stamina (bucky barnes)

9

"Jesus Christ, I need to lose some weight." Bri huffed, propping her hands on her knees as she tried to calm her breathing. "And I need to lay off the Cheetos, I can't keep up with you two."

Natasha rolled her eyes, tucking several flash drives into her pockets. "Shut up. You have more muscle that Sam and I combined."

Sam nodded, waving a finger to agree with Nat. "True. I guess that's why you and Steve argue all the time. There cannot be two Muscle Beach alumni on one floor."

Bri hid her distaste at the comment and continued walking towards the quinjet. She'd always had issues with some part of her body. Whether it was the way her hair was too wavy, the way her nose curved, how she was taller than the average female, the broadness of her shoulders, the wideness of her hips, or the thunder clapping of her thighs, Bri could pick herself apart but she never learned how to build herself back up.

The team's mission only took about eight hours. This included plane time, strategy planning, and the execution of it. There weren't many agents in the building, thank god, but Natasha did have to pull a gun out on two occasions.

Sam assumed this was some information that could help Fury come back to SHIELD, or at least rebuild it's integrity. He was supposedly the head of the mission, but Natasha simply yanked the papers from him and took control. Natasha was the only one out of the three that was close enough to Fury to know why they were going, but he did not give out many details.

Bri was always left in the dark during missions. When she worked for Tony, she would be in a safe spot, usually located in his office, contacting him through his earpiece. Bri designed them herself, seeing as Nick, Phil, and Tony wanted to keep her off the radar for a while. It gave her a way to keep track of the team and give Tony building scans and updates without physically being there. She made Tony's earpiece manipulative so she could talk directly to him, without the team hearing her or disrupting their communication.

She'd always been smart. Tony found her when she was almost thirteen and he made it his life goal to provide for her and make sure she did well in the future. He quickly found out she had a great knowledge of basic mechanics, and even watched her fix a malfunction in his suit so his thrusters could work at normal speed. He even made Happy keep an eye on her when she decided to attend school again, just for extra precaution. She skipped a few grades, seeing as nothing was holding her back anymore, and she graduated at sixteen. Tony and Pepper were both reluctant at her college choice, seeing as California was far from New York, but Tony convinced Happy that he could have some vacation time as long as he occasionally checked in on Bri.

Pepper and Tony became parent figures in Bri's life. Tony could relate to everything she had been through, and constantly raved about his "prodigy kid that is not actually his kid." Natasha even trained Bri to learn self defense, but Bri quickly grew bored from already knowing the basics and wanted to learn how to crush a man's neck with her thighs, which Nat taught her. She was like a sister to Bri and Natasha swore she would do anything to protect the precious, five-foot-eleven, avenger.

"What's on your mind?" Nat asked, slipping away from the pilots seat and letting Sam pretend to drive. She had left it on autopilot, not trusting him to actually pay attention.

Bri smiled up at her, "Thinking about how I wouldn't be here without you, Tony, Pepper..."

Natasha did know of her past and was glad they could have a bond over shared traumas. As weird as the circumstances were, Nat was one of the few people Bri felt comfortable enough to open up to.

Bri did often talk to Pepper and Tony, but sometimes she felt as if they had enough on their plates and she drove herself away. She was glad Pietro took the time to really analyze how much pent up anxiety and anger she had. Bri missed him. She also knew Wanda could immediately tell when she was having a bad day and she would immediately drop everything to make Bri smile.