Chapter 8
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In The Training Room:
"I'm not longer Team Leader." Steve said with an aire of anger and a roll of his shoulders not meeting the eyes of any of the others.
"Wait.. You thought you were Team Leader?" Tony asked looking at Steve "I don't know if you noticed but none of us really take orders from you."
"Only a Leader gets to add people to a Team. No questioned it when I added Sam and Bucky to The Avengers."
"Ugh .. only because none of us could stand watching you pine after your long lost best friend and Sam actually helps keep your head on straight most of the time..." Clint said with a look of sympathy.
"But... When we're on missions?" Steve's hurt voice inquired..
"You're a talented tactician Steve, of course we listen to you on missions for the most part because it'd be unwise to ignore your experience." Yelena spoke up in a slowly disappearing Russian Accent as she was trying to sound more American to fit in better.
"So none of you have ever actually thought of me as Team Leader?" Steve asked.
"None of us are actually Team Leader." Clint offers as an olive branch "I don't know if you noticed but if we think you're wrong about something while we're on a Mission then we all tend to go off doing our own thing and rely on making it up as we go along."
"I guess we're all too used to being Solo Acts." Bruce chimed in.
Having heard enough from the hallway, Peter made his entrance.
"Which is one of the reasons we're going to focus working on teamwork." Peter said as he came in "Glad to see everyone could make it."
"Fury made him..." Steve said with an accusational point of his finger "Leader of The Avengers."
Everyone else's voices except Steve's and Peter's filled the gym.
"Oh shit no." (Tony) "What kind of joke is this supposed to be?" (Clint) "Fury can't possibly be serious." (Sam) "He's just a child." (Wanda.), "He's only a boy." (Thor), "What in the hell is Fury thinking, trying to put that kind of responsibility on a child?" (Bruce), "He might actually be a good Leader." (Yelena)
Everyone's heads swiveled towards Yelena "What?" She asked, the Russian accent bleeding through a bit more thickly "I can kind of see it. He might be young, but so is every single Widow when they start out. And Fury apparently trusts him well enough to move him in here with everyone and add him to The Team and have him Lead The Avengers."
Clint facepalmed "Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I don't see what the big deal is." Yelena said with a shrug.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yelena." Peter said earnestly.
Yelena beamed a bright grin seeming to like being "Teacher's Pet."
"So why have you called us all into The Training Room, oh dearest leader?" Tony asked in a snarky manner.
Peter rolled his eye
"Well, Captain America thinks that I'm nothing without my suit and that I won't stand a chance against any of you while I'm not wearing it. We're here so I can prove him wrong. But also so that you all maybe learn that I'm not going to be some kind of pushover. Yes. I've been staying quietly to myself. But only because I was hoping you would all work through your crap on your own and at least learn to be civil towards me if not even eventually learn to treat me like a member of The Team. Fury making me Leader kind of leaves me with no real choice but to interact with all of you and try to get you to see me as not only a Team Member but The Leader of The Team. You might not like me. But after this little Training Session you will learn that I'm not going anywhere and try as you might you won't be able to force me to go. Fury made me Leader of The Avengers which means you are all my responsibility now. So, now I have to watch over all of you."
"And what exactly do you want to do during this Training Session?" Bruce asked.
"Easy. All of you. Using whatever you would normally use in the field. Fighting. Against me while I'm not wearing my suit." Peter replied.
"You could be killed." Clint said with a scoff "And I might not like you much but I don't kill kids."
"Then learn some Self-Control and don't kill me." Peter said with a shrug.
"I don't have any problems with you, kid, and I am not about to let Hulk loose on you." Bruce said "I'm sitting this one out."
"I agree. That green rage monster could go off on any of us." Tony said.
"I thought you managed to merge your mind with Hulk's strength? Learned to somewhat control The Hulk side of yourself?" Peter inquired.
"There's still always the possibility that, that control could slip. I'm not allowing a chance of that happening with a kid in the ring against me." Bruce replied.
"Fair enough." Peter said "I won't force anyone to fight if they don't want to. Anyone else want to sit this out?"
Yelena raised her hand "I see no reason to fight someone I have nothing against."
"Alright you can sit it out with Doctor Banner." Peter replied. "Anyone else?"
"I refuse to be someone that adds onto the abuses you've already suffered." Wanda said throwing all the others a snide look of derision "I will go keep Bruce and Yelena company."
"So... It looks like it's just Mister Thor, Sergeant Barnes, Mister Stark, Captain Rogers, Captain Wilson and Mister Barton going up against me then. It almost seems unfair."
"Don't go whining about unfair just because more of us didn't choose to sit this one out, kid. This was your idea and more than half of us still standing here have been waiting for a chance to hand your ass to you. Lucky for you Thor doesn't want to kick your ass he just wants to see what you're made of. Which we'll soon prove isn't much."
Peter snorted a laugh "Oh I meant unfair for all of you."