Fixed in the Shadows

All of us Avengers agreed that in between big battles, we should keep in touch and train so we decided to do both at once. We got Fury to let us train at one of the SHIELD bases. Thank the good Lord Jesus for Tony's smooth tongue.

Once again, Bruce is not joining us. He left the country the same day we went to the mall. I'm really beat up about it. I really liked that guy. And Thor got yet another extention on his stay. He is leaving in three days. Jane Foster is coming to visit him in New York City.

The training room is a tall, white space about fifty feet high and one hundred feet wide. Our voices echo off the metallic walls. The area is lined with weapons of all sorts: lasers, guns, flame throwers. I feel a sort of excitement being around so much danger. I guess you could call me an adrenaline junkie.

"Alright, listen up," Fury snaps from across the training room. "If you're going to be here, you're going to train. No messing around... that means you, Tony." Nick gives the billionaire a stern look.

"Yeah, got it," Tony says, barely looking up from his phone. He is floating next to me in his Iron Man suit.

"Get to it!" Fury claps his hands and turns toward the door. Just as he is leaving, he pressed a giant red button.

I hear the guns load. I have no idea when they are going to start firing. A machine gun aims right at me. When it starts shooting, Steve crouches in front of me, blocking the bullets with his shield. "Thanks," I breathe, panting with shock.

"You're welcome." He smiles at me.

"Your orders, Cap," I say.

"Alright, everyone gather 'round; here's the plan." Steve shouts, standing up. "Thor, Tony, I want you to take the top four levels of weapons. Skylar and I will take the bottom two. I want Clint and Natasha to take out the androids."

"Androids?" Natasha questions, confused. Just as she asks, robots resembling men come out of the walls, coming toward us with guns. "Oh, those androids. Got it."

"Do you wanna say it?" Steve asks, turning toward me. "I know you've always wanted to."

"It would be an honor," I say, putting my hand over my chest. I turn back to everyone else. "Avengers, assemble!" I scream, throwing my fist in the air.

We all immediately get to work. Thor and Tony fly up to to the ceiling. Tony shoots the guns while Thor smashes them with the mighty mjolnir. Natasha shoots multiple androids in the face. Clint electrocutes an andoid with one of his arrows. Steve tosses his shield, dismantling one of the many flame throwers. I am able to take down the first level guns but the second level is too high.

"How are we going to do this?" I ask, running toward Steve.

Steve looks up at the weapons. Then it comes to him. "I have an idea." He explains it to me.

I nod and step about ten feet back. I sprint to him, jumping onto his shield. He launches me in the air. I am just high enough to slash through two machine guns with my swords. We continue to do this until all of level two is obsolete. Steve and I then help out with the androids.

The Avengers conquer the first five of one hundred levels in the training room in a record-setting time. Fury comes back to congratulate us and all the SHIELD agents applaud. We take a bow. We decide to head the boxing room to practice our hand-to-hand combat skills.

"There's archery in here?" Clint exclaims as he runs into the enormous room.

"Yeah," Tony says. "I asked them to put it in here so we can all be together while we train."

"Ooh, I wanna try!" I say, running after Clint. "I bet I'm awesome at this! How hard could it be?" I pick up a bow and load it with an arrow. I take the stance and pull back the string. I breathe in and shoot the arrow. At first it looks like it is going to hit the target but then it takes a turn and flies way out of range. "Shit!"

"Haha! Not as great as you think you are!" Tony teases.

"Shut up, Tony! Clint will you help me?" I gesture for him to come over by me.

"Sure, Skylar," Clint says, smiling. He puts his body right up against mine from behind, holding my arms with his. "You did great but you're not aiming right." He slides his hands onto my hips twisting them in the right postion. "There. Now you're going to move your arm up like this." He moves closer and closer to me.

"Hey, now," I hear Tony mutter.

I can feel Clint's crotch against my bum but I don't say anything. "Okay," I nod, absorbing his information.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Natasha says, approaching us. "Why don't we box for awhile!" There is jealousy in her tone.

"But I wanna learn how to do archery!" I whine.

"It'll just take a second, Nat," Clint assures her.

"Noo, I think we should do some boxing now." Her voice and stance is impatient.

"Alright, fine," I say, stepping away from Clint. "C'mon, Steve, let's go box." I grab my man's hand and give Natasha a weird look.

Steve holds the punching back as I send my fist into it over and over again. "What was that about?" He asks me, looking over at my supposed best friend.

"I have no idea," I mutter, letting out all my frustation. "I guess she was just jealous of the way Clint was touching me."

"Yeah, that must be it."

I stop punching and looking up at him. "Were you jealous?" I ask, putting on a smirk and wiping sweat from my brow.

"Not at all," Steve says, shaking his head assuringly.

"Are you sure?"

"I am not the jealous type, Skylar. He was just showing you how to shoot an arrow properly. It's not like you were dancing together. Now, I would have a problem with that."

"You would?" I ask, putting my hands on my hips. He nods. "Good." I give him a long kiss.

"Ew! PDA!" Tony shouts, pointing at us.

"Oh, leave the lovers be, Tony," Thor says, playfully hitting his friend on the shoulder.

"Ew, do not call them lovers," Tony grimaces.

"Why? They are lovers, are they not?" Thor asks, gesturing to us.

"Just don't use the word 'lover'. It just reminds me that they have sex." He shudders.

"You bet we do!" I tease. Steve then grabs me and bends me back, planting a smooch on my lips.

"Ugh! You two are like animals!" Tony yells at us.

When Steve lets me back up, I look over at Natasha. She is staring at me with a disgusted look on her face. I sigh and roll my eyes. "You know what?" I call over to her. "If you're so pissed at me, let it all out."

"What do you mean?" She asks, turning toward me.

"Let's go," I say, gesturing to the boxing ring.

"Really?" She cocks an eyebrow.

"You know it."

"Alright, let's do it." She walks over to the ring and slides beneath the ropes.

I take off my sweatshirt, ushering whistles from all the guys. I am no longer afraid of showing my scars. And I'm much too annoyed to even care now. "We need some music."

"Oh, I know the perfect song!" Natasha leans over, plugging her iPod into the speaker system. She picks "Whore" by Get Scared.

I gasp. "Uh! How dare you use one of my favorite bands against me! I call foul on you, madame." I point at her dramactically.

She puts her hands on her hips. "What? You are a cheap little whore!" Her noise scrunches up as she says this.

"This oughta be good," Tony mutters.

"Should we stop this?" Steve asks Clint.

"Nah, let's just watch it play out," he answers, waving Steve off.

"Go Lady Skylar!" Thor chants. Natasha shoots him a dirty look. He silences. "Sorry," he mumbles.

"Ooh! This is totally going on Facebook!" Clint exclaims, pulling out his phone.

"Again with this 'Facebook'! Ugh!" Thor sighs.

"Alright, let's go skank," I say, cracking my kneck. I step forward.

Natasha meets me in the middle. We stare deep into each other eyes, seething with annoyance and rage. Finally, she takes a swing. I skillfully block it with my arm. I aim to punch her in the gut but she moves before I manage to. She kicks her leg up in the air but I duck, just maneuvering out of the way. I jump up and kick her. She grabs my leg, causing me to crash down on my back. She laughs but then I leg sweep her, causing her to fall to the floor. Now that we're both on the ground, we resort to hair pulling and biting. We roll back and forth, on top of each other.

"This is so hot," Clint says, mesmerized.

"I have to agree with you on that one," Tony says, taking a picture with his phone.

"They are great warriors," Thor says, admiring the two of us.

"You're so dumb!" I scream in her face. "At least I have fashion sense!"

"At least I'm a real secret agent!" She yells back.

"Like I care! Like I would want to be part of your club. You're just a yuppy freak that listens to everything she's told!"

"Well, at least I'm not some little slut that goes after taken men!"

"At least I can get a man! You would have never been able to get Clint without my help!"

Natasha gasps in shock. She throws me off of her. "Well, at least I'm not lying to mine about my feelings!"

"Uh! You did not just say that!" I give her a deathly glare. I then turn to Steve, still flat on my butt.

He steps forward. "What is she talking about?" Steve asks quietly. He knows that Natasha and I tell each other everything.

"Ooh, this is getting even better!" Tony giggles, elbowing Thor in the side.

"Um, maybe we should go talk about this somewhere else," I say quietly, biting my lip.

"Yeah, maybe we should." There is anger in his voice. Steve leads the way out into the hallway. "What's going on?" He puts his fists on his hips.

"Well, um..." I don't make eye contact with him.

"What did you she mean by that? What are lying to me about? Is there something else in your past that I don't know about?"

"No! It's nothing like that..."

"Then what is it?"

"Well, I sort of... still have feelings for Sam." He starts to turn away, completely heartbroken. I grip Steve's arm and pull him back to face me. "But it doesn't mean anything! I care much more about you!"

"How could you-- how?" He stammers. He rubs his face with his hand. "I just don't understand. I thought we had something going here." He gestures between us.

"Well... it's not like I'm the only one in this relationship who still has feelings for someone else..."

He looks at me. "What do you mean?"

"I know about Peggy, Steve." I sigh. "I've know for a long time. It's in your file."

Steve opens his mouth to say something but then closes it. He exhales and leans back against the wall sliding down to the floor.

"Listen," I say, sitting next to him. "I don't care if you do. Peggy was your first love and she was taken away from you. Sam was my first love. I chose to end it." I grab his hand and squeeze it.

"I know. But you can understand how insecure I can get when I find out you have feelings for someone else."

"I told that to Natasha in confidence. I never wanted you to know. They're not even really there anymore. He's old news. You're the guy I want to be with." I put my hand on his knee.

"I know," he says, smiling. He then leans in and pecks a kiss on my lips.