Winter's Father

Chapter 7

                  Winter Soldier
   Today's the third day of training Jace. We didn't get to do much of anything yesterday because of him checking out my arm.

   Karpov already dropped me off at the training room. All I had to do was to wait for the kid.

   He's an hour late. I wonder what's keeping him. He's probably getting a lecture about going anywhere without a guard.

   Finally, Jace arrives. The guard opened the door and threw him in. He hit the ground hard. The guard slammed the door behind him. Jace had a huge red mark on his arm. That was going to be a big bruise soon.

   Without realizing it, I walked over to him and helped him up. What was I doing? Jace had tears in his eyes. If he was going to work for Hydra, he needs to learn to suck it up.

   "Are you okay, kid?" I asked, not knowing what was coming out of my mouth. Where was this coming from? It was like I had no control of it. He replied with a nod and quickly wiped his face.

   "Anyway, let's get to work. Today your going to try and fight me." I said, getting off of the subject. He stared at me with a blank expression. "Don't worry. I'm going to go easy on you." I assured him.

   Then he got into a stance. I quickly got into one, too.

   "I know I haven't taught you all of the basics yet, but it's better to learn this way." I said.

   "Let me see your punches." I added. Then he swung a couple. I quickly dodged them. "You have to be quicker than that." I said. "Now try to kick me." I ordered.
He threw a kick at my side, but I grabbed his leg and flipped him.

   Be more careful.

   Another random thought came into my mind. I ignored it though.

   "You're too obvious. You let me know when you're fixing to kick and where. Work on that." I said to him, still lying on the ground. "Now it's my turn." I said as he got up.

   I threw a punch at him, but he surprisingly dodged it. I threw a kick and he dodged that, too. Then he threw a punch at me, hitting my jaw.

   He actually hit me. A little kid, a nine year old kid, hit me square in the jaw. How?

   Then I let loose. I kicked his leg, making him fall onto the ground. He got back up though. So I threw a punch, with my flesh arm, and hit him in the stomach. He fell to the ground.

   He began to cry. He was actually crying.

   "There is no crying in this game. You have to be tougher than that. If you can't handle it, then just leave. Go. You can't do anything if you're going to cry about it. I'm not going to tolerate crying. So you better-" I cut myself off. I was yelling, really loud at the kid. He had fear in his eyes.

   He started to act like he couldn't breath again and wheezing a lot. He started to freak out. Then he started pointing at his bag. I ran to the bag and ran back to him. I gave him the bag as soon as I got there. He quickly went through the bag and pulled out an inhaler. He took a big breath and went back to normal.

   "What was that all about?" I asked. He handed me the same file he had yesterday and pointed to a spot. On the spot it read:

   Medical issues - asthma   

   Asthma. That sounded familiar. Like I knew someone who had that before. The same wheezing sound. But where have I heard it? Who was it?

   "Oh." I said, ignoring my questions, and gave it back to him. Why was Hydra having me train a kid that has asthma? That was unusual for them to have a recruit that's not absolutely healthy. They want the top notches. I understand he's a brilliant hacker, but in the field they want the healthiest they can get.

   After a while, Jace got up, back into a stance. That was probably why Hydra wanted him. He wouldn't give up.

   "I can do this all day."
   "Hey, pick on someone your own size!"
   "Sometimes I think you like getting punch."
   "I had them on the ropes."

   Another memory flash hit me. Expect this one was a little blurry. I couldn't really see their faces. I assume the tall one was me, but I couldn't tell who the short one was though. Maybe it was the same person who had asthma or something like it. I just wish I knew who it was.

   Jace was still standing in a stance. He still had a little fear in his eyes. I kinda felt bad for causing him to have an asthma   attack.

    "Stand down. That's enough for today." I said. He nodded and grabbed his bag. Then he headed to the door.

   "I'm sorry." I said before he went out the door. He smiled back as to say it was okay. A guard came and walked him back to his room.

   Why did I say sorry? The Winter Soldier is never sorry. So why did I say it? There's something about that kid that's causing all this. But what is it?