[1] Take the Shot | Leo Fitz

26

"I know how uncomfortable this must be for you, you didn't have to get me this," Nina said as she smiled down at the blade in her hand, merely holding the weapon made her feel closer to her father.

"It's nothing," Tony said throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his side, "I prefer you with that knife than the guns you can't seem to stay away from."

"I love it. I love everything," Nina said as she set down the knife and hugged him properly.

"I'm glad," Tony hummed before pulling away after a moment and walking towards the presents, "let's get this stuff to the cars. We have a long day ahead of us and Rhodey offered to drive the van, you know how he gets when we're late."

Nina grinned and nodded excitedly. Grabbing what she could carry and following Tony down into the elevator, no longer annoyed by the balloon towers or the birthday song Jarvis was still playing but appreciative of the family she had with the one and only Tony Stark.

*

Present Day

After Coulson had come clean to the entire team about his resurrection, Nina had retreated into the training room. Her injured knuckles restricted her from working on a punching bag so instead, she sharpened the blades of her knives.

It was therapeutic to her but also something that gave Tony severe anxiety when she would do it as a teenager in her room. But he was proud now, proud that her destructive adolescent hobby had turned into a destructive adult job with semi-positive consequences because she was his sister and he had somehow raised her right.

Nina had her headphones in while she brought her current knife back and forth on the stone, her music was so loud that she didn't hear the door open or the company she now had call out to her.

However, she did feel the hand that grabbed her shoulder and reacted accordingly.

She grabbed the hand and turned around, ducking under her assailant's arm and kicking the back of their legs. Bringing them down to their knees as Nina twisted their arm in front of them.

"Who the hell are you?" Nina shot at the African American man she now had on his knees in front of her.

"Trip! Agent Antoine Triplett!" He responded in agony, "damn woman, my arm!"

"I told you interrupting her was a bad idea," Nina heard Ward say as he entered the room, she spared him a glance before focusing back on Trip.

"Agent Triplett, I've heard that name before," she stated and Trip nodded hastily.

"We met... briefly! Ward introduced us," Trip responded, not trying to mask his pain. Nina continued to look at him blankly until his face started to become familiar and she was reminded of their first meeting.

He was right to call it brief. Nina hadn't even had enough time to say more than one word to Ward that day, so the agent he introduced her to had easily been believed to be a figment of her imagination.

"You're Garrett's agent?" Nina started tightening her hold on Trip's arm while he squirmed under her grip. Just knowing that he was currently being trained under Garrett made him an enemy.

"Yes! He's my SO," Trip responded and Nina hummed, keeping her rising anger at bay. Trip knew now to always take Ward's warnings about the infamous Executioner seriously in the future.

"Why are you on our Bus?" She leaned closer to him, almost hissing in his face. Trip could tell that she was confident in her fighting ability as the knife that she had been holding hadn't once been raised in his direction despite it still being held loosely in her hand.