He leans into me, pressing me into the padded wall of the training room, and leans down to whisper into my ear. "I don't know what you're hiding, Winters, but finding skeletons is the reason I'm on this team, darling." He presses a kiss full of dark...
I hear Madame Annika's voice trying to reprogram Yasha as I blink the chemicals' effect out of my eyes. "don't bother with the words. He'll comply. He always does."
"I was wondering when you'd wake up." Madame Annika flicks her hand and one of the handlers comes over and undos the straps holding me down on the table and I fall forward, teeth chattering. The handler catches me before I fall face first and stands me up straight. "Did you miss me, Annika? It's been eight years, right?"
Annika raises an eyebrow at me. "Annika? That's new." I shrug at her. "I really shouldn't be surprised that you figured out how long you were in stasis for. And yet, I still am."
"You only try to reprogram the Winter Soldier after five years of stasis. So, right off the bat, we had to have been asleep for that long. Plus, Annika, you're losing your touch. The stasis control panel has a running clock of how long you keep us asleep. You forgot to flip it or turn it off." I step off of the podium that the chambers are on and walk towards the control panels and pick up a throwing knife that was left on the table. I flip it up and down for a minute or two before throwing it at the Hydra handler that helped me out of the cryochamber, and it buries itself into his heart, exactly where I wanted it.
"Where is all this boldness coming from, Katya? You are still a Widow of this academy. It would serve you well to remember that."
"All this boldness comes from the fact that if you could really afford to kill the three of us, we'd be dead. The reason you threw us in these chambers is because you need us alive and well. It's not like you run the academy anyway. We all know you work for Dreykov, not the other way around."
"And here I was hoping you'd never figure that out."
I chuckle darkly. "We're your students, Annika. You really think you could have kept us in the dark?"
"I think I did pretty well for a while there."
"But then you showed us your hand by freezing us instead of killing us. That's where you fucked up, Annika. Dreykov is the one with the soft spot for us, not you. After all, Natalia is the reason your mission in Ohio worked out and I'm the reason Natalia works so well." Annika opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "Now, we'll still work for you and do as you ask, but keep in mind, we know now. We know exactly how much you need us now. I'm willing to cover your ass because the longer you stay alive, the easier our lives are."
With that, I walk towards the control panel and open Natalia's chamber, releasing her from the cryo freeze chamber. "I'm assuming you can release yourself, Soldat?" Yasha nods and snaps himself out of the restraints and Talia wakes up groggily. "Talia, wake up. Time to go to our quarters."
