Ruthless and Mockingbird

The alarm clock beside the Captain's bed did little to wake him up the following morning. In fact, it didn't wake him at all. All night, Steve stayed up to make sure that the house was quiet enough for his tutor sleeping down the hall. He wasn't sure how much noise she could handle, but he really didn't feel like having a possibly grumpy woman with super strength destroying more of the house the next day.

The alarm did accomplish one thing, however: telling Steve that it was time to get up and ready for the day ahead. So, still a little worn out, he made his way to his en suite bathroom and began his morning routine. Part of him worried to finish up and make his way down the hall.

What if Ruth wasn't a morning person? Would her new heightened senses be more sensitive? He hoped not. Steve really was not looking forward to starting off the day with another bruised body part. But alas, he had to face the music.

Steve made his way out to the hall, praying a silent prayer that Ruth was already awake, in a good mood, and waiting patiently for him to open her door and escort her out for the day.

Standing tall, the hero opened his own door and began his short walk.

**

Bobbi lay in bed, staring at the white ceiling above her. She'd been doing that for what felt like ages. Sleep had not come easy to her that night, even after the pleasant experience of exploring the laboratory. With her husband so close, only a room away, she couldn't help but remember.

Most of the memories were good ones, but as they came to mind they left her feeling sad. Then the most recent and painful ones came, and all she could think about was the look in Clint's eyes when she'd told him the truth about what she'd done. Those eyes would haunt her forever. And with the way he acted toward her last night, the way he turned to the woman with red hair and gave her a pleading look, Bobbi knew that her husband had been less than faithful during their separation.

That home-wrecking little... thought Bobbi, but then she remembered how 'Nat' had acted when she was leaving. No guilty look, just a cold shoulder. Maybe this other woman didn't know she was the other woman. Which would mean that Clint had lied about his marital status.

As the alarm blared from her bedside, Bobbi ripped it out of the socket and threw it across the room in anger. How did her life end up like this? Regretting her outburst, she got out of bed and checked to see if the clock was intact. It was, so she put it back on the small table and got dressed.

When she got to the door, she paused with her fingers gripping the handle. She could stay inside this room where it was safe and warm, where no one could ask her probing questions about who she was. If she opened that door, she ran the risk of being bombarded, or having another awkwardly silent meeting with Clint. Though, Bobbi thought that if she saw Clint just now, she'd probably either punch him in the face or shove one of her battle staves somewhere he really wouldn't want it.

Biting the proverbial bullet, Bobbi opened the door and stepped outside.

**

Steve was slightly delighted to see another figure join him out in the hall. Bobbi wasn't exactly what he was hoping for, as he figured someone more familiar with Ruth would be better, but he decided to speak up all the same.

"Ma'am!" Steve called from just a couple yards away.

"Morning, Captain," Bobbi shouted back. Although they hadn't been formerly introduced, every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent knew who Captain America was.

Steve caught up to her, "I don't mean to be rude, but could you help me with something?"

"Sure," she said. "What do you need?"

"Well, it's Ruth," Steve answered. "Have you met her? Well, anyways, she's got new superhuman strength and she's not sure how to control it, and I have to go... Well, I was wondering if you'd help me wake her up, if I have to."

"You're afraid of a girl?" she asked, amused. It wasn't like she thought women were weaker than men, it was that this was Captain America. Surely the man who single-handedly ended World War II could handle waking up a woman about 70 years younger than himself.

"I'm afraid of what she can do, honestly," he stated, "Plus, I'm not even sure she is decent."

Bobbi thought about that a moment. "Alright," she said, "Let's go."

The pair made their way further down the hall silently. Finally Steve once again spoke up, "You and Clint are actually married?"

"Mhm," she nodded. She'd been wondering when he'd ask.

"Huh," he said, thoughtfully. "Never thought I would meet the woman who is actually willing to put up with his devil-may-care attitude."

Bobbi laughed, "You know, that's one of the things I love about him. When he's on a mission, he takes orders well enough, but he always executes them in his own way. A lot of the time that involves being a reckless jackass, but he always manages to come out on top. Always."

Cap just chuckled and shook his head, choosing not to further the conversation as they had finally reached their destination. Steve took a deep breath and hesitantly reach for the door, only to decide to retract it.

"Do you think she's up?" he asked, looking at Bobbi. "Should I knock just in case?"

Mockingbird rolled her eyes and rapped on the door. "Housekeeping!" she shouted. A few seconds later, Ruth opened the door as gently as a frail, old woman, looking quite irate.

"Really?" she whispered loudly, placing her bandaged hand on her pounding head. She hadn't slept at all, as the sounds from the city kept her awake. Closing her chocolate eyes tightly, she regretted not putting on her sunglasses before opening the door. "Couldn't you just call my name or something?"

Bobbi shrugged, "Seemed like the thing to do at the time. Steve says you've got new superpowers."

Ruth didn't answer, but grumbled a couple of choice words before stumbling back into her room to retrieve her glasses. She emerged a second later, a little more relaxed. Looking up at the two blondes in front of her, Ruth asked, "So what's the plans for today?"

"We're testing your eyesight next," Steve replied. "The maybe some more training on controlling your strength."

"Someone is trying to get out of his lesson," Ruth said with a snort. "I don't blame you, the Cold War is kinda boring when compared with fighting an alien race and all."

"I didn't-"

Ruth raised her injured hand and interrupted him, "I'll let it slide this once, Captain, but I do have my orders. So tomorrow we go right back to studying." Steve had a feeling Ruth was less excited about teaching his history lesson than he was, but he figured that he would just play along and avoid her foul mood.

"Would you like to join us, ma'am?" Steve directed his question to Mockingbird.

Bobbi thought about it for a minute before responding. "Why not? It's not like I have anything else to do right now. I'll just change my clothes and meet you there."

Steve nodded and he and Ruth made their way to the elevator in the opposite direction of where Bobbi's room was held.

It didn't take long to get there, and only a few minutes longer than that to change into some shorts and a tank top. It wasn't until Bobbi stepped out into the hall again that she realized she had no idea where the fuck the training room was. With an annoyed sigh, she began wandering the mansion, looking for any indication of where she needed to be.

A few minutes later, Bobbi saw someone go into a room down the hall. She called out, hoping it would be someone she wouldn't mind talking to so she could get directions to the training room, but, of course, it was one of the two people she didn't want to see. It was Natasha Romanoff who peeked her head out of her room. Wonderful.

Well, it was too late now. "I'm looking for the training room," said Bobbi. "Could you tell me where it is?"

Natasha was just as uneasy about speaking to Bobbi, but she was glad an opportunity to clear the air presented itself to her. The last thing Nat wanted was a stressful environment, especially with Banner in the house. She still got a bit shaky whenever she remembered her first experience with the Hulk.

"Sure," she said with an uneasy smile. "Actually, it'll be best if I show you, if that's alright."

"Okay," said Bobbi, not able to come up with an excuse to dissuade Natasha.

The red head began walking towards the elevator, motioning for the woman to follow her. The awkward silence was beginning to get to unhealthy level, so Nat spoke up.

"I want to clear the air," she stated as the elevator's doors opened up. "I knew that Clint was married, I didn't know it was to you, and I had no idea that the both of you were still married."

"I had a feeling," Bobbi sighed. They walked in silence for a moment before Bobbi stopped. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Sure."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't need to know," said Bobbi. She hesitated a moment, trying to find the right words. "Did.. Did Clint sleep with you, when he told you he wasn't married?"

"No," said Natasha. "Our relationship never even came close to that point. For the most part, we were just partners."

Bobbi let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She'd been sure that Clint had cheated on her, or at least made an attempt. Though, just because he hadn't had sex with Natasha, didn't mean there wasn't anyone else. This whole thing was giving Bobbi a headache.

"Good," said Bobbi. "That's.. good."

The doors suddenly opened up to what looked like a boxing ring mixed with a dujo. Bobbi gave a look to Natasha, wondering why the woman would show her when simply she could have told her which floor the room was on, but Natasha just gently shoved her out and pressed the 'Door Close' button leaving Mockingbird a bit thankful that the conversation was over.

"...my eyesight," was what Bobbi heard Ruth whine once her senses came back to her.

"Ruth, we need to know your limits," Steve said, pleading.

Bobbi found a mat on the side of the room and started stretching. When she was done, she decided to start with a punching bag. She imagined it was Clint. Putting her emotions into every hit made Bobbi feel a little bit of relief from the stress of the past several hours. It felt so good that she was sure that she could keep attacking the inanimate object over and over again.
However, Ruth's screeching voice brought her back to reality, and she quickly turned to see what was going on.

The young woman had her eyes covered with her hands, and, by the slight wrinkling of the skin on her face, it was a safe bet that she had them shut. Bobbi looked to Steve as he held the sunglasses in one hand high above his head so Ruth couldn't reach.

"Give them back, Rogers," said Ruth maliciously. She blindly jumped for them, but missed terribly.

"No. You can't wear your sunglasses while we're trying to test your eyesight. They defeat the purpose," Cap said, holding the object in question about an inch higher, just in case.

"I think keeping my eyes closed completely tramples the purpose!" she yelled, but winced at the timber of her voice. "At least turn off the lights!"

Steve considered that for a moment. "I'll dim them," he said, walking over to the switch on the wall and lowering it until they had some typical mood lighting. "There. Happy?"

Ruth slowly opened her eye, blinking a little bit. She sighed shakily and said, "A little, but it still stings a bit."

"You'll have to get used to it sometime," said Steve.

Ruth scoffed, "Like hell! You read my files, I spent weeks in a hospital bed because I wasn't used to it. This is as used to it as I'm going to get!"

Steve looked doubtful, "So you're going to wear sunglasses for the rest of your life?"

"That was the initial plan," she said with a shrug. "Unless they can be replaced with holographic ones like that opera singer had in that Repo! movie." Steve's blank look told her that the reference was completely lost on him. "We may skip everything and go straight to 21st century movies."

"If you say so," he said. "Now, let's begin."

The Captain moved Ruth over to face a wall where he had placed an Eye Chart. Ruth turned and raised her eyebrow. "Seriously, Cap?"

"Yes," he said. "Read line six."

"Wait," said Bobbi, from behind them. The two of them turned around and saw her standing next to the punching bag, her left hand steadying it from swaying after her punches and kicks.

"You're going about this all wrong. I can read that from here and I'm far-sighted," she said. "She needs a challenge."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Steve, stopping Ruth as she reached for her glasses now resting on the table.

"Target practice," said Bobbi, and then turned to Ruth. "What's your weapon of choice?"
Ruth shrugged, "Mostly daggers."

"Then that's what we'll start with. Steve, if you'd be so kind? I don't know where the sharp pointy objects are kept," Bobbi gave Cap an expectant look and he nodded before heading over to the armory next to the training room. Mostly, there were different kinds of guns, but there was a section of blades where Steve found daggers and throwing knives of all sizes.

A moment later he returned with a canvas bag in his hand. He carried it over to the table he'd rested Ruth's glasses on and up-ended it carefully, so the blades didn't slide off the table and hurt someone. Ruth squinted her eyes for just a second as one of the blades reflected the little bit of light in the room directly to her sensitive eyes.

"I think we should start with the throwing knives. Daggers are more for close-range combat, and since we're testing your eyesight, they won't be of much use," said Bobbi. "We should go to the archery range. There must be one here somewhere. There's no way Clint would live here if there wasn't one."

"Sounds good," said Ruth. "But I think we should make a game out of it. Make this whole testing thing a little more fun."

"What kind of game?" asked Steve.

"See who can get closest to the middle," she stated. "Winner gets one of those giant cookie cakes from the mall that says: I'm AWESOME! Losers have to pay!"

"You kind of remind me of a small child," the Cap mentioned and the girl smirked.

"Will we all be using knives?" asked Bobbi.

"We can start with knives, go to archery, then have our hands at guns?" suggested Ruth. "Best two out if three?"

"You are willing to shoot a gun with your hearing, but you're not willing to take off your sunglasses?" asked Steve incredulously.

"I can turn my ear piece down to the point of hearing absolutely nothing," replied the brunette.

"You in, Bobbi?

"Yeah, why not?" the blonde smiled. She could pretend the bullseye was Clint too.

"Cap?" Steve sighed, but agreed anyways. Ruth put the knives back in the canvas bag and looked to Steve. "Show us the way, oh fearless leader!"

Captain America led the two of them through the armory, stopping long enough to choose a 9mm each, three bows and quiver full of arrows, and continued to another room. This one seemed like it went on forever, and there was a control center behind a plexiglass wall.

"Tony said the targets are all programmed from there," said Steve, pointing to the apparatus behind the plexiglass.

"Do you know how to work it?" asked Bobbi.

"Yeah, I do," nodded Steve. "How far away do you want the targets?" he asked.

"We'll start with 25 yards," said Bobbi.

Steve looked down, pressed a few buttons, and then in the room, three targets came out of the wall on some sort of track exactly 25 yards away from the white line on the floor. Ruth smirked, having now placed her glasses back on, and took the blade in between her fingers of her injured hand. She threw her arm back before slamming it forward, letting go of the knife expertly.
It spun twice before lodging itself in the middle of the target. Ruth was filled with pride as she turned to her opponents only to see that they, too, have plunged their respective blades into the middle of their targets.

A bit irritated, Ruth said, "Alright, let's move them back to 50 yards." Again and again they threw their knives, but in the end, although it was a close race, Ruth had outshone her competitors. "I guess I should've mentioned that I've been throwing knives since I was a kid."

"Let's see how you do with a bow and arrow," said Bobbi as she tossed Ruth the bow she had picked out.

Ruth became a little worried there. She was decent at archery, but seeing Bobbi look almost as natural with a bow as her estranged husband had the girl a little worried. She was really looking forward to that cookie.

Bobbi pulled the bowstring taught and looked down the room at her target, her body in the correct form Clint had showed her a million times. She took a breath to relax and released the arrow in a smooth motion. The head of the arrow imbedded itself an inch to the right of dead center and Mockingbird swiftly drew another, notched it, and loosed, this time hitting the bullseye exactly in the middle. She gave a satisfied smile and turned to watch the others have their go.

Ruth came close, but Steve just wasn't getting the hang of a bow and arrow. Evidently, being married to a master marksman definitely gave Bobbi the advantage that she needed.

"You should ask Clint for lessons," said Bobbi, half-joking, "He's a pretty good teacher." She was going to leave it at that, but then a thought came to mind. "Though, just a warning, while he's positioning your body before you take the shot, he may grab your ass." By the look Steve gave her, it seemed that the super-soldier would rather fight off a thousand Nazis than ask Hawkeye for help with anything.

When it came to using the 9mms they selected, all three of them did very well. As current and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Ruth and Bobbi were trained by the best in how to use firearms, but Steve managed to hit the bullseye in the same exact spot twice, making him the clear winner. It came down to a tie, and the trio decided that the next time they went to the mall, they'd split a cookie cake.

The continued to test Ruth's ability with the throwing knives once their competition was over, gradually increasing the distance of the target. The target got very near to the end of the extremely long room before Ruth was unable to hit the target in the bullseye.

"So did that tell you anything?" Ruth asked, looking from Steve to Bobbi.

"Your eyesight is about double that of an average human," said Bobbi. "And, as we already knew, they're doubly as sensitive."

"Okay, so what can I accomplish with it?" Ruth asked. "All I got from those 'test' was that I am pretty damn deadly with knives, which really doesn't tell me much as I've always been pretty damn deadly with knives. Then again, I was able to hit a target further away with better precision then I have before."

"We still have much more test to run," said Steve. "But for now I think we should focus on getting you used to your strength and senses so you can at least walk around the house with out those glasses on. Unless you think otherwise, ma'am," he directed the last statement to Bobbi.

"No, I agree," said Bobbi. "She needs to learn how to control herself, and I think getting rid of the glasses is definitely a good idea. If she's in a fight and someone pulls them off, she won't be able to see properly and she'll be at a disadvantage. I could talk to Tony about working on contact lenses that could help you."

"That'll be amazing!" Ruth exclaimed. "You think you can convince him too?"

"I can try," she said.

"I think anything with two legs, curves and a high pitched voice can convince Tony Stark of anything," was all Steve replied.