Blood of a Goddess (Storm of the X-Men)

Chapter 2 - Pressure Cooker

The Black Widow is one of the world's most trained assassins, known for her stealth and combat prowess. Had I come hand to hand with her – with none of my passive mutant abilities – I don't think I would come out of it unscathed.

That is not to say, that I am some untested amateur.

No.

I am Storm, and even the Black Widow will know of my bite.

Thankfully, this fight, is no contest.

Natasha's batons buzz and hiss with blue light, as she bears down on an empty spot. She slices through the dense white fog around her with speed and accuracy. Had I been standing where she landed, I doubt my immunity to electricity would save me from her blows.

I stay there afloat, on the other side of the room, as I can feel the determination of Natasha. The spark of neural activity that goes from her brain and down to her muscles shoot faster than the eye could ever see. But I can feel it. Ever blip of energy transmitting down to her limbs as they circle back up to her brain. It feels like the rough caress of sand paper on my senses.

With a raised hand, I send an arc of air through the fog. Careful to not cut through my white safety. The wind hits Black Widow straight in the stomach, and slams her into the wall with a soft thud.

Quickly I turn to the door a few feet away, but before I can reach my hand to the door, I feel the tell-tale sign of bullets cutting through the space between me and where Black Widow had landed.

If I weren't concentrating on keeping the dome of pressurized air around the Safe Room up, I could easily deflect those bullets mid-flight. My reflexes are nothing short of superhuman. Yet with the adrenaline of getting into the Avengers Tower, and into the Safe Room, I have grown tired. But I can't let that stop me now.

I turn and circle my arm up in front of me as fast as I can. The dense white fog in the room comes racing to the small area I have outlined with my hand, and hardens into an oblong shield of ice. The bullets pop loudly as they crack the surface of my shield, pieces of ice splinter off and crash on the floor.

I make sure that the shield of ice takes all of the hits, the last thing I want is a stray bullet to hit the wall behind me and send shrapnel ricocheting into my back.

Black Widow continues to unleash round after round of gunfire, the only rest is the click of a new magazine snapping into the chambers. She is an expert marksman, the bullets never straying too far from center.

While she could easily headshot me from here, she isn't pulling back on hitting me in the center of my body. Not a killing shot, but not something I could get up from anytime soon. And with the cover of my fog gone, and her night-vision goggles on, the Black Widow isn't one to miss.

"Natasha!" I beckon form behind my shield. "Stop this."

"You can stop this yourself, Storm." Black Widow replies as she rolls and maneuvers across the room, her gunfire never missing the target, but constantly looking for a weak spot. "Put your hands up, and this can all be over."

Of course.

I stand behind a barrage of gunfire and I should be the one with my hands up. Typical.

"Let me go, Natasha. I don't want to hurt you."

"If you could hurt me, you already would." Natasha replies.

Damn. For what it's worth, she wouldn't be a master spy if she couldn't pick up on clues faster than other people in a room. She knows she is no match for me. I know that. Hell, a child who knows nothing of us could tell you that a Weather Goddess would always beat out a human woman who does flips.