THE MARVEL GAMES: THE NEXT AVENGERS

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Game of Strategy

Allie's Point of View

Once I got back to my room I fell against the door and let myself slide down it. My knees were jelly and my heart was beating so fast I couldn't distinguish the time between beats.

He'd kissed me. Tony Stark Jr had kissed me. And it had been...mind blowing, perfect, earth shattering,

I didn't think there were any words in any language that could describe the way I was feeling. Hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Nothing made sense.

I got up off the floor and went to the bathroom, splashing water on my face to make sure I didn't look like a zombie from lack of sleep. I tugged a brush through my messed up hair and changed out of the standard issue pajamas and threw on the black, skintight jumpsuit that we were forced to wear for training. I figured my trainer would be here soon, so I may as well be ready for whoever it was.

I looked at myself in the mirror and my jaw dropped in horror. The jumpsuit was definitely skin tight, it showed off everything. I couldn't hide.

And just when I was thinking of changing, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I sighed.

The door clicked open and a man walked in. He had sandy blonde hair with bright blue-gray eyes, he was tall and lean with muscle. He looked oddly familiar.

"Allegra Brown?" He asked,

"That's me." I nodded.

"I'm your trainer," He smiled and stepped forward to shake my hand. He stuck out his hand but I didn't take it. "I'm Johnny Storm."

"The Human Torch?" I stared wide at him. My trainer was the freaking Human Torch?

"That's me," He repeated before sitting down on the chair across from my bed and I perched myself on the edge of my bed. "Alright, so, first of all, I'm going to need to know what you're good at."

"Well..." I pursed my lips, "I have pretty good aim."

"So what?" He asked, "Good aim with a gun? Knives?"

"Arrows." I clarified, "My dad taught me how to shoot arrows when I was young."

"So I have a little Hawkeye on my hands, awesome!" He exclaimed rubbing his hands together gleefully. Johnny was probably happy he wasn't stuck with a useless tribute.

"Who's Hawkeye?" I asked, playing dumb. Most people didn't know who he was, he'd 'died' long ago so civilians had forgotten about him. Everyone thought my mother had run off with a man named Charlie Brown, ditched Clint Barton and left him to die.

"Oh, no one." Johnny frowned. "Next question; do you know anyone in the competition? Close friends, cousins, acquaintances?"

The question stumped me. I knew two people. True Castellan had been my neighbour for years and one of my brother's closest friends. And then there was Tony.

Tony Stark Jr, my best friend and...my boyfriend? Could I even call Tony my boyfriend? We'd kissed once -even then I'd had to ask him. I'd told him that I loved him, and he had told me the same thing...but was he my boyfriend?

"Only one person." I said without thinking, but I understood why I'd said it. I couldn't put Tony in more danger. "True Castellan was my neighbour and my brother's best friend."

“Great.” Johnny nodded. “We can work on that. We can sell you as the maternal type, you already volunteered for your brother, we can try forming an alliance with True, he’s the youngest tribute. Now, have you ever had a boyfriend? Have you got a boyfriend waiting for you back home?”

I frowned and said without being able to stop myself. “I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, really?” Johnny’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. I didn’t take offence to that. “Man, I really hit the jackpot with you, didn’t I? What’s his name?”

I looked down at my knees and sighed shakily. “Tony Stark Jr.”

Johnny started laughing, he actually threw his head back and laughed like a little kid.

“You’re joking right? School girl crush right –you’re not actually dating the guy are you?” Johnny asked between hysterical laughs.

“No. I’m dating him. Ask him yourself.” I said before shaking my head from side to side, this was ridiculous. “Can we just strategize later? I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Johnny agreed, we needed to start training as soon as possible, so I followed him to the training room where all the tributes were already deep in their training sessions. Every now and then, I sneaked a look at Tony, he was focusing on perfecting his aim with a gun and trying out a few knife throws.

He was getting good at his aim, but he was still a little off. Maybe I’d be able to teach him something before we got into the arena. Smiling at the thought of a late night secret training session, I missed hearing someone yell ‘duck!’ and I got hit in the head by a rubber bullet.

The tribute by the name of Griffin Black was holding the gun the bullet had come from, snickering behind his hands with another tribute that I couldn’t remember the name of.

I glared at them; it looked like I was on the outside of these Games already.

I went to the shooting stations, but Johnny stopped me.

“No, not yet. Don’t show your talent off just yet.”

I nodded and went back to trying to learn how to make a fire –survival skills were my weakness. Fighting skills were my strengths.