AN: I'm finally back! This story was supposed to be posted weeks ago, but life happened, sorry!
It was a beautiful spring day, one of those early enough in the season where the pollen hadn't overtaken everything, but the weather was still warm enough to actually enjoy the outdoors. At this early hour of the morning, many folks were still just rolling out of bed, and the sidewalks and trails were not yet full of joggers out for their pre-workday runs. Of course, in a city as big and busy as Washington, there were a few people out, but many more would come later as the day broke and the sun began making its way into the sky.
The breeze began to pick up slightly, lifting my hair from my shoulders as I turned the corner on the sidewalk taking the shortcut I always take to get to Powell's Gym. There was was a noise to the right of me and I turned my head to see that noise was that of the overworked and underpaid trash collectors working their way through the bins a few blocks down.
I approached the building and stopped just in front of the gym door. I looked up at the sky and closed my eyes. The sun felt so good on my face, I pulled my key for the gym door out of my pocket and unlocked the door. I walked into the gym, turned on the lights, the walls were littered with posters of fitness posters or famous boxers. My eyes scanned the room and the equipment in it, there were sparring mats, weights and cardio equipment, training dummies and punching bags, and a high bar to be used for pull-ups. But, my eyes were drawn to middle of the small gym, a large boxing ring in the center.
I was in a gym and my eleven year-old self was in the main ring fighting a grown woman. She had her blond hair tied back in a tight braid and she wasn't pulling any of her punches as she sparred with me. I was able to block a few hits, but I wasn't strong enough or fast enough to protect myself fully and took a few hard hits to my face. The blonde woman got me trapped in an armbar and she moved to thrust upward and break my arm...
I shook my head I sat down on one of the benches and placed my gym bag down unzipping it. I had been having flashbacks more frequently now, it was rather ominous like my power was trying to tell me something bad was on the horizon. I unzipped my jacket and placed it in my bag I was dressed in tight black exercise tights and a royal blue tank top. I grabbed my tape and began wrapping my hands. It only took a minute to finish wrapping my hands and I stood from my seat and I approached one of the training dummies. I gathered myself into a fighting stance and landed the first blow.
~~~x~~~
Sweat stung my eyes, but I ignored it and delivered a left jab to the training dummy, following it up with a sharp roundhouse kick to its head. I returned to a neutral stance and shook out my arms. I have been at it for close to two hours and I'm starting to feel it. I'm not ready to quit though. I attacked again, rounding it up by getting in close and rammed a knee into the side of the dummy before retreating out of range.
"We have found another mission for you to go on. The complex you will be breaking into is heavily guarded and located in a secret base several hundred miles from here. You have been assigned to carry out and complete this mission with the Winter Soldier. The two of you should be able to get far enough to assassinate Dr. Aria Liam, an ex-HYDRA scientist. Both of you will head out at dusk and are expected to reach there within three days,"
I forced myself to relax again, shook out my shoulders out. Punch, punch, kick, jab with elbow, punch. I let out short, shaky breaths as my speed increased.
I woke up in my cot unsure how I got back into my room, that's when I felt pain in my left wrist. I looked down to see cast covering my arm up to my elbow, my wrist was broken. I was once again surprised to hear to men yelling at each angrily. I recognized Heiner's voice but the second man's voice I've never heard before.
"How did this happened Dr. Heiner?" the unknown asked angrily.
"I should be asking you the same question, sir! He broke her wrist! She won't be able to go missions, for god knows how long!" Heiner exclaimed furiously.
"And we have to wipe him again, because your Project decided to use her powers against him! She's been acting out since last year, your lucky my mind was changed about her usefulness to this organization," the man replied. "I want to meet the troublemaker,"
"What!?" Henier exclaimed.
Breathe. Right jab, low side-kick, back to neutral. Breathe. Attack again. Punch after punch was thrown at the dummy, the dummy shaking as I pummeled it mercilessly.
The door opened and light from the hallway flooded into my room as Heiner walked in and switched my light on. The man that was talking with Heiner had his back towards me, he was hiding his face from me. Heiner approached me and pulled me out of my makeshift bed, I let out a yelp as I was thrown to the hard floor, luckily it wasn't on my broken wrist. Suddenly, everything went pitch black as a piece cloth covered my eyes, I gasped at my sudden loss of vision.
The training dummy groaned in protest as the dummy began to shake more than it should, but I didn't care. I landed another blow to the dummy and it flew backwards. Sweat dripping slowly down my brow. My muscles starting to shake with exertion and I grabbed my water bottle, sitting down. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, and I wiped at it, wrinkling my nose at how gross I felt. Grabbing a towel from beside me, I wiped my face and breathed deeply trying to catch my breath.
"You may come in now, sir," Heiner stated.
I heard the man's footsteps enter the room and I could feel his eyes boring into me.
"Hurts doesn't it?" the voice asked.
I didn't answer, but I turned my head to the sound of his voice, "Who are you?" I asked back.
"You attacked him did you not?" his voice was cold. "The Asset"
"You're the boss," I guessed, ignoring his question.
I stood from my seat and took one last sip of water before placing my bottle down, and walking over to another training dummy. I raised my right foot, positioning it to kick the dummy, it was my next cycle of exercise.
A sudden clicking noise was heard in the room, awfully close to the my right ear as I felt something cold pressed onto my temple. I knew what this was; it was the security of a gun. I faintly remembered holding one before, the cold metal against my skin, the clicking noise it made when the security came off, the slide of the trigger, the screams of...
"I hate being ignored," the man growled impatiently, pressing the gun further into my temple.
"Sir, I don't think-"
"Shut up Heiner!" the man ordered, and Heiner did just that.
Yep, he was definitely the boss. "I might have. What of it?" I questioned boredly.
"We had to wipe him, because you flooded him with emotions that will only hinder him," the man stated. "Why did you do it?" he inquired.
"He doubted my skills, so I decided to make sure he never doubted me again," I answered. "He can't be much of an 'asset' if a fourteen year-old girl can incapacitate him," I responded in a snarky tone.
The man before me seemed to smile, at least I imagined he did for my vision was blocked by a blindfold. Out of nowhere, I felt a hand connect to my cheek and it sent me to the cold cement floor. This wasn't a regular slap, by the force of the blow he must have backhanded me as could I taste the metallic bite of my blood, it made my stomach turn. My cheek stung painfully before I had time to recover from the blow I could feel the man's hand in my hair and he grabbed a handful of it, forcing me up from the floor and making me face him.
"You disobeyed a direct order. You were commanded to kill everyone at that compound, but you spared Dr. Liam. The woman who out of everyone needed to be killed..." The man stated calmly, which unsettled me deeply.
"She told me I was more than a weapon. That I...was my own person," I said quietly.
"Then that woman is a LIAR! You are nothing, but a disobedient weapon! You should be grateful that the Winter Soldier cleaned up your mess. Come next year, we won't be having anymore of these lapses of your judgement...you are going to be wiped and I will make you my obedient weapon," he explained in a sadistic tone, before chuckling.
He released his grip on my hair and threw me to the ground, making me purposefully land on my broken wrist. I let out a cry of pain as white hot pain shot through my entire arm.
I sent a left hook into the bag, quickly followed by a kick. I hit the dummy with a fast one-two jab before I landed another perfect kick to the training dummy's side. I straightened up, wiping a bit of sweat off of my forehead with the the back of my hand. I regained my fighter's stance before twisting into a whirlwind kick, knocking the head clean off of the dummy.
"You are to protect each other. You use each other for HYDRA's gain. Threatening one another is threatening HYDRA. We cannot have that, can we?" The man asked, before chuckling menacingly.
I felt someone behind me before I actually turned around. I spun around and threw punch and the man evaded the blow smoothly. That man being Phillip Dilon. His brown hair was gelled back, eyes stormy grey which were mesmerizing. His jaw was defined nicely and eyes were deep set in his skulls so that if he tilted his head slightly it would make him look angry.
"Remind me not to piss you off," Phillip joked, handing me my towel.
I smiled accepting it, "You and I both know that I don't need to," I replied, before wiping my face and neck.
"I was wondering where you went," Phillip started. "You left me to wake up cold and alone in bed," Phillip stated, a pout on his face as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Aww, poor you," I replied, mimicking his pout and tapping his nose.
If someone told me a few months ago that Phillip and I would be in a relationship, I would've laughed in their faces and recommend them to go see a doctor. Phillip was a "Class A" jackass when I first met him and always had an air of arrogance.
"Ain't you a little out of your depth here sweetheart?" I turned to see a tall man with brown hair with a group of men had spoken.
A small smile curled at my lips, "I can disarm you in two seconds, knock you out in four, I'm not out of my depth, I'm out of your league," I clarified in a clipped tone.
Turning back without a second glance, I headed to the conference room to meet Fury, the sound of the other men teasing their teammate at just being burned was music to my ears.
Imagine my surprise when Fury told me that the man I just told off was my second in command of the team that I would be leading. Our relationship started out very rocky, the two of us being stubborn when it came to making plans on how to approach our missions. It wasn't until that we saved each other's asses by combining both our ideas to escape a dangerous situation that our relationship bloomed from snarky insults to amicable conversations and then evolved to a romantic relationship. Phillip is my first boyfriend, I never thought it would be possible seeing how I have major trust issues, but with him...I can let the walls I built around me down.
"What was so important that you had to come here and tell me in person?" I asked curiously, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"We have another mission," Phillip answered, pulling me against his chest.
I threw my head back, "I swear we just came back from a mission," I groaned.
"Can't stay on vacation forever, especially with our career," Phillip informed shrugging.
A sly grinned spread across his face and that's how I knew he had an idea.
"You know, if you wanted a good workout, you didn't need to go to the gym," he said slyly.
I couldn't help but feel a smile spread across my face, "Oh really?" I asked, playing along. "What could've I done instead?"
"Well, I've heard sex is pretty good at burning calories," he suggested, the mischievous grin still plastered on his face.
"Oh really?" I purred, trailing an index finger down his chest.
"Mhmmm," he hummed.
I smirked, "Well, I guess it's a good thing we got our workout last night,"
I watched Phillip's face fall and his grip went slack, I pushed away from him and walked over to my bag and grabbed my jacket. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my wallet leaving five-hundred dollars for the equipment I broke, again.
"Come on lover boy, a mission awaits us," I called over my shoulder, grabbing my bag and walking to the door.
AN: Hoped you like it! Sorry if there were any mistakes.