faded 🕷️ peter parker [2]

12

Only a few days after their visit, Jessica had already moved in back with the Avengers. Tony still wanted to work on his own until he had everything figured out, but Jessica decided to help the rest of the team in the compound. To be honest, it hadn't been long since her last visit to the headquarters. She had been training with Natasha during the past five years. After what Thanos did to her, she felt weak and useless. Maybe she wouldn't be able to go back to her superhero life, but the training helped her improve her physical condition and cope with the trauma she had been through.

At the moment, she was in the middle of one of their sessions. It had started favoring Jessica, but now Natasha was kicking her ass. Jessica had started to feel a sharp pain in her chest and it was restraining her from doing her best. Despite that, Jessica didn't give up.

"No, Jess. Stop it." Nat said, concerned for the younger girl, noticing that something wasn't right.

Jessica kept throwing her punches towards the Widow's face, every new one sloppier than the previous. She was desperately gasping for air when Natasha finally grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving. "Jessica." She called her out again before sitting her down and checking her vital signs on a very practical device. Jessica sighed as a drop of sweat uncomfortably rolled down her face. The signs weren't at their best and both of them knew it.

"Have you taken your supplements today?" Natasha asked her as she got up, worried.

"I thought I could reduce my intake to once a day."

"Well, that's obviously not working." She walked out of the training room and Jessica followed behind her, at a slower pace. "You've come a long way since we started training, Jess. But you can't push yourself." She opened the first aid kit and grabbed the bottle of pills before handing it to Jessica, who was biting her lip with guilt. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not gonna tell Pepper this time, but you gotta promise me that you'll take the pills."

"Okay."

Jessica grabbed a towel and cleaned the sweat out of her face. She had never been proud, but remembering how strong and powerful she was five years ago, compared to how she had ended, really hurt her ego. It was a fact that she would never be as strong as she once was before Thanos used the power stone on her. Not even after years of continuous practice she had been able to fully recover from that battle.

A part of her questioned if she was actually suitable for this new mission. Even if Tony made her a brand new suit, she would still have trouble fighting. In the case that the plan involved her battling anybody, she knew she would be doomed.

"I saw that."

Jessica jumped when Steve talked to her. "Jesus, Steve!" He had taken her by surprise. "You scared me." She said. "Did the time travel test work?"

"Scott's freaking out." He explained. "I don't think he wants to do it."

In a courageous spontaneity, Jessica offered herself to do the test. In the worst case scenario, the Avengers wouldn't suffer a big loss on their team, considering how weak Jessica had shown to be. Besides, everything they did for the greater good was valid to get closer to solving this mess. "I'll do it."

Cap was worried that she hadn't thought about it twice. "Be sensible about this, please."

"I am being sensible." She said, confidently, maybe even a bit rude. Although they were on the same side here, she couldn't help but position herself against him, knowing the conflict that went down between him and Tony. "You've seen it, I'm the weakest one."

"You-" Jessica pushed the wet towel against his chest and left him mid-sentence. She had made up her mind. She was going to do it.

...