Giftless

Chapter 21

A couple of quiet weeks later, Fury came to bother you while you were sitting on the couch in the common room with a book. "Kat, we've got some new recruits. Do you mind helping us out in the training room?" he asked. You remembered that there had been some new super teens who moved into the tower. It was teens who were most likely to gain powers after magic exploded into the world again.

Fury liked having you work with the newbies. They tended to get confused when you didn't do what they were expecting you to do and, instead, acted like a victim actually does when they're being rescued. You tended to do things like run the wrong way, burst into hysterical tears and not move, or grab the nearest item to try to help. The rookies learned a valuable lesson, you had fun, and everyone won.

"Not at all. I'll be right there," you replied brightly. You had fun messing with the newbies. Probably a bit too much fun if you were being honest. Fury nodded and went back to his newbies to get them ready.

You looked over at Loki who grinned, knowing exactly what you'd be up to, since he'd been training you for this. "Show them what you've learned, darling," he bid you and stood to come along. Of course he wanted to watch. You were wearing jeans and a t-shirt, an outfit that was just fine for this exercise. Your magical dagger sheath was secured at the small of your back, where you usually kept it. Loki didn't like you to not have it, even in the tower.

You did take your bracelet off and handed it to Loki. "Can you put this in my jewelry box? I don't want anything to happen to it," you asked him. You knew the bracelet was delicate and expensive and you didn't want anything to happen to it. You were a lot more comfortable asking for small magics over the last couple of weeks, since Loki had finally convinced you that they were no trouble at all.

The bracelet vanished. You wore it nearly all the time, so you felt kind of naked without it. You didn't want anything to happen to it, though. "Thank you," you said when the bracelet had vanished from his hand.

You walked together to the training room, waving to supers as you went. Loki took a seat on the sidelines to watch. There was a group of young teens standing in one corner being addressed by Fury. You walked over to them. "This is your helpless victim," Fury told them, gesturing to you. You smiled, this was going to be fun. "Clint and his team will play the villains trying to kidnap her. You are to stop them from doing so. Kat, get into position," he told you without more direction than that. You didn't need more direction. You'd done this a lot over the last few years. You nodded and took your usual spot about halfway between the two groups.

Fury stepped off of the floor and the match began. The villains were wearing literal black hats. It was a running joke, but made for good identification during the matches. They came up to you and Clint grabbed you. The kids came running up from the other side, but they were unorganized and weren't going to be very effective. At all.

Self-rescuing princess time.

You pulled a dagger from the sheath at your back in a well-practiced movement and held it to Clint's throat. He let you go in surprise. You pulled three more daggers in fast succession, throwing them with hard earned precision at the rest of the team. The kids just stood there shocked while you fought the supers on your own, holding them off with the skills you had honed over the last few months working every day with Loki.

Fury was laughing his head off at the confusion on both sides. "Enough!" he finally bellowed. You dropped your latest dagger and held up your hands. Everyone else was holding up theirs as well, acknowledging that the battle was over. "Peter, report. What have you learned?" Fury asked the leader of the kids' team. Peter didn't live full-time with the team, he lived with his aunt nearby, but he'd been on more missions than most of them, since he'd had his powers before magic exploded in the world.