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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∆ {1⁹} {CONTROL} ∆
CLINT HADN'T SPOKEN a word to Venus as he escorted her back to get holding cell. All he had done was give her glares and maintain an unusually firm grip on her arm, as though it was some kind of warning. She was trying to seem as unbothered as she could by what had happened in the interrogation room, but she knew that it would probably change how she was treated here and what outcome her stay would have, now that one of the director's favourite agents remembered Venus from her past. Both Fury and the agent standing next to Venus, Clint Barton, seemed to have some kind of bond or platonic relationship with the redheaded assassin, because they'd both seemed annoyed and worried at the amount of emotion and reaction that Venus had managed to get out of Natasha with just a single word.
"Who are you?" The man's question had surprised her slightly; he hadn't spoken a word to her outside of the interrogation room, and she, of course hadn't spoken to him the whole time. Venus didn't let the small amount of shock show, content with keeping her impassive face and replying, enjoying Clint's not-so-hidden surprise when she actually answered.
"Why don't you ask Natasha?" She spoke in the perfect English that she'd spoken to him before in, when they'd met in Vienna and this whole fiasco had kicked off, no hint of the Russian that she'd spoken to Natasha in showing through the accent. Clint actually stopped moving out of sheer surprise, accidentally yanking Venus backwards while she was mid-step because of his secure grip on her upper arm. He then seemed to realise what she'd said and spun her around slightly so that they were facing each other.
"How do you know her name?" his voice was low and firm, and if Venus wasn't good with body language, she might've mistaken it for a threat, and he might've intended it to be, but he only came of as worried for his friend.
"Ask her yourself," Venus repeated just as firmly, staring him straight in the eyes, with no intent of changing the way she was acting anytime soon. She didn't want to tell him more he needed to know, and she still wasn't sure how much Natasha had remembered. Clearly, she had remembered enough to whisper the word they had used to reassure one another when their nights were tough, when they couldn't sleep because of the onslaught of nightmares that would leave them drenched in fear and sweat, that they'd have to wash off of themselves in fear of getting caught. Of course, a few times, they had gotten caught, and they were punished. Not only for being afraid, for daring to show human emotion, but for being remotely close to each other. You weren't supposed to bond with anyone, on the basis that it taught you to be dependant, and stopped you from fighting to the best of your ability, especially if you had to fight or go against the person you had grown close to. Yet, somehow, they'd managed to continue comforting each other, warding away the terrors their minds reminded them of. Then, Natasha had left, and things had gone wrong again, as they always seemed to.
Clint had let out a sigh while Venus considered her and Natasha's past, and after realising that she wasn't going to tell him anything else, he started moving again without indication, though Venus didn't stumble or lag in her reaction, immediately starting to walk along side him once again. He didn't say anything else, though he glanced at her every few moments, as if to check if she felt a sudden urge to explain everything to him. Venus doubted she'd ever feel that; she'd never done that before, even to Natasha when she wanted to. The risk of being overheard was too high, and she certainly wasn't going to do the same thing to a SHIELD agent she barely knew, in a place where there were likely to be hidden cameras and microphones everywhere.
She'd grown up being used to everything being monitored, and being handcuffed to her bed for security. They'd barely gotten any privacy, and had had no opportunity to allow self-doubt to flourish, and Venus wasn't going to start now. The security was better here, but in the Red Room, their security had been the fear the girls held for the adults that ran the place. Venus hadn't harboured that same fear to start with, and for a few years, she'd pushed her look and rebelled against the adults' power, however small the act was. Sometimes it would be as simple as unlocking her handcuffs and simply sitting awake in bed all night, or she would refuse to co-operate with orders, especially when it came to the fights. Of course, there came a point where the Red Room had had enough of her 'delinquency', and that was when her conditioning had begun. The process had taken a week at most, and then she'd been put back in with the other girls. They had all noticed the change in her attitude, Venus was sure of that, but they'd been trained, just as she had, to ignore it when situations like her arose. No-one dared to ask, in fear of themselves being in the same situation.
Not much had bothered Venus after that. She fought, she trained, she killed, just as she was meant to. The only thing that had affected her, were the nightmares, the dreams of the room, of the cracked mirror, and of a woman's soft English words, tainted with Russian as if they were some kind of poison. The gentleness of her voice had simply been because the woman didn't like to raise her voice, so she spoke in a tone barely above a whisper, that you had to strain your ears to hear. Of course, if you ever asked her to repeat herself because you hadn't heard her, you'd end up worse for wear.
That was the point that Natasha had intervened, after seeing Venus lie awake in bed every night, too afraid to shut her eyes with fear that she would see something in the calm of her mind that she had to deal with most days in her reality. Their bond had been experimental, at most, though it was stronger than either girl had had before, and they would whisper a series of one word sentences to each other to let them know how they were doing. That way, it was easier not to be heard. However much either of them had tried to prevent it, they started to need one another, to become dependant on the warmth and comfort the other offered. That had all gone away when Natasha left, and Venus had to figure out how to deal with her emotions all over again, but on her own.
She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, that when the door of the holding cell closed behind her, and she lay down on the provided bed, she could've sworn she heard the clanking of the handcuff chains against the bedrail.
{A/N:} So, normal update today. This one was kinda just slapped together so I hope its okay. I don't particularly like or dislike this one, I'm kinda in the middle. Please vote, comment, etc. Let me know what you think.
1275 Words
Written: 18 / 01 / 2021
Published: 18 / 01 / 2021
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