I've been trying to sleep for the past hour but it's hard to do that knowing Hydra will be crawling around here for the next two days. I've heard about Hydra from the other guards whispering about them and none of what I've heard is good. Every time I think about the Soldier leaving and going with them, an unsettling feeling fills my chest. I can't imagine the amount of pain they put him through, but what can I honestly do except to wait for him to come back. He's leaving tomorrow morning, before sunrise, before we wake up. But I'll be awake, I have to see him before he goes. I refuse to think about why I want to see him, not wanting to have to face the truth of my growing infatuation with him.
About 3 hours later the sound of voices and footsteps starting to descend down the stairs echoes through the building. I can feel my heart beating fast, knowing the Soldier's among them. Quietly uncuffing my wrist, I crawl out of bed, the cold floor sending shivers up my spine. Creeping towards the door, I keep my ears alert to make sure no one's coming towards the basement. As I get to the kitchen I find it empty, I suddenly realize there's no way I can see the Soldier without getting caught and I can only imagine what they'll do to me if that happens. As I'm about to turn around and go back to bed, an idea pops into my head.
When I get to the door that leads out of the kitchen, I peek out and see a group of guards crowding the door that leads out of the building. Their backs are turned to me so I use that opportunity to sneak behind them towards the staircase. Quickly but quietly, I make my way up to the 8th floor. I'm practically running by the time I get to the 6th floor, knowing full well no one's up here. As I get to the 8th floor, I hurry down the hall to the door that leads to the roof. Pushing the door open, I ignore the cold that hits my face and race to the edge of the building afraid that he'll already be gone. Peering over the ledge, I can barley tell who anyone is. There are so many officers, all of the Red Room officers and I can tell by the different uniforms that there are Hydra officers down there too. Ivan's somewhere among them but I can't make him out. But obviously the Soldier stands out, with his metal arm glinting in the moonlight, he's hard to miss. Two black vans are lined up being filled with supplies they'll probably need on their journey to wherever they're going. The Hydra men that were here earlier are down there too. The man I saw yesterday that seemed like the leader, has his hand on the Soldier's shoulder as if he owned him. Like he's their property and the Soldier just stands there and listens to what Ivan's telling him.
Soon enough the sound of engines starting fills the air, indicating they're about to leave. Men start to pile into the trucks, some guiding the Soldier towards the vehicle like he's a dangerous animal. Which to most, he is. He's about to get into one of the trucks, when he stops. Turning around he looks up, straight at me and I stare back at him. He's trying to tell me something and it physically hurts me to say I can't tell what it is. With one last moment of staring at each other, he turns around to not attract any attention and gets into the van. As the Soldier and Hydra disappear out of view, I straighten up and walk back inside. Eventually I don't even realize I'm back in bed, handcuffed. The building feels strangely colder now.
Before I drift off to sleep, I realize how pathetic I'm being. I'm acting as if my husband has just gone off to war. He's not going to be around forever Natalia, get your act together. I need to stop acting so weak and helpless. Like I can't live without him, I've survived this long. I can make it 2 days.
When I wake up, it's along with the other girls. I didn't wake up a couple hours earlier to train and Yelena didn't wake me up to train with her either, in a way I'm sort of thankful. I can't remember the last time I actually slept this long. Since the Soldier isn't here, our schedules will probably be changed. We'll most likely have longer hours with Madam Oksana and Mr. Volkov.
We all head to the washroom together, not saying a word. As we all brush our teeth I over hear some girls whispering from the other side of the room.
"Can you believe what the Soldier did to Yulia yesterday because of what she said about Natalia?" Windeliena whispers to Milgred and Pouline. Some girls stop what they're doing to listen in while I pretend to not pay attention. I glance over at Yulia to see her pretending to not pay attention as well, but by the way she's rubbing at her injured leg gives it away that she is.
"What did she say?" Pouline asks, leaning in to listen along with half of the other girls in the room.
"Something about Natalia getting special treatment from Ivan and the Soldier. Yulia also said something about her sleeping around as well, but I don't know exactly what she said." Windeliena explains, going back to brushing her teeth. By that point I tune out what they're saying. A part of me doesn't believe her, but why would Windeliena lie and Yulia isn't saying otherwise either. The thing is, that doesn't sound like something the Soldier would do but like I've said before, he's unpredictable.
Some of the girls wonder where the Soldier is and I don't feel inclined to share that information and also the fact that they'll probably ask questions as to how I know, further confirming what they think is going on with me and the Soldier. As we're escorted to the training room Ivan explains to us that the Soldier's been called out to a mission for the next couple days and that we'll be trained by someone else until then. Now this is news to me. Hearing that we're getting a new trainer leaves an unsettling feeling in my stomach. As we wait in the training room for our new instructor, I wonder where the Soldier is now but quickly discard that thought. I shouldn't be thinking about that.
"Ladies, this is Alexi Shostakov. The KGB provided him to us for the time being, he'll be training you for the next 2 days." Ivan informs us, he then steps aside to give way to our new trainer. Alexi Shostakov's a man a little more than 6 foot, probably in his early 20s, has red hair, and blue eyes. But not as blue as the Soldier's. He's wearing an all dark grey military uniform, typically what the KGB officers wear with a few medals pinned to his chest. He has a smug look on his face that immediately makes me dislike him. Smugness is an ugly look on a person, and he's no different. Some girls, of course, straighten up immediately attracted to the man. He holds himself with so much cockiness that he doesn't even hide and it's already getting on my nerves. This man even has the decency to look some of the girls up and down with a smirk. Now I'm excited to have the chance to fight him. He holds himself with absolutely no professionalism, something that I know the Soldier keeps in mind.
Ivan soon exits the room, leaving us with our new instructor. When the training room door closes a look of nervousness and panic flashes before Alexi's face but quickly vanishes. Probably because of the fact that he's never been faced with a bunch of teenage girls/soon-to-be assassins. Alexi opens his mouth to say something but soon closes it, not knowing what to say. I try my hardest not to roll my eyes, where did they find this guy?
"You, " He points to Yelena. "on the mat." He orders her. Yelena calmly walks to the center of the mat waiting for further instructions. Without warning he charges at her, luckily Yelena's quick to react. She blocks all of his punches and within a couple minutes she has him pinned to the mat. "Alright, maladez (well done)." He dismisses her, his tone showing a hint of embarrassment.
Alexi calls up a couple more girls and they all end up pinning him down to the mat. By this point his ego is practically shattered. Eventually it's my turn and I have to try my hardest to hold back my grin as I walk to the mat. Each time he's been the first to attack so I expect nothing different from him. Like I predicted he throws the first punch. Taking a step back, he barely grazes my cheek. Alexi smirks to himself, thinking he may actually have a chance at winning. He then spins around and kicks his leg up to connect with my head, this time I catch it. The smirk on his face quickly disappears as I throw him onto the floor. Alexi looks up at me with a glare as I stand back to give him room to stand up, I'm not quite done with him yet. When he gets to his feet I decide to make the first move. Running towards him, I drop to the floor, sliding between his legs so I'm behind him. Quickly getting to my feet, I climb onto his right shoulder so my thighs are wrapped around his head and throw myself towards the floor. Squeezing my thighs together, I start to choke him. Alexi begins clawing at my legs and leaving red lines, begging me to let him go. Satisfied, I unwrap my legs from around his neck and get up, walking back towards the girls.
"That's enough for today." Alexi coughs out while he struggles to get up. On our way to the training room door, Ivan opens it and steps in. We all walk out of the room in a single file, passing Ivan.
"You're done already?" He looks at Alexi in confusion. When he notices the state Alexi's in, he shakes his head and follows us out. As we're on our way to Madam Oksana, I notice some men in all black military uniforms. The Red Room officer's uniforms are dark grey and red, so I know they aren't from the Red Room or the KGB. The insignia on the shoulders of their uniform is what catches my eye. It's a black and red skull with tentacles coming out of it. Hydra. They must be here to bring in the new equipment. My prediction is proven correct when I see them walking up the stairs carrying an advanced looking computer. More Hydra officers come up the stairs holding more equipment and head up to the 4th floor. My curiosity has me wanting to go up there but the fact that there are three times as many officers crawling around here has me thinking twice.
When we get to the ballet studio, Madam Oksana's waiting for us. We all get our shoes on and wait for her to speak.
"You all have a very important event coming up." She begins. "In a week, you will perform for some officers that are from the head of the KGB. You must be ready until then, or else you'll not continue in the program." Madam Oksana finishes. She then proceeds to instruct us in our routine. Surprisingly she teaches us some new moves and choreographs it so it's a group performance instead of an individual one. I'm so caught up in the dance that I don't realize Alexi has entered the room, until we hear him give a low whistle. Madam Oksana then orders us to immediately stop. She calmly walks towards him, but the vein pulsing in her neck makes it clear she's anything but calm.
"Who are you?" She asks Alexi, crossing her arms. Alexi is leaning up against the wall next to the door, smirking at her.
"Alexi, I'm the girl's new trainer." He answers smugly. I have the sudden urge to mention to him that he's only our temporary instructor, but decide against it.
"That's a lovely name." She smiles at him kindly. "Now get out." Her tone is so stern and intimidating, he turns and leaves the room without another word. Madam Oksana then turns around and ushers us to continue dancing.
All too quickly it's time for lunch. When we exit the ballet studio I find Nikolay and Alexi talking and laughing together. Makes sense they would both get along, they're very similar. As I eat lunch, I find myself glancing at the front of the dining hall repeatedly, expecting the Soldier to be there. I'm pathetic.
All throughout Mr. Volkov's class he's been stumbling around and slurring his words as he reads us lines from Romeo and Juliet. But the cause of that's pretty obvious when I notice the empty bottle of vodka on the floor peeking out from behind his desk. Eventually he isn't even reading from the story anymore and is just saying a bunch of nonsense. If the Red Room can get a replacement trainer, why can't they get a replacement teacher? This is ridiculous.
My mind drifts to the performance we have to present to the head of the KGB in a week, but why do we have to do that? The KGB isn't really that involved with the Red Room. Do they want to be more involved in the Black Widow program now? I'm not sure, but I definitely have a bad feeling about this.
The rest of the day goes by fairly quickly and I'm now right back where I started, in bed trying to fall asleep. For the millionth time I find myself thinking about the Soldier. I'm not worried about if his mission will be a success, even though there's no doubt it will. It's Hydra I'm worried about. What if they do something to him? Like wipe his memories or take him away for good. But maybe that'd be for the best, he's compromised me enough already. As I think of it further, I immediately discard the thought. No, I need him to be here. For my training of course.
The sound of Ivan yelling wakes me up. Again I sleep in longer than I usually do, I can't make this a habit. Nikolay then walks into the basement, banging on the wall to wake the other girls up. The sound of Ivan yelling continues. Getting up from the bed, we all head to the washroom. On the way there, we pass the door that leads outside and I see Hydra officers still bringing in equipment. Ivan's standing by the door shouting orders for them to be careful with the new machines and the Hydra officers look like they want to kill him. My biggest fear at this point is that a huge fight will start between the Red Room and Hydra, which will end in a lot of blood.
When we get to the washroom Nikolay tells us that we'll start the day with Madam Oksana and finish the day with Alexi. Knowing this is Alexi's last day here makes me sigh in relief, he's definitely not Red Room material. I wonder why the KGB recommended him to train us, the KGB has plenty trainers that would be much better than Alexi but they gave us him. They probably don't want to waste good instructors on us.
As we eat breakfast me and Yelena start talking about our training from yesterday and we can't help but laugh. I'd say we were in the training room with Alexi for a total of 20 minutes, it took 20 minutes to completely humiliate him. As me and Yelena are laughing and joking around, I realize that no matter how much I deny it, we're friends and I like it. It's been so long since I've had a friend that I forgot how nice it is to have one.
"The look on his face was priceless." Yelena whispers under her breath so the officers don't hear her. She presses her hand to her mouth to stifle her laugh, while wiping the tears that are threatening to spill with the other. Biting my lip, I try not to laugh as well. Some girls look at us curiously and I try to stop laughing, but that just makes me want to laugh even more. "He thought he actually had a chance at beating you. Did you see his face, he looked so confident" She wheezes out, clutching her side in pain. I'm no better, I can barely breathe.
"And he looked so positive he would beat you when he called you up first." I told her, remembering that smug look on his face when Yelena first stood in front of him. We continue to try and hold back our laughter, until Ivan walks into the room to take us to Madame Oksana. I'm sure my face is a bright red by this point and I pray no one notices.
When we get to the ballet studio, Alexi's there once again standing next to a very irritated looking Madam Oksana. He's obnoxiously chewing on a piece of gum, blowing bubbles that Madam Oksana flinches to every time it pops. Me and Yelena give each other amused looks here and there as we get ready. When the music begins to play, we start to dance. Throughout the routine the sound of popping gum would echo over the music. I can see how Madam Oksana's trying to keep her anger in check but she's on the brink of snapping. A few minutes later the music abruptly stops. Some of the girls fall over, startled by the sudden halt of the music. Madam Oksana would normally scold us if we fell, but her eyes are fixed on Alexi instead. She starts taking slow strides towards him, her fists clenching at her sides. Alexi seems to not notice anything because he keeps on chewing his gum and staring off into space. Finally Madam Oksana is standing in front of him, not tearing her eyes away from the gum in his mouth. After a couple seconds, Alexi looks down startled to find the furious ballet teacher in front of him.
"What?" He askes, confused. He then makes the mistake of popping his gum again. Madam Oksana pulls her fist back and connects it with his nose. Blood immediately starts to pour from his nose and some snickers echo through the room. Holding his bleeding nose, Alexi rushes out leaving drops of blood behind him. Madam Oksana then straightens her dress and brushes back the strands of hair that have loosened from her bun. Turning around, she turns the music back on and we begin dancing again. Right at this moment Madam Oksana just became my favorite person. I can't wait for Alexi to leave, the only person who seems to actually like him is Nikolay, oh and Pouline who hasn't stopped ogling him since he's got here.
Again Mr. Volkov reads Romeo and Juliet to us, but this time he isn't drunk. But he does have a black eye and a busted lip. I'm not sure why he looks like that or who did that to him, but I don't question if he deserved it or not. Class's almost finished and I'm dreading having to go to the training room. As we walk to the training room Yelena falls back and starts walking next to me. I don't worry about it because Ivan's nowhere in sight. He's really the only one I'm worried about finding out about me and Yelena being friends. He expects better from me.
When we walk into the training room Alexi's standing on the mat, his nose clean of blood, looking more determined and confident about today's training session. His eyes are fixed on Yelena.
"On the mat." He orders her, stepping aside. Yelena makes her way to the training mat, making sure to take her sweet time. When she's finally standing in front of Alexi, he starts circling her like a vulture. "Get in a fighting position." Yelena immediately obeys, waiting for further instruction. Alexi's eyes travel up and down the back of Yelena, a smirk tugging at his lips. Even though most of the girls don't like Yelena, they look ready to kill Alexi. Well except Pouline, who looks like she's about to kill Yelena for peaking the interest of her man. "See this is the problem all of you have, a poor fighting stance."
There's absolutely nothing wrong with her fighting stance. He then instructs us to find a punching bag and to practice our punches and our fighting positions. I stand all the way at the back of the room at the last punching bag next to Yelena, who can't stop cursing Alexi under her breath. One after the other, Alexi goes down the line "helping" each girl with their posture by running his hands up and down their body. The only person who seems to be okay with it and who actually enjoys it is Pouline. I can't wait until Alexi gets to me, so I can knock his teeth out. Finally he strides up to Yelena, who has her fist balled up at her sides.
"Oh, come on. Don't be shy around me." Alexi reaches down and grabs both of her hands, raising them up to meet the punching bag. Something flashes in Yelena's eyes and she jerks her elbow back, then moves it forward so her fist connects with the punching bag.
"Like that?" She asks sweetly, turning her head to look back at him. Alexi hunches over, clutching his stomach in pain.
"Yeah, just like that." He gives her a weak smile. A grin makes its way to my face as Yelena flashes me a smirk. It takes a couple minutes for Alexi to get himself together and move on to me. "Looking good, but you're putting too much tension here." Alexi comments, placing his hand on my stomach. My mind flashes back to when the Soldier did something like that, except the feeling isn't the same, this feels wrong. Right now I feel like kicking this guy where the sun doesn't shine. I release some tension in my stomach, hoping that'll get his filthy hands off of me but sadly that doesn't happen. Instead he steps even closer. Closing my eyes to control my anger, I don't notice the training room go quiet. All I can pay attention to is Alexi's other hand that's snaking its way around my hip, not the sound of footsteps heading towards us. Right then I feel like throwing up as he squeezes my side. I'm about to spin around and punch him in his mouth when the sound of someone clearing their throat makes me snap my eyes open. Alexi rips his hands away from me, causing most of my anger to subside but not enough for it to completely disappear as his body moves away from mine. I'm afraid to turn around and see who it is, afraid it's Ivan.
"Who the hell are you?" Alexi spits out at the person behind me. When the person finally speaks I come to the conclusion that I much rather it have been Ivan.
"I think I should be asking you that question." The Soldier replies in a smooth, deep tone. Slowly turning around, I find the Soldier in his usual uniform except for a black jacket that's covering his metal arm. Explains how Alexi doesn't know who he is. The Soldier doesn't look angry, instead he looks calm which scares me.
"I'm the girl's new trainer." Alexi replies smugly, crossing his arms. The Soldier snaps his eyes towards me, a look of annoyance and confusion displayed in his eyes. I can't hold back the smile that grows on my face as the Soldier looks back at Alexi, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh really?" The Soldier challenges him, still looking calm. The room's dead silent, tension building in the air with each passing second. No one dares to make a single noise, even the few officers standing at the door of the training room refuse to come and break up whatever's going on here.
"Yeah, so are you going to answer my question?" Alexi steps closer to the Soldier, uncrossing his arms. Out of nowhere, the Soldier grabs Alexi by the neck and holds him up in the air. The sleeve to the Soldier's jacket rides up revealing his metal hand and forearm. When Alexi looks down and notices it, his eyes widen in realization.
"I don't think I have to." The Soldier says through clenched teeth, his calm exterior slowly crumbling.
"Soldier, stand down." Ivan speaks up from somewhere in the distance. Officers are now surrounding him, guns drawn. After a few moments, the Soldier drops Alexi to the floor, stepping back. Some officers lower their weapons, while others keep them aimed at the Soldier.
"I want him out of my training room." The Soldier tells Ivan, he then turns around and glances at me for a brief second then leaves without another word. Looking down at Alexi, I find him still laying on the floor coughing.
"That's enough for today. Nikolay, take them to the dining hall for dinner." Ivan rubs his eyes in exhaustion. As we make our way to the dining hall I notice how the building feels much warmer now, probably because of the fact that the Soldier's back. I need to find him, I'm not sure what I'm going to say but all I know is that I just need to talk to him.
"I'm not feeling so well." I tell Yelena, she doesn't question where I'm going or to see if I need help, instead she just nods almost like she knows exactly what I'm about to do. As the rest of the girls descend down the stairs out of sight, I head up towards the 4th floor. My heart's beating a million miles an hour, and I know this isn't a good idea but nothing's going to change my mind. Not Nikolay, not the officers, and especially not Ivan. I'm going to see the Soldier and no way in hell is anyone going to stop me.
Taa daa! Chapter 10. Hope you all enjoy it. Please R&R!