The Black Winter

Chapter 17

Joan's pov
  I've been sitting at this chair for two days now. I have one screen constantly on the camera's in Moscow, on the other screen, I am looking for any and every camera that Hydra has. But getting into them has been taking me the entire day. I can tell that someone keeps kicking me out.

  "Joan, I brought you some ramen, I know it's your favorite."

  I turn around to see James. I look down to his hands and see a tray with a bowl with chopsticks sticking out. I turn back around and get back to work.

  "I'm not hungry," I say simply.

  "You need to eat something Joan. You've been working nonstop for two days. Just take a bite or two, that's all I'm asking," he says, placing the tray on the table.

  I look up to him and see that his face is stern. He's not going to leave until I eat. I sigh and take a bite. I practically melt on the first bite. I guess it has been a while since I've last eaten.

  "See, you are hungry," he says with a chuckle.

  "Thank you," I say quietly.

  "Sure thing doll," he smiles. I watch as James pulls up a chair next to me and sits down. "So, did you find anything yet?" He asks.

  "No, if he doesn't want to be found, you won't find him. The only reason I found him was from the last base that I blew up. They had information on where he's be at. I was going to end Hydra then and there, but then you guys got in the way."

  "I'm sorry that we made you fail your mission, but at least you don't have more blood on your hands. I understand how you feel, I really do, but I don't think that you actually want to kill him," he says.

  "How do you know what I want?" I ask.

  "Because I know that your a good person."

  "But I'm not. I'm not a good person. I'm the bad guy in every story, that's just how it goes. Even when I was with you guys I would still kill. I know that everyone saw me as a monster for that, especially Mr. Star Spangled Man."

  "Look, as much as I love Steve, ever since he's gotten the serum he acts way more patriotic. It get's on my nerves because before, he would be starting fights with people in alleyways and believe it or not but he lied about where he was from when he was trying to join the army. He's not as good as you would think."

  I look at him wide eyed. "You mean he lied on his enlistment papers?" I ask in shock, and James nods. "Huh, I didn't know that," I add, taking another bite of my ramen

  Out of no where the door bursts open. Both James and I turn around to see Tony. Great, what does he want?

  "We have training," he says simply.

  Bucky get's up and walks over to Tony.

  "Aren't' you coming?" Tony asks.

  I look back to the computer and then back to him. "I need to be here watching the cameras," I tell him.

  "Take a break. Friday will tell us if something pops up. Besides, as long as your under my roof you do all the things that the rest of the team does," Tony scolds.

  I let out a grunt and make my way over to Tony, I know that he won't take no for an answer. Right before I leave, I take one last look at the computer, before closing the door.

  As everyone is sparing, it's now my turn. Just like last time, it's me against Rose. Tony yells go and Rose throws a ball of fire at me. I dodge it and another one is thrown at me. Once more I gracefully dodge that one. She then goes to throw a punch at me but I grab her wrist and turn it behind her back and push her on the back. I let go of her arm and she falls with the momentum.

  "You rely to much on your powers. You need to focus on your form," I tell her.

  "But why not use it if it works?" She asks, getting up from the floor.

  "Because it's a liability. You become predictable, and once you become predictable that's when you lose," I explain.

  "Come at me without your powers. Hit me," I command.

  "What?" She asks.

  "It's fine. Hit me."

  She ones at me and punches me on the cheek. My head barely moves. I look to her and grab her hand and stand next to her, walking her through the steps.

  "First off, your making a fist wrong, your thumb should be across your fingers. Not only that but your thumb is pointed out, you'll hurt yourself. Next thing is you need a firm wrist or you'll break it. If you break it then you can't fight and that could lead to death. Your relying too much on your strength. The power comes from the back foot," I explain.

  I take my spot once more in front of her and tell her to hit me again. She does it, and although there is little effect, it's still much better.

  "Joan, why don't you train her?" Tony asks.

  "Yeah, you should start training her," Steve chimes in.

  "I don't think that's a good idea," both Rose and I say in unison.

  "Come on, just until we find Ivan," Tony pushes.

  We exchange looks of disapproval, but we both nod.

  "Great!" Tony exclaims.

  "We'll start tomorrow. I need to get back to finding Ivan," I say, leaving the room.
 
 
  Once I'm back to the computer room, I get back into hacking into the Hydra mainframe. The entire night, is just me trying to force my way in. Someone is on the other end blocking me, I can tell. I look over to the clock and read 2:49. I sigh and throw my head back into the chair.

  I close my eyes for a brief second, but quickly open them. I can't go to bed. I get up from the chair and head into the kitchen to make myself a pot of coffee. As I'm waiting for the water to boil, I hop up on the counter and sit.

  Out of no where, I get a pounding sensation in my head. I slide off the counter and grab my head, letting out a grunt of pain. "Kill, kill, kill. Kill them all. KILL THEM ALL NOW!!!" A voice screams. A voice that I recognize to well, the voice of Hydra.

  I hear footsteps making there way into the kitchen. I straighten up and look to see that it's Tony.

  "What are you doing up?" He asks.

  "I needed some coffee."

  "You look like shit. You should get some rest, and shower too."

  I watch him grab the boiling water and pour it into the coffee strainer. He grabs two mugs and pours two cups, handing me one of them.

  "Sugar?" He asks.

  "No, just black is fine."

  "So, how's it going? Trying to find Ivan and all?"

  "I can't get into the system. Someone is blocking it."

  "Hey, your smart right?" He asks. I look at him confused and nod. "Good, come with me. I can't seem to get this equation right. Maybe you can help."

  The two of us walk down to his work shop and there was literally a path for us to walk down. There was clutter everywhere. As we're walking, I spot a chock board and on it are equations.

  "Here, try and-"

  "43," I say bluntly cutting him off.

  "What?" He asks confused.

  "The answer is 43," I say again walking up to the chock board and grabbing a piece of chock to write with. As I walk him through the steps he's just dumbfounded.

  "How did you get it that quick?" He asks.

  "It's not that hard," I simply say. "I should get back to work, I'll see you tomorrow." Then, I make my way back to the computer.