Saturday
Natasha:
Nat woke up to her alarm that was blaring Know Your Enemy by Green Day. She always listened to hard-core songs to get ready for her matches. It got her pumped to beat the shit out of someone and it wasn't illegal or anything. She got up and took a nice cold shower, she was probably the only girl in the world that preferred cold showers to hot, the heat just made her feel stuffy and claustrophobic. When she went back to her room she saw her phone was blowing up with text from the guys which she was surprise by since it was 8 in the morning and it was a Saturday, the only person not texting was Tony- the one person she knew was asleep at this hour. She read through the text to get caught up.
Thor: Friends, Bruce has given me information that might be about my brother. He was last seen in Harlem and I was hoping the lot of you would accompany me on this trip to help me find him.
Bruce: We'd leave around 4 search most of the day and then just get a hotel there or drive back.
Steve: I can do it, meet at the school?
Thor: That is fine Steve
Clint: Guys, I'm going to Nat's match and its at 12, and if she get to the final that's at 3, we'll be pushing it.
Nat stepped in and texted the guys.
Nat: If I do, I'll leave as soon as I' done. I'll beat them then jump in the car.
Thor: Are you sure Natasha? I do not want to rush you in an important match
Nat: It's fine Thor, it's not really a big tournament or anything just some of the good ones against some other dojo. Pick me up at the gym?
Thor: Thank you Natasha, this means a great deal to me. And yes will find you at your place of fighting. We can use you if anyone threatens us. Nat laughed to herself at Thor's silly comment.
Clint: Ok, now that we have that all worked out- anyone know what Tony is up to?
Steve: He kinda slept with Pepper… Nat had to do a double take on that text. Tony slept with Pepper?! One of her few best friends?
Nat: Steve I swear if you're joking I'll kill you
Steve: No really, we talked last night and she was so drunk he let her sleep over. According to Tony they didn't do anything, only shared a bed. And that's all I know. No one said anything for a while. Nat thought everyone was in shock. By habit she looked at the clock 8:20, she was supposed to be at the gym by 8:30.
Nat: Shit, got to run guys. Meet me at the gym at 4, no later. Clint I expect you to keep your promise.
Clint: You'll see me there. Nat threw her phone in the gym back and put on a fresh pair of fighting cloths on and threw on a pair of yoga pants and a jacket, opened her window and climbed down the tree and ran to the gym.
She burst through the gym doors right at 8:33. She sprinted past the workout people to the fighting rink.
"Glad to see that you made it." Her instructor said behind a magazine.
"Sorry Hank," he breathed as she caught her breath and put on her fighting gloves. She also pulled her hair back out of her face in a short ponytail.
"I'm only letting you off since your my best fighter." He laughed. Hank had become like a big brother to her in the past 5 years she'd had been training her. She used to come with her dad while he worked out and just tried to pick up some of the weights. But when she was 10 she wondered off and found her way to the second part of the building where all the fighting rinks were. She stayed for about an hour before Hank's dad, Fredrick had spotted her watching the fights. He was going to get her in trouble unless she could show him what she learned. She practiced and did the moves almost perfectly. He was impressed and invited her to fight with them when she became aged which was 12. And then 2 short years later she was in the beginner program there and worked her way up through the ranks up until she was 16 and she was already fighting guys twice her size and two years older. There had only been a handful of times where she got beat and after that she would have to go to the emergency room because she would go down fighting and that usually meant a few stitches and a broken bone. (Nat actually lost count of how many times she had broken her bones.)
"Thanks, who am I going to destroy- I mean fight today?" she joked.
"Well considering there's a 99% chance that you are going to the final in this tournament you'll be fighting a girl named..." he looked at the clipboard in his hands. "a girl named Maria. It says 200 pounds, 5' 11''."
"Big girl," Nat smiled. She was already planning it in her head. Kick-boxing had become sort of a big deal in her life. She had gotten letters from colleges asking if they would join their program.
"Ah, well not that big of a deal for you." He came over and gave her a side hug. He was taller than her with his 6ft stature. He had been coaching here since he was 22, he was a champion boxer in high school and almost went to college for it, but when he graduated his dad broke his hip and the gym was in danger, so Hank stepped in and stepped up as a the head trainer for all the fighters. "Now, remember don't kill anyone," he laughed and walked over to a sheet on the wall to see the other names for the tournament. Nat looked around at the other kids, there was Trent- a 14 year old kid was ok, had a long way to go. There was Renee and Mary- twins who were just out of high-school, Mary would always flirt with Hank and Hank would be polite and try to let her know that he wasn't interested but she wouldn't take a hint. Then there was Quinn or 'Q' as everyone called him. He was the most muscular kid that had ever set foot in a rink, but he was one of the best around here (well except for Natasha). He was good at dishing out hits, taking them, planning for the next opponents moves. For some reason now since she was in Clint now she understood why he rarely came to her matches, it was because of Q. Clint jealous- ha now there's a thought.
"Don't worry; I'll try to keep them in walking condition." Nat joked. She went to the punching bag and started out soft and then got harder and harder until she was rocking the whole thing back and forth.
"Whoa there save some from the victims," Q came over and calmed her down.
"You know I'll kick their ass anyway," she smiled and stopped. She was already getting sweaty, she looked at Q and took notice how he was the exact opposite he looked from Clint. Q was darker skinned, black hair, hazel eyes and a slender jaw. He was attractive, but definitely not Nat's type. He was too just boastful about himself; also he had no respect for her friends. Whenever they would come (which was rare) he would always make fun of at least one of them. He hated every one of them, he had classes with at least two of them a day and would go out of his way to tell Nat during practice that he hated them. He would always say that he was just kidding but there was always an undertone of seriousness to him.
"Well no doubt about that, sorry I didn't see you at Tony's party last night," He said. Didn't even know you came. Nat said in her head.
"Yeah, I didn't stay long." She replied short. She walked over to her bag and got her water bottle and drank up.
"Well hopefully I'll see you next time," he smiled with his perfect white teeth.
"Maybe…" she side mouthed through the bottle mouth. She checked her watch- still about 3 hour till the first fight, a lot of time to kiss. "Think enough time grab some brunch before the match?"
"I'm game," he said.
"Oh," she mumbled to herself. She didn't really intend on going with Q. "ok…" she reluctantly said. "Hey Hank!" she yelled behind her.
"Mhm?" he grunted. And turned around in an over exaggerated fashion.
"Can we get some brunch?" she yelled to him.
"Be back by 11 then." He ordered.
"Deal," she agreed. The pulled on her jacket, pulled off her gloves and grabbed a few dollars out of her bag. Q walked over to his bag and grabbed a two 20s out. That was another thing that was the difference between him and Clint; Q was well supplied with money. She had been over to his house because once before because they all had to meet there before going out of state to a match. He acted like he was better than everyone, not like Clint where he was content with his life, Q would always complain even though he had twice what she and Clint had.
"Ready?" he walked over to Nat.
"Sure, where you wanna go?" she asked a little too harshly.
"I know a place a couple blocks down the road." He said as he opened the door for her. They walked to the restaurant in silence and sat down in silence, ordered and then didn't talk for the first 5 minutes or so. "Ok, did I do something to make you hate me or..?" he asked her.
"Q you know I'm very… private." She chose her words wisely.
"But still we've been fighting together for what, 4 or 5 years now don't you think we should be good friends by now?"
"Maybe, I don't know…" Nat was having trouble thinking. Just then their food came and they started eating and continued their discussion.
"Give me one reason why we aren't!" he demanded.
"Well first off you already make fun of the ones that I do." Nat shot back. She tried to keep the fire in her blood from getting hotter.
"Oh yeah-them…" he said, Nat didn't like his tone.
"What about them?" She kept her voice deadly calm.
"Well they aren't really you know, normal." He said with a mouth full of a breakfast burrito, Nat had barely touched her sausage.
"Then what is normal to you?" she shot back.
"Think about it, Tony is an erotic asshole, Thor I mean look at him- a big lug that speaks odd. Bruce is just there, Steve is a soldier that doesn't know how to work a computer and Clint I just a lonely nobody." He said and continued to eat just as nothing happened. Nat sat there in utter disbelief and then snapped. She flipped the wooden table they were eating on and punched him out of his seat before he knew what was going on. She kicked him while he was done but he shot up in fighting stance. He caught her by surprise and kneed her in the stomach- she had watched him fight; he preferred his hands to his feet and would favor his left side. She regained herself and kicked his knee over and watched him almost fall over but not quiet. He threw a punch that was supposed to be at her face but missed due to the fact he was off balance, she saw her chance for her signature move. She grabbed his arm twisted and then jumped and used the momentum to wrap her legs around his neck. She twisted her body to where they fell with him under her gasping for breath. She looked down at his shocked face.
"Don. You. Ever. Say anything bad about them ever again. They are 10 times the person you would ever hope to be." She said in his face. This was a calm voice filled with rage and anger. She got up and looked around the room everyone was staring at her but she didn't care. She promptly walked out and back to the gym, even if they had barely spent on hour out.
When she got back to gym she still had about 2 hours before the match started so she went and talked with Hank about what happened with Q.
"He said that seriously? Guys a great fighter and a douchebag." He answered Nat about her rant.
"Did I mention I pulled a spider and knocked his ass down?" she laughed.
"Damn, you should be in the boy's tournament." Hank laughed. They talked for a couple more minutes before Q walked in. He just looked at Nat but didn't say anything. Before she even knew it 12 rolled around and the fighters were coming in.
"Hello everyone, if you are part of the East-Side Kick-boxing Tournament then please report with you coaches and they will tell you when you're fighting. Boys will be held in the back 3 rinks and girls in the front 2." Hank came on the PA and announced to everyone. Each match lasted about 3 minutes, or until one person was on the ground begging for mercy (how Nat's usually ended) and there were about 20 girls and there was a loser and a winner bracket. For those who didn't know how the sport worked it was very confusing. She was walking around when she saw Clint coming through the door. She saw him and ran up and gave him a hug, they had a quick kiss and Clint set her down.
"Am I late?" He laughed.
"Right on time," Nat saw Q from across the room giving her a dirty look. "I have to tell you something when we get in the car, not now though." Clint nodded in agreement.
"When's your match?" he asked.
"In about 6 minutes, rink 1." She informed him and then ran off to get ready.
Her first match was almost too easy for her. The girl was obviously a first-timer, after the first few punches the girl went down easy and Nat lightened up a bit. She would have to go through about 5 rounds before she got to the championship of this puny little tournament. She whizzed her way through the rest of the fights until she was in the championship with the girl that Hank warned her about.
"Ready, set fight!" the ref yelled. The yells rang through the room but she only heard Clint's.
"This is easy for you Nat, knock her out!" he yelled through the cage. Nat was devising a plan in her head. She's big, so probably not very fast. Use her speed against her. Daze her, knees are probably weak- kick them aside, then spider her ass. Nat thought in her head. The girl looked like she was about to kill Nat. She charged forward but Nat easily blocked, but the girl whipped around and kicked Nat in the face knocking her to the side. Everyone in the crowd let out a collective "Oooooh". Nat got back but slower than she would have liked. Before Nat could even turn around the girl kicked her knees and pinned her against the cage. The wire cut Nat's face and then the girl threw her on the ground- now Nat was mad more than anything. She used her fallen position to sweep the girls legs from underneath her and she fell on her back. Nat got up quickly and got her head together just in time to see the big girl coming straight at her. Nat noticed that she had blood on the corner of her mouth and could feel her body forming bruises. She looked at the girl whose legs were red. The girl turned to Nat with anger in her eyes, anger makes the brain work harder but makes the body work more frantic than and not as precision as it usual is.
Nat ran at the girl, ducked a punch and knocked her knee to the side. The girl regained herself quickly and came at Nat, she did the exact same thing to the girl's other knee. The girl did fall more this time and Nat punched her in the jaw and felt it go out of place. The girl slowly got up and lunged at Nat- she took the opportunity and took her outstretch arm. Twisted lifted herself up and wrapped her legs around the girl neck then twisted her stomach and legs to flip the girl over who landed with a loud thud. Nat got up and looked over the girl- she was close to passing out. The ref blew his whistle and held up Nat's arm in the air to signify her victory. The crowd yelled. She couldn't help but smile, this was another win on the road on to becoming a professional. Clint motioned his head to the door and she suddenly remembered they had to go find what maybe was Thor's brother Loki was. She yanked her arm from the ref and ran out of the cage. Clint was holding her bag which she grabbed and ran out to a waiting car with all the guys.
"Punch it," she said as soon as they closed the door. Tony, in the front seat revved the engine and they sped off. They were driving a SUV to fit all of them Tony and Steve in the front seats, Thor, Bruce in the captain seats and Nat and Clint in the back. There was an unusual silence in the car, it could have been in part since this was Thor's brother who was missing for 2 years; but there was something else hanging in the air. "Did I miss some or?"
"Tony has an, um interesting story." Steve replied. Tony shot him an angry and then back at Nat through the review mirror and sighed.
"I guess if she already knows about Pepper last night-" yet another angry look at Steve. "You need a follow up."
