Flashback - 1996 Russia

Winter Shadow's POV

"Again!" Madame B ordered.

The girls didn't hesitate to repeat their routine, over and over again, until every step was perfect. Pirouette after pirouette, twirl after twirl.

Of course I shouldn't be watching the ballet session, that wasn't what I was sent to the Red Room for.

Madame B requested another Winter Soldier to help train the young assassins here, and requested that they sent a female trainer.

When I first arrived here, I was surprised to find myself almost lost when I was searching for the building. The Red Room is disguised as an all girl's boarding school, but it's actually where Russia trains young female assassins. All who were orphaned.

The building was not at all what I'd expected. Besides the dingy basement, like any other basement, the building had an eerie elegance to it. Like it wasn't supposed to look so well put together. Tall beautiful pillars and shiny floors were two of the many things to note.

This place was also incredibly clean. I've seen some of the girls here scrubbing endlessly at the walls and the floors until they were completely spotless. Maybe what made it so glum was the fact that they can never leave here, and are forced to kill for a living, much like me.

I headed down the corridor to the stairwell that would take me down to the training quarters. I passed by a series of different rooms, some had younger girls recited lines from parts of Snow White, while in other rooms were lines of single beds with handcuffs dangling on the frames.

There was a lot of distinctive things about this place, things I don't understand. Never mind, my only purpose here is to help train the future assassins.

I wonder if they teach them things a normal school would teach as well, such as math or maybe some science. I figured those simple skills would help in a mission.

My memory can be foggy at times, so I can't recall if I was taught mathematics in HYDRA or before that at some point. It does come in handy in missions though.

I don't run the place, but to my understanding, they don't only train them to fight, but also to be unbreakable, and unstoppable, so that the Soviet Union can be stronger than ever. The girls are also being taught multiple languages such as Italian, French and English. Not to mention Latin, which I personally think is pretty useless, considering it's an almost dead language.

"This must be the floor" I thought to myself.

Despite it being the training floor, it remained almost deadly silent. So silent, that my footsteps left an echo every step I took.

As I proceeded down the hallway, I could hear a faint, stern adult voice coming from a room.

A glass window revealed a group of students, I'd say from between the ages ten to fourteen, standing in two rows, listening to their instructor.

When the instructor stopped speaking, she turned to see me watching through the window.

I tap lightly, waiting for her nod of approval to come in.

She gestures me to enter the room, to which I stepped in with confidence.

"Girls, this is your new trainer. You will address her as Miss Shadow." She looks my way.

I nod to all of the girls.

"You will do exactly as she says, with my supervision to keep in mind. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am" they all said in unison.

The instructor stepped to the side, inviting me to take over her class.

"Right, then..." I start.

I notice a girl on the end of the second row, she had been fidgeting with her hands and tapping her foot, unlike the rest of the girls who were watching me like hawks.

"I'd like to see what you all are capable of, I'm sure miss red in the back would like to volunteer to go first?" I turn to her.

She snapped back into attention, and didn't hesitate to walk up to the front.

"What's your name girl?"

"Natalia. Natalia Alianovna Romanova." She said quietly, but sternly.

A few of the other girls snickered in the back. I shot them a glare, causing them to silence.

"Right then Natalia," I look around the room. "And who should be our next volunteer to go against her?"

The girls who had been laughing seemed to have planned out who in their group would go against her already. They turned and nodded to one girl they stood with.

"I will." She spoke up.

"And who might you be?" I ask.

"Alexandra." She stated. She appeared to be around fourteen, probably five feet, ten inches in height. I glance at Natalia, she looked no older than eleven, and she was only about five feet tall.

I had faith in Natalia, even though she was supposedly set up by the others to fail the session.

The other girls backed up to the back of the room. Some giving each other a sarcastic grin as to who they thought would win. I could clearly read their faces, and none of them were betting on little Natalia.

Before they started, the instructor leaned over to whisper something in my ear. "If you see them going ahead of themselves, don't bother stopping them, we like to know who's better in the end."

I chuckle slightly, "Sure thing, but today is more for me to see how they fight, not who is stronger."

The encouragement of brutality hadn't changed my mind on anything. The point here wasn't to see them kill each other, I know that's what they do here. However, I could tell that things were going to get a little rambunctious.

"I will not be interfering with these matches, so if you get stuck, it's up to you to figure out what to do to win. I will not be helping." I remind them.

The two girls had placed themselves about two or so meters away from each other. They got into their readying stances, guarding themselves with their hands close to their faces.

Alexandra gave a smirk to Natalia, who only stared back at her stone cold. She wasn't messing around.

"Begin!" I command.

The two girls went at it.

Alexandra lunged at Natalia and swung a side kick straight for her face. Natalia used this to her advantage, by jumping and pushing off of her opponent's leg to flip herself over her. Before Alexandra had a chance to turn to face her, Natalia landed a quick strike to her stomach, sending her flying across the room.

Alexandra now had a look of both humiliation and anger in her eyes. The fight had only just begun.

Natalia prepared herself. Alexandra had come to a decision on where to target next, and leaped to grab Natalia's legs. She was too late to dodge, and was knocked off her feet, falling face first onto the concrete floor. Alexandra pinned her down, digging her elbow into Natalia's spine, causing her to yelp in pain.
She looked up at me, but quickly looked down again, remembering how I told them that I wouldn't be giving any pointers. I only nod in reassurance.

Natalia spontaneously snapped her head upwards, knocking Alexandra in the chin. She took advantage of the distraction, and grabbed her other shoulder, flipping her to her back side. Now Alexandra was the one pinned down. A glint of triumph flashes in Natalia's eyes, but Alexandra wasn't giving up just yet, after a stunt like that.

She kneed Natalia in her stomach, causing her grip to loosen. Alexandra shoved her off of her, and they both scrambled to their feet.

In just a matter of seconds, the two are engaged in heavy combat. Side kicks and front kicks. Punches being swung at every given chance.

Alexandra low kicked, causing Natalia to quickly jump and dodge her attack. She followed by aiming a right-hook for her face, but missed from Alexandra moving out of the way in time.

Their skills were beyond impressive, it was an equal fight. The other girls seemed to notice this too, judging by the surprised looks on their faces whenever Natalia landed a hit.

Alexandra was slightly stronger, being taller and perhaps having a little more experience, but Natalia was quick and tactical.

They continued to fight tiredly, their attacks becoming a little sloppier as they kept going. Maybe now was the the time to stop the fight.

Just as I was about to put my hand in, Natalia jumped high off a kick by Alexandra, and landed hard on her shoulders, knocking Alexandra off balance. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain and most likely anger that she was caught like that.

"Very good, that's enough." I declare.

The instructor gave me a confused look. Despite me saying that I wouldn't be interfering, to her, I stopped the fight way too early.

"Alright girls, go stand on the side with the rest. I'll be choosing the next two in a moment." I announce.

The instructor approached me just after.

"Miss Shadow, I believe I forgot to introduce myself. I am Mrs. Anya, but you may call me Mrs. A."

I reach out to shake her hand, to which she hesitantly pulls away. Dodging any comment on it, she asked me what she had been waiting to ask. "Why did you stop their combat session? You are aware that they may hurt each other, that's how we eliminate the weak."

I give her a look of acknowledgment. "I am aware Mrs. A, but like I told the girls, today is solely for observing, this way I can see what I need to work on individually with them.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken Miss Shadow, you do not have the authority to individually train these girls! Unless you see something special about one of them, you are not to individually train them."

I glance at the group of girls, all waiting silently for further instructions.

"I think I might just have someone in mind, we'll talk more after a few more sessions." I smile at her, and resume the class.

"Now, I'll be picking another two for the next fight. Any volunteers?"

Thirty minutes later

I knew it from when she started to fight. After watching at least four more fights, I knew Natalia had something the others didn't. Not to say that the other girls weren't skilled, because they most definitely were.

She was more than a fighter, she puts so much effort and thinking into her attacks. When she's in the middle of combat, you can tell she's studying her opponents every move. Observing their weaknesses, their strengths, and how she should manage them to win. All at such a young age.

As the girls crowd the door way and begin exiting to attend their next class, I pull Natalia aside.

"Natalia, excellent work today. I was beyond amazed at your talent." I remarked.

For the first time, I saw her smile warmly at me. "Thank you very much Miss Shadow."

"I'll have to have a word with Mrs. A, but I'd like you to train with me personally, if you'll agree." I ask her.

I shouldn't feel like I had to ask for her permission, I have the authority to order them to do certain things like that, but something inside me wanted her to feel comfortable with it. Nevertheless, she nodded enthusiastically at the offer.

"Wonderful, what class do you have now?" I ask.

"I.. I think it's time to clean now. I think I was supposed to be the person who polishes the furniture today."

"Alone?" I ask wide eyed.

"Well no, I'm not supposed to. But some of the other girls make me do their part anyways." She sighs.

She seemed to notice me looking at her earnestly, because she started shaking her head reassuringly. "Oh no no it's ok though! It gives me some peace and quiet."

I smile and pat her head softly. "Well your cleaning time now becomes your training time." I state.

"I'm not sure if they'll be ok with that." She said quietly.

"I'll make sure they are." I chuckle.

She nods.

I lead her down the hall with me, and search for Mrs. A.

After a couple of minutes, I find her discussing something with Madame B. I approach her slowly.

When she doesn't acknowledge me, I clear my throat in attempts of getting her attention.

She turned towards me, cutting her conversation short. "Excuse me Madame B." Madame B nods towards me and turned to walk away.

"Mrs. A, I'd like to personally train Natalia over here."

She raised an eyebrow. "And why is that."

"I believe she has a lot of potential." I say.

"You do know you're not an official instructor here right Miss Shadow? You're only here for a short period of time." She says.

"Then let me make the most of that time. I will help train the other girls in class, and during cleaning time, Natalia will be with me." I concluded.

Mrs A eyed us both down, then rolled her eyes.

"Very well, but she will not be training with you during cleaning time, she will join you in the basement early in the morning when we let her wake up." She said. So much for skipping the chores I guess.

She bent down a little to face Natalia. "You will not be allowed out of bed until we come to collect you, is that clear?" Natalia nodded.

"And you Miss Shadow, you will not be allowed to associate with Natalia until her training is in session. You will wait for her in the mornings at 4:30 sharp, one hour before her usual classes begin. Yes?"

"Right." I say.

She began walking away, until stopping abruptly. "Miss Shadow, if you will, please escort Natalia to her cleaning duties."

I walk and gesture Natalia to come with me.

As she lead me down to where she was supposed to go, we engaged in a bit of small talk.

"Can I ask you something Miss Shadow?" She looked up at me.

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

"What happened to that other soldier, he was a man." She asked.

"Describe him." I couldn't recall who they had sent last time to train the girls.

"He was tall with brown hair, and the most peculiar part about him was his metal arm."

Metal arm...

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about." I say.

I'd seen him before, training with other winter soldiers back at the HYDRA base

"I'm not sure what happened. Maybe they wanted a female teacher, I was probably on a different mission before that, so they sent him for the time being." I told her.

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?" I questioned.

"Many girls here were afraid of him, he was most likely strong like you, judging that I haven't seen you fight before, but his demeanor was intimidating to many of us. I wasn't scared though." She smiled.

I smirked. "Well I'm your trainer now, but I guess he must've been a good fighter if he trained you to be the way you are now."

"Maybe." She said.

We climbed a few staircases, and she lead me to what looked like a laundry room.

She opened a closet full of cleaning supplies and grabbed the things she needed.

I headed towards the door.

Before leaving, I turned to her. "I'll make sure you never lose in any fight that you come across, you're a tough fighter Little Red.

She grinned, and thanked me.

Author's Note

Hello guys! Back with another chapter. I absolutely loved writing this one. I know it doesn't have much to do with Bucky, but I wanted to add a Natasha back story because I think she'll add something good to Y/n's character development. Anyways see you soon!