illogical

𝚌𝚑. 04

To her surprise, Natalia smirked. 

"So you remember me? I can tell by the look on your face," she said.

Katerina scowled, suddenly aware of the way her face had been contorted. Katerina bit her tongue to hold back a few choice words. She remembered a superstition she had heard once; if your palm itches, you are going to receive money. Katerina wondered what it meant now that her hand was itching for a weapon.

Natalia's smirk suddenly dropped, and she nudged the cup of water closer to Katerina.

"Drink it," Natalia repeated with a slight frown. "I know you haven't had anything."

Katerina's eyes flickered down the drink. Natalia was, unfortunately, right. Katerina hadn't had anything to drink since...since before Serbia. Now that Katerina thought about it, she should probably get something to drink, or dehydration would start to set in on her body. Her throat was already dry as it was, sitting in this stupid room all day. But, then again, the drink could be laced just like the food.

Natalia seemed to read her mind. She grabbed the glass and took a drink herself, setting it back down in front of Katerina.

"I know what you're thinking. See? It's just water." Natalia said. 

Katerina stayed silent, her lips pursed slightly. As much as she despised Natalia, not drinking the water would be an illogical decision.

She grabbed the glass, leaning forward to lift the cup to her mouth with her chained wrists. She downed the water, setting it back on the table and returning to her original position. Though, instead of looking at the floor, she stared at Natalia. Katerina had already acknowledged her, she might as well try to get some information from her. 

"For what it's worth, my name is Natasha Romanoff. I think you already know my name, though. What's yours?"

Katerina sat still, watching Natalia carefully. Natasha? Must be an alias.

"...Right." Natalia sighed at Katerina's silence. "You've got to talk eventually. You've got no moves."

Katerina's eyes narrowed. What did Natalia mean by that? No moves? No, Katerina had plenty of moves. She was just waiting for an opportunity to escape. She would go back to HYDRA and back to her missions and training. There might be a squad outside now, waiting to break in and retrieve her. HYDRA wouldn't let their greatest asset go to waste for some dirty organization like SHIELD. Katerina just needed to wait. Wait and plan...yes, she could do that.

"No one's coming for you, you know that, right?"

Natalia was lying. Trying to get Katerina to talk. Typical interrogation tactics, nothing she couldn't tune out.

"No, I guess you wouldn't," Natalia said. "I assume you've noticed the little cut on your thigh–sorry about that, by the way."

What cut? Katerina hadn't noticed any bandages before, and she couldn't exactly see through the standard-issue cotton pants she had been given.

"Your tracker? Gone. I cut it out of you right after you got tased...you can thank Tony and his once-in-a-while handy gadgets," Natasha added, apparently noticing the look on Katerina's face. "Right as we left, there was a missile strike on the Serbian SHIELD base. As far as the media knows, it was just some local terrorists...but we both know that's not true, don't we? I think you're much smarter than that."

What's Natalia indicating? That HYDRA would blow Katerina up mid-mission? No, they wouldn't do that. They wouldn't kill their best asset. Katerina didn't fail, she won't fail, can't fail. HYDRA did not teach her to fail. Someone's coming, they won't abandon her.