Recoil | Bucky Barnes | Marvel Cinematic Universe

Chapter 5

To ensure she kept her modifications to the cryochamber safe, she needed to understand the impact it would have upon his body, and so she looked back to her rudimentary medical training, and sought the expertise of the doctors on the program.

To maintain the shining limb, she needed to understand its function. She needed to comprehend the minute, detailed flexes of a fist as it delivered a blow, or how the muscles of a shoulder compensated for the recoil of a gunshot, and so she revisited her training. It hadn't been anything flashy, just what her father had taught her as a teen and the baseline defensive skills tested upon her entry into the KGB. She honed what abilities she had though, swinging her left fist at the tattered sand-filled bags on the training floor until her knuckles bruised – revealing impact points she had never thought of. The initial repairs she had made had been rudimentary, she hadn't fully understood the sheer mechanical miracle that was his arm, but now her mind was making the connections it needed to.

She was never asked to make any adjustments to the machine she had glimpsed on that first day. Still, the records she found told her enough about its uses. She tried not to think about it very much.

"Working hard, Ivanov?"

Her afternoon's toiling at the punchbag was interrupted by the voice that echoed through the empty training space on one of the upper levels, drawing her head up from where she had been looking down at her stiff fingers, flexing them slowly. "Josef." She smiled tightly in recognition at the man as he strode across the room, trying to keep the sound of surprise out of her voice. "It's been a while."

She had first met the tall, broadly built man back in her days with the KGB. A few years older than her, he had been famed for his ruthless vetting of new agents using brutal trials of physical combat. Thankfully, as she had been recruited into the weapons development team, Katrina did not fall under his aggressive jurisdiction, but it hadn't meant she had escaped his notice. His superiors had adored him, those beneath him feared him. He was exactly the kind of violent young man that excelled in these organisations, the type of person who was told he would do great things for his country one day. It was no surprise to her when she heard he had been recruited by HYDRA as his reputation had grown – some said he was drafted into an elite squad of assassins, but it had never been her place to ask. He was only ever known by his forename, no surname and no rank. A ghost in the system, like so many others.

"Surely this isn't the usual haunt of a mechanic? Or is it weapon's developer?" He grinned at her as he dropped the bag he carried over his shoulder, his chiselled features and charming demeanour all carefully laid out to appeal to her, to put her at ease, the way he had been trained to. It was what made him so good at what he did, the ability to instil a false sense of trust in others, but Katrina knew better than to fall for it. She could see that his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Just letting off some steam." She returned his smile with ease as she stepped back, wiping her brow on her sleeve as she turned to go, unwilling to be watched as she worked.

"Are you sure you don't want to go a few rounds?" He teased after her, laughing as she cast a casual wave over her shoulder as she headed out the door.

"Another time." She diverted lightly, even as her skin prickled with the desire to get out of the room. She couldn't be certain, but she was sure he and his team were more often stationed at a different facility. Closer to civilization and thus their missions. When they made an appearance here, it made her uncomfortable.

Descending through the levels to her office, Katrina tried to put Josef out of her mind, smiling in greeting as she came across her father in one of the corridors. One clear benefit of her new position in the program was the fact that she now worked on the same level as he did, and she finally had clearance to understand just what his job was amidst the great machine that was HYDRA. Erik Ivanov served as the Head of Intelligence Operations in the program, though what that exactly entailed she wasn't sure. She knew he spent most of his time in some of the more closely guarded rooms within the complex when he wasn't in his office, but very little more. It was almost infuriating, knowing that she was already knee-deep in HYDRA's secrets, yet still more were being kept from her.