Steve took us into a separate training room as the others were still training when we got into the training room, which was actually a whole separate building joined to the compound by only a pebbled dirt path. The separate training rooms were the same as the ones in the tower, maybe slightly bigger. Steve gave me a pair of training clothes, which he said was an old pair of Wanda's and I changed into them in one of the bathroom cubicles. Instantly, I hated the short sleeves and I stared at my scared arms in the mirror, rubbing them self-consciously.

"Do they fit okay?" Asked Steve from outside of the cubicle. I stared at my figure in the mirror and took in a deep breath.

"Yeah, they're good." I slowly opened up the door, looking down as I fiddled with my bracelets. I felt his eyes quickly running over me, no doubt hovering on the scars covering my arms. I was grateful that the pants he had given me were leggings that went to my ankles before any skin showing was covered by the socks and joggers that were apparently one of Nat's old pairs.

"Come on." He said to me after a few awkward seconds. "I thought we might practice punching, it shouldn't be too difficult." I nodded and walked over him, looking over at the other Avengers as they trained, giving Wanda a small smile as she smiled at me. Steve walked into one of the small training rooms and I noticed a bunching bag hanging in the middle of the room. I had seen many punching bags before at HYDRA, it was mainly the agents using them, but I had never used them myself.

"I'm not sure I can punch." I said softly, fiddling with the bracelets nervously.

"Which is why I'm going to teach you." He replied, walking over to a drawer against the wall and pulling out a roll of tape which I immediately recognised as punching tape. I mainly saw it on the other HYDRA agents when they were training, normally using the punch bags, but sometimes I got it as well when they got me to spar. That was rare though, they didn't tend to care much about what damage training did to me.

"Hold out your hands." He told me and I followed his instructions, letting him gently wrap the tape around my hands.

"How does that feel?" He asked after once he had taped one up. I flexed my hand and nodded, letting him tape the other one up. When he was finished, he put the tape away in the drawer and turned back to face me.

"Try forming a fist." He told me and I curled my fingers into a fist, flexing them a couple of times to loosen up the tape. He corrected my fists and nodded to the punching bag.

"Hit it." He urged me and I hesitated for a moment, looking up at him before I took a couple of steps towards the punching bag and hit it, though I barely put any force into it and the bag barely swung. Steve didn't say anything and walked over, standing in front of me.

"Which leg is your dominant leg?" He asked and I paused for a moment.

"I'm not sure." I replied softly, shaking my head.

"The easiest way to find out is to stand like this." He said, standing straight up with his two feet together and hands at his side. "So slowly let yourself tip forward," he continued, "and when you are about to fall, your brain will get your dominant leg to move forwards." He began to tilt forward and just when I thought he was going to land flat on his face, he stepped forward with his right leg. He straightened and nodded to me. I stood how he did and began to get myself to fall forward until my right leg moved forward to balance me.

"So, you are the same as me." He said as I straightened, flushing slightly as I knew I probably looked really stupid. "That will make it easier. Now, I want you to hold your hands up near to your chin but in fists." He demonstrated with his hands and I copied him, feeling weird.

"That's it. Now, when you punch, you want your knuckles to face forward to where you are punching, like this." He punched the bag in slow motion. "And as you punch, you want to swivel your body forward, but only slightly." He punched the bag again in slow motion and I watched as he swivelled forward, giving his punch more power. "You give it a go, try with your left hand first."

I tried to match how he had positioned his legs, holding my first up to my chin before I punched the bag with my left hand, trying to swivel at the same time.

"Good." Steve nodded. "But swivel less. You don't want to overbalance yourself." I nodded and fixed up my feet before punching again, trying to swivel less.

"Better." He smiled. "But now focus on where you are punching. You want to punch straight in front of you, at about eye level." I punched again and Steve moved over to me, stretching out my arm until it was almost straight, but there was still the slightest bend in my elbow.

"This is how far you want to stretch your arm out." He told me. "If you stretch it out too far you will either hurt yourself or overbalance, but if you don't stretch it out enough, you won't get the power you want." I nodded and he moved back a little, letting me punch the bag.

"Much better." He grinned, nodding. "Obviously, the strength of your punch will improve as you build up muscles from constant practice. Now, let's try your right arm."

-{+}-

Steve and I practised for what was probably about an hour before we stopped to get a drink, Steve going to grab a blue-coloured energy drink for me as I sat down on a bench against the wall. My arms were resting on my knees as I tried to catch my breath from the repetitive sets of punching we had just done. I looked up at him as he approached and he gave me a small smile, handing it too me and I reached up with sore arms.

"It's Gatorade." He noticed my slightly wary expression. "It's got stuff in it that will make you feel better." I doubted what he was saying, but I was too out of breath to try and figure out if it was a trap or not, so I tugged off the cap and drank a big mouthful.

"How do you feel?" He asked as he drank his own bottle of Gatorade.

"My arms are very sore." I breathed heavily, taking another big gulp of the drink and wiping a trickle of sweat from my forehead.

"We still have to work on punching with your left leg." Steve smiled sympathetically, throwing me a towel to wipe away the sweat.

"Have one more drink and get up, the sooner you start again, the quicker we can finish." He smiled, pushing off the wall that he had been leaning against. I took one more sip from my drink before heaving myself up from the bench, my body feeling heavy. Not training for three weeks was beginning to have its consequences.

We practiced punching with my left leg for what felt like longer than an hour, but I suppose that was to be expected since it wasn't my dominant leg. When Steve announced that we were finished for the day, I slumped down on the bench, grabbing the towel and rubbing my whole face. When I looked up again, I saw Steve sitting next to me, holding out my half-empty Gatorade for me. I gave him a weak smile and took it from him, drinking the rest.

"You can go have a shower if you want." He offered. "There's a couple of showers that might be free if the others haven't taken them. It might help you freshen up a little." I nodded, still breathing heavily from the punching sets, and threw the empty plastic bottle in a bin against the wall.

"Good job today." Steve called out to me as I began to walk towards the door. I paused and looked over my shoulder at him to see him unclipping the punching bag, and throwing it over his shoulder as he turned to face me. "A couple more weeks and you'll be stronger. But that means you have to show up to training every day, okay?" I sighed slightly and nodded, knowing it was for the best. He gave me a smile and I turned back around, opening up the door and walking out into the main training room. There was only Nat and Clint left standing in the boxing ring, talking as they took the tape off their hands. I spotted a room beyond the main training area and slowly walked over, hearing the sound of conversations mixing in with the sound of showers running. I peeked into the room hesitantly and saw Tony talking about Wanda about something as Thor threw on a shirt, almost bumping into Nat as she towel-dried her hair.

"There is a spare shower down the end." Nat spotted me. "No one has used it yet." She stood up and opened a cupboard on the side wall, grabbing out a towel and throwing it to me. I gave her a small smile and walked down to the shower at the end, pulling the shower curtain to the side as I stepped in before pulling it shut again.

The shower was pretty big, it was like anothersmall room. There was space to hang up my towel and any spare clothes, which Ididn't have. The actual shower area was a step-down and rather big, with ashining showerhead and a rack of soaps, shampoos and conditioners. I peeled offmy sweaty t-shirt, leaving me in a sports bra and leggings. I turned on theshower as cold as it would go and after a couple of seconds of hesitation, Itook the bracelets off my wrist and tried as hard as I could to keep the flamesto a low temperature. But to my surprise, no flames even appeared. I smiledsoftly and peeled off the rest of my clothes, stepping under the freezingwater. It was sharp against my skin, but it was soothing somehow. I looked atmy flame-free hands and smiled softly again.