10 Training
As Bucky held Aj in his arms rocking back and forth he hummed a lullaby their mother had sung to them when they were sick. Her breathing evened out and she soon fell asleep. Her being calm caused the ice and snow to disappear. Bucky picked her slowly not wanting to wake her and laid her down on her bed. He left her room shutting the door. He walked downstairs to find the team, He quickly found them because they are a very loud group of people.
"Hey guys," Bucky said as the team hadn't noticed he was back.
"Hey Buck, is she okay?" Steve asked worriedly.
"She's asleep right now. Steve, why did you ignore her? She said that all week you seemed to be ignoring her." Bucky asked not wanting his best friend to be part of the problem. Steve looked down and was about to say something but Sam spoke up.
"Steve has a crush on Aj, so he hated seeing her with Loki." Sam laughed as Steve turned as red as a tomato.
"Duh," Bucky said making Steve shoot his head up and looked at Bucky. "Steve, it's obvious. It has been for years. I always knew you liked her. I bet everyone here knew you liked her." Bucky smirked as Steve turned to the team who all nodded their heads. "That really doesn't answer my question though, why would you ignore her? She's one of your best friends."
"I-I don't know," Steve admitted ashamed.
"Bucky, can we talk about Steve's love life later, we have an idea to cheer Aj up," Nat said taking out a notepad.
"It better work, I hate seeing her like this." Bucky sighed and walked towards Nat.
"We've decided to make a list on everyone's hand to hand combat skills. So right now while Aj's sleeping, we're all going to the gym and we're gonna make the list." Nat explained. "Then when she wakes up we'll get her to fight everyone and put her somewhere on the list."
"Okay, that's actually not a bad idea," Bucky admitted.
They all headed down to the gym to start figuring out the list.
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"Ahhhhh, no let me go, please!" Aj screamed. She continued screaming until a loud bang was heard. She jolted up and looked around not seeing anyone.
"I'm so sorry to wake you, but you were having nightmares. Mr.Strak had installed this system when Mr.Barnes first moved in here and he thought it would be a good idea to have it in your room as well." Friday explained.
"Okay, thank you, Friday." Aj thanked the AI trying to catch her breath.
"You have the option for me to notify someone," Friday said.
"No, I think I'm alright."
Aj fell back onto her pillow and stared at the ceiling. She thought back to the dream feeling sick at the memory. She got up and decided a shower is what she needed. She stripped off her sweaty clothes and hummed a lullaby while the hot water ran over her. She had lots of thoughts going through her head at once. She couldn't handle her mind racing so she got out and decided going to see the team was the best option to occupy her mind.
She got dressed in some clean clothes and went to the lounge but no one was there. She then headed to the kitchen, again no one was there. She hadn't really been anywhere else in the tower other than the medical rooms, so she headed down there to maybe find Bruce.
"Dr.Banner?" Aj poked her head through the door and smiled when she saw Bruce typing on his computer.
"Oh, hi Aj. What can I do for you?"
"Do you know where everyone is?" She asked.
"In the gym."
"Where is that exactly?" She gave a half-smile.
"Oh, I'll take you, don't worry." He got up and got her to follow him to the gym where the entire team was cheering Bucky and Steve who was in the middle of the floor fighting. Aj stood in the doorway just watching. Bruce ended up leaving to go work on some science thing.
"Come on Bucky! You can beat capsicle can't you?" Tony yelled.
"Steve, he's older than you! Come on!" Sam yelled seeing Bucky start to win.
Steve threw a left hook only for Bucky to block it, grab his arm, and throw him to the ground.
"Aw come on Steve," Sam whined.
"Sorry, Sam." Steve laughed getting up and giving Bucky a bro hug.
"What are you guys doing?" Aj asked making everyone turn to her clearly not knowing she was there.
"Oh Aj, you're going to love this." Tony said motioning for her to come closer to him and Nat. "We've made a list of every teammate who can do hand to hand combat, and made them fight each other."
"I'm confused." She said
"Well, we had everyone fight each other to see who is the strongest. Now that you're awake it's your turn. We even had Peter come in," Nat explained.
"Okay, but no offense I don't think Tony can do hand to hand combat," Aj said this making Rhodey fall over laughing. Tony glared at him and rolled his eyes.
"That's why he didn't. We only had certain people fight. Rhodey, Tony, Vision, and Bruce are not fighting." Nat laughed.
"Well, you wanna start?" Clint asked from behind Aj making her jump.
"Uh yeah sure. Maybe don't sneak up on me?" She asked.
"Nah, it's my job." He smirked.
"Okay, first on the list is, Wanda," Nat said.
"Wanda?" Aj said confused.
"I haven't had much training, I was trained to use my powers." She smiled going to stand on the mat. Aj quickly followed, the rest of the team went and sat on the benches.
Aj easily beat Wanda. Next was Peter, he was pretty easy since he didn't want to hurt anyone. Then it was Sam.
"Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're new," Sam smirked.
"Sam you idiot she's a super-soldier," Tony yelled from across the room. Now it was Aj's turn to smirk. She had him thinking he was winning then quickly and him on the ground. Sam sighed and got up.
"Ha! Wooo, go Aj!" Tony screamed making her laugh.
Next was Clint. She had a little bit of trouble at the beginning, not being able to see his fight pattern. She eventually had him on the ground and beat him.
"You must have had great training." He complimented her.
"Hope its enough to beat me," Nat smirked walking and taking Clint's place.
"You got this Aj!" Steve said.
Nat had her down on the ground in seconds but not until Aj kneed her in the stomach, pushed her to the ground, and had her knee and Natasha's throat.
"Woah Nat. You lost to another senior." Tony laughed helping her up.
"Hey, you didn't even fight." She laughed walking over to sit with the others.
"Okay, Steve you're up." Bucky patted him on the back.
"Hope you don't mind getting beat up by a girl." Aj teased making Steve smirk.
Aj got the first hit, kicking him in the side. He quickly grabbed her leg twisting her over onto her back but before he could hold her down she used both legs and kicked him in the stomach pushing him back.
"Yes! Go Aj!" Tony yelled making Steve give him a look.
While he was looking at Tony Aj took that opportunity to jump onto Steve wrapping her legs around his side and wrapping her arms around his neck. She started pulling him back trying to make him fall only to have him slowly walking backward. He pulled on her arms hoping to pull her forward and he did. She landed with a hard smack to the ground making Bucky shoot up but Sam pulled him back to his seat.
Steve quickly wnt to straddle her to keep her down but Aj grabbed his arm pulling him to the ground. She didn't have enough time to pin him. They were both back on their feet. Steve launched a punch that she dodged making Steve push forward. Aj kicked his knee in making him fall while Aj jumped on top of him, her left leg between his and just before she had him pinned Steve started to push up.
"Heard you liked me," Aj whispered making Steve stop and making it easier for Aj to pin him down with her right arm on his throat and leg between his again.
"W-What?" he asked. She got up not saying a word while Tony came over to congratulate her.
"Nice job kid, you beat capsicle," Tony said giving her a high five.
"She's not done yet, Buck come on." Steve smiled. Bucky walked over and stood in front of Aj.
"Ready doll?" he asked getting into a stance.
"You taught me everything I need to know," she said in a monotone voice. Bucky's expression changed but only for a second. It almost looked like regret.
"Let's hope you remember it." He smirked.
He had her pinned in about 10 minutes. Aj groans as Bucky gets off of her.
"I guess the trainee is still the trainee." he joked.
"Whatever, you're a lot bigger than I am, remember?" she laughed.
"Okay, we have our list," Tony announces.
"Let's hear it light bulb," Aj says.
"Ooh nice one, I like your style kid," Tony smirks. "Okay we're starting from the bottom and it goes, Wanda, Peter, Sam, Clint, Nat, Steve, Aj, and Barnes."
"I can't believe she beat me." Steve joked.
"Steve, she was trained by Bucky, and was brainwashed to pretty much only remember how to kill." Sam instantly regretted saying that when he looked over at Aj who just stared at the floor. "Hey, Aj I'm sorry I didn't mean it." He pleaded.
"Its alright Sam, I know you were only joking." She gave a smile hoping he believed her. "It's getting late, I think I'm gonna go up to my room."
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Aj ran to her room closed the door and ran to her balcony. She leaned against the ledge watching the sunset. Silent tears ran down her face as she thought about what Sam had said.
"Why can't I just be god damn normal." she started to sob now. "I'm a killer that's all I'll ever be. I get attached too easily. I don't even know Loki and I'm broken because he left, what does that say about me." She cried harder now putting her face in her hands. What she didn't know was Steve was standing in her doorway listening in and not knowing what he should say. He felt guilty leaving but decided she needed some alone time. So he left for bed.
