Rise of the Phoenix ✦⋆⭒Barnes⭒⋆✦

✦⋆⭒One⭒⋆✦

2000 (6 years before 2006) Red Room Academy

"Smotrite vnimatel'no, devchki," Adrian, an ageing tired-looking man awed as his grey eyes looked back and forth between the wide-eyed girls on the floor to the fourteen-year-old adjusting her feet into a fighting stance ready for the much smaller cowering girl in front of her to make the first move. Watch carefully, girls.

"Etot test dolzhen dokat' vashu tsennost'" Adrian slowed pulled the words from his mouth with a harsh yet menacing voice, "yesli ty ne mozhesh' sravnit'sya s Chernym lebedem v boyu, znachit, ty ne dostoin zvaniya," This is a test to prove your worth. If you cannot match the Black Swan in combat, then you are not worthy of the title.

Despite her young age, the Black Swan's eyes were filled with maturity and darkness as she stared down at the younger brunette girl in front of her. The girl was only a year younger than the Black Swan with no family left to protect her and powers that obviously landed her a spot in the newly assembled program of the Red Room Academy. The Black Swan program was an elite program for the girls who show signs of being gifted, extremely medically well or who were progressing through the Black Widow program quicker than others. 

The girls who were enrolled in the program were first taken through medical checks to ensure their health to the instructors who were charged with creating these weapons of mass destruction. Then, they were tasked with matching the Black Swan in hand to hand combat as they had done to the other girls in the Black Widow program expect. If they failed then they had failed the academy and were met with unforgiving death as punishment. 

So far, none have been successful. 

"Svetlana, mozhno nachinat'," Adrian instructed as he rubbed his eyes and yawned with boredom. Svetlana Petrova, you can start.

Little Svetlana with her pale face and brunette hair looked up at the Black Swan with a mixture of awe and fear, for who stood before her. The feared Black Swan, so young and yet so dangerous already, the face of chaos and death. The one who was either going to make her or destroy her stood and waited for her to make the next move. 

She was going to fail, she was going to die just like the rest of them because the title of Black Swan was impossible when being compared to someone who seemed to possess godly powers. The Black Swan was going to kick her to the ground, make her look like a fool in front of her peers, her competition and then she'll finish before it got any more painful.  

Clever, little Svetlana who could change her form, that's what the instructors in the Black Widow program had called her after their discovery of her gifts. Clever, little Svetlana could catch anyone off guard by shifting into the animal of her choice and becoming the predator. That's why they chose her for the Black Swan program because she could become the literal predator or generate an innocent prey illusion to fool the fools. She was the closest girl who could mimic the Black Swan herself.

 Svetlana's fists clenched as the thoughts of failure and disappointment drove her to rage. She was not weak, not like the others, she was a powerful lioness and she was an innocent swan, she was many faces in one, she was a Black Swan. Svetlana would not falter like the girls before and the girls after, she was going to be a game-ender just like the girl before her and just as her thoughts consumed her Svetlana swung forward. 

Her arm reached out to throw a punch but before her hand could connect to any body part it was stopped by a hand that was pressing into her wrist. The Black Swan's eyes examined Svetlana's wrist before meeting her eyes and twisting her hand. 

Svetlana's cries of pain could be heard all through the academy as the Black Swan pressed harder into her now broken wrist. Pain throbbed through Svetlana's wrist right through her arm as tears brimmed in her eyes, but despite the pain, she was not ready to give up. 

Svetlana didn't move her wrist to release the pain but instead stiffened it to balance her body and strength to raise her left leg and kick it right into the Black Swan's left ribs. Her foot easily came in contact and threw her opponent off balance allowing her wrist some freedom. 

Svetlana watched as the Black Swan stumbled back showing the first sign of emotion Svetlana had ever seen since the test started. The Black Swan continued to hold her broken ribs as her pained eyes looked at Adrian for mercy while she continued to step back heavily. 

Adrian only lowered his gaze with an almost disappointed look towards the Black Swan, "Ty deystvitel'no pozvolish' malen'koy devochke pobit' sebya, Avorora?" Are you really going to let a little girl beat you Aurora?

Aurora.

That was a name Svetlana had never heard of before and it was rather human. Svetlana had never heard of the Black Swan being called Aurora and she didn't think the Black Swan had a name. Aurora was such an innocent name for someone with such a reputation as hers and for a second Aurora did look innocent as she stumbled away looking at Adrian with pleading eyes. 

"Pozhaluysta," Aurora whispered, her voice a tortured soul. Please.

Adrian then turned away from Aurora's gaze to Svetlana and raised his brows in expectance to see what she would do next. Aurora's own gaze then turned to her full of sadness and vulnerability as she whispered again, "Pozhaluysta," Please.

Svetlana studied the situation before her confused eyes softened as she mimicked the Black Swan's face only a minute ago and opened her mouth, "Da, Avrora, ty sobirayesh'sya povolit'  malen'koy devchke pobit' sebya?" Yes Aurora, are you going to let a little girl beat you?

She watched as Aurora's innocent eyes darken and her lips pursed at the comment reassuming the Black Swan's demeanour. The Black Swan stalked over to Svetlana whose face changed quickly as she realized what she had said and began to step back. 

The Black Swan, however, caught Svetlana before she could get away hurling her smaller body to the hardwood floor. Svetlana's body ached as it came in contact with floor again and again until she was begging for mercy until all she wanted to do was curl up under a rock and scream. 

"Dostatochno," Adrian finally commanded. Enough.

The Black Swan's hands quickly let go before she strode off into her original position before the fight like a robot. But if one was to look hard enough they would be able to see the pain that swirled in the Black Swan's eyes despite her efforts. 

Svetlana sat up, wincing at the pain that now circled through her body and looked at Adrian in anticipation. Adrian looked at Svetlana for a second, then at her opponent who met his eyes and waited. They all waited. 

Finally, Adrian nodded to the Black Swan who blinked in understanding and turned to the door to leave the room. As the Black Swan's presence left the room Adrian's eyes quickly met Svetlana's fearful ones. She had failed and now she had to accept the consequences. Adrian's smile grew at Svetlana's fear as he opened his mouth to speak words that Svetlana never thought she would hear.

"YA rasskazhu Madam B. o tvoyem uspekhe," I'll be telling Madame B. of your success.