V I R U L E N T n.romanoff

Eight

N a t a s h a :

"I want you to take one more run at her," Fury orders.

"What's the point? Nothing is going to make her talk. She's trained not to give out any information," I protest.

"I managed to get through to you didn't I?"

"That was different," I sigh "I wanted out."

"Then make her want out," he shrugs "remind her that none of it's her fault because she was being manipulated. Offer her protection in exchange for information."

"That's still not going to convince her to talk."

"Fine then offer her protection regardless. Play the long game and try to get her to trust you."

I shrug, doubtful that this strategy will work any better "worth a shot."

With that I turn and begin making my way back down to her cell, somewhat hoping that she will have already been transferred.  Though of course I'm not that lucky. Through the glass I can see her sitting on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, rocking herself back and forth. With a sigh, I press a button on the panel on the wall, letting myself in.

A v a l i n a :

I groan slightly as the glass door opens, "I thought I was done having to see you."

"Neither of us got that lucky," Natalia says, leaning against the glass.

"Well, get to the point," I don't even look at her, paying more attention to my cuticles.

"What's your end game here?" She asks "You don't have many good options, you can try to escape fine, but where would you go? You can't go back to the red room without completing you mission. And we both know you won't be doing that anytime soon."

I shrug. She's right, if I don't complete my mission I have no where to go.

"You know," she starts "I used to be a lot like you. I used to kill people without regard for anyone else, but you have another option."

I scoff, her self righteousness really is starting to bother me "Right, betray my country like you did."

"What if I told you that you wouldn't have to betray anyone, that you could just stay here without ever telling me anything."

I know she's bluffing, it's too good to be true. She just wants to play the long game to try to get me to trust her or some shit. Though two can play at that game.

I pause, it's in my best interest to make it look like I'm actually considering it as an option. Even if I would never make the same decision that she did.

"And that wouldn't make me a traitor?" I almost roll my eyes with how meek I sound.

She sits down next to me, and I resist the urge to hit her, or at least scoot away.

"No, all it would do is get you out of a bad situation."

"They'd kill me. Send someone out here to kill me like they sent me to kill you," I grumble.

"We won't let that happen," she says softly "we can keep you safe here."

As tempting as that sounds, obviously that isn't actually an option. No one protects someone without gaining something in return. 

"I guess that doesn't sound too bad," I shrug.

She squints at me, obviously trying to get a read on where my head's at.

"Was killing me your first mission?" She asks suddenly, her change of subject confusing me slightly, thought I make an effort not to show anything on my face.

I shake my head, I had previously assumed that I had made it clear to Natalia I wasn't giving her any information, clearly I was wrong.

"Look," she sighs "I'm not asking you to tell me anything about anyone. I'm not asking you to sell anyone out, I'd just like to get to know who you are. We're pretty similar you know."

I stare at her blankly before deciding to stare at the wall in front of me instead "I'm nothing like you."

"Fine, but I do know what you've been through, and I know it's a lot to carry alone."

There's a pause.

I resign to the fact that telling her about myself might make Natalia more likely to let me out of the cell faster.

"I've been going on group missions since I was eight, mostly just in Russia. Never outside of the Afro-Eurasia land mass," I start "I started doing solo seduction missions when I was twelve. I rarely did the actual killing for those though, just getting people alone so someone else could. But yes, you were my first solo international mission. My first real assassination."

"How many graduated with you?"

"Only me," I return to picking at my cuticles, anything is better than seeing the look on her face "There were supposed to be four. They didn't make it through the ceremony."

"Were you close with any of them?" She asks gently.

I laugh "You should know, you can't afford to get close to any one in there. Not if you want to survive."

"I guess you're right, I guess that's why I decided I needed to get out."

"Right," I shift uncomfortably, I think I liked it better when she was acting cold around me "For us the whole getting out thing wasn't really an option. They really tightened security around there after you go out."

"You have that option now."

"No, no I don't."

I hear Natalia sigh as she stands up from my bed "I'll leave you to it. I'm sure I'll be back."

"Looking forward to it."

N a t a s h a :

As I close press the button on the control panel to close Avalina's cell, I can't help but feel the slightest bit more sympathy for the girl. Though I don't trust her, and she most certainly doesn't trust me, I know that somewhere underneath all the training she's just a scared girl.

I make my way to Fury's office, knocking on the door upon my arrival.

"Come in," I hear through the door.

"Any progress?" He asks as I sit down.

I sigh, I don't entirely know what to say, I don't know what he'll consider progress, but it probably won't be what I have to say to him.

"I don't trust her, she doesn't trust me. We shouldn't let her out of the cell any time soon," I finally say.

"But did you get through to her, make her realize that we're the better option in this situation."

"Well she knows she can't go back to the red room and also continue living so at the moment I think she understands that we're her only option. I don't think she likes it though. But I think maybe I might be able to get there with her eventually."

"Well," he pauses "It's a start."

A u t h o r ' s   N o t e :
Sorry's it's been a year lol. Kinda forgot what I was doing with this story, but current plan is I'm actually going to combine what I'd planned to be 2 books into just this one to make my life easier. This is a filler (I think I honestly don't remember) so I'll try to have like action and stuff eventually. Hopefully I post something again in 2023 but we'll see.

Tik Tok and Instagram: @Tellthemyourself

Word count: 1244