Venomous

10. Boundaries

I am not a morning person, and that should be made perfectly clear before going any further. I despise being woken up; I constantly had an auto-ship of alarm clocks that arrived at my house weekly because I would more often than not break at least one during the course of a normal seven days. The walls of my apartment had to be replastered because there were so many dents in them from hurled, blaring, noise machines. Needless to say, I was less than pleased when, at 6:30 IN THE MORNING, someone was banging on my bedroom door.

"Brock. Brock, are you up?" I grumbled at the sound of the male voice, insistently hollering into my bedroom from behind the closed door. Thankfully, I had locked it the night before.

"Do I sound like I'm up, Rogers?" I mumbled, pulling my pillow back down over my head. I heard silence for a few minutes and was hopeful that maybe Captain Early Riser had gotten the hint. No such luck. I yanked my pillow off of my head when a new sound broke through the silence of the room. Metallic sounding, like someone was picking the....

"Mother Fucker!" I shrieked as my bedroom door swung open, a familiar redhead kneeling on the floor outside my room.

"Language." I stared at Steve over Natasha's shoulder.

"You know you woke up in the 20th century, right?" Steve smirked.

"That's another lap," he chuckled. I blinked.

"Another what now?" Steve suddenly clapped his hands loudly.

"Training time, newbie. Let's go!" Steve began walking away from my room, leaving Natasha standing there smirking at me. I glared at her.

"Still not a fan of mornings, Parker?" She teased. I threw a pillow at her. She ducked out of the way and I heard a squeal. I looked past Natasha to see a seething Wanda, holding what probably was a cup of coffee at some point, but now the dark liquid was all over her front. I winced. Oops. Wanda's eyes flashed red and her head tilted to the side. I suddenly remembered that I had...somewhere else to be. I grabbed some clothes on the floor and walked into my bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me. I didn't feel like changing with an audience. At least not that audience.

Ten minutes later, I stood in the training room amidst the Avengers. Everyone seemed to already know what they were supposed to be doing, so as I looked around aimlessly, the group gradually started migrating towards their pre-determined routines, leaving me and Steve standing awkwardly in the center of the training room. "You and me kid," Rogers was saying. I think he was talking to me. "Let's see what you've got." I raised an eyebrow.

"How much do you know about me, Rogers?" I asked, chuckling lightly to myself. The muscular man shrugged.

"You're a shield agent." I smirked. This was going to be fun, and I didn't need my 'friend's' assistance in kicking this man-boy's ass...bum. Language.

Before long, I noticed that almost the entire team had gathered around the ring, watching the 'match' between me and Steve. Sweat was dripping off of him and he hadn't landed a single hit. "Come on, Cap." Sam cheered on his friend from the sidelines. Steve panted, trying to catch his breath, grinning up at me.

"You're tougher than you look," he acknowledged.

"Isn't that supposed to be your job?" I smirked. The blonde smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. His next words, however, knocked the smile right off of my face.

"Romanoff, you're up." I gulped. Shit. Natasha swung gracefully into the ring, ducking under the ropes, smiling.

"America's ass got it handed to him," she chuckled lowly. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Watch your mouth, Natasha," he teased back. She chuckled. Natalasha fighting was something else. I caught up on her greatest hits the evening before, watching reruns on the news about the Battle of New York and Sokovia. She was quick, she was adaptive, and she was highly trained. Unfortunately for her, I was faster.

After a mutual head nod acknowledging our readiness, she ran towards me, picking up speed on the way, launching her body into the air attempting to bring me down. I pivoted out of the way at the last moment, lightly touching her back and shoving her back. She stumbled but didn't go down. Natasha looked back over her shoulder at me smirking. I lowered myself into a crouch, waiting.

She came at me again, aiming low this time, and I sidestepped her low kick just in time, bringing my fist down into the bend of her knee. She twisted away. A punch was next, and I caught her hand easily before it made contact, pushing her backwards with a forceful shove. The look on her face now was more of surprise than snark or arrogance. Natasha glared over towards the onlookers when she heard Tony and Steve chuckling under their breath. I glanced over to see Wanda giving me a look of what seemed like appreciation and she gave me a slick thumbs-up sign when Natasha wasn't looking.

Natasha swung again, and I ducked under the blow, landing one on her abdomen, pulling my punch back at the last minute so I didn't hit her full force. She moved a few paces back anyway. The expression on Natasha's face was now one of determination and something that looked at least a little bit like anger. I caught myself smiling. She wasn't used to losing, and she certainly didn't like it.

We began true hand-to-hand combat, the fancy pivots, flips and kicks forgotten. I hissed as her fist grazed my chin slightly, frowning. Was this for real? I thought we were training. I frowned and began concentrating in earnest. Every punch she threw came with more and more force. She must be getting tired by now, but you couldn't tell. Every move was equally as precise. She wasn't holding back. A few moments later, she spun away from a left hook only for my right fist to make contact directly with the bridge of her nose, and she landed flat on her back. Shit. That was entirely too hard. I knelt beside her, staring at her concerned.

"I'm sorry, that was way too hard," I apologized, offering her a hand to help her up. She slapped it away, springing back to her feet in an instant.

"Are we done here?" She spat at Steve. He looked at her for a moment before nodding. She left the ring – and the room – and the entire floor of the compound – without ever looking back. Steve sighed as I glanced over at him, shrugging.

"I'll take care of it," he murmured, turning and following the redhead out of the room. Slowly the rest of the team began to trickle out muttering to each other about the fight they just saw and glancing back at me with admiration. A few moments later, only me and Wanda were left. The witch stared at me, smirking. I walked over to the edge of the ring, leaning on the ropes and smiling down at her.

"What's that smirk for, Maximoff?" She chuckled before ducking under the top rope, entering the ring with me.

"Why don't you show me what you can really do?" I grinned.

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" I challenged her. She shook her head at me.

"Try me."

"As you wish." This time, Anti-Venom's voice merged with mine, and I could feel the fluid feeling symbiote liquid beginning at my fingertips. I embraced the familiar sensation as Wanda's eyes went wide.