Almost Dusk {A Black Widow Story}

CHAPTER NINE

(Natasha's Perspective)

I had to hand it to her, Eva had skill.

I watched as she and Clint battled around the room using their fists.

Hand to hand combat was always something to brush up on when on a break. You never want to let your guard down and rely on muscle memory all the time.

You've got to get creative. No two minds work the same way. Just like no two partners fight the same way.

Granted, Eva and I shared a similar style, Eva still had a method that was entirely her own.

The kid was resourceful.

She took whatever she could lay her hands on and used it as a weapon. She also did well with misdirection, always anticipating a move.

But the thing that made her most lethal was the way she moved. She used her ballet technique and training to flitter about in a manner of speaking around the room. It's as if she's constantly in a dance when she fights.

It was quite beautiful to watch, but her work with weapons was all Red Room. It was urgent, and used brute force.

The sleek elegance that she moved with would disappear and killer instinct would take over.

Clint and I want to train her to make the weapons become an extension of her body, that way it wasn't so jarring when she was up against someone battling with weapons from a distance.

We spent the entire morning training.

Clint even tried to teach her archery, but her hands itched to a more physical fight.

I quirked an eyebrow when Clint realised too that she was more like me in that way.

He pulled a face back at me but let her go on to testing out more engaging weapons.

Her hands traced one of the shields on the shelf, but she didn't pick it up. Instead, she went for the knives.

Even she seemed to be impressed by her targeting skills in knives throwing. It was a little scary that someone could pick it up quite so quickly, but it made her all the more skilled at surviving.

She would need it now that she was on the run.

With Clint in a headlock, I signalled to Eva that it was break time.

It seemed that the more time we spent with Eva, the more she opened up to us.

She told us about things in the Red Room. I had to keep my face composed at times but only winced once when she brought up how sometimes girls would kill other girls in training and the headmistress would be pleased with the winner.

I shuddered to think how someone like Eva, who had such a doe-eyed look about her, could have endured such cruelty growing up. They had taken something from her, they had blotted her innocence and made her into something else.

I could see it in the glints of her eyes sometimes, that hollowness that comes from losing everything you once knew; being re-made.

But she was resilient, adapting to her situation with ease, even now as she was forced to discover herself all over again.

I could never give her back the innocence she has lost, but the least I could do was teach her how to become her own person. I wanted her to be able to make her own decisions, to become who she wanted to be and not some unfeeling robot the Black Widow program sought after.

In time, she'll understand.

But for now, we need to focus on ensuring she is as protected as possible while she uncovers what she wants.