Chapter 8
*2 months laters*
“Ahhhgk” I yelled as I fell face first in the Matt.
Rolling onto my back, I looked up into the devious gaze of the red haired evil woman. She was smirking at me as I rubbed my head.
Man did I hate Natasha days.
I had no idea who black widow was when Steve first mentioned her, but I had thought it would be cool to learn from someone other than Steve. He had been the only avenger I’d met so far, and I hadn’t even gotten to step foot in the avengers tower. So when I heard that she’d offered to help train me, I’d jumped at the idea.
Boy was I wrong.
We’d decided I’d have to get used to moving my legs in different ways to avoid combat, and despite establishing that I’d be more of a long distance fighter, they wanted to increase my mobility so I could at least hold my own in combat.
At first, it wasn’t so bad. But once Black widow had seen me training with Steve, she’d personally taken it upon herself to be in charge of my agility work.
To quote her, I believe the exact words that came out of her mouth were: “your babying her, Cap. You’ve lost your touch.”
He’d insisted that he wasn’t, but it was obvious by how different she’d train me. While she would not fight at her actual level, she wouldn’t hesitate to knock me down if she saw me getting distracted and losing concentration on keeping myself up. The moment she thought my mind had not put enough effort into how my legs moved, she’d give me a slight shove and I’d tip over like a sack of potatoes.
So that’s how I got there, panting and red faced as she looked down on me with a bright smile.
“You’ve seriously improved this last month, I think I might have steve integrate running into your program.” She rubbed her chin in thought, “but not until Tony gets you those braces he promised.”
Her face tensed at the name.
“He’s been…. Different after the attack on New York. I think he might have some post traumatic.” She stopped, probably realizing that it was something she couldn’t reveal to me.
Or at least that’s what I thought. Since I wasn’t a ‘full’ avenger, a lot of details were kept from me about the other members' whereabouts and any ‘critical situations’. It was annoying, but I understood where they were coming from… or at least I tried to.
Widow pivoted the conversation back to the braces, “I know you can’t feel anything, but we need to make sure that you aren’t doing any permanent damage to your body. Or, Well, even more damage than there already is I guess”.
I rolled my eyes, “not like it’ll matter.”
Natasha crossed her arms, “Steve seems to think it will, and so does your guardians. It’s not like you can do whatever now. You’re still only fourteen, don’t let yourself grow up too fast like I did. You have time as a luxury, unlike a lot of us did.”
I sighed. I hadn’t been told much of her story, but from the bits and pieces I’ve picked up from conversations, it wasn’t the best. While she went harder on me than Steve, she had made it obvious that if I was going to go into this line of work I’d have to really want it. I couldn’t half ass fighting the world's mightiest villains.
“I get it, I get it” I replied, not wanting to get stuck in another tangent.
“I understand! Plus, You’ve even said I’ve improved! I know I’ve got a ways to go, but it’s hard to not want to use my powers all out.”
She sighed,
“I get it, Jordan. You want to go on missions, you want to test your limits- but this is the real world. It’s not some video game. You can’t even fathom the consequences that could come of having this job.”
I huffed, I wasn’t one to get angry often, but I hated being treated like a child. If I could have just been able to use my powers at the same time as focusing on movement I wouldn’t even have to worry about the consequences!
“But I can!” I replied with more ire than normal, “I understand-“
Breaking off my reply, my phone started ringing in the corner.
“We’ll finish this conversation later.” Natasha said sternly.
About to respond that ‘there was nothing more to talk about’ I held myself back and slowly got off the ground to get my phone.
“Shoot, missed call” I said under my breath, quickly dialing back the number without looking at the sender. After about two clicks they answered and I heard a familiar alto through the phone.
CRAP, I forgot.
“Jordan? I Heard over the line, “it’s Katie, we were planning on meeting up in front of the advanced idea mechanics building? I’m almost there and I wanted to know your eta?”
I covered the receiver and looked at Natasha who was speaking with steve. Apparently he’d walked in while I’d answered the phone.
“Hey!” I whisper yelled, “do either of you know how far the A.I.M building is?”
Steve looked at the phone in my hand and motioned for me to come over.
“Your grandparents let me know you’d made plans last night with your friend” he chuckled and ruffled my hair, “they also mentioned that you’d probably forget about it because of your” he brought up finger quotes “selective memory”.
Well, I mean they weren’t wrong. I totally had forgotten.
“I’m here to take you there, shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.” Cap continued.
Bringing the phone back to my ear, I responded to Katie.
“Uh… yeah. I’m about 10 minutes out. I’ll meet you inside?”
“Yup!” She said, “I’ll see you then!”
Returning my phone to my bag, I picked up my crutches, feeling the wear from my session.
“Did you bring your bike? How are we getting there?” I questioned
Cap shook his head, “I brought the car, didn’t think taking you with those” he motioned to my crutches, “would me sense”
“I guess you're right.” I agreed, following Steve to the elevator down “plus I don’t want Katie to see you with me, she’d be able to spot you right away if you were on your bike and I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
Steve pressed the button for the basement and as the doors closed, Black widow waved her goodbye and mouthed ‘we’ll talk later’
He turned to me then,
“That’s one thing we haven’t really covered yet” he said, causing me to look at him in question, “because I was a symbol for America at the beginning of my career, I didn’t really have the option to cover my face. It’s like that with a lot of our team. Sometimes I still see Tony muttering about how he should have kept his identity as iron man a secret.”
The doors dinged and we stepped out of the elevator. I kept my eyes on him while he directed us to the car.
“Of course for now we won’t have you in the field, per your grandma's request. But when we start to include you in things, or if we really need your help, choosing to wear clothes that hide or show your identity is a big decision.”
“So like a hero costume?” I cringed, “please don’t put me in spandex, not really feeling the whole ‘skin tight’ look a lot of you have got going on.”
Steve shrugged, “it makes it easier to move, but I guess that wouldn’t be necessary since you don’t plan on fighting like nat. I’ll speak with Tony a bit and see if we can put something together.”
My eyes lit up, “am I gonna get an Ironman suit?”
Cap chose to ignore the look of excitement on my face. He hadn’t said it, but I’d sometimes gotten the idea he didn’t like that he wasn’t my favorite of the avengers.
I still hadn’t gotten to see him, much to my dismay.
“Well, there’s no shortage of suits nowadays.” He said offhandedly, “don’t tell nat I said this but…” he started the car and maneuvered out of the private parking garage “he’s thrown himself into his work the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to get him to meet with you… but. He’s not really been receptive to adding you as a new member.”
My heart sank, I fiddled with my hands trying to respond. “I get it, having a kid as a team mate might be weird. Especially with him being a genius and all, he probably doesn’t want to get involved with some one like me…”
Steve ran his hand through his hair, knuckles turning white from the force he put on the wheel.
“Look, I know how much you want to meet the guy. He- he’s just not in a good place right now. I’m sure he’ll come around. To be honest, it’s even hard for ME to get in touch with him”
Steve turned down a familiar road, and I saw the A.I.M building come into view. Parallel parking, Steve stopped the car and turned to me- giving me a sympathetic smile.
“Besides, I’m technically the captain of this team. So I can decide whether you’ll be his team mate or not.”
I nodded silently, but gave him a weak smile.
“Go on.” He said while patting my back, “go see your friend. I think I see her leaning outside the building.”
Curious as to how he knew what Katie looked like, but letting it slide, I got out of the car and made my way to Katie. Not waiting for us to go inside, Steve peeled out.
Katie’s eyes followed the car I’d gotten out of with surprise. I lifted my eyebrow at the interest, a cold sweat starting on my neck.
She hadn’t seen, had she?
“What is it?” I asked
“Oh nothing” she said while giving me a light elbow, jostling me a little. “Just trying to figure out whether my new freshie friend is a gangster's daughter or something. Your windows are crazy tinted!”
I rolled my eyes at her comment
“Freshie friend. Really? Try only friend, you introverted nutcase!”
faking being offended, katie threw up her arms “hey!” She whined. “You're just as introverted as I am!”
I smiled, “so you’re not denying that you’re a nut case?”
“Ugh. You’re such a smart Alec sometimes, Jordan” she said, turning her face around in protest.
I laughed,
“C’mon” I said with a huge smirk, “it’s ok, sometimes you have to be a little nutty to be a genius! Just look at Mr. Hapgood!”
That got her attention. Swinging around at the comment I made, Katie put a hand on her hip- her face looking like she’d just eaten a lemon.
“Don’t compare me with that quack shop teacher! One day he’s going to let a student create an E.M.P in his class! He NEVER pays attention, and let’s all the mechanical lab rejects do whatever they want!”
Despite Katie wanting to continue in her space lab- the administration had decided she should try something new. That led to her taking the general mechanics lab with me. It was one of the most coveted labs on campus, and since I had gotten into the school on my robotics/mechanical engineering recommendation, I got first pick. It only took a little convincing on my part from the school principal to convince her to let Katie in too.
We had become fast friends after meeting each other on my first day, and had stuck together like glue since.
“It doesn’t help that the general mechanics lab and the shop class share a wall, it’s literally just a door over for them to leave and mess with everyone’s projects!” I agreed just as outraged.
Well anyway, I gestured to the door of the building. “That’s just my…. Uncle. He’s…. Military.”
If there was anything I was good at, lying wasn’t one of them. It was a stupidly close answer to the truth, so hopefully she wouldn’t notice any nervous twitches.
Katie shrugged, “eh, I was just giving you a hard time. I don’t really care anyway. As long as you got here I’m fine, my dad had a hard time getting us passes. Apparently this is the facility they are working on Extremis in!”
My eyes widened. “No way! For real? The tech that’s supposedly supposed to seriously help disabled people? Does your dad work on the project?”
Katie looked at me with a suspicious look, “look, I’m not trying to be THAT person, but you’re not seriously thinking about being a test subject. Right?”
I shrugged my shoulders as I walked in, Katie holding the door for me. “Why? I’m like.. the perfect candidate. Plus, isn’t the CEO an example of the project being a success?”
Katie’s brows furrowed, stepping in close to me.
“I’m not supposed to now this, but I overheard my dad and my mom arguing about that the other night.”
“Your mom’s a scientist here too?”
“Yeah, but she left the project and the company. I’m not sure the specifics, but I think she was fired because she was trying to be a whistleblower about something on the project.” Katie wrung her hands, “just promise me you won’t do it, please.”
I hadn’t really planned on it, as I really had no need for it. But hearing her nervousness, it made up my mind. I wouldn’t do it.
It’s not like I’d get picked to be a test subject anyway. They probably had a ton of volunteers already.