Space Between Us

Training

Mor had been at the HYDRA base for three months. At breakfast, lunch and dinner she would sit with the Maximoff twins, and Harroway would supervise her while she worked. She had heard brief whispers of the Winter Soldier, if what she heard was right he was in Siberia. She could only hope that was true, the Siberian doctors were slightly nicer towards the assets. For the first time Harroway had let her train new soldiers unsupervised. The doors opened and a new group of soldiers walked in. Among them she spotted a flash of curly brown, and could only hope it didn't mean what she thought it meant. 

The soldiers lined up in front of the back wall, staring straight ahead "Soldiers my name is Lexa Barnes and I will be your training officer." Her voice echoed around the room. 

One of the men snorted, "Yeah right. Like a woman could teach us anything." She ignored the twins glaring at the man, smirking at the soldier. 

There was always one who doubted her because she was a woman, "Step forward soldier." He complied and stepped forward. 

She punched his jaw before he could realize her fist was swinging at him, "Do not underestimate anyone soldier, it could be the difference between life and death." She could see some of the other soldiers, Pietro and Wanda laughing. She let the soldier get back into line before barking out her first order, "Run laps around the room." They started running, heavy footfalls filling the air. She watched as Wanda took the lead, a sense of pride filling her slightly; she scanned the group for Pietro, finding him right at the back. She almost laughed at how red his face had gone, he looked a bit like a tomato- not that she would ever tell him that. Probably. Maybe. He glanced over at her, scowling at the amusement in her eyes. After ten minutes everyone had slowed down. She yelled at everyone who was slowing down, "Hurry up! We don't have all day!" Some of the men glared at her, grumbling under their breaths.

~~~

They had only been training for two hours and most of them looked ready to collapse. At SHIELD Steve and Mor would wake up at four and train until seven, stop for an hour of breakfast, then continue training until eleven. Unless they had a mission, but everyday they would train for at least six hours if possible. Then she would train another few hours on her own. That was nothing compared to training with Bucky though. There would be days where they trained from 0500 to 2300 hours without a break. The bag swung backwards violently when Pietro slammed his fist into the center, surprising both of them. Wanda grinned at her twin. It hurt, not being able to tell them HYDRA wasn't a good place for them, but they seemed so happy, relieved almost. She walked between the soldiers, not flinching when bags snapped towards her. She caught Pietro's fist before it could hit the bag again, "Use less of a swing, unless you want to dislocate your shoulder." Instead of crazily swinging at the bag like he had before he punched straight- hitting the bag with a firm punch that didn't throw him off his balance. She gave him an approving nod before walking away to survey all the other soldiers.

~~~

At lunch the three went to their usual table at the back of the hall. Pietro chugged down his water, only stopping when he needed to breathe, "That was exhausting." Wanda muttered her agreement. 

Mor shook her head, "It could be much worse, trust me on this." Her voice had started to adopt their Sokovian accents a little, but you could still tell she was American. 

"How could it possibly be worse? We barely stopped to breathe!" Wanda stared at her with wide eyes.

Mor smirked at them, "Try eighteen hours of that, but a hundred times worse." 

Pietro held his cup in the air as a mock toast, "It is official then! You, Lexa Anne-Marie Barnes, are the fittest person to ever live." 

She rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face told a completely different story, "Fittest female- someone else trained with me like that." 

Wanda grinned a little and lean forward, "Who was he? A boyfriend?" 

Pietro smirked and mimicked his twins actions, a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, "Oh do tell, Lex, do tell. Was he any good in the bedroom?" 

She glared at him, "Piet, I'm a virgin-" lies "-I wouldn't know. Besides he was more of a brother than anything." 

"You are an eighteen year old virgin American? Now I have heard everything," Wanda gaped at her. 

It had become a habit to correct people when they called her 'American', if she hadn't been so comfortable with the twins she would have been able to stop herself, "I'm Soviet-American." 

Pietro grinned and turned to Wanda, who simply pulled a few coins out of her pocket and dropped them into his waiting hand, "I told you she is Soviet." 

Wanda grumbled and rolled her eyes, "It isn't that obvious, only you would guess that!" Mor chuckled and shook her head, not surprised they had made a bet over 

~~~

She tried not to wince when Wanda's opponent landed a punch onto her face, a cracking sound filling the room. Broken nose. Pietro looked tense, his hands curled into fists, worry filling his eyes. The opponent was twice Wanda's size and weight so she was losing the match sorely. If she could Mor would intervene, but it would blow her cover and most likely get her killed. HYDRA didn't tolerate even the smallest of mistakes. The younger twin tapped out and Mor released a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding; the opponent immediately stopped beating her up and watched as Wanda crawled over the boundaries of the training square. Pietro helped her to her feet and gave Mor a pleading look, who had to ignore it. She called out her next order, hiding the emotion that should have been in her voice, "Dawson get into the ring."