Memories and Training
Tony ignored the stares as he walked through the lobby. People tended to stop and stare when he was in the area, but even he had to admit it was a weird feeling for people to stare at him in his own building. Granted, he wasn’t usually seen in the public lobby, where more than just employees tended to reside. Tour groups, family members visiting employees, interviewees, and more all came through the public entrance, and none of them had grown used to his presence the way the employees (especially those on the lab floors) had. Regardless, he ignored them as he always does while in public, instead choosing to focus on the person walking with him, whose cane tapped lightly against the smooth floor as they walked towards the doors.
“Thank you for your help Mister Murdock. Pepper tells me that a lot of the legal department are fans of yours, they must be squealing over the chance to work with you.” He thanked, turning fully towards the blind lawyer, who was smiling kindly back.
“It was my pleasure Doctor Stark. While international law isn’t my normal field I feel it is my duty to step outside my usual comfort zone on this. The enhanced are humans too, and the original Accords were a gross violation of their rights.” Matthew Murdock replied.
Tony nodded in agreement. “When I first heard about the Accords I thought we would have to sign to get any change. Turns out it's nice to be proven wrong sometimes. Who knew?”
Matt chuckled, shaking his head as they neared the doors. “Yes, well, there is still plenty of work to be done. I’ll be there for the next meeting, as agreed.”
“You sure you don’t want a ride? I can get a driver to bring you back to the Kitchen easy as that.” Tony snapped his fingers to emphasize his point.
“That won’t be necessary, I’ll be fine making my own way back.” Matt shook his head, denying his offer again.
“Alright, that’s your choice. Stay safe out there.” Tony conceded, shaking Murdock’s hand before the man walked out the sliding doors and back into the sun.
Watching the man leave for a moment, Tony then turned around and walked back towards the hallway that would lead to the Avenger’s private elevator, one that would carry him to his next destination. Once the doors to the lift opened he stepped inside and pressed the button on the interface that would bring him up to floor 96, the private gym for the Avengers. Before the doors could slide shut, a shout cried out to him.
“Hold the door Tony!”
Sticking a hand into the door before it could finish closing, Tony watched as Sam rushed up to the elevator, sliding into the space before the doors could start closing again.
“Thanks. Almost missed it.” His fellow Avenger said gratefully.
“I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Weren’t you planning on being out all day?”
“Yeah, but the guys got called into work. Forced us to call the day early.”
“So everyone but the bird had to take flight?” It was definitely not one of his better jokes, but he’d been in legal meetings all day. Sue him.
“Har har.” Sam huffed, giving him an exasperated look.
The rest of the elevator ride was completed with comfortable silence, and once the elevator reached the 94th floor Tony was alone again, Sam having reached the floor with his personal apartment. Two floors later and Tony was on the level with the gym, the door sliding open once more as he stepped out into the small vestibule that held the doors to the locker rooms as well as a set of double doors that led to the gym itself.
Tony took a second to straighten his suit jacket, as well as prepare himself before he entered the room for the tough update he would have to give to the woman within. Sighing, he stalked towards the doors, which slid open ahead of him. The gym itself took up the entire floor, as well as what would have been the 97th floor. The renovations to make the room happened as soon as the Avengers moved in full time to the Tower and the gym was designed to be useful to a team of people with powers or advanced tech.
Right now however, a small section of it was converted into a physical therapy area that was currently occupied by three individuals. Two of them he was expecting; a nurse from Helen’s team who specialized in physical therapy, and May Parker. Standing with them, assisting where he could, was Steve Rogers who, upon noticing his arrival, waved, drawing the other two’s attention towards him as well.
“Ah! Doctor Stark, we are just about finished with today’s session.” The nurse told him, turning her attention back towards her patient, who was walking far more steadily than the last time he had seen her a few weeks previously. Though she still needed the handrails to keep herself upright, the result of a months-long coma, a gunshot that nicked her spine, and poison.
“Tony.” Steve greeted.
“Cap.” He returned, moving to stand next to his fellow Avenger.
“How’d the meeting go?”
“It was a legal meeting so boring, lots of jargon, the catering was good. I’d know, I picked it out.” He rattled off, shooting a grin Steve’s way, causing the other man to huff in amusement.
“What’d they think about the new draft?”
“Still work to be done. Ross keeps trying to slip in more of his agenda alongside actual changes. Stubborn bastard that he is. Matthew Murdock was at this one, offered his help.”
Steve looked over at him, eyebrows raised in question. “The defense lawyer?”
“Who defended the Punisher? Yeah. Turns out the guy is willing to step outside his wheelhouse a bit if it means protecting the rights of enhanced people.”
“Sounds like a good man.”
Tony hummed his agreement with Steve’s assessment, watching as the nurse wrapped up with May Parker, who had lowered herself back into her wheelchair. The woman was clearly exhausted from the effort she put in today if the expression on her face was any indication. He could also tell the exhaustion was more than just physical, as her face seemed to be perpetually creased with worry and stress. Who could blame her though? Her niece who she raised has been missing for months now, without so much as a word. Hopefully that will change after today. Natasha’s report from the previous day was an actual lead. One better than anything they’d had in half a year now. It’d been difficult, telling her every time she asked that there were no updates, and they were still looking.
Steve ended up staying behind, both to help the nurse put the P.T equipment away, and to go through his third workout of the day. Tony waited patiently for May to be ready, and then walked with her as she rolled herself out of the gym and towards the elevators. He walked alongside her awkwardly for a moment before the stilted quiet became too much for him.
“Therapy going well?”
May looked towards him with a kind but tired smile. ”The therapist says so, and walking is getting easier. But it’s hard. I have so little energy now that the sessions wipe me out for the rest of the day.”
“Well, as you said. It's getting easier. Soon enough you will be back to normal.”
Tony didn’t realize how else his words could be taken until he saw May flinch; a struck expression crossing her face. “Things won’t really be ‘normal’ again.” The woman replied quietly, a far off look in her eyes.
“Sorry, that was a poor choice of words.” He apologized.
“It’s fine. I know what you meant.” May replied after a beat of silence. “I’m guessing you have an update?”
He nodded slowly, thinking again of the best way to word it. “Yeah. Nat sent a report yesterday that she has a lead. Nothing specifically on Payton, but it’s a solid lead. The best we’ve had so far. They’re hashing out a plan to act on it and we should hear more within the next few days.”
“Do you think she’ll be okay?”
Out of the possible follow up questions he had anticipated… that was not one of them. He also didn’t know how to answer it. None of them had really gone into full detail about what the Red Room actually was with Missus Parker. She had the basics, mainly regarding what they turned their victims into, but Nat had argued against giving her the specifics, saying it’d be needlessly harmful for May to have to think about the torture her niece was probably going through. Knowing how the Red Room treated the girls within it was painful enough for him, and he’d been exposed to such things far longer than May has been. Knowing that his daughter was such a girl was rough, but he refused to show it. He had no right to when he never truly knew the girl, had never been there for her at any point in her life. May had been, and so he’d do what was necessary to prevent May from feeling such pain.
The doors slid open to one of the private executive floors of the building, one that contained a smaller cafeteria. It’d become a habit for the two of them to get lunch after one of her therapy sessions, before Happy drove her home. Occasionally Pepper would join them as well if she wasn’t too busy; his girlfriend having become fast friends with May.
Realizing that May was still waiting on an answer, he realized that all he could be was honest, if not completely transparent. “I don’t know.” He admitted. “You said it yourself. Things will never go back to what you remember as normal, and that includes Payton. Had this never happened, things still wouldn’t be normal.”
She seemed to appreciate the candor, and even gave a small laugh at his final words. “Yeah. She was bedridden for nearly a week and then completely hides the fact that she gained powers!” She sighed. “I like to think that she would’ve told Ben and I at some point, maybe after she came to terms with it herself. But she never had that chance. She may never have the chance again.” May choked out, working herself up.
Tony placed a hand on her shoulder sympathetically, a pang stabbing in his chest as the thought of never getting to truly meet his daughter surfaced to the forefront of his mind. “We’ll get her back. We’ve taken down worse things than the Red Room and those bastards know it. It's why they are hiding. The second we find them they know their goose is cooked.”
While they spoke the two of them got their lunch from the food court and found a table in a secluded corner, Tony pulling a chair to the side so May could just wheel right up to the table itself.
“But what if it's too late? What if they decide to kill her rather than give you the chance to save her?”
He tried to hide the flinch, he really did. Those same fears had been crawling through his head for months, itching for attention that he refused to grant them. But hearing the same concerns from May was enough to let the fear surface, just for a second. It was why he avoided talking about Payton with her. He knew from the look on her face that she saw the fear too, and her face morphed from sorrow into sympathy as if he was the one who needed reassurance.
“You don’t have to hide the fact that you are worried about her.” May told him bluntly. “She’s your daughter, that gives you the right to care.”
Scoffing, Tony shook his head. “I was never there. How can I have the right to act like I have been, like my thoughts on the matter mean anything close to yours? Yeah I’m worried about her, but I don’t really know her like you do. You raised her, I’m just the DNA donor.”
“That might be true if you knew about her and still chose to not be involved. But you didn’t. From what I’ve been told, by you I might add, that that Stane guy hid her from you. You shouldn’t beat yourself up about not being there for someone you didn’t know existed. If you had known, and still chose to not be involved with her life, then it would be a different story.”
“I don’t even know if I would’ve wanted her back then.” He admitted, staring into his coffee. It was a cold truth that was always resting in the back of his mind. Even without Obadiah preventing him from figuring out that he’d knocked someone up, back then he hadn’t been exactly stable. If he’d learned he had a kid it would’ve been far more likely that he just wrote a check and never thought about them again.
“We’ll never know if you would have been a part of her life back then, but what matters is that you want to now . Get her back and you’ll have all the time in the world to get to know her.” She started laughing, something obviously having popped into her mind. “Payton’s going to go catatonic when she finds out you’re her father. She already can’t stop freaking out about whatever is going on with Iron Man and the Avengers. The brain meltdown she’ll have…”
Tony couldn’t help but chuckle as well. “You’ve mentioned she’s a big fan before, though we never really went too far into it.”
“Because you’ve been avoiding talking about her?” May asked, the question clearly rhetorical.
“Because I’ve been avoiding talking about her.” He agreed.
“That’s what I thought. Anyway, like most kids, the advent of the ‘Iron Man’ was the coolest thing in the world. A real superhero flying around and defeating the bad guys, and doing it all with technology he created. For a self-proclaimed nerd like her, everything you did was just another thing to obsess over for a week or more. Her room back home is ninety percent Avengers merchandise, and even most of that is specifically Iron Man.”
Nothing could have stopped the smug smile that appeared on Tony’s face. He always liked to boast to the others whenever they encountered or heard about an Iron Man superfan. “Besides, rightfully, being a fan of the best Avenger, what is she like?” While the mood was still lighter than it had been a few minutes previously, the ending of his question was serious. The only things he knew about his daughter were what they got from her records, none of which really told him about her as a person.
“She’s… kind. Even towards people who aren’t to her. I can count on one hand the people that she hates.” Something dark crossed over May’s face, and Tony didn’t want to pursue that. Something told him it would ruin the mood. “She’ll go out of her way to help people, even for those at school who tease her. Payton doesn’t really have a mean bone in her body. To a fault sometimes. She’s also funny, god is she funny. She got that from her Uncle I think. Her and Ben would always go on these long tangents of quips and jokes that I could barely ever keep up with, but it would always end up with the two of them in stitches on the floor.” May was smiling and laughing, but there was pain in her eyes, the memories now bittersweet.
“She sounds like a good kid.” There wasn’t much else he could say.
“The best.”
Their conversation slowed to a halt, and the two of them finished lunch quietly, May seemed to be lost in her memories now, and Tony didn’t want to drag her out of them until she was ready. He did send a quiet message to Happy, telling his head of security, and close friend, that lunch was almost over, and to prepare the car. The man had stepped into the role of chauffeur for Parker far easier than he had expected. Perhaps knowing what the woman was going through, and the fact that she was the legal guardian to Tony’s kid had been enough to break down his normally gruff demeanor.
Five minutes later and they were in the parking garage, Happy helping May get into the car while Tony waited. Before his friend could close the door, May held out a hand and turned to look towards him.
“Thank you for the talk, Tony. It was nice being able to talk about her. I’ll see you next week… and tell Pepper she better join us for lunch next time!”
Tony laughed. “I’ll do my best to convince her, but you know her. Such a busybody.”
The car door closed, and after a few words with Happy, Tony turned back towards the elevator, listening as the car drove away. Hopefully they’d have more news for her in a week's time.
LEFT
DUCK
BACK UP
RIGHT
RIGHT
Sweat dripped down her face as Payton dodged and retreated from Taskmaster’s blows. She threw back her own attacks when the opportunity arose, but for the most part she was on the defense, as she was supposed to be. Her mentor/instructor wanted her to learn to anticipate attacks in a fight, not just listen to her spider-sense. Of course, the sixth sense she had for danger was incredibly useful, but over the past half a year they’d more than proven that it wasn’t foolproof, so she had to think ahead. Which was difficult to do against the man with a perfect memory and the ability to mimic anything.
CENTER
A quick jab from her teacher was flying straight for her face. It was such an easy block that she quickly stepped to the side to avoid the sweep that he had intended to knock her off her feet. With his fist caught in her hand, and the man slightly unbalanced from missing his kick, Payton quickly spun, using her enhanced strength to overcome the size difference between the two of them and throw him over her shoulder and onto the mat where he landed on his back with a solid smack.
She knew that wouldn’t be enough to win the fight, and was already moving as Taskmaster spun himself out of her grasp (she could have stuck to his hand, but his momentum would’ve had her on the ground too, which wasn’t worth it) and launched himself into a fancy spin, pushing off the ground with his hands and letting his legs spin around. She was too close to back off far enough, and instead bent her legs and leaned back letting his armored boots swing by just inches from her face. Once the danger was past, Payton allowed herself to continue falling backwards, placing her own hands onto the mat and pushing herself into a back-flip towards the other side of the ring, making some distance between her and Taskmaster.
Despite her enhanced physiology, her breath was coming in ragged gasps, the exertion she’s been putting into training today catching up to her. Six months ago she hadn’t been able to make it through a single match against the mercenary, so at least there has been progress. On the other hand… Taskmaster didn’t look anywhere near tired yet, the man already stalking back towards her fists up and ready to continue. His stance was familiar though, and she knew what was coming before he started swinging.
She swung to the left as he jabbed with his right fist, before ducking under the follow-up with his left. She quickly hopped backwards to avoid the knee that shot towards her stomach, following that with a quick dodge to the right as his left elbow swung for her jaw. His moves were the same as the last bout, and so she preemptively took another step right, expecting him to extend his left arm again to try and hit her like he did last time. The spider-sense warning came too late, her mind so focused on what she expected that she missed as his right fist jabbed straight into her face.
Stars swam in front of her vision as she stumbled backwards, another warning from her spider-sense went ignored due to her daze, and Taskmaster’s leg swept her feet out from under her. The feeling of falling shocked her back into awareness, and Payton’s hands shot forwards trying to find something to hold onto to prevent herself from falling. They found Taskmaster’s breastplate, her fingertips sticking to the smooth blue metal. She knew that if she just hung backwards from him she would be basically begging to get hit again, so instead she pulled , using her strength to drag Taskmaster down with her.
As her back hit the mat, forcing air from her lungs, Payton curled in on herself, bringing her legs up so that as Taskmaster started to fall on top of her, he was stopped by her feet digging into his core. The man grunted at the impact, but she didn’t give him time to react, releasing her fingers from his chest and then shoving with as much force as she could with her feet, launching the man into the air.
Payton quickly made sure to follow him, pushing herself off the ground with her arms much like she did early, flipping into the air, but using her momentum to move up, rather than backwards this time. She planted her feet onto the ceiling, the soles of her boots thin enough to allow her to stick. Trying to keep her momentum, Payton reached out again as the Taskmaster reached the apex of his ascent in hopes to keep him suspended in the air. Unfortunately, it seemed her instructor had caught onto her scheme as he instead rotated his body midair to avoid her attempted grapple, and reached out with his own hand, grabbing onto her wrist with enough force she knew she wouldn’t be able to get out in time.
Taskmaster’s weight, along with his grip on her arm, would be enough to dislocate her shoulder if she didn’t respond, and so she did the only thing she could think of. She let her feet unstick from the ceiling and fell, working to rotate in the air in hopes of still being in an advantageous position. It was not to be unfortunately, as her opponent's experience won out and she found herself planted on her back once more, Taskmaster’s armored knee digging into her sternum and one hand wrapped around her throat while the other was poised to punch her in the face.
Eyes wide, Payton tapped twice on the mat, signalling her surrender. Immediately, the weight left her as the hand that once was around her throat was now held open, waiting for her to accept the help. Doing so, Payton was lifted back to her feet, and found herself looking up into the glowing orange eyes of Taskmaster’s helmet. Disappointment burned within her, as for a moment, she had allowed herself to think that she might actually win that fight.
“You did well, but you keep falling into patterns. You should have changed how you reacted when I returned to that attack sequence.” He told her, stomping away towards the wall of the room that had a water station.
Of course, the man wasn’t going to drink anything; six months and she had yet to see him without his helmet, but he was going to pour her a cup. It was why the training sessions with him were the best parts of her days. He wasn’t nearly as cruel as the Madames were, or the Enforcers who stalked the halls. He viewed her as a job, not a possession, and his professionalism (or maybe it was his ego) wouldn’t allow him to do anything but the best possible job. It was a nice reprieve. She knew her place was here with the Red Room, it was her duty as a Black Widow, and that everything she dealt with was to make her tougher… better. That didn’t stop her from appreciating the breaks from it though.
Taking the water that was offered, she took a drink before turning to him. “You always say to not fall into patterns, but you used that same sequence of attacks twice. How else was I supposed to respond?”
Taskmaster huffed under his helmet, crossing his arms. “ I can use patterns to teach you not to. You're a smart kid. You know that I memorize fighting styles. The second you started doing the same moves again, I knew exactly how to counter you, and I did so. Albeit, you responded excellently with that final maneuver. That’s the type of shit you should be doing more of. You’ve got powers unlike anything anyone has ever seen, use them to your advantage. Six months of training and that is the first time you’ve used your ability to stick to anything to your advantage. For anyone else, a fight in this room is a flat affair, there is only the floor. You can turn any fight on its head by using the walls and ceiling just as easily as the ground.”
What he said made sense. Ever since that spider bite almost seven months ago she’d never really been disoriented by gravity. She remembered the stretch of time where she stayed with the Punisher, and oftentimes ended up pacing on the ceiling without even realizing. If she took advantage of that more…
“Five minute break, and then we go again. I’ve got you for another two hours and we are going to make the most of it.” Her instructor told her, before stalking out of the room.
Those five minutes were enough for her heart rate to return to (mostly) normal, and her breathing to even out, but they still felt too short as Taskmaster returned and motioned for her to get back on the mat. The next two hours had them going through multiple sparring matches, Payton trying her best to take into account the advice he had given her. It was the piece she felt she had been missing the past few months, embarrassingly enough. Taskmaster could copy any moves she made, but that was as far as his powers really went. He wasn’t superhuman, only peak human. And she could take advantage of that.
His experience meant he knew how to respond to her applications of strength, and even counter her force against her, but he couldn’t keep up with her mobility nearly as effectively. As such, she practically bounced around the room as she fought him in each match, leaping from floor to ceiling to wall, and any number of things she could reach, only diving in to go for quick strikes before rushing out of reach again. Ultimately, he was still the better fighter, and she often fell back into patterns accidentally, which led to every match ending with a Taskmaster victory. But the bouts lasted longer during this last stretch of training, and she could actually hear the man’s heart rate increase, proving that she was actually providing somewhat of a challenge now.
The final match ended once again with her on the ground, this time her face pressed into the cushioned floor and an arm twisted painfully behind her back before she surrendered with her free hand. She allowed herself a moment to recuperate on the floor, breathing in the smell of sweat that coated the ground before pushing herself back up onto her knees.
Applause.
Payton’s head snapped over to the door which had just opened, revealing General Dreykov. The sight of the man forced Payton into action, standing up quickly so as to not irritate the General with any perceived disrespect. He seemed pleased by her effort, as he approached and placed his hands on either side of her head, his fingers squeezing possessively as he looked into her eyes.
“Well done. Your skills are advancing every day.” He complimented, placing a kiss to her forehead before releasing her and turning towards Taskmaster. “You continue to prove you are worth every dollar.”
She wasn’t required to respond, and so she remained silent, allowing Taskmaster to carry the conversation instead.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, General?” The mercenary asked, his voice betraying no emotion.
Dreykov smiled, it was a cruel thing, but she wasn’t supposed to care, and so she didn’t.
“I have a mission for the two of you.”
Now that was a surprise. She hadn’t expected to leave the Red Room for at least a year or two, but it seemed that her training had been going along faster than she thought. From Taskmaster’s reaction, which was strong enough that she could see it in his body language alone, she could tell he agreed.
“Extra missions cost more.” Taskmaster replied instead of asking further questions.
Dreykov waived it off. “Of course, and you will be paid accordingly.”
Satisfied, Taskmaster’s stance eased. “What’s the job?”
“Walk with me. Both of you.”
Payton followed silently, the three of them leaving the room and being joined by two Enforcers. The General had two of his soldiers with him at all times, but usually he left them by the doors though. As they walked, the General began to speak again.
“I am sending the two of you to collect a weapon. One I have had my people searching for for some time now.” The General’s gravely voice informed. “Recently we have found where its old owners have hidden it. The mission should not be difficult, and it can be used to determine the progression of Payton’s training.”
“Who were the previous owners?”
Dreykov grinned. “HYDRA. They lost the weapon when they collapsed alongside SHIELD. It took some time to locate it in the mess of files that Natalia left behind, but now that we have, it is time to put it to use in… better hands.”
If Taskmaster was perturbed by the previous owners or not, Payton couldn’t tell. Some part of her, buried deep deep down, shivered, but the rest of her ignored it. Whatever part of her that was, it was weak, and she was not supposed to be weak.
“You will leave in three days, to give time for the Madames to finish up with their current lessons with Payton. You will both have disguises provided, as much as I know you like your armor, this mission will require more subtlety.”
“Works for me. So long as you’re paying, you’re the boss.”
“Excellent. I will make sure you are provided with more specific details before you leave. For now, it is time for Payton here to go to her next lessons.”
Dreykov’s hand landed on the small of her back as he began to direct her down a different hallway at the intersection than the one Taskmaster moved down. From what she knew of the Red Room’s layout; the mercenary’s room was down that way, but she had never been down there. Widows were only allowed in certain areas and even then never without an escort of some kind. Only the Madames were trusted enough to go through the halls on their own.
Besides Dreykov’s hand, she could feel the eyes of one of the Enforcers on her, and they had been the whole time. From the few interactions she’s had with the other Widows, all of them knew of at least one Enforcer who tended to stare. Payton just hadn’t been in the situation where the Enforcer acted on anything yet, the same couldn’t be said for most of the others.
She chose to ignore the feeling, instead wondering about what the weapon she would be sent to retrieve was, as well as nursing the feeling of excitement that came with the knowledge that she would be going outside again. She hadn’t seen the sky in six months, and it would be nice to be above ground again.
In the end though, all she could do was wait for the time to come.