Chapter 4

She throws me a side-long glance, before slamming the girl back into the wall when she tries to make a break for it. The rest of the girls look like they're watching a tennis match, their eyes flashing to Romanoff and back to me again, probably wondering why she isn't fazed by my appearance.

"Romanoff, please release the recruit," I ask in what I hope is a placating voice.

Romanoff is about to back off, but the trapped girl seems to have more brains then sense, "Please get this stupid bitch off me!" she tries to sound all brave and unaffected. But her façade is ruined when Romanoff leans closer, getting in the girl's face, "This stupid bitch can hand the Hawk his ass in a close-combat fight blind-folded, both hands tied behind her back. Keep insulting her and you'll find out exactly what else she can do."

Finally she turns her back on the girl to look at me, even though I can see her attention is still completely on the girl. I have enough faith in her to know she won't pull something like this without a reason.

She seems to lose a little tension, stepping away from the girl and closer to me as she smirks. "What happened?" I ask again, this time in a normal tone and looking at her for an explanation. "They thought it was hazing day, seemed to forget they were newbies as well. So I reminded them," she shrugs, watching me closely for a reaction.

"Good girl," I smirk. She raises an eyebrow, letting me know I'll pay for that comment at some point. "Yeah well, they were going about it in a clumsy way. Decided to use a fucking air horn to wake a… well, me. I might have broken that one's arm. You should probably take her to medical."

I immediately go to the girl she pointed out, "Uhuh and then?" I check her arm. Definitely broken. Then I see the newly formed bruises on the limbs of the rest. She did quite a number on them.

"Then nothing. I was threatened. I handled it," She states flatly. I look at the girl still standing in the corner. She's trying her hardest to look unconcerned. "Do you have a death wish?" I ask her. The girl beside me gasps in her next breath. On instinct, I lift her shirt a little to assess the damage and catch another bruise spreading quickly over the exposed skin. I'm a little impressed that she isn't curled into a ball and crying.

"Romanoff, I think you cracked at least one rib, and the rest need medical attention as well. I'll just call medical down. I'm guessing you're the one that got roped into pressing the air horn?" I ask the girl, letting go of her arm.

She nods her head. Then I looked around the room, looking each girl in the eye to make sure I have their attention.

"Never ever. Ever. Wake a trained agent in that way, ever. I hope you all realize she could have killed you. So could any other trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, if woken up unexpectedly. I know you're just trainees and you don't know any better, but this is NOT high-school or college. We do not haze agents. We do not turn our back on our own, and we most definitely do not try to make life harder for a fellow agent than it already is.

In here, none of you have ever been on a mission gone FUBAR. None of you know what it's like to be in enemy territory, unable to sleep for fear of attack. Out there, agents are fighting the after-effects of having their partners tortured, or killed, or both, in front of them, are reliving missions gone badly every second of their daily lives. And an agent that is provoking another agent to attack is a liability to S.H.I.E.L.D."

I look back at the girl in the corner. "Were you the instigator?" she drops her head, refusing to look at me. "I hope you realize you just threatened the Black Widow," there's a sharp intake of breath from some of the girls. I guess word travels slower than I thought.

I'm about to go out to call medical, when I look back at Romanoff. She seems like she's aching for a good fight. And there's no way the girls will be getting any sleep. Not if I were to leave Romanoff in the room with them. So I make a suggestion, "You want to go down to the gym, spar before lights out?" She stares at me for a few seconds, "Lights out was an hour and twenty four minutes ago," she points out.

"That's for newbies. The rest of us have lights out when it fits our schedule. Mine isn't due for a few more hours," I joke, before walking out the room. She'll follow me soon enough. There's no way she will want to stay with them. I alert the medics, and then head for the gym.

We settle on the rules first, no biting, scratching, or breaking bones, then proceed to spar. I barely have her pinned once before she gets the upper hand. The rest of the time I'm fighting my hardest to not get thrown to the mat and pinned down.

She's downright scary up close. She moves too fast for me to get any good kicks or punches in, and tends to only directly attack if I make a grab for her. And she has a habit of getting close… too close. Having a woman's thighs wrapped around my head has suddenly turned into a very unappealing thought. She has me pinned like that for three times in a row, before the move gets added to an ever-growing list of banned holds. It's just too easy for her to use those moves so we ban them as valid moves or else neither of us will get any real practice.

After our work out, I'm aching, sweating, and dying for a shower, food, and sleep.

"I'll talk to Coulson about alternative accommodation tomorrow. But I have a guest room in my apartment if you want to get some sleep tonight?"

"Lead the way," she tells me, unconcerned. We settle into an easy routine once I reach my door on the level for agent accommodation.

I microwave and eat my dinner, while Romanoff takes a shower, and clean up once I've taken my own shower. Then we go our separate ways, and I don't know about her but I sleep a little more deeply, knowing there's a second set of ears to listen for danger.