Drowning in Blood, Burning in Flames

The First Part

Fire all about, and fire within.

Fire in his heart

A worm and no man am I

Despised by all

Natasha was deprived of a normal life. But she didn't know this. To her, her life was normal. Cold, blood, death, loneliness. All she had ever known. 

She was lying down in her bed, thinking. She wasn't tired, even though her day had been full. Memorizing people, ways to kill, different weapons. The girls in the Red Room were already the best assassins, and Natasha was the best of the best. 

"Wake up!" There was a sudden flurry of people moving, since the girls only had 5 minutes to get ready for the day. They met in the main room, one of the four rooms that they were allowed in. The others were the cafeteria, bathrooms, and where their beds were. 

In the front of the room was a small man, but this was normal. What wasn't normal was the tall muscular man standing behind him. And he had a metal arm. "This is your new instructor, the Winter Soldier." The last fighting instructor had died when one of the girls came crashing down on him while fighting, and snapped his neck. Most of them were already better than the new one, especially Natasha.

"Number 25! Come up here." That was Natasha's number. Ironically, she was the last number, but the first in everything else. "Fight." Natasha looked at the small man with disbelief, then examined her mission. 

He was larger than her, and had a metal arm. He was also probably stronger. She could move quicker than him, but he would catch up eventually. A fight usually ended in pinning your opponent to the ground, or death. The man was looking at her too, so she decided to surprise him. 

She ran up to him and he tensed. She ran past, but kicked him in the back of the knee. He fell a little, but not much. Natasha jumped on top of him and started to choke him. He was much heavier than him, so if she wanted to win, he needed to pass out. It started to work.

She forgot about the metal arm though. He just reached back and threw her to the cold, cement ground. The wind got taken out of her. His foot came down and stopped her from coming back up. "End." The whole thing had barely been 20 seconds. The foot came up.

The small man started to talk again, but Natasha was barely listening. She was looking at the Winter Soldier again. He could probably teach her a lot. He could make her better. She held no grudge for him beating her. He hadn't killed her, and you can't win every time. Plus, he would probably teach her some cool moves. Plus, if she beat him later, her reputation would grow bigger. She smiled. 

A few weeks had passed and Natasha had noticed two things about the Soldier. One, no one liked him. She had never seen anyone speak directly to him, except for her. He wasn't popular, and very much shunned. Not that Natasha was very popular either. She had the most kill counts of all the girls, and the officials didn't think of any of the girls as human. 

Two, the Soldier barely spoke, except to her. He showed people how to fight, and there was no other reason to talk. None of the assassins could make conversation with the officials. When he was teaching Natasha, he demonstrated and talked, and positioned her body into the right way. He never touched anyone else. 

Natasha felt a special bond to him. They were so alike, in a cold environment. Not very liked, and very much shunned. They didn't actually have conversations, but he was the closest friend Natasha had ever had. 

That night, they were alone in the main room together. It wasn't very late. Both were exercising. The officials couldn't care if the girls got sleep or not. If they wanted to train more, good. As long as they only went in the four rooms they lived in, they could stay up all night. There was no escaping, they had no chance. 

"Hello." He had started the conversation.

"Hey." 

"You're number, 25, right?" 

"Yes." She had no inclination to tell him her real name. That would mean death. Plus, she didn't even know his real name. 

"That's a good technique to start with, but you can improve." He showed her a more complex move. She copied it. After 10 minutes, one of the officials came in the room and the Soldier suddenly left with him. Natasha wondered why.