Chapter 1
Stephen had been staying with Hydra under certain working circumstances for the past seven months now and generally knew about who all was on his team and where to find them on their evening off. The team had gone on a few missions throughout the last week or so and they hadn’t gone as smoothly as planned. Nothing horrible happened but things could’ve, and should've been... “cleaner” so to say. Due to this, there was more paperwork for the captain to deal with than per usual and instead of going through the hassle of hiring a trainer for any of the team members, he would rather give them the night off.
Stephen was one of the two youngest members, him and Tony both being 19 at the time. The other members are all over 21, as a matter of fact two members alongside the captain are just over 100, if you count the spirit, three members. A night off was unheard of, even a half day off was hard to get. Come to think of it, in all his seven months, Stephen couldn’t remember a single day, nor night, he had gotten off. To be completely truthful with himself, he wasn’t quite sure what he would spend the night doing.
It was only around four o’clock when the team had arrived back to the base and went to their separate rooms of choice, so Stephen decided to hold off on eating, unlike Tony who went to the kitchen to grab arms full of snacks to drag back to his own room, or quite possibly the air vents. Most of the training rooms were closer to the entrance than Stephen’s room due to how much later he had joined Hydra. Once Nat had reached her resort of choice, it was just him and the cool dark silver-y halls. He quickly reached his room, opening the door hearing it ever so slightly creak, reminding himself to ask Rocket if he could fix it in his spare time.
He wasn’t used to this feeling of being allowed his own choices, even after his years living on the streets he had to learn the rules of the new life he was in. It’s what caused him to be so good of a trainee at Hydra, he had only ever been taught that he must follow orders otherwise severe consequences would commence. He decided he’d begin to read his training books and every half hour take a break to read a bit of his fiction novels. He’d allow his cat to be on his bed at this time as he suspected no one would bother him. He claimed to not be an animal person, yet kept the cat hidden in his room, the bowls for feeding her hidden behind a beanbag in his room.
A few hours pass as he continues his reading routine before he gradually becomes bored. At this point it must’ve been nearly seven o’clock, yet Stephen didn’t bother checking his phone nor the clock on his bedside stand. Instead, the 5’10” young man had decided to just pack a book bag full of his studying books, along with a single one of his fiction novels and pull the sash-like strap over his head to rest on the opposing shoulder of where the bag would lay at about thigh length. Once he had fixed his hair, he was ready to leave his room and head back down those cold quiet halls, the only sounds being his footsteps alongside the sound of his teammate’s running pace, as Bucky seemed to never stop running laps in the gym, which was located near Stephen’s room. For a bit the noise can be annoying or slightly irritating, but after a bit it simply becomes white noise in the background as most of the world gets toned out around him when he was previously reading. After walking down the halls for what felt like forever in the silent halls, yet was only a few minutes, he reached the door he set out to reach. The main training room, also commonly known as the shooting range.