Dancing For Demons

Moy Otets

The doctor looked around nervously as he entered the room. He closed the door and gestured for Anastasia to take a seat. She obeyed.
"Privet Anya," he said in a quiet voice. "Would you mind if we talk in English?"
Anastasia was confused that the doctor was talking to her. Maybe he was here to give her a psychological evaluation, she wondered. Looking up she saw him waiting for a reply.
"We can talk in English, but my name is Anastasia." she spoke.
"I am not a doctor," he then said, which puzzled her more. Anastasia thought she was here for a checkup. "My name is Dimitri Smirnov. I was a friend to your father. I would have come much sooner, however I have only recently found out that he was dead."
"I killed him," Anastasia bluntly replied.
"Yes, I know. Your father loved you very much and I know that he would not want this for you."
Before Dimitri could carry on, Anastasia interrupted him again. "My father was a heroic spy who wished for his daughter to follow in his footsteps, serving Hydra."
The man was surprised by this. "Your father never worked for Hydra. He was part of the KGB and then went on to train pupils at the Red Room. When he found at his wife was pregnant, he left his job to raise you in a safe environment. He would always tell me that he never wanted you to be a part of the Red Room. And this," he pauses. "This is so much worse. He would hate the person you have become!"
Anastasia was shocked. For the first time in her life someone had told her that what she did wasn't right or good. She tried to defend herself. "Why should I listen to a stranger who claims to know my father. I know he was abusive and drunk and a shell of the man he once was. He knew that humanity could not be trusted with their own freedom and I know it too."
Then Anastasia stood up threatingly. "You are not supposed to be here, are you. If I call for the guards now they will take you to Madame Orlov."
"And murder me," Dimitri finished. "You would condemn a man to death for trying to help you. I know your father changed after your mother died, but can't you understand that he loved you and always wanted to protect you. Now it is not you who needs protection, but everyone around you. You are not saving the world, you are destroying it!" He looks at his watch and then proceeds to gather his stuff up.
"I must leave now. Remember, this is not what your parents wanted." He hurried out the door, leaving Anastasia behind.

Anastasia lay awake most of the night, staring at the concrete ceiling. When she finally drifted off, she was plagued by the same nightmares.
She was eight years old and had been given her first gun...
She was nine years old and she had been given her first person to kill...
She was ten and they had just finished a survival course in the Arctic...
She was eleven years old and it was the last test...

Suddenly, a new memory surfaced. She could see the bright sun and the beautiful flowers that filled their garden. Bees and butterflies fluttered and buzzed in the summer air.  She was four years old and running around the meadow, screaming with laughter. A man, who she recognised as her father, chased after her. His face was lit up with a dazzling smile. "Come here my little darling!" He shouted with his arms wide. Anastasia felt herself fly into the air as he picked her up and swung her around. She giggled and waved her arms around. "Mummy, look!" She cried. "Mummy, I can fly!"
The woman she was shouting was sat on a picnic blanket, knitting. "Do be careful my love," she called out. "Don't drop her."
He stopped spinning her around and carried Anastasia over to her mother.
"Don't worry, Irina. I would never let anything happen to our Anya."
I saw the letter," Irina said. "The Red Room wish to take her away don't they?"
He sighed sadly and then promised,"She will never go to that place. Our daughter will not be a mindless murderer."
Suddenly the woman started coughing uncontrollably into her hands. Once she had finally stopped, her hands were coated in blood.
"Its getting worse, my love. I am not long for this world."
"No," the man adamantly said. "I will find a cure for you."
Lovingly, she stroked his face and pulled him close to her.
"I am sure you will, but you must promise me that Anya comes first."
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she pulled the child close to her as well.
"Mummy loves you, very much."

A loud banging at the door startled Anastasia and she sat up.
"Get up," the voice commanded.
She wiped her eyes and was surprised to find her face was soaked in tears. Anastasia never cried, it was a sign of weakness. Quickly, she grabbed the blanket and dried her eyes. After getting dressed and taking a pill, she told the soldier, who she knew was on the other side of the door, that she was ready. Bolts slid back and the door swung open. She stepped out into the brightly lit corridor and looked around.
"Madame Orlov requests you to go to her office," the soldier said. Anastasia did not reply.

"I have another mission for you that the Winter soldier will not be joining you with," Madame Orlov informed Anastasia. "Your task is to assassinate someone, however you can have no witnesses. And I don't mean that you kill the witnesses, but that she must be alone. As usual everything you need to know will be in here," she hands over a folder. "Departure in thirty minutes."
Anastasia nodded and excused herself to go and get prepared. She grabbed a gun and changed into her mission clothes, before going to the hangar to get her ride.
Once on the helicopter, Anastasia couldn't stop thinking about what that  man had said and her dream last night. She could still remember the way those two people looked at her. They really loved her! And after a while she kept on replaying the words that man had said. 'Our daughter will not be a mindless murderer.'
Was that what she had become, she pondered. No, she served Hydra, she told herself. She served Hydra.