Living Nightmare ~ (Bucky Barnes) COMPLETED

time to train

A dull buzzing woke Maddie and she reached towards her bedside table with her eyes still closed, eager to quiet the alarm so she could get back to sleep. Rather than grabbing her phone though, her hand collided with a hard jaw.

"oww" Bucky complained, reaching his own arm out to grab the vibrating phone. Maddie finally opened her eyes, seeing the face she had just unintentionally punched and recalling the events of last night.

"sorry" she said as she took her phone and silenced the alarm.

At some point during the night her and Bucky had become intertwined, she could feel the cool metal of his arm around her waist and she recognised her own arm lying on his stomach, their legs tangled together under the duvet. Bucky groaned and let out a small yawn, bringing his free hand to his face to cover his mouth.

"I guess that means it's time to get up" he said placing the phone back on the table.

Maddie turned onto her back and sighed, "yeah I need to get ready for training".

She unfolded herself and slipped out of the covers, exposing her bare legs to the cool morning air. Bucky groaned again as the cold seeped into the space Maddie had previously been occupying. He had enjoyed a good few hours of unbroken sleep as he lay next to Maddie and he was not happy to be woken up so abruptly by an annoying alarm and a slap in the face.

Maddie giggled as she looked at Bucky's grumpy face, his hair all messy and his shirt slightly crumpled from where she had been resting against his body. He looked quite sweet laying there, she almost hated what she was about to do. She stood up and grabbed her duvet with both hands tugging it off an unsuspecting Bucky leaving him lying in the cold. Maddie burst into laughter at the look on his face and quickly moved away from the bed as she saw his arms reach out to grab her.

"you can't catch me," she giggled throwing the duvet down and retreating towards the bathroom.

Bucky sat up, fully awake now and wanting to pay Maddie back for the abrupt wake up. His grumpiness faded as he looked at Maddie's grinning face, her messy curls hanging round her shoulders. He couldn't stay mad at her and she knew it.

"back to your room," she ordered, "I can't be late for training and you should get a move on too"

Bucky pulled himself out of bed and wandered towards the door, not forgetting to pick up his shoes on the way. "thank you for letting me stay" he said again as he reached for the door, "I'll see you down there".
      
                              ***

Twenty minutes later Maddie made her way down to the gym, dressed in plain black workout gear with her hair tied back out of her face. As she neared the door bits of conversation floated from the room

"I could kick your ass if wanted too"

"oh really? wanna bet?"

Maddie chuckled as the familiar voices of Sam and Wanda greeted her.

"nice of you to join us" Sam teased as he noticed Maddie, "we thought you'd forgotten us"

Maddie rolled her eyes as she approached the group, "I'm not even late you're all just freakishly early"

Tony gave her a pointed look, "that's because not all of us were out partying till all hours" he said, earning a guilty look from Maddie. "don't worry though, you're not the last one here, Barnes is taking his sweet time"

As if on cue, Bucky walked through the door raising his eyebrows at the looks the others gave him. "I'm not late" he said nochalantly "you're all just very punctual" the group laughed slightly causing Bucky to raise his eyebrow again

"that's what I said" Maddie explained

Tony cleared his throat as the room fell quiet. "now that we're all here," he said, pausing to look at Maddie and Bucky, "check the rota to see who's training where, we have a mission coming up so I need you all to be at the top of your game"

The group dispersed as they all went off to start their training and Maddie made her way over to the far side of the gym where soft mats covered the floor. Natasha was already there, wrapping her hands.

"looks like we're sparring partners today" Maddie said as she approached the mats. Nat smiled, Maddie was one of the few people that could put up a decent fight against her and Nat loved training with her. She was one of Maddie's closest friends in the compound and had been ever since they first met out in the field. Nat had taken Maddie under her wing and trained her up to be quite a deadly force.

"you ready to get your ass kicked?" Nat smirked as she got into position.

Maddie rolled her eyes and followed, bringing her hands up, "do your worst"

The two began their fight, Maddie threw a punch that Nat dodged with ease grabbing Maddie's outstretched arm and pulling her over her shoulder. Maddie used the momentum to roll herself round and kicked Nat's legs out from under her. Rather than falling to the ground, Nat gracefully rolled and used her legs to pin Maddie to the ground. Maddie pushed her way on top of Nat, straddling her waist in an attempt to incapacitate her but Nat shot up and somehow flipped Maddie onto her back, pinning her arm back at an awkward angle and pressing her knee into her neck. After a few seconds of squirming, Maddie accepted defeat and tapped Nat's leg. The assassin released her and offered a hand to help her up.

"that was good" she said, watching Maddie grab her water bottle, "you need to focus on your footwork though, I could see you coming from a mile away"

Maddie drained the water bottle, exhausted from her fight, "yeah, I'm a bit rusty" she admitted.

The others were spread across the gym, Steve and Sam occupied the weights, Bucky and Clint using the targets in the corner and Wanda was stood at the edge of the mats, watching Maddie and Natasha fight. Bruce and Tony were holed up in the lab tinkering with his suits or doing some science-y thing Maddie didn't understand. She wandered over to where Wanda stood.

"need a partner?" she asked.

Wanda shook her head, "no I just like watching you two fight, it's always interesting to see how long you can last" The three girls chuckled and moved onto the next station.

Maddie felt slightly uncomfortable as she approached the firing range, she didn't like guns and in a job like hers they were fairly difficult to avoid. However, as much as she could, she preferred to use her knives. Her dislike of guns led her to be very talented at using a number of alternative weapons but she still needed to be able to shoot and as much as she hated it she accepted it and reluctantly picked up the weapon. Nat stood in the slot next to her and they both aimed towards the targets. After several excruciating seconds of loud firing the two lowered the guns and inspected their targets. Natasha's of course was perfect. Each shot clean to the head or chest. She admired her work as Maddie looked over her own target. Not as precise as Nat's but she got the job done.
    
                              ***
After her intense day of training, Maddie relished in the warm water raining down on her body. After letting the heat seep into her bones Maddie switched the shower off and stepped out to get dry and change into regular clothes. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt, deftly pulling her hair back into a low bun, a few curls escaping at the front. She slipped into a pair of beaten converse and made her way down to the kitchen for some food.