Marvel One-Shots

7. Red Room - Black Widow

A/N: WARNING - NON-DESCRIPTIVE VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER. (Well, it's the Red Room. There's obviously going to be some violence.)

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NATALIA'S P.O.V.

I have lived in the Red Room for nearly my entire life. I think I was about seven years old when my foster father brought me here. I don't know for sure. They've wiped my mind several times since then.

As the final notes of the classical ballet fade, the other Black Widow operatives and I complete the dance as gracefully and as delicately as the never-ending snowflakes outside. Our dance instructor watches us like a vulture circling its prey. Sinister and calculating. "Приемлемо," she says critically. Acceptable.

Relief floods through me. Anything less than that would have meant a sleepless night of endless, torturous training.

"Возвращайтесь к своим койкам." Return to your bunks.

We file silently back to the dormitory, where we change into threadbare nightdresses and wait patiently for the guards to handcuff each of us to our bunks. As soon as we all are cuffed, the lights are extinguished and the room plunges into darkness.

But we Black Widow ops weren't physically and psychologically enhanced for nothing. Within seconds my eyes have adjusted to the dark.

I wave the fingers of my cuffed hand ever so slightly. Marina, several bunks over, notices and waves back by moving just the tips of her fingers. I often wonder if Marina and I are the only two sane people here. Marina and I are the closest thing to friends as the circumstances will allow. She is my confidant and I am hers; we would've broken long ago if it weren't for each other.

Today I noticed that she seemed particularly affected by the training; her eyes have a haunted look about them tonight that isn't normally there. In reference to our studies on pop culture, I give her a miniature thumbs-up and she nods the tiniest bit.

We notice that Yelena Belova is watching us at the exact same time. Immediately, I fall limp on my bunk, pretending to be asleep. Pretty soon, I actually do fall asleep.

~~

I'm awoken the next morning by the sharp voice of our instructor.

"Вставай, Вдовы. У вас есть необъявленный спарринг экзамен сегодня утром." Get up, Widows. You have an unannounced sparring examination this morning.

The cuffs are unlocked, and each of us hastily changes into our Black Widow uniforms. We trail after our instructor in a single file. She leads us to our training room, where a makeshift boxing ring has been roped off in the center.

This is nothing that hasn't happened before, until Karpov enters. My blood turns to ice in my veins. Karpov is in charge of the Red Room, and the few times that we Widows have met him has resulted in one or more of us 'disappearing.' We all know the truth. The ones that 'disappeared' were really just eliminated because Karpov decided that they weren't good enough to be Black Widows.

His message is simple: "Произвести на меня впечатление." Impress me.

Our instructor steps to the front of the line and eyes us each in turn. "Елена и Марина."

I watch helplessly as tiny Marina marches into the ring while Yelena sashays in after her. Our instructor orders the rest of us to sit in a single line just outside of the ring.