Taylor sat cross-legged on the floor of the training room, tugging at the edge of her bandage. She knew there was no way around the situation, Clint would see the bandage and want to know what had happened. Still, she didn't want to tell him already having a feel of how he would react.

The door to the training room opened and Clint stepped inside, bringing with him the clicking of metal weights and rhythmic thump of running feet. The sounds died away as he shut the door. Taylor raised her head, preparing herself for what came next. Clearly, she had developed psychic powers because Clint stared at her hand with blatant curiosity and worry.

"What happened?" he asked. With teleporting and mind powers she should take the show on the road. "Taylor?"

"It's nothing," she said, knowing full well this answer wouldn't fly.

He frowned, his concern deepening which only made Taylor more guilty.

"Your hand is bandaged." She was two for two. "Are you okay?"

"If I say yes, will you drop the subject?"

Clint moved forward. "No, your hand is hurt. Did something happen last night?"

Taylor closed her eyes, trying not to think about last night, but of course thinking only about it. Guilt and shame crawled across her skin. The feelings wormed their way through her chest sinking their teeth into her heart.

"Taylor, do you need Naomi to look at it?"

She buried her face in her hands. "Can you just leave it?"

"Hey," he said, his voice so gentle Taylor knew that tone would disappear if she did admit to what she'd done. "I'm helping train you, I want to know if you're not okay. Can't you tell me?"

Her hand throbbed and she could still feel the way the mugger's nose had broken under her fist. "No!"

"Taylor..."

"I lost control okay!" she snapped. "I was dealing with a mugger and I got angry. When I took him down I couldn't stop hitting him."

Shocked, Clint took a step back, staring at her. His surprise shifted into frustration and Taylor lunged with her words before he could.

"I know! I know, I shouldn't have gotten angry," she said. "But I already got a lecture today and I don't need another one." She held up her hurt hand. "I already have a constant reminder that it was a terrible decision so now can we please drop it?!"

Without a word, Clint left abruptly, leaving Taylor feeling rattled by its suddenness. With a tired sigh, she sagged against the mirror and tilted her head back. She closed her eyes. On top of threatening her connection with Dominic, she had now lost training with Clint. It was not her best day.

Before Taylor could gather herself together and leave, Clint returned. She stared at him surprised. The spark of frustration he had shown on leaving was gone. He quietly crossed the room and sank down in front of her. In his hand was a glass jar with some greenish looking ointment.

"Can I see?" he asked, nodding to her hand.

Taylor pulled her hand against her. "You're not going to yell at me?"

Clint let out a slow breath and shook his head. "No, I'm not."

After a second of hesitation, Taylor held out her hurt hand. Clint carefully unwrapped the ace bandage and inspected the cut knuckles and the bruises on her wrist. Gently, he bent her wrist backward and forward then side to side.

"Any of that hurt?" he asked.

"Only a little."

"That means it's not fractured. But possibly sprained."

He unscrewed the cap of the jar and began rubbing the earthy smelling cream into her hand without looking at her.

"Is that the only reason you left?" Taylor said, somehow comfortable with him taking care of her hand.

"No, but you said you didn't want a lecture. I needed a moment to calm down so I didn't end up giving you one.

She nodded and said nothing else. As Clint rewrapped her hand, he spoke.

"This isn't a lecture," he said. Taylor held her peace but had the feeling it was going to be one. "I made the rule of not fighting while you're angry for a reason." He worked in slow, methodical motions. "At my last karate competition...I got angry. This guy I was going up against made some comment about Tori. When I faced off with him, I was pissed as hell and...didn't hold back."

Clint stopped working, staring at her hand, shoulders hunched. "I almost broke his back."

Taylor went completely still as silence encompassed them. Clint raised his head, regret darkening his eyes.

"Because I didn't control my emotions I almost paralyzed someone for life. That's why I stopped competing. That's why I have that rule. That's why when I train people I focus on emotional as well as physical aspects. I never want someone to make the same mistake I did."

Clint wrapped his arms around his knees as if shielding himself from the memory. At that moment, he looked vulnerable. He looked like a seventeen-year-old boy. She placed her hand on his arm.

"I get it. It's a good rule. I'm sorry I broke it." She took her hand away, seeing in her mind the bloodied mess of the mugger's face. "Believe me, I don't plan on making the same mistake again."

Clint nodded and released his hold on his legs. He shifted, lowering his gaze to her hand.

"How does it feel now?" he asked.

Taylor held her palm up then flipped it down, feeling how her wrist reacted to the motion. "Better. Thanks."

"Sure." Clint rubbed the back of his neck. "You said you already got a lecture today, who gave it to you? Your parents?"

Taylor slouched, accepting the topic change.

"No, a guy named Dominic who helps me with homework," she said, helping nudge aside the somber tension in the room.

Clint cocked his head. "He knows about what you do? Your ability?"

"Yup."

"Oh...cool."

Taylor narrowed her eyes. "Wait, are you legit jealous that you're not the only one who knows about what I can do?"

Clint scowled. "No, I'm sure you've told a lot of people and I'm just one of them."

"It's not 'a lot' of people, only Dominic, my brother, and you."

Clint bobbed his head in causal acceptance while pressing his lips together to keep from looking pleased. Taylor had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Okay," Clint said, "I say we skip self-defense training for the day, but we can still do ability training."

"Why can't we do both?"

"Because you punched a guy until you sprained your wrist, but I'm guessing you didn't teleport him off a roof."

"I don't know if I could do that."

"Don't worry we'll find out if you can."

"Seriously?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"No, but we'll see if you can teleport someone else." He stood up and stretched out his hand to her. "Come on."

She took his hand and for a second their eyes met. He gave her fingers a comforting squeeze. In that gesture, Taylor felt a bit of her shame and guilt fade. He understood her actions and didn't judge her for it.

After Taylor grabbed her hoodie, the pair headed towards the gym exit.

"Where are you two going?" Tori asked, from her spot behind the front desk.

"We're going to work with a different environment," Clint said.

Tori leaned back in her chair, appraising them. "You understand you can just admit to me that you're dating, right?"

"We're not."

Tori rolled her eyes. "Sure, and that's not why you went get smoothies together or left the other day for a long period of time."

Clint folded his arms. "We're not dating. Not like you and Miguel are dating."

Tori frowned. "We are not dating."

"Sure. You're telling me it's all coincidental that you happen to meet up at the same time and run on treadmills right next to each other."

"Purely coincidental," Tori said, crossing her arms.

"Is it also coincidental that you wear your 'cutest' workout clothes?"

"Completely."

"And it's coincidental that he takes off his shirt only after ten minutes of running when he's not even sweating yet?"

Glaring, Tori flicked her hand to the door. "Just leave already."

Clint grinned, victorious. He pushed through the door, Taylor following behind him. As they turned into the alleyway, which was perfumed with overripe grapefruit that day, Taylor stared at him.

"For someone who will quickly come to the defense of your sister, you do like to pester her."

Clint shrugged. "I can annoy her and have her back."

A vivid image of Clint with his back pressed against Tori surround by a pack of men darted through Taylor's mind. "Like you did at the bar?"

"Exactly."

"I never asked, why were you at the bar, you're underage."

"She needed a ride. Lucky for me, right as I showed up she was smart mouthing a bunch of guys. That was a good night."

Taylor shook her head. "Your family is weird."

He shrugged, having no argument to the statement. He then held out his hand to her.

"Take us to the storage room," he said.

Making a face, Taylor took his hand. "Your sister is right, you are demanding." With a glance that they were unobserved, Taylor swept them away. As they landed on the mat, she dropped his hand. "What are we working on today?"

Clint took a step back and straightened, his whole demeanor changing, becoming the serious instructor that Taylor knew all too well.

"Today we're going to concentrate on focus and follow-through. You know how to get to places, but I want to see if you can get to a specific spot, even if it's a narrow ledge. Before we start what is the smallest area you've gotten yourself onto?"

Taylor rocked back on her heels, thinking. "I think it was a section of crossbeams in a warehouse."

Clint raised his eyebrows. "Okay, cool. Now focus and follow through." Taylor found an open weight lifting bench and sat down, knowing full well this would be a lecture. "I call it the 'Eff It' method."

Taylor cocked her head, bemused.

"Eff It, cause it's the two Fs: focus and follow-through. You need to visualize the exact point that you're going to and not lose sight of it as you act. It's not just a random area, but a precise pinpoint."

Taylor raised hand, earning her an annoyed frown from Clint.

"Seriously?" he asked dryly.

She dropped her hand. "Okay, be honest with me, do you have an ability?"

Clint chuckled. "No, if I did I would have told you the day you talked to me about yours."

"Then how can you talk so confidently about something you don't know anything about."

"Because for the last thirteen years I've been pushing myself past limitations, discovering how I can control every aspect of my body, how I can hit a precise point with the exact amount of force. What I'm teaching you now is the same way, just on a different level."

"Fair enough." Taylor stood and held out her arms. "Where do you want to start?"

Clint pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and set it on the ground a few feet off.

"Teleport to the paper," he said.

Taylor stared at him as if he had just told her to walk forward.

"After that speech about pushing yourself past limitations I have to say I was expecting something more," she said. 

"I see teleporting to a piece of paper isn't exciting enough for you?"

"Well my middle name is danger, so...no."

Clint laughed making Taylor smile.

"Well, Danger," he said, throwing her a teasing grin.  "We're working our way up. So teleport to the piece of paper."

Shaking her head, amused, Taylor disappeared and reappeared on top of the paper, making it crinkle.

"Good."

She stepped off and Clint folded the paper in half and asked her to repeat the action. She did it with the same success. Even when the page was formed into a square the width of Taylor's hand, she managed to land on it. While Taylor was bored by the exercise, Clint was excited.

"Okay, let's try something harder."

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Finally."

Clint merely smiled and pointed to a weight lifting machine. "I want you to jump to the top of that but only land on the right beam. Can you do that?"

"I think history has shown you I can."

Clint crossed his arms, his expression clearly asking her to prove it. She did. She popped up on the right beam. The space wasn't wide enough for her feet and she teetered. As she tipped backward, Clint lunged forward but Taylor vanished and appeared on the mats on her back. Clint stumbled to a halt, surprised.

"That's a convenient way to avoid a fall," he said.

She stared up at him. "Are you going to make me fall off things and see how fast I can react now?"

When Clint grinned in response, Taylor regretted saying anything. They passed the time with Taylor jumping to smaller and more challenging spaces. When she lost her footing, she'd teleported to the mats but found that if she didn't react fast enough she seemed to land harder against the surface. Clint speculated that the momentum from her fall still traveled with her.

By the end of the hour, Taylor was sore and found she had no want to get off the mat after she landed on it.

"Ready to call it a day?" Clint asked.

She nodded and he hauled her up. "I feel like this was a good day."

Taylor rolled her shoulder, wincing. "Maybe for you. You just stood there making me do all the boring work."

"You want more of a challenge?"

"Yes. I know how to do this stuff."

"Okay, but don't say you didn't ask for it. I'll see what I can think up. For now, we're done."

Taylor sighed in relief. "Good."

Grinning, Clint held out his hand and she took it. "Take us home, Danger."

**********************************************************************

"...You and I remember Budapest very differently."

We finally learned Clint's history! Oh holy sock Batman! Supers! What do we think of it all! 🦹🏽‍♀️🦸🏼‍♀️🦸🏿‍♂️

On a completely different note (laaaa in G major) I think I like Danger as Taylor's new super name! What do you think?

Okay, since we're talking of different super names, what would your super Villain name be?

I think I have to go with Thundercloud, because it's pretty much the opposite of Sunshine Girl! OH! I like it! It's so nice and dark and menacing! How completely delightful! I think it really suits me! *twirls* Don't you agree!

Het jy geweet (Afrikaans): Rumor has it that X-Men characters Wolverine and Magneto were, at one point, going to make a cameo in Captain America: The First Avenger. But because they are two different studios it never worked out.

Vote, comment, follow but only if you stand for interesting backstories!