Joana

"So, what you're trying to tell me is, after I tried to escape and beat up two of the boys," (a term Jo had taken to using when referring to the soldiers), "you convinced the Commander to 'give me a surprise', as you put it?"
Danika smiled.
"That's precisely what I'm saying, Joana," Danika said, throwing a punch at Jo, which she easily dodged.
"How?"
"Well," Jo punched Danika in the gut, causing her to lose some of her breath, "I told the Commander that if you were given some praises and some gifts, you wouldn't be so inclined to...shall we say...beat up all his men in attempts to break out?"
Jo let out a laugh as Danika swept her feet out from underneath her. Jo wasn't on the ground for very long before she hopped back on to her feet to continue sparring.
"You mind sharing what this surprise is?"
"If I did that, it wouldn't be a surprise."
"I wanna punch that smirk off your face," Jo said, a smile of her own on her face as she and Danika continued to spar.
"Try me, Kegley."

Jo almost found herself disappointed when there was nothing different to her regular routine the next day. Luckily, Aleksi was still in healing. (The Doctor didn't want to waste any of his serum on some simple soldier like Aleksi). Nothing was different the next day either, nor the next day. By the fourth day, Jo had believed that Danika had been lying to her.
"Joana, what are you doing?" Danika asked. "You're getting sloppy!"
Jo said nothing, instead, she threw another punch. Danika grabbed Jo's flying fist and twisted her arm. Jo let out a strangled grunt as she was brought to the ground by Danika.
"Get your head in it, Joana." Danika pushed Joana to the floor, pressing her face into the floor Danika flopped off of her and sat on the ground, breathing heavily.
"What's up, Joana? What's wrong with you today?" Danika asked, swiping her blonde hair from her eyes. Jo sat up on her butt.
"I don't know, Danika."
"You can't lie to me. I know something's up."
"It's...nothing. It's just stupid. That's all."
"You can tell me, Joana, you know that."
Jo paused for a second, her throat swelling, tears gathering in her eyes.
"When you said there was a gift for me-" Her voice choked. "I just, I got a little hopeful is all."
Danika put her hand on Joana's knee with a small smile.
"If the Commander doesn't give you your due penalty, come tell me and I'll beat some sense into him, mkay? I've got your back, don't worry I've got your back."
Both of the girls sat there smiling, for a few minutes, before Danika punched Jo in the face and they began sparring again.

When sparring had been completed, one of the soldiers escorted Jo away from the training room, but instead of going immediately back to her room, he brought her to a different room.
"What is this?" Jo asked, her voice cold. The soldier said nothing. He opened the door to the room, but Jo didn't take his eyes away from him. He gestured impatiently to go inside. When she finally tore her gaze from his stone hard face, she was amazed at what she saw.
Bucky was standing in that room, his back to her. He wasn't in a chair, not strapped down to anything. He was just staring at the wall. Was this it? Was this her gift? To be able to touch the person she loved?
She was awestruck, unable to come up with a single word to say.
She stepped into the room, taking no more than two steps before the Commander, who had been practically hiding behind the door, grabbed her arm.
"No touching," he said, and her heart dropped. Her jaw hung open and she nodded. Her brown eyes filled with tears as she turned to look at Bucky.
"Bucky?" The man with the metal arm turned, his eyes vacant. He stared at her, as if he was looking at any other person in the world. But then she said his name again. Bucky shook his head, squeezing his eyes tight. Upon reopening them, he instantly recognized her and his eyes widened. The Commander swore in Russian, his grip on Jo tightening.
"It didn't work," he seethed, but Jo wasn't paying attention to him. She moved forward, trying to pull herself from his iron hard grip. Bucky started forward too, but some of the soldiers filed in, pushing him backward, away from her. She stretched her hand out, calling out his name, as The Commander pulled her backward.
"Jo!" Bucky outstretched his hand as far as he could. For a second, Jo broke away from the Commander and took only a few more steps towards Bucky as the soldiers held him back. Just as her fingertips grazed his, the Commander grabbed both of her arms and pinned them at her sides. She let out a shriek of anger as he carried her from the room, Bucky calling out her name as the door slammed shut. With tears rolling down her cheeks, Jo spat and kicked and punched, flailing all her body parts at one time, hoping to get one good shot at the Commander that would give her time to open the door and go back into that room.
But nothing she did worked. The Commander dragged her back to her room and threw her into her chair. Before he could tie her down, she jumped up and made for the door, but three soldiers were waiting for her and herded her back inside. She sat in her chair in utter defeat. The Commander tied her back up.
"Until we get this to work, you're never going to see him again," he hissed in her ear. She turned her face away, ashamed of the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She contained her sobs until he slammed her door shut. Once she was sure he was gone, she let a scream of rage rip through her throat. She shook the chair with such ferocity that the bolts almost came out of the ground. Almost.
When her voice ran hoarse, she hung her head, now only weeping quietly. She sat like that until she fell asleep.

She woke up with a crick in her neck and a nightmare in her face.
"Hey, Princess. How'd you sleep?"
The sight of Aleksi Crestostum caused every fiber of Jo's body to catch fire. She shook her restraints and snarled at him, gnashing her teeth. Aleksi chuckled, stepping backward.
"Ah, ah, my Princess. It's just you and me now. Your boyfriend and you have been permanently separated until we have use of you. Until then, you're all mine." The grin on his face made Jo want to hurl whatever gruel was in her stomach.
She was about to speak when her door swung open. A very angry Danika Stark strut into the room. Her blue eyes were set ablaze, her eyebrows knit into a scowl. She glared at Aleksi and pointed towards the door.
"You have no authority here, Stark-"
"Get. Out!" Even Jo jumped at the ferocity in Danika's voice. Aleksi scowled at her, but did as she said and scampered from the room. He closed the door behind him. As soon as he did so, Danika knelt in front of Jo, placing her hands on Jo's.
"Joana, I am so sorry. I had no idea that they would do that. They told me that they'd let you see him without the chains, but-"
"That was supposed to be my due penalty?" Jo asked, her voice almost void of emotion. Danika hung her head in shame.
"I'm sorry, Joana. I don't know what they're trying to do to him, but it's not good. You've got to help him fight it." Danika's voice was below a whisper.
"What do you mean? Aren't you on their side?" The sudden realization that Jo had seemed to overlook for the past seven or so months, hit her like a speeding train. She pulled her hands out from under Danika's hands. The hurt expression on Danika's face did nothing to quench the fire of hatred that was now burning in Jo's chest.
"It's complicated."
"What- How is any of this complicated? They kidnapped Bucky, they kidnapped me. They're torturing us, and you're helping!"
"Not everything is black and white, Joana," Danika said, trying to keep her own emotions in check.
"But this is. This is black and white. You have no idea what they do to me-"
"I have no idea? Joana, I've been here for 27 years! You can't possibly think that I didn't go through some of the same stuff you did." Joana said nothing, so Danika sucked in a deep breath. "The training for women soldiers is far more rigorous than it is for men."
Jo leet the words sink into her mind. She stared at Danika in utter horror.
"You mean..." Her voice fell out, as if she was choking on her own tongue.
"Yes," Danika spoke below a whisper, "They're training you to become a soldier, like me. The only difference, I finished my training 12 years ago, when I was 15."
"So," Jo coughed, "You've been here since you were a baby."
"Yes, Joana. I was born here. My parents were both scientists working for Hydra. The Commander practically raised me. I know what it's like for you, trust me. And trust me when I say that I am going to do everything I can to make sure that you get what you deserve. You have been working so hard here, you deserve to see him, to be able to hug him and to hold him. You deserve that much." There was a look in Danika's blue eyes that told Joana that at one point, Danika deserved the same, that there was a man here that Danika loved and this place ruined them. Jo dipped her head once and lay her hands over Danika's, which made the woman smile.
"Who was he?" She asked, voice soft. Danika scoffed, turning her head away.
"It doesn't matter. He-" before Danika could say anything else, the door opened and Aleksi came walking back in. His expression was hard and he scowled when he saw Danika at Jo's feet.
"Commander wants to see you," he said. Danika stood.
"Tell him I'll be right there," she said. Aleksi nodded and left, leaving the door open. "Trust me, Joana. I might be the only one here you can trust." Before she let, Danika kissed Jo's forehead. Jo sighed as she left and closed the door shut.
She was alone.

"Bucky!" 18-year-old Joana squealed as James Barnes wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air. He blew a raspberry on her neck, which made her scream even more. He laughed as she squirmed, trying to break away from him. She managed to turn herself around, so she was staring up at him, but his arms stayed fast around her waist. Their laughs slowly died down as he leaned closer to her, but before his lips could touch hers, rain started to pour from the sky, drenching the couple. A series of giggles escaped Jo's lips as she broke away from Bucky from the sheer shock of it all.
She darted out into the streets, letting the rain soak her to the skin. Bucky laughed from the sidewalk.
"C'mon, Baby Doll," he said. "You'll catch a cold."
Instead of listening to Bucky, Jo lifted her face to dark expanse above her, raising her arms. She began to spin in circles, laughing as the rain continued to pelt against her face.
She heard Bucky scream her name too late, heard the honking of the car horn too late. When she dropped her hands and turned to see the driving straight towards her, she let out a scream, but the car never hit her. Bucky had run across the street and slammed straight into her, knocking her to the ground.
When she had finally come back to herself, having squeezed her eyes so tightly that she thought she may have pushed out her own soul, she stared up at Bucky. The two of them breathed heavily.
"You're insane," he said, his face just inches from hers. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you."

_______

Haha, I succeeded in doing another chapter, yet again. Claps for me.

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Go with self control,
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