The Algorithm To Infinity

[2] whatever it takes

However, even through his affliction, his heightened hearing perceived the sound of nails scraping against the cement floors, and from the corner of his eye, he saw a black flurry of fur running toward him. He dropped his hands to his side and turned to look at the dog, wondering how it had gotten into the gym. However, he swiftly realized who the dog was.

Epic.

That could only mean one thing...

Nick Fury had told him to expect a visit from a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and it was no secret that Steve hoped it would be the beautiful redhead Natasha. He had been longing to see her ever since she saved him in Cairo a few weeks ago. There was just something about her, her beautiful eyes that drew him in, her enigmatic persona that he longed to understand - the extraordinary sparks between them that he had never ever felt before. It was everything about her, her smile, her laugh that he only heard once but swiftly come to love... god, he wanted her, to kiss her breathless. Although, he would surely never get to do any of those things if he continued staring at her the way he was. 

She smiled, one that didn't quite reach her eyes as he drew back from Epic who bounded around him. His body thrummed in her presence, but he focused on unwrapping his hands instead of how his soulmate mark on his ribcage began to twinge as their eyes met for a breathtaking moment.

She smirked at him, omitting the way her breath hitched in her throat as his azure eyes met her emerald ones. "I'm surprised they didn't lock you up for your terrible decision-making skills," She said, her eyes perceiving his hard-ridged muscles through his thin, white tee-shirt, his flawless skin glistening with sweat and when he smiled she could've sworn her heart skipped a beat.

He laughed at her quip and threw his wraps to the side before he turned to look at her. "They were pretty pissed at me." He mused. "Is that why you're here, to lock me up?"

She shook her head, and she perceived the way the corner of his lips turned up in a handsome smirk. "Quite the opposite, actually. I'm sure you've heard about the incident with The Tesseract." He nodded in response. "Well, we're trying to put together a team to bring home those who are under its' mind control, as well as bring down the man who is at the center of it all. The project is called the Avengers Initiative." She explained.

He had, in fact, heard about what happened at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, and he wasn't surprised that Natasha had come to recruit him. However, he wasn't sure how much help he would be and how Captain America could even help the team. "I've never fought aliens before, and I don't know if I want to get tangled in this mess that came about because people dug around in things that shouldn't be poked around in. I haven't fought since the war anyway."

"I'm sure you haven't forgotten anything." Natasha quipped. She turned away from him and walked to the padded fighting ring in the corner of the room. "Even if you have, I'll remind you." She said, smoothly climbing over the ropes and raising her eyebrows at him.

He looked at her bemused. He didn't know her past or rank as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but he knew she was good at whatever she did. However, he was a super-soldier with super-serum coursing through his body, and she was a small agent. He couldn't control his strength - she had seen how he brutally killed the terrorists in Cairo - and he didn't want to accidentally hurt her.

Or worse.

"Don't start that sexiest shit with me. Just get in here." Natasha snapped, her hands on her hips as she perceived his reluctance. She could read him like an open book.

He sighed and glanced down at Epic who stood beside him, her dark eyes looking up at him with her tail wagging as if she was saying, 'My owner knows what she's doing.' He nervously tugged at the hem of his tee-shirt as he walked to the ring and climbed over the ropes, looking into her emerald eyes and perceiving the way her leggings and her sweater embellished her toned body. "I don't want to hurt you." He murmured. He had never fought a woman before, and he didn't want her to be his first. He would much rather take her out to dinner and walk her home, to treat her like the extraordinary woman she was and revel in how she made him feel.

"You don't have to worry about hurting me." She said and then she leaped at him before he could even react.

Her leg hooked around the back of his knee, and she punched a spot on his lower chest that knocked the breath out of him. She didn't pull her punches and although she couldn't win a fight with brute strength, she knew the body's weakest spots, and she was fast as hell. He stepped away from her and after he got over his initial shock, he countered her attack. He grasped her lower arm, twisting it behind her back, but she struck underneath his chin with her elbow, making him jerk away as pain shot up his jaw.

"If you don't want to go home with a bruised ego, I suggest you try harder," she smirked at him.

Steve chuckled at her remark and then he lunged forward, hooking his arm around the back of her neck, but she was significantly faster than him. All of a sudden, he was on his back with her knee on his chest as she looked down at him, her hair cascading around her beautiful face. He didn't even know how she managed to get on his shoulders and drag him down to the mats but she had, and he was entirely star-struck. He had never fought someone like her, so lithe and quick. For a brief moment, as he stared up at her, he wondered exactly who she was and how she had been turned into such a fierce fighter. He wanted to know her past, her history that was most likely as dark as his but had led them to one another.

His soulmate.

He didn't doubt that.

"I can predict your every move, Captain. You're a soldier and soldiers don't know how to fight well." She stated, lifting her knee from his chest. She looked away from him as she sat back on the heels of her boots, feeling her soulmate mark on her neck throb as he stared at her intently. Every time she touched him, the twinge and vestige of her soulmate mark made her pulse jump, and she hated the way he looked at her. His azure eyes regarded her with such curiosity and perception like her ledger wasn't dripping with bright, red blood, like she had made a difference in the world and that she belonged. However, as soon as he discovered who she was and what she had done to many innocent people, she knew he would never look at her in such a way again.

"Then teach me." He said, sitting up beside her.

She wanted to laugh bitterly, but her expression remained passive as he looked at her. Captain America was too pure to be trained by an assassin, too kind and too earnest. Steve Rogers was a good man, a man who would rather hold out his hand in reconciliation than continue fighting a war. He was a soldier, but he fought for those who couldn't fight back and was the voice of those who didn't have one. Natasha, well, she was far from that. "You won't need to fight aliens. Well, you'll be fighting to kill them which you can do just fine." She said, trying to think of a response that would deter Steve from pressing her to teach him. Even if she wanted to, she would struggle to keep her hands off him, and there wouldn't be much teaching going on.

Well, she may teach him a thing or two, but it wouldn't be about sparring.

"If I join your team, will you teach me how to fight after all this is over?" 

She sighed. "What if I don't?" She asked although, she already knew what he was going to say. 

"Then I won't join your team." He replied resolutely.

"If you really want me to teach you..." 

Fury had given her a mission, and she had to complete it no matter what she had to do, even if it was teaching Captain America how to fight. 

Maybe this would be fun.