The man held out the gun, glinting under the bright lights, reflecting the red from her hair.

"you will kill them, Romanova, or you will be forced to"

She took the too-large gun, and stretched her fingers desperately around the wide handle of the handgun, the nubs of her fingers barely wrapping around it. she raised the silver plated gun and pointed it at the hooded figures in the chairs on the other side of the initiation room.

most of the other girls had already gone and come back out of the room,save for lubov, but she'd heard the whispers and none had had high hopes for her anyway, carrying steaming bowls of stew, so whatever this was, it couldn't be that awful, could it?

Lining herself up to her targets , and squaring her shoulders she took a breath in and at the exhale squeezed the trigger twice.

bap

bap

dark stains blossomed on the sacks and the figures fell forward in their seats, limp arms pulling awkwardly on the bindings. the man smirked and sauntered over to the bodies and tugged the sacks off their heads, revealing a man and a woman. underneath the blood and the bruises she could see angular cheekbones, and a rounded nose on the man, and the woman had a shock of scarlet red hair, tangled curls matted with blood and dirt.

the longer she looked at the ones in the chair the more she took in, green eyes like the ones she stole glances at in the practice room, curls she had wrapped smashed bread crusts into for the youngest children. when the instructor cut their hands away she saw her own wrists, and fingers.

she heard a small clicking noise over the sound of her heart, and looked to see the gun shaking in her hand. clenching her arm, she squared her shoulders and straightened her back, averting her eyes from the targets. she watched her instructor walk back over and clap her on the shoulder briefly. " you've done well.. Natalia" he said before holding out his hand for the gun, and pressed a button on the wall, the door sliding open just as she placed the gun back into his hand. empty. she followed him into the other room, took the clothes she was handed and stood under the shower head, letting the water drip into her eyes as she washed quickly. tugging on the large sweatshirt and loose pants, a slightly thicker trade-up from her previous clothes. in the next room she was handed a large bowl of stew, which hit her stomach like stones. she considered smuggling a potato for the smaller group, and decided against it. better they didn't face that. better they died before they became what she now was. a monster. a killer. Natalia.