Steve sat down next to Peter, both of them having sustained injuries during their sparring match but, once again, Peter had received the worst of them.

Steve sported a black eyes and bruised ribs while Peter had his cheek split, his forehead cut, both eyes blackened and his jaw dislocated at one point.

The older man handed the battered teen a bottle of water, Peter taking it with a thank you before downing half the liquid in a single go.

"Thirsty?" Steve asked with a smirk.

"You know it... I know I'm meant to have superhuman endurance but... fuck, I'm exhausted just from that" Peter nodded.

"Yeah, it's because you're throwing every punch as if you're trying to knock out your opponent in one go, that works against normal crooks but with guys like me, Thor and, hopefully never, the Hulk you're gonna exhaust yourself before you even get them tired" Steve explained, resting his elbows on his knees as he ran his hand through his hair.

"You've gotta take your time with fights Peter, start out with weaker jabs and softer kicks, outside the ring in the case of the latter, to see how your opponent moves and angles themselves, look for weak spots and open areas to strike with a more powerful shot" Steve continued "Give me a few examples of fights you've been in that've lasted longer than a minute"

"Uhhh" Peter said, scratching the back of his head "I think I went a few minutes against Black Cat once or twice... before she ran away"

"Right, so far in your career, and don't take this as a criticism mind you, you've only had skirmishes, never an actual brawl, is that right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, that's about right" Peter said "And most of the fights I've had... I've kinda lost"

"Really?" Steve asked "Against who?"

"Like I said, Black Cat, then there was the fight I had with Elektra where she annihilated me..." Peter said "Then there was the fight with Luna yesterday... and the draw we had before that... so far my superhero career has just been me getting beaten up by women"

Steve laughed into the bottle he was drinking from, patting Peter on the back with a grin.

"Don't let it get you down kid, everybody's gotta start somewhere" Steve said in a comforting manner "Even in the big leagues, you've got that guy that doesn't do too well at first"

"Yeah, well I don't wanna be the Glass Joe of the Avengers, so this rookie-thing better come to a end, soon" Peter sighed, gingerly touching his sore face again, hissing in pain.

"Whoever that is, I'm sure you'll be better than him" Steve said, clapping Peter on the back and standing up straight "Alright then kid, back to training"

"Already?" Peter asked in fear "We've only had, like, ten minutes to sit down"

"I know that, but don't worry, we're not gonna do any sparring, I just wanna help you work on your form" Steve said.

"Actually Cap, you're gonna have to put that on hold, Fury wants to see Peter downstairs in the gym" Clint called from the doorway.

"How come?" Steve asked, standing up and looking at his friend.

"He says that he wants to get an accurate record of Peter's abilities for his file as well as a reference sheet to the rest of the team" Clint said before waving and leaving the room.

"Well then, guess you get out of training for the rest of the day" Steve shrugged "Lucky bastard"

Peter's eyes scanned the enormous room, seeing several different sets of exercise equipment, ranging from reasonable weights to enormous machines loaded with even larger weights.

"Alright then Parker" Fury said "We're gonna take you over to our little testing area and see what you're made of"

"So... what exactly are you gonna make me do?" Peter asked.

"Just basic stuff, the others have all gone through it to have their abilities on record so we can pick and choose different members of the team to respond to different emergencies depending on what skills-slash-powers are needed" Fury explained "We do the same thing for every member of S.H.I.E.L.D at five years intervals to see what their physical pinnacle is, same reason as to why"

"Right then" Peter said "What are we gonna work on first?" Peter asked.

"First thing-" Fury said, pointing at a large stack of weights roughly ten-by-ten suspended by an enormous fork-lift-esque machine "Is your maximum weight capacity"

"How does it work?" Peter asked, having a general idea but not liking what it was.

"Well, basically, we put you under it and lower it onto your back before applying a weight to it, and as you prove that you can lift that one, we'll add another one on" Fury said "And we stop when you can't physically lift them any more"

"And what if it fucks up and crushes me?" Peter asked in a worried tone.

"Don't worry Petey" Carol said, patting Peter on the back.

Peter turned to look at her, the gorgeous blonde woman now sporting a tight shirt and a pair of black yoga pants.

"Noice" Peter thought to himself, forcing himself to keep eye contact instead of staring at her breasts.

"I'll make sure you don't get crushed" she said with a smile.

"That sounds good, how much can you lift?" Peter asked.

"As of yet, we don't have a limit for her" Fury answered "One of Ms Marvel's key powers is energy absorption, energy which she can lend to her physical strength to lift whatever she wants, and as long as she's got a constant stream of energy she can lift practically anything"

"That's both awesome and terrifying" Peter said "Are you not afraid that you'll trip, fall over and punch the Earth out of orbit?"

"No, not again" she smiled, patting Peter on the head before walking over to the machine.

"Oh, alright the-what the hell do you mean again?!" he demanded, only to have Fury chuckle at him.

"Go on, we'll start up the machine and see what you're made of" he said.

Peter nodded and made his way over to the machine, reaching his hand up and touching the underside of the flat surface, the black object being smooth and cold.

"Alright then Peter, if you can just stand there for a minute while we lower this thing onto your back" Fury called over to him, activating the machine with the flick of a switch.

The machine's powerful gears activated and lowered down onto Peter's back with an extremely loud grinding sound, the cold metal being nothing more than feather for Peter to hold up at the moment.

"Alright, when you give us the word we'll start" Fury said "Ms Marvel, you're on standby right now"

"Okay Fury" she nodded.

"Right, let me have it" Peter said, feeling one of the weights being applied to the platform, requiring minimal effort for him to lift.

"Right Peter, that's half a ton there, that's roundabout one thousand pounds" Fury said "How're you holding up?"

"No problem Fury" he said "Gimme more"

They did, adding on another half-ton weight, Peter feeling the new amount but it caused no strain to him yet.

"Now?"

"Still good"

"Good to hear it, I'm gonna put on two of them this time alright, that'll be two tons" Fury said, flipping another switch to add more weight on.

Peter had to straighten his back a little more to keep himself up, not causing any difficulties but he wanted to be prepared.

"And?"

"Managing"

"Good, ready for another ton?"

"Try for two" Peter called.

"You sure?"

"Positive" Peter said, gritting his teeth.

The weight was applied to his body and he had to lock his legs to keep himself up straight, his shoulders beginning to feel the strain of supporting the weight.

"Ms Marvel, keep an eye on him" Fury reminded.

"I am" Carol said, looking at Peter with a gentle smile before whispering to him "Don't get yourself hurt, there's no shame in stopping"

"I'm good, another two Fury" Peter said.

"If you're sure" he said, adding another two tons to bring it up to six and this caused Peter to immediately feel the strain.

Gritting his teeth he locked every joint he had as he had to forcibly push himself to prevent being crushed, a worried look appearing on Ms Marvel's face as she placed a hand to her mouth.

"Is that it?" Fury asked.

"No..." Peter groaned, sweat beginning to appear on his face "Go for... just one this time"

Fury nodded and added the seventh ton, this pushing Peter to his very limit. He felt his knees ready to give way at any second and when his final push to give himself room to manoeuvre ended up with his knee dropping to the floor.

Peter hissed in pain, Fury stopping the machine before Carol jammed her hand underneath it and lifted it above her head in an effortless manner.

Peter couldn't get back to his feet, every muscle in his body aching too much for him to move, Carol waiting for the machine to raise again before releasing it and walking over to Peter.

She sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder, allowing him to lean against her side and relax, heavy breaths exiting his mouth as Carol appeared worried.

"Anything broken?" she asked "Ruptured, split or sprained?"

"No..." Peter panted "I'm good, I'm good... fuck... that was something else"

"You've never done that before?" she asked, his head leaning against her chest.

"Never... I don't think I've ever given my all at anything physical before in my life" Peter said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove "And I don't think I ever want to again"

"Hopefully you won't have to" Carol chuckled "Still, you did good... not as good as me, but decent for a kid"

The angry look Peter shot her made her chuckle, the two of them sitting quietly while Fury spoke to several other S.H.I.E.L.D members who had been watching the event. Next Chapter: Basic Results Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 21 Minutes