Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 32 - Taskmaster

We arrived back at the compound, finding a battle already ensuing. There seemed to be a group of five people, all incredibly skilled at hand to hand combat, but none of them seemed enhanced. At the forefront of the battle was a man with a white cloak, whose face was covered by a skull mask.

"You left them fighting in order to get Peter? What's wrong with you dad, you should have stayed with them," I spoke, not believing what an idiotic move Tony had done.

He shook his head, "they weren't fighting when I left, we had only heard rumors that they were coming. Looks like they came pretty quickly. Now be careful out there, (Y/N), don't put yourself into any unnecessary danger."

I rolled my eyes, despite knowing that he couldn't see them under the hood, "Tony, you do realize that you're the one that allowed me to come along. This is a battle, I'm going to have to put myself in danger. Anyway, what do we know about this guy? Because he's beating Nat right now, so clearly he's very skilled."

"His name is Tony Masters, but goes by the alias Taskmaster. The reason he's so good at combat is because of his photographic reflexes- basically he can mimic any physical movement he sees. He seems that have been studying up on us, knowing our moves so he knows how to beat us. That's why I brought you and Peter in, you two are relatively new, there's not as much video out there of you two in combat," Tony explained, informing me that they had dealt with him before.

"So what's his problem with the Avengers?" I questioned as I pulled out my dagger.

"Considering we aren't currently attacking his underground combat school, my guess was that he was hired for the job," Tony replied, noticing Taskmaster's glance our way and flying over to meet him.

I decided not to disobey my father the minute he allowed me to fight, instead going to attack Taskmaster's followers. They were far easier to take down, Peter and I killing two of them while Tony, Natasha, Wanda, and Steve focused on Taskmaster. However, it soon became clear that Taskmaster's ability to replicate their movements perfectly was leaving a seemingly very negative outcome.

He managed to get Steve pinned to the ground, about to kill him when I yelled out in my British accent, "hey, Taskmaster, why haven't we gotten a chance to go a round?" As I spoke, I threw a ball of energy at him, knocking him off of Steve.

"Hey Shadow, I thought we agreed that you would stay away from the big guy?" Tony's voice spoke over the coms.

"You're not getting anywhere with him," I argued simply, continuing my path to where Taskmaster stood up, looking enraged that I had managed to lay a hit on him.

"I said no, you stay away from him," he commanded, but I cut him off as I pulled the ear piece from my ear.

"Ah the young Shadow that I have heard so much about, since when have you been part of the Avengers?" Taskmaster questioned, recovering from his surprise caused by my attack.

"I'm not, but I can never back down from a good fight," I replied, throwing another ball of energy at him. Although the blast caused him to fall back, he no longer seemed fazed by my powers and when I tried to attack him again he easily dodged it.

Very few of the Avengers decided to fight against the remaining two of Taskmaster's followers, probably because they all wanted to keep me safe. However, no matter the number set upon him, we seemed to be making little headway in the fight.

"Ah, what the hell," I murmured, jumping onto Taskmaster's back and send a wave of energy coursing through his body, motioning for the Avengers to get back. He tried to stab my leg as a natural reflex but the angle of impact combined with the protection of my suit made it so the blade couldn't penetrate the skin. He began to tear apart from the inside and I quickly leapt from his exploding body, landing roughly on the ground.

I covered my head as the explosion occurred, finally looking back once the dust had settled, praying that I had not done too much damage to the surroundings. The two remaining of Taskmaster's followers quickly ran off, realizing that it was a lost cause, as Tony flew over to make sure I was alright. However, Peter got there first, kneeling beside me and helping me sit up.

"How dare you disobey a direct order like that?! I told you to stay away from any unnecessary danger and then you just plunged yourself into it! You could've gotten yourself killed!" Tony immediately started yelling at me, the helmet of his suit opening to reveal his face.

"Oh, well excuse me for saving your life!" I spat back in return, wondering how he managed to be so hard-headed. "Steve was going to die if I hadn't stepped in. Besides, I took care of him, didn't I? That's more than what I could say about you!"

"But in order to save Steve you risked your life, the exact thing I didn't want you to do. This is why I didn't want you out on the field, you are impulsive and reckless!"

"I'm impulsive and reckless?! Take a look at yourself, hypocrite! Besides, I knew what I was doing, this wasn't my first battle, Tony, I know what I am capable of and I knew that I could help! Whatever you may believe about me, I almost always act solely on careful strategic planning, except for the few times that emotion has gotten the better of me and caused me to expend too much energy. You seem to be forgetting that I was trained by the best," I argued, using Peter for support as I stood from the ground.

Tony sighed, "go home, we'll discuss this later."

"Can we discuss it as a democracy with the other Avengers and Spider-Man, because I feel that having them their will cause the final verdict to be both more fair as well as not based solely off of emotion," I negotiated, knowing of quite a few people who would back me as opposed to Tony.

After a moments hesitation, Tony finally agreed, "fine. We'll discuss this after dinner, but you must promise to adhere to whatever we decide."

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(A/N): Yeet they just called a snow day for tomorrow and, even though we'll be losing precious rehearsal time, I'm pumped! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!