After showing me around the rest of the compound, Tony leads me back to the common area. He hands me my work materials, papers to sign, and a to-do list. He tells me that my office will be ready soon, and to just work at the kitchen island.
I sit and work for an hour or so, then Nat comes in. I look up from my seemingly never-ending pile of papers and smile at her,
"Hey"
"Hey, how is your first day going so far? I can see Tony already has you sweating." Nat points out sarcastically gesturing towards my tower of to-dos. I laugh and answer her,
"Yeah, it's a lot but It's going good," I say smiling. Nat grabs water out of the fridge and offers one to me, I nod.
"That's good to hear. I was about to go train, would you mind giving me some company? It is kinda part of your job."
"Yeah, let's go. I could use a change in scenery." I grab my water and my bag and follow Nat to the training room where I saw Steve earlier. We warm-up, then she hangs up a punching bag, I do the same. We talk a bit. I see her using skills very familiar, I wonder if she? No, the chances are next to impossible. I continue to punch the bag, I don't put much effort in so I won't expose myself. Nat looks over at me, confused.
"Well, I know you can do better than that," Nat says. I sigh, agreeing with her. Crap was it too obvious?
"Come on new girl, show me what you got." Nat cheers, stopping to watch me. Oh god, I actually have to do something now. Ok, I just won't go full out. I laugh and start using a few of the skills I learned years ago. I can see Nat's expression change to surprised/impressed out of the corner of my eye.
I re-focus back on the punching bag. Damn, I've missed this. It feels so good to take my anger and stress out on this inanimate object. I start thinking about how much I've struggled these past years on the run and I start to punch it harder. I think of the supervisors I had throughout my childhood and the thoughts infuriate me further, till I'm beating the shit out of the punching bag. I work viciously to push the thoughts out of my head as I get in my last few punches and step back out of breath.
"Wow...that was...that was great! Why didn't you tell us you could do that?!" Nat says, clearly enthused next to me. Her voice nocks me out of my trance and I remember she's there.
"Why would you guys want to know? I'm not that good." I say, picking up my water bottle from the floor and gulping down half of it. Nat looks at me with a *what do you mean, not that good?!* face.
"Um, well first of all you are very good. Like, the power behind every hit was surprising. I almost thought you were going to break the bag at the end there. Second of all, we could always use more people like you on our team. I know we just met Vanessa but, I don't know what it is about you...I've just got a feeling..." I smile at her kind words. I haven't had someone talk to me like that since...well since Sarah.
"Wow, thank you, agent Romanoff. That's really nice of you, but I'm pretty rusty." I say, unstrapping my boxing gloves and discarding them to the floor.
"You didn't seem rusty. Come over here, fight me." Nat walks to a larger open space. I follow confused.
"What?" I ask. Fight her? I don't want to hurt her.
"Come on. It'll be fun!" I shake my head agreeing and get into position across from her. Nat runs towards me and I instantly recognize her wind up for a move I learned years ago. I calculate my response, dodging her attempted leg straddle trick, and trip her before she makes contact. She seems stunned for half a second, then she flips back up to her feet. I swing a punch towards her face but she catches my arm and flips me on my back. I could do more but I can't expose myself so I grunt and say,
"Ok, ok. You got me." I slowly sit up and Nat offers me her hand, I take it and stand up. We are both catching our breaths and grab our water bottles. Nat turns towards me, handing me my water, and looks past me.
"Hey Rogers," Nat says, I turn and look to where her eyes are looking. I see Steve standing at the doorway watching us.
"Hey, girls." Steve approaches us and addresses me, "Hey, I'm Steve."
"Hey, I'm Vanessa. I'm the new *helping hand* as you would call it." I say giving him a friendly smile. He looks at me surprised and slightly confused.
"Well with what I just saw you have the potential to be a lot more than a helping hand, Vanessa," Steve says giving me a grin. I smile back.
"That's what I was just telling her!" Nat chimes in, as if trying to convince me of something. I laugh and roll my eyes.
"Ok, if you think so, but I'm gonna get back to my actual job for now," I say jokingly as I pick up a towel and start towards the door.
"Ok, have fun!" Nat adds sarcastically as I leave.
"Very funny!" I yell back also sarcastically, walking down the hall back to the kitchen.
YOU ARE READING
Damaged Goods
Fanfiction"I'll always remember you." Vanessa has been on the run from the Red Room academy ever since she was taken by hydra right before her graduation. With both organizations after her, she has been living a nomad's life, constantly moving. The fear that...
