Reality in Motion

liver loaf

Right. Left. Block.

Left. Right. Block.

It had been a week and a half since he had been cleared for SHIELD operations. In that time, he started to train with Natasha, not yet going on an actual operation. They had done everything from tactical training to weights to sparring with each other. He had to admit he was liking it; running thirteen miles a day could only do so much. It felt good to work his other muscles, something he hadn't done since the attack on New York.

Having muscles and a super human strength used to feel unnatural to Steve. He never had any semblance of muscles before the serum, instead having the body similar to uncooked pasta. When he stepped out of the chamber after the serum had been injected, he felt totally unbalanced. He was taller, yes, but there was an extra amount of body mass on him that he had never had before. It was different and very strange.

There was no easing him into what his new body could do; he immediately sprung into action after the Hydra spy killed Erskine then tried to escape. When he went after the Hydra spy, he felt like a baby deer just learning to walk. He couldn't control himself - tripping over himself, overcompensating to keep his balance, not being able to slow himself down and smashing into windows.

But even if that was just the new speed he had acquired, the strength worked similarly. He was able to hold onto the top of a speeding taxi, break into a submerged submarine, and toss a rather strong man out of the water like he was light as a feather. It was clear that he could use his newfound strength to do a lot more than just lift up women who were sitting on top of a motorcycle during the USO shows.

And he did, during the war. He learned a lot more on how to control his strength and speed and use it to his advantage. There were a lot of trials and errors, play wrestling with Bucky and the rest of the Howling Commandos, doing dares during downtime to prove how strong he really was, so he slowly got used to it. When the time came to show off his new strength, it was like he had had it all along. Fighting came naturally to him, having been in so many fights growing up - granted, he lost more than he won, but he knew the right moves. Now, he was able to use it to win instead of being beaten to a pulp. He wasn't weak anymore, being able to do simple tasks like lifting a bag of potatoes without getting winded. And it took him awhile to realize that the other shoe wasn't going to drop - that the muscles weren't going to disappear and he was going to be the skinny boy he used to be. This was who he was now, a man with the strength of a hundred.

As time went on, he actually started to become stronger. After being defrosted, he had spent a lot of time at the local boxing gym, punching out all of his frustrations. He told himself it was a way to get through what had happened to him, but he didn't realized that it was increasing his strengths. Like any normal workout would do - it helped him improve. Kind of ironic.

The nights at the boxing gym had become few and far between after New York, which was when he started to run - from his problems or as a way to stay in shape depended on the person you asked. And it had been a while since he did anything more than running. He didn't realize that strength training was an option in DC - he never asked either so it was sort of his fault.

His rounds with Natasha felt familiar and he was glad that he was getting back into it. Sure, he wasn't using all of his strength during their sessions; he didn't want to hurt her, but it felt good to have someone to spar with instead of just hitting a punching bag over and over.

Over the past week and a half, his workout with Natasha had been officially added to his routine. He would go on his run, then go to the Triskelion where he would go to their Training floor and meet with Natasha. Building on what they already went over, she would have a different exercise for them each day.