Insane in my Russian Brain - P. Parker

Chapter Sixteen

Kat groaned as she opened her eyes to bright, flashing lights. She sat up, listening in to the conversation next to her. "Natasha, I can't save us. I need you to know that I'm sorry. I pledged my life to a cause-"

"Shut up, Alexei, you're giving me a migraine." Kat stood, messing around with the walls of a cell. "There's gotta be someplace out of here right?"

"Oh, Kat, you're here too." The doors to the basement, assuming that's where their cells were, opened. A few guards walked in, stationing outside of Kat's door.

Within an instant, the glass separated and they rushed inside, grabbing her by each arm. "What are you doing? Get off of me!" Kat tried to kick back but to no use. She had been weakened by the transportation to Russia and had little to no strength left.

"This is not going to plan..." Natasha mumbled. Wait... no, that couldn't be Natasha. She wouldn't say that.

It was Melina. Her and Kat's eyes locked, and for a moment, they understood each other. They understood that both of them had gone through something, something that couldn't be compared, and found understanding in that.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your mother, Kat." That was all Melina could say while Kat was being dragged away. Kat couldn't believe her ears. Did Melina know her mother? If so, how?

She didn't have a chance to ask all of her questions before she was dragged out of the room.

⧗ ⧗ ⧗

"Where is my daughter?" Natasha stood in front of Dreykov, grinding her teeth together. Melina and her had come up with a plan, one that consisted of them killing Dreykov. Now all she had to do was a stall.

"She is no longer in the program."

"You don't feel anything? You feel anything when I killed your daughter?"

"Is this your haunted past?" Dreykov looked at Natasha, who shifted away with sorrow. It was supposed to be fake, all of this was supposed to be an act to get in his head, but she couldn't help but think about how much it hurt. To finally know the truth about what had happened to her sweet Ekaterina.

"Thank you, Natasha." Dreykov rose from his seat, turning his head to walk over to Taskmaster. "For giving me my greatest weapon. Say hello."

Taskmaster pressed a few buttons on its arm. Its mask came sliding down its face, revealing a young woman's face. The face of Dreykov's daughter. "When your bomb exploded, it nearly killed my Antonia." The two walked closer to each other, Antonia slightly tilting her head to the side. "I had to put a chip in the back of her neck. In the back of her neck. Look at her. You find it difficult to look at her? I do."

"Can she hear me?" Natasha didn't know why she asked. Maybe it was because she wanted to tell her she didn't have a choice, or to say to run from her father, she didn't know.

"What?" Dreykov breathed in Natasha's ear. "You want to make her feel better? You want to tell her you're sorry? Well, you should have thought of that before you blew her face off. But enough of all this bullshit." He motioned to Antonia, who put her mask back on. "Go to work. I have rags in the basement. Go."

Antonia left the room, the metal clang of her footsteps loud against the tile flooring. Natasha pulled out her gun quickly, pointing it at Dreykov. "Well, that was a mistake."

Dreykov barely flinched at the sound, looking up at her. "Was it?"

"You just sent away the one thing that would stop me from killing you."

Dreykov nodded. "Try then. Do it." Natasha grunted, trying her hardest to pull down the trigger. "Is the safety on?" He pulled the gun out of her grasp, shooting it at the ceiling. "No. Try your knife."

Again, Natasha managed to fail. She grabbed her knife from her holster, holding it over Dreykov. She just couldn't get close enough to lodge it in.

Dreykov grabbed Natasha's wrist, taking the knife from her hand and throwing it on the ground. "You're in trouble."

"How are you controlling me?"

"I'm not controlling you, Natasha. Well, not yet. But there is a pheromonal lock. Smelling my pheromones prevents you from committing violence against me." He held his hand out, going for a slap on Natasha's face, who flinched back. "That's the same logic I'm using on your daughter to stop her from winning against my soldiers right now."

Right now? "What?" The door behind Natasha burst open, causing the two adults to turn around. An angry Kat burst into the room, being held back by a dozen soldiers. She screamed out in Russian, trying to kick at the soldiers, but finding her body incapable to. "Kat!"

Natasha rushed forward, going to grab the terrified teenager out of their grasp, but she stopped when Dreykov spoke. "Don't touch her." He was holding a gun outwards, pointed towards Kat. "Back away, Natasha."

Slowly she did, holding her hands away from her weapons. She knew there was nothing she could do; she wouldn't be able to take another step without someone getting injured.

Dreykov dropped the gun, holding his hands behind his back. "You see Natasha, your Ekaterina never truly left our program. We always had an eye on her, even when she tried her hardest to hide away."

"What? I don't understand." The soldiers dropped their grasp on Kat's arms, exiting the room.

"Let's take a look at her file." Dreykov held a file in front of the two girls, who had walked to be closer to each other if there was a need to fight. "Ekaterina. Born December of 2001. Roommate to Arana Multan in 2010." He turned to face Kat. "Any of this sound familiar?"

Kat flinched at the mention of Arana. "What is this shit? Huh, what are you getting out of this?"

Dreykov smiled a sick smile at her. "Natasha, I'm afraid you may have never gotten the chance to meet your daughter had it not been for the Red Room. If we didn't want her to escape, we wouldn't have let her. Right, Ekaterina?"

Kat swallowed. "Don't call me that."

Dreykov stepped forward, backhanding Kat. "Nicknames don't work in the real world, widow."

Natasha looked at Kat, holding her breath. It wasn't possible... it couldn't be...

Kat was Ekaterina.