Colors

chapter four

Within the second, the bullet flew from my barrel and cut through the air.

"Daddy!"

My eyes opened, the view of the grey ceiling bringing me back to my groundings. The Red Room.

I lifted from my bed and turned to look at the clock (that I was provided) to read four am. Right on the dot.

For reasons unknown, I tended to dream about every assassination I've committed. I didn't feel guilty or distraught but it was there, and always in order. From my very first mission until my last. That was my last, so far.

Now I was assigned to train Widows until they graduated from the academy. Promotion? Or demotion?

After I was dressed in my proper training gear, I walked down the empty and quiet halls until I reached the double doors. The Widows wouldn't be up for another hour but if I knew anything... I swiped thumb across the code pad as the doors slid open, I knew she would be here.

Red.

Her eyes raised toward me but I kept my gaze forward and locked on my destination. The punching bags. Again, after setting up, I took a step back and started to focus on my kicks.

"You're a bit stiff." I paused, my eyes trained forward but I could feel the warmth from her presence with the closer she drew in. "I'd expect more from someone with such prestige... let me have a go." My jaw clenched at the feeling of her shoulder lightly but sternly pushing into mine, making my hands leave the punching bag.

I had trouble keeping my temper around her, and it only grew within the week we've spent training. After catching her trying to read into my files, she seemed to only get more frustrating. The whispers around the premise began with little murmurs.

I heard The Wolf was an actual wolf.

Natalia says she saw her wolf nails one morning.

Of course I knew where the rumors were sprouting from. She told me herself what she had in mind, not that I thought she'd actually execute it. Now here she was, trying to show me how to perfect my kicks?

"You see?" She glanced over her shoulder, half a smirk plagued on her lips while she drove her leg into the bag, a heavy thud echoing the room. "It's less brute force and more speed.

"Right." I said stiffly and flicked my hand in indifference. "Now move."

She raised her hands, still staring at me with amusement. "Easy puppy." I inhaled deeply when she turned around and strutted across the room to the balancing beam. Puppy? Who does she think she is to call me pupp- it's Wolf!

The rest of the hour was spent with my punching the bag, my leg occasionally raising to strike the bag... with more speed and less brute force.

"Wolf, Romanova." I stopped and spun around to see Bun standing at the door, her head held high. "We will be conducting weapons training today." Then she was out as fast as she made her presence known.

The weapons room was a standard shooting range with a wall lined with every type of gun you could think of. Today, we were on hand guns.

"In the face of the enemy, hesitation can never be a factor." I crossed my arms behind my back and watched each Widow watch Bun with attentive. All except Red. Her eyes were on me, studying, analyzing. Her chin tilted up and I felt the force of her basically calling me into her mind. I took the bait.

Did you know Bucky?

My eyebrows pulled together at her words. Bucky? Then, she thought something else.

Bucky was our weapons instructor before you came. The Winter Soldier.

I quickly looked away, my eyes focused on the ground but moving a mile a minute as I processed her words. The Winter Soldier, Bucky? Why would she call him Bucky? That's not his name. His name is the Winter Soldier. But Bucky is...

Comply.

My hands raised to my head when I started to feel the shocking waves. "Fucking- I didn't do anything!" I gasped out, my knees giving out as I dropped to my knees with my eyes screwed shut.

"What's going on?" I heard someone say, followed by a crowd of steps but I couldn't look up if I wanted to. I could feel the burning behind my eyes and I wanted to rip them out of the sockets.

Please... end it.

I inhaled deeply when the shocking stopped and only the remanence of a headache lingered. Was it finally over?

Sleep.
-

"That was close."
"Too close."
"How did the name even register for her? Did someone mention it?"
"I don't know... but we must keep her away from-"

I wasn't sure what a hangover was but as soon as I opened my eyes, that's how I felt. My head was hurting more than it ever has. And this creaking wasn't helping.

I was in my room again.

The clock was off and I was changed into my night wear. This was something that usually occurred after I resisted the suits. If I acted out or had a lapse in judgement with training, I was put into the room.

I'm guessing I was out of it enough to forget everything about what happened in the room so, here I was.

Now, the creaking. After sliding my glasses and mask on, I reached up and yanked my vent off but caught the girl in time by the back of her shirt.

Her head tilted up, an embarrassed smile covering her lips. "Hey... fancy seeing you here?"

Huffing, I let her out of my grasp and sat my vent down on the desk. "What do you get out of disobeying your superiors?"

She dusted her pants off before sitting down in the chair in front of my desk as if I invited her here. "I get more knowledge than anyone here. Are you okay? You had a pretty big fall." I silently turned to my bed and folded the sheets on top of my bed, anything to preoccupy myself.

"I'm fine."

"Is it because of what I asked you?" I paused. "Madame B told us not to mention anything to you about what happened but it looked like you were having a seizure. Did what I say invoke that?"

Not surprisingly, I didn't remember a single thing that happened leading to my sleep. I knew we were in the weapons room, that's all. "What did you say?" I asked quietly, my gaze finally raising to meet hers behind the glasses. Her head tilted. "Before I fell, what did you say?"

"How odd." She said with a a soft hum. "You don't remember what I said? Or, do you remember what happened?" I slowly shook my head which made her curiosity grow even more. "Three men came and took you from the room and you were gone for like, three days. Once I heard you were back, I had to see for myself."

Three days? I felt like I couldn't have been asleep for more than a couple of hours. But three days? "What did they do?" She asked, noticing my silence. "Is it much like here in the Red Room?"

"No." I mumbled, my head shaking. "It's much worse. Enough for me to not remember a thing." Her eyebrows pulled together but I was already picking the vent back up. "You should leave before you get into any trouble."

She smiled sadly but raised up, her hands behind her back. "Of course. Have a good rest, Wolf." I nodded and watched her easily jump into the vent and crawl away without a glance backwards.

Good.

After it was secured, I sat at the chair in front of my desk and grabbed the folders with the remaining Widow's. But mine always rested on top.

It wasn't on top.

My eyebrows pulled together as I quickly shuffled through the remaining folders, then the other papers on my desk. Could the Suits have taken it? The Red Room? No, they'd have no reason to.

Only...

My eyes raised to the vent and I felt my eyes squeeze shut, a deep burning filling my chest because of the scream I couldn't let out.

Natalia fucking Romanova.

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