Winter's Wings (Book 1 of the Winter's Series)

Chapter Five: Partners

"You again?" I say backing away slowly.

"Again? Have we met before?" He asks confused. He doesn't remember? He doesn't remember and I can't forget that day.

"Yeah, we've met. If that's what you want to call it. Two years ago, you killed me in an arena." I inform him and confusion flutters across his face. "They revived me." I add to clear up the confusion.

"Ah, my apologies." He says shifting uncomfortably.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It's in the past now." I say brushing it off verbally but to me I can never forget the fear and pain I felt at his hands.

"Why did you pull me over here?" I ask tilting back and looking at the entrance of the hotel.

"SHIELD is in there." SHIELD? Already? How did they get here so fast? "Just one agent so far but I overheard him saying two more where on their way. They encountered a complication in the kill zone." He says with emphasis on the last bit. I know he's directing the finger pointing to me verbally. I'll own up to it, I'm no wuss.

"Yeah well you see what had happened was..." I trail off. "The good news is that I'm fairly certain that with a different outfit and contact that they won't even recognize me, if I stay silent." I finish. He looks at me completely unimpressed. "Well what did you want me to do? I can't control the weather Soldier. I'm not Goddess of lightning I can't arc bolts away from me." I say gesturing wildly.

"What's done is done. We still have a mission to complete regardless of how difficult you make it. These two agents, what did they look like?" He asks staring into my eyes.

"The female has shoulder length red hair and blue eyes. She's probably more dangerous than her partner. He's tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. He carries a shield on his back, and wears a tight suit with a star in the middle." I relay to him straightening up. There's a sudden and deep pain in my abdomen. I brush it off as gas or something. I notice my partner look me over, and I dart my eyes around uncomfortable by his actions.

"You're bleeding." He says and I'm taken by surprise. I look down at myself and see a dark spot on my suit. I touch it and pull my hand back to see that I am in fact bleeding. I didn't notice it before, the adrenaline must have masked it. I guess in the midst of the firing I didn't block a bullet? Or maybe it ricocheted and hit me? I don't know how it happened.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." I say reassuring him.

"You sure? It doesn't hurt when I press on it?" Before I have time to speak he sticks two fingers to my wound and I wince and pull away.

"Well of course it hurts then you press on it." I say surprised by his brashness.

"Then you're not fine. I'll look at it when we get inside. I don't want you to hold me back on this mission. I need you at the top of your game." He says matter-of-factly.

"You know I am trained in first aid and medical procedures." I say arching an eyebrow.

"Then patch it up yourself. Whatever works for you." He says brushing past me. "Keep your head down." He says behind him before continuing to the casino. I put my arm over my wound and follow behind him, keeping my head down. Inside the building, so many sounds fill the air. Dings from the machines. The sound of cards being passed out to players. A marble on a wheel. Dice being thrown. It's deafening to me, and I move closer to my partner. He gets our room card and leads the way to the elevators.

A loud ding sound chimes and the doors opens. We walk in and he presses the button for the 6th floor. The elevator opens on two floors. 3 and 5. Four people get on and I can tell by their shoes that they're agents from some agency. I glance up to the winter soldier, before discreetly jerking my head to the men beside us. He nods and we both spring into action. I thrust my hand out grabbing one of the agents throats before bringing my foot up to roundhouse kick the agent behind him. I headbutt the agent I have by the throat before spinning into him to get a better advantage to the one behind him.

I finish off the agent I have by the throat by slamming his head into the wall of the elevator three times. I release him and focus on the second one. I thrust my palm into his nose and grab his arm, lifting his body over mine and slamming him into the floor. I punch him once in the face and he's rendered unconscious. I straighten up and turn to look at the progress my partner has done. He's done just a moment before I am and he looks at my work. He raises an eyebrow and nods in approval.

"So, what do I call you? I mean you know my name." I say not wanting to call him the winter soldier for the duration of our partnership.

"I don't know. They call me the asset."

"You don't know your name?"

"No."

"What do you want me to call you?"

"Partner works just fine." He's right back to being short.

"Partner it is then." I say slightly disappointed. We reach the sixth floor and step off of the elevator. He leads the way down the hall until we get to our door. Swiping the key card the door unlocks and we walk in our room. It's spacious and really nicely furnished. It must have cost a fortune for a single night to stay here.

"Dress your wound. There's a party we have to attend tonight. Your dress is hanging up in the closet. There are some of your supplies in the bathroom provided by the agency. Make yourself presentable." He says walking over to his bed. "Oh and I hope you know the tango." He finishes while I walk to the bathroom. The tango? What kind of party are we going to exactly?

I unzip my suit and pull it off my shoulders and look at my poor torso. There's a scar from the lightning bolt. If you can freeze a lightning strike in mid strike and carve it into someone. That's exactly what it looks like. I touch the scar tissue and sigh. My once smooth skin is now marred permanently. I clean my wound and prepare myself to dig the bullet out. Maybe I should have taken him up on his offer to dig this out for me. I push my pointer finger and thumb in the entrance wound and fish around for the bullet. Panting I struggle to grip the bullet. I can't get it out.

"I need your help. I- can't get it out." I say withdrawing my fingers and wiping them off.

"Come in here." He commands and I grab a towel to cover my top half before grabbing the med kit and walking over to him. "Lay down." I comply and close my eyes. I can hear him rubbing his hands together before touching. His warm hands touch my stomach and I startle slightly.

"Be still." He says before trying to dig out the bullet. I clench my jaw tightly and the next thing I know he's pulling it out. He cleans the area and starts to bandage it but the skin closes on it's on. He just kind of pauses. I guess he wasn't expecting it.

"Oh yeah that's normal. It's an effect of the experiments." I say nonchalantly.

"I guess you really did get struck by lightning. How come you scarred and didn't heal?"

"I did heal to an extent. I can only take so much before I can't recover, and it scars. Scars will heal over time." I say getting up and going back to the bathroom. "Thank you, for your help." I say before closing the door and undressing.

"You're welcome."