verb.
To fall back under pressure. To shrink back physically or emotionally.
noun.
The kickback of a gun upon firing.
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It takes a stubborn mind to cling to their humanity when the world seeks to strip it away.
It takes a desperate soul to reach f...
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"Hey- easy, breathe- breathe." Soft instructions accompanied a gentle hand, pressed supportively to the muscular chest of the Soldier as he slumped out of the cryochamber, a soft grunt of effort leaving Katrina as she struggled to take his considerable weight.
A year had passed since her introduction to the Winter Soldier Program. The Soviet Union teetered on the edge of collapse in the world beyond the facility, but within it HYDRA solidified their foundations, tightening their chokehold on the world. It had taken this long for Katrina to fully understand it, but her recent promotion within the program gave her insight into just how far the reach of HYDRA stretched.
It had been at her father's request that the promotion and title of 'Agent' had been bestowed upon her, and she had welcomed it eagerly. He had reasoned that it would compliment her work with the Soldier, being involved in gathering intelligence for the program. It allowed her to better understand his missions, and the needs of his handlers. It meant she had been introduced to 'Zola' - the artificial intelligence unit that informed much of her father's work - a parasite that had latched on to HYDRA's rival organisation within the United States Government; SHIELD. Whist she was not naïve enough to believe that HYDRA could exist without a challenger somewhere in the world, until that point Katrina had never fully understood the motivations behind many of their actions. Now she did, and she understood that SHIELD was the enemy, but one they could control. They were the ones they were racing against to perfect the serum that would create the new generation of soldiers, but with Zola's insight they could keep up. She understood why they needed more fighters like the man under her care.
The man who she had been instructed to wake from his stasis and prepare that morning.
"Steady- be careful with him." She instructed as the guards who had rushed to help her support him lowered him into a chair. That was another notable difference that came with her new title, she was no longer considered expendable. When she requested it, guards would leap to her assistance without a second thought and fall back when she deemed her escort no longer necessary. This was one of those moments, and they dutifully stepped back to the door of the room at a slight wave of her hand. "Good morning, golubyye glaza." She breathed fondly as she draped a thick blanket around his bare shoulders and crouched in front of him, steadying him gently and smiling as his right hand reached to brace itself on her shoulder.
She wasn't sure where this gesture had come from, but it seemed to have become his habit to do so when she woke him. Her rational mind reasoned that it was because he knew she would reach to take his pulse at that wrist, and this was his way of offering it to her - but a different part of her always felt a warmth flare in her chest at the touch, not daring to allow herself to overthink it. She didn't want to let herself think that he had come to rely on her presence, that he recognised her as anything more than just a body that shared the same space as he did.
Carefully, she touched her fingers to his wrist, glancing at the clock on the wall as she counted the rapid thuds of his heart, ensuring he had coped with the shift from his frozen state to a waking one. "Good." She murmured as those beats slowed to his usual resting rate, the skin under her fingers warming at her touch, as did the hand gently resting upon her shoulder. The gasping breaths he had taken as he woke also began to steady, his body slipping back into its instinctive functions, remembering how to survive. "Look at me?" She requested softly, but knew those words were always registered as an order.
