The Third Black Widow

Work Hard Play Hard

I wake up and put on my black leggings and matching black crop-top sports bra thing. Yelena and I are the only ones ready for training. Others are still in their PJs or at least in normal clothes.

"Alright, people. Here's how training is going to work. We're doing stations today. You will go to every station. We will have a break for lunch and then resume training until dinner. Maria is leading station one. Clint volunteered to do station two. Sam Wilson will be joining us to lead station three. Bucky is on station four. Dr. Strange will be doing station five. Lunch will be in between station two and three. Get changed and meet Maria in training room one," says Nick. We all nod and everyone except Yelena and I scrambles to hurry and change.

"Go easy on everyone today if we do hand-to-hand combat, okay?" says Yelena.

She knows I've been trained harder than her and that I was only used to fighting kill 90% of the time. At least she fought for practice for a portion of the time.

"I make no promises," I say. "Fair enough," says Yelena.

Everyone else arrives shortly and we go down to the training room to meet Maria.

"We are doing conditioning. We are starting with around the world. Ten jumping jacks to the front, run in place to the right until I say to move on, butt kicks to the back, and crab jacks to the side. Turn to the front again and do jump ropes. Then we'll do crunches, sit-ups, planks, pushups, etc. Let's get moving!" says Maria.

She turns some music on, and we get going. I did this routine before my private dance lessons in the Red Room, so I do it efficiently and on the correct counts.

"Pushups go!"

We all drop down and do about twenty pushups before Maria says, "Sit-ups!" Everyone starts their sit-ups. A few of us start off with great speed and slow over time. Others keep an even pace the whole time.

"Crunches!" It's the same thing with crunches. Everyone goes at their own pace.

"Plank! The first person to drop gets an extra 30 seconds!"

A new song starts to time our plank. We start on our hands.

As time progresses, I watch as the other people in the room start wobbling. I feel nothing. No burning, no numbness, nothing.

America drops first. Kamala drops after her. Katy is next.

My body is feels fine. I know it shouldn't, but it does. Sure, my core is burning, but to me, that feels like nothing compared to what my body has felt.

"Elbows!"

Kate drops and Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man drops a few seconds later.

It's now down to Yelena, Shang Chi, and I.

The song is over now. Another one begins. Yelena falls out of hers. Shang Chi takes a deep breath and I can see that he's in pain. He's panting a bit.

My body doesn't feel much pain. I mean, it does, but it's not too bad. When things get painful, I always remind myself that I've been through way worse and to fight it. It's helps me. A lot.

Shang Chi drops gasping and I win.

"How?! Just how?!" says Kamala. "Two words. Red. Room," I say.

"America, thirty more seconds. Go."

Her thirty seconds pass quickly and we are allowed to get water.

Everyone else chugs a whole bottle while mine remains sealed. I don't drink water often if at all. It's an awful habit and I'm trying to break it.