Chapter Seven

The next couple days passed by in a flash. Each day the Avengers pushed each other just a little bit farther. At this point they had all figured our each other's weaknesses, strengths, and fighting quirks. Winter noticed that all the men, except Tony of course, hesitated before throwing a punch at her. It was subtle, barely a second, but Winter caught it. No matter how much she reassured them it was okay to hit her, they still seemed scared they would hurt her. This just made her try harder to beat them. Natasha on the other hand showed Winter no mercy. After the first few rounds, ending with Winter flat on the ground, Nat offered her advice. "Don't focus so much on blocking my hits, sure it's nice to avoid getting punched in the gut, but it's more important to stay on the offense, not the defense. You're going to get hit in a fight, might as well learn to take it." Winter nodded, though she didn't exactly agree. She ignored Nat's outstretched hand and got up herself. It took a while, but eventually they seemed more evenly matched. Thor on the other hand was going too easy on her. "I know if you fought me for real, you could probably kill me, but please stop treating me like I'll break," Winter had asked, and he just shrugged shyly, could Thor even be shy? "I'm sorry. The only other women I have sparred with are Lady Sif and Natasha. You're so tiny, it's not a fair fight." Excuse me? "You don't think I could beat you?" His eyes widened, "That wasn't the intent of my words…" But Winter cut him off, "Look, if I was allowed to use my powers right now, I could beat you before you could call 'Mjiolnir', so yes, you are physically stronger than me, but the only reason you have been winning, is because we have to fight fair. In a real fight, there is no fair, so what's even the point of all this? Sure we're learning how to fight each other, but what use is that against Loki and his happy gang of alien soldiers? Loki won't fight fair, his little minions won't fight fair, so why are we fighting fair? I know we can't butcher each other, that kind of defeats the purpose of 'preparing ourselves for war' or whatever…. But I think we should team up, all of us using our abilities, or strengths in combat, to fight each other. Have our own mini war in here, the room is big enough." It had turned into another speech, I really need to stop doing that. A look around the room showed that everyone had stopped fighting and listened to her rant at Thor. Blood rushed to her cheeks, but she kept her head held high, ignoring her instinct to avoid everyone's eyes. It was Steve who spoke first. "She's got a point." Clint spoke next, He talks? "As big as this room is, it's not big enough for Thor's hammer OR Tony's suit. If we want to do this we should do it outside, less damage and more room for me to kick all your…" "Alright," Natasha interjected, sensing where he was going and stopping him before he got there, "I think we should do it here, it could help us get better at managing the amount of damage we allow to happen around us as we fight." A look to Tony, "No blowing things up," Thor, "No smashing your hammer through walls," finally Clint, "And please, don't hit any of us with real arrows." Tony nodded, "Alright that settles it, meet here at 9:00 tomorrow morning, refreshed and ready to get your butts kicked."

As Winter walked to the training room the next day, she couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach. Sure, she had fought against everyone already, but never against a team. Never as a team. When she got there, everyone was already split up. Thanks for waiting. The first team was Natasha, Steve, Clint, Bruce and Natalie. Natalie?! A quick look around showed that Megan was on the other team, along with Tony and Thor. Assuming that was her team as well, Winter jogged over to their clump. "Megan, what the heck are you doing here?" Megan looked up from where she was holstering a tazer, "Director Fury thought it would be a good idea if Natalie, Dr. Banner and I were to train with you!" She laughed nervously, "Please don't let me die out there, I can barely hold my own in a fight against a normal person." Winter laughed, pulling her friend in for a quick hug, "You'll be fine Megan, you're a lot tinier than these guys so use that. If you come across Steve, take advantage of the fact that he will hesitate before he throws a punch at you. Clint is a good fighter without his bow and arrows, but you could probably keep up with him. Just avoid Natasha, she's scary." A quick look over at the other team showed Natasha and Natalie talking, they looked like they were getting along very well. Megan had looked over too, "That can't be good. I'm going to be avoiding Natalie too, she could already beat me up, I don't want to face her after she gets advice from Natasha." Winter nodded, "Yeah, stay away from Natalie too." She then turned and began to prepare herself for whatever this was. A war? That sounds a bit overdramatic. She made sure her USB was safely hidden, and her dagger was accessible. She didn't plan on using it, but if the others started playing dirty, so would she. As it is she had the advantage, she could manipulate their minds, turn invisible, port away if need be. A confident smirk covered her features, but she quickly wiped it off as Tony called for their team's attention. "Alright guys, you ready?" Everyone nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm. "Good. Our team is better than theirs, you're welcome, so this should be a piece of cake." Tony was wearing one of his suits, the face plate of his helmet open. Winter looked over at Thor, who was wearing what she could only assume was his full set of armor. He held Mjolnir loosely at his side, and Winter longed to try to hold it, even though she knew she could never lift it. He caught her staring, and gave her a tight smile before turning to Tony, "Do we have a plan? Or do we just attack? I've never played this game before." Winter frowned, annoyed. This wasn't a game, it was supposed to help them train as a group! Does everyone else think this is a game? That would be extremely awkward. Before she could torture herself further, Tony answered Thor, "I know this seems childish to you, but it's actually a good idea. We need to learn how to work together in a fight, not how to fight each other." Thor pursed his lip, "That's understandable. I'm just not used to this type of training." "Neither am I, but it's one of those cheesy team building exercises that everyone hates, even though it ends up bringing the team even closer together." Winter tuned them out, focusing on the other team instead. Steve looked like he was giving out instructions to everyone. It was hard to take him seriously in his uniform, though his butt did look good. Bruce was in jeans and a button up shirt, and seemed to be arguing with Steve, before Steve finally nodded and Bruce walked out of the room smiling.It made sense for him to leave, after all, he was only a fighter as the Hulk, and for him to turn inside the carrier was not a good idea. Natasha, Clint, and Natalie were wearing the usual combat suits, the same ones that Megan and Winter were wearing. It was so plain, and Winter was struck again by the thought that she should request something more unique.

Using the last few minutes before the fight to pull her hair up, Winter began to doubt if this was a good idea. Someone could be seriously hurt! She reminded herself to keep an eye on both Natalie and Megan. They were both tough, but they could still get seriously injured. Steve's voice cut through the room, "Alright everyone. Just to recap, we're not trying to kill each other here. This is strictly for training. Work together with your team, and only dish out what the other person can take." No one replied, just got into position at either side of the room. It was completely silent for a moment, before everyone ran forward on mutual agreement. There was complete chaos. Winter ran beside Megan, who was running at Clint. She quickly became invisible as Megan and Clint began throwing punches. Turning she saw Tony fighting both Nat's, and Thor was fighting Steve. Thor seemed to be handling himself just fine, but surprisingly Tony was struggling. He couldn't fly because the ceiling was too low to give him a useful amount of height. Somehow both girls were dodging his hits, but it didn't look like they were on the offence, because there wasn't much they could do with his suit. Winter ran over anyways, might as well help him out. She pushed Natalie out of the way of his blaster fire, both saving her and throwing her to the ground. She could help Tony fight and watch Natalie's back. As her friend got up, Winter allowed her form to return, before the two began fighting. Barely a few seconds had passed when something connected with Winter's back. She fell forward, rolling to the side. A foot slammed down where she had just been laying, and as Winter got up she raised an eyebrow at Natalie, who just shrugged as if she hadn't tried to stomp on her. Clint, who must have been the one to kick her in the back, came at her again, but Winter ported away. She re-appeared next to Megan, who was getting up from the ground. "What happened?" Winter asked, helping her. "Nothing, I was fighting Clint, he knocked me down and ran off." Winter nodded, giving Megan a quick look over to make sure she was alright. Finding no injury, she quickly ran back into the fight. It was now Tony and Thor back to back, fighting off everyone from the other team. Megan ran at Natalie, drawing her attention away from Tony, and the two began to spar. Winter kicked the back of Natasha's knee, bringing her to the ground and squeezing in to stand with Tony and Thor. Hoping it wouldn't distract them, Winter softly snuck into their minds. There wasn't much going on except thoughts of fighting, ideas forming just before they would act on them. Winter kept the connection open, but pushed it aside for the moment. She had to focus because Natasha had gotten up and she looked mad. Winter ducked as Nat aimed a kick at her head, porting behind her and punching her in the side. It had little effect and Natasha turned, looking even angrier, if that was possible. Winter could teleport, but Natasha was fast, and quickly caught on to her pattern. Winter pulled out of her teams heads, and slipped quietly into the other team's. Probably better to know what the other team is planning, not my own team mates. She pushed Natalie's, Steve's, and Clint's thoughts on the backburner, focusing more on Natasha. She rolled out of the way even before Nat had decided to kick her. On her feet a second later, Winter fought Natasha easily, avoiding hits before her opponent could even make them. She tuned into Steve and Clint now, paying enough attention to hold Natasha off while still watching out for the rest of her team. They all kept fighting, and at one point Steve was fighting Thor next to her, and she reached her foot out to trip him, still keeping her eyes on Natasha. Moments later, who knew how long it actually was, Winter had Natasha pinned to the ground. A quick look around showed Steve on the ground, Mjolnir sitting on his chest to keep him down. Tony was standing over Clint with his blasters at the ready. Natalie had Megan pinned, the only one from the other team to succeed. On silent agreement everyone got up. Tony was grinning, "I told you we'd win." Clint scowled, "If I'd had my arrows, you would have lost." But it was obvious he wasn't actually upset. The whole fight had been more fun than anything else. Thor helped Steve up, spinning Mjolnir as if it weighed nothing. This was nice, Winter wished things could stay this way. But that wasn't possible. Loki is still out there, this wasn't just for fun. The thought was enough to steal her smile. Steve took a deep breath, "That was pretty good. Let's take fifteen, then we'll make new groups and start over." Everyone nodded, dispersing to sit down or get water. Winter found her friends, "You guys did great! I barely had to help you!" They both laughed, and Natalie said, "I could have handled myself." Megan shook her head, "I couldn't, I'm a doctor for goodness sakes! If Dr. Banner got to leave, I should have been able to leave too." Winter smirked, "Oh come on, you loved it! You lasted a while against Clint, and I know how big of a fan you are. I'm surprised you were able to fight him at all! You're practically in love with the guy." Megan threw her arms up, "I am not! I just respect him, I think it's really awesome how good he is with a bow and arrow." Winter laughed, "Whatever you say." She really wished this could last, that she could live a normal life. But that could never happen, Hydra had taken that option from her the night they had taken her. Don't think about them right now, you can take care of Hydra after you beat Loki, save your anger for him. Winter sighed, her life was a mess. It wasn't impossible to clean up that mess though, and with the other Avenger's help, it wouldn't be too hard. She forced a smile back on her face so that her friends wouldn't become concerned. Break was almost over, and with a wicked smile Winter turned back to Natalie and Megan, "You guys ready for round two?"