Fly, little ballerina

2. Prologue

Sunday 31 July 1983 - 2 years and 9 months later: Moscow, Russia

A young brunette trailed behind a particularly scary Ivan Petrovitch - her handler. Mila made sure to keep her face blank as she walked, in no mood to receive another beating for showing too much emotion. Her handlers made sure to keep her oblivious to the outside world, for a prisoner will never know they're in hell unless they experience heaven. Yet all that effort would be wasted today as Mila was being sent on her first long-term mission, unbeknownst to her.

Mila recognised the path to the General's office. She had been sent there mere days before to show him her school work. She wondered why they were going there; she had already shown him this week's work. He had given her a reward for doing brilliantly.

So, she was even more surprised when she saw two young girls, a couple years older than her, standing with their handlers as well as a woman wearing a lab coat and a man with strangely hair cut. When the doors opened, presenting her and her handler, they all turned to look.

"Ah, my favourite girl," started Dreykov in his heavy russian accent "I have a surprise for you. This is Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, two of our top agents," he exclaimed pointing to each girl respectively.

"Меня зовут Милена Востокофф." the research woman stated, before gesturing to the ugly man "и это Алексей Шостаков."

[My name is Melina vostokoff...and this is Alexei Shostakov.]

Dreykov looked irritated, as though Melina required permission to speak. With his fat finger, he gestured for Mila to walk over to him, who did so without hesitation. Again, she didn't want another punishment. Taking a few steps backwards to sit in his chair, Dreykov started "This is your first assignment little widow. You are to help my agents extract all the information they need and you are not to get in the way" His russian accent was prominent, causing him to spittle as he spoke, his stinky breath right up her nose. "You will be leaving with them in an hour."

Mila was terrified. This was the only home she had known so far, and although her handlers were rough -and tended to forgo washing their hands-, she would miss the security and consistency of her routine. As she looked over to Natasha and Yelena, it seems they were thinking the same thing.

She wanted to ask where they were going but decided not to: they would probably reveal that information later.

23 August 1984 - 1 year later: Ohio, United States of America

Natasha, Yelena and Mila were playing in the playground as the sun shone above them, blessing them with a gentle tan. Over the past year, the girls had grown quite close. Natasha and Yelena seemed to naturally fit the overprotective sister roles and as such taught little Mila everything they knew. Whether that be hand-to-hand combat or evasion techniques, she excelled at them all.

Their parents, Melina and Alexei, seemed to encourage them, telling them "this will be excellent for your future education." Although, Mila was much too young to understand what this meant, opting to focus on christmas, birthday and halloween gifts throughout the year. Whereas Natasha and Yelena did understand them, knowing that when their return would come, which was inevitable, they would undergo more intensive training and perhaps even their graduation ceremonies in order to make sure they knew where their loyalties lay.

Mila and Yelena chased each other up and down the slide as Melina slowly approached them, taking a moment to observe them doing what kids should do. This was her third cycle in the red room and she hoped it would be her last. The correctional facility was not a kind place.