Gemini (BEING REWRITTEN)

Monster

One-way mirrors are something Alrina Boldyreva would always appreciate. The small observation room she resided in could have been worse, she could be seen by the two people she was being forced to watch.

"There's not many people who can sneak up on me." Loki turns to lock eyes with the redheaded former assassin who's standing just outside the glass with her arms folded.

"But you figured I'd come."

"After." The man paces inside his cell, occasionally looking towards the woman. "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. Then I would cooperate."

"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton." Alrina rolls her eyes at the woman who couldn't see her, knowing beating around the bush was something Natasha always struggled with.

"I would say I have expanded his mind."

"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" This comment rubs Alrina the wrong way, refusing to accept that the love shared between the two was anything more than platonic. Just the small idea of the two being romantically involved made the blonde want to break every arrow that the archer owned.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt."

"Tell me." Alrina rises from her seat, choosing to lean against the one-way mirror, knowing the upcoming topic was something that she would understand and could never sit through.

"Well..." She pulls up a chair, because for some reason while Alrina got put on edge due to the topic, Natasha had to have something under her when it was brought up. "Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, I uh... made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set and I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got onto S.H.I.E.L.D's radar in a bad way and Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call."

No one outside of the room could tell that just a few feet away a blonde was pacing a trench into the floor. The past was always a subject Alrina Boldyreva disliked with a passion, refusing to acknowledge it even existed. Choosing instead to hide her pain from her past with humor and sarcasm, she never voluntarily opened up to anyone about the things she's gone through.

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him."

"Not let you out." The laugh that comes from the man snaps the blonde out of her anxious pacing, a grating sound on her ears.

"Ah, no, but I like this. Your world is in the balance, and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall every day. I tend to not weep over that, I'm Russian... or was." Smiling in sympathy at the redhead, Alrina understood how she felt.

"What is it you want?"

"It's really not that complicated. I have got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter? São Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it is gushing red, and you think saving a man no better than yourself will change anything?" Alrina freezes in her spot, knowing Natasha is no better than her without even looking. The words he chose to spit in order to hurt her childhood friend flipped a sort of switch in the blonde. Alrina Boldyreva has always known that no matter what she did, she will always be a horrible person, learning to live with the red in her own ledger. Someone telling Natasha Romanoff that she would never be more than the girl they made her be was something Alrina refused to accept.

"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers." With every word he spoke, Alrina found herself getting more and more irate, knowing Natasha would just tell her to take a breath.