VENUS VADYAEVA. RED Room trained assassin, graduate of the Black Widow program. She'd nearly always been at the top of the class. Cold; smart; ruthless. The qualities that they were looking for. It'd taken a little while, but eventually, she'd gotte...
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∆ {1⁷} {NATURAL} ∆
IT'D BEEN A month since Venus had let SHIELD bring her in. It was a fairly normal routine of waking up in the grey holding cell, doing some made-up exercises to keep her body in some short of shape, before being taken to the interrogation room. She did the same thing every time; simply sit in silence, trying to keep her eyes fixed on the interrogator instead of the mirror directly behind them. They didn't seem to have figured out how the guards had died, because instead of just sending in new people each time as they had for the first week, they now just pointed a gun at her and told her to stand up and walk. Not that she wouldn't if they just asked her to. It was almost amusing, and she had a feeling that they'd started to send less experienced people in just to scare them. She was very good at unnerving people.
Today, it seemed, would be different. She'd woken up even earlier than normal due to nightmares consisting solely of memories, and had decided to continue as she usually did; she tied her hair up with a short ribbon, carefully weaving an intricate braid before she continued, ignoring the fact that her hair still fell down to her lower back. Most of what she did before she was taken to the interrogation room was simply practise. She'd take a small pebble, or whatever she could find, and she'd pick a certain spot, whether it be at the camera that was (not very skilfully) hidden, or at a crack in the bricks, or simply at the door handle. She didn't want to lose her precision, because it would be hard to gain back the same level. That was followed by simple things, such as push-ups or sometimes pull-ups, if she could find a good enough handhold in the wall.
Now, she would just lie down on the small bed and wait. It was times like this that memories tried to flood back in, when her mind wasn't occupied by anything else, free to sabotage itself. Thoughts of cold nights and hard beds were hard to escape, and that slightly damp smell that had always hung around the dormitories was here too. It sat heavy in the air, as if determined to suffocate her in a wave of horrors from her past. If someone knew her well enough, which no-one did, they'd be able to tell that she was drenched in the terrors of things she'd gone through.
Venus waited for 46 minutes and 51 seconds. Her internal clock had always been incredibly accurate, which could be very useful on the rare occasion that she had to pretend to be unconscious and needed to remember the layout of a building. Then, a knock sounded on her door and she stood up, dusting off the plain t-shirt and leggings she wore, watching the white-ish powder flurry to the floor. At least they still knocked. Despite having done nothing to escape, everything was exactly the same; if anything, more security had been added in the form of new guards down the halls. They were still putting handcuffs on her, not that she minded, somehow avoiding making contact with her skin, and that hadn't helped the nightmares. The idea of it in itself was quite reassuring; after all, she'd grown up handcuffed to her bed, but that didn't mean it didn't make a chill course through her bones.
As normal, she sat down in the same metal chair, and adopted her usual, slightly slouched position, sitting almost diagonally with her arms and legs crossed comfortably. Venus sat, waiting once again, eyes fully focused on the camera until the door opened. Today it wasn't Clint Barton, or some random SHIELD Agent. Today it was none other than Natasha Romanoff, finally back from wherever she'd been. She walked in with that confident walk that they'd been taught and a blank face far too similar to her own for the redhead's liking. Venus followed Natasha with her eyes with the same emotion as she did with everyone else; nothing. The redhead sat down, and for a while, the two simply regarded each other, trying to evaluate their body language. Undoubtedly an easier job for Venus; she remembered things from the past, while Natasha had to simply go off what she knew in general.
"What's your name?" It was a question that she'd been asked countless times over the past month, and just because someone else who she knew was asking them, didn't mean she was going to give a different answer. So she gave the same answer. Natasha didn't seemed bothered by her silence, instead pressing on.
"How did you kill those men?" The questions continued, Natasha being as non-responsive as Venus was.
"Who do you work for?"
"Where were you trained?" Venus wanted to reply, to say 'with you', but until the redhead remembered, she would wait. She'd been complimented on her patience more than once. Besides, she had all the time she could possibly want. While she waited, she was only wasting SHIELD's time. The flow continued, until Natasha paused, and met Venus' golden eyes, leaning back in her chair as she considered what to say. The redhead's eyes flicked to Venus' folded arms, and a moment later, demanded something for almost the first time since Venus had arrived.
"Show me your hands." Venus examined Natasha for a moment, the silence becoming deeper and thicker between the two of them as she decided whether or not to comply. She simply stared for a few moments longer, before she uncrossed her arms and held out her hands, face up. At least she knew that Natasha had made a connection.
"Roll up your sleeves." Venus paused again, if anything, more for dramatic effect, her eyes never leaving Natasha's face, before again, she did what she was asked.
Natasha's eyes fixed on the band of irritated scars around both of her wrists, underneath the handcuffs that she'd left on. She could get out of them easily, but if she wanted to stay here, she couldn't. The redhead took a long, deep breath and nodded slightly, leaving the room quickly.
Venus stared at the doorway, and brought her hands back towards her body. She still hadn't spoken a word, but the scars probably told Natasha all she needed to know; all she needed to remember.
{A/N:} Wow I'm on a roll today. I'm writing them quickly but I'm not too sure about these chapters, please let me know what you think and how I can improve. Please vote, comment, etc. Thanks for reading,
1150 Words
Written: 07 / 01 / 2021
Published: 11 / 01 / 2021
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