I'm getting too distracted in training for my liking. I'm only in warmups, but still. I'm supposed to be working with Cassie on her hand-to-hand skills in a little bit, and I'm not nearly focused enough. Yelena is recovering well enough, and Kate has been asking me to join missions and help training, but I can't stop wondering what the plan is when Yelena gets back in fighting shape. Or when Clint gets back. I take a deep breath and attempt to get out of my head at the heavy bag, focusing on form and power. By the time Cassie finally joins me in the gym, I feel slightly better. I help her wrap her hands and start by showing her the proper form for throwing a punch. She's been taught well enough, but her form is lazy. She leans too much on the abilities of her suit.
"How do you think you'd fare against someone, I don't know, Johnny's size?" I ask her as she throws punches at my hands. She laughs.
"I'd die." I stop holding my hands up and catch the punch she's throwing.
"I can teach you not to." She looks at me skeptically. "It's all about using momentum to your advantage."
"You;re telling me that you could knock Johnny on his ass in a fistfight?" She gapes at me."But you're like 5 feet tall!"
"I'm 5'2". And yes, I could easily take him down."
"He's like 6'5"!" she exclaims incredulously.
"And I'm a trained assassin," I furrow my brow. "He wouldn't get a hit in."
"Then teach me." Cassie holds her fists up.
"You want to fight me right now?" I ask, hoping for her sake that she says no. But of course, she nods and bounces lightly on the balls of her feet. Alright then. She throws a punch and I grab her hand, pulling her past me with her own momentum. She stumbles out of control for a second, and when she comes back at me, I block her punch and kick her away from me. We keep going like that for several minutes, and I continue to block and dodge every single move she throws my way. I don't even try to go on the offensive. When I'm bored, I grab her arm and pull her into me, kneeing her in the stomach then pushing her to the ground to pin her arm behind her back. She taps out, and I release her, not having broken a sweat. Cassie breaths heavily into the mat, still laying on her stomach. "I think you've had enough for today," I tell her.
"Okay, show me how to fight like that," she relents, flipping over onto her back. I reach out a hand to help her up.
"You're really not bad, you know. You just need practice and some guidance."
"Well it's a good thing Kate brought you here. Training all of us is a lot for her since Clint had to go home to his kids," she informs me.
"Kate isn't fully trained herself," I mumble to myself. "When Yelena's back on her feet, hopefully she can teach you better than I can," I say at full volume. "She's unmatched."
"Hero-worship much?" Cassie teases me. Just when she says it, Johnny walks into the gym cockily punching the air.
"Who's unmatched?" He asks us, making his way over to a heavy bag. I watch him for a moment, noticing he has a lot of power behind his swings that could really be effective if he refined his technique.
"Yelena, apparently," Cass tells him. He snorts.
"She's even smaller than this one." He gestures at me with his head. He's not even correct about that.
"Well y/n beat the shit out of me without even trying," she informs him, a little snarkiness in her voice. "She told me she can teach me to fight you." As soon as she tells him that, he stops punching the bag.
"There's no way in hell." His eyes widen comically at me. "You really think you can beat me?"
"I know I can. As long as you don't use your powers. That does give you an edge over me," I admit. He rolls his shoulders back, standing as straight as he can.
"I'm more than a foot taller than you and probably three times your weight."
"No shit, Sherlock," I roll my eyes. "Cass, let's keep on working." I start showing her how to hold her weight so she can easily shift it to her advantage. Then, I let her try shifting her weight to be able to throw me to the ground. She successfully does it twice in a row, cheering for herself. Johnny rolls his eyes at her, and I've had enough. "Alright, dumbass. Come over here." I wave him toward us. He saunters over and crosses his arms at me.
"What, you think she can throw me like that now?"
"No, I think you're annoying me. Square up." I step back and give him a moment to ready himself. I let him take the first swing, catching his arm and using his momentum to swing myself around his shoulders, pulling us both to the ground. I pin his arm beneath me and he angrily tries to pull away, to no avail. "Tap out, Johnny," I command, and after a minute, he finally does. When I let him go, he springs up.
"Go again!" He insists. When it ends the exact same way, he gets annoyed and touches his vibranium lip piercing, making himself obtain the properties of the metal. "Try doing that now," he says, and I chortle.
"Vibranium is incredibly light, I'd get you down, but you'd be able to break out." I shrug at him, unbothered.
"How do you know?" He bristles.
"I'm trained to know. Honestly, why are you surprised?" He takes a breath and lets himself lose the vibranium properties.
"Johnny, she's been training her whole life, it's okay," Cassie consoles his bruised ego. I just leave the gym. When I'm out of standard earshot, I hear Johnny venting to Cassie.
"She shows up out of nowhere! Kate only has eyes for her, and of course she's stronger than me! She's fucking perfect at everything!" I shake my head and keep walking. Damn these powers sometimes. I make my way to the kitchen, where I overhear yet another thing I'd rather not.
"I'm not interested in a romantic relationship, Kate," It's Yelena's voice. "It doesn't matter that I find her attractive. I have zero interest in anything romantic."
"I understand that. But she's in love with you. So the fact that you are attracted to her is enough. It doesn't have to matter to you. It matters to her," Kate sounds insistent. "Which means that no matter how much she flirts with me, she'll always be pining for you."
