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...
NOTHING HAPPENED FOR the next few days. Venus wasn't brought to the interrogation room, no-one bothered her in the holding cell, but sometimes she would see shadows flitting along the hallway outside. No-one said anything, so it was either the guards moving around, or Natasha was waiting outside the door, without wanting to come in and face her. In all honesty, it wasn't the silence or the lack of contact that bothered her, more that she hadn't overheard anything else since Clint and Natasha's conversations a few days prior.
Whatever Natasha had done seemed to have change the way that things were going to go, and it appeared that Fury had concocted a new plan for her since her unexpected answer. Instead of dwelling too much on that, she'd spent her time tracing the cracks in the walls with gloveless fingers, humming softly to drown out the ghosts that were insistently continuing to haunt her and speculating wildly about what might happen now. It was incredibly likely that she would be locked up for the rest of her life, rotting in a cell not to dissimilar to this one, especially if they could compile a list of all her crimes. Even all the ones they could prove would be enough. The implication of the ones they couldn't would only add to that.
Reaching the end of her tune, Venus paused for a moment, her fingertips leaving the cement as she wondered what to hum next. It didn't take her long, just a glance of memories from years ago, before she made up her mind.
Someone had been pacing outside her room for the last half an hour, she'd been able to hear their footsteps, and a glance at the door every now and then told her of the repetitive motion. They stopped now, and Venus had no doubt in that moment that it was Natasha, because only she could've known the melody that now writhed in the stale air of the small room. They had found an old record player in one of the storage cupboards at the Red Room, and every time they wanted to make sure they couldn't be overheard, they'd slip out into the room that it was in and let the melancholy tune assure the pair of them. Sometimes they'd danced to it, sometimes they'd talked, and other times, they'd just sat in a peaceful silence, letting the music wash over them in waves.
The tide of almost crippling familiarity that ran through Venus' blood was almost enough to stop her, to inspire another sudden spell of silence like those that had occurred over the past few days. But then she heard another person join in. It was almost inaudible, so much that it hurt Venus' ears to try and catch the melody, but it was most definitely there. Venus retracted her hand tracing the wall and let it join the other one behind her head as she closed her eyes as she enjoyed that pure, blissful music that stirred the air in the room, noticing the other person increase their volume. For the first time in years, she allowed the smallest, genuine smile to creep onto her face, relishing in the thoughts of days gone by, for once, part of her mind not bothered by beating back the past.
"Well, I hate to interrupt this little sing-along session, but I've made a decision." In a second, it was gone. Memories shattered like glass by the force of reality, so strongly that the sudden transition almost hurt Venus' mind. The smile went with that blissful moment, that one moment of coherent safety ripped apart by the Director of SHIELD. He was speaking loudly, just outside the door, making sure that Venus could hear him. She opened her eyes for a moment, allowing her features to slide back into their natural mask of blankness, acknowledging to anyone who might be watching that she had heard him, before she closed her eyes again, not bothering to change her position as she simply waited. Both Natasha and Venus had stopped their tune together, instantly, as soon as they became aware of Fury's presence, the two of them shutting off any branch of emotion that might've briefly began to show. While Natasha turned her attention immediately to her boss, Venus watched the branch fall, and land on the ground with a heavy thud, splintering in several places. It reminded her of a broken bone. So oddly fragile yet unordinarily sturdy, supporting whatever they carried, but yet also one of the parts most at risk.
"And that is that, whether she likes it or not," Fury's tone became stronger, underlaid with warning as his voice became clearer, no doubt looking towards the door, "Venus Vadyaeva is now under the jurisdiction of SHIELD until further notice."
"That means SHIELD training, SHIELD missions if we get that far, and SHIELD living quarters." He sounded much more reluctant than he probably meant, but it was a mutual feeling. At the moment, this was no different to the KGB or the Red Room. It wasn't something she'd chosen to do, it was simply thrust upon her with expectations that she'd learned to live up to as quickly as possible if she didn't want to seem disposable. Venus was perfectly clear on the idea that if Natasha wasn't here, she'd be going straight to one of SHIELD's high security prisons, or maybe they'd kill her. There was a few seconds of pure, undisturbed silence, in which Venus could imagine Natasha giving Fury a look, before she let out a sigh and sat up, knowing that the last statement in Fury's list meant that she was now going to be staying somewhere else.
The door swung open and Fury walked in, waving away one of the guards who stood by the door, though he seemed insistent on keeping the other. He didn't trust her. Then again, she'd given him no reason to. Venus' reasons for declining were beginning to pale in comparison to what she thought they'd been at first, so she stood up and walked out of the room, still wordless, feeling Natasha's eyes set firmly on her the whole way as she moved past, though she never met her gaze, determined to at least to make it to wherever they were taking her before she sunk far too deep into her past.
Instead, she was wading into the waters of a future that would change her in ways that she couldn't even begin to imagine. But from that moment onwards, Venus Vadyaeva was an Agent of SHIELD.
{A/N:} I wasn't actually planning this now, but that's actually quite a nice ending point for the first part, so yeah, next chapter will probably be part 2. Idm this chapter. It's not the best, but not the worst. Quite proud that I got it all written in just over an hour, might just be a record.
But yeah, please vote, comment, let me know what you think, etc.,
Thanks for reading,
1200 Words
Written: 08 / 02 / 2021
Published: 08 / 02 / 2021
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