Sam: Meeting The Avengers (Book 2)

Closer

  At this point, my muscles were aching and there was a sheen of sweat on my hairline. This was a completely new form of training - more like torture - and I didn't much like it. This was probably some form of punishment from him. However, with another breath to ease my burning lungs, I raised my arm and gripped tightly onto the next rock that was attached to the surface of more rocks. The next step was to allow my foot to follow so I lifted my leg until it pressed against another rock. Alas, my shoe didn't grip the rock well enough because then I could feel my leg slip from under me. Luckily, my arms and other leg caught my body weight and kept me attached to the rock wall.
  With a gasp, I gripped the rocks tighter and squeezed my eyes shut. My heart was going a million miles an hour and my mind was spinning so fast that it felt like I was about to black out. I knew this was terrifying but actually being on the high wall was scarier than I could've imagined. But, at the same time, I was determined to make it to the top.
  So I took another deep breath then I shakily lifted my leg to a sturdier rock. When I got my bearings with the new height, I reached my arm up and climbed higher. This was definitely out of my comfort zone but - as long as I didn't look down - I was fine. Honestly, I didn't know how high up I was but I didn't want to give up now.
  Finally, what felt like forever, my hand reached up and gripped the top of the wall. A smile instantly accompanied my face as pride washed over me. I actually did it!
  In glee, I peered down to see if he approved of my accomplishments like I did but then I noticed him staring down at his phone. This got a groan out of me and I muttered under my breath - thinking he wasn't going to hear, "Selfish bastard."
  Apparently, he did hear because then he called up - still staring at his phone, "Hey! Don't bring my father into this."
  Except I wasn't in a joking mood as I rolled my eyes and whined, "Tony!"
  After mumbling, "I'm setting up a press conference, jeez. Sorry I'm so important." Finally, he glanced up and nodded, "Great job. Now come down."
  Which quickly got my attention as I gazed down and stared at the ground below me. The problem was: I was far from the safe floor. So I flinched and murmured in discomfort, "Easier said than done."
  "It's easy, Sam. You just have to let go," Tony Stark promised.
  This got a glare from me as I snapped, "I'm not suicidal!"
  Of course, Tony knew I was over exaggerating- like always - because then he pointed out, "You're wearing a harness. Just let go and you will be slowly lowered down."
  Still a rambling, nervous wreck, I blathered on, "What if the rope breaks? Or I fall too hard? Or I slam against the wall? Or I slip from my harness? Or I faint? Or out of nowhere aliens decide to attack-."
  "Sam! Come on, it's not that hard. You're only two stories up," Tony admitted with a chuckle.
  My eyes widened and I peered down to see that the floor was a long way down. Going down was a lot scarier than climbing up. Seeing the distance from me to the ground, I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, "Nah, I think I'm good up here." 
  "Believe me, you've done crazier things because of me. You just have to trust me," his tone was surprisingly soft. Why did he have to be so reassuring? And why did I have to be so crazy to actually listen to him?
  Ignoring the fact that he was going to get me killed one of these days, I gulped down a breath but continued to press my eyelids shut. Without a second thought - so doubt couldn't take over - I simply let go of the rock wall and fell back. I could feel my body sharply fall through the air but I held in a squeak of fear as I gripped the rope that was attached to my harness. When I opened my eyes, I was swinging back towards the wall so I landed on the rock wall with my feet then kicked off so I continued the decline.
  Eventually, my feet touched the solid ground which got a sigh of relief from me. After blinking a few times and taking in my surroundings, I realized that I was alive and well. I had made it! When the guy who controlled the ropes finally untied me, I felt free from death - for now.
  With a huge grin on my face, I bounded over to Tony and held my hand up. Gladly, Stark raised his hand as well so our palms collided in a high-five. "Did you see that?! I climbed up that wall AND came back down!" I exclaimed while bouncing around with excitement. Except when he didn't say anything, I calmed down to cross my arms and narrowed my eyebrows at him, "I'm waiting, Tony."
  "For what?" Tony challenged. "That was awful. It took you like ten minutes to get up there and even longer to come back down when that's the easiest part. Gah, if I wasn't so influential then we would've had to call the fire department."
  Knowing he was kidding, I kept beaming as I urged, "Come on, Tony. I know you have it in you."
  So he sighed but Tony finally smiled and admitted, "I'm proud of you, Sam."
  "Tony Stark is proud of me?" I gasped and held my chest in mock shock. "Do pigs fly too?" I wondered which got him to roll his eyes in annoyance. But I wasn't living it down yet, "Does it hurt, Tony? How do you feel? Are you melting? What a world!"
  "Oh, shut up. I'm not my father," Tony stated before changing the subject, "There's a van outside waiting for you. It'll take you back to S.H.I.E.L.D. so you can train with Natasha."
  My face melted in a pout, "You're not coming?"
  "I have a meeting to get to. Busy man," Stark reminded me.
  "I thought you said it was a press conference?" I inquired.
  "No, that's tomorrow... I so need a vacation when this is all over. I hear Musha Cay is nice this time of year," the billionaire claimed.
  How come he got to go to the Bahamas? Setting aside slight jealousy, I nodded and waved bye to the man, "I'll catch you later then." 
  When he nodded, I turned around, grabbed my stuff, and left the climbing place. The van quickly came into view so I jogged up to the vehicle and slipped in. As soon as I sat down in the seat, I buckled up and took my phone out. The only reason I was allowing everyone to put me through such rigorous and dangerous training - besides my big mouth on Sunday - was because of what happened earlier in the Monday morning. 
  Everything was going great and nothing had changed. Or so I thought. During school, I checked my phone and got an anonymous message that read "Back off unless you want someone to get hurt." It was clearly a warning from one of Lesser's puppets. The message surprised me because I knew it didn't have anything to do with Sunday but apparently, someone thought I was getting close enough to finding out who Lesser's right-hand man was. Of course, I didn't share any of this with Tony because - if I did - then he would totally pull me out! If I was getting this close then I couldn't stop now. I had to figure out who was working for Lesser. 

(Yep, that's two chapters! You're welcome. Also! Hope you guys enjoy and sorry for the wait :)
~~~~~ LL2z)