The Third Black Widow

The Red Room

I hear a rattling sound and my eyes snap open. I look around and I see that our handcuffs are being unlocked.

"Girls, get dressed in normal clothes and go down to breakfast. We'll tell you the rest of your schedule during breakfast," says the same instructor from yesterday.

A question pops into my mind so naturally, I raise my hand rather than speaking without being told to.

"Yes?" says the instructor. "What should we call you?" I ask. "Madame B," says the instructor. We all nod in response.

After breakfast, we're led to a room with seven computers and a juice box next to each of them. We look at Madame B, who says, "Girls, have a seat at a computer and watch the cartoons."

We all do as we're told and we watch the cartoons on the computer for hours. We take occasional synchronized sips of our juice boxes. What's happening to us? We're becoming synchronized in everything.

Madame B comes and collects us and tells us to get in our training outfits. We do as she says and before we know it, we're being brought to the shooting range.

We put our safety goggles and headphones on, both of which, have the Black Widow hourglass logo on them. Then we're handed guns. We each have a target in front of us. Dreykov is standing behind us watching. "Start shooting," says Dreykov.

We do as we're told and I shoot and get bullseye on the first try. The other girls are slightly off from bullseye.

"Elizabeth, try shooting with only one hand," says Dreykov. I nod. I was using both hands before. I try it and I get bullseye again. The other girls are getting closer to bullseye but they're not quite there yet.

"Use your other hand," says Dreykov. I do what he said and I don't believe it. I got bullseye again. The other girls are looking at me, shocked. Dreykov looks pleased.

"Close one eye," says Dreykov. Oh, I get it now. He's seeing how far I can go. He's seeing if I can live up to my sisters. I close my left eye and I aim and fire. Bullseye. I switch eyes before I'm asked to and I hit bullseye again.

I close both eyes because I know he was going to ask me to. I take the shot and open my eyes. Bullseye.

"Great work. Your sisters were the same way," says Dreykov. I smile and he says "I'll be seeing you again soon." I nod and say "Thank you, sir." Then he whispers something to Madame B. "Elizabeth, come with me. I need to borrow you for a little while," says Dreykov.

I guess he decided to borrow me now rather than make a surprise appearance again later. I take off my safety gear and I leave the gun.

Dreykov walks me to his office and tells me to sit down. I sit down on the chair in front of his desk. I wonder what he brought me here for. It can't be a punishment. I've been perfectly in line with everything.

To my shock, Dreykov says "I don't say this often but, I'm impressed. It's not every day that I see a four-year-old who can get a bullseye no matter how they shoot. Now for the real reason, I brought you back here. You've been gone for 19 years and you need to be caught up to speed. You could call this a history lesson. Listen to me carefully. I will not repeat myself and I will be asking you questions about what I said. I'll be hitting the major bullet points. The Avengers are a group of what the world has been calling "Earth's mightiest heroes" they come from all different backgrounds. There's your sister, Natasha, the Black Widow, the world's best assassin, and the Red Room's best Black Widow assassin. There's Steve Rogers, Captain America. You probably heard about him, yes?"

Okay, so I'm here for a history lesson. And he praised me. Wow.

"Yes, sir. My dad talked about him a lot," I say. "Oh, you mean Alexi? Yeah. Anyways, there's Thor, the God of Thunder. There's Tony Stark, Iron Man, billionaire, and genius who builds suits and tech drones. There's Bruce Banner, he tried to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that made Steve Rogers Captain America but it didn't work out and he turned into a green rage monster called the Hulk. The last Avenger is Clint Barton, Hawkeye, he's not enhanced like everyone else, except your sister. He's just really good at shooting arrows. Now, repeat back to me what I just said about all of the Avengers," says Dreykov.