Timshel

Prologue - Red Room Reimagined

warnings: mildly graphic depictions of death, violence, and murder

***

1979, Red Room Facility, Moscow Russia

"Professor, it's over, the spies are all dead or recruited to other agencies," except for me, is on the tip of Nadia's tongue but never passes her lips.

"We must start again," Professor Pchelintsov paces the floor of his laboratory as Nadia Morozov watches with a keen eye.

"We can't just start at the same place, it didn't work well enough during the first trials. Just look at me," there is a hint of bitter resentfulness in Nadia's voice.

"What about Romanov?" Pchelintsov pauses, "my greatest work?"

"Working for the KGB now sir. If we want someone to be the best of the best, better than Romanov, better than The Winter Soldier, we're going to need to rethink our strategy."

"I'm well aware, our tech is going to need upgrades as well. Line up 28 more girls, I'll have the serum updated in a week."

Nadia nods, lips pressed into a thin line as she walks away, back to her office to make some phone calls to the various orphanages they've used in the past.

"Zoya? It's Nadia, how many females can we get aged 2 to 3?"

"For you, let me get a count," Zoya says, there's a pause as she checks her numbers, "17, can you get them by the end of the week?"

"Of course."

Nadia hangs up, she's not one for small talk, she's getting what she needs, what she called for, and that's it.

She dials the next number, a slightly smaller orphanage but an all girls one, rural, always sent as many as they could spare.

"Tyana, it's Nadia."

"Nadia, how are you precious? How many do you need?"

Nadia rolls her eyes at the first question, skipping to the next, "11."

"Send a car by 13:00 tomorrow."

"Thank you Tyana."

The next day Nadia pulls up to the orphanage, conveniently located on a deserted road outside of Moscow, her van makes her look suspicious but as soon as anyone sees a woman with a fake smile in the front seat they laugh it off. Harmless.

If only they knew.

Tyana and the staff of the orphanage help bring the 11 girls to the van, where they all sit cramped in the back.

The next day she picks up the next set, a complete 28 girls, all wide-eyed and vulnerable. Some of them cried which would've driven Nadia insane if she cared. But she didn't, so she ushered them all into the living quarters and ignored their cries while she locked the door and made her way to the lab.

"How's the serum coming along?"

"It's coming, I think I've found a way to add my psychotechnology into the serum."

"Is that going to work?" Nadia asks, skeptical.

"If it doesn't, try again."

Nadia nods and leaves him to work.

She does the bare minimum for the girls, giving them food and water and making sure they know where the bathroom was. Other than that, it was a waiting game for the serum.

Three weeks after the arrival of the girls Pchelintsov shows up in the living quarters with the serums on a cart and Nadia has the little girls line up while he injects them.