Second Sphere

Trial by combat

"So what happens if you went on a mission but you needed your wings to not be there." Stark asks. Today it was measuring what the wings could endure. Sure he had the file from Hydra on me but a lot was left out.

"I pull them into my body." This response stops Stark in his tracks.

"What do you mean you pull them into your body? How do you pull them in, where do they go. They're not exactly small. You've already knocked over and broken thousands of dollars worth of lab equipment." Stark retorts sarcastically but I can hear the genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Well get a bigger lab." Stark snorts at this one, "We don't know. My body holds some dimension within it. I can store things there, Hydra mainly used it for weapons but that seems to be where my wings go. When drawn in they won't show up on any scans, and cutting me open conscious or unconscious doesn't reveal anything either. The only discomfort I feel is from my wings anything else is fine."

"So let me get this straight. You have a pocket dimension in you?" Stark begins, I nod. "And you were some Hydra assassin's personal bag of holding?"

"Bag of what?" I look at him confused.

"It's. Never mind we will educate you on pop culture after this situation with Ultron. Can I see it? The wings and you putting something in yourself and taking it out again." He pauses, "That didn't sound good out loud."

"Sure hand me something." He tosses me a pen and I take a deep breath before shoving it into my chest. I wait a moment and then will myself to release the pen before thrusting my hand into my chest and pulling the same pen back out.

"Huh. What about the wings?" Stark takes the pen fascinated by what he saw.

I nod. It's considerably more painful to draw the wings in, there is a lot of pressure placed upon my back and the wings feel cramped. Taking them out again is both painful and relieving because there is no longer constant pressure on my back and shoulders.

"How long can you maintain that?" Stark asks.

I shrug, "The longest Hydra had me maintain it was a week. But maybe longer." I frown, "The longer they are in the more painful it becomes."

Stark leans back against a countertop as I let the wings unfurl from behind me and I gingerly stretch them out. "So you have wings that are nearly invincible,  you have your own personal pocket dimension, and you have some sort of psychic capabilities that allow you to influence mood and thoughts. Am I missing anything?"

"My combat skills, I'm a lot stronger that normal humans, I heal faster. If someone wants to fight me I can show you."

Stark nods, "Alright then let's get someone."

Before long we are all in a large training room. It was decided Natasha was going to be the one to fight me. Well she insisted more than let anyone else get a chance.

Standing across from me she lowered her stance into a defensive position, "Feel free to take this personally." Lunging at me I ducked out of the way off to the side.

My first instinct was to summon a weapon but this was meant to be hand to hand combat only. I blocked a kick aimed for my head with my wings before grabbing her ankle and tossing her to the side. Natasha rolled over and got back up. "You're holding back" she spat at me before running up again.

This time she pulled a black rod from her waist and swung it at me. I ducked and grabbed her arm twisting it behind her back but she got out of the hold quickly. "Wasn't this meant to be hand to hand combat?" I hissed at her.

"For you." She aimed another kick at me but I backed up.

"Enough of this." I spread my wings out and flapped them with enough force to take her off balance before tossing her across the room. She hit the wall and crumpled into a heap.

Stark and Rogers who had been observing rushed down to make sure Natasha was alright. "I'm fine." She groaned sitting up.

"You could have hurt her!" Rogers yelled at me.

"She said she's fine. I didn't throw her with my full force. Besides are we not going to talk about how she pulled a weapon out to use against me?" I cross my arms defensively and stand my ground.

"You did what?" Stark asks.

"She is still Hydra, you know what they did to me. If I killed her good riddance." Natasha spits out.

"She was Hydra." Stark interjects, "And I seem to remember you have a red ledger as well."

"Enough for today." Steve puts an end to the bickering, "If we want to take down Hydra we will need to work as a team whether you like that or not." He shoots glances between me and Natasha. 

I nod and follow Stark, I may need to stay on guard here.