BLACK WIDOW

animus

animus
(adj.)
hostility or ill feeling

•••

"After about ten years working as the assassin, I found myself unhappy. The prideful words Madame B gave became repetitive. The girls I favored were all murdered. I was doing thing I hated. The situation was coming to a head anyway."

••

Natalia hurried back to headquarters with the intent of running right back out. The Ant-Man had to be killed as soon as possible. She rode through the dark and didn't even bother going to the Red Room. She went straight to the Moscow Office.

She began stepping lively into Colonel Karpov's voice, passing Madame B on the way.

"What is the problem?" asked Madame B, following after her. Natalia's entire demeanor gave away the fact that something went terribly wrong.

Natalia barged into Karpov's office, causing him to look up from his desk work, startled.

"This has better be good, Romanova," he growled  angerly. Then he turned to Madame B. "She does not have enough control."

"Colonel Karpov," Natalia began. "I finished my mission successfully. B—"

"You burst in here as if you are in charge, just to tell me you succeeded?" he asked incredulously, as is stood up behind his desk. "It is high time you knew your place, Widow."

"Sir, please," Natalia said quickly. They had no time to miscommunicate. "Anne Slovinska. The ring leader. She may have been feeding the girls lies, but someone had been feeding her too."

Karpov cocked an eyebrow as he leaned into his arm that were connected to the hands that he had leaning into the desk before him. "Do you know who?"

"She called him a 'shrinking man'."

"A shrinking man?" asked Karpov. "Was she sane?"

Natalia nodded unbelievably. "I saw him."

"A shrinking man?" asked Karpov, now standing straight up.

"An Ant-Man," Natalia corrected. "He was as small as an ant. When I was interrogating Slovinska, he entered under the girl and tried to keep me from killing her."

"If he is the size of an ant, how could he try and stop you?"

"He grew to and average human size. As large as you are. He was strong all by himself. But when he was small—it's some type of tech—he retained his strength. And something that small with that strength. His punch through my boot was like a bullet. He hit me into a wall. Picked me up. It was incredible."

"But he didn't jeopardize your mission?"

Natalia nodded. "Oh, yes sir, he certainly did. Though I succeeded, it very well could have went very wrong. In my eyes, I believe it did. The Ant-Man is now on the loose. He's seen me. He's seen me kill dozens of children. And he obviously knows where the children are kept in the Red Room."

"Did you kill him?"

Natalia shook her head. "I couldn't. If i had stayed, I would have burned. I threw him into the fire and retreated. But I know he is still alive."