When James said they would start training immediately, he wasn't exaggerating. As soon as he learned what floor the gym and shooting range were on, they were in the elevator. Anna had expected training to start in at least a couple days, mostly because of their injuries, but apparently you could do more with one mobile arm than she realized. It had her curiosity piqued, to discover what exactly he planned on teaching her while they were both in slings, as she followed him off of the elevator. Anna ended up having to lead the way through the different areas of the gym. The gymnasium came fully equipped with a weight room, a track, and a fully padded room for practicing combat moves, as well as a shooting range and an armory full of weapons Anna couldn't begin to name. Many of which were of Tony's own invention.
After Anya gave him a quick tour of the floor, James headed towards the shooting range and the armory. Approaching the cabinets where the weapons were stored, he studied it carefully, trying to figure out how to open it. He was about to pound his metal fist into the door to dent it and rip it open, seeing no other way to open it, when Anya spoke up behind him.
"Jarvis, can you please open the armory doors." Anna called out, sensing that James was getting a little frustrated as he tried to figure out how to get inside the cabinet.
Anna watched silently as James' eyes swept over the weapons. His face remained stoic, but the slight glint in his eyes as they took in the different guns, knives, and explosives, reminded Anna of a kid in a toy store. Anyone else might have taken that as a sign of the Winter Soldier surfacing within him, but Anna knew better. It wasn't the Winter Soldier that was fascinated by the different weapons, it was Bucky. From the stories Steve had told Anna about the war, Anna knew James' fascination with weapons was present before the Winter Soldier. He had been a sniper, and was always eager to learn about the new weapons her father would create for the Howling Commandos.
Knowing that bit of information, Anna let James take his time before he finally pulled out the weapon he had opened the cabinet for. In truth, the one he picked surprised her a little, as it was a small and simple pistol. That was all she knew about the gun. Unlike Tony, Anna wasn't a weapons person. With James' interest in weapons, Anna had expected him to pick something a little bigger. However she didn't say a word about it as he motioned for her to follow him towards the table off to the side of the room.
"This is an M1911 .45 caliber pistol," James stated once Anna had taken a seat at the table. "Learn to love it because it is going to be attached to you at all times whenever you're outside of this building." He continued as he handed her the gun. Anna took it hesitantly, feeling its weight in her hand. It was heavier than she had anticipated. Now that she knew the gun was meant for her, it made sense why he chose a smaller one. Not only would it probably be easier for her to handle, it would be much easier to conceal.
Naively, Anna had expected that to conclude the gun talk. She was wrong. After removing his sling, ignoring her refutations, James spent the next hour telling her every little thing about the pistol: starting with naming each and every part that made up the gun from the mag—which Anna learned was short for magazine, where the bullets go—to the trigger. He continued to explain how it was a semi-automatic, and what that meant, how to take it apart, clean it properly, and put it back together, and how to load and unload the bullets. When he was done, he made her repeat everything back to him. It took several run-throughs before she could successfully remember everything he had told her. When she asked why they were doing this, he simply remarked that knowing how a gun worked was just as important as knowing how to shoot it. The deal was he would go along with her plan as long as he could train her, his way. This was all part of training.
"Now you're ready to shoot it," James announced once Anya had finally been able to repeat everything she'd learned back to him correctly.
Anna wasn't so sure about that. Mainly because she only had one working arm. Though, when she mentioned that fact as she followed James to the indoor shooting range, he didn't think it would be a hindrance. Instead he claimed it was better if she learned to shoot well with only one arm. Besides, the kick back with a pistol wasn't bad. It shouldn't harm her injured shoulder any.
"You need to stand to the side, perpendicular to your target." James murmured, placing his hands on Anna's hips from behind as he maneuvered her into position. Anna could feel James' breath on the side of her neck, and that mixed with the pressure of his hands, which were still on her hips, had her own breath catching in her throat. It wasn't until James removed his hands from her hips that she could breathe again. Her brief reprieve from her nerves ended when he reached out his hand to adjust her grip on the gun. How could she be expected to hit the target at the end of the range with James standing so close to her? Thankfully, after adjusting her footing by pushing against her front leg with his own, and making sure her goggles and ear covers were secure, James stepped back so she could shoot.
The first thing James noticed while watching Anya shoot, was the way she flinched just before pulling the trigger. It was throwing off her aim. She needed to get over her fear of firing a gun if he was ever going to leave her on her own, open to Hydra's attack. Anya also had a tendency of wanting to turn her body to face the target. She needed to hold the position he had placed her in. By standing sideways it made her an even smaller target for any Hydra agents shooting at her. When she turned her body forward, it only put her at greater risk of getting hit.
"Be confident and shoot decisively," James told Anya after they pushed the button to bring the target closer and studied it. Though most of shots had indeed hit the outline of the body, the shots were sporadic and none were kill shots. "And pay attention to your stance."
"Easy for you to say. You've been shooting guns most of your life," Anna muttered, her cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment. She was a doctor, she could count the number of times she'd held a gun, let alone shot one, on one hand. Before James and Hydra she didn't even need a hand to count either of the two.
At Anya's muttered response, James was reminded that he wasn't talking to another Hydra agent, or even another soldier from the war. He had been so caught up in the desire to make sure she was thoroughly prepared to fight off Hydra, James had forgotten that Anya wasn't used to this type of thing. It had him feeling even more uneasy about her plan. Even if he did train her, Anya wasn't a fighter at her core. She preferred to heal rather than hurt. Picturing her hesitating to attack Hydra agents had James tensing. Feeling the need to release some of the tension in his body, James ran his right hand through his hair, wincing slightly at the pain in his shoulder. Anya had been right, it was a little too soon for him to be out of the sling. Not that he'd admit it to her. She'd just force him back into the thing.
"Just, watch what I do, and then try to copy," James eventually remarked as he reloaded the mag with a new round of bullets before clicking it back into place with the heel of his hand. The idea seemed as though it would be beneficial for both of them. Anya would get to see how someone was supposed to shoot a gun, and he'd get a chance to shoot holes in the target until he was able to relax.
Watching James firing a gun was unexpectedly sexy. The open stance of his body, the complete focus in his eyes as he took his aim, and the muscle jumping at the corner of his mouth when he pulled the trigger made Anya's heart beat a little faster. All of that, mixed with the way he handled the gun with complete confidence, had Anna biting her lip as she tried to force herself not to lose it. They were supposed to be training. She was supposed to be mimicking him after this. If she didn't focus, she would make a complete fool of herself.
James' target paper had a lot less holes in it than Anna's, even though they had fired the same amount of shots. It took Anna a minute to realize it was because several shots had gone through the same hole. She knew James was a good shot, but she wasn't expecting him to be that good. He could probably get off a kill shot without even looking. There was no way Anna was going to be able to copy that. That kind of perfection took years to master. If that's what James expected of her in order to let her plan fall into place, she was never going to be allowed to follow through with the plan.
Anna's palm was a little sweaty when she took the gun back from James. He had loaded the bullets for her, seeing as her left arm was still in the sling, before she stepped up to the cubicle. Taking a deep breath, she moved her body to face the side, spreading her feet slightly, and raising her arm to take aim. Be confident. That's what James had told her. Releasing her breath she took her first shot, managing not to flinch that time. In fact, she didn't flinch at all during that round, and when she felt her stance start to shift, she'd pause to correct it before taking another shot. Her results that time might not have been perfect, but they had improved. All of the bullet holes were inside the outline of the person, and were slightly less sporadic looking. She even managed a couple kill shots.
"Much better," James awarded her as he took the paper from the hooks. He was going to launch into more pointers to improve her shooting more, until he turned to face Anya. Her face was screwed up in pain, though she tried to hide it from him when she noticed his gaze was on her. James healed faster than the average person; he tended to forget that. Though he still felt pain from his wound, it was bearable to him. He had to remind himself that Anya's pain was most likely ten times that of his. She didn't have abnormal healing abilities. And she'd just gotten shot last night.
"I think that's good enough for today," James murmured, taking the gun from Anya's hand to clean it before he returned it to the cabinet.
Anna followed James to the elevator in slight relief. Her shoulder had started hurting a while ago, and had only gotten worse. She just hadn't wanted to complain, afraid that if she did, James might not think her capable to survive being bait for Hydra. Now all she cared about was getting her hands on the pain killers that were in her room.
As soon as they stepped off the elevator on Tony's floor, the smell of hamburgers wafted in from the balcony. It had Anna's stomach growling. Telling James to take a seat at the table with the others, that she'd be right back, Anna made a beeline for her room. Unable to actually open the bottle, she brought the whole container with her as she returned to the kitchen. The burgers were on a serving plate at that point, and everyone seemed to be waiting on her.
"Sorry," she murmured, before taking the empty seat beside James and handing him the bottle for him to open. When he handed the vial back to her, with the cap off, she popped three of the tablets in her mouth, gulping them down with water. Of course, it would take at least a half hour for the pills to take effect. She'd just have to grit her teeth and bear through the pain until they kicked in.
"How'd the training go?" Pepper asked once everyone had food on their plate, glancing across the table at Anna and James. They had disappeared from the lab together shortly after their compromise and had spent the remainder of the day on the gymnasium floor. Though they hadn't told anyone they were training, Pepper had simply deduced that's what they were doing.
"I now know more than I ever wanted to know about an M1911 .45 caliber pistol," Anna answered distractedly with a shrug. She was trying to find the best way to eat her burger with one hand and keep the condiments and lettuce from falling off. As such, she missed Pepper's follow up question. To everyone's surprise, James answered on Anna's behalf.
"She can now. She even managed a few kill shots." It took Anna a moment to work out that Pepper had asked if she could even shoot a gun.
"So you managed to get her to stop flinching at the sound of a gunshot then?" Tony spoke up, recalling how jumpy Anna Banana always was when he'd test out the company's newest product. It was what made it so hard for him to picture her actually firing a weapon by choice.
"For anyone who doesn't work with weapons for a living, the normal response to hearing a gunshot or explosion would be to flinch." Anna defended herself, her habit of talking with her hands leading to her waving her burger around and causing the tomato to slip off of it.
"And what's your excuse for being deathly afraid of my motorcycle?" Steve spoke up with a smile, joining in on the 'brotherly' teasing.
"That thing is a death trap waiting to happen. No sane person actually likes to ride on a motorcycle." Anna grumbled, her cheeks tinging pink once again from embarrassment. Her embarrassment didn't last long, replaced by amusement, as Tony started in on Steve for actually letting 'Anna Banana' on his motorcycle.
"Tony," Bruce murmured, speaking up for the first time. He didn't say anything more. That was all it took to reel Tony back in. The rest of the dinner conversation remained calm and civilized. James and Steve even conversed a little without any tenseness, which Anna saw as a good sign. She had been a little uncertain how James would react to the knowledge of her riding on the back of Steve's bike, but he didn't seem too affected by it.
The pain meds had kicked in halfway through dinner, making Anna a little drowsy. All she wanted to do after dinner was climb into James' bed with him and just relax, however she forced herself to bathe first. It's not that she didn't like baths, normally Anna found them relaxing. It was just, her shoulder made bathing herself take more effort than she felt like exerting at the moment. Humiliating as it was, she had to ask Pepper to help her with her shirt and the clasps on her bra, before she scurried into the bathroom. Even more humiliating was needing to get Jarvis to fetch her once Anna managed to clean her body the best she could with one hand. In Anna's opinion she couldn't get the use of her left arm back quick enough.
Anna was utterly exhausted when she finally made her way to James' room. James was lounging on his bed with his eyes closed when she entered the room, though they popped open as soon as she shut the door. He was already sitting up when she climbed up next to him, moving to sit as close to him as she could and leaning against the pillows. They didn't say anything, they simply sat there in silence, Anna's hand resting lightly in James' metal one. After a few moments she let her eyes drift closed.
"Anya," James murmured from beside her as he gently flipped her hand over, the back resting against his metal hand while his right hand traced patterns on her palm. When she simply hummed to show she was paying attention, he continued. "How long were you with him?"
"With who?" Anna asked in confusion. The pain killers, as well as her exhaustion, had started making her mind a little fuzzy. Meaning she wasn't as able to follow random conversation topics.
"Brent," James practically spat out the name, noting how her eyes popped open in slight surprise. It shouldn't have come to such a surprise to her. Anya had to know James would have more questions about him, after he was brought up earlier. Especially after what little, and disturbing, information Tony and Anya had provided.
"Ten months," Anna whispered softly, ashamed of how long she had stayed with him, silent about it all. Glancing over at James she saw his brow furrow before he asked his next question: how long had Brent hit her. Anna's answer, that Brent had held off for about two months, meaning for eight months he'd been laying his hands on her as a way to vent his anger, had James' jaw tensing. It had Anna sighing inwardly. This was not the relaxing evening she had pictured it would be.
"Why?" James didn't understand why Anya would stay with a man like that, why she wouldn't tell anyone. The Anya he knew wouldn't take what Brent had done to her.
"I was young. I wasn't as secure in my own skin. He was an upperclassman and I was a freshman. It didn't start out bad, and by the time things started going wrong, he had me feeling as though it was my fault." Anna couldn't answer why Brent had done what he did to her. She could only try and explain why it took Brent landing her in the hospital before she was strong enough to end it. Lord knew if any man tried to lay a hand on her now, she'd give him a what for before kicking his sorry ass to the curb.
When silence fell between them once more, Anna figured that would be the end of that conversation. Letting her eyes close once more, she relaxed back into the pillows while James continued to trace patterns on her palm. It was so soothing, she almost fell asleep. Until James voice once more pulled her back into consciousness.
"You were never afraid of me." He whispered, more to himself than to Anya. It didn't make sense to him. After what Anya had been through with Brent, he would have expected her to be mistrustful of strange men. To be afraid of him. When they met, all she knew was what ghost stories had been passed around about him: that he was erratic, violent, and unpredictable. But she hadn't been afraid. He could hurt her, worse than Brent, not that he ever would, and still she never questioned her safety around him.
"You never gave me a reason to be afraid." Anna answered, opening here eyes again. That time she forced herself to keep eye contact with James. He needed to understand she had never seen him as the villain she knew others thought he was. The villain she suspected he sometimes felt he was. "In fact, if you recall, you saved me on several occasions. You weren't the loose cannon Hydra thought you were. Just because you were at their beck and call to clean up the messes they couldn't clean up themselves, didn't mean you were unnecessarily violent. Whenever you attacked anyone there, it was always with precision, there was always some provocation. They put it off as you being 'erratic,' why they were always armed around you. In truth, it was because, deep down, they knew there was a chance you'd realize they didn't own you, and you'd decide to attack the hand that hurt you…that held you captive."
"But I could have hurt you." James insisted, still not understanding how she could trust someone like him. Someone who was violent, someone who was said not to have emotions, someone who was trained to kill on a simply order, without question, like a guard dog. Not when she had been hurt by a man who had initially seemed tame.
"No, you couldn't have." Anna insisted calmly, searching for the words to explain what she meant, to get James to understand. "The first time I met you, you grabbed my wrist when I went to touch you. You could have crushed my arm, pushed me away, but you let me go instead, simply because I asked you for permission to treat you. It was in that moment that I knew you wouldn't hurt me as long as I didn't give you a reason to, if I didn't hurt you first. You wouldn't hurt someone who didn't deserve it." That was one of the many differences between Brent and James. James didn't take pleasure in hurting those weaker than him, in hurting those he knew didn't warrant it. He also internalized his anger, blaming himself rather than Anna. Whereas Brent would blame Anna for things that went wrong even when it was his fault.
James' hand had fallen still at some point during Anya's explanation. Once again, he was astounded by Anya and the way she always seemed to see him as better than he was. He was thankful for that, now more than ever, as it was what had led to her trusting him. Without that trust, they wouldn't be where they were now. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Anya's lips pressing lightly against his cheek.
"I hope that helped," She murmured quietly, resting her head against his shoulder. It was his left one, the mechanical one, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, it didn't take long before her breathing slowed as she fell asleep in that position. It had James resting his head back against the headboard, closing his eyes contentedly.
A/N Hey everyone! I'm excited to say I got this out on my estimated day! It's a little shorter, but I wanted to end it here. More training is to come and I'm excited to write that. Plus perhaps some Steve and James sparring scenes because everyone has to be ready for Hydra, not just Anna Banana. And let's face it, Steve is probably the best person for James to train with since he's a super soldier and can match James' skill. I'm debating on when to actually end this story. SO READER OPINION TIME! Would you rather me sort of keep this story open until after I see the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie so I can continue this through that (and maybe include James in Avengers depending on how the movie goes) or would you rather me end this one and perhaps start a sequel after the Avengers? Also, how do you feel about the OC for Steve's story being named Emily? I already found a picture inspiration for her on Pinterest and Emily seems to go with her. However I'm open to other suggestions! Oh and I have a busy week lined up. I'm gonna give two possible posting days. I might be able to post by Thursday night, but if not it might not be until Saturday.
Onto Guest Reader Reviews!
To Hipstaplease: wow thanks for reviewing so many chapters after finding this story at 22 Chapters in! I'm going to try to answer all the questions you asked along the way, if I miss one I'm sorry! First off, thanks for all the lovely compliments about my characters, especially Tony. I'm glad you think I write him so well! Tony is a very fun character to write. I actually feel like I have the best idea/sense of what his character would do and say compared to the other Avengers. For your question about James/Bucky being in cryofreeze between mission, I think he was, but this is my thought process on it. First off, in my head, Hydra's current mission for him wouldn't really end until the helicarriers were launched, so even though he had mini missions during that time it all tied together for the one mission of launching the helicarriers. The reason I think this is when the scientists in the movie claim he's been out of cryofreeze too long when Pierce wants him prepped. To me that means he hasn't been in cryofreeze for at least several days, meaning since they unfreezed him to initially take care of Fury, he hadn't been back under. As to your other question about just removing the bug anyway, that Hydra wouldn't be able to tell where it was. The negatives to doing that is, they don't really know how the technology works, meaning removing it could be more complicated then they think. It could have an explosive rigged if you don't remove it correctly. Also, It would take surgery to remove it, and that would put Anna out of commission for a much longer time than her shot arm. Meaning the plan would have to be pushed off longer, because they need Anna for the mission. They needed Hydra to get close enough to get an agent, and Hydra wouldn't get close unless they saw it was Anna with the tracker.
To the guest who LOVEs learning James' POV: I'm glad to hear you weren't annoyed that James' POV picked up at the part where Anna's left off. Some people don't like rehashing the same scene. Yeah, James' heartbeat races, he's kinda sweet on her. Not sure if he's completely figured out what exactly it means thought lol. Yeah Bruce is amazing, helping Steve and James get over their issues like he does. He's like the sole adult in a tower of children sometimes, save for Pepper. Brent is a bastard, as Tony has no trouble pointing out repeatedly. Glad you liked the chapter and I hoped you enjoyed this one as well!
To IShipIt: I love that name. And I'm glad you like Janya so much!
To PsychoticAvenger: Thanks for leaving me a note letting me know you like how I'm writing the characters. It's a HUGE compliment to know you think I'm writing their relationship realistically.
To Hannah: Thanks for letting me know! I agree, I always get more butterflies when writing Janya scenes from James POV. How lame am I, as the author, getting butterflies writing my own story lol. I'm glad you felt the tension during the reveal of Brent's past with Anna. And I must say I love the saying you used 'bless Bruce's hulking heart' Glad to hear you're still enjoying the story!
To the guest who said this story is wonderful and that it has awesome character development: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed Anna and James' relationship growing subtly and slowly. I'm also happy you like I have Anna refer to the Winter Soldier as James. Standing out from other fics is always a good thing in my book!
To NicholeRenee224: Happy to hear you are happy when you get the notifications that I posted AND that you feel the story is only getting better rather than getting worse lol!
To keshigomu: So glad I could make you smile with that chapter, and that you got a kick out of Sam's lines :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
Rach
xoxo