A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews, it really means a lot to me. Please do give more reviews, it would mean the world to me because I really want to know what you guys thing, if you're enjoying it and what I need to improve on. I have huge plans for this, a plot twist you guys would be dying to know about. So please do keep reviewing.
With that being said, does anyone have any clues on who Fourteen could be?
Wringing her fingers together, Diana sighed as she sat on the bumper of the ambulance, wincing a little when medic touched her cheek. She could already feel the bruising. "I'm okay," she tried to reassure the man and kept her eyes on the entrance of the bank, waiting for Steve and Bucky to appear. Letting out a sigh of relief when she saw them appear, Diana stood up and watched as they handed the two robbers to the cops, the third one not far behind in the custody of another cop.
About to go up to them, she stopped when she noticed reporters starting to come up to them, obviously already recognizing Steve as Captain America. Watching them, Diana noticed how uncomfortable Bucky looked with all the attention. Noticing him look her way, she gave him a comforting smile before sitting back down.
"Are you alright?" Diana heard someone ask her.
Looking up when she heard someone speak to her, she smiled when she saw Steve and Bucky in front of her. Diana nodded her head and smiled. "Yeah. At least now I have an excuse for being late for work huh?" Diana asked in a joking manner.
"You don't have to you know? I'm sure Tony will understand you taking the day off."
Diana shook her head and smiled at Steve, standing up. "It's fine. If I go home, I'll do nothing but think about how close I was to dying."
Steve paused for a moment and looked down at his shoes. "I'm sorry about leaving you alone. I shouldn't have."
Sighing, Diana placed a hand on his shoulder and made him look at her. "Steve, you didn't know. It's fine. I'm alive, we're alive." Running a hand through her hair, Diana smiled at the two friend, about to say something when she heard the sounds of cameras clicking. Her eyes widened when she saw reporters snapping pictures of them. Immediately, she turned and hid her face, hoping they wouldn't use pictures of her face in papers. "We should get going to Stark Towers. It's almost time for your appointment with Tony," Diana muttered.
"Mr. Stark, your 2 0'clock appointment is here," Diana announced, walking into the top floor of Stark Towers with Steve and Bucky behind her.
Spotting Diana, Tony and Pepper rushed over to her with Pepper cupping both her cheeks and looking at the bruise on her cheek. The redhead's brows furrowed, distressed to see her friend injured. "Jesus Diana, we saw the news. We heard what happened. Are you okay? You should have taken the day off."
Diana just smiled at Pepper and took a small step back. "I'm fine Pepper, I'm fine. I can work."
"Look at her, she's a fighter," Tony said before leading Bucky and Steve through another door where his lab was. "Diana follow me as well."
Shrugging her shoulder, she followed Tony through the doors and said goodbye to Pepper. Running a hand through her shoulder length brown hair, Diana sat down on one of the chairs and waited to see what Tony wanted with her. Placing her hand on her cheek, she touched it gingerly before taking a notepad out of her purse.
"I need you to take notes while I play with Sergeant Barnes' arm," Tony said playfully, making Diana furrow her brows.
"Don't you have Jarvis for that?"
After a couple of hours of watching Tony play around with Bucky's arm, Diana noticed Bucky starting to get uncomfortable as he gritted his teeth and his right hand started to shake.
"Um, Tony, maybe we should take a small break," she muttered and tried to discreetly nod at Bucky who still sat in silence looking uncomfortable. "I'm sure sitting for two hours being poked at isn't exciting."
Tony looked at Bucky for a moment then at Steve and nodded his head. "Fine, I was thinking about Shwarma anyways," he muttered and pushed his chair back a little and stood up. "Let's go Capisicle."
Nodding his head, Steve followed before stopping at the door when he realized Bucky wasn't following him. "Buck you coming?" Bucky just shook his head and remained seated in his chair.
Gathering her things, Diana stood up and noticed that they were alone. Looking at Bucky, Diana noticed that he was still sitting rather tense, his hand balled into a fist to the point where his knuckles were turning white. Slowly and carefully, the brunette sat down on Tony's chair and moved a little closer to him.
"Are you okay?"
Looking up at Diana slowly, Bucky just gave her a small smile and nodded his head. "Yeah. Are you?" he asked, eyeing the bruise that was now forming on her cheek.
Diana instantly got what he meant and gingerly touched the bruise before wincing. "I'll be fine," she reassured him. "Thank you for saving my life. I never got a chance to thank you."
Looking at her somewhat surprised, it was new for Bucky hearing someone thank him for a good deed, granted he hadn't done much good deed, no one really thanked him. It was a new feeling. A feeling he rather liked.
"Must be hard huh? Feeling so out of place in the world and all," Diana said, trying to start a conversation with him. She wanted to know more about him. For some reason he interested her, not to mention his Winter Soldier persona, it was enticing. She wanted to pick his brain more about it and it didn't help that he was rather attractive. "There's this place just two blocks from here and they make the most amazing pizza. I should take you there one time."
Bucky looked at the woman in front of him a little wide-eyed. There was no way someone was gorgeous as her could be asking her out or insinuating that she wanted to spend more time with him. The old Bucky, sure. The charming and suave Bucky who had no problems getting a girl, maybe, but this Bucky was damaged and dangerous. There was no way she would be asking him out on a date.
Blushing when Diana realized what she had just insinuated with her question, she bit her bottom lip and tried to think of a way to recover. "I-I mean, only if you want to. No pressure. We could go there during one of your sessions with Tony and on a lunch break," she muttered and tried to look at anything but him.
Nodding slowly, Bucky looked at her and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, it would be nice to get away for awhile," he agreed, feeling a little hopeful about everything. Between finding his best friend again, regaining some of his memories and now being able to somewhat function as a normal human being and not just the Winter Soldier, Bucky couldn't help but relax again. Things were looking up and he finally had a date.
Diana looked excited and happy when he agreed. "Tomorrow at twelve then!"
At the age of twelve, Fourteen had become rather proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Her, like the five other girls, were proficient in hand-to-hand combat. It was only natural that they would be, they were after all designed to be the next generation of weapons Hydra would use.
Sweating and huffing, Fourteen looked at the man, her opponent, menacingly. He had been getting the best of her for over an hour now and she was getting tired of his games. The way that he was moving, she knew that he didn't view her as some sort of threat and that angered her. She wasn't just some child. Fourteen was the best of the best. She knew she could take down more than half the people in Hydra.
Out of the five other girls, Fourteen was the only one that had the privilege to be mentored by the Winter Soldier. In Hydra he was a legend. Everyone wanted to be trained by him but at the same time, everyone feared him. At the beginning, Fourteen was scared to fight him, but knowing now that his orders were not to kill her, she was every bit determined to prove she was better than him, even if it meant breaking bones.
"You're too slow," the man said in Russian, making Fourteen narrow her eyes at him. "You think too much. This should be casual to you," he said, egging her even more.
Glaring at him, Fourteen ran towards him, quickly and efficiently. Pulling her knife out of her holster, she then made a jab towards his side, which he evaded with ease. Smirking, Fourteen took another knife out when she was sure that he wasn't watching her free hand. As he moved right again, trying to evade her knife, Fourteen struck with her left hand but she was too slow, he quickly evaded that, moving and kicking the knife out of her hand.
The Winter Soldier then picked up the knife from the floor as Fourteen stood grounded, glaring at him. He threw the knife right at her. There were a few gasps, but Fourteen didn't care. Before it could hit her dead in her forehead, she moved her head so that it just grazed her cheek.
"Shut up and fight me," she cursed in Russian, moving into a fighting stance as he ran towards her. Every part of Fourteen's body was screaming to quit out of exhaustion but she didn't care. She was going to push her body until it broke. She was going to do whatever it took to beat her mentor.
As he came at her, Fourteen steeled herself, mentally preparing herself for his oncoming attacks. He threw a punch at her, which she evaded with ease and countered with her knife, trying to take a jab at him. The Winter Soldier stopped the knife with his metal arm, grabbing it as if it was nothing. Blocking his next punch with her forearm, she dropped the knife to her other hand, catching it easily before swiping at him, nicking him in the side.
Jumping back, the two were panting heavily as they glared at one another. Wiping the blood from her cheek, she watched the knife wound on his side bleed a little. Fourteen smirked. Assessing him, she knew that there was no way she was going to be able to take him down with brute force. No, he was much bigger than her. She had to use her body against him. She had to find tiny spaces where she could hit him in places where it would hurt.
Running at him, she watched as he prepared himself. Doing something she knew he wouldn't expect, she slid between his legs, stopping just behind him and got up and wrapped her waist around him. Punching him on the side, she tried to get another punch in but he quickly grabbed her with his metal arm and tossing her to the ground. Once her back hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of her and for a moment, Fourteen could barely think. Before she could react, her eyes widened as she watched the Winter Soldier then take her left arm and twist it, breaking her wrist and dislocating her shoulder. She let out a scream.
"Enough!" one of the spectators yelled.
Obediently, the Winter Solider let go of her arm, and Fourteen withered in pain, clutching her wrist. Glaring at him, she tried to stand up. Once she finally got to stand up, she wiped the blood from her cheek, the wound no longer bleeding. She watched as the Winter Solider retreated until he was beside Alexander Pierce.
"Get her cleaned up," Alexander Pierce ordered two men
Giving one of the men her arm, she then popped her shoulder back, biting her bottom lip at the stinging pain. It didn't compare though to her usual training sessions with the Winter Solider where he would break something. "Go away," she muttered to the two men that tried to clean the wound on her cheek. Looking at her wrist, Fourteen then watched as it started to heal.