black bird

eight

Over the next week she had been in talks with Bucky about how to cope with her brainwashing, but it was much harder than she had anticipated. He took her through some talking and brain exercises that he had gone through in Wakanda with Shuri, King T'Challa's younger sister, all while Dr. Banner was working on a brain mapping mechanism to target certain parts of her brain and bring her subconscious to light. The suppression of her brainwashing was the issue - her subconscious did not understand what was a threat and what was not. However, with how complicated the process was, it was taking time to develop.

She had since made amends with Steve, and he had become a decent training partner. He was starting to understand her movements, which were much more intricate than Natasha and Yelena's. They were all similar, yes, but Emilia's fighting was much more aggressive, and he found himself truly struggling against her. It was much like fighting a female version of Bucky, which truly terrified him. However, he found himself chuckling whenever he would pin her, for she would utter what he assumed were curse words in German or Russian, whichever she was feeling.

Tony had finally begun to come around to her, finally getting it through his stubborn mind that she had only been following her orders and her training kept her from making a moral decision to ignore her orders to assassinate him. He had figured out the German word for 'bird', which had become his new nickname for her in the compound. He was also working with Dr. Banner to develop the brain mapping mechanism for her head.

She had not been sleeping much better, and most nights she found herself in the dance studio. Natasha had joined her here and there when she could not sleep either, but for the most part it was just her and her headphones. However, when she did sleep, it was much more sound than before and she was not waking up every single hour.

Agents May and Johnson had been in contact about Ezekial Stane, who had been sent to the Raft. He had not talked, but they had enough evidence against him with Emilia's accounts and records to send him away for conspiracy to murder, which put a lighter mood among those who lived at the compound.

"Hey, when are we walking Breaking Dawn Part One?" Bucky asked as he came into the common room, where Emilia and Natasha were winding down from their sparring session.

"I don't think we've got anything else going on this evening before the mission run through tomorrow morning." Natasha responded, looking at Emilia with a shrug.

"Yeah sure, but I think there's actually a dance lesson to be had." Emilia answered, and Bucky groaned.

"I'm gonna kill Steve for that." He chuckled.

"Well we could go dance, grab dinner, and then watch the movie." Natasha suggested.

"Steve's not even here." Bucky whined.

"Yeah I am!" They heard Steve shout from the couch, and they saw a hand fly up from the front of the couch.

"We didn't even know you were in here." Emilia chuckled as he sat up from the couch, stretching his arms out and finally getting up from his spot.

"That was the point." He groaned out as he hobbled over to them, his legs still stiff. "I went for a run and came back and crashed on the couch, I must've fallen asleep." He said, going over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a mug.

"So we're on for your dance lesson then? You did lose a bet fair and square." Natasha said, then the guys looked at each other, had a nonverbal conversation, then back to them.

"A bet's a bet." Steve sighed.

"Sweats and a t-shirt attire, probably a pair of socks." Natasha told them as they stood from their seats at the counter.