BLACK WIDOW

catalyst

catalyst
(n.)
a small amount or a person that triggers a reaction or event

•••

"This part may seem horrible. Trust me, it is. This is the single, most horrible memory in my mind. The absolute worst. But I could never thank Hank Pym enough. Even if this was the way I met this dear man."

•••

"Fantastic job, Widow," Colonel Luchov congratulated Natalia as he entered the small conference room. "All those traitors now are pushing wheelbarrows in their premature Hell. Exactly what they deserve. And the treacherous scumbag, Draykov... well—bravo to you Agent Romanoff."

"Thank you Colonel," Natalia expressed with a bow of her head.

"But tell me," Luchov said, leaning back in his chair. "Was there a child with him? A girl?"

Natalia shifted in her seat. She had made an unnecessary kill. The Winter Soldier has warned her against that. "Yes, sir," Natalia revealed. "I—uh... killed her."

Luchov remained silent and didn't reply for a while. All he did was pierce his lips and look at Natalia in deep thought.

"An unnecessary kill," he said after a while. "We wanted that child. She had very smart genes," he revealed, tapping his temple. "A perfect Red Room candidate."

"I apologize, Colonel," Natalia told him truthfully. She shouldn't have killed the girl. She would have grown into a great asset.

"You trainer did inform you of what would happen, correct?" asked Luchov. Natalia sighed. She was ready. She knew it was coming.

She was beaten. And she deserved it. She deserved every blow. There was no reason to kill the girl other than to strike fear into the man.

But this was the way it went for years. So many years. Natalia became known throughout the entire intelligence community. The Black Widow. She was a wind that blew through a situation and changed what it wanted. No face. No voice. No anything. She was feared by every country the world. The Winter Soldier was also, though this had no meaning to Natalia. Not anymore. This was exactly what Russia wanted.

America was scared of the the names Black Widow and Winter Soldier. A poisonous spider and an invisible ghost. And the rumors of the Red Room made the people of the world shudder. And they were still without a Captain America. However, little did Russia know, America had a new ally that was considerably smaller that Captain America, but definitely packs a punch.

1958, São Paulo— The Black Widow began orchestrating the crowning of communist, Fidel Castro of Cuba. She breaks him out of prison and bring him to Cuba to organize a rebellion and take over. Castro has Cuba by '59. Now the Soviet can position missiles at US.

1974, Osaka Japan— The internationally known assassination of 10 Japanese Military leaders. Black Widow's fingers had been on the trigger for each shot. Though ten men were killed, only three shots were fired. This had been a mystery to the world since, the fear of the Black Widow only climbing.

And now after a much simpler mission of information gathering here in present 1986, Natalia had returned and was debriefing with the very young man who had take the late Colonel Luchov's place,

Before she could speak, Madame B, older than ever, bursted into the conference room. "I have a mission for you, Romanova."

Colonel Vasily Karpov's brow furrowed in frustration. "Madame, I am punishing the girl. Can it wait?"