Rogue Shadow

Chapter 22 - Nightmare

Chapter 22 – Nightmare

05:15 Monday, 23rd October 2017

Wilson had instructed Nat to meet him in the training room for their first full combat session. Nat set her alarm for 05:15 and begrudgingly rolled out of bed, reaching for her phone to turn off the insistent blaring. She dressed in sport shorts and a T-shirt, spend only a minute in the bathroom washing up before she wandered down the hall and descended the stairs, apprehension and nerves twinging away at her inside.

She didn't really know what to expect. Wilson called her over, handed her the same yantok set as yesterday and led her into the middle of the room. He started the Heaven-6 exercise for as long as Nat could last before missing a stroke. Kali Sinawali Langit Anim, Nat said the traditional name in her head a few times, not wanting to forget it. The man would occasionally tell her to fix something or go faster or slower, and Nat did her best to keep up.

Nat estimated about ten minutes before she missed the change in pace. The baston in Wilson's hand almost hit her face, and she flinched back away from the weapon instinctively. He didn't move his arm but held it steady; even if Nat hadn't moved, the eskrima stick wouldn't have struck her. It landed close to where her face had been, but the Shadow had stopped before he struck her.

"Stretch out your arms and we'll go again," he instructed. Nat watched silently as Wilson used his sticks to help stretch the muscles in his arms and replicated them without question. Anyone who knows anything about sport knew if you didn't stretch, you would be indefinitely sore later on.

In their second round, Nat let her consciousness float to the back of her mind, her muscles having committed the movements to memory. She was aware of her arms moving and keeping pace with Wilson but wasn't in direct control of her actions. This man was the shadow. The mysterious guardian who had watched over her and saved her from Hydra. In those early hours of the mornings that Nat had spent stargazing on rooftops, whenever she had seen him, she always felt safe. There was just something about his presence that always assured her that everything would be just fine. But it was different seeing him up close. He wasn't a mystery anymore, but an actual person. Real people were so much harder to trust. At least as a shadow he couldn't hurt her. People would always let you down.

Nat could feel her strikes getting harder but that only pushed her to keep going. What if it happened again? What if she got hurt? What if he was the one to do it? Nat had seen him fight and it had frightened her. He was strong enough to kill her with one hand behind his back. Nat wasn't going to let herself be a victim of fate anymore. She was done playing their game. Hydra had taken everything from her; her childhood, her dreams; they made everyone the same – broken and hopeless. She was a lost cause, there were no heroes in this story; it was her against the world. She would make it on her own. She had to.

Natasha continued to increase the pace and strength behind each attack, she was losing control. Slade easily matched her strokes, his mind flooding with concern for the child. She wasn't paying attention; she was angry. She wanted to hurt somebody. Bad.

"Oi! Focus," he instructed, but she didn't listen. "Tash, enough of this."

Nat didn't want to listen. She wanted the nightmare to end. Ro had died but all she could hear was her voice screaming in her head. Everything was coming out. The running, the pain, the fear; it was all being unleashed. And Nat couldn't fight it, she didn't want to fight anymore. It was too much... too much. Everyone she had lost; everyone she had failed. At night she heard their screams, and when she closed her eyes, she could see them. Dying or in pain, they had done this to her. It was their fault. Why couldn't the nightmare ever end? It didn't matter how far she ran, they always caught up, they always found her. Had she fallen asleep? Was this all a dream?