The Black Swan (Bucky Barnes x OC)

Chapter 11

Italy
May 5th, 1944

Days seem to go more quickly when you are free.

Katherine noticed that when she was a prisoner, every day felt endless because she would spend the whole time worrying about being taken again. As long as she knew from what Bucky'd told her, every day in that prison she'd space out even though she was wide awake; stare at the wall for long minutes and start crying for no reason, and he had to wake her up from every single episode.

She didn't remember any of them.

Now she wasn't locked up. Her days were busy. She had something to keep her mind occupied even though every day was pretty much the same. But she was thankful for that.

A routine was just what she needed to keep herself in place.

At first they'd taken her to another lab to take samples of her blood and finally find out what other effects the serum may have on her. Bucky was angry about that though, because after all she'd been through the last thing she needed was to be reminded of the feeling of being a lab rat. At least they could have let her rest for a couple of days; but Katherine explained that it would be better if she got rid of it as soon as she could. That way she'd never have to be tested again and she could move on with her normal life.

Or at least as normal as it could be.

Her day would start at the lab every morning, and then Peggy Carter would take her to breakfast before their training started.

Yes, training.

Colonel Phillips thought that having two super soldiers was a million times better than having just one. She wasn't half as strong as Steve was, but still he had asked Peggy Carter to teach her how to use these new... abilities, at the same time Dr. Lawrence, who had traveled with them to the camp, explained to her a little bit more about how to channel all those feelings that seemed to be growing stronger every day. She would have to use the nightmares, the attacks, every negative thought that popped into her head and felt like the end of the world because of the serum effects to gain strength with them. Phillips would supervise every now and then and give advice to Agent Carter about how to improve Katherine's training. When she had been training for a week, everybody was surprised that she was actually a pretty fast learner. Not only because she easily memorized every tactic and move, but because she was learning how to use her new strength and it was great to feel powerful when she managed to do things she'd never been able to do before.

"What's wrong with these people? She's almost as small as Rogers when he first came here. It makes me sad" the Colonel had complained to Agent Carter the first day they took Katherine to the field.

"She's a dancer. The only real sport she's ever done is volleyball on her high school team, Colonel. You can't expect her to be a trained soldier"

"You were taller when you were her age. You were stronger"

"I was raised to be who I am now. She wasn't."

"True. But you were smarter. Brighter. Nothing could ever surprise you."

"Don't try to tell me you don't see what she's capable of. We've known each other for a very long time, Colonel. Lying to me won't work" Peggy replied, knowing exactly where he was heading with this conversation.

"Your point, Agent?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You can't fool me the same way you fool them. I know that the girl's new... "skills" have nothing to do with why you want her here. But let me warn you" she said pointing at him with her index finger "She's no fool either"