A Super Soldier for the Modern World

Chapter 17

Amanda Carter brought her leg up and slammed it into the punching bag. It rattled on its chains for a second before Hawkeye stabilized it with both hands.

"How long have you been by yourself?" he asked as she kicked the punching bag again. It connected with the man's gut and he let out a quick grunt of pain.

"Just a week," Amanda breathed hard.

This morning, Steve had called from DC to tell her that he'd be another few days. He'd said that he felt like he was making good progress and Steve wanted to stay. While she knew it was a very important trip that he was on, but she missed him and hated that he was gone.

"How much longer will Cap be gone?" Hawkeye asked around the different hits that she was landing on the bag.

Amanda sighed. She had come to the gym here originally so she'd be alone. And she had been. But Clint wandered in about half an hour after she did and insisted on working out with her.

"He said he'd be a few more days, but he'll probably be a week or more. They like having him in DC, even if he's fighting them," Amanda told him.

"How are you holding up?" he smiled at her when he asked her.

She responded by connected hard with the bag again.

"How do you think I'm holding up? I don't want to be one of those girls who is all sad and moping because their boyfriend is gone for an hour…because there are people with way worse issues, but I miss him," she said. Amanda swung and hit the bag hard. "I hate that."

Hawkeye laughed. "I won't tell anyone. Hey, do you want me to see if I can get Johnny Storm down here so you can take out some of this anger?"

"Maybe Tony," Amanda replied, a slight smile on her face. "Where's Nat?"

"Tasha was out late last night," he told her.

Amanda furrowed her brow. "Why?"

"SHIELD training mission with Melinda May," he told her. "Breaking in the newbies."

"Oh, I see," Amanda replied.

"You know how it is. Following the SHIELD orders…" Hawkeye trailed off.

"Yeah. Looking for more super humans so we can force them into registering with the government," Amanda said.

"Manda, you know that we have to…"

She nodded. "I know, I know. Clint, it's just…a war is coming. A clear divide is starting to form and you and Nat and I, well, we're going to be on one side or another," she explained. "And it's not just us. All of SHIELD. All of the super humans and mutants. The whole world. Nothing is going to be the same."

Hawkeye hugged Amanda in an attempt to calm her down.

"I want to tell you that's it's all going to be okay, but I'm just going to leave it at: it's going to be," Hawkeye told her. "You know that Cap is going to do what he needs to do, but he cares about you. So he's going to make sure that what he does includes you."

"When did you get so touchy-feely?" Amanda asked.

"I read Fifty Shades of Grey and have seen a couple of those awful Lifetime movies; I just kind of picked it up," he laughed.

"You did not read Fifty Shades, Clint Barton," Amanda said as they moved to their bottles of water.

"Okay, I read the back cover," he told her. "Awful," he laughed.

Amanda laughed, too. "I read slightly more than that."

"Of course you did," Hawkeye laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said as she poked him in the ribs. Clint was definitely more like family to Amanda than her actual family. And she certainly loved him like a brother. And he was pretty damn protective of her, like a little sister.

He definitely didn't like to see her hurting, that was for sure.

"I'm just saying that you're a girl and you got dragged into the fad like millions of other girls. It's nothing to be ashamed of," Hawkeye smiled.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "You're hilarious."

"God, I know," he said to her.

The door to the gym creaked open and their eyes immediately went to the other side of the room.

In walked Tony Stark.

"All right, it's time for us to go," Hawkeye said. "I'll buy you breakfast," he said to Amanda.

"Hey Barton, can I have a few minutes alone with Amanda?" Stark asked as he approached the two of them.

Hawkeye put himself between Amanda and Stark now that Stark was near them.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now, Stark," Hawkeye told him. "Amanda and I are actually going to get breakfast."

"I just need a minute with my goddaughter," Stark said.

Amanda laughed from behind Clint. "You're going to play that card?" she asked as she stepped to the left side of her friend.

Stark nodded. "You've been avoiding me, kid," Stark said. "I have to play the cards I've got left."

"It's all right, Clint. I'll talk to him for a few minutes," Amanda said. "Thank you," she said when he turned to look her in the eye.

"I'm serious," Hawkeye said. "Breakfast in half an hour."

"You got it," she told him.

Hawkeye slipped his sunglasses on his face, nodded at Stark and exited the gym.

"You know, you're hard to track down even when you're living in my building," Tony told her.

"I'm a spy, Tony, it's my job," Amanda replied.

Amanda was seated on the floor, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"Right," he replied. "Right."

"What do you want, Tony?" Amanda asked.

He continued to look down at her. It didn't look like she was going to be standing any time soon, so he slowly sat down on the ground so he could look her in the eyes.

Amanda continued to stretch, effectively folding herself in half and causing Tony to grimace in pain as he watched her.

"I wanted to find out how you were doing," Tony said. "And since you're not taking any of my phone calls, or text messages, or emails, or smoke signals…"

"You're a smart man, Tony. I would have figured you would have taken the hint eventually," Amanda replied coldly.

"All right, you're clearly still mad at me. So, just listen to me. I'll say me piece and then you can do what you want. I think you're rushing things with Rogers. I think you should wait a little bit longer. You're young. You've got a lot of time ahead of you. Don't settle down right now."

Amanda simply looked at him.

"You're really telling me what to do with my life?"

"I'm not telling you what to do with your life. I'm simply giving you an opinion," Tony told her.

"I don't remember asking you for your opinion," Amanda said. "Am I wrong?" she asked as she stood to her feet.

"Listen, little girl," he said as he stood up as well. "I rarely tell other people…"

"Excuse me?" she challenged him on his bull.

"Okay, a rarely tell you what I think about your life, and I wouldn't say anything if I didn't feel so strongly about this. Don't rush into this," he said sincerely.

Amanda scoffed. "Well, like always, you're going to get your way, Tony. Steve and I are not even discussing the wedding planning until the bills are taken care of. So, who knows when he and I will get married or if we ever will? I have to go," she said suddenly. "I thought I was better off here while Steve was gone, but I'll be out by this afternoon. Good bye, Tony."

She gave him one last look before she grabbed her bag and left the room.

…

A/N: as always, let me know!