Till the End|MCU|3

ten

FIVE YEARS LATER

   I twirl my spear as I take a step forward.  My music thumps away at the speakers in the training room.  My opponent, Shia, stands at a distance, twirling her spear.

   I thrust the tip toward her head before turning around, dodging Shia's thrust at my chest.  Flipping over her spear, I then lung forward, thrusting my spear at her abdomen.  She jumps back, barely missing the strike.

   I take a step forward as she jumps behind me.  I turn again, giving another thrust of my spear at her unguarded leg.  In the process, I disarm her, making her spear clutter to the floor along with her body.

   "Isidenge."  Sloppy.  I growl at her as she glares up at me.  Shia is a trainee for the Dora Milaje, but her attacks are slow and predictable.  I toss my spear to the side and unsheathe my sword from my side.  I step forward slashing the weapon through the air over her head.

   Shia crawls away backward before grabbing for her sword, blocking my blow.  Unlike Shia, every step, every thrust, every twirl, and every slash of my sword is in time to the beat.  A nonstop dance between me and my weapon.

   Shia stumbles and trips, dodging and blocking every slash and thrust I throw at her.  Sticking to defensive, not going into an offensive attack.  But it's slow.  Or I'm just fast.  Thanks to Steve's Super-Soldier blood transfusion I have gained faster reflexes and healing, but no super strength.

   Which to be honest is a blessing in itself.

   With a final slash, I sheathe my sword and pull out my batons.  Going into a defensive position, I twirl my batons in front of me.  "Ndihlasele."  Attack me.  I order.

   Shia nods her head as she grabs for her batons.  Going into an offensive position, she prepares to attack.  She swings for the head, only earning a block and strike of my own to her open abdomen.  We repeat this, Shia making stupid mistakes and me striking back.

   I swing for her head, making Shia roll under the attack.

   "Umakazi Ara!"  Auntie A young voice calls out as the owner rushes into the training room.  The call startles me, making me lose concentration.  Shia jumps up from behind me, hitting me square in the back.

   I shake my head with a small groan, turning to face Stevi as he rushes up to me.  I glance over at Shia, shocked at the fact she managed to hit the White Wolf.  "Senziwe apha.  Ndiza kuxela Okoye weseshoni yethu."  We are done here.  I will tell Okoye of our session.  I order as I pause my music.  Shia gives me a curt nod before leaving.

   I shove my hands on my hips, turning to face Stevi again.  "And I thought I told you not to disturb me while I'm training."  I chastise with a chuckle.

   He gives me his mischievous six-year-old grin before rocking back and forth on his feet, his hands behind his back.  His curly brown hair bounces along as it stands on end.  "I just wanted to watch you train."  He says innocently, batting his eyes at me.

   "Well that's sweet," I say with a smile, before dropping it and leveling a stern look at him.  "Now what's the real reason you're here?"

   He continues to rock back and forth.  "I was just wondering..."  He trails off as his eyes glance around innocently. 

   "What?"  I ask as I cross my arms over my chest.

   He glances down and picks up a dropped baton.  "I was hoping you could train me.  In, you know, fighting."  He tries to twirl the baton like he's seen me do, only managing to drop it with a loud clang.