Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 45

"Are you even listening to me?" Bucky whined, standing beside Ruth as she ran assuredly on a treadmill in the gym the next morning. "Slow down. You need to pace yourself."

Ruth shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not even breathing hard, Buck. I'm telling you, I'm fine."

"You're running a six minute thirty-seven second mile, calm down," Bucky said with the authority of a trainer.

"What?" Ruth looked down at the stats illuminated on the treadmill's screen in front of her. She hadn't been on a treadmill in years, much less one that you didn't have to adjust the speed for. Whatever speed you ran, that's what it tracked.

Seeing her time, Ruth realized that maybe this serum did change her a bit. Running at this pace was too easy, and she hadn't exercised in weeks.

"How's my heart rate?" Ruth asked Bucky, keeping her eyes focused ahead of her.

Bucky looked at the small tablet in his hand. He raised his eyebrows, "You're pretty steady. Definitely nothing to be concerned with in terms of your limit."

"So I should be pushing myself more. We're testing my limits, right?"

"We're testing your endurance, not necessarily your limits. We still have combat training after this."

"But I should probably sprint at some point," Ruth kept her breathing steady, at a rhythm that matched her pace, "See how fast I can go?"

Bucky thought for a moment. "Sure, but I'll just write down that we need to keep in mind you haven't built up any stamina from the last month of atrophy."

Ruth nodded, slowing her pace a bit. "Give me the cue to run." She kept her focus ahead of her, the treadmill facing the northern wall of windows, looking out into the bright trees as sunlight began to pour through them.

Bucky scrolled to a new screen on the tablet, looking at a different set of stats that would record her results live. "Ready, and..." Bucky looked back up to Ruth, still wary of her legs giving out on her, "Go."

Ruth took off at a sprint, her breath quickening as her legs began to feel foreign beneath her, trying to run as fast as her body would allow. Her chest heaved, but her lungs didn't even burn. A surge of power lifted through her.

"Stop when you need to," Ruth heard Bucky's voice call out. She could see his eyes fixed closely on her.

She finally slowed, coming to a walk, putting her hands on her hips and breathing heavily as she looked at Bucky.

Ruth's chest heaved slightly between words as she talked, "So? How fast was I? Captain America fast?" She asked with a smile, knowing she wasn't even close to Steve. She had seen him go out for a "jog". It was intimidating.

Astonishment spread across Bucky's face into a smile, "Holy crap, Ruth."

"What?" Ruth chuckled.

"Ok, as someone who has been your trainer for a while, something has definitely changed. This is the fastest you've run by a long shot," Bucky enthused. "It's not Steve's time, but it's close enough."

Ruth came to a stop and rested her arms over the railing, looking over at the tablet.

Bucky stood right beside her and showed her the screen. "It looks like your metabolism has sped up even from when they ran blood tests on you when you first came to SHIELD. Now, we both know I don't know as much about this stuff as Tony or Banner, but this is amazing."

"So..." Ruth started, "Am I some kind of super soldier now?" She asked jokingly. Her eyes widened a bit when Bucky nodded.

"Whatever is in this serum, whatever the Woman designed it for," He looked up to Ruth with eyes filled with wonder, "I'm glad that the only person who it's been used on is on our side."