Mikayla stands in the large room. It's completely empty except for the singluar chair sitting right in the center. Sitting in that chair is a person. It might be a man? She's not sure. They have a bag over their head. She's standing there, a couple feet away from them, her gun locked and loaded, aimed straight at their head. It's a straight shot. She knows she'll make it, but for some reason, she just can't bring herself to pull the trigger. 

"Now, Mikayla."

She hears Miss Karenina, who's standing right behind her,  say with a harsh tone. She takes a breath. Why is she hesitating? She has no idea why. 

If she doesn't take this shot, she's done. She knows this. Yet she still can't press down on the trigger. 

"I thought you were better than this." 

She hears the smug words from her instructor, causing her to swallow hard. This is her final test before she's taken for graduation. Why is this so difficult? 

She takes a couple of deep breaths, muttering a quiet apology that only she can hear, and then pulls the trigger. She flinches. She's never flinched when taking a shot. Yet, she's also never actually killed anybody. She's just been trained to. 

Mikayla watches the body fall limp and watches the blood seep through the burlap bag over their head. She sighs. She feels Miss Karenina come over and put a hand on her shoulder, a smug grin on her face.

"Well done." 

She can't take her eyes off of the limp body just a few feet in front of her, not responding to her instructors words. Mikayla can't see her instructor frown at her.

"Mikayla."

Her instructor says, trying to get her attention.

"Mikayla?" 

She hears her instructor repeat. The next time, it's said it sounds less and less like Miss Karenina and more like..

"Mikayla!"

Her head snaps up, and she looks at her teammate, who's staring at her expectantly. She didn't realize she had zoned out. 

"Hm?" Mikayla looks at her as if she hadn't been zoned out for the last 30 minutes of their planning.

"You didn't hear a single word I said, did you?" She sighs.

Mikayla scoffs and glances away. "Of course I did -" She says nonchalantly as she looks back at her temporary teammate, Irina. 

They're currently being transported to their mission in the States on a jet. It's not the nicest jet, but it still runs, and it is still getting them to their destination. It's been two months since Mikayla's graduation, and now she's out on the field. 

"No, you did not." Irina rolls her eyes.

She gives her an innocent smile and tilts her head. "Just in case I forgot, do you wanna repeat it?" 

Irina sighs once more, questioning why she was placed with her. 

"Here's the plan." She looks down at her computer. "The building is pretty secure, so we don't have much luck getting in undetected. So, we have better luck waiting outside -"

"Irina," Mikayla starts. "That is a shit plan." She stares at her.

Irina stares back at her momentarily before slowly continuing.

"If you would let me finish," She gives her a look and then looks back at her computer. "There's an abandoned building right across the street that gives us a perfect view of the entrance. I can find the routine of who goes in and who goes out while you try and knock down any security that would slow us down. Then we can get in, get the information we need, and get out."

Mikayla looks at Irina's computer, nodding slowly as she processes the plan and her part in it. "Sounds easy enough." She shrugs.

Irina nods a little. "Except we're dealing with very powerful people. Literally powerful people. So we have to be careful."

Mikayla nods and sighs. "Fun."

"Very."

_________________________________________

"So I hear we're in a bit of a pickle."

Everyone looks up from their work at Tony Stark as he walks in, carrying coffee for everyone.

"Ah, nice of you to join us." Natasha smirks as she takes the coffee cup he offers her, taking a sip.  

"Oh, of course, I wouldn't miss out on a little -" He glances at Clint's computer. "Temple run session with the team." He grins. 

Clint shrugs. "Don't bash it till you try it, Stark." He says nonchalantly as he turns his attention back to the game. 

Tony just rolls his eyes and sets all of the coffee down on the coffee table for anyone to grab. "Someone care to fill me in?" 

Everyone stays silent for a moment, which causes Tony to drop his jaw in mock offense. "Rude."

Steve exhales dramatically. "We have some people targeting the team, or I guess information." He sips his coffee, looking at his computer. "Looks similar to the people in the organization Nat used to be involved with." He sees her clench her jaw. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She sighs and turns her attention away and back to the files she's looking at.

"So far, it's just been attempts from a remote location to get into our systems, but thanks to your obnoxious technology, they haven't been able to get in yet." Steve says.

"What do you mean 'yet'? They'll never be able to get in. I'm too good." Tony scoffs.

Natasha looks at him. "The people we're dealing with are good, Tony. They've been trained to complete their mission no matter the cost. We're in danger unless we take care of it." She says bluntly.

Tony looks at her for a moment and takes in her serious tone and demeanor. He just shrugs and walks over to look at Steve's computer to see exactly what they're dealing with. 

Clint gives Natasha a little nudge with his elbow, giving her a subtle look to see if she's okay. Natasha responds with a small nod and sighs, looking back at the files. In reality, she's very concerned. If the Red Room is still active, she has no clue how much they've advanced in the years she's been gone. 

That scares her. 

_________________________________________

It's been three days since Mikayla and Irina set up camp in the abandoned building across the street of the Avenger's Tower. Mikayla is still trying to break into the building's security, but it's proven to be pretty difficult.

"Are you close at all?" Irina asks, annoyance lacing her tone.

Mikayla looks up at her with a glare and then looks back down at the screen. "You're a very impatient person." She mumbles, earning an eye roll from Irina. She gets a lot of those.

Suddenly, it gives. 

"What?" Mikayla says out loud, confusion in her voice.

"What happened?" Irina comes over and sits next to her, looking at the screen.

"It's down -" She double checks to make sure. "How is that even.." She's trying to figure out how that happened because she knows she didn't do it. At least she thinks she didn't do it.

"Who cares? Security is down, and it looks like most of the team is out of the building anyway. Let's go." Irina stands up quickly and starts gathering her gear.

"It could be a trap." Mikayla looks at her.

"I've been a Widow longer than you have. You just started. I know what I'm doing. Now stop making excuses and get your gear. We're going." Irina says bluntly.

Mikayla stares at her a moment before muttering a quick 'fine' and sighing, going to get her gear. 

.

.

.

Irina is in the tower, while Mikayla is watching the cameras from nearby. Not many people seem to be in the building, but there are a few that they definitely want to avoid encountering if possible. 

"Alright." Mikayla says, guiding Irina to wear she needs to go. "Take the next hallway, left." She says quickly. "Now, right." 

She continues to guide her with no problems for a good five minutes until she sees someone in one of the camera feeds headed Irina's way.

"Uh, someone's headed your way." She says urgently.

"How far ahead?" Irina says in a hushed tone. 

"Right there, Irina!" 

"Dammit, Mikayla -" She hears Irina mumble as she comes face to face with a red head they both have heard of. 

Mikayla watches the feed as they stare at eachother, it would be funny if it weren't so serious. She can see the red head's mouth moving as she starts to speak to Irina, but then the feed is cut off. 

"Seriously?" She mumbles.

"Seriously." A voice behind her says. A male voice.

She freezes, realizing she's been caught. She's been sitting in a coffee shop right next door to the tower. To any normal person, it looks like she's doing work on her computer and maybe speaking to a friend on the phone, but not to the person who caught her. She watches as he walks around and sits at the chair across from her.

"So. What's your name?" The man says casually. "I'm Clint." He tilts his head.

She knows what he's doing. He's giving her his name to make her comfortable and make it feel safe to share hers, which she will not be doing.

"What do you want?" She asks bluntly.

"What's your name?" He repeats.

"Why does it matter?" She tilts her head.

Clint just stares at her for a moment, his eyes studying her.

"I hope you know," He leans back in his chair, staring at her intently. "I have you surrounded by highly trained professionals that will shoot if I tell them too."

She glances around and sees what he's talking about. They look normal to typical people, just like her. She looks at him and grins. "You're not going to shoot me."

"Yeah? And why not?" He questions, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table.

"You have morals. You're going to try and help me before you kill me. But I don't need help." 

"I think you're lying to yourself." He shrugs. She notices he's very unprofessional and nonchalant. "Tell me. Do you enjoy killing people?"

"Who said I kill people?" She raises an eyebrow.

Clint stares at her for a moment. "Your name is Mikayla Nikolaeva. You work for the KGB. You just recently graduated from the Red Room, and this is your third mission you've been assigned to since then."

Mikayla's eyes narrow. How did he find that information?

"Now. Do you enjoy killing people?"

She stares at him, her eyes cold and calculating. Of course, she doesn't enjoy killing people. Every time she's faced with it, she freezes up, but she has to push that aside and do her job. She licks her lips and clears her throat. 

"It was nice talking to you, Clint, but I kind of have to go." She gives a fake smile and stands up. She sees the red dots immediately on her jacket but then sees Clint raising a hand to tell them to back off. She has a slightly amused look in her eye, walking out and leaving Clint sitting there. 

Once she gets outside, she picks up her pace, speaking into her earpiece to see if Irina is okay.

"Irina? Are you okay?" She says into her earpiece. She gets no response, so she tries again. "Irina?"

"Hi. Mikayla?" A woman's voice says into the earpiece. The woman has a raspy voice. 

Mikayla stays silent, not knowing who this is. Should she contact her boss and tell him Irina's been compromised? 

"Irina is fine." The woman says. "Listen, we can help you -"

"I don't need help." She says harshly. "What do you want?"

Silence falls on the other line for a moment while Natasha thinks of her next words carefully. She wants the girl to trust her, but she knows it's easier said than done.

"Okay. I need you to hear me out." Natasha says calmly. 

Mikayla stays quiet.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff, though I'm sure you already knew that. I grew up in the Red Room, too. Trust me, I understand how difficult it is to get out, but we can help you. I can help you. Just please let us." Her voice is sincere.

Mikayla stands still for a moment, her mind racing. She doesn't want out. She's never wanted out. Why would she want out..? Her eyebrows furrow. Why wouldn't she want out? She's conflicted.

"Where's Irina?" She asks with a new tone.

"Safe." Natasha replies.

"Tell her I'm sorry." She says quickly and takes the earpiece out of her ear, hearing the faint voice of Natasha before she drops it on the ground and smashes it with her foot. 

She's starting to realize how badly she's wanted out for a while now, but she's in too deep. She knows how risky it is to try and escape. Many girls die from trying. She just can't bring herself to try. 

She can't risk it.

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

A/N

Hey guys!! I hope you liked the first chapter 💕 I wanted to at least get the first chapter out so it wasn't just the prologue 🤣

I'm going to try and find a good publishing schedule. It'll most likely be twice a week, but I'm going to find two set days I know I'm going to publish. The first couple of chapters will most likely be randomly finished!!