Never Alone Again |N.R|

Time to go.

I'd made myself pretty scarce over the next few days. Only leaving our room to get food, which wasn't often as my appetite was nearly non-existent. However, today I had to go and have my dreaded meeting with Director Fury, in which he'd be telling me what punishments I'd have to endure for my actions. I tried to make myself look good for the meeting. I didn't want him thinking I was still as weak as when he saw me on that dreaded day. No, I could hold my own now. I was a new person born out of that traumatic ordeal.

When I stepped into the meeting room it was just him standing there, expectantly. He eyed me as I made my way to a seat, one positioned right at the back as far away from him as I could get. "Do you know why you're here, Rue?" He spoke up the second I'd sat down.

I nodded me head, "yes. You've got some punishments to hand out I do believe."

"Precisely. Now I'm not going to waste time, I'm going to get straight to the point. The mission in Russia left quite the mess behind. I'm going to send you, along with a few other members of the team, to liberate those girls from The Red Room before another leader can take charge." He waited a few moments to allow me to process the information.

"Doesn't sound like much of a punishment to me" I snarked, shooting him a glare.

"I figured you'd been punished enough and this helps me. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"You leave tomorrow morning. So I suggest you familiarise yourself with your combat skills and abilities before then." I nodded in reply before standing from my chair and making a swift exit. He could've subjected me to much worse, but going back to that godforsaken place was hardly letting me off easy. I quickly got back to my room and changed, now sporting my workout gear. As much as I despised the man, he was right when he said I should get some training in before we leave. When I walked into the training room only Clint was there, finishing off what looked to be a solo session. "Hey Clint" I said, drawing his attention to my sudden arrival. He put his weights down and took a breath before smiling my way. "Nice to see you up and about kid." He said, still trying to regain his breath.

"You know I'm 18 right, not really a kid anymore."

"You'll always be a kid to me" he said as he gave me a cheeky smirk. "Do you want a training partner? I'm just finishing up but I'm happy to stay?"

"No, thank you though. Wouldn't want to injure you." I replied, receiving a playful glare in return.

"Ha ha very funny. But seriously, you sure you want to train alone?"

"Sure. I promise."

"Okay, be careful and take it easy. I know what you're like" he said as he cleared his weights away before stepping out, leaving me alone in the training room. In truth, I felt weaker than ever before and I didn't want an audience there when I got exhausted after a few minutes of exercise. That would be embarrassing, as well as make them worry about my capabilities and I didn't need people doubting me right now. I doubted myself enough for everyone.

I started with some stretching, possibly more than usual in an effort to stall the inevitable exhaustion I was going to have to endure. After that I started a slow jog on the treadmill, my legs feeling like jelly beneath me. But once I'd put my music in I focused in, and my body started to feel much stronger. After running a surprisingly quick 5km I hopped off of the treadmill and made my way over to the punching bag. I needed to practise some combat since the mission brief implied there would be lots of it. So I wrapped my hands like I usually did and started some light sparring with the bag. I had a habit of getting too focused when using the punching bag, my knuckles having paid the price for that on more than one occasion, so I made sure to remain present. I couldn't afford to get injured the day before a big mission, especially since my entire career and livelihood relied on it going smoothly.