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Disclaimer: I own none of the Marvel characters used in this story, only my OC's.
Chapter 11 - Natasha Romanoff
A day later, Alexia had fully recovered, not even a scratch showing evidence of the injury. As soon as she felt well enough, Lexy had returned to training. After a week of training, occasionally with the other Avengers but mostly on her own, her joints began to remember what fighting was like, what it had been like since she was 6 years old. She spoke to the Avengers and Paige often, but also spent time alone, enjoying the silence her floor received and taking great joy in watching her fish swim aimlessly around the larger tank. Alexia spent any time not training, eating, sleeping or taking short breaks in her lab, where she had improved greatly since her days Manhattan University of General Sciences. She had even experimented in mutation and attempted to create several new species of fish.
"Hey, Lexy! Tony, Clint, Bruce and I are heading out to get some pizza. You're welcome to join us," Steve invited as they finished up after a training match.
"No thanks, I'm not really hungry. Do you know where Natasha is?" Alexia asked. Steve frowned.
"I think she's on the 20th floor," he directed uncertainly, "No offense, Alexia but I don't think you're her favourite person right now."
"I know," Lexy grinned slyly, "I'm about to change that."
Steve shrugged and smiled before heading off with Tony and Clint. After he left, Lexy got changed into a neat sundress and jacket and went to Floor 20, where she saw Natasha sitting and reading a book. Carefully, Alexia walked over and sat down opposite her.
"Hi, Natasha," she greeted meekly.
The older woman's eyes flicked up at her and glared sharply before returning to her book.
"So, I thought we could grab lunch together, seeing as-"
"I'm not hungry," Romanoff was quick to reply.
"Ok, well maybe you might want to go shopping or-"
"I'm reading," Natasha hissed.
"What's your problem with me?" Alexia questioned confidently before recoiling at Natasha's precise movements.
"I don't have a problem," she denied simply, turning the page with a steady hand.
"Um yes you do. You barely speak to me and when you do you're not friendly," Lexy confronted.
"Maybe that's because I don't like you," Romanoff suggested.
"I don't think that's it, because I don't dislike you and I haven't wronged you in any way that I know of so you have no reason to," Alexia reasoned.
"Maybe I just don't like your personality," Natasha corrected.
Lexy frowned at this. No one disliked her just on principle. She didn't want to admit it out loud but her personality was pretty damn loveable most of the time.
"I think you're just hiding something, and whatever it is you can share it with me," Alexia decided.
"I'm not hiding anything, not that you'd know if I were," Nat muttered.
"What about this? We fight it out. If I win, you tell me. If I lose, I promise I will leave you alone," Lexy offered.
Natasha thought about the idea, weighing up her options, before signing and agreeing. They quickly changed and met up on the training floor.
"Any weapons, it ends when someone is on the floor for more than 5 seconds," Natasha stated as she prepared.
Alexia nodded with determination and leaned back into a fighting stance.
"After three."
Natasha slowly counted and, immediately after 3, struck out, punching Alexia in the stomach. She flew back a bit and landed on her back, but Lexy was quick to stand up. She reached for her whip as Romanoff moved closer. She flicked it towards the woman and changed the direction at the last moment, drawing an enormous gash across Natasha's arm. She gasped in pain but continued to advance.
She dodged Lexy's strikes and grabbed the younger woman's shoulder, shoving her to the ground. Lexy squealed but rolled onto her front and pushed herself back to her feet. Natasha almost growled at her persistence, storming towards Alexia once again. Alexia noticed Romanoff's water bottle sitting at the side and smirked slightly. She raised her hand and clenched it into a fist. Simultaneously, the plastic burst and the water flew straight to Alexia, levitating around her. She pressed the light blue gem and the water spread into a thin shield around her.
Just in time, apparently, as Natasha reached for a pistol and aimed it at her leg. It was absorbed by the ever moving water around her and fell to the floor. Alexia then gathered up the shield and sent it in a bullet-sized pellet at Natasha's thigh. It hit it's mark perfectly and the redhead collapsed onto the ground. The entrance wound was dripping with water and blood and Lexy bit her lip, hoping the five seconds would pass quickly so she could help the female Avenger.
Sadly, Romanoff attempted to stand again and succeeded weakly. She limped towards Alexia at a surprising speed and Lexy, hesitant to injure her any more, let her. The woman clawed at her wrist, causing Alexia to almost scream in pain. In retaliation, Lexy kicked her in the stomach. Romanoff skidded across the room before bumping into the wall. Alexia gasped and ran over to help. It had been longer than 5 seconds when Lexy was able to wake the redhead. She was slightly disorientated for a few seconds before realizing who had helped her up and pushing her away.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for it to go that far," Alexia apologized sincerely. Natasha glared before signing and looking down.
"It's fine. You won fair and square, I'll tell you," she replied.
Lexy smiled weakly and shook her head.
"I'd much rather make sure your leg is ok. You can tell me afterwards," she smiled innocently.
Romanoff couldn't help but grin faintly as the brunette helped her up and assisted her in the journey to the nearest first aid kit, which was attached to the wall near the elevator. They sat down on a bench and Lexy began to stitch up the wound.
"I'm not good at expressing how I feel, none of us are, really. I've been taught all of my life not to get close to people and to keep my feelings bottled up. Joining the Avengers made me have to break down some of those barriers and trust people," Natasha began.
Alexia was silent, listening intently while also focusing on her medical work. Nat decided to continue.
"When Fury introduced you, I was immediately against the idea. I'm already close to 5 other people and adding another one is just another weakness, something that could distract me from my work. You seemed really kind and positive when we met, so I was also afraid that joining the Avengers could ruin your personality," the woman explained, "I realized after hearing your story that you've been through a lot worse than joining a team of superheroes."
"I'm sorry," Alexia mumbled.
"You shouldn't be. I'm the one who was purposefully trying to push you out. I'm glad it didn't work," Nat smiled.
"Well maybe we can start over. Hi! I'm Alexia Brookes," Lexy greeted. Natasha grinned.
"Natasha Romanoff," she responded.
Alexia and Natasha had chatted for the rest of the day, much to the surprise of the other Avengers. However they kept the reason behind their newfound friendship a secret, merely giggling whenever one of the guys commented or asked. Later that day, Paige returned from a job Tony had sent her on, with a surprising smile on her face.
"Hey Lexy! You didn't tell me Dylan was still in Manhattan," she exclaimed.
"I didn't know he was," Alexia stated.
"Yeah, I just saw him in Times Square. I was going to go over and say hi but he was in an argument with someone," Paige explained.
"Who was it?"
"I don't know. He was on the phone," Paige mumbled.
"I wonder what they were arguing about. Dylan doesn't fight a lot," Lexy pondered.
"Anyway, how's practice going?" the assistant enquired.
"Good, but Tony's gone back to his playboy days after breaking up with Pepper. Hopefully it won't last long because-"
"Because you like him," Paige sang.
"Because we need to practice," Alexia finished, "As a group, not just individually."
"Sure. That's one of the reasons," her friend teased.
"Paige, shut up," Lexy grumbled.
Paige raised her arms in defeat and sniggered as Stark himself, along with Steve and Natasha, strided in. The assistant greeted her boss by name before walking out, practically cackling to herself.
"What was that about?" Steve queried.
"I barely know myself," Alexia sighed, "Where were you guys?"
Tony smirked, Steve frowned and Nat groaned.
"Natasha and I spent the day talking to Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D about an organization we haven't heard of in years," Steve groaned.
"I think you can guess how I spent my afternoon," Tony chuckled.
"I'd rather not think about it actually. What did Fury want?"
"Everything we knew about a group called Familia de Superiores. It means the Family of the Upper in Latin. They're just a bunch of really rich and really big families that thought that money could get them anywhere. They tried to take over the country about 30 years ago and then again 5 years ago but they weren't much of a threat seeing as they had no idea what they were doing. They've been in hiding since we defeated them," Nat explained.
"They sound a lot less menacing than their name suggests," Alexia snorted.
"S.H.I.E.L.D is worried that they may have seen what went wrong last time and are making a new, better plan," Steve continued.
"Is anyone going to go into detail about how I spent my evening?" Tony asked.
"I'm going to train, anyone want to come?" Alexia offered, ignoring Stark's comment.
All three of them agreed and they traveled to the training floor. After an hour or so of of practicing, the group was worn out and headed to their own floors for a good night's sleep.
Hope you enjoyed! Just wanted to say, if Familia de Superiores is wrong (I'm not amazing at Latin), can someone please review about it? If you didn't like the chapter, politely review as to why, if you did, please follow and favourite!
The next chapter is goimg to be set in a different location. Be ready for some new OC's!