It was early in the afternoon when Ava and Barnes arrived, so Nine had a lot of hours to kill before going to sleep himself or Ava waking up.
It was best to wait for the girl before talking to Steve, so that was out. Barnes was probably almost as tired as Ava so he wasn't going to be in shape for any talk. Not to mention that Nine still needed a little time. Not that he would never admit to not being ready, ever.
He wanted to talk to him. He just wasn't sure of the exact questions he would make.
He decided to go to the gym and train.
Bucky felt strange, a few hours ago an actual had king apologized to him. Felt nice, but it was still odd. Then he went to the room that was given to him, taking a well-deserved shower and falling asleep.
He couldn't sleep for long though, as always. He only ever napped for a few hours, then waking up in terror. He didn't know if it were the nightmares or the fear of being on the cryo-freeze chamber again.
He started wandering around the floors and rooms, trying to clear his mind.
What he found was the gym. And it wasn't empty.
Nine was there, barefoot on the mat, gym clothes and his eyes shut. Members moving slowly and breathing slowly, going from one position to another. Several positions that belonged to several kinds of martial arts.
His first instinct was turn around and pretend he was never there. But he didn't, he walked in and took a seat on the bench closest to the door as far away from Nine as possible, hoping that he hadn't been noticed.
The boy was taller than he was at his age, his skin was a little tanner too. Not to mention that Nine had a lot more muscles than he did that age, but Bucky wasn't raised doing push-ups and training like a super soldier.
His hair was the same color as his and the face was eerily the same. Except for the clean skin, at his age, Bucky still had a lot of pimples.
He stayed there for a few minutes, just watching the mastery with which Nine moved. As if he had been doing that ever since he was born (which he probably had). Perfect balance.
" Did you lose anything that looked like me? " Suddenly asked the boy, still with his eyes closed, finishing the sequence he was doing, then turning to the door and opening his eyes. His impassive expression changing millimetrically to a frown and a narrowing of his eyes. " Oh, Winter Soldier. You were oddly quiet there. "
" Hi. " He said. " I was just walking around and... ran into here, so I decided-" He started explaining and cutting himself.
" To observe, in silence, after not making yourself known. " Said Nine and it was eerily how similar to Ava's his tone was. The phrase would indicate the boy was upset, but his tone gave away nothing.
" Yes. " He said, realizing that it had been a little creepy. " So... how are you? "
" I am well. As it should be obvious to anyone who had been observing me for 11 minutes. " Answered Nine.
" Oh. Right, stupid question. " He said, as Nine went to the corner where he had left his shoes. " Just a conversation starter really. "
Nine put on his socks, then the sneakers, before turning to him.
" You have someplace you want to go with this conversation you started? " Asked Nine.
Did he? Not really, he had just wanted to watch in silence. But this was a chance to get to know the boy, when he wasn't looking ready to confront him.
" Just wanted to get to know you. "
Nine looked him over, making him feel again as if he was under a microscope. Sitting down was making him feel small, so he stood up.
" How about this, instead of a talk, we do something else. " Said Nine.
" What? " He asked.
" If you're not too tired, how about we spar? "
Bucky was surprised at the request. But frankly sparring sounded a lot less threatening than talking.
" Sure. "
His plan was to avoid the man until he was ready, but when circumstances change, so does the plans.
He was still evaluating Barnes, not being able to trust the profile he had anymore. So when he asked if Barnes wanted to spar, he wasn't expecting any answer more than another. He could have said no or yes, same odds. With someone as dangerous as the Winter Soldier, when you didn't have accurate Intel, the best was to be ready for everything.
Now, he would be able to get some more in depth Intel by sparing with Barnes. See how the man would take that.
From how uneasy he looked, the chances of starting on a hard offense were low.
They moved to the mat, he didn't take his shoes off again and Barnes didn't either.
As he stood staring at Barnes, the thousands and thousands of hours he spent studying him came to his mind, all the fight moves he analyzed to exhaustion, memorizing every inch of the positions and the movements. Learning all the possible ways to defeat it, all the defects and strengths making them better, perfect.
They stood for a long moment, just observing.
Then he moved quickly forward. Barnes assumed a defensive position, it was the only thing he would have time to do.
From the move he was using Barnes could have defended himself at the same time as throwing Nine on the ground, immobilizing him and having the chance to hurt him too. Instead, he used a very basic move that just blocked Nine's fist and then his kick.
He was holding back, by a lot. So he increased in speed and strength by 5%.
He kicked Barnes just below the knee, getting him off his feet. From that move the man could have grabbed him and brought him down too, rotating and immobilizing him on the ground. At least he could have tried. But the man didn't.
It didn't matter the move Nine tried, Barnes would do nothing but block or move away.
That told him a lot about the posture that Barnes was taking with him. Completely unlike what was supposed to be. He was Sargeant James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, and there he was allowing himself to be pushed to a corner like a complete incompetent.
That made his blood boil. Time to stop being nice and make him take a stand for himself.
The next punch came so fast and hard, not to mention unexpected, that Barnes was thrown across the room, hitting his back on the wall hard enough to crack the painting.
" I though this was a spar, not a dance. " He said, running to Barnes as he stood up, surprised.
Bucky was surprised at how much that punch hurt, his ribs would remember it the rest of the day. The expression on Nine's face hadn't changed, but from how fast he was charging his way, Bucky guessed that keeping it easy wasn't an option anymore.
He got out of the way before his torso was crushed by the fist coming directly to it. Fist, kick, being grabbed and thrown at the wall again.
He had the vague impression that Nine wasn't taking well his 'taking it easy' technique.
The boy was fast, strong, precise and seemed to know all his moves before he made them. It was actually getting harder to continue without hurting him than it would be to actually fight back.
" Okay, that's enough. We can stop this now. " He said, rolling away from a foot that was coming to his head. "
" No. " Said Nine. " Fight back. "
Was he imagining or Nine sounded angry when he said that? He got out of the way of a fist.
" No, I won't. I'm not going to risk hurting you. This was supposed to be just to pass the time not for us to kill each other. " Said Barnes.
Nine stopped, looking at him with anger on his eyes. Definitely angry.
" Then I'm just wasting my time with you. " He said, turning around and leaving.
He stood there. Confused. A moment after the boy was no longer visible on the hall, he left the gym, going to Steve's room.
" I need his file. " He said, walking in the room.
He went straight to his room, knowing that Ava would wake up when he walked in, but after noticing it was just him, would be able to go back to sleep.
He went to the bathroom, taking a shower. He was angry. More than he should have been. He should have been able to keep a clear mind.
But Barnes was just... wrong. The image by which he was created, molded, trained, just didn't exist.
Then what was he supposed to be?
He laid down next to her after drying himself and putting up the shirt and underwear he was using as pajamas.
" What happened? " She asked, not moving or opening her eyes.
" Nothing that can't wait until we're up. " He said, no answer came, he didn't expect it to be, she was going back to sleep.
He took a moment calming down, letting the anger leave his system. Then finally working himself on falling asleep. The process fortunately being faster now that Ava was there for backup, easier to relax.
