2 months later, both Alex and Peter completed their individual training.
Peter POV:
I lie on the ground, heaving for breath, lying on the sweaty, matted floor of the training room of Stark Tower.
A brisk sound of hands clapping started from beside where I was lying. I begrudgingly opened my eyes, just to look up at billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, manchild Tony Stark.
"Congrats, kid! You've gotten proficient at using your new suit!" He said in a cheery tone that sounded so fake, that it almost felt painted on.
I look around at the handiwork that I caused in this training room. It was like a Gooners paradise. The room, which was almost the size of half a football field, was covered completely in white sticky substance, from floor to ceiling.
Get your minds out of the gutter. It's the web fluid.
Along the walls and all around the room, we can barely see some targets obscured by an especially thick clump of the white stuff, some almost looking like cocoons.
It was as Tony said. After training for the last month after completing my suit, I finally grasped how to use it effectively. You wouldn't even be able to comprehend how hard it is to pilot.
First, I have to constantly be aware of where I'm going to be swinging next, calculating the arcs of my swings and stuff in my head, before even executing them. While doing that, I also have to multitask with everything else that I need to do, like aiming and shooting the targets, to state it as simply as possible.
Too bad that I'm a genius... Wait, the prolonged exposure to Tony Stark is starting to get to my ego.
I think I zoned out for too long there, as Tony brought me back to reality by coughing into his hand.
He then deadpanned. "Now is usually the part where I would tell you to clean this shit up, but our contract just ended, which currently makes you a home intruder."
Has it already been that long? It felt like I was only training for like 0 chapters! However, knowing Tony, the only real choice he's going to give me right now is to clean up this fat mess I created, then force me to leave.
However, I don't really want to do that.
Fuck this, Ive already made enough of a mess anyways. What's one more problem for our resident metal guy?
I make a sprint for the nearest window, pulling my hood far over my head, crossing my arms across my face, and crashing straight through it. The glass shards sting as they ricochet off my body, and I enter freefall.
Within a moment, I make the necessary calculations and I-
Thwip
"WHOHOOO!"
-o-
Back at the Start Tower:
Tony Stark looked around at the massive training room covered in webs, and the Peter-sized hole in the window to the side, and made a sour smile.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mechanical red and blue bracelet.
"I was going to give this to you as a graduation gift. Welp, too bad, I guess." Tony scoffed and shoved the bracelet back into his pockets for who knows when.
Alex POV:
Somewhere in an abandoned building...
"...And that should wrap up everything that I'm allowed to teach you." Natasha Romanoff huffed, heaving in breaths, leaning over, hands on her knees, keeping her cool like always.
I'm still proud that I got her this exhausted, now forcing her to block or parry all of my strikes instead of just dodging.
"Heh... Not so calm and collected now..." I wheeze out from the ground.
That's right. While she's huffing while standing upright, I was planted face down into the ground, unable to move a muscle.
Just to get her to this point, I had to brutally train for two months. It still didn't compare to Nat's lifetime of training. Without any powers, I just wouldn't be able to beat her ever. It felt like I was climbing a wall I couldn't pass, and the only way to rise above it was through an elevator.
"Shush, you. Still better than being splayed out like a taxidermied bear rug" she chuckled, planting her foot on my undefended gut.
"Fuckkkk..." I curl into myself in pain, a strange sense of deja vu kicking in.
Even through the pain, I fail to stop chuckling, reminded of our first class together.
Soon, she joins me in the giggling, and it soon evolves into full-on laughter, as we think back to everything that happened in the last 2 months. Or at least that was what I was thinking. She might have just been laughing at the sight of me face down on the concrete, convulsing and laughing uncontrollably.
After a minute or so after our laughter died down, she nudged me with her foot, rolling me over, and reached out her hand for me to grab.
With a creak and a crack, I lift my arm up, grasping her hand. It's surprisingly soft for one of the best fighters on earth.
She pulls me back up on my feet, with me now facing her face-to-face. Or her face to my chest, considering the height difference. She looks into my eyes. It was nice working with you, Agent Jung. Or should I call you Alex Lee?
...I freeze.
What? She knows who I am?
The grin on my face disappears in an instant.
C'mon, Alex- Play this cool. I plaster a fake confused look on my face.
"…I, uh… what did you just call me?" I say with a carefully practiced, innocent blink. The same blink that I always use when I get caught red-handed stealing snacks from Ned.
Please! System! My bullshitting skill! Don't fail me now!
Nat smirks. That terrifying, all-knowing, soul-piercing smirk that means she's already got the entire conversation planned fifteen steps ahead.
"You're not the only one with secrets," she says. "Did you really think SHIELD wouldn't run a full background check once I vouched for you?"
My brain immediately short-circuits, and the mask on my face drops.
"You've got that look again," Natasha says flatly. "Relax. I didn't mean it like that."
She lets go of my hand and steps back, brushing some dust off her tank top like she didn't just drop a nuke of information on me.
"You're not the first person to try and train under a fake name," she continues, cool as ever. "Didn't take much digging to realize your paperwork was... creative."
I exhale slowly, forcing my shoulders to drop. She trained me this entire time, even after knowing that I'm not actually Shield, and she doesn't seem that hostile. It can't be that bad.
She smirks faintly, arms crossed. "But you weren't trying to hide from anyone. No shady records, no offshore accounts, no bad connections. Just a kid who lied about his name and wanted to learn how to fight."
...She doesn't know about my history with the Kingpin? No wonder. If Shield knew, he wouldn't even have been able to host that tournament in the first place.
"...So why call me out now?"
"Because you made it," she states simply. "You did the work. You earned it. Figured it was time to stop pretending we don't both know who you really are."
"…Alex Lee?"
She shrugs. "It suits you better than 'Hyun Woo Jung.' You were born in America with a government name like that? Pretty rare."
I huff a laugh. Ned might be good at hacking, but he wasn't the brightest. Still half-sore, half-shocked. My chest is tight for some reason, but not in a bad way.
Nat glances toward the cracked window across the room. Outside, the sky is slowly turning gold, evening rolling in.
"You're not like the others," she says after a pause. "Even the best trainees quit by day three. You stuck through two months of bruises, burns, and me trying to break you in half. Even knowing you were fake, I wanted to keep training you, seeing how far you could get."
"Gee," I wheeze, "you make it sound so romantic."
She rolls her eyes. "Don't get weird."
I almost said something dumb. Something sentimental. But the moment passes, and she turns toward the door, grabbing her jacket from the old desk we've been using as a weapon rack.
"We're done here for now," she says over her shoulder. "But if you ever want to actually end up joining us," She pauses, looks back, and her piercing green eyes meet mine. "We, no, I would always appreciate having someone like you in my corner."
I nod, still standing in place, like I need a second to reboot.
Before she leaves, she glances back at me once more.
"Oh. And if anyone asks- Agent Jung died two months ago." She winks. "Try not to resurrect him."
And then she's gone, leaving me alone in the silence of the empty building, standing in the same spot where I collapsed ten minutes ago. Same place where I bled, bruised, and pushed myself further than I thought possible.
I look at my reflection in the cracked glass window overlooking the blazing sunset.
Then, a blue screen popped up between Alex and his reflection.
[Quest Complete! Spying On The Spies!]
[You have completed the Black Widows hand-to-hand basics course and lived to tell the tale. Even though you did get caught, you are the first person ever to complete this feat!]
[Reward: Skill: Bear Totem (Passive)]
... Well, I guess that came out pretty ok.
Meanwhile, inside a prison cell somewhere in Russia, Ursa Major died of a heart attack.
(a/n alright guys! That's the end of the shield arc! Now, I've had the idea of alex being kinda the tanker/bruiser style since the start, but I'm not sure what actual skills aside from the usual superhuman strength and durability stuff to give him. For example, you know how Miles Morales has like his invisibility and electric touch active skills? What skills would fit for bears? Send in suggestions!)