Flower - Marvel Fanfiction

Ten

Y E L L O W  R O S E

Natasha went easy on her. It was easy to tell, and Elena hated it. She could see it in the way she moved, in the way she held herself. While she herself was out of breath, Natasha stood without a single bead of sweat. It wasn't laziness the way Natasha dodged her punches, but years and years of training.

Gritting her teeth together, Elena made one final push. If she wanted anything out of this failure, it was to at least catch Natasha off guard. One second would have done it fine. She knew her blows were slow, weak even. She couldn't do anything to change that, not at that moment at least.

Against Natasha, the only thing Elena might have had was her brain. What years Natasha had spent with a punching bag, Elena had with a book. A medical textbook per say.

Elena's back slammed onto the tumbling mat, and she stiffened. Natasha towered over her. She shook her head. "You're fighting me," she said. "Not taking a test."

"Seven to zero" came Clint's voice. He was clearly bored, voice dragging on as if he was asleep.

As Natasha began to stand, Elena made her move. She shot her hand out, scrambling onto her feet. Her fingers pressed into Natasha's neck, an inch or so below the ear. The vagus nerve, one of many pressure points.

Natasha yanked away, eyes flashing. She grabbed her head, and Elena stepped back. Sharing a look with Clint, Natasha chuckled. "Seven to one," she said. "I should have known you'd go for a pressure point."

Elena placed her hands on her knees, catching her breath. She nodded, adjusting her glasses. "I still have a lot of work in front of me."

Natasha grunted in agreement. Stretching, she cocked her head to the side. She seemed to be lost in thought, not that Elena could tell. All she saw were the cells.

"Elena?" Natasha finally said.

Elena glanced up. She didn't need to see Natasha's eyes to know that she was choosing her words carefully. The goosebumps on her arm told her that. Clint, she noticed, had left the room. Probably Natasha's doing. Sighing, Elena took a seat on a bench. She could tell where this was going. "What do you want to know?" Her voice was quiet, timid almost.

"What's it like to see the cells?" Natasha sat next to her.

"You don't want to know about Lieselotte?"

"Are you willing to talk about her?"

"No."

"Then, tell me about the cells. What're they like?"

Elena mumbled her answer. "Weird."

Natasha laughed. "Weird?" she echoed. "That's it? Just weird?"

"I guess it's like having microscopes as eyes except you can't zoom out. At a distance, everything is blurry. But if you focus, the cells are crystal clear."

"And you can see all of them?"

"I'm fairly certain. I'd hate to count all thirty-seven trillion of yours. That would take way too long."

"Sounds tiring."

Elena leaned forward, rubbing her wrist. She tilted her head to the side. "I suppose it can be overwhelming. Very overwhelming. It's just a lot, you know?"

"No."

Taken aback, Elena sat up. "No?"

"No." Natasha sighed. "I don't know anyone else who has something that is remotely even close to seeing cells. It's hard to imagine that it's possible."