Natasha flung herself backwards narrowly dodging Steve's foot as it went whizzing past her face. "You know, it's good. You and Banner" Steve said hardly whipping sweat from his eyes with one hand as he blocked Natasha's punch with the other.
"Ya? How'd you figure?" Natasha asked ducking under his fist and trying to take him down at the knees.
"You're good for each other. You both kinda like to keep to your selves." Steve explained dodging right to avoid a pair of vice like legs wrapping around his neck, "and you know he's so revered and..."
"Dorky?" Natasha supplied landing a well aimed punch on Steve's shoulder joint only to hiss at being clipped in the bruised ribs by the edge of his knee.
Steve chuckled, "Ya and you're so..."
"Physical." She said connecting solidly with both feet in the center of Steve's chest forcing him to take two large unbalanced steps back. Finishing her kick in a handstand she flipped forward and swiped his knees out from under him following his hard smack on the mats by framing his shoulders between her thighs sitting on his chest her hand at his throat.
"Ya, that." He groaned and motioned for her to get off him.
Natasha stood and offered a hand which Steve denied as usual to keep from pulling her slight frame over onto the floor with him. "All I'm saying is I think it's good that you draw each other out of your shells." Cap said chugging down some water and whipping his brow with white gym towel.
"Well I guess I'm glad you approve." Natasha snorted.
"I'm your partner aren't I?" Steve asked, "Just imagine what I would do if I had to have Stark around all the time, or I don't know someone more annoying than Stark."
Natasha snorted, "There's someone more annoying than Stark?"
"Well last time I met Thor's brother he annoyed me quite a bit." Steve reminded her.
"He's not even Human." Natasha observed her wrinkling her nose.
Steve just laughed, "Be honest, would that stop you?"
Natasha just shrugged, "I suppose it would depend."
"Good, because Bruce isn't exactly your stereotypical Human." Steve teased.
"Stereotypical's boring. Besides don't you remember? I like my men bulletproof." She reminded him with a wink mimicking shooting a gun at him with her fingers.
"I still haven't gotten you back for that you know." Steve said brandishing a finger at her as if she was a petulant child.
"Not my fault you're getting slow old man." Natasha teased smacking Steve on the chest with her towel.
"I'll show you slow." Steve said grabbing Natasha up and throwing her over his shoulder before chucking her on the training mat the pair laughing the whole time.
Dinner that night was a family affair as Steve, Natasha and Wanda had cooked. Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Wanda, Sam, Rhodey, Vision, Fury, and Hill all gathered around one of the large oval conference room tables passing bowels of pasta, meatballs, veggies and parmesan chicken around. Vision was still learning about food and the disjointed explanations from various team members reminded Steve, Bruce and Nat of what it had been like trying to accustom Thor to their world.
The three smiled at each other at the memories as their young team chattered around them. Rhodey was still trying to impress them with Iron Patriot stories an Sam was countering with exploits he had as a paratrooper. Wanda was in quiet polite conversation with Vision, but the pair smiled often and sometimes butted into the boys' stories to add their own opinion or exploit. Wanda's head would occasionally snap in one direction or another like someone was calling her name, but she was still learning to block thoughts out when she was in public places.
Natasha and Steve were laughing and teasing each other with Fury about their training today, half of which he had watched from his observation deck. Maria and Bruce were discussing some of his research and brainstorming other projects that might benefit the team, but kept getting interrupted by Sam who wanted Vibranium wings and Vision who had endless questions about the research Bruce was doing on his stone.
Once dinner was over the recruits left and Natasha turned in her chair to study the rest of the group. Fury was watching her suspiciously and Bruce, Steve and Maria were jokingly arguing over something Bruce had said.
"You know what we have to do next don't you." Natasha asked the group at large the seriousness of her voice cutting off all other conversation.
"What are you talking about Romanoff?" Nick said suspiciously.
"The recruits. It's time we had the Avengers back and not just some ragtag group of wannabes." Natasha reminded them.
Steve sighed as Maria and Fury nodded their agreement. Bruce moved to stand, but Natasha and Steve each grabbed an arm as Steve said, "No, you should stay. You may not be a part of the Avengers anymore, but if anyone took a learning curve when learning to work as a team it was you. I value your opinion. We all do."
Bruce nodded and settled as Steve took his hand off his right arm, but Natasha's stayed softly resting on his left her thumb soothing circles on his skin.
"What do you propose Romanoff? I'm not planning on loosing another commander to pull your little team together." Nick reminded her.
"I know, and it wouldn't work anyway. It's not that they don't want to be a team, it's that they don't know how to. Trial by fire won't work for them." Natasha reasoned.
"So what we do trust games?" Steve asked unsure of the other options.
"No." Natasha said her face setting in hard lines, "When I was in the Red Room," she began and Bruce's hand came to take hers in support and comfort, "we had to fight each other. We fought to the death, but it served two purposes: it weeded out the weak and it taught us to kill someone we were intimate with. When you fight someone, you learn not only how you can hurt them, but how you can help them. Having that ability to help someone and being forced to kill them makes killing a mark easy, but it also gave me my best friend. Barton made the other call when he found me. He fought me, he found out how to hurt me, how to kill me, but also how to help me. How to lift me up and make me a better me. He chose to lift me up just like I chose to kill all those girls. They won't understand each other until they understand each other's weaknesses so that they can cover for them and their strengths so that they can boost them. We need to force them to fight each other. Force all of us to fight each other; one on one, with the rest of the team watching from the observation deck." Natasha explained studying the table before her instead of the people around her.
"Is that advisable?" Bruce asked.
"Is avenging advisable?" Natasha retorted to which Bruce nodded in agreement.
"So what we have them full out fight each other, hurt each other so that they become closer?" Steve asked incredulously, " Seems a little backwards to me."
"People are backwards Captain Rodgers." Fury insisted, "Natasha's right. The world has been without the Avengers for too long already. They need to become a team and fast and this is the best way. I'm with Natasha."
"How do you expect someone like Sam to defeat someone like Vision? We don't even know all of what Wanda is capable of. Most of those fights won't even be close to fair." Steve argued.
"You think I stood a chance against Thor or the Hulk? No if either of them ever want me dead I'm dead and that's the fact of it. I knew that. I never fought it, I never questioned it and that's how I survived. I knew they were leagues beyond me and that saved my life more than once." Natasha insisted standing to tower over the table, but keeping ahold of Bruce's hand and soothing it when he flinched at the reminder of the Hulk's ruthless power. "Some of them will be over powered and some of them will surprise us, but I'd rather know it now then when one of them has a gun pointed down his or her throat."
Steve sighed and buried his head in his hands rubbing his face. "I agree with Natasha, it's cold and, forgive my saying so, but very Russian, but it's the right choice right now. It's more than you guys ever got and this way we can put down ground rules and control it. Out in the woods though I think. Tony was kind to have this built, but he might start getting snippy if we demolish it in only a few months." Maria suggested.
"Bruce?" Steve asked his eyes almost pleading the older man to disagree.
Bruce shrugged, "Better to find out what they're capable of here in a controlled environment out on the field and Natasha has a point that the better they know each other the better they can help each other."
Steve sighed in defeat, "Fine." He said, "We'll make an even bigger clearing and have the contests at the end of the week, but there are going to be serious regulations on it."
"Its a war simulation Cap. Only one rule, keep actual bodily harm to a minimum and we'll need a judge to call a win so we can be sure without killing anyone." Natasha insisted.
"Damn it Natasha this isn't Soviet Russia we can't pit them against each other like cage dogs." Steve argued standing to face her.
"We're not." Natasha reminded him, "Unlike the Red Room, they signed up for this, we signed up for this, knowing full well what we were signing up for and we'll do it again. We'll give them a choice, but anyone who doesn't fight can't be on the team. They can stay, they can train and maybe one day they can join, but not today."
"You're going to have a hard time convincing Vision to fight needlessly." Bruce reminded her.
"No, Vision is on the side of life, we won't be taking life, we will be training and learning how best to defend it in the future." Natasha reminded them all.
"Fine, but we tell them first and Fury referees." Steve said standing and exiting the room fists clenched and shoulders tight.
Maria sighed and said, "I'll see if I can go talk to him." before leaving as well.
"Well I haven't got anything to say." Fury said and made his exit as silently as he had entered.
"I'm tired, you ready for bed?" Bruce asked.
"My room or yours?" Natasha asked with a flirtatious smile, "Lead the way Doctor."