Cosmic

Training

She kicked me in the chest and I fell with a grunt onto my ass. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. I was breathing heavily as I glared up at Natasha. "You lasted longer that time." She said coldly. We were in the training room. The floor was padded but after falling on it so many times in the past two hours it felt hard as a rock. Coulson had taken me here after breakfast and handed me over to Natasha, Maria, and Clint. Clint and Maria hadn't pounded on me yet. It had just been Natasha. I think she was taking out her hostility and anger on me. Clint had been leaning against the wall watching intently. Maria had been sitting on a nearby bench with her head down. I guess she didn't want to watch me fail. I knew she liked me. I reminded her of her younger sister, but she was dead.

With a small groan I stood up. Natasha certainly wasn't holding back. When we first fought I had tried not to hurt her but she didn't have any problem with hurting me. She knocked me down in five minutes. I got angry. I punched her in the face the second time around but made the mistake of asking if she was ok. "Are you going to ask the bad guys if they're ok after you punch them!" She shouted down at me. I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. I was tiered. I don't think I was ready for another round with her.

"Catch." Maria said. I looked her away and she threw a water bottle in my direction. I unscrewed the cap and downed half of the bottle. My stomach was still angry at me from constantly being punched in the gut and not doing anything about it.

"Ready?" Natasha asked. Grudgingly I nodded. We were about five feet apart but she could close the distance in an instant. She was small but agile. I was tall so i hsould've hadd the advantage but i was clumsy. I trip over myself a lot. We circled each other. She was strategizing her attack. I hadn't been able to use my powers. Not that they would be of much use. I guess the images would come in handy with seeing how she was going to attack. Super hearing is sort of a bust. But the whole telekinesis and levitating. Big no no. She attacked. She came toward me with a flying kick I had anticipated this and was able to doge her grab her arm and pin it to her back. She quickly responded by throwing me over her back. I fell on my feet. She had done this to me too many times know. I knew how to get up from it.

She moved to kick me in the face but I rolled away and landed standing up. She was on me in a second punching me. I kicked her with enough force so that she was pretty far away from me. I stared at her. She hadn't even broken a sweat and we had been going at each other for an hour. How did she do it? She came at me again and her fist connected with my jaw. The whole time we had been fighting we hadn't drawn blood. I broke that streak right now when my lip split open. I tasted blood in my mouth and wiped at it with my hand. It came away streaked red. Natasha still wanted to fight.

"Enough!" I shouted at her. Everything in the room was pushed back against the wall. Natasha, Maria, and Clint were all pressed against the wall about a foot off the ground. They were struggling to get free. I stalked over to Natasha and glared up at her. She looked down at me. Even now she wasn't scared of me. "Why do you hate me so much? I haven't done anything?" I asked her calmly. I didn't wait for an answer. Instead I made a beeline for the door. I pushed the doors open and as I heard them close behind me they dropped to the floor and land on their feet. Then I was running down the hall. I knew where I was going without even thinking about it. The weight room.

I burst through the doors. Steve whipped around to look at me. His hair was plastered to his face with sweat. He looked tired and upset. I probably looked the same. He turned around and walked towards me. I stood there staring at the floor. I licked my lips. The blood was still flowing. Steve gently lifted my head up to look at me closely. "It'll heal but you should go wash your face." He said quietly. I'm guessing this was the nice way of telling me I looked like a wreck. I walked past him and into the adjoining bathroom. Staring at myself in the mirror I realized just how bad I looked. My eyes were big and red like I was about to cry or had cried. My hair was all over the place. Sticking to my forehead and neck. It had fallen out of its ponytail. Natasha wasn't afraid to grab hair. My lip was a bloody mess.

Frustrated I splashed water on my face until I looked decent. I grabbed some paper towels and dabbed at my face and lips. I yanked the rubber band out of my hair, not caring that I had forcefully uprooted some of my hair with it. I ran my fingers through the tangles and then let it fall loosely around my face. It was getting a bit long. It was a little past my chest area I've had it longer but it was easy to take care of when it was shorts plus it had those beach waves, and not the pretty kind. The ones that look like I just rolled out of bed. My face looked better than it did before and my lip had stopped bleeding. Sighing I walked out of the bathroom. Steve was sitting on a bench hunched over hands folded in front of him. He stood up when he heard the door open. I gestured for him to sit which he did and I sat next to him. "You really took a beating didn't you." He said. I shrugged.

"I got a few punches in too." I answered quietly. We were silent. "Why does she hate me?" I asked looking up at him. He breathed out as if preparing himself.

"Natasha doesn't hate you. She just doesn't.." I cut in.

"Trust me." He gave me a strange look. "I heard you guys talking last night." He paled slightly. "She wants me dead... Thanks for defending me though. You and Dr. Banner." He nodded.

"You're welcome." I fiddled with my hands.

"Natasha needs some time to get used to you being around." He said I looked at him.

"She got used to you, Thor, Stark and, Banner pretty fast." I retorted. Steve shrugged.

"She thinks your dangerous."

"And you don't?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I think you need to learn more control." I sighed and looked at him. His blue eyes looked like ice. He quickly looked away.

"What?" I asked a bit confused.

"Nothing." He said shaking his head. He opened his mouth but shut it again. Finally he came out with it. "I feel like when you're looking at me you're looking at my memories and I don't know how I feel about that." I quickly shook my head.

"I don't. Everyone I encounter I shove their memories back inside of them." He looked at me questioningly.

"How?" He asked. "It's like shoving them back into their brain. Or an on and off switch you know? They're still there and I can pull them up any time if I want to but I'm not doing it now. Promise." I held out my pinky to him. He chuckles. "What! Come on pinky promise." I said with a smile. He hooked his pinky around mine.

"You know if I find out you're lying we're going to have to cut your pinky off." I must have had a look of absolute horror on my face because he started laughing. It sounded wonderful. I was laughing now too. I hadn't done that in a while. Steve was still snickering but I wasn't ready to drop the subject of Natasha yet.

"How about Clint? Will he not like me forever too." Steve shook his head.

"Natasha and Clint haven't known each other long but they think alike. Once one of them likes you they both will." He sounded so sure but I wasn't convinced. Not entirely anyways.

"So who should I try to kiss up to first?" He chuckled.

"Clint. He prefers his girls brunette." I smiled. That's when the doors opened and Coulson walked in.

"Hey Phil." I said lightly. He sighed.

"Rough day?" He asked looking at my lip. I shrugged.

"It could have gone better." Coulson nodded.

"I guess that's partly my fault." I shook my head and stood up. Steve followed my motions.

"No. I'm just a wimp." I replied with a shrug.

"You are many things Astella," Coulson said looking at me intently "But a wimp is not one of them." Steve nodded next to me. Coulson motioned for me to go with him. I started to walk toward him but Steve grabbed my arm.

"Are you okay now?" he asked quietly. His blue eyes searched my face as if the answer was written across it.

"I'll be fine." i whispered. He nodded and let go of my arm. Coulson was at the door now. He was holding it open for me. We stepped into the hallway.

"Oh." Coulson said remembering something. I looked up at him.

"Yeah?" i asked.

"Never call me Phil." i couldn't help but laugh.