Chapter Eleven
The sun was coming up by the time the car reached its destination. The Widow got out of the car as it came to a stop, the two guards followed. She stared up at the long, tall building in front of her for a moment before walking forwards towards the large front doors. Two men stood either side guarding the entrance, however they both nodded as she approached; they knew who she was and they were not going to stop her. One guard took the radio from his belt and spoke briefly into it, no doubt warning the superiors of her arrival. He replaced it and nodded to his partner, the man punched in a code and the doors unlocked with a solid THUNK before opening silently. With a nod to the guards, the Widow walked silently into the building, her own guards flanking her. The inside of the building was much like the outside; bleak, morbid and dark. Natalia did not care; if she was honest it looked a lot like the now departed Red Room Facility and she felt almost at home there, it was an atmosphere she was used to. She could sense the pain and the blood that had been spilt here and it was a familiar presence, she knew deep down that it was one she was never going to shed. Blood and pain would surround her for the rest of her life; either she would be the one delivering it or the one experiencing it. This she knew in her heart. A squadron of guards greeted her as she continued her walk into what she presumed was her new home,
"You are the Black Widow?" the leader asked, his eyebrow rising in disbelief
"Yes I am" she answered shortly, irritated that her abilities were being questioned just by how she appeared. The idiot obviously did not realise that she was actually thirty years old not eighteen.
"Right" he obviously did not believe her but did not push the point; "Your Masters are waiting for you, if you would follow me" he turned around and began to walk back the way he came; his squadron taking up positions around them. She followed without a word as did her guards.
The man led her deep into the building, up two flights of stairs and through several corridors before stopping before two large double doors. He knocked twice and waited to be permitted entry; two minutes later a voice from inside called for them to come in. He opened the door and walked in, the Widow followed silently behind him. Her guards were told to wait outside with the rest of the squadron and so she went in alone; the doors were slammed shut behind her as she walked further into the room. The room was exceptionally large with a raised platform opposite the door and beautifully made furniture dotted around the place. Twelve high backed chairs were seated in a half circle on the platform and each was already occupied. She walked until she stood before them all and gracefully dropped to one knee, her head bowed in a sign of respect and submittance. She did not recognize everyone seated on the platform; eight of them were her Masters from the Red Room however the other four she did not know.
"Rise" commanded Ivan. She did as she was told; rising gracefully back to her feet although she kept her eyes on the ground to further reassure them that she knew her place.
"Look up Black Widow" his voice came again, cold and hard as normal. She did and studied each of the Masters carefully, remembering everything about them. There was only one woman and she was one of the four she did not know.
"Widow, as you can see there are several individuals whom you do not know. They are the leaders of the KGB. This is their headquarters and is where you will be staying unless you are on a mission." He stopped, waiting for confirmation that she understood; she gave him a curt nod; he continued,
"I will allow them to introduce themselves in a moment, however before I do, as you can see we are short on our original number; the rest of the Masters are dead. These individuals will be replacing them on this council and so they get the same level of respect from you as we do." The threat was there, loud and clear. She bowed her head,
"Of course Master; they have my unwavering loyalty, respect and obedience as does the rest of this council. I am their weapon to use as they see fit" she replied, her voice expressionless. The Masters nodded their head, pleased with her answer. The Woman leaned forward slightly with a cold smile on her face as she surveyed the woman before her. Ivan gestured with his hand and the four unknown faces introduced themselves one by one,
"I am Master Vladimir"
"I am Master Anton"
"I am Master Dmitry"
"And I am Madame Rozalina" the cold woman finished. The Widow bowed low to each Master as they introduced themselves before standing once again at attention, her eyes staring straight ahead.
"You are dismissed for now Widow; I will see you later to explain how things are going to work here on out" Ivan told her. She bowed once more and left; the guard from earlier followed her out before taking the lead again and leading back down the stairs to the quarters.
"Stay here" he told her and left her alone outside the closed door.
She turned her attention back onto the door and opened it. She stepped inside and surveyed her new room; the room was smaller than her last one with only a mattress on the floor with a thin blanket, a small desk with a wooden chair and a small closet. Another door led off to the bathroom on the left hand wall; she opened it and saw a small sink, shower and toilet, all crammed into the tiny space. She sighed quietly and pulled out the chair and sat down, waiting until her Master came to give her her orders. She was left waiting for three hours before she heard footsteps outside her room; she hurried to her feet as her door was opened. Automatically she bowed low, expecting Ivan, however when she straightened up, she found herself looking at one of the new Masters; Madame Rozalina to be exact. The Widow stiffened as she felt the other woman's gaze upon her, studying her with an almost single-minded determination. Finally she spoke,
"Madame Rozalina, how may I serve you?" her voice quiet and her gaze on the ground. Rozalina for her part looked faintly amused at the display of submittance the deadly assassin before her was showing.
"Firstly Widow, you can look up at me" Natalia's gaze instantly shot up and focussed on her Master.
"Secondly, you are only to address me as either 'my lady' or 'Madame'. Never 'Mistress' or 'Ma'am' or my actual name; understood?"
"As you wish my Lady" the Widow responded, her voice flat. Rozalina nodded her head in satisfaction.
"Follow me Widow, I am going to be one of your new instructors and so we will begin your lessons now" the cold woman spoke, turning on her heels and striding out the door; Natalia hurried after.
"You have had the serum" it was not a question but a statement, still Natalia dipped her head in affirmation.
"Well then that means that my normal lessons will not be good enough for someone so advanced as you." Rozalina allowed a cruel smile to form on her face as she studied her new student. With a sinking heart Natalia knew that these lessons were going to be far from pleasant.
"Three thousand push ups now!" her new instructor ordered suddenly; Natalia instantly dropped to the ground and began to complete her orders. Thirty minutes later she finished and gracefully got to her feet before standing at attention once again.
"Weights" came the next order and instantly the Black Widow made her way over to where the weights were situated. Lying down on the bench, she picked up the weight and looked at Rozalina.
"Do not stop until I tell you otherwise" Natalia nodded slightly and began to easily bench press the weight; it was only four hundred pounds after all. After five minutes, Rozalina held up a hand for her to stop; she did. Another four hundred pounds were added and then Natalia was gestured to continue. The load she was forced to bench press was heavy but not anything she could not lift; she continued lifting the weight for another ten minutes before another four hundred pounds were added. Natalia grunted with exertion as her muscles now began to strain under the amount, yet still she continued. Rozalina smirked as she saw her student struggling; she wanted to test her limits and push them. Oh there was a reason why Madame Rozalina was called Madame Viper; and she was not going to make this pleasant for the Widow, no she was going to take the already exceptional assassin and turn her into someone… no something else. Fifteen minutes later she added a further four hundred pounds. Natalia's armed began to shake as continued to bench press a grand total of sixteen hundred pounds. Twenty minutes later, she let out a gasp as she almost lost her grip on the weight; desperately she looked at her instructor, pleading with her to allow her to stop. Rozalina looked back at her dispassionately.
And so it began…
For another thirty minutes Rozalina made her student continue to bench press sixteen hundred pounds, her whole body drenched in sweat yet not another sound emitted from the tired woman.
"Enough" Natalia gratefully put the weight back onto its rack and stood up, her arms still shaking from the effort.
"The rings" Rozalina told her, with an inward sigh the Black Widow made her way to were the two metal rings hung from the ceiling by chains, two metres from the ground. Thanks to the serum, Natalia could easily make the jump up and so her hand clasped firmly around the rings, leaving her dangling above the ground.
"Lift yourself until the rings are level with your stomach Widow" Rozalina ordered. Natalia complied and began to strain her already shaky muscles as she lifted herself up.
"Splits also" came another order, this time accompanied by a smirk, with a small grunt, the Widow stretched her legs until they were horizontally straight and strained her muscles in her legs to keep them in that position. Madame Viper watched on three metres in front of the hanging woman, a stop watch in her hands as she began to time the Widow. Minutes trickled by slowly as the Widow continued to lift herself up. She knew pain; she had experienced some form of it every single day of her life; however she could say that without a doubt, she had never been so physically stretched beyond her limits in the same way as she was now. A full hour went by and her Master had made no sign that she was going to be let down any time soon; gritting her teeth she focussed all her concentration into staying up. Rozalina saw how close the Widow was to collapsing and smiled cruelly. 'Good' she thought, 'let us see how strong this little spider truly is' fifty-two minutes later and Natalia had truly met her limits, with a gasp she pleaded,
"My Lady, I beg you. Please. Allow me to rest" Rozalina raised an eyebrow unimpressed,
"Failure is not an option Widow, you know this. If you do not want to suffer anymore than necessary I suggest you stay were you are until I command you to do otherwise" was her response. The Widow closed her eyes and felt her last reserves of energy draining from her body; she was almost completely spent but knew that if she was to fall, the pain she would suffer after would make this feel like a pin prick. Twenty one minutes later just as her arms were about to fail her, the merciful command came,
"You may stop" Natalia thankfully dropped back onto the ground, landing on her feet for a moment before her legs collapsed from underneath her and she went down. Rozalina approached her and crouched down in front of the exhausted woman; she placed her hand on Natalia's chin and forced the younger woman to look up at her.
"We are not done Widow, I have not yet broken you" she spoke gently yet cruelly. Natalia's eyes widened slightly but that was the only reaction she gave. Rozalina knew that although she had the Widow's obedience, it was because of her status as her Master not because of her own merit and so she was going to make sure the woman knew exactly who was in charge. She was going to break the famous Black Widow and was going to fill her with a fear that would make even Ivan look like a playground bully.
Standing up, she dragged the Widow with her and began to lead the exhausted woman out of the room and outside. Coming to a stop behind the building, Natalia saw a large running track marked into the ground. One run around the track was a distance of one point five miles; her heart sank a little as she realised what exactly was in stall for her. Rozalina stood next to her, studying her reaction closely with a cold small smile on her lips,
"Start running" she ordered, Natalia glanced briefly at her master and took off at a run.
"Faster" Rozalina shouted at her and she obeyed, going faster and faster until she was running full tilt, thanks to her enhancements she could run a hell of a lot faster than the average person however unfortunately for her, Rozalina wanted her to be able to better her current speed. Round and round she went, tiring every minute as she was pushed to limits and beyond; she was utterly exhausted by the 60th lap but still she kept going. Viper was ruthless and was determined to break her student completely and utterly; only then will she be able to build the Widow back up into her own vision of the perfect assassin. Hours went by and still she ran; the cold winter air no longer affected her burning body until at last she stumbled and collapsed onto her hands and knees, arms and legs shaking violently as she breathed heavily through both her mouth and nose. Viper walked over and stood less than a meter away, looking down dispassionately at the Widow. The Widow raised her tired head and spoke through gasps,
"Please… My Lady… enough… I cannot… cannot continue" her voice straining and quiet; Viper crouched down and took her head in her hands before looking deep into her students eyes. She saw the exhaustion both physical and mental and knew that she close to breaking the Widow completely. In time the Widow will be hers completely.
"We are finished for today Widow, report to me at 0500 tomorrow morning." She told her coldly before straightening up and walking away. Natalia watched her new instructor/Master walk back towards the building and dragged herself back onto her feet and following.
Ivan was waiting for her as she stumbled into her quarters, bone tired and in no mood for anything but sleep. She stopped suddenly when she saw him and stared for a moment not comprehending who he was before realising and quickly bowing low to her Master; gritting her teeth against the pain lancing throughout her body.
"Widow." Ivan greeted her
"Master" she replied, her gaze still on the ground as she straightened up slowly. Ivan cocked his head to one side as he studied his student.
"Good lesson?" he asked
"It was very thorough Master, does that count as good?" she replied, not caring at that moment that she was one, being sassy and two, questioning her Master; something she had not done for more than two decades. Ivan's face turned red with anger and he struck out at her, she fell to the ground with a small hiss of pain as her muscles protested. Grabbing her by her throat he slammed her into the wall,
"Do not ever speak to me like that again. Do you understand?" he hissed at her, squeezing her throat hard, cutting off her oxygen. Natalia tried to speak but could not, her face going slowly purple as she clawed at the hand slowly killing her. She nodded desperately, fear showing in her eyes as still the pressure was kept up; she was now thrashing desperately as dark spots began to appear before her eyes. Ivan held her for another few seconds before releasing her. She dropped to the ground in front of him; gasping and coughing as air was breathed hungrily back into her starved lungs,
"Yes Master" she choked out, "forgive me, it will never happen again" Ivan watched mercilessly in silence for a few minutes before speaking again,
"I know. Now for the reason I came here; for the next five years, Madame Rozalina will be training you in her own unique skill set. Missions during this period will be non-existent. You are to work solely on your skills and then perhaps if Madame Rozalina deems you fit to go back into the field after the five years are up then missions will be back on the table. I am leaving tonight to go and start to rebuild the Red Room elsewhere; the other Red Room Masters will be joining me. I trust you will obey the KGB Masters Widow? This is whom you will work for and answer to for now on" he told her.
"Yes Master" Natalia replied bowing her head from where she was still on the floor. Ivan watched her for a moment,
"Good bye Natalia" he said quietly before he left the room. Natalia took a deep breath and got to her feet unsteadily before making her way to the bathroom to take a shower. After twenty minutes she changed into a pair of combat trousers and a t-shirt that was one of several that had been provided and laid down on the mattress. Wrapping the thin blanket round her shoulders, she closed her eyes drifting off to sleep, thinking about the horrors that no doubt she would be experiencing over the next five years by the hands of Madame Viper.
At 0500 the next morning, Natalia found herself once more in the training room standing opposite Madame Rozalina. They were currently involved in a three way staring match with the floor. Natalia stared at the floor; the floor stared back at her and Rozalina staring at Natalia. The floor won as Rozalina ordered her student to look at her.
"As Ivan no doubt explained to you last night, you will be my pupil for the next five years. My rules are simple: one- be here everyday at 0500. Two- obey my instructors without hesitation or question. Three- you are only allowed to rest/eat/sleep when I allow you to. Are my rules clear enough for you?" she asked, her tone hard,
"Yes Madame" Natalia's response was instant with no hesitation. Viper nodded once and began the same drill as yesterday. For the next year that is all Natalia did everyday, it got longer and harsher every passing day and sometimes she was not allowed to rest/eat or sleep for days at a time. Her endurance and speed grew dramatically and so the assassin entered a new level of ability which no one could compete with. Rozalina was extremely pleased with this though she never showed it; all Natalia ever got from her was pain and criticism, never a nice word or smile. It began to wear the Widow down eventually; she was learning another skill at the same time to all the physical training: sole independence. Rozalina was the only person she was ever permitted to see or speak to for the entirety of the training and even then Rozalina would sometimes just write down her instructions and leave her alone for weeks at a time. The lack of human interaction finally took its final toll one day, one year and three months later. The Black Widow finally broke unable to cope with it any longer. Something snapped inside her again and she knew that her empathy towards others would never be the same again if it ever did come back. Madame Viper had managed to get her back to the mechanical Widow she had been under the influence of the protocol; of course she could still feel pain however Natalia now no longer cared. She felt nothing. She was a machine. A weapon just waiting to be used. Viper now took the training up a level and began to train the Widow in new ways to kill her targets, some mimicked natural causes while others were meant to send a very clear message others. Natalia was taught how to kill with the most mundane and everyday objects. Her natural talent allowed her to learn everything at an accelerated rate which meant that the amount being taught was increased. The years passed quickly and soon the five years were up; Ivan came back soon after the new year to check on her progress. Natalia had definitely changed, that much was clear to Ivan when he watched her while she trained with Viper. She was being put through the pace on a parkour course that had been strategically set up in the field several miles away from the building. She had to complete the course within two minutes otherwise she would be sent back to the beginning to redo it until she did.
"Again" he heard Viper call out and he watched as the Widow immediately ran back to the beginning and took off again when the whistle was blown. It was an impressive display of agility, flexibility and balance and something that even Ivan had to admit would be impossible for anyone else to complete within the two minute mark. He watched for another thirty minutes before walking towards where Viper was standing.
"Madame Rozalina"
"Master Ivan, welcome back"
"Thank you; How has she done?" he gestured towards where Natalia was repeating the course for the god knows how many times. Viper allowed a small proud smile to slip onto her face,
"She has done well. Very well. You may find her to be different after taking her back" Ivan raised an eyebrow at his counter-part,
"I've noticed. I'm not entirely sure I am going to be taking her back. At least not yet, I will be leaving again in a few months" Viper nodded,
"Very well I will continue acting as her handler until you decide otherwise. She is ready to go back out there. She always was you know"
"I know." He replied softly, still staring at his most prized creation. He knew that no matter how hard he tried to recreate what he had made the Widow into, there would never be anyone close to her level of skill. The Widow was born to kill; it was that simple.
"Do you want speak with her?" Rozalina asked a few minutes later after she had judged the silence had gone on long enough. Ivan nodded his head in affirmation.
"WIDOW. HERE NOW!" she shouted across the field. Immediately the Widow flipped off the tall block she was currently standing on and ran over to where her Masters waited. Stopping before them both, she dropped down onto one knee, head bowed without a word. Her breathing was still normal even after doing the course non-stop for over three hours.
"Rise" Rozalina spoke curtly, Natalia did as she was told and stood up, her back straight as she stood to attention.
"How has your training progressed since I've been away?" Ivan asked, he was unnerved by the soullessness he saw in his former students eyes
"Well Master, I have been taught many new skills to the highest level by Madame Rozalina. She has taught me well" her voice matched what he saw, it was cold and hard.
"That is good. Madame Rozalina believes you are ready to go back onto missions, how do you feel about this?" without changing her expression she replied,
"My feelings are neither relevant nor important. If my Masters wish to send me out again; I will obey as I have always done" Ivan was slightly uneasy with the changes he saw in the Widow; he did not know whether they were a good thing or not and was unsure what exactly occurred to make her like this: soulless, remorseless. Viper was secretly pleased with the Widow's responses; she had trained her well that was certain.
"Excellent. Your mission orders will be delivered sometime within the next three days." His tone signified a dismissal; however Natalia nodded to him and turned towards Rozalina,
"Will that be all Madame?" she asked.
"Yes Widow, continue with the course. You are dismissed" The Widow bowed low to each of them and ran back towards the starting point. Ivan turned his attention onto Rozalina,
"What in the name of God did you do to her to get such absolute obedience in such a short time?" he demanded furiously.
"Isolation can be such an effective tool" she answered vaguely, staring at him with a cold smile on her face. Ivan stared back at her waiting for a proper answer. Viper sighed,
"I broke her spirit completely and utterly Ivan. All it took was severe physical exhaustion and lack of human interaction and as you can see the results were spectacular." Ivan shook his head slightly a small smile on his face appearing,
"Why did I not think of that?" he asked himself, approval evident in his tone.
"Because you are like Arkady whom loves torturing her too much to try anything new" Rozalina supplied. Ivan looked at her with surprise,
"You mean you have not tortured her for the entire time she had been with you?" Viper shook her head,
"Of course I have but I prefer to keep her guessing and not just torture her when she does something wrong, whereas you punished her with it only when she displeased you or dedicated at actual lesson block to it. Granted you did it for a lot longer than me but I do it systematically; it instils a healthy amount of respect and fear into her for me."
Ivan just looked at her,
"Anyone ever tell you have evil you are?" he asked with a chuckle
"No. And I'm not evil, I'm just practical." She responded with a similar chuckle,
"Now is that all? I have a student to train" she asked
"Yes, train away" Ivan told her waving his hand towards Natalia. He turned and left, leaving the Master and student alone once more.
Natalia read the folder in front of her as she listened to Master Ivan explaining her mission; even though he was going to be leaving in a few months, he still wanted to make sure that Natalia was his. He saw nothing that made him worry that he had lost any of the respect she had always shown him.
"This mission will not be solo Widow; your partner will be here shortly. Understand that he will be the superior officer on this mission therefore you will do exactly as he says; do we understand each other?" the Widow's head snapped up as she replied,
"Yes Master"
Ivan nodded once and silence resumed as the Widow continued to finish reading her mission briefing. The mission was simple, kidnap and intelligence gathering. She was to get the times, numbers and places of the American's spy ring that had infiltrated Russia. She looked up suddenly as the sound of footsteps caught her ears, thanks to her enhanced hearing it was several minutes later until Ivan could hear them as well. The door opened and standing there, looking as imposing as ever was the Winter Solider…
Authors Note: Hey guys, hope you are enjoying this story. Please continue to review, I would love to hear your thoughts