262/The Widowmaker Surprise

The Widowmaker Surprise
Date of Scene:	03 March 2020
Location:	Athletics: Triskelion
Synopsis:	At least she didn't break anything...
Cast of Characters:	Daniel Hastings, Natasha Romanoff

---

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel used to be a fairly emaciated fellow. To be fair, he looked not unlike a holocaust survivor. In the last month, he's nearly doubled his body weight and spent most of his time in either the cafeteria or the gym. Which also happened to be the only places he was allowed to wander in the Triskelion as a 'guest' of SHIELD. And the infirmary. But that, he avoided as much as he could ever since being told he wasn't contagious. Today isn't much different except that he's arranged with a hand to hand instructor to meet him at the mats where he hopes to get some of his reflexes back. He's gotten himself up to running a half-marathon so he's called it a good day.. but having had to summon the She-Hulk for a possible fight of epic proportions told him he had other skills to hone. So here he is waiting for his instructor, sitting on the mats, stretching himself out. He's pretty flexible as guys go.. touching his toes doesn't seem to be a problem at least.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    SHIELD is nothing if not a bastion of highly qualified staff for most aspects that need handling, the Triskellion doubly so. But every now and then tests need to be done, or assets need to be set straight and politely and frighteningly as possible, and that's when the usual staff have sick days and get replaced by a... specialist.
    Which is a polite way of saying a freak.
    But at least she's a pleasant looking freak! Wearing a black tanktop and workout pants, with her red hair tied back loosely, Natasha Romanoff is suddenly looming over you, blocking the nearest light with a pleasant smile on her face. She's in 'pleasant first impression' mode and speaks in a friendly, upbeat tone. "There you are, Mister Hastings." She says pleasantly, extending her hand, "My name is Natasha; I'll be your instructor today."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    Daniel looks up, blinks. For some reason, she looks familiar but he can't place it. No doubt it was from a dozen Avengers news clips with heroic actions abounding.. but they all blur together. He smiles. "Ahh. George not making it then? Understood." With a nod to her, he presses himself to stand and gives a generally vague gesture to the mats. "So.. we were middling about with some.. kara te I think he said it was. And ground fighting called jiujitsu? I'm sure I'm butchering the terms. It's all rather new and.. much more effective than the old GI bit they used to teach." He takes a deep breath then gives her the formal bow he's been taught is respectful. "Ah. Do call me Daniel. If we're to be using first names. As formal as this place is, I'll take it when I can."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Familiar or not, Natasha comes off less like a fearsome warrior and more like a friendly office worker, nodding with a kind of cute sympathetic grimace as she confirms, "George is sick, poor thing. Just a head cold, though, should be fine soon. In the meantime!" She says, spreading her bent arms helplessly with a bit of a sheepish smile, "I drew the short straw. It's good hours, though."
    She begins to pull on a pair of fingerless gloves she'd been holding in one hand, and nods along, slightly distractedly, giving a little bit of a scatter-brained impression. "Yeah-huh!" She agrees chipperly. "Turns out we and the other countries had a fair bit to teach each other."
    Natasha nods once and smiles, echoing, "Daniel." She then falls into a ready stance, glancing at her legs as if to make sure she's doing it right, and then puts her arms up. "We're gonna try and go a little faster than you're maybe used to, okay? But let's start simple. You try and hit me - arms or legs, surprise me - and I'll try and hit you back. If we're lucky, we'll both block. Lemme see where you're at."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    Daniel gives a sort of wary nod. "Alright. I.. of course." There was a moment where he thought about saying something but he shakes it off as he brings his hands up to an 'en garde' position. His feet shuffling a little. He looks like he's familiar enough with a fighting stance but it's not natural as it is for someone who's been training in it for decades. Which means his eyes are projecting what he's thinking horribly. In the end, he lunges forward in an attempt to grab you by the arm and attempt a hip toss. It's a tried and true technique but also not terribly effective from a stand still when your opponent is the Black Widow. It also puts his back to her which isn't the smartest thing in the world.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha gives a reassuring smile. "You'll do fine, just remember your training."
    You do not do fine. Natasha pivots out of the way, takes your wrist as she passes, and, with alarming strength, wrenches it upward, and then bends it so she's pulling your hand down behind your shoulder as she kicks the back of your knee with one foot, dropping you to one knee. Her free arm comes around your neck, gripping it just hard enough to make an impression instead of choking you before it comes back up to tap you harmlessly on the jaw with a friendly uttered, "Boop!"
    Then she lets you go and rises back to her feet with a little hop, that exact same friendly smile plastered on her face. "*Little* shakey; that's okay. Can you tell what went wrong there?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    Daniel was too busy fighting off his fight or flight urges to answer that question. The ones that teleport him to Canada. Instead, he wobbles a little before rising to his feet slowly. "Ahh. No.. can't say that I can. Save perhaps that I wasn't fast enough?" He chuckles awkwardly. "I'm.. going to go with.. you're much better at this than I am." Winking, he takes a centering breath then takes up a fighting stance again. Now, it can be said that he's playing back what just happened in his head as his head weaves a little, his eyes trail at nothing.. though he is looking at you. "For one, I turned my back on you... and that's not something I'll be doing again, I assure you." There's a faint chuckle.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha laughs softly with an 'aw shucks' sort of smile, and gives a soft humming sort of sigh. Suddenly her eyes look a lot colder and her voice gains an extra timber of bass as she says, "You also stared directly at your target well before you started, grasped at it with no regard for my stance, and were unprepared to respond to failure and counteract it."
    Then she smiles brightly again and her voice goes back to 'normal'. "But that's why we're here to learn! Try again when you're ready, okay?"
    Now that he has a better idea what she's capable of, she expects he'll be more careful. So she wants to see if he can keep that focus now that his perception of her entire personality and what he's even dealing with has been ever so slightly rattled.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    "Ready. Quite." Daniel replies wanly as he takes another breath and limbers up. Plan.. B. His hands come up at the ready again and his stance settles onto the balls of his feet as he starts thinking.. which might be a part of his problem. Damned scientists. This time, he doesn't try anything fancy by way of grabbing. He keeps a guard up and gets in close to give her a gut punch. At least that's his intent. He wasn't projecting so badly this time. In fact, he was watching her face the whole time like he was preparing to wipe that nice sweet 'innocent' little smile off of it. But damned if he could punch a lady in the face.. it's just not proper.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    With a soft grunt of exertion, Natasha grabs Daniel's wrist and directs it outward to the side. To block is forward momentum, she lifts one leg so that it's braced between their two bodies from the knee down, keeping them seperated. As she wheels his arm back up and around, she releases it and pushes her hand forward so that it's reaching past him, while her arm pushes his the rest of the way so that her open palm claps lightly on the side of his head, and his own hand brushes harmlessly past his face.
    The leg seperating them then pushes forward, catching on his chest and shoving him backward with her foot."
    Smiling a bit dangerously, Natasha's still in a stance when she says, "You're not dead, keep going."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    Daniel stumbles backwards a bit before regaining his balance. "You know.. I bet Mister Stark never had to deal with this." A beat. "Either of them." He breathes a laugh then shakes his head, resettling himself with his hands up. "Thank you for not ringing my bell, by the by. George isn't so polite." His gaze squints a little though and his guard comes back up. A sort of devilish look comes to his eye then as he steps forward in a sort of boxing stance. He throws a jab.. but it's just a feint that he draws back quickly as he transitions to a shin kick at your thigh.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha's brow knits slightly, and she notes "That doesn't sound right. I might ask him abo- oop!" She cuts herself off midstatement as Daniel attacks again. Her hand reaches out for a blow that doesn't come. When the kick comes her way she draws in a sharp hiss of breath and turns her whole body towards it, intercepting and blocking it with the raised calf of her right leg. That leg then stomps straight down and all over her weight goes on it as she turns her upper body almost entirely upside down, the leg going totally vertical as her left leg swings upward over your shoulder, hooking the crook of her knee against your neck before using her momentum to leap upwards so that she's spinning around to your back.
    Both legs then grip your head between her knees as she turns you around like a wrench turnig a bolt, and then swings her upper body back down to try to flip you onto your back.
    Natasha lands on her side, and then rolls into a seated position as she puts her hands out and says, "*Oh* my gosh! I am *so* sorry, you really surprised me! Are you all right?" she asks concernedly, still affecting total sweetness.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    The thud that occurs is a hard one. Daniel lays on his back a moment trying to replace lost oxygen and refill his lungs. "Oh.. just dandy.. thank you for asking." He follows the statement with a low groan as he lifts an arm with a thumb raised. "Score one for the home team." He rolls over onto his side, coughs, then onto his hands and knees before he finally comes back to his feet. "Now.. I thought I was supposed to surprise you. Wasn't that the excercise?" He's a little dazed.. and confused. "I'm starting to wonder if I have a ringer here..." At this point, he looks you up and down with a much more critical eye. "Yes. Very much so." Still, he's got no hard feelings and does offer her a hand to help her up. Assuming she doesn't do some gymnastic hijinks on him.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    No, no hurricanranas this time, she just sheepishly smiles as she stands up grasping his hand. "Okay... okay- hah, I'll be a little more careful. In fact, take a rest. You're doing good! Just catch your breath, and we'll start up again until..."
    Natasha appears to think for a moment before smiling chipperly, "... Well, let me know when you're done."
    This could end up being a long test.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    Daniel is, if anything, tenacious. He doesn't believe in defeat. In fact, he may remind her a bit of Rogers that way.. only.. a pre-super serum Rogers that maybe can't take it on the chin so well. By the time she's done with him, he's sweaty, exhausted and.. tapping out. "I'd love to continue.. but I'm afraid I might hurt myself." He offers her with a weary chuckle. "Thank you for.. the workout." He chuckles then arches his back as he stretches stiff muscles. "Also.. thank you for not breaking anything." This time he seems sincere. "I'm sure you could have anytime you liked. I take my hat off to you." Despite the pain, he forces himself to give her the 'proper' bow to a sensei.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Natasha just gives a bit of a bemused smile, having worked up a bit of a sweat herself and says. "No problem." As she bows back politely before slinging a towel over her shoulder. "Keep at it! You'll push through sooner or later." She says and begins to walk away, giving a bit of a wave, "See you around~"