Dancing For Demons

An Accomplished Assassin

His mumbling ceased and he turned around slowly, his hands clenched into a fist. As he spoke, his eyes travelled down her body, assessing her strengths and weaknesses from the way she stood to the weapons she carried. "Have you come to kill me?" his gruff voice asked.
She replied blankly, not giving anything away. "No. I have come to retrieve you. Hydra wants you back in the winter soldier training program."
Anastasia hoped her words would prevent a fight, as she was sure this man would be honoured to serve Hydra again and all he needed was reminding. But instead of calming him, she watched as his muscles tensed up. "Never again!" he cried, agitated. "I won't be controlled!" and he attacked.
A crushing blow to Anastasia's chest sent her flying across the room and into the wall, right next to the broken window. She retaliated with a shot from her gun aimed at his arm. She hoped to disarm him, not kill him. He blocked the blow with his metal arm and she realised too late, it was vibranium.
Approaching her, she sent a kick to his stomach, which he stopped by grabbing her leg and twisting it. A loud crack signalled the breaking of bones, but this did not faze her. Speedily, she unclipped a small disc from her belt and threw it at him. It attached to his arm and sent out an electric shock that rendered it useless. Before he could remove it she sent a solid punch to his jaw, snapping his head back and forcing him to take a few steps back. But he recovered instantly and lashed out with his foot, knocking the wind from her stomach. As they fought, Anastasia felt her leg set back into place and she brought her knee up into his groin. Her bent over, the pain shown clearly on his face.
He stood upright again and they circled each other, like predators, waiting to see who would resume the fight.
She brought her now healed leg into his chest, but before she could stop him he removed the disc on his metal arm, giving him his arm back. However, she saw his surprise at her now not broken leg. Little did he know of the experiments Hydra had performed on her to make her stronger. Her healing ability was unmatched.
In a blur, he stabbed at her eyes with two rigid fingers, but she blocked this with her forearm and struck hard in his arm. Another crack and his arm flopped at his side, broken. Unlike her he would not heal today.
Then she remembered Madame Orlov's command to bring him as unharmed as possible and realised she needed to end this fight quickly. "LONGING!" she shouted and the affect was clear. He panicked, recognising those words in an instant. "RUSTED! SEVENTEEN!" He attacked harder, but clouded by anger and fear, his blows became clumsy and easy to block. "DAYBREAK!" She blocked another blow. "FURNACE!" she shouted loudly. "NINE!"
Then he stopped fighting and clutched his head, moaning. Still she carried on. "BENIGN!" His eyes turned wild and his fingers dug into his palms, drawing blood. "HOMECOMING!" she called out and he stopped. His eyes turned round the room and rested on the broken window. Immediately, she knew what he was going to do and as he leapt for it, she wrestled him to the grab, her legs clamping tightly around his throat. She quickly cried the last words, "ONE! FREIGHT CAR!" and felt his whole body go slack. "Ready to comply," he responded with as much expression as a dead man. She released him and they both stood up, him as rigid as a block of wood. Unclipping her radio, she called in the retrieval team and they took him away.

....................

He had been left in the cell for two days and nothing had happened, almost as if he had been forgotten. The cell was pitch-black, apart from a small crack of light that snuck under the door. When he began to break free of the mind control, caused by those words, he had crawled around the room feeling his way with his hands, only to discover there was nothing in the cell. The room was freezing cold and the thin clothes he had woken up in provided no warmth or comfort. He knew that he had been stupid to hope that Hydra would ever forget about him. Perhaps if he had gone to that man, Steve, who he kept remembering, he could have protected him. Then he realised, no one could protect him from Hydra.
The hours of nothingness had given him time to think, especially on the assassin sent to capture him. As he reflected on the fight, he noticed details that set her apart from the other winter soldiers he used to train with. She was only fifteen. Age gave no protection from Hydra's operations, but younger assassins drew mor attention. Unlike the other winter soldiers, he realised she had not been brainwashed which could only mean one thing. She killed willingly for Hydra and was far more loyal then any other operatives. Finally, there was her physical abilities. Firstly, her broken leg had healed in about a minute, whereas his arm was still broken and had now swollen up. Also, she was faster and stronger than a normal human, making her far deadlier.

When the door finally opened, the winter soldier was blinded by the harsh white light that suddenly poured in the room. Before he could react, a group of soldiers bound his wrists and ankles and put a black bag over his head. He was too weak to protest. When the bag was pulled off he found himself in a training facility, far more advanced than the one he trained in as a winter soldier. Stood waiting for him was the assassin and a tall lady with dark brown hair and an imposing stare. "Winter soldier, you have been brought here to test your ability. I expect you to give your full cooperation," she said briskly.
He laughed and the sound echoed around the room. "What if I don't cooperate?" he inquired, uncaring of the consequences. If they shot him right now, he would be controlled again.
The lady signalled to a soldier who opened a door on the other side of the room. A little girl is dragged in, kicking and screaming. In horror, he recognized the girl from down the hall from his apartment.
"If you fail or do not cooperate, I will shoot her in the head," she replied with a cruel smile. The guards then unlocked his restraints and stepped back. He stood there for a few seconds, wondering if he could save the girl any other way, but no good ideas came to mind. Her only chance was for him to comply.
"If I do this, will you let her go?" he pleaded, desperately. His request was answered with a look of disappointment. He can tell what she was thinking - Hydra's best assassin begging for the life of a little girl. But she nodded and so he walked over to the shooting range, where a gun was waiting for him. It was laid out in all its different parts and he realised that it was a time trial. The other assassin walked over and stood next to him, before shouting "Go!" Their hands were a blur, reassembling the guns piece by piece. As he works, he allowed his body to take over, assembling, loading and then firing. But just before he pulled the trigger, he heard a shot.
Madame Orlov smiled as she watched Anastasia beat him.