Avenger's One-shots and Preferences

Stand Up For Yourself- Carol Danvers

With Captain Marvel now part of the MCU I've decided to add Carol Danvers to the roster of this book.
For this one-shot, the reader gets herself in a fight she fears she can't win, but with some encouragement from Captain Marvel herself, she learns to fight for herself and not let others put her down. Also the reader has long hair, which will be cut short later in the story (kinda like what Carol did in the comics).

Domestic violence and low self-esteem warnings.

"Why don't you stand up for yourself?" you hear that familiar question asked as you take a tissue in one hand to clean your bloodied nose and an ice pack in the other for your head as a result from the fight you got pulled from.
That wasn't the first time you heard someone ask you that and it probably wouldn't be the last. For most of your life, people would put you down, walk all over you like a doormat, discourage you from accomplishing the things you wanted to do when you grow up.
Every time you found yourself in a fight, you'd stand there and take the beatings. What was the point in fighting when you didn't feel you could win? Each time others would step in and save you and each time they would always ask, "Why don't you stand up for yourself?"

This time the question was asked by a tall blonde woman in jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket who pulled you out of a fist fight which was less of a fight and more you taking the punches from pissing off the wrong people in the bar. This strange woman came to your aid, and even though she held back her own punches, you could see the glow in her eyes that she was something strong and powerful...all those things you wish you could be.

"What's the point?" you shrug off as an answer, "It was my fault, I made those people angry." "That's no excuse for them to beat on you," Carol tells you. "It's no big deal, I've delt with worse," you try to reassure, "I can handle it." "Yeah, for how long," Carol scoffs, "Sooner or later, you'll have to fight back. One can only go so long before reaching the breaking point." "And how exactly would you know about it?" you frown. "Believe me, honey, I know more than you think," Carol answers, "All my life, I've had people tell me what I can and can't do. And one day, I decided...I was sick of having others define my limits. So I went out and became my own person, someone others could look up to and say 'if she can do it, then so can I.'"

"Look I appreciate what you're trying to say, I really do," you nod, "But I'm not like you. I'm...I'm not some super hero like you apparently are. I don't have any fancy schmancy powers." "I didn't need powers to join the air force," Carol replies, "And I didn't need any fancy powers to race go carts or play baseball or stand up to that one kid who bullies everyone at the beach," she places a hand on your shoulder, "I see in your eyes you have so much potential to do whatever you want to do, no matter what anyone says."

Several days after the two of you part ways, you meet what you for sure thought could be the man of your dreams. He was a nice guy at first and as the relationship progressed you had started to forget the advice the blonde woman gave you not too long ago.
Sadly the days of bliss came to end the moment this man laid his first finger on you. At first you accepted it, believing it to be your fault that he got so angry with you. Each time he'd hit you, each time he'd say sorry afterwards, and each time you accepted it until he did it again and again until the cycle repeated itself so many times you thought this was normal.

On this one night it was particularly bad. You and him had gone out with a few friends (mostly his friend seeing how you hadn't seen yours recently) for a few drinks. You were starting to enjoy yourself a bit, downing a couple tequila shots and sharing a few pieces of trivia. Your boyfriend shared one random trivial pieces but you correct him when you realized he was wrong. After the little get-together, he pulls you aside where no one could see the two of you. You know by the look in his eyes, you were in trouble once again. He screamed that you humiliated him in front of his friends correcting him like that.
At this moment, you knew you overstepped your boundaries again. You closed your eyes waiting for the inevitable once more.

As he started to beat the crap out of you again, the memory of that strange blonde woman came to your rescue from that bar fight. In the back of your mind, you were hoping beyond hope that maybe she would show up and save you again. That was when it hit, the words she and everybody else has been saying to you, "Stand up for yourself!"
You knew she was right, they were all right. No more hiding, more cowering in fear and letting other people walk over you and tell you what to do anymore. It was time to make a stand and defend yourself.

In the midst of the beat-down you stand and punch him back as hard as you could. You throw another punch and another. As you throw in another punch he shakes it off long enough to block it. He makes ready to hit you again when a photon blasts knocks him against the wall. You turn to see the same woman who saved you months before. This time she was wearing some sort of patriotic looking laser tag suit.
"You," you say wide-eyed after what you just witnessed. "Seems like everytime we meet you're always getting into some kind of trouble," she smirks. "I know," you slightly hang your head in shame, "Sorry." "Hey," she places a hand on your shoulder, "it wasn't your fault. I'm glad though to see you were fighting back." "Wait you saw," you realized, "This whole time." "I heard commotion in the back alley and some him beating the crap out of you," she explains, "I was about to step in but then I saw you fighting back. I stepped back to see what would happen until it was about to get ugly again."
You look at the hole in the wall your now ex-boyfriend was smashed against, groaning in pain. "Thanks for that," you tell her, "but now I don't know what to do."

"Why don't you come with me," she suggests, "After what I saw, you really have a knack for hand-to-hand combat. I can train you properly, be a part of my team." "I'd love that," you answer, "But I don't have any fancy powers like you." "Remember what I said before?" she points out, "About the things I was able to do before I got my powers? If I can do it, I know you can do it too."
With a smile you nod in agreement let her lead the way, "Wait a second," you speak up, "I never did get your name." She stops and faces you, "My name is Carol."

----------------Bonus Scene-------------------

After spending time, training with Carol, you were slowly becoming part of her kick-ass time. You got to see the full extent of her powers up close and even got to go up into space.

"Watcha thinking about?" Carol asks as the two of you stare out into deep space. "Just...thinking about how all my life I never thought I could ever amount to anything," you answer, "And yet here I am living amongst the stars, going places most people on Earth couldn't even dream about. Moments like these make me wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self that no matter what we went through, it'll get better than I could ever imagine. I also wonder if I'll ever get used to it."

"Trust I spent years enjoying this view, I still have yet to get used to it," Carol assures.
You suddenly feel something brush up against your leg. You look down to see a cat rubbing up against you, "I didn't know we had a mascot," you say, picking up the cat, "Ah, who's a cute kitty cat." "He's a flerken actually," Carol tells you. "Well whatever he is, he is quire adorable," you say, nuzzling the flerken cat against you.