a lion among wolves, bucky barnes (hiatus)

twenty-four

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
2015

BLOOD salted June's mouth as she was thrust face-down onto the sparring mat. Breathing hard, she swept a sweaty piece of hair out of her eyes and flipped around on her back to glare at Natasha, who stood over her with a bored jut to her posture.

"That took nothing," Nat said, raising her eyebrows. "What's wrong with you?"

June wiped her lip. "I'm distracted."

Natasha offered a hand. "By?"

"Take a wild guess, Natasha," June snapped, pulling herself halfway to her feet. With a frown, Nat released June's hand and she fell back down, landing on her rear.

"Don't be upset with me," Natasha warned. "If you're going to bitch, bitch to those who deserve it."

June stared up at her. She was irritated, but she knew Natasha was right. "Okay," she mumbled, "okay. I'm sorry. It's not you."

And it truly wasn't. An hour after June had met the rest of the Avengers, Natasha had stolen her away to spar and take her mind off the taxing day. That proved easier said than done, of course, when thoughts of Bucky and Steve and Bruce's theory that Hydra wasn't done with her yet were crowding her headspace. So Natasha beat her once, twice, three times, and June's frustration only grew.

Slapping the mat with her hand, she shot to her feet. "I'm ready."

Nat shrugged, smirked, and lunged at her. Natasha was quick, but her first move was always predictable—she threw a kick at June's chest, but June blocked it swiftly and grabbed Natasha's ankle, attempting to swing her off balance. Nat twisted with it, however, and used the momentum to spin back around and nail June in the stomach. June gave herself half a second to recover, then closed the gap between them. She drove her knee into Nat's abdomen, one, two, three times before aiming a blow at her jaw. Natasha dodged the strike and swung her foot into June's hip, bone hitting bone with sickening pain.

"Damn it," June hissed, wincing. Natasha was too concentrated to remark.

June evaded another kick, and fierce as a wildcat slammed her fist into the side of Natasha's knee. With a sharp cry, Nat recoiled, and June used the momentary vulnerability to sweep her other foot out from under her. Natasha fell flat on her back with a groan. Breathing hard, June stood over her, winded, but feeling slightly better. "Did you let me win?"

Rubbing at her leg, Natasha gave a dry chuckle. "No, I didn't. But if you tell Clint I lost a fight—"

"I'll just tell him about the three times you kicked my ass." June grinned and helped Natasha to her feet.

"Thanks." Natasha brushed a lock of crimson hair, darkened with perspiration, behind her ear. "See, now don't you feel better?"

June shrugged, reaching for a water bottle. "I guess so. It would be great if I could punch away all of this other crap."

"You're gonna have to talk to Steve."

"Not today I'm not," June shrugged, expression blank.

Natasha sucked in her cheek. "Fine. Go shower and meet me in the lounge outside the lab. We'll go get dinner."

"Okay," June sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'll see you."

She made the long trip to her room, a hike that was almost mechanical at that point, passing the dozens of rooms and floors that even Tony could not find a purpose for. June locked her door behind her and stripped down to her underwear, glad to be free of the sweat-soaked shorts and t-shirt. She slid into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and undressed fully. June stepped into the massive walk-in shower and relaxed enough to enjoy the cool water rolling down her shoulders. She scrubbed herself clean and worked her fingers through her mess of hazel hair, lathering every tress with a pomegranate-scented shampoo that Tony had bought because he liked the smell, but not on him, and Pepper didn't like pomegranates, so he thought June should use it. To avoid further nonsense, she'd taken it.