I gave Val a quesadilla that she could eat later and I only stayed with her for half an hour, because I had to go to work. I made sure she knew that she could call or text me at any time, which made her smile, almost as much as our make-out session had. I hadn't pawed at her or anything, either. It was about making her feel good about herself and reinforcing her belief that she could be loved, not for me to get cheap thrills.

I stopped at the receptionist's counter on the way out of the hospital and Claudia gave me a bit of a glare, which almost made me laugh, because I could see her slight smile. I didn't say anything and handed her another quesadilla, which made her lose the fake glare and she grinned at me.

I left the hospital and ducked into an alley before I donned my dark clothing and web swung to the frat house. I was only a little surprised to see that it was completely shrouded in darkness and there was police tape strung all over to stop anyone from entering the house. On foot, anyway.

I crawled around and tried to find an unlocked window, only for my spider-sense to go off each time I tried to use my tools to pop a window pane out. I went back up to the roof and looked for a skylight or something for me to slip through and there was nothing. It was a large older house and the attic was too big for those kinds of affectations, despite the benefits of having direct sunlight inside the house.

I sighed at failing to gain entry stealthily and I would have to wait for a while to get inside or I would have to rely on one of my IDs to get me inside during the day. I left there and went to my construction job for Bestman Salvage. I worked there for almost three solid hours and cleared the place out.

We were down to the third floor already, which meant I was going to have a harder time putting things into the dump truck when we dropped down past the second floor. I would worry about that later, though. For now, I locked the place up and checked the dump truck, then put my dark clothing on once more and left for Val's home and dropped off something in her room for her before going to my own home.

May was asleep on the couch, even though it was still relatively early, so I left her there to go shower. I put on an old pair of jogging pants and went back down to the living room and climbed onto the couch to cuddle up with her.

She wore a towel on her body and one on her head, which was surprising, because she would have to wash her hair again after leaving it wrapped in the towel for so long. I held in my laugh at what it was going to look like when she woke up in the morning and I promised myself to not make fun of it if she let me see it. I put an arm over her waist and slid in close before I let myself drift off to sleep for a quick nap.

The morning arrived in the blink of a dreaming eye and I felt a small hand lightly caress my chest. A set of soft lips touched my cheek next and seemed to linger, then the warmth my arms had been wrapped around, slipped away and the couch barely shifted. I pretended to stay asleep and stayed on the couch until May was upstairs in the bathroom.

I hopped up from the couch then and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. I checked the time and I had a bit of extra time, so I made waffles and dug out the strawberries and whipped cream. Having that extra bit of money really made a difference in the quality of food we could get on our budget and I really did a great job stretching things.

By the time May had washed her hair again and came back down, a plate of waffles smothered in sliced strawberries and whipped cream awaited her.

“You are definitely spoiling me.” May said and used a fork to cut off a corner of the waffle with a strawberry on it, dipped it in the mound of whipped cream, and put it into her mouth. She let out a moan that would have been indecent if the expression on her face wasn't so cute.

I chuckled at her reaction. “I can't tell if you like it or not.”

May grabbed a slice of strawberry and chucked it across the table at me. I easily caught it in my mouth and barked like a dog to make her laugh. We ate breakfast and washed the dishes together, then she went to her room and I went to mine.

We both dressed for work and met again at the top of the stairs. I held my elbow out for her and she laughed softly as she took it and I escorted her down the stairs to the apartment door. Jackets and shoes were applied properly and I picked up my gym bag. I had emptied the information packages out of it and it only had the things I might need for today, namely my extra suit and an outfit to workout in.

We locked the apartment up and rode the elevator down to the lobby. We walked side by side, without the elbow sharing, and left the building.

“Have fun at work.” We both said at the same time, chuckled, and then kissed each other's cheek.

May walked off to the bus stop and I stood there and waited for my drive. An unmarked car arrived only a few minutes later and I climbed in. Natasha looked a little tenser than usual and I was sure I knew why. I hadn't gone into my room all night, so she hadn't tried to visit me. I hadn't done that on purpose, though. I only meant to take a nap and had slept all night instead.

“I was out later than usual last night and fell sleep on the couch.” I said, not bothering to say hello or good morning before giving her an explanation.

Natasha gave me an odd look out of the side of her eye as she drove. “I wanted to talk.”

“I would have liked that.” I said and her odd look disappeared. “I came home and saw May sprawled out on the couch with the television on and my job acceptance letter clutched in her hands. I had promised to cuddle with her, so I did. The next moment it was morning.” I explained. “What I thought was going to be a quick nap turned out to be me losing about eight hours in the blink of an eye.”

Natasha glanced at me again and looked back at the road. “I've done that, too.”

“The last time it happened to me, I had taken a pain pill after getting hit in the head with a baseball. I went to bed after supper and didn't wake up until late the next morning and I barely remembered eating.”

Natasha smiled slightly. “You roofied yourself?”

“Actually, May did. I had been exhausted after working all day at my construction job and she slipped me one when I wasn't paying attention.” I said and chuckled. “I am never doing that again. Not having fully functioning faculties is too scary to repeat.”

Natasha nodded and drove us to the office building. She parked in the nearby parking garage and we entered the building through a side door. We went to the elevator and she had me use my access to drop to the lower floors that the elevator only went to for agents. It worked, just like it had in the cafeteria, and we dropped down to B3 and the training rooms.

“Get changed and meet me back here in five.” Natasha said and pointed to one of the rooms, then she walked off to change into her own workout outfit. She had been wearing normal clothing to fit in with the office cover, too.

I did as asked and I was back at the training room before she was. Natasha entered and nodded to me as she pointed over to a workout mat with a circle marked on it. That told me she wanted to teach me more unarmed combat techniques, so I dropped my gym bag and followed her.

“Arm bars are first.” Natasha said and waved me forward.

“Do I need to ask you to not take out your frustrations on me?” I asked with a teasing smile.

“Even if you're the source?” Natasha asked with a neutral look on her face.

“I might have been the catalyst; but, your own emotions and behavior are the source.” I said and threw a lazy punch at her face to give her an easy setup to show me an arm bar.

Natasha slid into my swing, gripped my wrist, twisted my arm down and around, then put her hand on my elbow and pushed. My arm snapped straight instantly and my elbow bent back a bit more than it should have as I dropped to the floor on my knees. I didn't cry out in pain because my tendons and ligaments had stretched instead of snapping, which was interesting.

“Ben!” Natasha gasped and immediately let my arm go.

I hammed it up a little and cradled my elbow and rubbed it. “I thought... I asked you to take it easy.”

“Ben, I... I'm sorry. I just...” Natasha closed her mouth and turned away. She took out her cell phone and sent a text. “I think I'll let Clint take over to teach you the basics.”

“If you think that's best.” I said and made a bit of a show with opening and closing my hand and wiggling my fingers. “I don't think it's dislocated, just sprained.”

“I'm sorry.” Natasha whispered as Clint entered the room. “Ben's going to favor his right arm for a while.” She said and walked off of the mat and left the room.

“Did she pop it?” Clint asked and knelt by me and did a quick probe with his fingers.

“Just sprained. It bent back a bit more than normal.”

Clint nodded and his thumb and index finger slipped around the elbow joint and sunk in more than they should have. “It feels like there's some tearing and lost tension.” He said and stood. “Do you need a sling to keep it immobilized?”

“No, thanks.” I said and stood as I showed him that I could curl and uncurl my arm. “If I take it easy, I should be good by tomorrow.”

Clint smiled slightly and nodded. “I'll show you arm bars with your left hand. Just make sure you reverse the holds when grabbing someone's right arm.”

“Got it.” I said and he proceeded to do just that. There was a surprising amount of different kinds of arm bars, depending on the situation, if a weapon was involved, and how close you wanted to get to the target.

We moved on to leg bars next and I learned a lot. He showed me basic fighting stances, depending on single opponents or multiple opponents, if you had a weapon or unarmed, and if the enemy had a weapon or was unarmed.

We did body holds next, both the safe and dangerous kinds, like ones that left openings in your opponent and also yourself, to draw in an attack to take advantage of their aggression. We changed to strikes after that, using both arms and feet, which gave me a whole range of new attacks to use, especially in combination.

“All right.” Clint said just before lunch. “Show me what you learned while we spar.”

“Right now?” I asked and he nodded. I took several deep breaths and nodded back. Clint took a defensive pose and gave me the attack signal to start the spar.

Holy hell, Clint knew how to fight.

It was never really showcased, because he usually stuck to the bow and arrow theme. After I hit the mat for the fourth time and the lunch buzzer sounded, I realized Natasha already had a fully qualified sparring partner.

“Not bad, kid.” Clint said and held a hand down for me. I grabbed it with my left and hopped up when he pulled. “You need to learn to tense up your muscles when someone punches you. It'll mitigate a lot of the damage and the bruises will only be superficial.”

Yeah, I know. If I tense up using my strength though, you'll never phase me at all and I can't give myself away like that. I thought and smiled. “I'm just too used to getting a beating, I guess.”

“Been there, survived that.” Clint chuckled. “I'll meet you back here after lunch if Natasha's still sulking.”

I used my left hand and touched his shoulder briefly, because I didn't want to violate his personal space too much. “Can you arrange a clean interrogation room? One with no surveillance cameras or microphones?”

Clint gave me a questioning look.

“Natasha and I haven't had any privacy to have an actual conversation. If we can't do that here, I'm not sure where we could go to be alone.”

Clint nodded. “I'll see what I can do.”

“Just so you know, I'm not planning on doing anything more than talk.” I said. “She might have other ideas, though.”

Clint chuckled. “Understood. I'll text you with the details.”

“Thanks.” I said and picked up my gym bag and went to the closest bathroom to clean up and change. I made my way to the cafeteria and once again, I glanced around and recognized a few people.

A bunch of the R&D people waved, as did two secretaries and Kelly, the head of the computer department. I waved back before I went along the food trough and grabbed two bowls of long grain rice, two egg rolls, and a dipping sauce with a small carton of milk. I didn't see Maria this time, so I had a decision to make. Where to sit.

My choice was taken away from me when a beautiful Asian woman entered the cafeteria. It was Agent Melinda May. A few people started muttering and whispering about her demoting herself to work in the administration office, which meant I was meeting her after the incident that caused her to have an emotional breakdown and before she was approached by Phil Coulson to join his team.

I stayed right where I stood until she finished getting her own food, then I gave her a warm and welcoming smile. “Agent May? Could I pick your brain for a few minutes while we enjoy a meal together?”

Melinda's eyes dropped to my tray and saw the simple meal and looked back at my face.

“I had unarmed combat training all morning.” I said as an explanation.

After a moment, she nodded and I led her over to an empty table. I let her sit before I sat down myself and she gave me a squinted look.

“I would have held your chair for you if my hands weren't full.” I said and dropped my gym bag and put my tray down.

“What did you want to discuss?” Melinda asked me as she started eating.

“The elimination of an existential threat before they can cause untold damage.” I whispered.

“E-e-e-excuse me?” Melinda asked with a stutter.

“You see, I recently had an encounter... off the books, mind you... and I found four older individuals that were about to rape an eighteen year old high school girl after drugging her.” I whispered and her eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise. “They hadn't done anything yet, to my knowledge at the time; but, they had their members out and were preparing to 'have fun', or so they claimed.”

“N-no... you...” Melinda stopped eating to stare at me.

“I didn't hesitate and I killed them.” I whispered and she closed her mouth. “I was so angry that they would dare do that. How could they do that to a defenseless young woman?” I asked and she didn't answer. “I've killed before and I felt horrible about it, even if they were petty criminals. They didn't deserve to die, as far as I knew at the time.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Melinda asked. “I could report you and...”

“I'm telling you that some deaths are worth agonizing over and some should be applauded.” I said and her eyes widened again. “How many girls had they raped? How many more would they have raped?” I asked and she looked stunned. “Exactly. There's no way to tell. I removed the current threat, the future threat, and I saved countless young women the trauma of sexual assault and possible suicide.”

Melinda sat there and didn't touch her food.

I finished mine and leaned across the table. “I knew exactly what I was doing when I killed those rapists, Melinda. I don't regret it, not even a little bit, because they deserved to die for all the pain and hurt they were going to cause.”

Melinda stared at me with disbelief on her face.

I took out a piece of paper and wrote my new untraceable cell phone number on it and handed it to her. “During the day, I'll be here training from seven in the morning to four in the evening, until the second week of the new year. That is, if you want to meet in person. If you just want to talk, you can call or text me at any time.”

Melinda took the paper and stared at it. “Why?”

I put a hand on hers and gave it a little squeeze. “Because it's nice to have a friend who understands.” I said and let her hand go, then I stood as I picked up my gym bag and my tray. “Don't be a stranger, Agent May.”

Melinda finally looked up at me and I gave her another warm smile.

“Have a great day.” I said and carried my tray over to drop it off and I left the cafeteria.

I had a bit of time before lunch was over and thought about what I could do to waste some time. I couldn't really do much, considering a lot of the departments took lunch around the same time, so I went to the gym that was next to the training area. I had a few things I needed to test out, considering the extra flexibility Natasha had inadvertently discovered for me.