Insanity

Chapter 5

Song: Hit Me With Your Best Shot cover by ADONA

☆☆☆

"You're a real tough 
cookie with a long 
history."

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The week drew by and each day Natalia came to her training session vibrant and ready to go. Each day she seemed to improve little by little, though Barnes knew well enough that whatever enhancements she had received helped that greatly. But the enhancements alone weren't enough to help her to gain strength so quickly; some of that was simply the repetitive exercises Barnes had given her to do, and she proved to him that she had, in fact, done them. Even the other operatives could occasionally be heard whining about how late Natalia would stay up to complete her reps; though instead of complaining, surely they could have joined her. Then perhaps they too would be able to do the fifty push ups that she could, or maybe they'd be able to last for as long as she could when running.

The minutes ticked by, the long red hand of the clock growing ever closer to the start time of the training session. Barnes had forewarned Natalia in her previous lesson that today, things would be a bit different and that she should expect a surprise. And as Barnes hid beside the door, using the darkness of the room as his camoflauge, he wondered just how Natalia would perform today.

Barnes heard the soft padding of unsuspecting footsteps just outside of the door and he drew in a breath, holding it as he curled the fingers of his flesh right hand into a fist. His eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness and he could see the outlines of all of the gym equipment scattered about the room, left lying haphazardly from the previous day's session. A sliver of light from the hallway seeped in through the crack in the door as it was pushed open, and a shadowy, short figure stepped into the dark room.

"What the-" Natalia started, though she was cut off sharply by Barnes's fist swinging for her face. She seemed stunned but it took her no longer than half a second to realize that this was what Barnes meant by a surprise, and that this was the worst surprise in the history of surprises. She did her best to block his punch, though she could barely make out the silhouette of his body in the blackness of the room.

"Use your other senses," Barnes growled from her right side. "You can't see me, but you can hear me," he added, hoping to spur on some sort of ideas in the young hopeful. 

Natalia scoffed. "Yeah, and if you don't shower soon then I'll probably be able to smell you too," she quipped. She stood entirely still, not attempting to throw any punches as Barnes had half expected her to. He could practically feel her forcing herself to focus, listening, and relying on anything other than her eyes to tell her where Barnes was standing.

With the suddenness of a lightning strike, Natalia threw a punch aimed straight for Barnes's nose. Barnes caught it with ease, stopping her closed fist when it was half a foot away from striking him. He aimed a light kick for her shin and his boot smacked as it made contact, causing Natalia to stumble backwards a few steps. To be fair, he was aware how much bigger he was then her and wondered if perhaps he needed to be a bit more gentle. 

His thoughts had distracted him and he felt a sharp kick to his ribcage, and without hesitation he reached down and grabbed Natalia's booted foot just as she tried to pull away from his side.

What was going easy on her going to help, anyway?

Barnes yanked hard on Natalia's foot, pulling her to the ground a bit more forcefully than he had intended and causing her to groan as her back hit the hard floor. He wasn't concerned, however; she was far tougher than she came off as. "You're small, you can maneuver around bigger people easier. Use that," he said.