illogical

𝚌𝚑. 02

❗this chapter contains: violence, cursing, suicidal thoughts, drug-induced sleep

_._♧_._

Katerina Koroleva was stupid.

So fucking stupid.

She was trying hard to appear asleep in her chair, but her fingers twitched in anger behind her back. Her wrists were handcuffed together, the chain strung between the backing metal bars of her seat. The metal had been warm when she first woke up, so she obviously had been her a while. Whatever drug they used to keep her unconscious was quite strong.

Katerina had had a surprising lack of dreams while she was out, which was one thing in her favor, at least. She did not want to wake up screaming in a SHIELD facility.

At least, Katerina thought this was a SHIELD facility...it must be SHIELD. The circumstances of last night (at least, she assumed it was last night; maybe longer, she didn't know how long she was out) were all too coincidental for her captors to not be SHIELD. The longer she sat here, the more detail she could recall from the man's file, and she was certain she had seen SHIELD on his affiliations, anyway.

But the woman...Katerina had not gotten a good enough look at her to note any distinctive features in her appearance. She had been too caught off-guard by the Widow Bite on the woman's wrist, which was promptly shoved in front of Katerina's face as she was tased.

Katerina was so stupid. Stupidstupidstupid. How had she let herself get distracted by the tasers? She had seen a Widow before, even gone on a few missions with them before–they were nothing new. She just wasn't expecting it..still, she definitely had time to react between the time Katerina had turned and when the woman had tased her. She was distracted, and then the realization of her mistake just made her freeze.

Fucking weak. That's what she is. She catches one thing out of the ordinary, and suddenly all her training just goes down the drain. 

She is a failure.

An illogical, fucking failure.

Katerina just had to hope she would get rescued; a handler sent to retrieve her, maybe. Or an infiltration squad sent to break her out. She wanted to go back home. She wanted to go back to training, and her routine and her missions. 

No doubt, the first thing Katerina would do when she got back was train. If, of course, she wasn't punished. She might spend a few days locked in her room—that had happened before. Or maybe she would just get assigned sparring all day. Either way, she was awaiting her punishment with open arms. The pain felt good to Katerina. It helped her to reset. To block everything else out and focus on her training and her missions.

Katerina was snapped out of her thoughts by the door clicking shut. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, pretending to be knocked out, still. 

She listened to the footsteps. Heavy, clacking, and distinctly male. Based on the reverberations, the room was maybe about 10x10. Metal walls, but concrete flooring based on the sound of the steps. She guessed it was a standard interrogation layout: two chairs and a table. All bolted to the ground, probably.

"I know you're awake." He had a tenor voice and a strong American accent. 

Katerina's eyes stayed closed for another beat, but she finally opened them, quickly adjusting to the dim light. However, instead of looking at the man, who was standing a few feet off to the side with his arms crossed casually, she kept her gaze fixed on the table. It was wood, unlike the chairs. Her eyes were set on a specific groove carved into the edge.