Pet Assassin

Jen led me to the hanger where my ship rested in pieces. I looked over theDefiant, sighing sadly. I'd taken her apart myself, with no alien forms helping. The wings were separated and laying on either side, the engine was now in the trash so I could replace it, wires ran from inside the hull to a set of computers, and the guns and missiles had been thrown away.

"What was your plan here, anyways?" Jen asked with a quirked eyebrow. She reached for a piece of metal that was probably hundreds of pounds and lifted it easily.

"I was going to make a super badass spaceship," I said easily. "But theDefiantwas too small. I wanted to make something bigger, with room for a bed and small kitchen, some bigger guns, something all-purpose basically. Then I found out that rebuilding a ship from the ground up is hard as hell."

"Can't you just," she gestured at the Omnitrix. "Have one of your guys do it for you?"

"Sure. I could have Jury Rigg do it," I flipped through my menu to highlight him. "But that psychopath would probably make the laser guns into hot sauce blasters."

"You say that like it wouldn't be hilarious," Jen said while dropping the piece of metal in her hands to walk into theDefiant.

"Sure, if I'm fighting a giant taco," I chuckled, switching through my list. "Upgrade would be awesome, but then I'd have a super advanced ship I and anyone who uses theDefiantmight not be able to repair or use in a pinch. Not great for times when"

"So that's why you're doing this?" Jen asked, sitting down in the pilot's chair.

"Among other things," I sat in the co-pilot's chair

I sighed, tapping the dashboard. "Right now I'm thinking of putting theDefianttogether as it was, then making something entirely new. A ship I can carry people in, something with some size to it, lots of weapons, shields. The works."

"I think you put too much on your plate all at once," Jen stared at me with emerald eyes. "Hey, think you can teach me how to pilot these things?"

"Sure," I said without thinking. Then I frowned. "No, wait. What?"

She chuckled. "Yeah. I always wanted to learn how to fly a plane. I just never really had the confidence to go for it," she put her hands on the joysticks, twisting them thoughtfully. "Before I got the dye job of a lifetime, the only time I ever felt confident was as a lawyer. All it took was a lot of research, a lot of prep, and I could take on anything. I had control. Win or lose, it was always something I could control. But things like flying? Dating? Things I wasn't sure I could do?"

I looked over at her. She eyed the controls thoughtfully. I sighed. "Well, we could always have Clint teach you? You could sit in while he teaches me, and we can figure it out together."

Jen nodded, looking grateful. With a sigh, I leaned forward. "In the meantime, wanna help me put this thing together? I could use some muscle for the bigger pieces."

She laughed. "Yeah, sure thing. Shouldn't you be worried I'll emasculate you or something?"

"Yeah, if I was that sensitive I'd have given up the second Nat started kicking my ass," I snarked.

"Oh right," Jen sighed a bit. "Training with Nat and Steve. Lucky you."

"It's not as sweaty and grindy as you seem to think," I cocked an eyebrow. "Steve hits like a freaking truck and Nat keeps having her pet assassin beat me into a pulp."

"Pet assassin?" Jen asked, confused.

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

Nat smirked from on top of the quinjet, listening as Jen and Mahmoud spoke. She looked over at Ruby, who looked like she didn't know what to think. The tiny blonde was kneeling on the roof next to Nat, wearing a simple gray top and black yoga pants, same as Natasha was.

Inside the quinjet, Dial continued to speak. "Yeah, Nat's been training this girl named Ruby. She's a badass fourteen-year-old super assassin or something. It's kinda cool... until a tiny assassin is ripping my ass a new one."

Ruby nodded fiercely, apparently proud. Natasha lied back on the quinjet and eyed Ruby. With a series of hand signals, developed by a combination of SHIELD and the Red Room, she spoke silently to Ruby.

"What have we learned so far?"

Ruby hesitantly responded, her own hand signals not as fast as Nat's. "He thinks I'm strong."

Nat rolled her eyes. "Besides that. They're revealing some weaknesses. Think, what have we learned?"

Ruby frowned. The young assassin crossed her legs silently, thinking. After a long moment, during which Jen and Dial spoke quietly a moment longer, she hand signaled again.

"Jen used to be a control freak, out of fear of getting hurt. Now she's overcompensating in the other direction, which means her overconfidence can be a weakness."

"Exactly right," Nat said, hiding the pride she felt. "And Dial?"

"He's an open book," Ruby struggled for a moment with the hand signs, then did them again. "He's always talking about his goals, his plans. It makes him predictable. Easy to predict and ambush, maybe by sniper shot."

That was fair.

"Good,"Nat flipped to her feet silently, then strode along the roof of theDefiant, Ruby following her."What about Steve?"

"His idealism and naivety," Ruby answered quickly. "He believes in things that aren't real, things that hold him back. If he believes in things like honor, morals, it means he's easier to blindside."

Natasha held in a sigh as she hopped off theDefiant, ignoring the sound of Dial's confused shout as she slid along the cockpit glass. Forgoing the hand signs she'd been using, she spoke normally. "Ruby, that is HYDRA's training failing you again."

Ruby frowned, the petite blonde looking honestly befuddled as she slid down the cockpit window as well, ignoring the sound of Jen laughing as Dial yelped again. "How?"

"Because they were negligent on the very real power of what a person crazy enough to believe in a better world can do," Natasha chuckled. "Funny, considering they considered themselves to be doing the same thing."

"But they aren't wrong," Ruby said with the wisdom of a teenager. "Honor, morals, justice. They're all just concepts. Things that humans created. If they were gone, all that would be left is cold hard facts."

Natasha chuckled. "Well, you aren't wrong. Although there's a book I need to recommend for you. Called Hogfather."

"Oookay?" Ruby followed Natasha out of the hanger and into the hallways of the tower. "What's the point then?"

"First, that despite his morals, Steve managed to somehow pull together a team that hammered through HYDRA when they were at their strongest," Nat pointed out. "Keep in mind Sam and Dial, neither of them would have been willing to help if they hadn't trusted Steve implicitly. That honor, that belief that Captain America would never betray his ideals. It's not the first time either. It does make it easier to betray him if you're inclined. To trick him. But the second you do, you end up with a loyal army coming after you," Nat lead Ruby down another hall. "You'd have to make it an accident. Otherwise, you make him a martyr and strengthen his cause."

"That makes sense," Ruby admitted.

"As for naive," Nat stopped to look at her protege. "Remember, Steve is nice. But he's also a soldier. One who killed and fought in one of the greatest wars known to man. He's dangerous."

"I thought that was because of the serum?" Ruby asked.

"The serum is a tool. It lets him work at his full potential. But the mind behind it, the willpower that lets him fight on when others would give up. That's what lets him win," Nat smiled sadly. "I've lost a few fights. All the Avengers have. But we all fought past them. We all find the strength to go on. That idealism that HYDRA makes fun of? Calls a weakness? It isn't some pretty and happy thing, made of sparkles and rainbows. Hope, morality, honor, they are mud-soaked. They're caked in blood, scratched up. Those feeling are beaten down, over and over. That is their strength. The ability to rise again in the face of horrors."

Ruby didn't seem to understand still. Nat knew why. People seemed to connect certain words to softness, to warmth. To, as Ruby said, naivety. But the things Steve believed in, the things he represented had power. There was a reason why she believed in that big lug, why she onlylightlyteased Thor every time he spoke in that archaic way about being 'heroes'.

Funny. She'd have scoffed at those thoughts years back. Then again, no one believed as strongly as a convert.

"Come on," Nat rubbed the top of Ruby's head, getting a good-natured grumble. "Let's go over your sniping. You'll be better than me if you keep it up."

The bright and happy smile she got in response to that made Nat's day.