Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

Chapter IX: Hard Whiskey

Joana

Joana hissed.
"Oh shut up." Danika pressed the wet cloth to the cut on Joana's cheek. It was one of many on her face. "I don't know how you can even see."
Joana could barely see through her swelling eyes.
"This should have been dealt with as soon as I took you from that room. Not after a 30 minute conversation with the Commander. Your wounds could be infected."
Joana remained silent. Danika sighed and let her hands fall.
"I know why you did what you did," she said softly. "But you went to far. I'm glad you didn't kill Aleksi, more than I can say, but you shouldn't have-"
"I know." That was all she said for a while. Danika delicately cleaned Joana's wounds. Joana held a pack of ice to her ribs and winced when Danika moved her.
"You're so stupid," Danika whispered. Joana turned her face away, trying to hide the fact that her eyes were filling with tears.
"I know."
Danika lowered her hand and pursed her lips. She didn't know what to do.
"What did you promise him?" Joana asked all of the sudden.
"What do you-"
"So I could see Bucky, what did you trade away? What did you promise to give him?"
Danika lowered her head, a small smile on her face.
"You eaves drop too much, Joana."
Joana turned back to Danika and lifted her face with her hands.
"You give so much to me, Danika. Why? Why do you care so much?"
Danika's eyes averted away, unable to stay locked with Joana's cold gaze. She seemed to think for a long time before pulling her face from Joana's hands.
"Because I don't want you to be like me," she said, her voice quiet and hoarse. "Because I'm trying to help you fight them. Because I hate them. Because I hate who I've become and I don't know what I'd do if you became like me."
Joana had no words to respond to her. Danika scoffed lightly and pushed herself off Joana's bed.
"Rest. Keep that ice on your ribs. The Commander wants to get you back to training as soon as possible."

"One, two-"
"French."
"Trois, quatre-"
"Russian."
"Pyat, shest-"
"German."
"Sieben, acht-"
"Spanish."
"Nueve, diez-"
"English."
"Eleven, twelve-"
"Portuguese."
"Treze, quatorze-"
"Good, Joana!"
Danika blocked all of Joana's punches and kicks, but she knew Joana's patterns. Danika continued calling out different languages and making her say different things in those languages.
The Commander stalked around them, arms crossed. Every now and again, he whispered something to the scrawny girl following behind him. She would scribble on her clipboard and continue listening to what he said.
Joana made no mistakes in her languages, and she didn't stumble when Danika blocked her attacks. She didn't know how long she'd been fighting, but she could feel her muscles weakening.
"That's enough," the Comamnder said. Danika and Joana dropped their arms and stood, straight and stiff, standing at attenton. The Commander continued to walk circles around the two, eyes scannng every inch of their sweaty bodies. Joana tried to keep her breathing steady.
"Alright. Stark, you can sit out. I want to try this one out myself." The Commander grinned at Joana, and it made her stick to her stomach. Danika dripped her head and steppedoff of the fighting map. One of the onlookers was brave enough to speak up.
"Are you sure that that is safe, sir?" He asked, his german accent thick. "I mean, we've seen what she can do-"
"Quiet!"
The man shut his mouth instantly.
The other trainees, whom Joana had only known existed within the past five years, all sat by the wall looking on. Some of them kept stoic expressions, while others murmured to each other.
Joana swallowed, her mouth dry and took a fighting position. She lifted her hands and balanced her weight. The Commander took off his suit jacket and tie and threw off his shoes and socks. Danika sat beside the other trainers and put her chin in her hands. She nodded at Joana, who nodded back. She could do this.
"We won't be speaking this time. Just fighting. If you beat me, you'll get something special."
Another angry murmur went through the other trainees, all of whom were men.
"Enough!" The Commander snapped. They shut up immediately. "Shall we begin?"
The two lunged at each other. 15 minutes later, the Commander had a broken nose, two broken ribs, a sprained ankle, and a very bad bruise on his neck. Many of Joana's old wounds had reopened, she had three cracked ribs, a dislocated hip and shoulder, as well as a rapidly swelling left eye. They were both on the floor when the Commader called the match a duce. Danika rushed to her side, a grin on her face.
Helping her up, Danika ushered her to the medical bay.
"You did great, Joana."
"But I didn't win," the bleeding woman grumbled.
"But you're no the one who called the macth over. You didn't give up." Joana groaned loudly as the doctor readjusted her shoulder. "Which gives you extreme points. You're the only one the Commander decided to fight, which means he thinks you're good enough. You'll beat out all of those boys by a landslide."
Joana groaned again when her hip was put back into place. Danika smiled ad put her hands on Joana's knees, kneeling down to give the doctor room to finish fixing up Joana's wounds.
10 minutes later, Danika was walking Joana back to her room.
"Why is beating the other trainees so good? Doesn't that mean have to start killing soon? I can't do that."
"I've got that part covered. You won't be killing people for a long while. But you will have a very good standing place with the Commander, which is good for your plan."
Joana nodded.
"Will he let me see Bucky?"
"I do hope so, but first, he needs to talk to us."