Basket Ball Court
September 17th
Friday
When Natasha woke up, Wanda was already gone. She was used to this. Almost every morning Wanda would wake up before the actual required wake-up time, and leave.
Natasha didn't push to ask or know what she did, it was just part of the morning schedule at this point.
She chuckled to herself silently. Only a week in and she’s already formed a proper schedule. Wake up at 7:15, Wanda’s already gone. Get ready and get breakfast before 7:40, and be early to class.
She was always the first person in English. Tony usually followed suit a bit later and he would attempt conversation.
It was quite amusing actually. He would start the conversation confidently, asking what book she was reading and so on. The teacher would ask him to do something for him and they would make light banter while Stark worked. It was more than she had prided herself with, when talking to a Stark, but the guy was persistent.
Swinging a small bag over her shoulder, she headed for the showers.
There were a few showers already going, as Natasha pulled the shower curtain closed. Turning the faucet her body tensed for a second as cold water spritzed out at her. Turning the nob, her shower filtered to a nice warm.
In the background, she heard another shower end, the curtain opening.
As she showered Natasha wondered how today would go. Classes would go as usual, obviously. But what she was more interested in was how their meeting would go.
They would be presenting what they found and afterwards they would go to what they thought was the place that needed the most "service".
Natasha had always loved helping others, and as much as this club felt like a real shit show right now (Clint's preferred words), hopefully they would be able to actually accomplish something with the club.
Finishing up her shower she dried herself off, and dressed in something casual. Just a pair of skinny jeans, a beige tank top, covered by a white mesh coat.
Even though it was August, it still rained. Maybe not as much, but there was no reason to not be prepared. Besides, it finished the outfit quite nicely.
As usual, the cafeteria was mostly empty as Natasha grabbed her breakfast. It was biscuits and gravy, or toast and eggs. Natasha preferred biscuits and gravy and ate her fill.
When she entered her English class she gave a polite wave to Mr. Henyerd and headed up to her seat to be greeted by a smirking Tony.
Raising her eyebrows, as he let her slip by into her seat, Tony closed the book he was reading.
“Glad you finally decided to show up Nat” Tony humored her
“Yea, why are you here early..?” She asked suspiciously
“Whaaat? I get bored hangin around in my dorm. I can't be in class before you?”
“You can, it was just unexpected”
Looking into her bag, Natasha grabbed out her notebook and studied over her ASL work. Even though she didn't have that class today she still wanted to study it.
Going through some of the hand motions, she looked over to see Tony back to reading his book. It didn't look like he was very far into it. The side of the book facing her was still thick with pages. As well as she has never seen him read in class before.
“What are you reading?”
“To Kill a Mockingbird” Tony was still looking down at the book, but she could hear the smile in his voice, and she couldn't help the smile that also tugged at her face.
“Oh really? What’s it about?” She asked
“Not really sure yet, not that far into the book”
“Huh”
Stark was an interesting fellow.
“Romanov, Stark. How do you guys feel about being TA’s for this class?” Mr. Henyerd asked, to which Natasha looked up at him in confusion
“Don't they have like a program for that?” Tony asked
“We would normally, but we’ve gone a bit understaffed as of recently so a few programs we did have, have shut down,” Tony nodded a bit, “But if you’re going to be a TA I still need you guys to keep up on your grades since some of the stuff you do will take up class time. Also if I have classes on your free period's that is also a good time for you to come by.”
Natasha still wasn't sure what that was, but it sounded interesting.
“Yea sure I can do that” Natasha replied,
To which Tony shrugged and responded with a yes.
“Great, cause I need you two to deliver some papers to Mr. Rose for me, he should be down in the kitchen” He instructed
And they both got up and went down to his desk, Natasha grabbing one stack, Tony grabbing the other.
Leaving the room, Natasha looked down at the papers she had in hand. They looked to be lab safety tests.
Her stack was a bit taller than Tony’s but not by much.
“So-” She started, “You know where the kitchen is?”
Tony looked over to her with a contemplating frown.
“I was hoping you knew”
If she could facepalm she would.
__
“Clint where are you taking me?”
“Shush, you’re going to like it”
They were walking behind the track field on a thin dirt path. Before Clint turned them through an outgrown path through the trees.
“You sure we’re allowed to be here?”
The path was more than just a bit overgrown. If it wasn’t for Clint insisting this was an actual pathway, Natasha would have never guessed. All resemblance of a path was gone.
“Yes Im sure. We’re almost there”
Just as he said that, they opened in a clearing and was met with a decrepit building. The building looked a lot like the basketball court. And looking at it a bit longer it dawned on Natasha that this building must have been a basketball court. As broken as it was.
“This. I found this yesterday” Clint showed off proudly, “It looks to be some sort of abandoned basketball court.”
Natasha stepped closer examining the building. It didn't look that bad. Yea it was decrepit and what anyone would expect an abandoned building to look like. But nothing that dinging.
It was still a really cool find though.
As they walked over to the door, there was a broken rusted lock on the ground.
“Jeez Clint, how´d you find this?”
She kicked the lock, and saw the broken part laying next to it. It looked to be a sloppy break, probably with a nearby stone, and the rust made it break easier than it would have been normally.
“Making one of my usual rounds when I saw this path and decided to check it out.”
“Damn, that is one coincidence. It was hidden fairly well” She mused, impressed
Using his shoulder to push the door open, it made a loud creaking noise, and metal scraped the wooden floor.
“If you think the outside looks good, take a look on the inside.”
And he was right. Unlike the outside which was your normal just hasn't been touched in a while. The inside was nasty.
Torn up bleachers, mold and other fungus, flowers and weeds littered the place. There was also a giant hole in the ceiling which shone beams of light into the place.
“You sure this place is fine to be. There´s mold everywhere” Natasha asked, walking around the court
“Well, Im not sick yet. So that’s saying something.” Clint said shrugging his shoulders
Looking at this place it made her wonder how long this school was been a thing. It felt fairly new with technology and it being an out of nowhere choice. She was supposed to go to a different school but was suddenly switched to here.
It had to be a good 30-50 years with all the mold was building up. Not to mention the decomposing wood.
“How long you think this has been here?” She asked examine the bleachers
“I dunno, I only found it yesterday and I haven't finished exploring yet. But it has to be a good 30 years or so.”
“That's what I was thinking. I mean look at this wood, it's full on decomposing”
He walked over to her and examined the wood
“Yea…”
Standing up, this place was a gold mine. And even with this main courtroom, there was still a double door over on the other side, and unlike the door, they just went through. It looking to lead to another room.
“Have you checked out the other room?” She asked turning back to Clint
“Nahh, I haven't yet. Can’t open the door. It’s not the same kind of lock the front doors had. It’s just a regular keyhole lock.” Clint stated
“So, you think I found the best spot for some service?” he asked, tone light but humorous.
“Seriously. Clint that would take hours, maybe a couple of days just to clean off all the mold and minor plant life. Not to mention there's nothing to do about the decomposing.” Natasha explained
“So? Look I'm just saying. This place could be a really cool starter. Much cooler than some musty school or recreational room”
“No those are started projects. Ones that can be finished. There’s no point in servicing this”
Clint huffed and started walking for the door. ¨Okay, ok. We should start heading back before lunch starts¨
Natasha went to follow him and Clint pulled the door closed (which it was rather convenient he owned and was wearing fingerless gloves), and they headed back to the cafeteria.
The rest of the day wasn’t too eventful. Drama was interesting, like always and besides that classes seemed to go as normal.
Natasha pushed a few books into her bag. Just as the bell rang, and students flocked to the exit. Excited to get the first official week of school over.
Swinging the bag over her shoulders, she also made her way to the exit, giving a polite wave to the teacher.
Like always she and Tony were first to the club. Quickly accompanied by Steve then Clint and an unusually late Bruce (by their three meet status) followed by Thor.
Natasha had resided herself back at the front of the classroom, where she could easily manage the chalkboard.
Steve started the conversation off today, which seemed out of character, “So, what has everybody found over the week”
“Such a serious start. Lighten up Steve” Tony mused, kicking himself up onto the desks behind him.
“Uh-huh,” Steve looked over to Tony, “Sure.”
Bruce anxiously fiddled with his fingers before speaking up, “I didn't find anything interesting or out the ordinary by the middle-school”
Natasha wrote down on the board under Bruce’s name nothing, and looked over the others to see who wanted to talk next.
"The warehouse was pretty empty."
“I really thought the school would be much busier.”
At this point Natasha was just hoping Steve had something or they would just end up with Clint. Which was actually ironic thinking about it, with him not wanting to be here. Steve had dorms if she remembered correctly, which seemed like a busy place.
“The dorms were expectedly busy. But every time there was trash the next day it would be gone” Thor stated, to a frowning Natasha who documented the information.
It seems like fate got its way. Or more like Clint got to propose his ridiculous idea to the rest of them.
“You got nothing for us Nat?” Clint smirked
“Okay, just say what you want to say”
“More like show off what I have to show”
And just like that, Clint stood up and it looked like they had their place. Motioning for them to follow him, the others got up from where they were sitting or just followed him if they weren’t sitting, and they set off behind Clint.
Steve followed from the back. Keeping a steady distance.
Clint and Natasha were walking up front followed closely by Thor and Tony. Bruce just keeping a slower pace behind them.
When Steve had told Bucky the other day what was going to happen today, Bucky just laughed and told him that he needed to use this opportunity to make some friends.
Since they would be at least an hour or two out here doing what they were (cleaning probably), it would be the perfect time to bond.
Steve just looked at his friend questioningly before heading back to his own dorm.
What Bucky said was probably true. This was the perfect time for him to make friends, “bond”. But the idea just didn't stick well with him. It wasn't like he didn't like talking to people or getting to know someone. He wasn't an untrusting person. He just tended to be a bit skeptical that’s all. Maybe he struggled a bit with talking to other people. But he was never opposed to the idea.
Just, never got around to doing it.
So when Bucky told him that he should get into a club an interactive club, cause heaven to forbid he just go to the art club, where all they did was art and not have to worry about the whole socialization part.
He couldn't say no. Cause then it would really look like he didn't want to make friends.
So as he followed behind his club members he really wondered if he would use this time to “bond”.
As Steve took in his surrounding, he noticed they were walking outside the track field. Chain link fence lining the dirt path they were on. He could see the track team just barely in the distance.
He wondered if they could see them.
Actually, they seemed to be on the outskirts of the campus. The gardening area not too far off and the track field was one of the farthest areas out. How did Clint even find this place?
Watching up at the front, Clint and Natasha turned into the tree line.
“This is sketchy you sure this is allowed,” Tony commented
“We’re almost there. And it’s worth it trust me” Clint called from the front
In front of him, he heard Bruce mutter something about already breaking the rules on the first week.
Walking into the thin barely laid-out path, Steve made a point to watch where he was stepping. Branches reaching out from the trees, weeds, and pinecones littering the floor.
“Holy shit!” Tony awed as he exited behind Natasha
“How did you find this Clint?” Thor asked
Steve made his way out and gaped at the giant basketball court. It looked similar to the one he saw regularly on campus, but instead of being new and clean. This one was old and abandoned.
“Eh, I was just walking my usual route when I noticed a building behind the trees”
“That is some fucking protagonist stuff right there” Tony mused
Thor walked over to the door and pushed it open, the rusted metal scraping against the ground.
“You’re not worried about tetanus” Bruce muttered following the others inside
“You really want us to try and clean this” Steve asked looking around the inside
“Why not” Clint shrugged
“This is going to take forever”
Tony turned to look at him, “You got plans?”
“No. Just didn’t think I would spend my night in a decrepit gym”
“We’re going to need stuff to actually clean the place. There should be cleaning supplies in the shed out by the garden” Natasha said
“We’re gonna need bleach. And a lot of it” Tony huffed
“I can ask Mr. Joll for the shed keys since I hang around there a lot,” Bruce suggested
“I can go with you Bruce. Your gonna need help carrying all the stuff” Thor offered
“Clint go with them”
“What why me?”
“Cause this was your idea. Now go”
Steve watched as the three of them left, leaving Natasha and Tony with him.
He dropped his stuff by the door, and observed the court. It looked like Tony was doing the same while Natasha also dropped her stuff off.
Steve made his way to another door, looking over to Natasha who was still by the door.
“You know what behind this door?” he called
“No, we can’t get it open” she answered
Their voices echoed through the gym, and Steve looked up at the ceiling. It was pretty high, metal beams, and large vent systems ran through it. Besides the giant hole which was their only light system at the moment.
“We’re gonna need some sort of light in here when it gets dark”
“When it gets dark? We’re not going to be here for that long are we?” Tony asked, looking over to Steve
“This is going to take a long time depending on how much we want to do” Steve supplied
“What about dinner”
“The cafeteria doesn’t close up until 10pm.” Natasha said, as she pulled her phone out of her bag, “If anything we’ll miss dinner, but there will still be leftover food to eat”
The place went silent as Steve and Tony continued to search the place.
There wasn’t much cleaning they could do. Yea they could clean off mold and dirt and all that good stuff. Get rid of the stray plants that started to grow in here and if they had the supplies they could try to get rid of the rust (whatever they needed for that).
But they still couldn't do anything about the wood decay, or holes in the wall.
In all the actual stuff they could do would definitely take a long time. But there was no way they could really fix the place. It was a waste of time.
Walking back over to his stuff Steve made an attempt to find a safe place to sit.
Ultimately Steve found it impossible to find a clear space, and just sat down on a patch of dirt by his bag. Checking through his phone, he looked at a message from his mom asking him how his first week of school had been.
He small smile creased his face before typing out a reply, and sliding his phone into his sweatshirt pocket.
“So we have a good couple of hours until night then.” Tony stated
Thor, Bruce and Clint pushed through the door, opening it further with supplies in their hands.
Bruce was holding a bucket filled with an assortment of cleaners, Clint was holding rags, scrubbers, and a mop. Whilst Thor held a ladder.
“Welcome back”
“Yes, um where should be put this stuff..?” Bruce asked
“You can put the stuff over, with our bags” Steve said standing up from where he was sitting
Bruce placed the bucket down and removed the items from in it onto the floor, Clint doing the same, propping the mop up by the ladder.
“I need to go fill the bucket up with water, there’s a water spout not too far, just back in the garden I wont be long”
With that Bruce left with the bucket.
Steve looked back at the assortment of items, before pulling some gloves on, grabbing a spray bottle and a rag and started cleaning.