Love and the White Wolf - Book 3

14. A Year in Review

After the opening of the new Avengers facility in January, 2027 the year went by so fast.  Nick Fury formally announced the new head of security for the facility to be Brad Dixon, James former sergeant and lead investigator for the Avengers Investigation Unit.  He performed both positions until someone was chosen who turned out to be an MP who had been finishing his criminology degree at night time.  Sergeant Sean Yashito was officially seconded into the role and fit right in.  Like James and Brad he was a believer in doing things by the book.  He was married with a little girl and they moved into the Avengers facility within a week of him starting the job.

Fury also announced the new mission training officer position and the person filling it.  Officially James had to be in house one week of every month to observe, assess and come up with cross training opportunities.  Not wanting people to feel like he was critiquing their work he asked for them to lead sessions.  Clint taught archery and katana, James taught knife skills and the quarterly firearms course, Maria taught self defence.  I took her course and James instructed me in some basic knife skills.  He did it at home when I asked if something happened when he was gone what I could do to protect myself and the kids.  He picked up a frypan and a kitchen knife and helped me become comfortable with stabbing and slashing motions.  At first I was afraid of hurting him but he assured me he was too fast for me to connect.   He found ways for everyone to learn new skills in case they had to cover for someone who was down.  They also had a lot of fun teaching each other and many sessions finished with rounds in the bar after.  It was good for camaraderie.

On the home front Steve began "playing" in the new training building.  He learned to jump higher, fall further, and started showing signs of strength.  He could lift the dogs so light weight training was added to his "regimen."  As our Sam grew older he emulated everything his brother did.  By the time he turned one Sam was more advanced than Steve was at the same age, except for flying.  Sam didn't like it at first.  We discovered the reason was Sam's hearing.  The sound of the flying unit bothered him.  A hearing test confirmed he could hear outside the normal range of humans.  With a special helmet that cancelled out the frequencies that bothered him he was fine and went up with his namesake often.

Both were bright inquisitive boys although Steve had a bit more resiliency in handling new situations.  It didn't really matter as we never compared them.  They were best friends and spent a lot of time in the tree house playing. 

James hired an aerial silks performer to give me a weekend workshop on the apparatus.  I stretched and did daily yoga for a month to loosen myself up.  It was hard but I achieved some positions and James watched me with great interest.  She also taught Steve and he was much better.  He could do the unroll routine but was always laughing at the end.

My art career flourished and Red Wolf became as well known as Banksy.  I had painted all of the Avengers by this time and we formed a charitable foundation to disperse the proceeds of their sales to groups and organizations that helped people.  I also painted a large mural in the common area of the facility that showcased the agents and the support staff. 

At home we built a baseball diamond in the large grassy area of the property.  James also expanded the parking pad and hookups there so friends could bring their trailers or motor homes.  This came in handy when we started playing baseball games with staff that came out for outdoor training. 

The outdoor training was a weekend course in outdoor survival camping, no tent, only a plastic sheet, a sleeping bag, a knife, and your wits.  James had experience with that when he had been the Winter Soldier tracking a target.  It helped make him resourceful and more aware of his surroundings.  He went out deep into our property when he was thinking about the course and found all sorts of edible plants, roots, and mushrooms for food.  Fires could be built from the deadfall and natural flint found near the stream before it left the property.  That deep into the woods a person would have no idea that anyone lived near their location, so isolated did it feel.  There was no grade or pass /fail mark assigned to it.  It was a personal test of resourcefulness and resiliency.   Some people were done within hours, others wanted to stay out for a week, using it as a time of reflection.