A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry for the huge delay, guys. Had a hard time with how to finish this, but I have it now.

Two days later, the mission went better that expected. In reality, they didn't even need Natasha to give what little help she provided. Of course, May had a lot to do with that. Ward learned some time ago that that woman was a one woman army when she set her mind to it. But today, against dozens of AIM soldiers, she was unstoppable.

No one could lay a finger on her, much less a fist or any kind of weapon fire. She dipped, ducked and dodged around multiple people at once, dismantled heavily armed people easily twice her size with ease, and cleared out entire rooms full of people by herself in minutes. With nothing but her hands and feet, no less.

Ward and the team, having seen this act many times before weren't phased. Natasha, on the other hand, hadn't ever seen another woman, other than herself, blow through entire armies solo. "Good job, May," she said when they returned to the Bus.

Ward smirked upon hearing that. It was only a matter of time. Only a matter of time before Romanoff approached May with intentions of a friendly spar. A spar between two people with the sheer, inconspicuous egos like they had would undoubtedly turn in a full out brawl. And he had every intention of watching every second of it. Not up close, obviously. Him being there at the exact moment they decided to fight would give him away.

He had a plan. Quickly, he rushed to his bunk and closed the door behind him. He reached down by his bed and pulled out a small device. It was a video bug, something Fitz made for him one mission that connected to security cameras and stream the feed directly to his phone and tablet. "This should do."

All he had to do was connect it to the security feed in the gym and he was set. He hurried out of his bunk and rushed toward the gym. In such a hurry was he that the didn't see Romanoff standing off to the side. She narrowed her eyes. I know what you're planning, Ward.

She was a pro at reading people from even the most subtle of movements. A smirk after she told May that she did a good job gave him away. Well, not exactly; but his behavior when they were near each other and talking about their techniques certainly did. She knew why. He was young, and all he had heard during his combat training were stories about The Cavalry and her fighting prowess. She would know; that was all Clint and Coulson talked about she first arrived at SHIELD, even going as far as to compare the two and call her the next May.

It was a lot of pressure for someone not even out of their twenties yet. She could empathize with him in wanting to see two best fighters at SHIELD fight; it was what she wanted in seeing May and Coulson, back when Coulson actually bothered to fight. His still did, but not as much.

Yep, she could empathize with Ward. It was too bad that she had to kick his ass for trying to manipulate her. Nodding, she started toward the gym to catch him in the act. "A-a-agent Romanoff?"

She mentally sighed and rolled her eyes. Agent Fitz, the young baby faced engineer who couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He was cute, in a schoolboy type of way. She would have indulged him, just for her own amusement, but she really didn't feel like seeing Simmons look at her. It was supposed to be a glare, but there was no way anyone could have been intimidated by it. A newborn would have laughed its ass off.

"Yes, Agent Fitz?" she said, stifling the laugh that was bubbling up from thinking about Simmons' lame glare.

He sighed dreamily. She followed his eyes and determined that he was swapping between staring at her lips and her boobs. Thank God Clint wasn't here, or else the kid would have had an arrow in his knee days ago. "Wow, you're pretty,"

Christ.

"Um, ahem. I-I-I wrote you a poem. Would you like to hear it."

"Sure." I could use a laugh.

He smiled and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He cleared his throat. "Natasha. N is for –"

"LEO FITZ! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Jemma Simmons stormed out of the lab and stamped toward them. There it was, that pathetic glare that she kept throwing her way. She had to give her credit, a lot of people wouldn't have had the balls to glare at her, which was why she didn't give her the Widow Glare™.

"God, Jemma, leave me alone!"

"No! First you dream about her in your sleep, now you're writing her poetry?!"

"Stop it! You're embarrassing me in front of Natasha!"

Natasha?

"Oh, it's Natasha, now? Why don't you must marry her then?!"

"Oh I will. Because there is no way she'll be able to resist me once she hears this." He waved his poetic masterpiece in her face, smugness etched all over him. Jemma narrowed her eyes and snatched it out of his hand. "Hey, give that back!" Leo grabbed for it, but Jemma held it out of his reach. "Give it!"

"Came and take it!" Jemma took off running down the hall, with Leo hot on her heels.

Natasha blinked and watched them gallop away like s pair of hyperactive three year olds. "What the hell just happened?" She shook her head and continued down to the gym. If she hurried, she may have been able to catch Ward before he got away. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of May following her. She smirked. Looked like she wanted a piece of him too.

Ward had to spend the last five minutes looking for the security camera. Damn Fitz; why did he have to make everything so sleek and hard to find? He eventually found it and hopped atop a chair under it and attached the video bug to the feed wire. He then pulled out his phone and checked the stream. Perfect; it was clear and crisp and gave him a full view of the gym. "Muahahahaha! With this video bug, I'll be able to use the security camera in the gym to watch May and Romanoff fight grin the safety and comfort of my bed. Muahahahahahahahaha! It will only be a matter of time before those fools do battle, since my keen manipulation skills have tickled their egos to the point of madness!"

Why he felt the need to delve into a cliché villainous monologue when he should have been getting his ass the hell out of dodge was anyone's guess.

"Now, to return to my… shit." He sadly stepped off the chair when he saw May and Romanoff standing in the doorway. "Um, hi, guys. How… how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," May replied with an unamused smile. Natasha matched it with her own dangerous smirk that made tough guys like Barton shake in their boots. He nearly soiled himself just looking at her.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" May nodded slowly and approached. "Please, not the face, not in the face!"

May watched Coulson drag an unconscious Ward to the med-bay. "The nerve of that guy," she said with a chuckle. Natasha hummed in agreement. "Thinking he could actually con us into fighting."

"Why waste his time? It should have been obvious." May's back was turned, so she missed the smug grin touching Natasha's lips.

May wasn't stupid. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Coulson told me that you've lost a step since the old days."

Coulson said what?! May didn't respond.

"He also said that your old. Really old. Like, super fucking old. Old May."

May's jaw tightened before she whipped around, sending a roundhouse kick toward Natasha's head. A wide-eyed Natasha barely managed to duck out of the way. "I'm old, hmm?" Another roundhouse, followed smoothly by a high heel kick had Natasha back on her heels. "Coulson knows better."

Natasha blocked a pair of quick jabs before returning with her own two jab combo. "That's between you two." Natasha backflipped over an attempted leg sweep and spun around into a side kick that was barely blocked. "It's not my fault he thinks you're old and slow."

May grimaced and parried the flurry of quick jabs and hooks that Natasha snapped off in quick succession. After the last one, she trapped Natasha's arm between hers and her side and laid a few heavy punches to her face and chest. Drips of blood fell from the redhead's nose, forcing her to break away and retreat to assess the damage. It wasn't serious, but first blood had been drawn. Shit was about to get real.

Natasha said nothing and launched herself into a full sprint toward May. She lunged fist first, but was met with May's forearm as she parried. She managed to block May's retaliatory elbow strike, and the two fell into a furious frenzy of well-timed strikes and parries. For every kick May delivered on time and on point, Natasha had the perfect counter. Every laser accurate jab that Natasha threw, May was more than ready to block it.

Natasha ducked down under a roundhouse and swept May's legs from under her. The older woman tried to kick back up, but there Russian kneed her in there chest just as she rose up. Melinda coughed and spat up a small bit of blood. Natasha smiled, but didn't back off. She threw another knee, this one for her face, but it was caught and she fell forward, suddenly trapped in a leg lock. May locked it in, applying as much pressure as she could. Natasha grinded her teeth to stop from screaming out as much as her knee was.

On her stomach, she couldn't punch her away out, so she slammed her foot down on any part of May that she could reach. Arms, thigh, even once in the chest, wherever her leg could hit, she struck down with as much strength as possible. May yelled out after a third knick to her arm and let go. Natasha rolled to her feet, but the damage done was immediately evident. Any little amount of pressure placed on her left leg nearly made her knee buckle. "Shit."

"Old." May surged forward, Natasha's injured leg luring her in like blood to a launched a relentless volley of rabbit punches and low kicks. Her intention wasn't to hit her same knock her out, which she could have done easily now with her bad leg; it was to make her give up. She started it, she was going to learn the hard way why no one talked shit about The Cavalry.

Natasha backed off and threw a medium kick, planting on her good leg. Melinda noticed this and sacrificed her own rib cage to catch and trap her bad leg again. Natasha yelped and frantically ripped herself from her grip. She couldn't risk getting caught in another leg lock; but then, she could plant on that leg ton throw a kick with her good leg and risk her knee giving out.

Screw it.

She ran forward as quickly as she could and threw a high right kick. May predictably dodged, just as she wanted. She didn't notice that it was a feint until Natasha continued with her momentum and spun around into a back heel kick. It caught Melinda on the chin, dropping her like a ton of bricks. She wasn't out, but she was seeing three of everything.

Her chin was stinging, her head pounding and the distinct taste of wet copper was filling her mouth. Her ribs her screaming at her and her arms were killing her from blocking so many kicks. She wasn't going to give up. She struggled to her feet, gritting her teeth as she swallowed the pain from woozy vision.

Natasha, besides her knee and bruised arms, was still in good shape. It was that most of her offense needed a strong base to be effective. Her flips, twirls and spins were ineffective if she was too hobbled in one leg. Despite that, she wasn't going to give up. Because that was exactly what Melinda wanted, to make her tap out. Well, it wasn't going to happen.

Melinda shook her head and managed to straighten her vision out enough to charge at Natasha full speed. Natasha growled and charged at Melinda as quickly as her knee would allow. She eased up just enough for her to launch her foot upward toward where Melinda's chin would be. Melinda, at the same time, eased up just enough to snap of a kick where Natasha's head would be.

From within the safety and comfort of his office, Phil smiled. His plan had worked to absolute perfection. All it took was goading Ward into doing all the hard work, and then a seemingly offhand comment to Romanoff about Melinda seeming slower than usual, despite him seeing otherwise. It was risky, but it paid off. Yes, he'd pay for calling May old behind her back much worse than Ward did, but after seeing this fight, in glorious HD, he determined that it was way worth the months long coma Melinda was going to beat him into.

Everything was worth seeing the match of the century.