"Miss Evans, your presence is requested in the gym." Jarvis' voice brings me out of a too-short slumber.

"Why?" I ask groggily, pulling the blankets off of me.

"They would like to test your abilities and train, as you will soon become an Avenger."

"Oh." I knew they would ask sooner or later. "Who's down there?"

"Captain Rogers, Mister Stark, Doctor Banner, Miss Romanoff and Thor."

"The whole gang," I mutter, dragging myself out of bed. "Where's Clint?"

"He left this morning."

"Where?"

"He went home."

"That's right. I forgot everyone doesn't live here. Tell them I'll be down in ten, please."

With my abilities, I'm able to do everything faster than the average human. It's the stamina. Within minutes, I've brushed my teeth, braided my hair, and gotten dressed. I hesitate over my outfit choice. I need something I can easily move in, so I change into a pair of black leggings and a light blue tank top. Then I grab a granola bar and run to the elevator.

"Morning, sunshine!" Tony sings as I enter. "Someone slept in today!"

I blush. I overslept because of my mental breakdown last night. I can feel Steve's eyes on me, so I just shrug nonchalantly. "I was tired."

"Hopefully you're not anymore. We have some fun planned for today."

"What am I doing first?" I ask.

"We want to test your abilities so we can utilize them fully," Bruce explains. "First we want you to fight Nat."

"Really?" I don't want to do that. I like Natasha a lot. I turn to her. Her dark red hair is tied back in a ponytail and she's in all black workout clothes. "Last time I did that, I knocked you out."

"I wouldn't be too worried," she says, her voice almost threatening. It's like a challenge. "I'm not going to play easy."

"She's the best person for you to spar with. Your frame is similar, it should be a fair and good fight," Thor booms as he munches on a pop tart.

"And none of us saw you fight her before," Steve continues.

I sigh. "Fine." I let Bruce attach these little things to me that monitor heart rate and body levels before heading to the mat to stretch out.

"You ready?" Nat asks, cracking her knuckles.

"I'm always ready." I play defensive, waiting for Natasha to make the first move. Judging by what I know of her, it won't be too long. She isn't very patient. Just as I expected, she throws the first punch, which I easily dodge. I get a good kick at her side. Natasha twists and makes to go left, but hits right at the last second. I let her strike me again, gritting my teeth at the pain. The best way to win this will be manipulation. I play like an average fighter, but just as she aims for me again, I find her weak spot: her legs. That's how I got her last time. At the last second, she lunges for me, but I kick her legs out from underneath her and pin her to the gym floor.

"What? You didn't see that coming?" I grin as she struggles against me, but I'm too strong for her. "Yield?"

She tries to get up one more time, but my hold on her is too steady. I've got her. "Yeah. Let me up."

"You're too predictable. You don't protect your legs."

"I went easy on you," is all she says, but I can easily see through the lie.

All four men are staring wordlessly at me. I hop up, brush myself off, and sweep the flyaways out of my hair.

"That wasn't even a challenge for you!" Tony exclaims, almost at a loss for words. "Red, she has officially replaced you as the tough girl on the team."

"Easy, Tony," she warns. "Either of us could take you down in ten seconds. Tops."

"I feel like that really didn't show us what you can do," Bruce says, examining all of his screens with my stats. "Tony's right, that wasn't a challenge for you."

"Sorry," I say, shrugging.

"Don't apologize for being strong," Natasha tells me.

"Just spar with Cap, then," Tony suggests. My jaw drops, and so does Steve's. "Come on. He's a super-soldier too, right? I'd love to see her kick his pretty face."

"No," Steve says, crossing his arms. "That's not happening."

"Why not?" I ask. Now that I'm over the initial shock, I kind of want to do it. It would be nice to fight an equal.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. The mat is soft and I'm tough." I flash him a cheeky smile. "What, are you afraid to lose to a girl?"

"Ooooooooh!" Tony snickers from beside Steve.

"No, I just don't want to beat one up," Steve replies, still on edge.

"Steve, it's not a bad idea," Bruce says reasonably.

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. He knows he's not going to win this argument. "Fine. But I warned you."

Finally. While he stretches, I contemplate just how to beat him. I can't with muscle. He has more strength and size than I do. And I've seen him fight.

For the first few minutes of the fight, I'm surprised. Punches fly, someone ducks, twists, maneuvers. Both of us fall a few times. But it's not overly difficult to keep up with him. I know he's much stronger than me. Why isn't this harder?

He's going easy on me.

"Captain, please tell me you're better than this!" I taunt, winking at him. My momentary flirtatious state pays off: he's disoriented long enough for me to get him on the ground. But unlike Natasha, I don't have the strength to keep him there. He easily flips me over, face hovering inches over mine. Now I'm distracted by just looking at him. Stop it! I yell in my head at myself. I try to squirm away, but he has me firmly pinned to the floor.

"You done?"

"Yeah, I'm done," I sigh in defeat. He gets up and offers me a hand. I take it. For a moment, I think about pulling him down, but that would be a dirty move. He won.

"Well, that was...interesting." Tony shakes his head and hands Natasha a five-dollar bill. I roll my eyes at them. "I did not see that coming."

"All the same, I don't think she needs that much help with training," Steve says, giving me a grin. I fight the urge to smile back, but I do.

"The other thing we wanted to see is how fast you really are," Bruce says. "Come here, though. Fury wants us to put this idiotic tracker on you when you leave without us, just in case."

"Seriously?" I ask as he attaches it to my shirt. "He doesn't trust me at all!"

"Nope, not at all. But he can't deny how useful you'll be to us," Tony says cheerfully.

"We're tracking your speed," Bruce says. "Get going." I take a deep breath and run.

I run down the stairs, out the doors and onto the sidewalks of New York City. Everything whizzes by. The air feels clean and cool on my face, like a refreshing drink. I haven't had even this much freedom in the past few weeks. Just to move, to go, to run without worrying about boundaries.

Within a few minutes I've run the whole of the city and picked up a cupcake. I stop my motion in front of the team and unwrap the cupcake while they stare in awe.

"What, am I fast or something?"

"You can run over seven hundred miles an hour. That's almost the speed of sound," Bruce says in a shell-shocked voice. "Your metabolism is insane, and your reflex time is off the charts. I never knew you could manipulate cells like that: it's incredible."

"When did you get the small cake?" Thor demands. It's funny that's all he's thinking about.

"I stopped at a bakery. Want some?" I let him take a bite. Steve tenses up as we share a laugh. I'm not sure why.

"That is indeed delicious. Thank you, Lady America!"

"You're welcome, Thor." I give him a small smile.

"You were gone four minutes!" Natasha says. "That's crazy. I've never seen anything like it. Other than Rogers, and you make him look a bit lame."

"Hey!" Steve says, defending himself. "She's different than me. And I still beat her in a fight!"

"Maybe I was going easy on you," I tease. "And I got you with that wink!"

"Yeah, you completely fell for that one, Cap," Tony says, slapping Steve's shoulder. "I mean, who wouldn't?"

"Keep your mouth shut, Tony." A faint pink blush coats his cheeks.

"All right, all right. Hey, you need a suit, right? Want me to star-spangle it? You two could match!"

"Not interested," I respond. "I do need a suit, though. Something I can run in."

"I can handle that," he says, already heading to plan it all out. The rest of the team starts to disperse. I hightail it after Tony, because I don't want to be left alone with Steve. "Any requests, Speedy?"

"No black," I say after a minute of thought. Black reminds me too much of my past. I'm not the Night Wind anymore. I'm not sure who I am, but I'd like to find out.

"No black. Got it."

What did you guys think of this chapter? I really enjoyed writing it, but please excuse my fight scenes. They're definitely my weak spot. Hope you're having a great day!

Also: if anyone knows how to fix my gifs so they actually move, that would be fantastic ;)