RED ASSASSINS ▹ NATASHA ROMANOFF [EDITING]

[2]

--3.55 pm--

My heart beat rapidly increased as it neared 4 pm. It was nearing to the sparring match. Vanessa looked at me in the eye. I could tell that she wanted to beat me, just by looking at that death stare. In return, I shot her an even menacing one and hissed under my tongue.

All the girls filed into the yard outside. They sat down on the hard gravel floor and looked at me and Vanessa. I jumped into the arena, and poised myself into a battling stance. She too got ready to beat the crap out of me.

My heart was filled with a smorgasbord of feelings, like a melting pot. There was anger, determination and a tint of fear.

I looked at Ivan Petrovitch. Ivan was the head of the Black Widow Ops Program. He was the one who 'saved' me, and put me into this program. I was thoroughly 'thankful' for what he did. It may seem torturing at first, but it was efficient.

Ivan gave me a hand signal, and the fight had begun. Raising my fists, I punched her in the ribs, then using my long legs to knock her off balance. She quickly regained balance, for she was one of the most talented assassins here in the Red Room.

In return, she sent me flying out of the battle arena. I landed on the ground. Hard. Pain, raw and intense, shot through my spine like a bullet. I stood up, slowly but surely, and returned back into the ring.

Grabbing her neck, I wrapped them in my arms. I attempted to strangle her, and it was clearly working for she was thrashing wildly. Her face had started to turn a shade of purple. I wondered if I should do the killer move. She was my friend, my best friend, and I couldn't bear to see her die in my own hands.

After all, we girls were trained to become killing machines since the age of five. I couldn't let Ivan down at this moment. Not when he seemed like a father to me. My natural parents had perished in flames when I was five.

I looked at Ivan yet again.

"Now," he said, while nodding his head. I had to do it. I had to.

In one swift move, I wrapped my arms more tightly around her neck and twisted it with all my might. A blood-curdling scream was the last I heard of Vanessa before she was sent to the morgue. I couldn't believe myself.

I had just killed someone. She died at the hands of her best friend. I tried to be optimistic. No regrets, I thought to myself.

I was trained to become Soviet's deadliest spy and assassin. Ivan would surely be proud of me.

Deep inside my mind, I felt pity and guilt creep up my throat. It seemed to be strangling me with all its might like an anaconda. I choked in between sobs while Vanessa was being hauled away by two solemn looking ladies. I crouched down and kneeled in a corner of the room. I buried my tear-stained face in my knees.

How could I do this.