BLACK WIDOW

aeipathy

aeipathy
(n.)
a consuming and alluring passion

•••

"I know now the incredible horrors of the Red Room and its products. But at the time, I craved for the physicality of it. The competition. It was a necessary part of of my life"

•••

Natalia did not sleep the rest of the night. Soon, the sun began to rise. And that was when another madame walked through the door at the end on the room. One by one she bent over to unlock each girl.

Judging by the pattern she was shown doing, Natalia would fall into the middle of the bunch.

Soon she was one bed away from Natalia. Natalia watched silently. Though she was nervous, she didn't reveal it. She was to the point in her life where it depended on it.

The bed before Natalia held a woman seemingly younger than she was. She was much taller with short, blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Her hair was done into to loosely woven pigtails. As soon as she was unlocked, she sat up straight in her bed, waiting for further instruction, just as she was supposed to.

No one made eye contact with the Madame when she unlocked them. Especially Natalia. As soon as her hand was free, she sat up to face the girl before, though still keeping her eyes on the floor.

<I saw you come in last night,> she whispered over to Natalia, causing her to break eye contact with her feet. She looked up at the young girl, surprised that she had spoken to her at all. The girls in Phase Two never spoke to her—besides Anastasia. And that was a different situation all together. <You got the ceremony late.>

<My group was falling a bit behind, I suppose,> Natalia said, not really knowing what the girl knew.

<My name is Yelena Belova. May I ask what yours might be?>

<Natalia Romanova,> she answered, wanting to rub at the area where where her wrist had been squeezed, but still unwilling to show weakness, she did not.

<I was told that Phase Three will be near impossible,> Yelena said with a straight face.

<Many will be broken,> agreed Natalia.

<Only the breakable ones,> added Yelena. <I, however, am made stone. What about you Natalia. What are you made of?>

<Me?> asked Natalia, stalling to come up with a better answer. <I am made of marble.>

Before Yelena could respond, the Madame ordered them to follow her.

In a single file line, they followed her to a large locker room of sorts where each girl was to be bathed, groomed, and get their teeth brushed, etcetera. After that was done, each young girl was given a skintight, athletic stealth suit to wear. They were then fed a nutrient rich soupy substance that didn't taste very good. Then were brought into very large training room.

In one corner, there was an obstacle course equipped with ropes to climb over and wire to crawl under among other things.

In another, there was four tables, able to seat ten. And in front of the four tables sat another with every type gun known to civilization sitting on top.

In the third corner, there were various devices and spy gear along with the same table setup as the guns and various types of hand accessible grenades.

And in the fourth corner, were ten dummies with targets painted on them. There was a table and the entire part of the wall that was lined with so many different types of weapons. Everything from stars to knives to automatic guns to bazookas. It was all there.