Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 2 - Sparring (Also A Near Death Experience)

I was relieved when I got into Happy's car that afternoon, trying to ignore the camera flashes of the paparazzi and the cellphones of my classmates. He turned to me as he started to drive away from the school, "how does it feel to be known as a Stark?"

"Don't tell my father, but I hate it," I replied, sinking down as far in my seat as possible to get away from the cameras. "Do you know how many people - people I have never once spoken to, mind you - came up to me to ask for photos and autographs or just wanted to ask about the Avengers? I'm fairly positive all of my teachers now officially hate me because of the disturbances I was creating. I didn't even get to eat lunch because I had so many people coming up to me."

"Well it wasn't as if you were eased into becoming famous, it just happened overnight and you were forced to deal with it. Besides, I'm sure that it will die out as time goes by, unless you manage to keep yourself in news headlines."

"I'm the daughter or Tony Stark and work with the Avengers, I think I will be able to manage that."

"Coming from someone who knows you, I don't think you'll ever be out of the papers," he chuckled, glancing into the rearview mirror. "Why are you following us? Everyone knows where the Avengers compound is, but you aren't going to be able to get in there, buddy."

I glanced into one of the side mirrors to see the car the he was talking to, noticing the flash of a gun as it was handed over to the person in the passenger seat. "Happy, I would get out of their sight immediately, before they start shooting."

"Before they start-? Oh, you have got to be kidding me," he groaned, quickly taking a left of the street we were passing, speeding up after making the turn. The car seemed to realize that we noticed them, rolling down the passenger window and starting to shoot. I wasn't sure if this person normally had good aim, but they certainly couldn't target a moving vehicle, although it didn't help that Happy was driving like a maniac.

"Happy, please try not to get me killed," I commented, rolling down my own window and turning myself around in my seat.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, (Y/N)?" Happy demanded, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glare at me.

"Just keep driving, I've got them," I replied, switching my weapon used bracelet to my left hand and perching myself outside of the window, holding onto the grab handle with my right hand for stability.

Knowing that I had just made myself an easier target, I knew that I had to act quickly. I didn't have to time to aim manually, so I turned to (A/I), "Hey (A/I) can you target their front tires as well as the guys in the driver's and passenger's seats."

Four tiny missile type weapons exited the small bracelet, each one hitting their designated target. The car swerved to the side and crashed into a tree, the hood bending upon impact. The doors in the back opened and two more guys climbed out, each with their own assault rifle. Not even bothering with my bracelet, I flicked my wrist and sent two daggers flying into each attacker's neck before slipping back into my seat.

"Got them," I informed Happy, rebuckling my seat belt and rolling the window back up.

"You do realize that I'm going to have to tell your father about that, right? He's not going to like to hear that you dangled yourself out of a car window speeding down the road under gunfire."

I rolled my eyes, "Well he should like that a lot better than hearing that his daughter was killed during an ambush on her way home from school. He might be upset with me, but honestly at this point I don't really care. It seems that he's always upset at me for putting myself in unnecessary danger."

"That's because you kind of do, you seek out danger for fun. Tony knows you can handle yourself, but I can tell that he's terrified that one day you won't come home from a patrol because you got outnumbered or someone caught you off-guard."

"I'm usually with Peter and he has his spidey sense, so I can trust him to protect me," I smiled, proud of how skilled my boyfriend was.

Once we arrived at the compound, I practically ran through the halls so that no one would stop me and ask how my day was, instead making a beeline straight to Gamora's room. Once there I knocked on the door, "hey Gamora, didn't you promise me one last spar before you went home?"

She opened the door a minute later, "yes I did, I'll meet you in the training room in one minute."

"Hey, I thought we were having a moment in here," I heard the protests of Peter Quill, who was sitting on Gamora's bed looking quite offended.

"We can have a moment later, first I want to go fight," Gamora replied, grabbing her weapons and throwing them on her belt.

I teleported down to the training room so that I wouldn't be rudely eavesdropping any longer and activated my suit. I began to warn up as I waited for her to arrive, knowing that I needed it after having sat in desks all day. Gamora arrived a few minutes later, looking ready to tear me apart after I won against her yesterday.

We began to fight, Gamora with her long retractable sword and me with a jian that I had found in the room and had grown quite comfortable using. I chose not to use my magic as it gave me a unfair advantage over her and, besides, I did want to work more on my hand-to-hand combat.

The power shifted between Gamora and I until she got me pinned up against a wall with her sword pointing at my neck, but I wasn't ready for the match to end yet, so I hooked my sword in hers, pulling it from her hand and kicked her abdomen so that she would be sent flying back. She sprung back up to her feet before I had chance to reach her, waiting for me to make a move before attacking.

I thrust my jian at her, using it as a diversion as brought her own sword across her body. She feigned injury, taking the opportunity to kick my left hand, causing me to drop her sword. I tried to pick it up again, but she placed her foot on top of it to keep it to the ground. Knowing it was useless to try to pull it out from beneath her, I feigned that move while instead launching myself on top of her, wrapping my thighs around her neck.

She fell to the ground, but rolled out of my grasp, grabbing her sword as she did so. Before she had time to recover, I lunged at her, thrusting my jian towards her chest. Hoping that she would forfeit there, I was disappointed as she hooked her blade on mine and ripped it from my hand. She then swept her leg underneath mine, knocking me off balance. I fell to the ground beside her and she pressed pulled me into a chokehold with her blade pressing against my neck.

With a sigh, I tapped her arm, letting her know that she had won. I must say, it was not surprising that she was a master assassin, but after my win the day before, I was really hoping to keep up that streak. However the fight did allow me to release some of my pent up frustration and it was quite a treat to spar with someone as talented as she was. Not that the other Avengers didn't provide a challenge, but I hadn't already grown accustomed to each of her tactics as I had with everyone else.