Ghosts Of The Past | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 15: Pandora's Box

''You just sent away the one thing that would stop me from killing you,'' Natasha smirked, her gun hovering in front of Dreykov's face in a threatening way. Antonia had just left the office, but he didn't seem to care that he was without protection now.

''Try, then. Do it,'' he challenged calmly. This man hadn't changed his tone of voice the entire time. A picture of pure control and calmness. If only he knew he was the one being controlled and manipulated. Katya couldn't wait for the look on his face when his 'pupils' got the better of him.

Natasha really did try to squeeze the trigger - her reaction to it failing wasn't that manipulated - but her finger wouldn't move. All that happened was the shaking of her hands and the strained grunts that left her lips.

Melina hadn't joked about being unable to hurt him. Her body simply would not let her shoot him.

''Nat?'' Katya pretended to be worried and confused as to why she hadn't shot him yet. All she had to do was play the perfect compliant sidekick Dreykov believed she was.

Natasha had always been the better one at manipulating people, knowing the right thing to say. So she let her take the lead.

''I can't-'' the redhead grunted as an answer, cutting herself off halfway.

To make the show complete, Katya got her own gun out, aiming it. The feeling was the weirdest ever.

You know when you've fallen asleep on your arm and lay on it for too long, and it's completely numb? Not that tingling feeling, but just complete numbness. And you try to lift it and you can't move it at all?

That's what it felt like. Her brain gave her finger the order to pull the trigger, but nothing happened. Somewhere along the way, the signal got blocked

Dreykov must be smirking widely internally, because on the outside, he didn't show any emotion. 

''Is the safety on?'' He mocked, taking their guns away easily, checking the switch. But of course it wasn't on. They would never let that happen. ''No,'' he concluded as well, pointing Natasha's weapon up first and shooting at the ceiling, Katya's one following. 

Their distraught expressions weren't all fake. This was very disturbing, and a completely new feeling to Natasha. Katya lost control over her body before, doing things she didn't want to. But she'd never been able to not do things.

''Try your knife.''

Their knives were out within a heartbeat, Natasha going for the stab whereas Katya placed her knife on his throat to slash it. But it never landed on his skin. About half an inch away from the fragile flesh, it stopped. And no matter how much willpower she put into her arm, it wouldn't move closer. 

Katya panted at this point, like she was pushing against a piece of furniture that wouldn't budge. ''What the hell?'' Unlike Natasha, who let the knife be plucked from her hand, she dropped hers altogether and took a step back.

Her fingers wanted to thread themselves in her hair, but since Yelena had made her ponytail so tight, she couldn't. So they ran over it helplessly, exactly as the display she put on.

''You're in trouble,'' Dreykov mused. ''Two Avengers and you can't even touch me.''

''How are you controlling us?'' Natasha managed to throw out as she caught her breath, her face uncomfortably close to his.

''I'm not controlling you. Well, not yet. But there is a pheromonal lock. Smelling my pheromones prevents you from committing violence against me.''

To Katya's complete dismay, when he made a move to hit her in the face, Natasha flinched and turned her head away, awaiting the slap.

It absolutely broke her heart, shattered it, because she wasn't sure if this was real or not. It appeared that the automatic response to be afraid of this man, to be submissive, was still in there and came out.