Katya sighed heavily as she waited in the metal chair. The room was as plain as possible, gray walls, dark carpet, two chairs, one table. She didn't remember how she got there, just the city she was in hours before. It was cold, the buildings gray, the streets dirty. The mission was just for practice at the Red Room. She vaguely remembers a scuffle, then she woke up handcuffed to a metal chair, covered in debris and blood. She tried to make her expression calm, as she was surely being watched, but on the inside she was panicking. She could only imagine how mad Madame B, her headmistress, would be, knowing that she was captured, and had failed. She wasn't the best cadet at the school, but she wasn't bad enough to be eliminated. She had considered running away, multiple times, but she knew she would just be caught. A few years ago, someone tried to run away. She was out in the town, by the school in groups. They would practice creating a fake persona and interacting with people. They would pose as average teenage girls, shopping, laughing, and talking. In reality, they were spies and master assassins, mastering the art of disguise. Only a single phone is given to one of the girls, once the call comes in, they head back to the school inconspicuously. The girl said she would be right back, but she never returned to her group. A few hours later some of the guards were sent out to look for her. They traced the cellphone and found it at the bottom of a garbage can. They searched the area and eventually found her, a few miles into the woods, freezing and terrified that she had been found. They dragged her back to the school. She was kicking and screaming, her lips and fingers blue, as she pleaded for them to let her go. She was pushed into Madame B's office. Katya never saw her again after that. She trembled slightly, hoping she would not share the same fate.
Suddenly, a door at the other end of the room opened. An unfamiliar woman walked in. She had dark brown hair, she wore a smart, tailored blazer, and round glasses that enhanced her already owl-like eyes. She sat in the chair across from Katya, placed a notepad, and file on the table, and extended the point of her pen with a quick click, as she tapped it on the table.
"So, it's been a pretty crazy last 24 hours for you hasn't it." The woman remarked as she looked at Katya with a sympathetic smile. Katya, saw right through her little maternal act. If she had learned anything from her time in the Red Room, it was that people almost always have ulterior motives. Katya didn't need to say anything, her glare had spoken for itself.
"Look, sweetie. I don't want you to be scared or nervous, just think of this as a conversation, not an interrogation."
Katya nodded, but still said nothing. The woman opened the file and began skimming through it quickly.
"So, I'm going to ask you a few questions about anything that you remember and you have to answer them as honestly as possible, okay. Then, we can get your wounds treated." Katya nodded, as she absentmindedly examined a young scab on her arm. She was already creating a fake persona, ready to lie her way through the questions just as she had been trained. Though, this agency, wherever it was, would probably be kinder if she told the truth, but the Red Room would surely find her and make her pay for exposing them.
"First, what is your first and last name?"
"Marta Sokolova."
"How old are you?"
"16."
"What agency are you associated with?"
"Freelance."
"What was your mission?"
"To steal plans regarding a new nuclear weapon that was possibly being created by Tony Stark."
"Who hired you?"
"All I know is that it was a man. He never told me his name. Only the job and the pay."
"Do you remember anything, at all from the last 24 hours?"
"All I remember is a city, it was quite dirty, then a brief scuffle. A flash of red hair, the whirs of something flying through the air, stepping on a broken arrow."
"Finally, do you have any information regarding the Red Room?"
"Isn't it a restaurant in California?"
"Thank you for your time." The woman said as she collected her things and exited. Katya waited expectantly hoping someone would come and patch up her injuries. She had shrapnel stuck in her hair and the cuts along her arms were starting to sting. She waited for what must've been four hours, and still no one arrived. Katya was starting to get tired, and her wrists were raw from being handcuffed to the chair. She leaned her head on the back of the chair, so she was staring at the ceiling, then she closed her eyes. She listened to the sound of the cool air flowing from the vent above, and tried to ignore her pain. Slowly, she counted from one to ten in her head in English, then Russian, then Spanish, then French, then Chinese, then Arabic, in an attempt to keep her mind occupied.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Odin, dva, tri, chetyre, pyat, shest, sem, vosem, devyat, desyat.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez.
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.
Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí.
Wahid , athnan , thlatht , arbet , khmst , stt , sbet , thmanyt , tset , eshr.
She immediately snapped up in attention as the door opened, two guards and a nurse walked in. The guards removed her handcuffs and allowed her to stand up, then immediately cuffed her hands behind her back. They led her down a long hallway, down four flights of stairs and finally reached a room. It was the same color as the last room she had been in, and had a very similar layout, except there was a cot and a small nightstand. The guards stood by the door, looking extremely tense as they held their guns tightly against their chest plates. Katya sat down on the foot of the bed, the nurse sat beside her.
"Hello, Marta. I am just here to check your injuries and make sure you are alright. Now, I'm going to remove your handcuffs, but only if you promise not to harm me."
"Okay." Katya said quietly. The nurse removed her handcuffs and placed them on the nightstand. She began to wipe away the blood and dirt off of the girl's face. The antiseptic wipe burned a little as it touched her open cuts, and the raw, red imprints on her wrists.
"Sorry if this stings." The nurse replied, being experienced enough to know how most patients reacted. She removed the glass fragments from her hair, arms, and hands. Once her most obvious wounds were treated, and bandaged. The nurse decided to give the girl a more thorough examination to keep for S.H.I.E.L.D's records, since the girl had shown no sign of aggression, so far.
"Now, I'm just going to check your heart rate and blood pressure." The girl said nothing, so she held the stethoscope against the girl's chest and found her heartbeat. It was very steady, but unusually fast. It was most likely from nerves and the rush of adrenaline she had experienced only a few hours prior. So, she wrote it down in her notes. She took the girl's blood pressure, it was very good, but she started twitching slightly when the squeezing had stayed still for too long.
"Can you lay down on the bed for me?" Katya nodded and did as she was told. She was very tense, in a way that she was clearly expecting pain or something unpleasant.
"I'm just going to check your internal organs." The nurse pressed a steady hand on the girl's stomach, seeing that all of her organs were in the right place, and didn't suffer too much damage. The girl let out a small, barely noticeable whimper as the nurse slightly increased the pressure. The girl had a large, dark spot on her stomach, most likely a large bruise from a past injury, that had left the tissue scarred. The nurse immediately stopped, and Katya sat up again, the nurse was surprised by how cooperative the girl was, most of her patients usually writhed in agony.
"Can you open wide?' The nurse examined her mouth.
"You're not too dehydrated. Do you mind if I take some blood?"
"No." She held out her arm for the nurse to take. She noticed that she was quite shaky when placing her arm on the block the nurse had. Katya flinched, and closed her eyes as the needle pierced her skin. Once she felt the needle being removed she opened her eyes, and let out a small sigh of relief. The nurse handed her two bottles of water, and wrapped her arm up in gauze and medical tape.
"That's all I'll do for today. There is a camera in your cell, so if you are in pain or try to escape, we'll be there." Katya nodded. She got the message. We're watching you.
"Thank you. Nurse…"
"Franklin." The Nurse replied. She collected her things and left, pleasantly surprised by how polite she was. The guards shut the cell door and locked it behind them. Katya examined the water bottles suspiciously, they appeared to be unopened. She untwisted one and gingerly took a sip. She didn't detect any sign that it was tampered with, so she took more sips. She laid down on the bed, too afraid to get underneath the thin blankets, she curled up in a ball and stared at the ceiling. After many hours, the heavy pull of sleep finally took her, and she closed her eyes.
