Nat Teaches Dani to Shoot
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three shots all fired into the exact same spot. Dani gulped. She felt purely platonically towards the Black Widow but dear god that woman is hot when she shoots.
The redhead handed Dani the gun, which the teenager took with slight apprehension.
"Alright, kid, all you've got to do is shoot the gun at the target. Don't worry if you miss, it takes years to perfect."
Holding up the gun, Dani started to realise her hands were shaking. This was a real gun. This gun could kill people.
Without realizing, she released her grip on the gun and it fell to the floor.
"Dani, are you alright? You're looking pretty pale."
"I- I don't think I can do this."
Before Natasha could say anything else, Dani had run out the door.
Five minutes later, Tony found Dani sat on the balcony of her room. "You alright, kid? Nat told me what happened. You wanna talk about it?"
Dani looked at her mentor and gulped, quickly looking away from his worried face. There was silence for a moment, before the blonde filled it solemnly. "My uncle died because of a gun. When I became a superhero, I wanted to help people - I still do. Hand to hand combat I can use to temporarily weaken my opponent. I use my webs to capture them or get them out my way. I don't do what I do to hurt people, I do it to help them. Sometimes that can involve someone getting hurt but they'll recover in a month or so. A gun, that's next level stuff. Wherever I shoot someone with a gun it's gonna hurt for a long time. All it takes is being one centimeter off and I've killed someone. My Uncle told me that with great power comes great responsibility," she looked up at Tony for the first time since she started talking. "What if I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility?"
Tony pulled the girl into a hug and patted her on the back. "Look at me kid. You don't have to kill anyone. That's not compulsory for the job but- I know you're ready. I wouldn't have asked Nat to teach you how to use a gun if you weren't. I wouldn't have made you an Avenger if you weren't."
He pulled back and sighed. "Sometimes kid, your hits just aren't enough. What if you're fighting a guy who's got a gun and you can't get close enough without being shot? I know you heal quickly but if you get shot in the head there's no time for that to heal. Killing someone is never a good thing, but sometimes it's necessary. If we hadn't killed the chitauri army in the Battle of New York they would have taken over and we would have all died. We did what he had to do for the greater good. Kill one bad guy to protect the good and innocent."
"But if we resort to killing, how are we any better than them?"
"Killing someone doesn't make you a bad person. Do you think I'm a bad person?"
"Well..."
He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. Do you think Rhodey's a bad person?"
She shook her head. "No. Rhodey's great, he's like a less annoying more tolerable version of you."
"Ignoring that, Rhodey is a good person. But he's also killed people - with a gun. But he had to do that because if he hadn't killed them, they would have killed us. He was protecting both himself and me. The ends justify the means."
She nodded. "Okay. Who said that?"
"Me. I said that."
"Well no shit Sherlock, but who said it before you."
"No one."
"I'm pretty sure you're not the first person to ever say that."
"Pretty sure I am."
"Not. "
"Am."
"Not. "
"Am."
"Not. "
"Am."
Dani laughed for a moment. "Thanks Stark."
"Now you don't have to learn how to use the gun if you don't want. But it would certainly give the rest of us some peace of mind if you could."
She nodded. "Alright. I'll try."
He smiled at her. "Thanks kid."
He stood up and left, Dani doing the same shortly after. She walked back into the training room to see Nat polishing her gun. "Can we give it another shot? Pun intended."
The redhead looked up and raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." The blonde had a new twinkle of determination in her eyes. "I'm sure."