Learning how to fight was like what little Lana had seen in video games. She got a tutorial before dropping into the actual game. Since it was more open than the apartment, they fought on the roof. Bucky taught Lana mostly defensive moves with some bits of offense thrown in. After Lana performed some the moves a few times, she and Bucky fight in order to break up the pattern. At first, Lana could easily learn the moves, but when it came to the full-fledged fighting, she would fall into the same old pattern of attacks. And according to Bucky, she lacked strength in her attacks. "Don't hold back because you're fighting me," he said in response to Lana's protests. She didn't want to hurt him, after all. "Now, let's try it again. Try to throw me off" He got in his fighting stance. Lana did the same and went straight for the offensive. She focused on avoiding predictable attacks. If she assumed Bucky would predict one type of attack, Lana would occasionally do the opposite. "Alright, you threw me off." Bucky commented. "But you're still holding yourself back. If you were fighting someone with the same amount of strength you're using, it wouldn't do much. So-" Bucky stood up straight, like he was a statue. "Punch me."

"What?" Lana asked. "Seriously?"

"Punch me. I'm not going to retaliate, so don't hold yourself back," Bucky commanded. The tone he had made Lana wonder if he'd ever trained people before, be it a HYDRA guy or one of his buddies from the forties.

"Got it." Lana closed her fists and charged at Bucky. She kept repeating the phrase 'not Bucky' in her head as she punched him square in the stomach as hard as she was able. Bucky actually stumbled back. He regained his balance and rubbed the spot where Lana punched him.

"Was that good?" she asked, unsure. Bucky nodded.

"Yeah. That was a good punch."

"Thanks." Lana felt a sense of accomplishment. "Sorry if that bruises."

"I'll be fine. Let's go again."


Sunlight leaked through the newspapers that covered the windows of the safe apartment. Lana was sprawled on top of the couch, trying to ignore her sore muscles. Bucky walked out of the bathroom with damp hair and in a new change of clothes.

"Sun finally came out," Lana said to him as she pointed at one of the windows, "Of course, it's sunset. Rain clouds don't have the best timing."

"If you say so," Bucky said. Lana saw him start walking to the kitchen, but she didn't bother to sit up and see what he was doing.

"Are your muscles not screaming in pain at you right now?" Lana asked.

"Nope," Bucky answered. Lana heard him moving things around in the kitchen.

"And I guess that's because you're pseudo-Super Soldier."

"Yep."

"And I'm only three-fourths Super Soldier," she mused. "I think if I took all of the doses, then I would have gotten the healing factor that I heard so much about."

"Or you could've died." Bucky added.

"That too." Lana sighed and closed her eyes. She heard Bucky walking back to the couch. Something was placed on her forehead and Lana realized it was one of the plums. She chuckled and grabbed the fruit off of her head. "Really?" she asked when she looked at Bucky, who had a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Figured you were hungry" was his answer as he sat down on the floor in front of the couch. He had the remaining plum in his hand and took a bite out of it.

"Thank you," Lana said as she gently pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Have you ever taught someone how to fight before?" she asked before taking a bite.

"Yeah," Bucky answered.

"Was that before or after HYDRA?"

"Both."

"You've taught HYDRA people how to fight?" Lana asked, curious.

"Well, not really," Bucky answered vaguely.

"But you did fight them?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Who were they?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?" Bucky complained.

Lana shrunk back into the couch. "Sorry," she said quietly. It was easy to forget that HYDRA was an organization bent on world domination, and they'd used Bucky for their gain for over seventy years. She sighed and took another bite from her plum, which seemed to have lost its flavor.

"Sorry for snapping at you," Bucky murmured.

Lana shrugged, "I deserved it."

"Still, I shouldn't have done it."

Lana knew that Bucky wasn't going to accept her dismissal, so she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Bucky's shoulders with the plum still in her hand."Don't worry about it. I'm not mad," she said. Bucky lightly grabbed one of her arms with his right hand. Lana's cheek was getting wet from being pressed against Bucky's hair. She was able to smell the faint scent of new shampoo. "Your hair smells nice."

Bucky chuckled. "Seriously?"

Lana smiled in amusement. "I couldn't help but notice." She removed her arms from Bucky's shoulder and leaned back into the couch.

"I did teach Steve how to fight."

"Steve? And this was when he was all frail and whatnot?"

"Yeah. It was after we found out that America entered the war."

"So, who's idea was it to practice fighting?" Lana asked as she finished off her plum.

"Steve's," Bucky answered. "He was begging me to teach him because he thought it would help him get enlisted. So, I taught him-"

"Wait," Lana interrupted, "Did you teach him how to box?"

"Yeah," Bucky answered in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"You did say you were a boxer. I just guessed from that."

"Good guess," Bucky said as he stood up. "I wasn't surprised that Steve was rejected from service, but I didn't tell him that."

Lana straightened up and looked over the couch with the pit of the plum in her hand. Bucky was grabbing his journal off of the kitchen's island counter, and Lana spotted the nearby wastebasket. As Bucky walked back to the couch with his journal, Lana aimed the plum pit at the wastebasket and threw it. She pumped her fists in the air when the pit sank inside. "Got it!" she cheered. Seconds later, another plum pit sailed into the wastebasket and Lana saw Bucky's mischievous smirk. "Show off," she teased with a playful roll of her eyes.

May 16, 2014

Lana and Bucky were back at the market after Bucky realized they'd run out of plums. The stall that was selling fruit last time Lana and Bucky went to the market wasn't where it should've been, so Lana and Bucky split up to look for a different seller. Lana quietly hummed to the song playing through her Walkman's headphones as she browsed the market stalls. She stopped when she saw a stall that didn't sell plums, but various trinkets including a pair of headphones that were compatible with her Walkman. She headed over to check out headphones. Someone- presumably the stall's owner- asked Lana if she needed help. Lana held up the headphones in response. "Vorbiţi românește?" the stall owner asked.

Lana shrugged. "Eu vorbesc unele română."

"Is English your first language?" the stall owner asked in perfect English. He still had a European accent that Lana couldn't quite place.

"You could say that," Lana answered. "How did you know?"

"English is a very common language." The stall owner gestured to the headphones. "Are you wanting to buy the headphones?"

Lana looked down at the headphones in her hand. "Yes," she nodded, "After I see if they work."

"Be my guest." The stall owner waited patiently as Lana tested the headphones. She had them plugged into the second headphone jack on her Walkman, and to Lana's surprise, they worked well.

"I'll take them," she said.

"Excellent." The stall owner named his price for the headphones. Lana noticed her money supply was dwindling as she pulled out the bills. There was still enough money to last them a short while if Lana didn't spend it on headphones. She sighed, realizing that she was going to have to start doing odd jobs again.

"Is everything alright?" the stall owner asked.

Lana looked up. "Oh, I'm fine. It's just that money doesn't grow on trees." she joked.

"Indeed." The stall owner pushed up the glasses on his face. "My store has been shorthanded of late. I don't have enough help."

Lana could tell what he was aiming at, but she was still cautious. "Help with what, exactly?"

The stall owner explained how he brought his wares up from his house, and often required help in sorting what he wanted to sell. "I also could use help here on my busiest days," he added. "So, what do you say?"

"I appreciate the offer," Lana began as she tapped into the man's mind. The man - Anzor Markov, she learned- harbored no ill intentions and most importantly wasn't HYDRA. "But I have to discuss this with my…" How was she going to explain to him who Bucky was? "Brother." she finished quickly. Hopefully, he hadn't noticed the pause. "He's kind of overprotective of me." That was kind of true, wasn't it?

"I understand," Anzor said. "Please, don't feel the need to rush into this. Take your time to talk about it with your brother."

"Thank you, Mister-?"

"Markov," he filled in and held his hand out. Lana shook his calloused hand and held back the amusement she found in already being one step ahead. "Nice to meet you, Mister Markov. My name is Lana."


Lana found Bucky almost immediately after getting the new headphones and the job offer from Mister Markov. "I see you found the plums," Lana pointed out the plastic bag.

"Did you always have two pairs of headphones?" Bucky asked as he and Lana began walking back to the apartment. Lana explained the purchase and the job offer.

"You sure it's safe?"

"Yeah, I looked into his head. Nothing in there that seemed unsafe to me." Lana looked down at her Walkman and hit the skip button. Bucky wasn't saying anything one way or the other. "I think I should accept it. The money we have can only last for so long." she spoke. When she looked up, Bucky wasn't beside her. Lana looked back to see Bucky staring down what looked like an alleyway. She walked back to Bucky and looked around. There wasn't anything special about it, besides the fact that it had captured Bucky's attention. "See something?" she asked.

"I know this place." Bucky looked up and down the street before going into the alley. Lana followed behind with both of her headphones now resting around her neck. She looked around the alley while Bucky opened a door so dark it may as well have been charred. Curiosity was burning inside of Lana as she thought of what might be inside. Bucky pushed open the door, revealing a hallway so full of dust it could've been untouched for decades. Bucky flipped the switch for a blinking, fluorescent light before Lana closed the charcoal-colored door. She was forced to stay behind Bucky due to the tight confines of the hallway. Bucky had his knife out of the sheath he hid under his jacket, ready to attack at a moment's notice. They approached a door that greatly contrasted the appearance of the shabby outer door. Lana noticed the handprint scanner on the wall. "Step back," Bucky told her. She did so and watched Bucky pull back his metal fist. The metal-to-metal collision was loud enough to make Lana cover her ears. Bucky punched the door two more times before it fell to the ground in a dented mess.

"Brute force. Nice," Lana commented as she followed Bucky through the unconventionally opened door. The room before her looked like something out of an old spy movie. Gray-green walls, concrete floors, numerous desks and computers- this half of the room was more interesting. The other side of the room held floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets. But the thing that stood out the most was the imposing, black HYDRA insignia staring at them. "That's not creepy at all."


A/N: And a new chapter has arrived! I really took my time on this one, because I didn't want to force myself into making mediocre chapters to post daily. I also had an awesome beta reader help me make this chapter awesome, so go give ThatSassyCaptain some love. This story has also reached over 2,000 views! Yay! Thank you everyone for reading, and leave a review/fav/follow if you enjoyed.

*BlibBlabs*

-I got a comic book collection centered around the Winter Soldier story arc. It looks pretty great!

-Explaining favorite fandoms to my family can be pretty hard to do sometimes. .

-I had family over last weekend, so that's part of why posting a new chapter took so long. But family is important, so yeah.

-I haven't had much luck in finding a good YA novel recently. The first new novel I got was pretty bad, and the second new novel I got was meh. But I have two other books that make things better.

-I also went on a The Room kick after reading The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero. The book was hilarious, and The Room is an experience I wait to experience.

*BlibBlabs Over*

-SirFangirl