"You know Peg; you've got a mean right hook." Tony Stark leaned against the wall as Peggy leaned over the water fountain, ignoring him like usual. He looked at her, to see if she could at least hear him. "Where did you learn such incredibly kick ass ninja moves?" he leaned down so he was at eyelevel, and so she stood up straight in response. "Not in the talking mood today, I see." He nodded, perking up as well. "Tell me more then, why did you hit him?" Peggy began walking to catch up with Steve, who was currently tying his shoe near the entrance to the locker rooms. Tony trailed after her. "Was it anger? Did you feel compelled to hurt somebody?" she kept walking. She was ready to smack his nose and burst a blood vessel, thus causing a nose bleed.
"Oh, go wank in a corner." She snapped, making him pause. He grinned. He had made her speak.
"I think anger issues. You know my dad is friends with a psychiatrist. Well, when I say friends, I mean they're on the same country club golf team." Flash Thompson came out of the locker room; he would have stepped on Steve without blinking, too, if Steve hadn't jumped back onto his hindquarters in time. Flash snickered and jogged a moment so that he was next to some random kid. Peggy reached out a hand and helped Steve up.
"I'm fine." Steve said automatically.
"Carter! Rogers! Quit flirting and line up!" Dooley yelled, most of the guys were lining up shoulder to shoulder on the other side of the gym. Steve turned a little red, and Peggy narrowed her eyes and walked over, her scrawny friend following. Stark left his spot in line and moved so he was next to Peggy. Dooley, meanwhile, had pulled out a small cart-like stand with several compact bows; five right handed bows, one left handed. On the end, there was a single long bow.
"If it wasn't anger maybe it was just protecting someone you love?" Tony whispered in her ear. "Like a bear. Is Steve your little cub? Are you a hired spy? That makes sense for why you could beat the shit out of Quill. And why you're from Europe." He seemed pleased with himself.
"I'm not a spy." She growled sharply, glaring at him. Stark looked up at Dooley thoughtfully, trying to think of an alternative.
"You're actually a Russian assassin? Only you are allowed to kill Rogers?"
"I'm not even Russian. Nobody would even hire a hit on Steve anyway." She felt his shoulder move as he rocked in small chuckle.
"Are we even allowed to handle weapons in a high school?" Steve whispered quietly to Peggy. Peggy shrugged in reply.
"Carter! Since you are so busy socializing, why don't you go first? We'll follow you outside." Dooley yelled sharply, drawing Peggy out of her conversations. She hadn't heard a word Dooley had said. She bit her lip and walked over to the bow rack. Her dad had taught her how to use a bow, but not a compact bow. She reached and grabbed the long bow and three of the arrows sitting in a quiver that was attached to the end of the rack. The class followed her outside onto the track. Dooley had set up three targets ten yards from the edge of the wet grass. She set her hips, legs slightly spread, her right facing the target. She clicked the arrow into the string two fingers below and one above, and drew it back to her jaw. The arm holding the bow must be straight. The hand holding the arrow should be brought back to the corner of your lips. Breathe. Aim. Release. The arrow flew from her fingertips, stabbing the target an inch from the center. Cheers erupted from the students, but Dooley still seemed skeptical. She did the same process again, getting it an inch from the center again. Once again, but still in the nine point ring.
She walked back, passing the bow off to Clint Barton, who grinned and congratulated her. He was on the archery team, so she figured he'd do much better than her. She stood across from Steve, and he said something about "You did really well!" but she didn't catch it all because Tony starting haggling her about how an assassin would be able to use a bow and arrow. She retreated to the back of the crowd, now everybody was interested in trying to see if they could do it.
"Personally, I'm still confused on why you hang around that String Bean." Tony commented, standing next to her.
"What the hell do you WANT?" Peggy finally hissed.
"I honestly don't care why you punched Quill. I think he's a dick."
"Well that's a lot coming from you…." Tony gave her a sharp glare.
"I just want to know why you're here… and why you've got all these super smash bros fighting skills."
"Why should I tell you?" she arched a brow.
"Get something off your chest. I know you haven't told anybody."
"How do you know that?"
"Because nobody comes to your defense."
"I don't need anybody."
"At one point you did. You had somebody teach you how to beat the shit out of somebody."
"If I tell you, which I wouldn't, I wouldn't tell you in a gym class." She turned and walked up so she was next to Steve. He had just gone, and all his arrows were launched in dirt.
"Fine." Tony whispered.
Peggy walked along side Steve, her backpack on her shoulders, and her navy scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. They would walk home together; Steve's apartment was around the corner and up the hill from her's.
"Tony wanted to know about my time in the UK." Peggy said suddenly. Steve nodded.
"Okay? … Did you tell him?"
"No. I wanted to tell you before I told him."
"I'm listening." Peggy shrugged.
"Maybe later." Steve nodded in response, wind tussled his blonde hair. It was getting longer.
"My dad taught me how to do all the athletics." She broke the silence; she wanted him to know something about her.
"Maybe he could teach me?" Steve laughed, earning a grin from Peggy. "I have a C in Gym." He groaned, "It's because Mr. Dooley grades on a curve. You probably have an A."
"I could show you how to do some things. Of course, archery takes mostly arm strength." She looked at his scrawny frame.
"Everything in that stupid class takes arm strength…" he growled, kicking a rock distastefully. A car sped by, tossing dead leaves in its pass and a man raced past them, pushing Peggy to the ground as he ran.
"Hey, watch it!" Peggy yelped. Steve took her hand and helped her up onto her feet, but they leapt aside just in time as two police officers raced past, one yelling into their radio.
"Suspect is on foot! Possibly armed and dangerous." Steve's eyes grew wide.
"NYPD! Freeze!" the other yelled as they turned, Peggy knew that was the dead end alley. Steve seemed afraid, but he perked up like a cat seeing a mouse.
"Peggy come on…" he whispered, edging toward the alley.
"Steve the guy is possibly armed!" she hissed, pulling on his leather jacket so that he was closer to her. "That means a weapon!" he inched closer for a better look. The two officers, one was tall and muscular with short brown hair and the other short and lithe with feathery dark hair.
"Did you see him exit?" Steve shook his head quickly, and Peggy blinked, her mouth still gaping at the scene. "Groot, stay here." The smaller one instructed his partner, going and knocking on the door next door.
"You two should leave." Officer Groot said quietly. As he was speaking, his back turned to the alley, a face appeared, slowly at first, and then running down the street.
"Officer!" Steve yelped, racing after him without hesitation. Groot turned and chased after the scrawny student. Peggy breathed and analyzed. The suspect turned at the second right. Peggy thought fast and ran across the street, running through old Aunt May Parker's house.
"Peter? Is that you?"... And then out the back, vaulting the fence. Based on the way that the suspect had turned, he would have to turn this way to evade capture. She slid out in front of the suspect in time. Steve was right behind him, the Groot man a few paces behind. She swung a leg at his knees, knocking him onto the ground. She could see a glint of silver. A knife. No problem. A well aimed kick to his abdominal wall made him squeal in pain and drop his knife so that he could hold himself. Groot caught up, and wheezing, flipped the criminal over, handcuffing him.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney, if you cannot…" he continued on with the Miranda Rights, and Steve stood toe to toe with Peggy, both smiling and panting lightly with effort to oxygenate themselves. They left quickly before anybody could say anything to them, Steve reenacting the scene excitedly.
"You were very brave." Peggy smiled, interrupting his praises.
"You were braver. You took him down!" Steve laughed. Peggy shoved him lightly in a friendly manner. They both stopped and looked at each other.
"I bet you would have done it if you could." Peggy said lightly, looking him up and down. She was surprised he hadn't puffed his inhaler yet.
"Maybe. But it doesn't matter, you were amazing." They began walking again, arms brushing lightly every few paces.
"Just don't tell my Aunt. She hates that my dad basically turned me into a Cub Scout. Now instead of taking Self-Defense classes, I take dance class." She rubbed her arm even though she didn't feel that cold from the chase.
"That's lame. You're better then dance classes." He mumbled.
"I don't see how that will help me in life. Look." She placed a hand on his shoulder and one on his hip and began leading him in a small dance. It only lasted about two seconds, because she was just trying to prove that it was completely worthless to her. "I can already dance. I don't need a strangers help." She looked down, not noticing Steve's gaping expression and his face red, and not red from the cold winds. "Oh! Here's my flat." She announced, stopping. There were rows of apartments on the street, her's was the humble brown brick with four floors. "See you tomorrow, Steve." She took out a silver house key and unlocked the dark blue front door. Steve walked away slowly, his heart fluttering.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow Peg." He whispered.
AN:
Are golfers even in teams? I have no idea. In case you didn't know, long-bows are a lot harder to use. Compact-bows, on the other hand, are very easy to use (I've used both a long bow and a compact bow. I've never hit a target with a long bow.) But really, I have no idea why I added that entire chase scene. It just happened. Oops. I hope it wasn't a bit much? Oh well. I wanted to post one more chapter before I leave, I was debating on not posting this until I get back but oh well. I had a snow day today so I might as well post it.
Review if you want, I love you all -Aslin