Retnikopf: Widow Of Siberia (old Version)

Chapter 7 - Siberia

Usually, Vienna's head was pretty quiet. Not in a peaceful way but in a void of all emotion and thought way.

But now, everything was loud. Hating them was easy when she couldn't see them. Hating then was easier from behind the mask.

"Retnikopf," her commander's voice said, making the thoughts quieter as she listened, "why did you let them go? You called off the assault on their retreat, why?"

"That wasn't the mission," Vienna said simply.

She was knelt down in front of him. Her hands gently place on her lap.

"They were miscalculations, " he said, rubbing a thumb across the knuckles of his right hand.

"They were unimportant."

The hit he gave her burned across her face as she pushed herself back into the carefully posed position she had to be in.

"Who is Alexei Shostakov to you?" his words were bitter as he leaned down to study her reaction more.

"No one."

"No."

"A target."

"Good." He nodded, he knew that she was a good performer but she wouldn't lie to him. He'd made sure of it. "Melina Vostokoff?"

"A target."

"Yelena Belova?"

The thoughts of them came in a sudden rush. Yelena's laugh in the moonlight as it shined through their window.

"Yelena Belova," he said more forcefully this time.

"A target."

Melina's soft smile as she held her face.

"Natalia Romanova?"

Nat. Her hand on hers. The hits she saved Vienna from.

"Nat," Vienna said softly, partially phasing out.

The was a cold rush down her spine as she was dowsed in a bucket of ice water making her double over from the shock.

"I can see that your old comrades are causing you some confusion," her commander said, wiping the droplets that had splashed onto his had off, "perhaps we need to recall you from duty to reconfigure your behaviour. How severe is this issue?"

"Minor," Vienna replied, keeping her face steady as not to show the fear of the conditioning.

"Then I think we should try a self solution," the commander told her, "the next time the targets are sighted, I want you to kill them. Proof of pass is necessary. Fail again and we'll be doing a complete reconditioning, there can be no place for error in the perfect weapon."

"Yes sir." Vienna's voice was hollow, she hadn't been nervous for a kill in years. Perhaps it was because she knew how good they were first hand. She couldn't fight them all at once, she'd have to approach each individually.

It couldn't be because of their past relationships. She had right to be angry. The commander said she should be. Should it be more than she did though? Hatred should come naturally. They abandoned her. Left her to be shot. It was the commander that save her. Right?

Vienna shut her eyes tight for a second to break the train of thought.

No. This was a slip. After the mission was completed, the commander would fix everything. No more slips. No more confusions.