Madame sat on Natasha's bed. Natasha having slept through her wrist being released from the handcuffs.
"Natasha, tardiness for your exams is unacceptable." Madame stroked her cheek. Blearily Natasha shot up, and blinked. Exams? She still had a day.
Madame smiled, "Yes, dear. Exams. Your graduation process begins today with your practical exams and your written ones. You are expected for your weapons test in 15 minutes." Madame set clothes on her bed and left.
The other girls filed by her with cheers of congratulations and support. 15 minutes wasn't enough time to shower and get breakfast. She hurried to the bathrooms and retreated to the shower. Her body trembled, as she rinsed her hair and pressed her hands into her face. Panic set into her chest as she gasped for air. She turned the water to ice cold and gasped as it washed over her body in icy sheets. The chill distracting her from the feelings, and she was able to get a grip.
Ten minutes as she stood in the icy water. She slammed the nozzle backwards and shut it off. In the last chunk of her time she changed into black leggings, a red long-sleeved shirt made of a material that reminded her of her ballet outfits. Thin and breezy. The leggings were a marvel. Various pockets and loops. Reinforced for durability. She liked them. They were made with purpose, like she was. She wore her sturdy boots that reached her knees, from last night and braided her long red hair in a single plait.
She hurried down the hallway to the weapons range as three of the training winter soldiers walked in. James the last of the three. He stared at her and whispered as the others filed in. "You're the one testing today?"
Natasha nodded and threw her hands up in the air. "I barely slept. I haven't eaten." She panicked.
"Soldier!" A commander barked. "Do you see the testing candidate in the hallway?"
James pretended to look and called over his shoulder. "Yes, commander. She's heading this way now."
"Tell the candidate to wait outside. Guard the door until the test is ready to begin."
James blocked the door and pointed his finger toward the wall to his side where she could wait out of view.
He fished a slender bar out of his pocket. "Here." She said quickly and unwrapped it for her. "It doesn't taste that great but it's meant to sustain us on missions without food sources."
Natasha ate the bitter tasting bar and shut her eyes. She nervously bounced from foot to foot.
"You can do this." He scanned the hallway before squeezing her arms comfortingly. He looked so sharp in his military fatigues. The wintery colors mixed with navy and grey. It made his eyes shine and his hair look much darker.
She huffed, "I know I can do it.." She breathed. She had no doubt that she could do everything they'd ask her to today. It was the lifetime that followed her success that she wasn't sure of.
A sharp knock came from inside the room. She stiffened and looked at the door. James tugged her close and kissed her softly. He opened the door and escorted her in.
The commander and Madame approached her. James fell into line beside the two others dressed like him.
"State your name." The commander said sharply.
She lifted her head and breathed slowly. Madame looked proud. "Natasha Alianovna Romanova."
"Age."
"18." Natasha said quickly.
"Do you know why you are here?" He asked as he thumbed through a file.
Natasha thought that was a strange question. Her pause alerted him, "Speak now child." He said firmly.
Child. She stiffened at the word. To him she must seem like a child. "Yes, Sir. I know why I am here."
He nodded, "Do you know the consequences should you fail the examination."
Madame stood to the commanders left and watched her closely. "Yes." Natasha answered.
"Repeat them, child." He said and snapped the file shut.
"Death. Failure in any aspect of the examinations will result in my termination from the program and my life. I will be offered no chance to retest." She said void of emotion.
The commander nodded and Madame stepped forward. The men moved around the room and inspected a few elements.
Madame's cold hands took Natasha's, "You are the one I have had the highest hopes for. Alina was second to you. You have overcome every obstacle. You have trained the hardest. You will not fail. You never have." Madame pushed her towards a red line and stepped back.
The commander pointed to three sections of the vast floor in front of her. "Your examination begins now and will progressively get harder." A table rose through a slat in the floor. It was filled with a variety of weapons essential for her future profession.
She examined the weapons. Guns, knives, darts, explosives, stunning devices. Different colored tapes were placed on the devices. She furrowed her brow and looked around. "You have 2 minutes to use all 35 weapons accurately."
She watched the commander press a button and mechanical whirring filled the room. Targets plastered on dummies moved around the room. In and out of the ceiling. Across the floor. Rising from hatches on the floor and from the walls. She narrowed her eyes and saw what accuracy meant. Perfect hits and use of the accurate weapon. Each target required a specific weapon. She had wasted too much time now.
"Time starts… Now!" A buzzer jolted her into action. She grabbed as many weapons as she could carry fitting them into the loops and pockets of her leggings. She charged forward. Hurling a green knife into a spinning target. Head shot. Perfection.
Blue throwing star to the eye of a fast-moving target. Stunning device dead center on a red target. It was a blur. She fired guns and dropped them with speed as she grabbed another weapon. A fraction of a second is all she had to match weapon to target or she'd never have enough time. Seven yellow darts found their homes in targets that disappeared every 30 seconds giving her a time crunch to pass that portion. She sprinted back to her table a second time grabbing the last weapons she could carry. Firing two guns at a time, multiple targets. Wasted weapons fell in piles around her feet as she spun, pivoted and aimed in quick succession. She charged her last target. A laterally moving dummy taped in orange with the target wrapped around its throat. She leapt onto it and used the thin garrote to sever its head from the body in one quick rip.
She jumped to the floor as the timer stopped. Panting she brushed stray hair from her eyes and realized she had finished with time to spare. 25 seconds left.
"Behind the line." The commander stated with a snap of his fingers at her. "Soldiers, assess and score each target!"
Natasha passed by James as she ran towards targets with the other two soldiers. Her eyes met his only for a second and he winked.
Madame held Natasha's face in her hands. "You did wonderfully. Would you like to see?" She handed Natasha a tablet with video footage.
Natasha watched the soldiers work and clean up the mess she had made. Madame noticed. "Your exam is part of their training. They're being asked to assess lethality and precision. Weapon identification. No need to worry, dear."
Natasha nodded and took the tablet. She saw herself in a different light. Powerful. Deadly. Fast.
The commander approached them, "First exam is complete. The exam was completed with a score of 100%."
Madame squeezed Natasha's shoulder and motioned for her to step to the line again.
The second test was an assessment of her ability to choose a weapon for a given situation. 65 scenarios were given to her, 65 answers she had to give. A soldier, not James, she had noticed was recording her answers. The other two were at a door at the end of the room setting something else up. It took a while for the results to come back.
"Second exam is complete. With a score of 100%."
Behind her people where filing into a viewing room. Madame and all of her teachers shut a glass door and suddenly this room felt more like an arena. The commander handed her a gun and a knife. She checked the magazine and saw it held two bullets.
"Your last exam will assess how well you use what you are given in a live scenario." He motioned for the three soldiers to spread about the room. Natasha watched as they held guns and assumed stances against three walls. "Do you understand the terms of a live scenario? If so, repeat them."
Natasha nodded. It was one thing to nod and say yes. It was another to verbalize it. The commander was a well-trained man and smart to ask her to repeat the terms. "Live scenarios end when a kill or kills have been made."
"There is no time limit. Your score will come from accuracy, type of kill, and the time you use to do it. The longer you take the lower your score. That is not to say that quick and sloppy will earn you more points." The commander motioned to the soldiers. "They are not your targets. They are here for your protection. Your targets are armed. Any injury you sustain will be subtracted from your score. You will have five minutes to read the files on the targets. Who you kill and what order you kill them in give more points as well."
Natasha stashed the gun in a loop on her leggings and the knife in her boot. She read the files while the timer counted down above her. The commander slipped into the glass room behind her now.
Five papers, five targets. She dropped to the floor and spread the papers out. Ordering them in her opinion from worst offender to least. Arson, terrorism, human trafficking, treason, and assassination. She frowned. Three seemed equal. The proof had to be in the details. She scrambled to read the fine details. The terrorist only conspired. He didn't act. The human trafficker evaded the authorities for years and trafficked children. The arsonist burned down three schools and killed 12 children caught in the fires. The assassin killed a high level Russian politician and his entire family. The treason file only revealed that the woman sold old, low level intel to the United States.
Natasha knew her order. Trafficker, assassin, arsonist, terrorist, and treason. She examined the details of each person, knowing she'd have no other way to tell their crimes unless she knew what they looked like. To her relief it seemed easy. Trafficker was male, short and bald in his 50's. The assassin was male, tall, and 23. The arsonist had scars from a burning obsession, an older robust male with a dark mustache. The terrorist had tattoos on his face and a woman was the one guilty of treason.
She breathed slowly and stood up, kicking the papers away and drawing her knife. Despite her order of offense she knew only one posed a serious threat to her. The assassin, who was successful, sneaky, and young. He needed to go first. The others were weakened with age or poor bodily condition.
The timer buzzed and the three soldiers pressed buttons near them on the wall. Three doors open and the targets filed in. Natasha spun and assessed each person. They all had different weapons. She dropped to the floor instantly as the assassin came running, gun raised at her. He aimed poorly as she dodged two shots. In a whirling kick she knocked the gun from his hand and buried the knife deep into his neck. Messy. She knew she'd be docked, but her biggest threat was eliminated.
The others had recoiled from the gun shot. She spied the trafficker hiding behind the arsonist. Natasha ran as a knife whirled past her. The trafficker raised a taser and fired it blindly in his fear. She ducked but not soon enough. A barb buried itself in her leg. The charge was weak, the fool hadn't let it power up before firing. For that she was thankful, though it still hurt. She sliced the line connecting the barb to the taser and scrambled to her feet. Her skin tingling. She hurled her knife at the trafficker a hit straight to his heart. Dead before he hit the floor. Thundering footsteps behind her alerted her to the next opponent. But not one high enough on her list to kill yet. The woman charged at her with a lead pipe. Natasha kicked the woman off her feet and spotted the scarred arsonist with throwing stars.
She tackled him as he fumbled with the weapon given to him. He threw one as she ran but it sailed past her shoulder, only nicking her skin. His fist swung toward her face, and easy block. She grabbed his arm and ripped it to the side, snapping his wrist.
A heavy blow landed against her shoulder and skimmed her head. Knocking her off the man and sending her rolling away. The woman had doubled back and seemed like a much bigger threat than Natasha had figured. The pipe slammed inches from her legs. Natasha jumped up and fired her gun. A quick bullet through the head.
Two left. A throwing star sunk into her leg. Natasha hissed and staggered to the side as the last two teamed up. The terrorist brandishing a knife. Natasha charged keeping in mind the time that had passed. Passing by the body she left the knife in, she grabbed it and hurried toward the two men. They swung wildly as she passed between them. Sending two sharp kicks to their heads simultaneously.
Natasha swung around to target the terrorist who snatched a handful of her braid and yanked her to the ground. She yelped in pain and blocked his stab at her chest with her arm. The blade slicing deep into her skin. His howl of pain overtook her as her angle downward gave her a clean shot to slice the artery in his leg. Blood gushed from his leg, in seconds he'd be dead with the wound she inflicted.
She jumped to her feet and spun to find the arsonist motionless on the floor. His neck broken from the kick. Her arm stung and stained her new shirt. The blood of her various targets stained her clothes and skin. Natasha dropped the gun to the floor and looked at the glass case. Her time reflecting in the glass. 7 minutes. She gasped and dropped to her knees as she trembled. She breathed deeply as the commander and Madame approached.
"On your feet, child." He commanded. Madame snapped her fingers.
Natasha stood up slowly, panting still. The commander pointed to two of the soldiers to examine the kills.
"Barnes. Examine the trainee for injuries."
Madame watched closely as James marked a blank diagram of a body. Madame pointed out injuries as James recorded. His eyes catching hers every so often.
Natasha was focused on the people she had killed. Criminals which made it easier. She had to do this or she'd be dead. Part of her worried how many more she'd have to kill before the testing was complete.
The commander approached her as Madame stepped away to talk with her ballet teacher. "If your injuries require it, you may sit."
Natasha nodded as James followed the commander to review the scores with the other two soldier's findings.
Five minutes she stood, stifling the blood spilling from her arm. She took her tattered shirt off. Using the thin material to make a temporary bandage. She was enhanced with serums to heal quicker than normal but serious injuries like this one would require more support to heal. The pink sports bra she wore was stained with blood from the nick to her shoulder. She spotted James looking at her as the commander talked to him. She looked away as finally people approached her.
"Natasha Alianovna Romanova, you have completed the third and final examination in this session." The commander held a file with her name on it. "Out of a maximum of 100 points, Miss Romanova had received a passing score of 95. 5 points being withdrawn only for the injuries sustained. One major injury, and three minor."
Natasha nodded and looked at Madame who seemed very pleased. "This weapons examination is complete, and Miss Romanova will report to the studio for endurance and precision examinations with her instructors in two hours."
"Barnes, escort the trainee to medical and report back for clean up." The commander dismissed them.
James opened the door and motioned for Natasha to lead the way. She ducked down a hallway and entered a private bathroom. James ducked in after her. With the door firmly shut Natasha turned the faucets on full force.
"Tasha." James said softly and kicked the lid down on the toilet, pushing her to sit. "You did it. Do you know what they were saying while we ran your last numbers?"
She sighed softly, "No.. What?"
James wet a towel and wiped the blood from her face. "That your scores broke all the records previously held. No one has ever gotten a 95. You are magnificent."
She smiled weakly. "I'm so tired." She looked up at him. Knowing her ballet teacher she would be doing routines until her toes bled.
With her face clean he leaned down and kissed her softly. His fingers brushing hair away from her eyes. Her hands rested on his arms. He pulled away and kissed her forehead. "Let's get you to medical. You can sleep and get some food after they fix you up."
She nodded and stood up. "Kiss me again.." She breathed. She wouldn't know when she'd seem him next. Or how long the tests would go today.
James pressed her against the wall softly, his lips teasing hers with short, quick kisses before she became impatient and deepened the kiss. James laughed and pulled away moments later only because he needed air.
He opened the door and let her lead the way again. Once in medical he left to fulfill his duties. Natasha's doctors applied creams to heal her cuts and gave her three shots of serums to heal her injuries. They sent her off to shower again and fed her a hearty lunch. On her bed in medical she was finally allowed to sleep.
