Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 23

And now a little intrigue, a wee bit of action, and Steve eating crow. Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone!

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Chapter 23

Steve ducked, but not fast enough to avoid the second half of the spinning back kick Natasha swung his way. He grabbed her leg and held it, preventing her from completing a kick to his temple. Natasha yelped with frustration and punched him twice in the side of the head, causing him to see stars. He ignored the pain and threw her to the ground, raising his boot to stomp on her midsection. She grabbed his foot and rolled, throwing him off-balance. He fell. She leaped on top of him, going straight for his throat. At the last moment, Steve bent in half, wrapped his ankles around her neck, and flipped her backwards hard upon the ground, pinning her. She shrieked in anger and flailed, trying to get up, but could not.

"Enough of the horseplay!" Nick Fury shouted. "We've got a briefing to conduct!"

Steve released his hold and rolled to his feet, lending her a hand to get up. Just in case, he kept his right knee bent for extra balance. Giving him a smile of pure innocence, Natasha took his hand and yanked him forward, knocking him off-balance. Steve was ready for it. Instead of fighting the fall, he rolled forward in a move any first-year gymnastics student learns and landed upright in a ta-da position, turning magnanimously once more to re-offer Natasha his hand.

"Way to go, Cap!" Tony Stark and Thor both clapped from the sidelines of the sparring area.

"You're getting to know my moves," Natasha groused, this time getting up for real.

"Only some of them," Steve said. "I may be an old dog, but I usually only get burned once before learning new tricks."

The eyes which stared back at him were watchful. Wary and alert. The Black Widow's normal demeanor. Ever since the incident on Ambrym, Steve had not detected that peculiar 'off' sensation in her reaction time, but his gut still whispered 'be careful.' Natasha killed without remorse when ordered, but killing someone against a direct order, even an alien, was unusual for her. Had it been anyone else … maybe. Most people were prone to heat-of-the-moment fits of passion if properly aroused. Even him. The aliens had, after all, tried to suck Natasha's brains out of her head. Or that was what they were calling the strange injuries she and the Melanesian islanders had all suffered at the hands of the Chitauri.

"Enough of the foreplay," Tony Stark said with a grin. He waggled his eyebrows at them, earning a snicker from both Banner and Thor.

Clint was not amused. Steve had begun to notice a strain between Natasha and her lover … if that's what they really were. Somehow, he thought so. Or at least they had been before the weirdness had started, though he wasn't so sure about right now. If he didn't know any better, he would swear Natasha was flirting with him these days instead of Clint. Steve gave Clint a friendly a grin to communicate he was not a threat. Clint glowered and stalked in the direction Nick Fury had gone. Towards the maximum security area of the Triskelion.

After going through several layers of passcodes, guards, and retinal scanners, they gained access to the subject of today's briefing. The captured Chitauri sat in a bulletproof glass observation area similar to the one used to inter Loki on the U.S.S. Gerald Ford. The creature glanced up at the audience that had come in to gawk at it then feigned disinterest, even though they were certain it watched their every move. Natasha came in behind them. She walked up to stand in front of the glass, taunting the creature with her presence. That got a reaction. The creature hissed and moved as far away from Natasha as possible, its six-fingered hands tugging nervously upon the bandages covering the stitches in its neck.