Reborn From The Void

Chapter 6 - Sparring

(Your POV):
After identifying the locations of every property associated with H.A.M.M.E.R. for the Avengers, Natasha did as she had promised and brought me down to the training room. Although room wasn't exactly the right word for it - it was more like a training floor as it spanned the entire area of the 36th floor.

I had never seen anything like it and I had had the luxury of training in H.A.M.M.E.R. training areas, which were anything but shabby. But here, there was everything that you could imagine and more. Weapons of every kind and targets to match. There were machines for weight lifting and cardio, walls of dumbbells, and even areas that seemed specialized in improving techniques involving magic.

Natasha brought me over to one of the squares of matted flooring, which I assumed they used to spar, and took her place in the middle of the floor. She began to stretch out so I did the same, my body stiff from not having been in much use while locked in the cell.

I had tried to stay active, doing little workouts to keep my mind busy, but I had never been as inactive before in my life as I had been the previous weeks. Natasha finished up before I had, but I knew better than to jump into a fight with her before I had properly stretched. She waited patiently for me to finish up and then took a ready stance as I mirrored her.

We watched each other carefully, each waiting for the other to make the first move. The slight twitch of her muscles tipped me off that she was going to make her move and I quickly sidestepped her lunge, trying to land an elbow strike on the back of her neck. Before I could land the blow, however, I was knocked off my feet by a kick.

Knowing she was going to use my position on the floor as her advantage, I flipped up just in time to deflect a blow. Feigning a punch to the left, I delivered one to the right, but was easily blocked by Natasha who grabbed my fist and used it to flip me onto the mat.

A growl of frustration left my throat as I picked myself up for a second time when we were only a minute into our sparring. Using the anger, my moves became more aggressive, my body beginning to resort back to what I had done in the training room the previous summer.

I had forgotten how accurate the simulations had been and found myself able to anticipate most of her movements before she made them. This awarded me with the advantage, despite my feelings causing me to expend more energy than I needed to.

Parrying Natasha's uppercut, I knocked her off her feet, finally managing to get her on the ground. However, she swung as she fell and managed to take me down as well. We both sprang to our feet and she tried to land her signature flying scissor legs, but I was prepared for this and sent her flying back into the mat. I flipped backwards and pulled her into a chokehold, but she easily threw me off of her and into the mat.

I somersaulted off of the impact and found her above me, pining me down. I huffed in defeat as the bystanders we had accumulated applauded our efforts. Natasha stood from mat, offering me her hand to help me get up. I gratefully took it and wiped the sweat off of my forehead with the other arm.

Captain America, who was one of the many Avengers who had crowded around us to watch, tossed me a water bottle, which I caught and took a long drink from. I was disappointed that I had lost the match, but at the same time I realized that it didn't matter here. I was not going to be punished for not being good enough. While I, personally, was disappointed, I could always try again on a different date and beat her then.

"You up for another round?" Rogers asked me, making me glance over at Natasha.

"Against, Natasha, probably not. You'll have to give me a moment to recover."

"I was actually going to see if you wanted to go a round with me."

"Oh, in that case, why not?" I smiled at him before taking another sip from the water then placing it on the ground next to the mats.

I got myself in a ready stance then feigned going high, but immediately lunged at his legs, knocking him off balance. He didn't go down that easily, but it didn't take me long to pin him down. Natasha relied the most heavily on hand to hand combat, which also meant that she was the most skilled at it. The other Avengers were easier to take down if I remembered the simulations, even if I didn't have my powers.

Bucky was next, then Clint, and then Thor. I easily took them down, however I did struggle with Thor as he was the largest of them, a literal god, and I was feeling quite exhausted by the time I got to him. We had amassed a large gathering, with every hero in the tower gathered together, except for Peter. It pained me to know that he was purposefully avoiding me and I knew that I needed a distraction.

I glanced over at those who had not yet went up against me, "anyone else want to go?"

Wanda shook her head, "I'm not much for hand to hand combat and I wouldn't want the advantage since you can't use your powers."

Tony narrowed his eyes at me, "how have you won against everyone?"

"Everyone except Natasha," I corrected him before explaining. "I trained against you, well it wasn't actually you guys, but it was simulations developed based on the way that you fight. I should be able to take all of you down, although with Natasha I had always needed a little help from my magic, and if you all used your powers then you'd probably beat me unless I had permission to use mine as well."

"So you should have been able to kill us," Tony continued.

I sighed, "yeah, if you were alone, but with too many other teammates I would have been overwhelmed. That's how I was able to get Captain America for H.A.M.M.E.R. because it was only him and Bucky that I needed to fight. Now, anyone else want to test my training? Loki, I've never actually fought you, this could be fun."

Loki looked up from the book he had been reading and frowned, "I don't do this sort of thing."

"Sure you do, brother!" Thor exclaimed, clapping his on the back. "I have many stories of Loki sparring with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three back on Asgard."

Thor's face fell slightly after he finished speaking and I wondered if any of those that he had just mention had lost their lives during Hela's attack on Asgard. Or perhaps it just hurt to think about his home, which apparently he had made the decision to destroy. I suddenly felt a twinge of remorse for him, he was clearly hiding a lot of pain beneath that large smile always plastered on his face.

I was brought out of my thoughts by a sigh coming from Loki as he stood from his seat and the book disappeared from his hand, "very well, I will fight you. But only because I know that they will make me do it eventually."

His body shimmered as his formal tunic transformed into one much more informal and seemed easier to move around in. I was struck by his ability with magic, but quickly recovered and took my place in the center of the mat. He gave me a small nod as he got into a ready position.

I could tell that he was not going to act first, preferring for me to make the first move so that was what I did, but he easily sidestepped. It soon became clear that he was much more comfortable on the defensive than offensive and fought with his brains as opposed to muscle. I took that into account as I began to calculate the best way to take him down.

After some trial and error, quickly evading his counterattacks as we went along, I finally got him pinned against the back wall. But then his body shimmered and evaporated, causing me to fall into the wall as I was knocked off balance. I then felt an arm wrap around my throat and desperately jumped and kicked off of the wall, causing us both to fall to the ground.

The impact weakened his grasp for a moment so I freed myself and place my forearm across his throat, pressing down lightly. He sighed and tapped my arm, surrendering and giving me the victory.

I got up from the floor and glared at him, "The rules were no magic."

"Well you still won, didn't you?"

I huffed and rolled my eyes, "that's not the point."

Loki didn't respond, so I turned to the other Avengers, "any chance I can get something to eat? I've worked up a bit of an appetite."

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(A/N): Ok so this ended up being quite a long chapter, but I wanted to get all of the sparring in before putting in a break! So yeah, I hope you enjoyed a lengthier chapter than normal and my mediocre fight-writing skills lol