength, Spider-Man's attacks were pretty painful, especially a fist to the jaw. Luckily though, Natasha didn't break hers, but it still hurt like hell.

While Natasha still lied on the ground, she looked up to see Spider-Man walking slowly towards her. She knew this was all just a virtual training session, which was why she wasn't so hesitant to pull the trigger at him before, but for some reason this was all too shocking to her because this Peter Parker was nothing like the Peter Parker she knew in reality.

"Black Widows are so overrated," said Spider-Man in his same exact voice. "All it takes is a little squish."

As he said that, Spider-Man quickly raced to Natasha in an attempt to stomp her in the gut, but Natasha rolled out of the way just in time as Spider-Man's foot slammed into the ground, creating spider web-shaped cracks in the concrete. Natasha then got herself up and was ready this time as she never took her eye off him. She needed to come up with some sort of strategy, and fast too. She didn't really have time to come up with anything because he always attacked so suddenly. And the other thing was that he could detect all of her moves with the help of his spider-sense. She had the capability to avoid his attacks just as well as he did with hers, but Natasha needed to land something on him, and she needs to do it hard. She knows all the weak spots of every human being, even the really big muscular ones, which explains how she can take down pretty much anybody. But Spider-Man was a completely different 'anybody'. He could take hits like a breeze, and could deliver much more painful blows. But there had to be some way to take him down. There's always a weak point in everyone. Spider-Man may be a superhuman, but he definitely wasn't the Hulk either.

Natasha then steadied herself and waited for Spider-Man to make his next move. She had something special in store for him.

"True, they can be squished," said Natasha, trying to taunt.

Spider-Man then turned to her direction again. His move was going to be quick, so her plan couldn't fail, or else that'll be the end of her. As Spider-Man positioned himself to rush forward, Natasha inconspicuously activated her bracelets, and they powered on with electricity charging through them. With Spider-Man rushing directly towards her, Natasha studied him enough to know that he would trust his spider-senses to lead him where to dodge if she attacked, so she let him come close enough to aim for the right moment. Right when Spider-Man was about to deliver the final blow, Natasha moved fast enough to dodge his attack and was close enough to jab him right in his spine with her electric bracelets, sending 30,000 volts of electricity through his body. Spider-Man let out a scream of pain dropped to the ground with a thud, and his body continued to shake violently from the electrical currents still traveling through.

"But they always leave a nasty sting," Natasha finished. "And you never forget one when you see it."

After she said that, the environment began to disappear, and the session was coming to an end. When the session was over, Natasha awoke back in the helicarrier, where she was lying in a reclined seat, and removed her virtual training helmet that was hooked to her. She was breathing rapidly because she could still feel some of the exhaustion and exhilaration that she just had experienced in the session. That was always one of the minor side effects included in the virtual training. Her partner Agent Clint Barton, or Hawkeye, then came over next to her in case she needed any help getting up, which she never did.

"Boy, was that some shit?" said Clint.

"Tell me about it," Natasha agreed, sounding half-interested.

"Man, you were putting a real fight back there. You usually don't sweat that much during a simulation."

"You don't even know the half of it."

"Oh, I saw everything."

"You did?"

"Yeah, so did Director Fury."

"I figured he had something to do with this."

"What do you mean?"

"Since I've been sent several times to deliver Peter Parker, a.k.a. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" a message, he figured I should know how to deal with him if he ever turned hostile... which I doubt he ever would." Natasha began unstrapping herself from the chair.

"How can you be certain though, Natasha?"

"Because I just am."

"You can't always assume things though, Nat."

After Clint's as-a-matter-of-fact comment, Natasha stopped adjusting herself out of spite.

"You know I don't assume things," she coldly remarked. "If I assumed he wasn't a threat I would have never said anything to begin with. But now I am saying something. We're playing with fire here."

"What are you talking about?" Clint responded, both annoyed with Natasha and slightly concerned.

"SHIELD thinks they can just do what they want like it's payfree, like there's no absolutes. They think using anyone who could be a valuable asset is necessary, not caring who they are. Peter Parker is not something to be taken lightly. Now I know what you're thinking, Clint, I'm way over my head. I think everyone is at this point. He's a teenage kid who doesn't need to be bothered with anything that has to do with SHIELD. He already has enough troubles trying to be a teenager in high school, being on the lookout for the people he cares about, being a good nephew, trying to manage a relationship that's bound to be doomed at this point - and I'm not just saying that to be a bitch, it's just the facts of the situation - and trying to live a double life as some 'superhero' that just wants to help others so no one else has to go through what he's gone through. Nothing more to it! Fury needs to just leave him the hell alone so he and the rest of us can get on with our lives!"

Natasha's face was turning red with anger.

Clint was silent. It's been quite a while since he's seen Natasha this mad. He's seen the ugly side of her before, and things could really get out of hand sometimes if she doesn't cool off. So he tried not to backfire anything out of his defense, even though he always has to get the last word.

"Nat, I understand that he may be going through some of the things that are similar to what you went through, but this is his decision, not yours," Clint responded calmly.

"I don't care! I don't care whose decision it is. All I know is that he doesn't need to be another Natasha Romanoff. No kid deserves that. Especially him! I and nor does he want his life to be centered around this mess forever! He was raised by a well, happy, middle-class family, and SHIELD does NOT have the right to take that from him!"

Natasha's voice at this point was beginning to break. All Clint could do was listen at this point. He understood all of what Natasha was talking about. She told him everything that happened to her, and he was technically part of her past as well. The hopes of a happy childhood were taken away from Natasha a long time ago, and so she's able to empathize with what Peter's going through now.

"He deserves to be left alone, and for him to make the decisions that he wants to in life, not for them to be handed to him by SHIELD," said Natasha a little quieter this time. "And yeah, you're right. This isn't my decision. But I'm gonna make sure that he knows what's coming for him, and I'm sure he'll understand. He's a pretty sharp kid; I think he'll know."

Natasha paused again for a brief moment. Clint was still silent.

"All those times I had to go to him and put on my best acting skills to fool him into thinking I was on his side, when you know that I'm not. None of us are. Some of us may want to be, but the sad truth is that we can't."

Natasha then paused again. At this point she had let all of her anger out and Clint could see the shift in her facial expressions. He knew all of her emotions, and he knew which one she was feeling at whatever given time just by looking. All of the red had drained out from her cheeks. She was calmer now and started to get herself out of the seat. After a few moments passed, Clint finally found the courage to speak again. He wasn't really afraid of Natasha because he knew she wouldn't kill him by any means necessary.

"Was Loki and New York... was Coulson and all of those other agents for nothing then?" Clint boldly stated.

The spy looked at him, giving him a glare, but it wasn't of spite this time. Part of her knew she was wrong for what she just said, but the other part of her was still pissed.