Stalingrad, 1945,
"You have completed your training as agents, as Black Widows." The woman with thigh high boots cracked the whip, making all of the girls standing in a perfectly straight line shudder ever so lightly. "However", a pause, "There are still two tests you ought to undergo before you can wear the title."
The boots tapped on the floor as she walked inspecting the girls with cold blue eyes, "Subject TA23! Chin up!" Her sharp voice cut the silence like daggers. Those girls they were objects before the eyes of the Red Room and the KGB, they had no names but the ones they received when they first arrived. The ones they clung to so desperately, hoping they still had the slightest drop of humanity in them. "As I was saying, you must complete two challenges. One extremely hard. The other, not as much."
Subject RN28, Natalia Romanova, born circa 1928, the youngest on the Black Widow program, but the best one. The redhead kept her chin high but her eyes low, avoiding eye contact with the mistress, just as was taught. She listened carefully, trying to capture something that gave away what those tests were going to be. But the woman inspecting them – she was never told the name of the trainers – didn't let anything slip.
She halted, "Now, it is time for you to begin. I'll call your names one at a time in no particular order. You will step forward and enter that room. More instructions will be given to you there." The mistress cleared her throat, "Subject RN28."
Natalia stepped forward, feeling all the eyes in the room turn to her. Her heart beat fast, pumping the adrenaline through her veins, but she kept a calm stance as she walked towards the room the woman told her to. She crossed the door and disappeared in the darkness. Unlike the previous room, there were no windows in that one and her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting there. Only two steps from here, there was a man standing before a table. He motioned for her to approach and take a seat in front of him. The girl obliged.
"Out of 28 Widows only 14 made it for today." He started, "But only one can make it to receive the serum." His voice was monotone y and yet she was curious about that 'serum' he mentioned, "In your classes, you were taught that, to be part of the Black Widow program, you need to be ruthless and be able to put your emotions and personal connections aside, to be rational at all times. Is that correct?"
Natalia nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Very well." He continued, "It is time for you to put these skills you practiced for so long at use. You, along with the 13 other girls will be sent to one of the towns we evacuated and fight one another until there are only two Widows standing." Natalia felt a shiver go down her spine, she would definitely be one of the last to stand. "You will be exposed to extreme situations, whether they are climate of physical or emotional, you must overcome all of them. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." Her body was now stiff. She didn't know if she should feel thrilled or frightened.
He nodded, "If you try to leave the city, you will be annihilated. Now that you are aware of those facts, you must take three weapons of your choice and this backpack before leaving."
"Yes, sir." He motioned for her to stand and she obliged, behind her, there was a wall where there were different kinds of guns. Six different kinds, 14 of each type, one for every girl.
She chose an AK-47, an HAR-2 assault rifle and a 9mm Colt. She hid them the best she could, grabbed her backpack and left through the door, glancing at the man one last time. He remained inexpressive. She was out in the woods, she knew what she had to do the moment she stepped out in the snow. She ran.
~X~
Her footsteps were silent even when she ran. Natalia was careful enough not to make any sounds and attentive enough to capture small glimpses of the people hiding, ready to shoot if she strayed from the path she instinctively followed. The guns and the backpack were heavy and her back hurt as she ran, through the forest. From between the trees, she could see small rays of sun fading into black, it helped her keep track of the time. When it was night, she arrived at the city she had been told about.
She stopped, catching her breath, her lips gave way to small pants, but she had no time, she needed to find a hiding place, from where she could see the city and keep track of things. The first thing that caught her eyes was a huge building and that was where she headed. Natalia made her way to the last floor and checked to see if there was anyone already there. No traces of people. It all seemed, perhaps just too calm. But she ignored that feeling.
Natalia placed everything on the ground in front of her and opened the backpack, taking all of its contents off methodically. A bottle of water, a winter coat, a map, a holster, gloves, binoculars, and a watch. She tied the watch to her wrist, put on the coat and the gloves, placed her gun carefully on the holster, put the bottle of water back in her backpack and grabbed the map and the rest of her gun before standing and stood on the cold floor, making her way towards one of the rooms, searching for a soft surface where she would be able to examine the map.
She opened every door before finding a study. The redhead sat on a chair that faced the door, but the back was turned to the window. Unfolded the map on the table in front of her and studied it. The paper was divided in squares, each one of them represented sections of the town. Small drawings told her the location of the buildings, therefore it didn't take her long to figure where she was. There were marks that showed the area off-limits, agents would not hesitate to shoot if one of them decided to cross the area. The girl traced her route, she decided where to go and strategic points in town. She had an advantage over the other girls, she had left the facility earlier, she couldn't let that go to waste. Natalia grabbed a pen and tested it before shoving it into her backpack along with some paper sheets in case she needed them.
The girl turned to face the window. In the distance, she could see a figure running.
"Damn it!" She muttered getting the binoculars to have a closer look at her, Klara, subject PK25, a girl with dirty blonde hair, weak, not the weakest in the team, but she wasn't even near the top 5, and that was visible simply by her actions. Natalia could take her out with just one shot and no one would ever know.
The redhead got her rifle and opened the window silently, a clear shot. The cold wind hitting her face made her teeth clatter, she couldn't stay the night outside, she would freeze to death, She placed the gun in the frame of the window and closed one of her eyes, aiming at her opponent's head, aware that, once she shot her, she would have to evacuate, for there was no silencer and the sound would echo through the forest.
She breathed it, the air that filled her lungs had a mix of old books, mold and pine trees. She held her breath, her fingers caressing the trigger, just waiting for the perfect moment. 3... 2... 1... The sound filled the air. Klara heard it and turned around, knowing what expected her before falling to the ground with a hole on her head, the warm blood that dripped from her forehead stained the snow with a crimson red color before freezing.
Natalia gathered her thing quickly and dashed her way down the stairs and out of the building, taking the route she'd traced earlier – the quickest one - to a habitation complex constituted of houses. She tested the doors, mostly locked, but no bolt, no lock was a match for her skills, using a pin from her hair, she gained access to the place where she planned on staying the night.
She looked at the watch, it was midnight. She would have to wait eight hours until sunrise. Natalia searched trough the rooms for blankets, coats, anything to keep her warmer than she was. She found a blanket and wrapped herself in it. The thin piece of cloth did little to keep her warm, but it was better than nothing. The redhead went upstairs and sat on the floor where there used to be a bedroom, she could see it by the marks of the posts of a bed. Outside, she saw the snow falling. That was good, it would cover her footprints.
On the piece of paper, she wrote down the names of her 13 classmates and symbols by their sides so she could keep track of who was alive and who wasn't and what their weaknesses were.
1. Alexandra -
2. Amalia
3. Anya
4. Anna
5. Diana
6. Katerina
7. Klara - D
8. Myliena
9. Nina
10. Selena
11. Sonya
12. Vika
13. Yelena
Natalia found it funny, even though she had no relationship whatsoever with those girls, she insisted on writing down their names instead of the insignias, the codes used to identify each of them. Looking at the list, she realized that there was no one there who represented a threat, no one but Yelena Belova, the second best widow.
She looked through the window, the view was nothing compared to the one she had from the top floor of the building, but she could work with it. One by one she watched as the girls arrived, most of them stopped near Klara for a brief moment before continuing their way. She counted them, 12 girls total, none of them seemed to come her way, none of them but Vika.
Vika, she was a strong opponent, not a threat, but she was physically strong. Natalia watched as the dark haired girl ran through the houses, her heavy steps making an obnoxiously loud noise before stopping exaclty at the place Natasha was going to stay for the night.
"Shit." She muttered, she wouldn't shoot and give away another one of her hiding spots, it would be hand to hand combat. Vika climbed the stairs kicking open the door of each room until she got to Natalia's. When she opened the door, there was a wicked smile on her face, but that wasn't the first thing that caught the red head's attention, the shining metal blade in her hand did first.
"Romanova." The girl said and walked towards Natalia.
~X~
"20, 50 Rubles." Comrade Dmitri handed him the bills.
James put the money in his pocket. It was his first winter there since he arrived, but he had already made some friends. It was better that way, so he had something to do besides keeping an eye on the girls in the Widow program. They were betting on the girls, 5 out of 6 guys were cheering for Yelena to make it – of course they were, she had slept with all of them, but James. James, he was betting on Natalia. There were no strings attached, besides the few times he passed by the open door where she was training or been to the gym with her, they had never talked or see each other.
The young redhead was the safest bet, he wanted to see her win. They even made a list on the order of who was going to die first. He paid 30 Rubles to Nikolai, he bet that Klara would die first. And she did. Natalia killed her with cold blood. She even looked in her eyes before she died and didn't stop.
James was having a sip of his coffee when he was called, "Look, American, your little spider is under attack!" Pyotr laughed.
To them it was all just a game, maybe because they weren't there, because they hadn't gone through half of what those girls did, or maybe because those were the only times that they could rest from the training. "Oh, look, Pyotr, Nina is going to be shot." James said in a dry humor. And he heard his comrade scream and everyone laugh at him, but the American didn't look away from the screen to see what was going on. He was so focused on Natalia and Vika's fight, that he didn't even care.
"Oh, shit, Yelena executed Nina!"
"No, no, no, no..." James muttered as the scenes passed in front of him.
~X~
The sound of gunshot echoed through the empty city. That meant one less girl, but she had bigger problems now. Natalia stood, Vika was strong, but she was fast, all she needed was her gun, one quick squat and she would put her hands on the weapon to kill her opponent. But the other girl proved herself to be faster and kicked the gun away from Natalia
She held the knife high, above her head and, though she had no weapons with her – a visible disadvantage – Natalia's frame was very stable. She swung her leg, landing a high kick, Vika lost her grip on the knife and it flew to the other side of the room, now the other girl was disarmed, they were equals.
"Very smart, RN28." Her voice was cold and filled with anger, "Always the best in class, always beating the other girls in everything you did. But I'm about to change that. By the end of the next 20 minutes, you'll be nothing but a cold corpse lying in the snow."
Natalia rolled her eyes, the girl was letting her hatred to show, it was getting in the way, it would get in the way. Quickly, she examined the other girl's body and found 27 places she could hit in order to kill her. Vika took a fighting position, her knees bent and her hands right in front of her chest. Natalia approached her, blinded by her delusion of superiority and the other girls saw it and used her weakness against her.
The redhead soon regretted her relaxed defense stance as soon as Vika punched her in the face. She stopped for a moment, stunned, but it was enough time for the dark haired girl to swing her leg and destabilize Natalia, who fell to the ground.
'No, no, no, no. I'm going to die. I have to turn this around.' All the air left her lungs when the other girl stepped on her stomach. There was a heavy weight on her chest, forcing her ribcage down. She felt a slap on her face the warmth spreading through her cheek. Now, she was gasping for breath and she thought the situation couldn't get worse, but then her warm hands wrapped around her neck strangled her.
Almost all the air in her body was consumed. Natalia spread her arms, feeling the ground trying to find reach for something she could use in her favor, the first thing she could get a grasp on was the pen. There were black spots in her eyes and she knew she only had one try. Natalia raised her arm and put all the strength she had in her body in a single blow that hit Vika right in the neck, penetrating the skin.
Vika's grip on her neck tightened but then relaxed, the warm blood gushed, painting her face red before the body fell to the side with a muffled noise. Natalia took in a deep breath. The ferric scent of the blood filling her lungs.
She needed some time to recompose herself. She closed her eyes, simply enjoying the feeling of the oxygen.
"There are five subjects dead, nine of them still stand. RN28, BY23, YS26, TS23, NA21, FM20, PD25, AM19, AK24. Sorted by number of kills. Subject RN28 is in the house 3 in the quadrant 4C." The man's voice sounded through the city. Natalia took no time in sitting, gathering her stuff and leaving as soon as possible. The other Widows were coming after her.
4 DEAD, 10 ALIVE