"So, these are the newbie's?" I mumbled to Brantley. She looked up from the pad of paper covered in notes she had been holding in one hand, while my other hand was clutching the pull up bar, yanking herself up over and over again while she tried to memorize Jason's notes on the project they had been working on.

Hell Hero and Spidergirl were sparing, his blades and her webbed hands clashing with unpleasant sounds while Tama watched them, nervously clutching her battle axe. Jackson was messing with something mechanical, probably an update for one of his suits. Tyson wasn't even paying attention. He was bent over several boiling beakers, the light coming from them easily showing the hickey on Tyson's neck.

Brantley rolled her eyes. "You and Tyson been busy again, Jade?"

I shrugged, "We were batting around the bush for months. There were a lot of pent up emotions."

"Whatever, and never make out in my office again." She ordered. "It was disgusting."

"It's not my fault you and Thain never had a chemical relationship." I said, and admittedly, I shouldn't have said that.

Brantley glared at me as she slapped the notepad shut. "Jade, shut the hell up about Thain."

She tossed the notepad to me, and switched hands to the one that had been holding the notepad was now the one yanking herself up towards the pull up bar. "I think I've got it down, quiz me."

I opened the notepad, frowning at the series of Q and A's. "How is light speed achievable?"

She thrust her chin above the bar, "The mechanics in the engine must be the equivalent of the gravitational motions of planets and their moons, to thrust the object obtaining light speed through the electromagnetic vacuum of space."

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull. When Brantley came here a little more than a year ago, she could barely read at a fourth grade level. Now she's saying that!? "Uh... what is telekinetic material made of?"

"Electromagnetic brain waves pushed out by a person with the ability of telekinesis. Give me a hard one."

"Jesus Christ- How much time have you been spending with the squints!?" I asked, freaking out a little. Brantley was starting to sound smarter than Jackson!

"Jade."

"Right, right. So, could a telekinetic split open the skull of a living person at light speed?"

"The human brain does not have anything inside of it mimicking the gravitation rotation of planets, the telekinetic material does not either. Therefore, a midpoint of some sort would have to be used, there the telekinetic material was inserted into the midpoint. The midpoint would have to have a type of engine that mimicked the gravitational motions of planets and their moons. This midpoint would then propel the material at light speed. That would give the illusion of propelling telekinetic material at light speed."

I froze, closing the notepad and staring at her as she dropped down from the pull up bar. "Brantley... you just memorized it, didn't you? You don't really understand a word of what you just said."

"Nope, but Jason can't tell the difference."

I rolled my eyes, and gave her back the notepad. "So, the noobs, you seen them fight?"

Brantley nodded, reaching for her water bottle. "It's why I invited them."

We both watched as Tama stepped up, wanting to spar with Spidergirl. Spidergirl accepted, after saying something stupid she probably thought was funny. Tama put her fists up, but before she could throw a punch, Spidergirl shot web around both of her ankles, and yanked Tama off her feet. As Tama hit the ground, Spidergirl sprung on her, wrapping her up in web, much like a spider with a fly.

Jackson laughed, and Tyson smacked him upside the head. Spidergirl released Tama, and she shot up, pointing a finger at Spidergirl, "You cheated! I demand a rematch!"

Spidergirl smirked, "I didn't cheat, and it was a fair fight. Not my fault you're too slow. It must be those pigtails weighing you down."

Tama lifted her hand into the air, "AXE!"

Her battle axe, having been left on the sidelines, flew to her. I could see the look in Tama's eyes, she wanted to slice Spidergirl in half, all because she felt dishonored.

Brantley's knife shot through the air, clanking against Tama's axe handle. It didn't do any damage, as Brantley only wanted to divert Tama's attention away from Spidergirl. "Tama, put the axe down now. You know our rules."

Tama dropped her axe, but again pointed at Spidergirl, "She broke them first."

"She's new." Brantley said, making her way onto the mat. "And she doesn't know the rules. Take five, just cool off."

Tama growled, grabbing her axe and barging out of the room. Brantley turned to Spidergirl, "We don't use powers in the training room. Due to past experiences here, things escalate quickly, and I don't feel like explaining to Fury that we've broken another wall. I know your powers aren't the kind to do that, but if you use your web, Tama will want to use her strength, and then Jackson will want to use his explosives, then we're all screwed."

Spidergirl nodded slowly, "Fine. But I just lost my sparring partner, and I don't think she's coming back in here today."

Brantley shrugged, turning away from Spidergirl to walk towards the pull up bar. "Then beat up Jackson. Trust me, it's a lot more fun than Tama."

"Hey!" Jackson protested.

Spidergirl shook her head, "Stark can't fight at all, not without his suit. I hear you're a pretty good fighter."

Brantley picked up her water bottle again, taking a small sip. I nudged her, "Well go on, fight her."

"Not interested." Brantley mumbled to me.

Spidergirl chuckled, "What, you don't wanna get your ass handed to you?"

I frowned at Brantley, "They're getting uppity, and there's a pecking order here. We're veterans, she's a newbie. Kick her ass, and put her in her place."

"Why don't you just do it, if it's so important to you?" She asked, crossing her arms at me.

"You're the leader, and a better fighter." I explained.

She put her bottle down, and turned around. "Spidergirl, it seems I'll be taking you up on that offer."

Spidergirl fell in to a fight stance, smirking. "Well it's about time, Katniss."

They squared up on the mat, and Jackson wiped out his phone, "Hey Brantley, how about you take off the muscle shirt, and fight in your bra?"

"How about I report you to human resources so you'll have to take a course on sexual harassment?"

"Again?"

I threw a five pound weight at his head, and after ducking under it, he shut up. Brantley and Spidergirl got ready to fight; everyone in the room could feel the tension washing off of them in waves. They both wanted to win, Spidergirl wanted to stake a spot for herself on the team as an able fighter, and Brantley wanted to make sure everyone still knew she was the alpha dog around here.

Spidergirl struck first with a simple punch, that Brantley avoided by leaning her head back a few centimeters. Spidergirl smirked, pulling her fist back, "How about, first one to fall loses?"

Brantley nodded, "Shoulders have to touch the ground."

Spidergirl sprung at Brantley, and I almost missed what happened. Spidergirl flipped around in the air, to where she had wrapped her ankles around Brantley's throat as she flew over Brantley's head. Brantley was yanked back by the force of Spidergirl's eight yanking against her throat, but instead of falling back on her shoulders, Brantley arched her back as she fell, and caught herself with her hands. Spidergirl tried to do the same as she fell, but Brantley flipped over her own hands which caused her to slip out of Spidergirl's hold. She immediately grabbed Spidergirl's ankles, and slammed her foot down on Spidergirl's face. Spidergirl's arms went slack, and her shoulder's hit the mat.

"And that's match." Brantley said firmly, getting off of Spidergirl and walking back over to me.

"How about another round?" Spidergirl asked.

"We agreed on one." Brantley said firmly, "Don't be a sore loser."

"Not with me, with Hell Hero."

I looked over at Hell Hero, his ginger hair tied in a low pony tail, hanging between his shoulder blades. He was half a head taller than Brantley, and built of muscle. I had seen Brantley take on bigger guys than him, and I had no doubt she could knock him the hell out.

"Fine by me." Hell Hero agreed, shrugging.

"Alright." Brantley stepped back onto the mat. "First fall loses."

When that fight started, I did miss the first part of it. Someone threw a punch, and next thing I knew, Brantley aimed a spin kick at him, but was to slow. Hell Hero grabbed her from behind, and hoisted her up over his shoulders. She struggled in his grip for a second, before he slammed her down on her shoulder blades.

I saw the breath leave Brantley, and then come back in just as fast. She stood up fast, faster than she should have after a hit like that. I knew that was something she had trained herself to do on the streets. She had told me once that if you fell in a street fight, you weren't getting back up. I remember asking her if she ever fell, and she wouldn't answer.

Hell Hero raised an eyebrow, "You're pretty fast."

She shrugged, "Whatever, it was a good fight."

She looked over in the doorway, and I followed her line of vision to see Hawkeye standing there. He gave a quick nod to Brantley, "Come on, Jason called us in."

Brantley grabbed her bow and quiver, running out of the room to follow him down the hall.

WITH BRANTLEY:

"I saw your fight." Clint commented as we walked to the squints lab.

"I know. I saw you standing there after I got down beating up Spidergirl."

"So why did you purposely let Hell Hero win?" Clint asked. Damn. I had hoped no one would have noticed that.

"For one, he's better than me and would have won anyways. On top of that, I don't trust him or Spidergirl."

Clint nodded, understanding why I had thrown the fight. "So this way, if they decide to turn on you-"

"Hell Hero doesn't know my full potential."

We jogged up the stairs to the lab, and Jason didn't even look up from his microscope. "Brant, Hawk. Are you on speaking terms, or is Brant finally over you two's Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader 'I am your father' moment?"

"I'll kick your ass Jason." Clint threatened.

"And I'll let him, cause you're being an asshole again." Brantley snapped.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jason mumbled.

Cam walked to Jason's desk, smiling as she set down a few test tubes. "Nice to see the archers back together again."