"Gwen? Are you sure this is how you'd like to be trained," Nadia asked concernedly, looking at me like someone who'd just stepped on their puppy's paw looks at their pet. I tried my hardest to wiggle my hand out of her grip- she'd caught my punch and twisted my wrist as softly as she could, but it was more than enough to hurt. I was on my knees biting my lip to keep from crying out in pain. The Red Room trained some of the world's greatest assassins and even someone who hadn't finished their training like Nadia was an impossibly skilled combatant.
"I g-gotta learn s-somehow, right," I reminded her, shifting my weight against her pull hoping to break her grip. I ended up flat on my back and her foot on my shoulder in an instant, showing me just how easily she could dislocate my shoulder... or maybe break my arm. It was hard to tell which when my entire arm felt like it was made of glass.
"Gwen, G.I.R.L. was founded for furthering science! I don't think this is the best use of our time here." See, Nadia hadn't exactly agreed to help train me in combat. I might've… bribed her into it. I told her that I knew almost everything about this universe and while she didn't believe me at first, after a few pieces of information that no one else could have possibly known, she'd practically begged me to come back and tell her more. So that was our deal- I tell her things about the universe (nothing too important! I didn't wanna start a superhero civil war like my evil future self did), and she'd help train me. But I also knew that as a Red Room trainee, Nadia was more equipped than the average person to get the information she wanted out of people. If I wanted her to train me, I'd have to keep as much as I could from her until it was absolutely necessary.
"B-Battlerealm's universe is full of Iso-8 Neutronium!" Okay, maybe I wasn't exactly the best at withholding information; sue me. Nadia let me go, her mind racing miles ahead of us both as she tried to piece together what I'd just told her. I could see the gears turning behind her eyes, thinking of all the possibilities that could be explored with that much pure energy in one place. No better time to attack!
"Hiiiiiya!" I kipped up from the ground and punched straight up, my best attempt at a world famous Shoryuken. Nadia moved away, just a step back so my punch hit nothing but air. I followed up with a high kick, hoping to hit her shoulder. Before I'd even had time to react, Nadia had moved forward, getting in close and letting my kick pass behind her. With a quick palm to my gut, she knocked me back down on my butt. The fall knocked the wind out of me and I needed a second to gather my breath.
"Gwen, I'll be very upset with you if you're not being truthful with me," Nadia said, arms crossed over her chest with a small pout on her lips. I never really understood what Blue Marvel had been talking about, but I did get that Neutronium was important and hard to come by. I didn't blame Nadia for not believing me when I told her that an entire universe was full of the stuff.
"Hey, come on. I'm a superhero too! I wouldn't lie to a fellow hero," I reminded her.
"Sorry… Your reputation isn't terribly stellar," she admitted, reaching down and offering me a hand.
"Reputation? No way, I've totally been super helpful on all of my superheroing. Did I tell you about the time I totally helped Hawkeye take down the Ghost Rider?" I took her hand and bounced up to my feet, throwing a jab at her chin that she blocked without looking. Kick, punch, jab, elbow! Nadia only ever paid attention to the fight long enough to make sure she wasn't hurting me with her counterattacks.
"The story I'd heard was slightly different." She grabbed my arm and forced it behind my back, shoving her knee into the back of my leg and forcing me to kneel down in front of her. I tried to wiggle, shake, reach behind myself to push her away. Nadia kept me in place without even breaking a sweat.
"I don't like calling people liars but if you are embellishing your story to look cool-"
"There's a ton of Antarctic vibranium in the Savage Lands. A whole mountain of the stuff! Ka-Zar could help you find it if you wanted." Nadia was on her phone in an instant, making a note of what I just said. With my arm free I rolled forward before spinning around, ready to attack while she was distracted. She kicked me in my chest, pushing me back down on my butt, but I used the momentum and rolled backwards, landing back on my feet.
"This is almost too good to be true. Is it too good to be true," Nadia asked suspiciously, hands on her hips as she glared accusingly at me.
"If I started lying now you'd stop training me," I explained, dusting myself off as I stood up.
"You are correct," she hummed, eyes turning back to her notes. Time to strike!
I feinted left and she moved her right hand up to try to block me. I knew there was no way I could try to hit her that she wouldn't be able to stop, so instead I decided to surprise her and snatched the phone out of her hand. Brown eyes widening in confusion, she followed my hand trying to get her phone back. While she was distracted, I ducked down and swept her legs out from under her, knocking her onto her back. But she was still a Red Room trainee, and there was no way she'd fall without taking me down with her. Her instep pushed against the back of my knee and buckled my leg, sending me landing on top of her.
Nadia van Dyne might be tiny but she's no pushover! She wrestled for the phone back, twisting my arm in ways I was sure wouldn't be possible in the real world, while I did my best to keep the phone away from her and use my weight to keep her pinned to the ground. We fought for what must've been a full page spread, wrestling with each other for the phone that she obviously didn't need before she finally got the upper hand, flipping me onto my back, her brown hair falling around my face and blocking out the world around me. I could count every single one of her freckles and smell her eighth cup of coffee on her breath as she panted on top of me.
"You have… beautiful eyes," I could see the blush on Nadia's cheeks as she spoke. I could see the way the light caught her eyes and made them sparkle. This was definitely a glamor shot that a ton of artists spent a lot of time on, and I wasn't exactly complaining.
"Oh… is this the part where we kiss?"
"I wouldn't mind that."
Nadia van Dyne had soft cheeks and softer lips. Everything about her was sweet, from the honey scented shampoo she'd used this morning to the soft noises she'd made when I nipped at her lower lip. One of her hands pinned both of my wrists above my head while her other hand caressed my cheek, keeping me locked in place as she took control of the kiss. She was tiny, but she definitely wasn't a pushover. Kissing was an art that was perfected in the Red Room and my head was spinning as she deepened the kiss.
"Nadia, who was that girl at the- oh! Uh… sorry." Janet van Dyne had not expected to walk in on something like this.
"Hey, Janet! I love your outfit," I shouted, sitting up and waving to the original Wasp as Nadia rolled off of me and covered her face in her hands.