Fighting The Past - Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Two Months Later

Y/N wiped the beads of sweat from their brow, taking deep breaths as their eyes tracked the training droids that circled them. They had been in the training warehouse for hours now, not that they had been paying attention, when the simulations ended, Y/N would just tell FRIDAY to restart. Y/N would ignore FRIDAY's suggestions to take a break. 

They had spent too long trapped in a cell, their body and mind being punished over and over again. Training like this had always been a coping mechanism of sorts for Y/N, it enabled them to ignore the crowded thoughts in their mind and just focus on drill after drill, ensuring a perfect score each round. 

Their body was mostly healed, but there were still twinges of pain and deep aches that seemed to refuse to leave entirely. Y/N pushed through it, they weren't worried about hurting themselves more, after everything they'd been through at the hands of Antonia and Bucky it didn't seem possible to do any worse. 

"FRIDAY, rerun it" Y/N commanded as they stripped off the oversized baggy t-shirt they had been wearing, revealing their toned stomach and arms. 

"Your vitals are extremely elevated Y/N. I would suggest pausing for a moment" FRIDAY said through the speaker system in the warehouse. 

"You are not my doctor FRIDAY. Just rerun the damn simulation!" Y/N's temper flared as they paced the length of the training ring. 

The sound of the large metal door at the far end of the warehouse sliding up had Y/N turning around, stopping them from having a go at FRIDAY, who had still not restarted the simulation for them. It was unusual for anyone else to turn up here, they had all seemed to be respecting the space that Y/N needed at the moment. 

A frown creased Y/N's brow when they saw that it was Wanda who had come to interrupt their training session. The red haired witch wasn't alone, behind her was Yelena who looked concerned when they caught sight of Y/N. 

"What do you want?" Y/N asked as they grabbed a towel from the edge of the training ring and used it to wipe their face and neck. 

"Great to see you too Y/N, I'll wait for that thank you for saving your ass in writing shall I?" Yelena quipped as her and Wanda reached the side of the training ring. 

Y/N snarled and cursed at Yelena in Russian under their breath. 

"A delight as always. Told you we were wasting our time coming down here" Yelena said looking to Wanda now. 

Wanda shook her head a little. 

"Y/N, don't you think you've spent long enough avoiding everything?" Wanda questioned as she looked at them, for weeks now Y/N had been hiding either here in the warehouse or at an apartment in the city refusing any invite to come to Stark Tower or the Compound after they had stormed out of the medical facility. 

A flash of anger crossed Y/N's face at the question. Of course Wanda and Yelena were here to stick themselves right in the middle of their business, as if it was of any concern to them how they decided to spend their time. After waking up in that damned medical room, Y/N had flipped out, they'd felt trapped all over again. They wouldn't admit it out loud that they had suffered a panic attack then, that the PTSD from what had been done to them was now constantly haunting them. 

"What does it matter to you?" Y/N snapped back, growing more irritated with the intrusion now. 

"It matters because we risked our lives to save yours and now you are acting like a first class asshole. You yelled at Nat, told her to stay away from you. Do you even care about what she went through those weeks you were gone?" Yelena cut in, climbing into the training ring.