Hello Captain (Steve Rogers)

Hey neighbor

Steve's POV
I watched myself walk out onto the workout floor to spar with Sarah in disbelief. "I can't watch this," I ground out between gritted teeth. "It's one thing to watch when I knew it was a controlled exercise; it's another to watch myself deliberately trying to hurt her."

"That's the point; think about it, Cap – if Loki ever got control of you what would happen?" Clint asked, gesturing at himself. "I almost brought down the helicarrier and tried to kill my best friend while I was under his control."

"He's right," Natasha said. "The only one that could stop you without getting killed is the Hulk – maybe Thor if he's on planet. Tony might be able to stop you, but we're not sure. She needs to know how to fight you in a worst case scenario."

"You do have a point," I conceded, watching them shift into fighting stance.

"If Sarah holds out against you for half of the time, will you consider sparring with her on a more regular basis?" Natasha asked, studying my face as I thought that through.

"I'll consider it," I allowed. "Depending on how this match goes."

Maria blew her whistle again and we watched as they smoothly shifted into their attacks. The first thing I noticed was their speed. Sarah's earlier exercise with the Strike teams had been in slow motion compared to now and I suddenly could see just how much she'd been holding back before. I wasn't the only one to realize that, either. The Strike guys were watching with fascination and most of them were looking at her with more respect now. She could have knocked them all out in less than a minute, but instead, she'd left them their dignity.

"Damn," Clint said quietly as we watched their weapons clashing hard and fast. "I mean I know you're fast, but this is something else. You really hold back when you spar with Nat, don't you Cap?"

We watched as they hit each other so hard their bo's broke in half. Keeping both of the parts, they changed attack styles to suit the two shorter weapons, moving so fast they were almost a blur. I couldn't tell who was landing hits, but someone was based off the sound of wood hitting flesh.

"Yeah, I guess I do," I said, crossing my arms to keep from interfering as a couple hits landed. Sarah was going to be very bruised for as hard as they were hitting each other. "I haven't fought with this kind of intensity since New York."

"She's not letting you take the lead," Natasha murmured, focused on the fighters. "She doesn't think she can beat you."

It wasn't much longer before the sound of breaking wood had them pausing long enough to discard the now useless weapons, shifting to hand to hand combat. I watched as Sarah landed a firm kick to the torso, pushing Mystique back a couple feet. As soon as she regained her balance, she was back after Sarah, using my strength for a fast punching combination that Sarah almost couldn't block - and she was faster than Natasha.

"I noticed that," I said grimly. "She can't – but that isn't me." We watched as Sarah's attack shifted to more of a boxing style and she landed one to the jaw before dodging a chest punch and kicking at the legs, forcing Mystique back again before continuing her attack. "Sarah's studied my fighting style, hasn't she?"

"Of course," Clint said, wincing as Sarah took a solid hit to the solar plexus followed by a blow to her injured shoulder that sent her to her knees, tucking her arm to the side. "Damn, Cap. Remind me not to ever get on your bad side."

"You've never seen my bad side, Barton," I replied as I exhaled loudly, watching as Sarah struggled to catch her breath but still kept moving, rolling out of the way of the next blow to come up behind Mystique. She kicked at the shapeshifter's lower back following with a double roundhouse kick.