Resilience | Marvel

Chapter 19

A/N: I see a lot of people compliment my writing style. Thanks so much. I think It's improved over the course of this story. But I especially want to thank you all again for the 40k Reads. Currently at around 2k on Wattpad, 12k on Ao3 and 27k on Fanfiction. Also, this chapter is because I thought we haven't really seen any Peter/Tasha interaction. 

Peter, slightly tired and sore from the night before, begrudgingly made his way to the training floor. He still needed to keep the promise he'd made to Clint the night before.

Natasha was in heavy grey workout clothes. And a watch that looked like a cross between a FitBit and Tony's phone. 

Must be Stark Tech. Peter thought.

He caught her attention. She smiled to herself and took a drink of water before walking over. 

"You're never down here. Come to spar?"

"I was hoping you could teach me a thing or two. Who knows, I might surprise myself."

"Ok." She gave a cocky smirk. "If you think you can handle it. You are only an intern after all."

"An intern can do a lot." Peter was smug. He was going to hold back. He still didn't know how much.

"We're going to be starting off easy. You've probably never really fought before."

"A little." Peter shrugged. 

"Get changed." She tossed a pair of shorts and a t shirt to him. 

They squared up. Peter a little too eager. Natasha was studying his every expression. His preparedness told Nat he'd had some experience with serious fights. Though didn't want to show it.

"The first thing you wanna do is always watch your opponent. And look out for any weak spots, or spots they have unguarded." He was listening to her intently. She suddenly whipped her arm around and bashed him in the shoulder with her elbow. He stumbled backward, grabbing his shoulder.

"Rule 2. Never keep any part of your body open for attack. If they see a weak spot, they will strike." She was confident. He realized the irony and smirked at her. A reaction she was not expecting. This kid had balls.

He steadied himself and swung his leg out, deciding to trip her. She dodged and her foot connected with his abdomen. He felt a rib crack in half as he fell, his back slammed against the ground. He stood up, gasping. He was trying to restore the wind she had knocked out of him. He sat on the floor for a moment. 

The rib would be healed by the next morning. But it would still hurt like hell until then. She probably hadn't even noticed she'd broken one of his ribs.

"Wanna take a break kid?" Peter realized she wasn't asking for him, she was asking for her. Lucky for Peter, he had almost infinite stamina. 

"What, you tired?" He chuckled. She blinked in slight surprise. 

"Me? Never."

The harsh lights from the ceiling washed the gym out as the pair squared up one last time. 

She aimed high, ready to show him her signature move. She grabbed his shoulder and pulled herself onto his neck. As she wrapped one leg around his neck, she attempted to pull him to the ground, one leg underneath, prepared to brace the impact of the fall. While his face was in a very awkward position. He grabbed her free leg and yanked. 

They went tumbling to the ground. He rolled and pinned her underneath his knee, holding her shoulders down. She took a breath and accepted her defeat as she slapped the floor, tapping out. 

Peter's rib was on fire, but she was impressed so he knew it was worth it. He let her up and they both were out of breath. 

"Not bad. Barton's the only other one who can get out of that." She smiled. "Are you sure you're just an intern?" 

"Last time I checked." He shrugged, wiping his face with a towel.

She dryly chuckled in response. Finishing the bottle of water.

Natasha watched him curiously as he came back out of the bathroom and nodded to her, leaving the gym.

A few hours later, he ran into Tony, who looked frantic. And then relieved to see him.

"Hey, I was looking for you. Alright, I know this is sudden. But S.H.I.E.L.D. just gave us a tip on one of the last remaining Hydra agents locations. I don't know if it'll pan out, but, we'll be gone around five days."

Peter listened and a few minutes later, he found himself at the elevator door, Tony had a two suitcases and was talking to Fury and Happy at the same time. 

"J.A.R.V.I.S is a little buggy. I'll fix him when I get back. Everything still works, just don't stress him out. Um... What else, Pepper is going to be by at Five to pick up a file. Labeled, "Stark Expo Plans". It's on my desk in Tech Lab 6. We'll be back around Tuesday morning."

"Got it Mr. Stark. I've got everything here covered, hope everything goes well."

"Glad I can count on you, kid." He waved as the elevator doors closed.

Peter heard a quinjet taking off from the platform above him and quietly hoped it everything would be okay in his hands.