BLOODY BALLERINA ▹ barnes-romanoff ✓

десять.

As she started to stand, she pressed her fingers to her lips and then placed her kiss into the dirt. She then whirled up into a standing position and her shoulders rolled back as she walked away. Her heart ached with longing but she pushed it down until she couldn't feel anything at all.

The madame stood in the doorway of the mansion and Natalia gave her a nod of reverence. The madame had a whisper of a smile on her lips as she gave a nod back. As her handler began to inform her of her newest mission, Natalia's eyes and mind drifted. Over the madame's shoulder, she could see young girls like figurines sitting in chairs with their delicate eyes closed. Their heads were swaying slightly as their feet lifted and slid across the floor. It was nearly as if they were dancing in place. A soft symphony played in the background and Natalia's red brows furrowed. She didn't recall ever sitting in a chair and dancing as these girls did. A new technique for training perhaps? A file was placed in Natalia's hands and then she was gone.

And this would be the last time Natalia Alianovna Romanova ever saw the Red Room Academy.

The mission was in Budapest.

Her targets were a man and his daughter staying at a hotel in the city for a business trip. From what Natalia had seen in the pictures, they did not look like much and, if anything, were rather tragic. The man was young and orphaned while all the girl had was her father. Despite their appearances, the man was reportedly destined for greatness. Their family had changed the world for decades thus far. The girl was more of a casualty than anything, but no one knew what the child was capable of and they thought it would was better this way.

The man and his daughter had no ties to the KGB which meant that they, at least, were not traitors, but Natalia's handler still decided that they would be much less of a threat if they were dead. Even if they had been traitors, they wouldn't have been in Natalia's mind. But, then again, they weren't innocents to her either. There were no sides in Natalia's mind. There wasn't a line, right or wrong, a black or white side. She soon found that she didn't mind who she maimed, tortured, or killed and that meant she was on her own side.

She had tailed the little family for two days before she had precisely understood their routine minute-by-minute, knew their future week's schedule, and understood exactly who they were. She learnt the man and girl were guarded by a stocky man who could make a decent haymaker, but he was also an egg that Natalia would have no trouble in cracking. When it came to observations about the family themselves, Natalia observed that the little girl had anxiety problems, the man had a habit for flirting with pretty women, and yet the two members of the broken family were tightly bound. It made the plan a lot simpler than Natalia would have expected.

It was on the second day at midnight that she first tried to kill the father and daughter.

Her arms and legs pulled her easily up the fire escape, flipping and sliding through the steps and rungs that blocked her path. When she reached the suite's window, it took her exactly two seconds to pick what would be a complicated lock for anyone else. Her fingers curled around the sill, she curved her body into the room, and her black-booted feet were perfectly silent as she landed. The suite was lavish and all was still but the assassin inching in.

She slid across the carpet and ducked out of the way of the security camera. She pushed her back up against the wall and she stretched her black-gloved hand towards the door handle. The door only softly clicked as she pushed it open and stepped inside the little girl's bedroom. It was best to take the child out first. If she was dead, then the man would have less to potentially fight for. She didn't feel guilt or worry or even hesitation as she snapped a thin, metal wire out of her sleeve. Natalia Romanova had the reputation she did for a reason. And yet, when her green eyes lifted, she stopped.