She's Mine) Romanogers

Part 11) Bad Dream

"Sloppy," the Madame called. At the disapproval, a cold, metal hand punched me in the gut. The air was instantly knocked out of my lungs and I was gasping on the ground. "Get up," she rolled her eyes.

I knew it would only get worse if I did not do as she had asked, I started to try and get my legs under me, but my body would not listen. All that I could do was flop on the floor, desperately trying to get my diaphragm to get some air in. I couldn't move.

"Again," the female voice was sharp, she was irritated more than usual. In the following second, a boot was rammed into my gut.

The only reason I was able to stop the scream was the lack of air in me. I kept trying to get up, my legs finally getting under me as I stood. "Stand straight," Madame called as I finally got up, and I struggled against my abdomen's spasms for air to get myself straight.

"Run it again," she ordered, I wasn't even breathing right. Despite that and the dizzy feeling starting to cloud my vision, I entered the starting position and found my partner doing the same. The Winter Soldier wasn't an amazing ballet dancer, his right leg was always just a hair out of position. I always had to compensate for it, it was what had caused my 'sloppy' performance a few seconds ago that ended in the two blows.

Figure your shit out, you bastard, I grumbled at him in my mind. If I didn't make it through this lesson and died because of him, I would haunt him for the rest of his life. I shot my gaze to that leg, if he didn't move it inside a few more inches, I would have to compensate again.

He must have gotten the message, and quickly fixed his positioning. At the start of the music, I stepped my foot exactly where it needed to be, and he moved himself around me. Then he lifted me up and I started to do the portion of the dance around him. He was able to hold his core and anchor my movements, which was helpful.

He spun around with me, and then set me down in front of him. Pause, two, three. Then I lifted onto my pointe shoes and he spun me, my shoes left small bloody footprints wherever they had been on him as my toes had started to bleed halfway through this lesson.

He stepped back, and I stepped elegantly forward, stepping forward in tiny motions on the point shoes to meet him. I was straining to keep my arms looking flowy, loose, and elegant while all my muscles were firing. The point of ballet was to make it look effortless even when it was burning.

The door slammed open and shocked me, I jumped backwards and fell into a defensive position, the dance forgotten about. "We need them prepped for a mission," Ivan shouted, "now," his face was red as I had ever seen it. Something was wrong and making his desperate.

I panted a bit as I relaxed knowing it was just him, something about that was funny.

"The meaning?" The Winter Soldier stood up and faced him, the only one who could do that and live to talk about it.

"Steve Rogers, I want him dead," Ivan's grin turned feral and wicked.

All the blood drained from my face and I felt like my organs dropped to the floor. The world stopped, no, not Steve.

Before I knew it, two metal pieces were on my temples, "I want you to bring him here alive, and torture him the way we did to you," a voice that belonged both to the Madame and Ivan growled from behind me.

I heard a terrible sound from somewhere to the left, Steve's scream. My blood froze, and I was suddenly running towards that sound. The walls seemed to stretch and I felt like I was running forever. I knew every inch of the damned manor and I knew that it shouldn't take me this long to get to the 'information extraction' areas, but it felt like the faster and harder I ran, the more stuck I became.