Insanity

Chapter 2

Song: River by Bishop Briggs

☆☆☆

"How do we fall apart
faster than a hairpin
trigger?"

☆☆☆

Six people, all women, stood with their backs to the doors. Barnes had been expecting men and was pleasantly surprised to see not one male operative standing in the lineup. The women didn't even twitch a single muscle as the doors screeched open. A tall, bald man standing before them glanced back towards the elevator, a small grin creeping up on his lips. "Ah, our guests have arrived," he said, gesturing for Karpov and Barnes to enter the room. Barnes got the impression that the man was in charge of all of the women standing before him.

Barnes followed close behind Karpov, who lead him around to the front of the group of women. To Barnes's surprise, none of them seemed even remotely nervous. Not until they laid eyes on him, however. His metal arm glinted under the bright flourescent lights, and that was where each woman's eyes seemed to drop to first. As they did, their eyes each grew wider and wider.

Barnes was careful to meet each woman's eyes, and each pair gave off a completely different feeling. Nervous, shocked, terrified, intimidated, and disgusted were some of the ones he saw, but he also saw a sense of boldness. It was intriguing how so few people could all be so different.

"Ladies, this is General Vasily Karpov, head of the Winter Soldier program," the tall man said, his voice monotonous and professional sounding. "And this," he gestured to Barnes, is the Winter Soldier." Barnes didn't move, he simply continued to scan to women standing before him. "He'll be training you to fight. But here's the catch - he'll only be training those of you who are good enough to continue with the program. You will be judged by your doctors, taking into account all of the past few months that you have been with Hydra, as well as how you perform today. So, why don't you all introduce yourselves?"

Barnes refrained from raising his eyebrows in surprise. Karpov had failed to tell him that little detail, that perhaps not all of these women would be continuing with the program. He hated to think what being expelled from the program would mean.

The nervousness wafted off of the women like strong perfume. The first woman on the end of the line stepped forward, dark brown hair swept back into a messy ponytail. "Oksana Alinova," she said, then stepped back into line.

The next woman, a blonde, stepped forward. "Sveta Hezhnev," she said, and too stepped back. She seemed to be the most confident with herself, keeping her chin pointed upward and a smirk in her full lips.

The third woman stepped forward, the only woman with extremely short, close cropped curly hair. Her skin was a beautiful chocolate brown, and she had the darkest eyes Barnes had ever seen. "Asha Kali," she said, though the words rolled over her tongue with a thick accent Barnes didn't recognize.

Two women who appeared to be identical twins stepped forward. Both had light brown hair and sharply pointed eyebrows accented by bright green eyes. "Tanya Vasiliev," the first woman said, parroted by her sister who said, "Nikita Vasiliev."

The final woman, a redhead, stepped forward hesitantly. She was clearly the youngest of the group and seemed the most nervous. "Natalia Romanova," she said, quickly stepping back into her place on the end of the line.

The bald man gave a stiff nod to Barnes and Karpov. "Karpov, you may go," he said and with the double fist salute of Hydra, Karpov took off.

"Good luck, girls," Karpov said as he skated out of the room, winking at the blonde as he passed her by.