Jane blew a strand of hair from her face after landing several successful hits on the boxing dummy. "You're still turning your fist in too much." Bucky commented as he stood a few feet away, observing.
"Really?" She asked breathlessly. "I thought I got it that time."
"Well, it was better, but it was just a little bit off." He replied.
Jane wiped her forehead and motioned for her water bottle. "Can you hand me that?"
Reaching behind him, Bucky grabbed it and handed it to her. Before taking a drink she popped a few pills in her mouth. "Still getting headaches?" Bucky asked, trying not to sound concerned.
Jane took a long drink of liquid before answering, "Yeah, the meds Simmons gave me seemed to work for a bit, but I don't know, they don't seem to do much anymore."
"Maybe you should have her check you out." He suggested. "I mean, it's just that they've been getting more frequent, it could mean something's really wrong."
She simply shrugged it off and said, "I'm sure it's nothing more than lack of sleep and squinting at paperwork too much.
"Maybe, but don't make yourself miserable. If it gets too bad, just talk to Simmons." Bucky said, hoping she would have the common sense to ask for help rather than suffering in silence out of principle.
Back in the lab, Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons were discussing a new prototype they had been developing. Hearing someone enter, they turned to see May entering. "I thought you were training with Jane and Barnes?" Coulson asked, leaving Fitz and Simmons to discuss things.
"I was." May answered. "But it turns out Barnes really does know his stuff, and I ended up not being needed anymore."
"Huh, Interesting." Coulson noted.
"He's got an extraordinary talent for it." May continued. "And you know I don't say that unless I mean it."
Coulson turned and nodded, knowing the truth in her statement. "Jane still hasn't stopped asking me to let him go on a mission with the team. Apparently the word no is not in her vocabulary. She's adamant that we need him in the field."
"You know, I hate to say it," May said, "but I actually think I'm starting to agree with her on that one." When Coulson looked at her questioningly she continued. "I'm not saying it should happen right away, we still need to know his mental stability is in a place where the incident with Rusakov won't happen again. But given enough time, don't be surprised if you find yourself having to reconsider."
He sighed, knowing May was probably right, yet not wanting to accept it. "We'll see."
Jane tossed her water bottle to the side, having been refreshed by their quick break. "You sure you're ready for this?" She asked teasingly.
"Oh it's not me you should be worried about." Bucky laughed in response. "You haven't beaten me yet, remember?"
"Excuse you!" Jane exclaimed. "I beat you just last week, or don't you remember?"
Bucky moved his water next to the wall and joined her in the middle of the floor. "Only because I let you win. I was feeling bad for you!"
Jane rolled her eyes as she tightened her ponytail. "Right, if you say so. But when I get you this time, you'll have no excuse!"
"Wow, such confidence!" He remarked. "Let's hope your game is as big as your talk."
Jane simply smirked at him as though challenging him, before they both took their places on the mat. Jane was the first to make a move, lunging to take a hold of Bucky's neck, but before she had any chance of doing so, Bucky easily maneuvered away. In an instinctive and fluid motion he pulled her shoulders in to his chest with his elbow, leaving her arms immobile. Reacting quickly, she wrapped her leg around behind his and applied pressure to the back of his knee.
Forced to bend his knee by her movement, Bucky fought to keep his balance. Using this moment of distraction as her opportunity, Jane wriggled out of his grasp and quickly spun back around to face him. Bucky swung to grab her, but Jane saw him coming and ducked before he could succeed. Jane aimed for his head, his shoulder, and his chest, but each time, Bucky was quicker and was able to block her. They continued for a few minutes, taking turns taking shots at the other, yet neither of them landing any.
Breathing hard, and able to feel the blood vigorously pumping through her veins, Jane knew if they continued much longer, Bucky would soon win, just by sheer stamina. Knowing that because of his enhanced physiology he could practically go on forever without ever feeling fatigued, she decided that if she was going to best him she had to do something, and do it quick.
Feeling the rhythm of the match progress, she waited for her moment, and when the opportunity presented itself she took it. Building up the energy she had left, she swung her right arm at Bucky, him stopping it with his own just as she had expected. Without missing a beat she used his grip on her as leverage to swing her leg up towards his head and in doing so, launching herself up towards his head. Keeping her momentum going she propelled herself further, until she was essentially on his shoulders. Using her legs to keep him pinned, she used the last of her momentum to pull him backwards, until he had no choice but to stumble backwards onto the floor.
Bucky looked stunned, as he hadn't seen her sudden display of acrobatics coming, but Jane remained focused, pleased that her plan had worked thus far. Now both lying flat with their backs on the floor, Jane curled around to pin down his right arm with her own, while simultaneously weaving her left leg around his other arm to keep it in place. Bending her right leg to pull his chin up, Bucky found his upper body had been pinned in just a matter of seconds.
He knew all it would take to escape was a few direct motions with his mechanical arm that would overpower her own strength, but he had to admit he was a bit impressed with how she had managed to catch him off guard. "Fine." Bucky breathed, and Jane released her hold on him. "You win."
Jane was still breathing heavily, and her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath. "Hah! See what did I tell you?" She said proudly as she pulled herself up off the mat. She offered a hand out to Bucky, who while not as wore out as Jane, had still managed to break a sweat.
He accepted her hand and she helped pull him up. "Guess I can't write you off just yet." He said, rising to his feet.
Jane had a smug smile on her face and together they walked over to where the water bottles were. "I hate to say it, but I told you so!" She said in a sing song voice that only made Bucky roll his eyes. He wondered if she would notice that he had still let her have the match, but if she suspected anything, she didn't show it.
Jane took a moment with her hand on her hips to catch her breath, while Bucky debated whether he was actually thirsty or not. "I got to hand it to you that was a pretty impressive move." Bucky said as Jane unscrewed the lid of her water bottle.
She looked at it blankly for a moment, without answering, before looking back up quickly. "Yes, well I like to think I've got a streak of unpredictability in me." She said with a smile. Once she looked away, however, the smile once again faded and her brows furrowed.
Bucky dismissed it as tiredness and turned to the rack of equipment behind him. "Where did you pick that up anyway? I know it wasn't me." He asked jokingly, "Did May teach it to you?"
"I uh—um—" Jane stuttered slowly. Bucky quickly turned back around to see her shakily screwing the lid back on the bottle and setting it beside her unsteadily. "I—sorry." She said, shaking her head quickly, as though trying to rid herself of something.
"Jay?" Bucky asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
With her eyebrows wrinkled together, she lifted her hand to her head. "Sorry, just got a headache all of a sudden."
"But you just took the pills, they should have started working by now." He said worriedly.
Jane winced as another shockwave of pain bolted through her head. "I don't know, this one is a bit different. They were never this bad before." She said trying to block out the pain. With her eyes clasped tightly shut she held her forehead with her hands.
"Bucky quickly stepped over to her side, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Jay. What's happening, do I need to get Simmons, what do you need?" He asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"I don't know— I— Man this really hurts." She stammered.
"Jay look at me." He said, bending down to her level.
Slowly she forced herself to raise her head up and opened her eyes to see him with the worried look on his face. With ragged breaths she said, "Bucky I think something might be wrong." She paused as she reacted to another wave of pain running through her head. "Please help me." She said quietly through gritted teeth as she looked back up with glistening eyes.
Bucky's heart pounded, not knowing what to do. He opened his mouth to ask her, but before he could get the words out, her eyes had rolled back in her head and she had dropped to the floor. Panic washed over him when she started convulsing before him on the floor, and he quickly dropped to her side. His first instinct was to pull her into his arms, but he quickly realized he needed to somehow contact Simmons. If anyone knew what to do in this situation, it would be her. Frantically he looked around the room, and he was quickly reminded that they were in one of the vault cells.
Hurriedly he rushed over to where the tablet with the lock controls sat, and cursed himself when he saw a required passcode for unlocking the cell. He'd never regretted a decision more in his life than he did now. He was kicking himself for having been so adamant on only training in there, and having Jane being the only one with the code. Desperately he dashed over to where the wall was that, though he couldn't see, he knew would be there. Quickly he looked over to see Jane still seizing on the floor and angrily he jammed his metal fist against the transparent wall, which though made some sparks fly, didn't let him through.
"But see, because of the bio sensor, the target demographic can be set to a specific range, thus localizing the results." Simmons explained as the four of them stood gathered around the table in the lab, inspecting the prototype.
"So how soon will this be ready to go?" Coulson asked.
Fitz and Simmons looked at each other before Simmons answered, "Well that's the bad news. Fitz still has to work out a few problems with the generator and a few of the components. And even then, we need sufficient testing data to be sure it's entirely safe and reliable." A beeping of a notification on one of the computers behind them sounded, and Fitz quietly slipped away to check it.
"So what are we talking here, a week, a few months?" Coulson asked, leaning against the counter. May remained stoic, with her arms crossed over her chest.
Simmons set the object back down and replied, "Assuming Fitz and I can work out the problems fairly easily, the only thing that would prevent it from being finished and ready for testing in a few weeks would be if we can't get—"
"Uh, Jemma," Fitz interrupted from where he stood at the computer screen, "can you look at this a minute." The other three moved over to Fitz and Jemma peered over his shoulder at the screen. "It's a uh—um—" He snapped his fingers, looking for the word.
"A transmitting signal." Simmons said, helping him out.
"Yes, that's it." Fitz said. "It's coming from, it looks like Vault D, section 2. What's down there that would be sending out a signal?" He mused.
"Jane and Barnes are down there." May said, with a hint of confusion in her voice. Coulson watched as the red dot on the map of the base on Fitz's screen blinked on and off, indicating an emitting signal.
Simmons quickly logged on to the computer next to Fitz's and scanned through the video feeds until she found the one for the place in question and clicked on it to open it. "Oh god." She breathed as she watched the feed showing Bucky pounding frantically at the transparent wall while Jane convulsed on the floor.
"Let's go." Coulson said simply as he ushered the other three quickly out of the lab and they headed for the vault.
Rushing into the room, Coulson quickly punched in the code to disarm the wall and May rushed over to Bucky, while Simmons hurried to Jane.
"I—I don't know what happened." Bucky stammered. "She was totally fine, and then out of nowhere she said she was having a really bad headache and then she just fell over and I didn't know what to do."
"It's fine; everything's going to be okay." May said, trying to calm him down. "Simmons has got things under control."
Simmons set the kit down that she had grabbed on the way, and looked through it for the syringe she needed. Finally finding it, she pulled off the plastic packaging while the others gathered around her and Jane.
With her heart racing, Simmons grabbed Jane's arm to steady it for the needle. At her touch, Jane's eyes opened and Simmons hesitated. Everyone's heart skipped a beat as two strained words emanated from Jane's mouth just before Simmons inserted the needle into Jane's arm. "Hail. Hydra."
Simmons pushed the plunger on the syringe, and the liquid's effects were almost instantaneous. Jane's eyes closed again and her muscles relaxed, the convulsions having ceased. Simmons breathed a sigh of relief as Jane lay still on the floor, her chest rising and falling slowly.
Simmons looked up at Coulson, whose face was grim, but she could tell he had been shaken by the words Jane had uttered, as had everyone else. Buck stood speechless, staring wide eyed at Jane. His mind reeled as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen and heard, but nothing could settle the dread that was rising in him.