...And freeze!

ep 14: She never calls me Nat anymore

11th of July, after the meeting:

Natasha and Steve left the meeting room and each one decided to head to their own room. On her way, Natasha met Tony, who asked her how the mission went.

Tony: Hey Romanoff, I heard you were on a mission with princess Sam, how did it go?

Natasha looked at him, she seemed pretty tired and kinda sad.

Natasha: Well... Westview is getting back to normal, Sam did a great job.

Tony: Why do you look so sad then?

The spy took a deep breath.

Natasha: She doesn't even look at me Tony... She hates me, I don't even understand why she hates me that much. We used to be friends, how did this happen? How is that even possible, I- I don't get it. I know I've been harsh with her when she came back to the compound after disappearing for a month, and maybe I threatened her friend but it wasn't serious, I would never have done anything to that girl!

Tony: She's a kid, maybe she just needs time. Apparently she's staying, so she will have to get used to you, and working with you, I'm sure it will soon be back to normal.

Natasha: She never calls me Nat anymore, it's always Romanoff, hardly Natasha, and that's when she talks to me, most of the time she's just ignoring me. It hurts you know.

Tony: I guess... she probably hates me too, but I haven't seen her yet, so I can't tell.

Natasha: It's not like you really cared about her anyway Tony, I used to be close to her. That's why it hurts so much... I should have done my job and not to get attached, feelings make you weak, Dreykov was right about this...

She whispered the last sentence, hating herself to say that.

Tony: I do care about her, but-

Natasha: Not like about a friend, and you never thought she belonged here, so...

Tony: Yeah, well, maybe I think she's too young for that, but-

Natasha: She's 22 Tony, Peter started at 15 and Maximoff at 26! It's time for you to realize that she's not a kid anymore

Tony: Whatever, I think I know how I can help to fix this...

He ordered Sam to train with Natasha twice a week, because the spy was a good fighter, and Sam needed to train, it's been months since she hasn't, so she couldn't refuse.

12th of July, 2023

Sam went to the training room immediately after breakfast, with rage and determination. She didn't want to train with the Black Widow, she wanted to train AGAINST the Black Widow. She fought harder than ever, she didn't want to train, she wanted to fight. She wanted to BEAT her.

She wanted to hurt Romanoff as much as Romanoff hurt her when she came into her apartment, threatened Kassy, destroying their relationship, and Sam's life, forcing her to come out to her friend as an inhuman. She wanted to hurt Romanoff as much as Romanoff hurt her when she told her she didn't deserve them to care about her, nor to be here, at the compound, on their team, that she can't be useful anyway.

So when she arrived in the training room, and saw Romanoff, she decided to return all her blows. She did all the poses and techniques she ever learned, even her famous hold where she went on the enemy's shoulders to hit them from above or make them fall. Most of them were coming from Romanoff. Sam's enemy knew all the tricks, because she was the one who taught 'em.

She fought like never for half an hour, never letting Romanoff the time to breath between 2 blows.

Sam jumped on Natasha's shoulders, and tried to make her fall. She succeeded, but the spy escaped from her hands falling on the floor. Sam didn't stop to hit her though.