Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations
"So….you saw the news then?" Tony guessed.
"Shh!" Harper ordered.
"But what have you been up to man?" Will asked.
"Hush." Harper demanded.
"But-"
"Silence!" Harper glared at the group around her.
Will, Avery, Jake, and David sat on the couch, Clint and Steve squished on either end. Bruce, Tasha and Thor had brought bar stools over, and sat behind the couch. Tony stood, arms crossed, to one side.
Harper stood in front of them, face serious and expression stern. "I will not allow you guys to tear each other apart." She made eye contact with everyone, staring them down until they looked away. When she got to Steve she made a disgruntled face, and he just smiled back innocently. She shook her head.
"Here's the deal." She schooled her face back into seriousness. "Fury has until further notice put ME in charge of both Team Two and The Avengers. That means that I assign who goes on what missions, I oversee all training exercises, and I decide when and if both teams are properly prepared for duty. I will be creating a program that if you do not pass; will mean the disbanding of BOTH teams."
The Avengers looked furious, but they said nothing. Team Two looked nervous, but thrilled. They'd trained under Harper before. They knew they would be pushed, but that they would also become better…the latter of which had been sorely lacking with the Avengers training program.
"This means that you show up to work; not to play. This means you show up dedicated, no half-way. Understand?"
Team Two nodded. The Avengers grumbled.
Harper crossed her arms. "Understand?" She said again, voice lower, eyes narrowed.
"Right, yeah, sure fine." Tony rolled his eyes. "So where do you want us to start? Making daisy chains? Asking getting to know you questions?"
Harper thought for a moment. Then she grinned. "I want everyone to hit the training room…I want you fight each other."
"In teams?" Tasha asked.
"Nope." Harper grinned. She started moving towards the training center.
"So…" Steve narrowed his eyes. "A free-for-all?"
Harper grinned. "Exactly."
Tony shrugged. "Not a horrible idea." He followed Harper. "Alright I'm in."
Harper grinned. "I thought you might be."
Steve and Harper shared a look.
This "fight"….
It was gonna be good.
The fight was better than good.
It was a blood-bath….hypothetically speaking.
Technically no one really "bled", but if they could've, no one would've survived.
There were plenty of injuries of course, bruises and scrapes and burns and dislocated shoulders and body parts wrenched out of socket, because everyone played dirty and no one wanted to lose.
When the team reconvened on the couches once more, everyone was exhausted, nursing some type of injury or another, and were far less inclined to argue with anything Harper had to say….
Just the way she wanted them.
"Alright." Harper clapped her hands with a grin.
"Go to bed."
Tony frowned.
"Wait…what?"
Harper raised her brows and crossed her arms.
"You heard me." She smirked. "I'll show up sometime tomorrow," she raised a finger, "I won't tell you when, so be ready at all times, and we'll start there. I have to look over the notes I made on your performance, plus I have a life that doesn't revolved around," Harper glanced at the room with a grimace, "all of this." She nodded once.
"Well….see you tomorrow!" She skipped towards the door, then stopped to look back at Steve. "Will you be home for dinner?" She asked cheekily.
Steve nodded his head. "I suppose so, my boss just gave us the rest of the day off."
Harper grinned and winked. Steve rolled his eyes and turned towards the group of people glaring him down.
He smiled brightly at all of them. "Whelp….you heard the boss. Get some rest." He smirked. "See you tomorrow!" And he quickly made his escape.
Oh he knew he'd have to answer their questions eventually…but not tonight.
Not yet.
"So she took you back…just like that?" Will leaned forward, resting his head on his hand and his elbow on the table.
Steve shrugged. "It wasn't so much "just like that" then it was "I'm such a nice person and I'll give you a second chance, but don't screw it up," He joked.
Jake smirked. "That sounds more like Harp."
"So…she's doing well then?" David piped up. "After…everything?"
Steve grimaced. "Well…yeah. Not so much because she's moved past it, but more because," he hesitated.
"She doesn't really remember it?" He finished slowly.
Avery's eyes widened slowly. "I'm sorry?" He asked politely.
"Whoa." Tony moved from where he'd been lounging in the living room to peer over Will's shoulder. Will grimaced but didn't object. "You're saying the kid doesn't remember?"
"Doesn't remember what?" Tasha joined the conversation.
"Well, she remembers going with Matthews," Steve began, "And being shot by him, but after that it goes hazy." He shrugged.
"So what does she think happened after that?" Bruce asked.
"She thinks that we saved her from Matthews lair, saved the day, and brought her back to headquarters."
"Where she woke up in the med bay, seemingly healing from the gunshot wound." Thor added slowly. He nodded. "A logical reach, for her."
"But why haven't you told her the truth?" Clint crossed his arms.
"You mean, why haven't I told her that she's a super-powerful superhero, with all of our combined DNA running through her system?" Steve clarified.
"Well…yeah." Clint shrugged.
"Why didn't I tell the college freshmen who's only ever wanted to be normal that she'll never be anything but?" Steve tried again.
"OH." Clint grimaced. "Right. I get it."
"You don't think she has a right to know?" Will's eyes narrowed.
"I think I can't break her heart and crush her soul." Steve answered plainly. "If you want to tell her…go right ahead."
"Tell who what?"
The entire group jumped as a whole, turning to a smirking Harper, who stood a few feet away, idly tossing an apple from one hand to another.
"Steve wants to tell Scott that he's adopted." Avery rolled his eyes. "How rude, right?"
Harper narrowed her eyes. "Nice try." She complimented, "But seeing as Scott's not a girl and also not adopted, I see right through your tactical retreat." She rolled her eyes. "But I'll leave it for now." She tossed her apple to Steve, and grinned.
"Are you guys ready?"
"For what?" Tony asked tiredly. Harper winked.
"Sure we are." Steve shot Tony a look. "What's on the agenda for the day?"
"Well…The Avengers main excuse to not want to train Team Two is because they're all still teenagers right? Because you all don't really see any potential or talent to build on?"
"Right." Tasha nodded.
"Hey!" Avery threw his hands up.
"Calm down," Harper shot at Avery, "this is what we're going to do." Harper pointed to the balcony above them; that gave anyone standing on it a full view of the bottom floor. "Avengers, you're job is to stand on that balcony…and watch."
"Watch what?" Thor asked.
"Watch…us." Harper gestured to Team Two and herself. "We're going to fight."
"Fight where?" Tony demanded. "You're not going to ruin my living room…"
"Of course not." Harper waved away Tony's concern. "Team Two and I are going to do an exercise that I used to make them do all the time when we were with Matthews. It's called No Trace."
Jake grimaced, but the rest of Team Two grinned. "YES!"
"What's No Trace?" Bruce asked.
"No Trace is an exercise in which we fight like normal…but not in the training room." Harper began.
"We'll pick a random area or room to do it in, and the entire goal is to break…nothing." Will explained. "You start with 16 points, and everytime you break something,"
"Or even disturb it, like move it or whatever," David broke in, "you lose a point."
"The person with the most points at the end wins." Avery finished. "We have to fight to our maximum potential, and you get extra points for style,"
"And technique." Harper added. "It's a lot of fun."
"It sounds impossible." Tony snorted.
"Go upstairs and watch and find out." Harper grinned.
Tony observed Harper for a minute, then he nodded. "Alright. Deal."
As the Avengers settled onto the balcony, and Team Two and Harper settled into opposite corners of the room, Tasha turned to Tony.
"I bet something breaks in the first 30 seconds." She bet.
"Well I bet they make it the entire 20 minute time limit without breaking anything." Clint retorted.
Tasha shot Clint a look, then nodded.
"Deal." She agreed, and as the two shook hands, Steve called down to the teenagers below…
"And…Go!"
The Avengers weren't watching a fight…it was a dance. Each player moved to their own tempo and rhythm, but still seamlessly responded to each other.
When Avery moved to punch Will in the face, Will dodged the punch and nearly sent a lamp scittering onto the floor. His hand shot out to right the lamp as his leg moved to kick Avery in the side. David shoved Jake and the kid did a backhandspring over a side table, not disturbing it in the least.
The group dodged and ducked and swerved and hit and kick, and while the kids had many near misses, none of the furniture was disturbed until halfway through the fight, when Harper kicked at Avery's legs and sent him collapsing right into a plant. The pot cracked and fell from the table where it had been displayed, and Avery groaned before turning and throwing Harper into a display case.
Inches from shattering the glass, her arms shot out to grab a floor length lamp, using it to spin her body away from the case, she lifted the lamp over her head, and threw it at Avery's head. The tall teen ducked, and Will darted in and snatched the lamp out of the air, righting it and moving it back to its original position while Avery turned to David and Jake grabbed for Harper.
When the 20 minute mark sounded, the kids were sweaty, and new bruises had sprouted, but Starks living room was practically pristine, the poor plant being the exception.
The Avengers moved back down to the living room and Steve handed Harper her clipboard.
"So Avery lost." Harper announced. "I got second for throwing Tony's lamp; style points, but Will won for putting it back." Harper shrugged. "As a normal person fighting Avengers, I'll take it."
Will grimaced but said nothing. Harper turned to the Avengers.
"Well." She grinned. "It's your turn."
"Ten bucks says the place is a sty at ten minutes." Avery leaned over to Jake. Jake snorted. "Twenty says a window's broken at five."
Avery nodded. "You're on." The two shook hands.
Avery made ten bucks that round….But Jake made twenty.
So it always bugs me when superheros save the city but also trash it at the same time. Who's teaching them to watch where they're going?
Well...Harper, apparently, lol.
Next chapter up next WEDNESDAY!
Whee.
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~CLC~
