ＲＥＣＬＵＳＥ ◼SAM WILSON◼

𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖

(PROLOGUE REWORKED JULY OF 2021 IN ORDER FOR IT TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE BLACK WIDOW MOVIE. POTENTIAL SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN BLACK WIDOW YET)

"Again,"

Blisters were common. The splitting open of said blisters was even more common among the young girls of the Red Room. Blood stained ballet shoes were washed so frequently that they fabric quickly faded away.

Young Eleanor Roberts stared directly ahead, moving herself into first position. The other young women of the Red Room stood beside her, all in a line as the piano man began the music once again, the group moving in tandem as the repeated the familiar ballet course once more.

"Again,"

General Dreykov stood in the doorway of the grand room, watching as the girls lined up once again, repeating the exact same steps as before. His eyes stayed trained on the pair stood side by side in the middle of the line, their movements never missing a beat even as the others struggled to repeat the dance in perfection. They never faltered. They never failed.

"I hear that you are close in your selection," Madam M, the epitome of General Dreykov's right hand woman in the Red Room program, spoke as she took her spot in the doorway. Her eyes stayed on the young girls for a moment before trailing to the man in question. "Do you really think she's ready for a mission out there?"

"Natalia is perfect. A great dancer, formidable in hand to hand combat," a smirk lit up Dreykov's face as he watched the red headed girl dance. "She's beating out every other girl in this room. She will be the first Widow of this group to graduate and move onto bigger things."

"You believe that because you prefer to look directly over Eleanor's head," the eyes of both  trained on the brunette dancing beside Natalia, the pair that never missed a single step. "She's cold, she's calculating. She remembers her past, it's hardened her in a way that no other girl in here is. Eleanor should be the first to graduate. She'd be more ruthless than any other girl here-"

As close as the pair worked, even Madame M would flinch as Dreykov's hand neared her face, though never hit it. He only stared at the woman, cold and calculating, before his eyes wandered back to the group before him.

"She's a time bomb, that's what she is," the General sneered back at the woman beside him. "She remembers her past because of you. She shouldn't graduate at all, I should have her killed now. She could never handle the job of the Widow. She might be hardened, but not enough, not when she knows her past."

With the click of his shoes on the floor, the girls in the room repeating the dance once again, Dreykov turned and stalked away from the room.

"Have you ever heard of a recluse spider?" it was Madam M's calm voice that paused him in his tracks. "They're the fourth most dangerous spider in the world. They wander in dim areas, hide until they are given the chance to attack. Their bites are extremely venomous, have led to many gruesome deaths in the United States that can't seem to figure out any sort of antivenom to counteract the bite. It's part of how they gained their nickname: the reaper."

"Is there a reason that you are giving me a lesson in spiders?"

"You say that Eleanor cannot be a Widow because she knows her past. You say it's the emotion that makes her less dangerous than someone such as Natalia," Madam M turned to look at the man with a smirk. "I'm just reminding you that  just because she's not on Natalia's level of emotion, doesn't mean she isn't dangerous."

Dreykov didn't like to be proved wrong, nor did her enjoy others having better ideas than him. Madam M knew that he outspokenness could backfire, but she smirked as she saw the interest in the General's eyes as they trailed back to Natalia and Eleanor, side by side as they danced.

"Go on,"

"Both the Black Widow and the Recluse are dangerous, but in their own ways. The Recluse sticks to the shadows, prowls and waits for the perfect chance to strike. The Widow is out in the open, waiting for someone to take the bait and then she strikes," Madam M turned to look at General Dreykov. "Sounds like the perfect team to me."

"You want them both to graduate together," Dreykov hummed. "Pair them up in the field."

"Eleanor knows her past, remembers how she got here," eyes were once again focused on the brunette who hadn't shown an ounce of emotion. "It's made her cold and calculating. She pulls away from the other girls, doesn't try to make friends. She sticks to the shadows...expect with Natalia. They think we don't notice, but I can see it. Neither of them would ever admit that they care for the other, afraid that we might pair them to spar, but I can see. They care for one another, almost as if they were one another's blood. Natalia stands out, hides herself in plain sight, while Eleanor sticks to the shadows. A pair so different, yet so similar. A Widow and a Recluse. They could be the most dangerous pair of assassins to ever graduate from the Red Room. The first of their kind."

Natalia and Eleanor moved together, placing themselves on their tiptoes as they arms were held out straight. Their heads were held high, a perfect mirror of one another's movements as they executed the moves with perfect precision.

The sight brought a sick smile to Dreykov's lips.

"The Widow and the Recluse..." his voice trailed off, his smile growing as he stared upon the pair before him. "So many possibilities."

◽◽◽

You guys don't even know how excited I am for this. Eleanor is going to be a lot different than Lydia, Lottie, and even Deli. This is going to be so fun.

July 2021 Note: I didn't change much of this prologue, just shifted from stuff around so that it matched better with the Black Widow movie (which I already saw twice and it was amazing both times I highly recommend). I know that Madama B does exist in the MCU, as she was briefly mentioned in a Red Room flashback, but since we see more of Dreykov in the movie I decided to switch the pair out for one another.