enigma
(n.)
A person or thing which is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand
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"When I first saw him, I wasn't fully sure if he completely emotionless, or so full of them that there was no way to express it. From what he did, I figured he was emotionless. But when I met him, I knew it was the latter. But he was still just as confusing for the longest time."
•••
In a single file line, Natalia leading, they left to the ring in the center of the room where the Winter Soldier waited. She caught herself staring again. There was something about him that was so curious. Natalia could put her finger in it just yet. She wondered why he would be referred to as "Soldier". Did he have a name? And if he did, was it kept hidden for safety?
But to her mortification, the Winter Soldier looked to her and for the longest, strangest time, they were looking into each other's eyes.
And then Natalia could tell. She could tell she was very good at hiding it, Natalia was just better at seeing. The Winter Soldier may have had a mean and intimidating body and demeanor, but his eyes were soft. He had beautiful, soft eyes. Eyes that used to know love, but now only experience pain. All of him was dark. His clothes. His expressions. His hair. But here were the Winter Soldier's eyes. And blue as the winter sky and as clear as crystal and as soft as clouds.
It seemed as though he and Natalia could not break eye contact. She tried to read his expression, which happened to be harder than reading his eyes. But it also seemed as though his guard had been torn down by Natalia's gaze. He couldn't concentrate enough to put his walls back up and look away.
What she could read was similar to her feelings. He was intrigued by her he thought she was attractive. And there was something else that he successfully kept hidden. And now, more than ever, she wanted to know that third emotion he was feeling.
"Girl in front: come onto the pad. Other eight, stand neatly in the edge. I will work with you all in a clockwise Order. You all will remain in this order all days. I will not repeat. I expect all days to be exactly like this," he spoke in an impatient, horse voice. Natalia could help but wonder how he became the Winter Soldier. Was it a a program like this. Was he an orphan? Is that why he had no name?
The questions raced through her head as she climbed into the ring. But then she realized she was about to spar with this man. And she became terrified. She didn't show it of course. He was one of the biggest men she had ever seen. His muscles had the Super Soldier Serum coursing through them. And here she was. A fifteen year old standing at a mere five foot- three inches tall. Sure she had been trained a bit, and received variants of the drugs coursing through him and Captain America's systems, it simply would not be the same.
She could see that she and Soldier's ages were not far apart. He seemed to be in his early twenties—the time of peak physical condition for men.
And what scared her even more was the act that they still hadn't broken eye contact. She wanted too—she needed to. But she couldn't. And judging by his now slightly intimidated and thoroughly confused expression, she knew he was feeling the same. That was the third emotion: he was intimidated by her.
And now Natalia knew her guard had fallen also.
And maybe for a solid minute, they stood in the ring, facing the other, both intrigued and intimidated and confused by the fact they couldn't tear their eyes away.
The enigma now had Natalia's mind trapped. He confused her. But she knew that if he continued to stay in her head like this, she would never succeed, but at this point, see didn't know if it were an option.
"I am going to hit you hard. You are going to improve today. Remember that you can take this. I want you to hit me hard. Remember that I can take it," he said, low. "I will give you pointers as we go. I will not start hard, but as we go farther in, it will increase difficulty. We will stop when it becomes too hard."
Then Natalia delivered the punch first. A quick, hard fist to his gut. She knew it was the wrong move immediately. All he had to do was harden his abdominal muscles. It held no effect.
But he was surprised. Surprised that she, a young girl, was brave enough to deliver the first punch. And that gave Natalia a new piece to the puzzle. The Winter Soldier was not a bred killer. If he was the same breed as Natalia, he would not have hesitated, nor would he have forewarned her.
But the big mystery was why was he here? The eyes are the key to the the soul. Whatever the eyes show will always prove to be genuine. His blue eyes showed a tender soul. And his actions just proved it.
So why was he here? Natalia knew this place was only for the coldest of hearts and the darkest of souls.
But she had to forget about it long enough to finish sparring.
"Watch my eyes and body language. Predict my moves. Then dodge, deflect or prepare for counter measures," told her as he went at her, punching her hard in the jaw with his human arm. She could tell he was holding back. But she was still vastly over powered and outwitted.
Counter measures, he said. She the kicked him in the groin. It didn't hurt him very much, she could tell, but he was simulating a basic fight, so he doubled over in pain, allowing Natalia to kick his head up, causing him to stumble back and grab his chin.
"Good. Good," he said, not being able to hold back a small smile. It seemed as though he couldn't hide his emotions when around Natalia. "Now ready yourself. My turn. Remember: eyes and body language. You are looking for deflection, dodge or immediate counter measures."
Natalia watch his eyes look "nervously" to his feet and then to hers, then began to crouch in an athletic position.
Natalia now he was about to swipe her off her feet. She was prepared to dodge and deliver a counter attack.
And just as she had suspected, he dropped to his arms in incredible speed, and swung his legs at her ankles.
Natalia hopped over them. The Soldier was up almost immediately like she knew he would. She then jumped up and wrapped her legs around his neck and violently twisted him to the ground.
"That was a good thing you did. Dodge and counter hit. Absolutely perfect," he said, standing up. "I like the pin you used. Very effective. But now I want you to work on acting completely oblivious to the fact you know what is coming next. And don't let your opponent know that you know his next move. Don't let your opponent know your next move. Watch your eyes and body language."
And then, he came at her, his body language now impossible to read, but his eyes were fixated on her abdomen. With out body language, there was no way to know what he was going to do. But she knew he was coming for her stomach. A stomach that was the incredibly sore.Protect my center, she told herself. But unfortunately she let the panic show on her face. The Soldier saw this, so he put a spring in his step, letting Natalia know it was going to be a drop kick.
So all she did was stare him in the eye and stood up straight. And when his legs were in the air, coming quickly toward her, she grabbed him by the ankles, twisted, and pulled him to the ground.
And it was like this for about two hours until the Soldier has moved the difficulty far beyond Natalia's current abilities. She could read his next move. His sheild was impeccable. She was not quick enough for a counter attack. She was at her bodies end for now. But she did no back down. Then came the last round. She did not put up much of a fight. He delivered a quick blow to her nose with his left arm, causing her to fall to the blood stained padding, her head spinning and vision blurred.
Hurriedly, and surprisingly gently, he took her upper arm with his human arm and slid his metal left arm behind her back and eased her to her feet.
"You did very good. You have promise." He looked around nervously, almost to see if no one was looking. "What is your name?" he asked.
"Natalia Romanova," she answered.
Then he checked again before speaking to Natalia. "Your name is very beautiful."
Natalia wished the Soldier would have a name she could call him. But all she could do was smile slightly and respond: "Thank you, Soldier."
He smiled ever so slightly. "Go drink some water and wash your face. Then come back to observe," he said gently as he put a foot on of the middle rope of the ring and lifting the top one for her to leave.
"Thank you, Soldier," she told him, stepping out.
She did just that and hurriedly came back to observe as he had told her. And with none of the girls, did he go so hard on. He did not help any of the up after he had defeated them. He did not ask their names. He did not smile or lift the ropes for them. To all of them he was cold and secluded.
What was it about this man. And who was really? He was no bred killer. Natalia was sure of it.
She wanted to know more. And much to her surprise, before she moved on to weapon training with Madame B, he stopped her.
She looked up to see who it was, thinking it would be Yelena who had been whispering in her ear all day. When it was him, she became even more surprised that he would associate when he didn't have to. And he proved her even more wrong when he began to speak.
"I want you to come after lessons. I want to help you with any extra. Combat especially. But if you remember what the Madame said, I am an advanced expert in all area we teach here. I see so much in you, Natalia. If you are smart, you will come and I will know whether or not I should waste my time on you."
Later she would find out, working alone with him was absolutely not smart, but at the time it seemed like a wonderful idea.
And among all the ways he treated Natalia, that would seem like normal behavior to any normal person, this was the one thing he definitely never graced another person with. Natalia was uneasy about the whole thing. She didn't know of anyone noticed his strange behavior towards her. Certainly no one knew about extra lessons. Those types of things were typically not allowed. But she supposed that exceptions were often made.
And with that, she decided that she would see him do these extra lessons.
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