the strongest avenger (2)

thirty two

I internally groan, I'm pretty good at hand to hand, especially after being trained by Nat and Steve, but I don't necessarily like it. Apparently I'm not the only one, as there are a couple of groans from my teammates.

"Can we at least make it interesting?" Tony asks.

"How so?"

"Like a game."

I turn to him with my brows furrowed. He's like fifty, and he wants to play a game.

"Like whoever wins go against the next person and so on. I'll go first, cause I'm sure that I'll lose." He steps forward and grins, and I have to contain a chuckle.

"Okay...pick your opponent." Steve says.

I watch as Tony looks around, his gaze settling on Sam. "I'll take Bird Man."

Sam chuckles as he steps forward, both of them kick off their shoes as they get ready. I cross my arms as I watch Tony get his ass whooped, Sam ending up with a foot on dad's back and tugging his arm behind him.

"Okay okay, that's enough. I'm a little out of it." Tony says, his face against the padded mats.

Sam lets go and Tony gets up, swiftly exiting the middle, looking very relieved to be done. Bird Man looks around, picking his next opponent, his eyes landing on Peter.

"I'll take the Spiderling."

Peter just stares at him blankly as he walks in the middle. I honestly have no clue how this is going to go, because Peter has super strength but Sam has more experience.

They circle each other for a couple seconds, until Sam swings at him, Peter ducking and kicking out his leg to sweep Sam. But he jumps and they continue this dance of hitting and dodging, until Peter lands a punch on Sam's face, causing him to stagger backwards.

"Damn kid, you taking steroids?"

Peter's lips turn up in a small grin, but he continues forward. Sam attempts to sucker punch Pete, but the boy sees it coming and pivots, the punch going straight through air as Pete knocks Sam's feet out from under him.

He yelps as he hits the ground, but immediately rolls and stands, facing Peter once again. I can tell he's holding back, Peter's much stronger than what he's showing. They exchange a few more blows, but then Sam makes the mistake of getting close to the boy, Peter swiftly kicking Sam in the side and then wrapping his neck in a light choke hold. Sam rolls his eyes, but he taps on Peter's bicep, signaling that he's done.

"Okay, I underestimated you. But it won't happen again next time." He says as he walks off.

Peter smirks at him and shrugs. He then looks around for the next person, his eyes thankfully skipping over me and landing on the girl next to me.

"Wanda."

She sighs and walks forward. "Can I forfeit?"

"No." Steve says with a light smile. "And no magic."

"See now this is unfair." She mutters.

I know Wanda's had some experience with fighting up close, but it's nothing compared to what she normally does.

They circle each other for a few seconds, but then Wanda goes in first throwing a punch near his right, he dodges to the left but she kicks out his leg, as she anticipated where he would go next.

As he falls down, his fast reflexes kick in, and Peter grabs her arm, tugging her down with him. Wanda falls forward and he swiftly kicks up, propelling her over his head.

I cringe as Wanda lands on her back, and Peter stands up, hands up to fight. Wanda just lays there on the ground for a second.

"Okay, I'm done." I hear her say.

Peter helps her up and I give her a smile as she walks over here.

"Yeah I'm never doing that again." She whispers to me, and I chuckle lightly.

Peter starts looking around and this time his gaze lands on me, and I know he'll pick me. He grins and nods at me.

"Good luck." Wanda whispers.

I wiggle my eyebrows at her in response. I make my way over and face Peter. I hold my hands up, he does the same as we start to circle.

We keep this up for a little and I start to grow impatient. "Are you gonna hit me or are we gonna dance, Parker?"

I see his jaw clench and I know that I'm getting to him. I guess it might be rude to bait the boy, but I can't help myself.

"Ladies first." He mutters back at me.

"Fine, if that's how you wanna do it." I swiftly swing at him, and he dodges it just like I knew he would. So I punch out the other way, getting him in the side, as he stumbles back slightly.

Peter's eyes narrow and he quickly throws a punch, but I knock it out of the way with my forearm while trying to elbow him. I yelp as he kicks my back and I fall forward to my knees, but then I swivel on my knee and kick behind his knees. I stand up just before he does and get ready to strike again, but I falter as his foot comes out of nowhere and catches me on the shoulder, making me lose my balance slightly.

I see him prepare to throw a punch, and so as I see his fist fly through the air I stop it. My hand wraps around his fist as I see his eyes widen slightly. Seeing him distracted, I switch my grip on his hand and yank it backward as I move behind him, pulling his hand behind his back as my other arm is pressed up against his neck in a choke hold. His free hand tugs at mine around his neck.

I feel him struggling underneath me, but somehow I'm stronger than I used to be and we're at equal strength. I hold him there for a few seconds, but he refuses to yield.

"This would be the point where I would snap your neck, so yield."

Peter grunts but then with his free arm, he taps me and I let go. Peter sags forward as he catches his breath and then he turns to me. The air is hot with his anger and pulled taught with tension.

He saunters off to the side, and I'm left with choosing my next opponent. I glance around the room, Nat's eyes are slightly wide as I scan over her, and I don't necessarily want to know what she's thinking.

But my gaze rests on a familiar blonde who's been training me the past few years.

"I'll take Spangles."