I helped Pepper clean up from breakfast before I decided to go train by myself. I was someone who liked structure in my day, and if I skipped training, even though it wasn't my favourite thing. I wouldn't really know what to do with myself. This came from HYDRA, I always had strict routines that I had to follow, normally if I broke that routine, I would be punished. I knew I wouldn't be punished here, but I couldn't help but go train.

When I got there, I dragged a couple of punching bags over from where they were stacked against the wall of the main training area. With quite a bit of effort, I managed to clip it up to the hook in the ceiling before I pulled on the boxing gloves I spied hanging on the wall. I took a deep breath and began to loosen up my muscles, stretching how Steve had showed me. I turned to face the punching bag again and closed my eyes, trying to imagine everything Steve had taught me. I held my arms in the position he had taught me before I opened my eyes and began the punching pattern we had come up with in my first few training sessions.

I took regular breaks when I felt my power stirring in my stomach, despite the bracelets. I didn't want to find out if the bracelets were strong enough to hold it back or not. I drank about two bottles of Gatorade without even realizing it, I was just so thirsty.

I was hallway through another set of punches when I heard the door to the training room open up. I spun around, fists raised and muscles tensed, only to see that it was Loki.

"I'm hoping you're not pretending that is someone's face." He smiled and I relaxed slightly, sweeping my sweaty hair out of my face. "Specifically not my face, but if it's Stark's face, go ahead." I cracked a weak smile and pulled off the boxing gloves, grabbing my bottle of Gatorade and swallowing a mouthful.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked as soon as I swallowed.

"They're fine." He nodded. "What about you, what did you get up to

"Nothing much." I replied, beginning to untape my hands. "Mainly training." He nodded and fell silent. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and stood up after I finished unwrapping my hands, moving to the punching bag to unclip it from the ceiling. I took it off the hook, sagging under the weight as I put it on my shoulder like I had seen Steve do. Before I could even make it a step, the weight was lifted from my shoulder and I spun around to see Loki using his magic to hold it up in the air.

"I could have lifted that." I looked at him and he gave me a small smile before dropping it on top of the other punching bags against the wall. I walked over to the lockers and grabbed my towel that was hanging up from last time I trained. I grabbed the boxing gloves and hung them back up on the wall, throwing away the sweaty tape.

"Come on." Loki said eventually. "I can tell you want to rant about something

"I just wish I could go out with the rest of you." I sighed, grabbing my almost empty bottle of Gatorade. "I mean, I get it might be dangerous, but I want to prove to them that I am not a danger. And I don't like being stuck in here."

"It's not that they don't trust you." He replied. "They just want to keep you safe."

"I don't need them to keep me safe." I looked up at him. "I can defend myself. Ive been with HYDRA the majority of my life, I know how to fight them."

"It's not just HYDRA out there thought." He pointed out. "There are others who have a thing against those with... powers." I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to win, and I walked into the showers, picking my usual one at the end and drawing the curtain shut. When I didn't hear him follow in, I turned on the shower and peeled off my sweaty training closes, stepping under freezing water. I took off my bracelets and let my body burst into flame, the sparks quickly extinguished by the water. I washed my hair and after a couple of minutes, I stepped out of the shower, throwing on a pair of spare clothes I had grabbed from the cupboard in the shower room. As I walked back into the main training room, towel-drying my hair, I spotted Loki sitting on the bench near the exit. I paused for a moment, slightly startled that he was still there, before I kept walking forward.

"You know you didn't have to wait for me." I told him, hanging up my towel.

"It would have been rude if I left." He replied, standing up as I made my way over to him. I nodded and we walked back to the compound in silence.

-{+}-

When we walked back into the compound, the Avengers were scattered all over lounge room and kitchen, most of them laying down on the couch, a movie already playing on the TV. Tony spotted me first, from where he was draped across an armchair, and sat up a little bit, sipping on a glass of some sort of alcohol, Pepper nowhere to be seen.

"Is it all okay?" I asked softly as he swallowed another mouthful of his drink.

"It seems to just be an accident." Tony replied in a tired voice.

"He's used his social battery up for the day." Nat said to me from where she was eating a block of chocolate. "The news vans were already there and as soon as we landed, they flocked. They made him do interviews."

"I hate paparazzi." Tony grumbled, flopping back into his chair.

"Did you see..." I hesitated, "HYDRA at all?"

"No." Tony said from where he was laying on the couch with his eyes closed. "Thankfully."

"It doesn't seem like HYDRA had anything to do with it." Steve replied, walking all the way around the lounge room. "Probably just a faulty wire or something." He began to pull pillows off the couch. "Has anyone seen my phone?" There was a chorus of 'no's' and Steve disappeared back up to the bedroom level.

"Did you do anything interesting while we were gone?" Tony asked me, his eyes closed as he rested his empty cup on his chest.

"No." I shook my head. "Just training."

"Steve will be proud." Nat chuckled slightly before flopping onto the couch in exhaustion. Silence filled the room and Steve walked back down the stairs, phone to his ear. I stood up to go grab something to eat from the fridge as Steve sighed heavily and put his phone down on the kitchen bench.

"Everything okay?" I asked softly as he poured himself a cup of water from the tap.

"Buck called me several times but I call him back and he didn't answer." He replied, leaning against the bench before chuckling. "He probably pocket dialed me. Old man." I smiled softly before pulling out an apple, taking a bite from it.

"What's everyone's requests for lunch?" Pepper asked after a couple of minutes of silence. Tony, surprisingly, didn't answer straight away, probably already asleep on the couch with the help of the alcohol. Clint called out instead.

"I'm feeling like chicken skewers." He said, his face slightly muffled by the pillow he had put over his face. "But I doubt we have them."

"No but I could do something else with chicken." Pepper replied, weaving her way between me and Steve and opening up the fridge door. "What about chicken schnitzel? There is some left over pieces from a couple of nights ago, I could do something with that." Clint hummed in reply and Nat stood up off the couch, probably the only one without a drained social battery.

"I'll help you." She offered and Pepper turned around with a smile.

"I'll taste test!" Thor called out from the couch where he had a bottle of beer in his hands. Pepper and Nat chuckled while my lips quirked in a smile.

"Sorry for the interruption." JARVIS' voice echoed through the ceiling, causing Tony to startle awake and fall off his chair. "But Mr. Rodgers, there has been a disturbance in Mr. Barnes' home."