1.The Red Room

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Getting up was the worst.

 Snapping out of the dream I was having, with a horse in a field, the sun shining through tree branches onto the lush grass. My eyes fluttered closed as I tried to fall back asleep, but I knew it wouldn't last; it never did.

"GET UP!!" a voice called from the doorway, approaching faster with each second.

I awoke fully, almost groaning as I tried to stretch my limbs out, failing as something tugged at my wrist. A thick metal chain. Oh, yeah.

The Red Room was my home. A secret Soviet training program. Taking young girls and turning them into the worlds most deadliest and elite assassins. A place where weakness and hesitation is not tolerated, where the scent of death is like a fragrance. Before, The Red Room trained girls to be part of the Black Widow Ops program, but it failed, the only known graduate going on and becoming part of SHIELD. Now, HYDRA has created the experimental program, where participants are put through endless experiments and tests, to create a super soldier with advanced mutations capable of expressing themselves as superpowers. There was only one person who made it out of those gruelling months alive. Me. What superpowers did I develop? The power of ice. Cold, sharp and deadly, like my personality.

Unfortunately, I wasn't powerful enough to escape the Red Room, with a taser in my neck. A device that will electrocute me if I use my powers without the permission of one of my teachers. The chip also included a tracker, so that I could escape, even if I didn't use my powers.

At all times, I was accompanied by servants. I didn't know their names, nor did I know if they were the same people everyday, they all looked and acted the same anyway. Servants was what I was supposed to call them, not guards, or soldiers, or sentinels. They each carried guns under their suits, as well as tasers and knives, the whole assortment. They weren't there to protect us, no. They were here to protect themselves, as well as the teachers and the one and only Madam B.

A rough pair of hands grabbed my wrists and unlocked my chains, shoving me my schedule for the week and walking outside again.

I slowly got up from my creaky bed, in my musty, small room, The walls pressing on me with every step I took towards my clothes. As I put them on, I read the timetable, same old, same old.

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TIMETABLE

Hand to hand combat 0700-0800

Long range combat 0805-0900

Tactical Theory 0905-1000

Advanced combat 1005-1100

Espionage theory 1105-1200

Lunch 1200-1300

Advanced Specialised Training 1300-1400

Espionage practice 1405-1500

Tactical Theory II 1505-1600

Specialised training 1605-1700

Dinner 1700-1800

Ballet 1605-1700

Acrobatics 1805-1900

Language 1905-2000

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Alas, my schedule didn't allow me one thing that I craved most of all: sunlight. Even though the Red Room is a top secret academy, it doesn't prevent curious tourists or even spies from catching a glimpse of the place, so all combat training is done a few floors under the academy. Ballet, Acrobatics and Language is done on the floors above ground, so that girls can get some vitamin D while also utilising the space. Unfortunately for me, I was not allowed to go above ground in the daylight, in case SHIELD or any other people see the experiment that HYDRA created. And if any SHIELD agents found this place whilst I was in the outer rooms, oh boy would they be getting a distress signal.

I entered the Hand to hand combat classroom, filing in a line like everyone else. The teacher ordered us each to come up and demonstrate fighting blindfolded. It was simple, but we couldn't rely on the noise of footprints, as the attackers were also trained in keeping silent. I let my hearing run free, listening to the crinkle of clothes, the breathing of students in the corner, I heard a sharp intake of breath and held up my hand to stop a blow to the face. I felt the air around me shift, and bent backwards to dodge a kick and simultaneously punched what felt like a mouth. After I was done taking down 5 attackers, I should have been panting, but I wasn't. "Next lesson, there will be 7, and I expect you to take them down in half of the time" the teacher said, unsmiling. 

I would never get used to this, The Red Room academy, I mean. I would never get used to the fake smiles that the servants plaster on their faces everyday, or the training, or being watched at all times. I would never get used to the experiments that they performed on me, or the endless threats and screams I could hear from the rooms behind me at night. As soon as my mind cleared from the fight, there was an itching at my skin, a biting presence that was always with me. It explains why my room was so cold, and why anyone shivered when they got too close to me.

" Experiment A-9753, come to the office immediately" came a voice from the loud speaker.

I sighed and excused myself from the classroom. My footsteps echoed down the hallway, watched by my personal servants as I made my way to Madam B's office.

I smiled at a few of the girls walking past, carrying ballet shoes like weapons, and winked. They grimaced back, too scared to smile. These girls would eventually get out of the Red Room, I told myself. Eventually, they would find a new home, a new family, would find peace.

As soon as I got out of the stairway, light filtered through the glass panes in the ceiling, almost blinding me for a couple of minutes as I got used to the brightness. It was a beautiful old building, although I thought it was ugly, the visitors praised the architecture when coming to see the academy.

I walked past the rooms, and theatre, in which girls were training already. Some, dancing like beautiful swans, others, stretching, learning and training.

Visitors explored the place with escorts, not knowing what was in store for them later. The escorts would show them around a "ballet academy". Oh boy, if they knew what it really was, they would be running as soon as they walked through the door. After the escorts showed them around the academy, they would shut them in prisons under the school. After all, we need dummies to practice on.

As soon as I came into Madam B's office, the door shut behind me, and I was pushed down onto a hard, wooden chair. A servant stood behind me, hand on his hip, or rather, his weapon. It was a cramped room, large, but having bookshelves, cupboards, and a large desk situated in the middle.

" Experiment A- 9753, you must have known that you are nearing the graduation ceremony" came the quipped and harsh voice of Madam B.

" It is imperative that you go through extra training sessions with me personally. I have devised a way for you to have private examinations with the experiment part of you in mind, and also to have the usual exams as well. Of course you will be tested for cracks, but I have faith that you won't break. Before, the Black Widow program was a wreck, with S.H.E.I.L.D involved, but with you, we can finally do what we once thought was impossible"

" But before we get into the details of your examinations, you have a mission"

I sat up a bit straighter, and Madam B noticed, smiling. I hated having to do the examination, but if it meant my partial freedom, then I was more than willing. A mission would be fun. She handed me a heavy file.

"You will be flown to the specific location, read this thoroughly, and don't fail" she said firmly, looking me straight in the eyes.

I stood up and walked out, not bothering with any pleasantries.

The file was stacked with information. Information that I had seen before. Just where, I couldn't put my finger on. I scrolled through the people I would kill.

Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton.

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