Natasha’s body was rocked back and forth and side to side. She was barely awake. There was something over her head, some kind of sack, or at least it felt that way. It blocked her vision.
Everything happened so fast. One moment, she had been one of two daughters, with a mother and father, even if Natasha always knew they weren’t her real parents. It was all a mission. It was all temporary.
The time finally came for them to flee the US. They barely got out in time, flying into the night, escaping police and strange trucks that said SHIELD on the side.
They got out. It had been exciting! And then, they landed in Cuba, and the illusion vanished.
They’d never been a family. It was just a mission. Natasha knew that, and yet, some stupid part of her let herself get fooled.
Yelena was the one who didn’t understand. She was too young. She didn’t want to leave Natasha, and Natasha didn’t want to leave her, because Yelena was the only one who REALLY cared with no acting involved.
Nat took one of the soldier's guns. She tried to force them to not take Yelena away. But Dad— But Shostakov had talked her out of it. He told her they wouldn’t be hurt.
Then Natasha and Yelena had been sedated, shoved into a military vehicle, and were being carted somewhere while half awake with their heads covered.
Natasha should have taken the shot, she thought bitterly.
The sedation became too much for her to resist. It kept coming in waves. Unable to help it, she fell back into a slumber.
When she woke up, Yelena would be gone.
LINE BREAK
This was the Red Room.
They wanted all of the children to know its name. The Red Room was glorious. They were being trained for a higher purpose. Soon, they would be a part of something bigger than themselves.
In a room full of other girls her age, Natasha watched with glazed eyes as a Disney movie played in front of her. Snow White. Underneath the innocent exterior, certain things stuck out. Individual words worked their way into the girls’ heads. Obey. Serve. Duty.
Their minds were being changed, one scene at a time, movie by movie…
An hour later, Natasha was launching kicks and punches at an adult woman.
Her childish moves were batted away with contemptuous ease.
“Faster,” the woman barked.
Natasha bent her knees, springing up to give a high kick at the woman’s face. This move was also blocked. Natasha knew it would be.
She reacted like her body was made of water, wrapping herself around the woman’s arm, squeezing her legs around it.
She grabbed the woman’s wrist and pulled back, bracing with her legs at the same time. Submission holds were the correct approach when facing a bigger and stronger opponent.
“Ngggghhhh!” Natasha grunted.
She pulled with all her might, fighting against the woman’s joints.
The woman swung her arm, swinging Natasha’s full weight, and smashed her into the floor. The mats there barely dulled the force. Natasha’s body exploded with pain and she cried out.
She still held on, until the woman raised her and smashed her down two more times.
No amount of willpower could keep Natasha’s limbs working this time. She lay on the floor limply.
“Better,” the woman said. “Now rise.”
Natasha didn’t move right away. Her body was in so much pain.
She was soon in more pain as the instructor kicked her in the stomach.
“Rise!”
Trembling from head to toe, Natasha made herself rise. She managed to get her feet underneath her and even drop into a combat stance.
More than twenty other identical duels were occurring all around the room they were in, each with an instructor brutally beating a younger girl, demanding incredible efforts.
Natasha began to fight again, despite the pain she was in.
Another hour later, Natasha was in a ballerina outfit. There was music playing, girls dancing along.
It wasn’t recreation. The whole time, an instructor watched them with pitiless eyes. The girls performed a ballet routine nearly perfectly.
Nearly. Because it contained slight errors, when the song ended, it started over again. They began another round, performing the same movements, chasing utter perfection.
Everyone knew that if they didn’t achieve that goal soon, they wouldn’t get dinner tonight. That was how the Red Room worked. Failure was met with punishment and success meant a brief reprieve from being punished. “Rewards” were a foreign concept. Within these walls, cruelty bred perfection. When they trained to use guns, live prisoners were the targets. Sometimes they sparred against other girls, and when that happened, it was kill or be killed. The Red Room looked for relationships, sniffing out who was closest to each other. Those would be the ones they made fight to the death. Natasha had already watched it happen twice. All the other girls had to watch.
She knew exactly one thing… She couldn’t allow Yelena to stay here.
Natasha KNEW Yelena had to be here. She wasn’t sure where. They never saw younger or older girls. All the same, Natasha knew that they were here somewhere.
This time, she would make up for her mistake. Once she had a weapon, she’d pull the trigger without a second thought. All for Yelena.
She made her move in the middle of the night.
The girls slept in cuffs. They were chained to their beds. Natasha used a small bit of metal wire she had squirreled away, bending her wrists unnaturally in order to pick the lock. It wasn’t easy. She couldn’t make too much noise; the other girls in her room would turn her in for an extra share of rations in an instant.
Natasha succeeded, getting her wrists loose. She slipped out of bed. Moving silently was a skill she knew perfectly by this point.
Getting out of the door made a little bit of noise. No doubt, it was designed that way on purpose. Natasha ducked out and hoped that no one noticed.
She’d been prepared to fight for her life at this point, expecting guards outside of their room. However, none were present. It was just an empty hallway that looked like it could’ve been part of a hospital, except for its dark lighting.
Natasha knew as well as anyone how low her chances for success were. This was an operation that she was going into blind. She could think like an agent thanks to the Red Room’s training, and everything she’d learned was telling her that this was a terrible plan.
She had to go through with it anyway. She HAD to succeed. For Yelena.
Natasha crept down the hallway.
Nothing was signed. Everyone was supposed to know their way around. It was a den of spies, after all.
So why hadn’t she been stopped yet?
Things were going too well. Natasha should have been happy about that, and yet, the instincts that had been drilled into her wouldn’t let her celebrate. Anything out of ordinary was dangerous.
That’s when she heard the first explosion.
Natasha stopped briefly, before forcing herself to keep going. In this place, it was probably some strange and cruel training.
It wasn’t the last explosion she heard. Soon, she could feel the building shaking.
Natasha heard footsteps.
She threw herself against the wall, sinking into a dark corner. She wasn’t REALLY hidden, it was just a little harder to see her. All the same, those who were coming (a full team of adult women armed with automatic rifles) went straight past her.
Natasha’s heart was beating quickly. Yet the guards went straight past her, continuing to run. The explosions were getting more frequent and… Closer?
Making a decision on the fly, Natasha decided to turn around and go back the way that she’d come. She picked this direction randomly in the first place. Yelena was just as likely to be the opposite way, and if Natasha kept going the way that she had been, she had the feeling she would be captured or worse.
When she’d taken ten steps, she had to dive to the floor.
One of the armed guards who had run past her reappeared.
Well, she flew down the hallway at least, her body hurled a huge distance through the air.
She hit the ground, bounced, and rolled. Natasha stared at the woman laying on the floor, her gun still in her hands. She wasn’t moving.
Footsteps. Coming from behind her. Nat ran and slid on her knees, taking the guard’s weapon.
The movements were second nature to her. Getting in position to fire, she aimed down the dark hallway. Her heart was beating wildly.
“A little girl?”
Nat wasn’t sure what she expected. However, a beautiful woman wearing a bulky parka and boots wasn’t near the top of her list. The woman wasn’t even armed.
“What are you going to do with that, little one?” the woman asked. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes.
Shoot, Natasha thought. She’d resolved herself too. But she didn’t.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t. Natasha’s morals had been warped a long time ago. For the sake of herself and her little sister, she could absolutely kill.
It was just the rational, agent portion of her brain that made her hesitate.
This woman wasn’t with the Red Room. She didn’t have the aura or bearing of the instructors or the guards. Immediately, Natasha could tell that this lady was different. An intruder. An enemy of Natasha’s enemies. Could they help each other?
“Let’s lower this for now,” the woman said.
She was in front of Natasha. How? She hadn’t been a moment before. The woman crossed the gap between them in an instant, so fast that Nat hadn’t seen her move.
Impossible, Natasha thought. This went against everything she’d been taught.
The woman smiled at her in a way Nat hadn’t seen since she was playing at a family, with Vostokoff pretending to be her mother. The assault weapon Nat was holding was pushed toward the floor.
Natasha’s eyes widened. “Behind you!”
More guards had appeared. There were three of them, all aiming weapons like the one in Nat’s hands. The woman turned around, no sign of panic on her face.
They opened fire, pouring bullets down the hallway. Natasha screamed in frustration, understanding she was doomed and realizing she’d failed Yelena. Again.
Except, she didn’t die.
Calmly, dismissively, the woman moved her hands. Bands of metal around her wrists redirected the bullets back where they came from. The guards who opened fire were taken down by their own bullets, hitting the floor like puppets with their strings cut.
Like nothing happened, let alone something so IMPOSSIBLE, the woman turned back to Nat.
“I am Diana,” she said. “Could I have your name, brave one?”
“N-Natasha,” Nat said.
“Natasha, do you want to leave this place?” Diana asked.
“Not alone!” Nat said. She took a deep breath. “My sister is here. I need to find her. I have to get her out.”
“Is that all?” Diana asked. “Don’t worry, Natasha. We’ll find your sister. Today is the day the Red Room ends, see.”
“It… Ends?” Nat asked.
“Yes!” Diana said. “I came here to make sure of it. Now that I’ve found them… Well, there was a reason they were hiding.”
LINE BREAK
Natasha wasn’t completely sure that she was awake. It felt like she was still dreaming.
She walked behind Diana, following a trail of destruction through this hell that had trapped her. Diana was unstoppable. She knocked bullets aside, broke walls with her bare hands, and could send humans flying with a single hit.
“You’re not normal,” Nat couldn’t help saying.
“No, I suppose I’m not,” Diana chuckled.
It was like she said: no one could do anything against her. No level of training could make up for a human tank who was faster than regular eyes could follow. Diana tore apart every challenge until they found themselves in a room that Nat didn’t know existed. It was completely different from all the other parts of the Red Room that she’d seen.
For one thing, it was enormous. Some kind of auditorium. It was so big that it could accommodate as many as two hundred people.
And, within this room, every Widow in training had been assembled, along with the guards and the Red Room’s leadership.
Madame B was there, the woman in charge of Natasha’s training. There were other instructors, and between them all, a man who had to be the leader of this operation.
He wasn’t that scary. A little bit fat, wearing glasses, dressed in a suit… Still, Natasha could tell he was dangerous. He carried himself with confidence. Although it didn’t look like he could fight, he believed he held all the cards.
“We are joined by a hero of the war!” the man said. “The great Wonder Woman. I had heard, of course, that you were still working with Americans. It’s a great shame you had to appear here. I was a fan of your work against the Nazis. It will be sad to kill you.”
“You must be Dreykov,” Diana said. “For a cornered man, you’re very confident.”
“Cornered? Lesser men get cornered,” Dreykov said. “I am sorry to say, I will never lose to those who worry about things like victims. It simply isn’t possible.”
Dreykove held up a hand. All of the widow trainees had been herded into the middle of the room, surrounded by armed guards. The guards raised their weapons.
Instead of aiming at Diana, they aimed at the little girls. The younger ones looked scared. The older ones didn’t even react.
“Your life, or all of theirs,” Dreykov said in a friendly tone of voice. “What will it be… Hero?”
Diana observed this trap he’d set.
“You might not have my morals,” Diana said, “but there’s something else you lack. I have seen your type.”
“Oh? Dreykov said. “And what might I be missing?”
“The strength it requires to sacrifice yourself.”
Diana disappeared. She sprung at Dreykov, grabbing him before a single gun could go off. Hoisted in the air by his collar, Dreykov’s confidence disappeared.
“Stop her—” he said.
He realized almost right away that he had committed a mistake. The widows were made to be completely obedient to him. As soon as he gave that order, they twisted to save his life, ignoring the earlier order.
The last trap he had to wield evaporated as soon as they opened fire.
Diana used Dreykove’s body as a shield. She ran around the edges of the room, deflecting bullets with her defensive bands. She was far too fast and much too strong. In minutes, she ripped through those meant to take her on.
Just like that, it was only Diana and the trainees left in the room.
Diana kneeled down, smiling at the girls. “Would you all like to leave?”
Some of the older ones attacked her. They were quickly rendered unconscious with quick, efficient chops. Diana never lost her smile, coaxing the young ones to relax.
“I have a plane waiting,” Diana said. “There is room for all of you. There’s no need for you to live in this place any longer. You will be fed, cared for, and saved. Won’t you come with me?”
This time, the ones that moved were the younger ones. Some of them crying, they went to Diana and accepted her offer. The others soon followed. Diana began herding the group out, intending to leave.
“Natasha!” someone said.
Yelena was amongst the youngest ones. Nat realized she had been in the Red Room for quite a while, because Yelena was at least a year (maybe two years) older than when they parted in Cuba.
She was old enough to run to Natasha and hug her. Clearly, the Red Room’s mental training hadn’t yet taken root.
“We are leaving!” Yelena said. “We can really go!”
“Yes, Yelena,” Nat said. “We can go.”
Inside her head, she thought: go where?
Away from here, first. Then what about after? One idea came to her. Natasha found her legs moving on their own.
She went to Diana, who was directing other girls. Diana noticed her and smiled.
“You were trying to escape on your own, weren’t you?” Diana asked. “That was very brave.”
A good sign, Nat thought. Diana had a high opinion of her. She needed to use that.
Squeezing Yelena against herself, Natasha’s eyes flared, raising her voice: “Take us with you!”
“I will,” Diana said. “I am taking you away from here.”
“No.” Nat shook her head. “I want to go with YOU. I want to do things like this. Please, Diana! Train me.”
“Hmm?” Diana smiled. “What great spirit. Are you sure you want that? You could be free. You don’t HAVE to be trained, once you get out of here. You would still pick this life?”
Natasha’s eyes told her all she needed to know.
“In that case, let’s talk more,” Diana said. “In a different place.”
That night, the Red Room disappeared forever. All remaining trainees vanished, Dreykov and all the instructors were killed… And a new SHIELD legend began her journey.