"Nat, want to go downtown with me? I have to get new shoes." Wanda said while searching through her purse by the elevator, not even looking up. Natasha sat in the living area, still mad dorm the days previous. She now has been locked in the tower for four days and was quite over it.
"Oh Yes of course Wanda! I can't go I'm on lockdown." She shouted angrily, mocking herself in the beginning. She threw a pillow toward Wanda, hitting her right in the face. Wanda looked up with a shocked face that wrapped into a smile.
"Sorry, I forgot." She chuckled, throwing the pillow back at the angered redhead. "Do you want me to get you anything?" She asked after Natasha slammed the pillow down with a huff. Wanda was quite amused with Natasha's childish behaviors, she really was going insane.
"Get me a bag of hot chocolate mix and a twelve-pack of croissants." She mumbled while standing.
"Hot chocolate in the middle of summer?" Wanda questioned with a small laugh.
"That's what I said wasn't it?" Natasha snarled while stopping her path towards the kitchen and hollering her forehead delicately.
"Sorry, sorry." Wanda laughed while raising her hands in surrender. Natasha rolled her eyes and opened the fridge, taking a sip of orange juice straight from the carton.
Wanda rolled her eyes and walked into the elevator. Usually, Nat had more decorum but she was just in a mood.
"Guess I'll be getting more orange juice." She murmured as the door shut with a ding.
—————
"снова (again)" Madame B instructed. Standing before Aleksandr. She redid the speed pattern again, kicking precisely and punching galore at the dummy in front of her.
Completing her high-end attack drill over and over at Madame B's command. It had been four days since the wiping, although Aleksandr had no recollection of it.
She was doing well, her training was improving greatly with the non-existence of her memories. She just seemed more focused, more controlled over herself.
She ignored all the other girls. Ignored anyone other than a superior. She trained, fought, ate, slept, and repeated. She was a new person.
"снова. (again)" Madame B repeated, raising her voice slightly. This time Aleksandr went even faster, pushing her limits as much as possible.
Madame B seemed impressed this time, satisfied as Aleksandr rested back to her beginning stance.
"Defense drill now." She said, motioning her hands for her to begin. Aleksandr continued her routine, as thoroughly and fast as possible.
"Good Ivanov." Madame B said quite satisfied.
"Keeps going. Later we have dance." She said while moving across the room to one of the other girls.
—————
"Aye, Shortcake!" A male voice spoke from behind Natasha in the training room.
"Says you." She rolled her eyes while punching the dummy in front of her, going as quickly as possible.
"How long have you been here?" Tony questioned while walking near her sweaty dorm as she pushed herself.
She was taking Fury's advice and working a little harder. She trained more than any avenger combined, seeing how she didn't have fancy powers or suits or super-soldier serum. She had to work that much harder. But now she was pushing herself even more than she usually did.
"I don't know, what's the time?" She questioned, still not tearing her gaze from her fists as they came in contact with the human-shaped target.
"It's about 4:30." He said, looking at his digital watch.
"Uhmm... seven hours?" Her voice sounded unsure.
"Seven hours?!" He shouted, baffled on how she wasn't exhausted.
"Is Wanda back yet?" She questioned, ignoring his shocked state.
"She was back ages ago." He scoffed. This caught Nat's attention. She immediately began unwrapping her fists and wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"Oh, so Wanda gets all your attention? Gee thanks." He rolled his eyes. She smirked at him and began l walking towards the entrance of the gym, giving a happy dance while opening the door.
"She bought me croissants." She said with a glimmer in her eyes, she sounded like a child on Christmas morning. Tony rolled his eyes once again and followed her out to the elevator.
—————
"снова! (Again)" Madame B spoke. All the girls were in the small studio. In their leotards and tights. Dancing with uptight buns ripping at their scalps.
The girls did the order of the moves once again, turning and dancing elegantly. Some of the girls were sloppy. Which affected all of them.
Honestly, Aleksandr was surprised they hadn't been killed yet. She wouldn't be surprised if Madame B handed her a gun right then and there and instructed her to kill one of the younger girls that have been here long enough but weren't catching on.
"Relève Ekaterina!" She shouted while whipping a girl with sloppy form. "Turnout." She emoted while gesturing to another girls pigeon-toed feet. "Pointe."
She said many things related to a girl's performance and form. I corrected everyone left and right.
"Okay. снова! (Again)" she instructed.
"один, два, три, четыре, и пять, шесть, семь, восемь. (One, two, three, four, and five, six, seven, eight)" she instructed, watching as everyone spun and Temps levé sauté through the air. Completing differently style turns and leaps. Jumps included.
"Irina! Wrong, wrong, wrong. Your foot." She pointed to the girl's slippered foot. "Point it or so help me." She motioned in the air like she was snapping something. Indicated she wouldn't hesitate to snap the girl's foot in half.
"снова! (again)"
—————
"Aha!" Natasha shouted while popping open the fresh-baked box of French styles croissants.
"Cocoa mix is in the lazy Susan," Wanda said from the island. She was watching Nat act like a child with amusement.
Natasha ripped through the cupboard, gripping a packet of hot chocolate-powered mix. Preparing the stove to boil water.
"Thank you," Natasha said sheepishly, her mouth full of the pastry. Her emotional composure was very wack, probably from the lack of publicity. She most definitely was never this sweet and childish. Sure she had a soft side under her tough extremity. But maybe the isolation was getting to her. Even though she rarely left the tower anyways. Maybe it's just the idea of it.
"No problem Nat," Wanda said in the same voice. Natasha made two hot chocolates, one for her and one for Wanda.
"What about me?" Tony pouted as he entered the kitchen from the living area.
"Woops." Nat shrugged while sipping the warm liquid. Wanda chuckled and did the same. Tony grumbled while walking over and snatching a croissant from the box.
"I'll just take this." He teased while shoving one of the full croissants into his mouth. Natasha looked at him and glared. Never come between that woman and her croissants. She motioned in the air to fake strangle him and grumbled while taking the third croissant.
"The last one is also mine." She said firmly. Wanda chuckled and Tony and Nat just had a glare off till Tony had finally made it behind the wall separating the living room.
"Hey, what's that?" Wanda questioned while pointing to Nat's neck, noticing a shimmer.
"Oh, just a cute necklace I bought." She shrugged, pulling it out from under her shirt.
"You never wear jewelry," Wanda said confused. "Plus you aren't allowed to leave the compound, how did you get it?" Wanda questioned while Nat fumbled with it in her fingers.
"I found it." She shrugged.
"From who? The only person born in March is Bucky and he doesn't wear jewelry. He's not even here right now, he's in Wakanda." Wanda questioned while noticing it was an aquamarine birthstone.
"I found it at the crash site," Natasha whispered. Wanda raised both her eyebrows.
"Why'd you keep it?"
"I think it's pretty." She shrugged. Wanda could tell she kept for other reasons but dropped it.
"Yes, it is very pretty." Wanda smiled while ending the conversation at that.
—————
"Ivanov. I'm very impressed with your improvement in everything. You've been doing much better this week." Madame B smiled, referring to the previous week when she was more disobedient.
Aleksandr just nodded.
"Go eat. I'll see you in sparring tomorrow." She smiled a little evilly while directing Aleksandr back towards the cafeteria for supper.
Old Aleksandr would have known what sparring was. It's one of the most grueling days of training. A majority of the time someone is murdered. But at least most of the girls leave with fresh wounds and injuries.
But the new Aleksandr didn't think anything of it. It was just sparring. You had to do it. It wasn't hard. It wasn't easy. It was just there. She remembers it as only the learning concept.
That's how everything was now. It just happened. She complied. She worked as hard as possible. She improved.
That's the moral of the story.
or at least the new version.