Budapest

Chapter 16

Natasha Romanoff
(Natalia Romanov)
I watch as Agent Barton comes out of the apartment. He blinks at the sudden light, and seems to be a little paler than he was when he walked in. Yes, that's right. I've been watching. He must have gotten my note and gift, for why else would he be searching the rooftops. His eyes go past me. I am concealed, obviously well if even he can't see me. While reading his file, I learnt about his hearing impairment and his miraculous eyesight. I even learnt about his strange choice of weapon. A bow.
My knee scrapes the ground lightly as I slowly creep backwards. From where I am, under the top clothes line, I can see the whole rooftop the agent is searching.
I may not have the best eyesight but I can still read his body language and most importantly, his eyes.
In the KGB organization, I had an instructor that excelled at people reading. He would push me to go harder with the occasional whipping on the side, until finally I got good. Real good. Soon I was better than him and even the highest ranking leaders. But of course they couldn't allow me, an orphan adopted into the agency, to become the best at anything...even people reading. All my instructors had seemed to notice the way I took to things quickly. So they ran tests on me, looking at the parts of my brain and how it worked
Seeing that they either had to dispose of me or use me, they decided the latter. But of course then they didn't realize how much I hated them. The things I saw in there make me who I am today. Ruthless, Heartless and Unloveable.
I'm now out of sight range. Standing up, I look around myself to check if there is anything of use to me. I grab one peg and shove it into my pocket, who knows what I could use it for. I can still feel the fabric of my uniform rubbing against the stitches and cuts. It was a lousy job on my part but I didn't have the equipment or time. It seems Ivan had realized my need for a hospital and had surrounded it, so I had to make do.
It's fine though, with the tests the KGB ran on me, they had triggered something accidentally in my brain, I believe they had pulled at the wrong part or something, but I couldn't know, they would never tell me exactly what they did or I'd be able to make it work more effectively, my advanced healing that is. By tampering with my mind, they had caused my healing abilities to be enhanced. But because this certain ability is unnatural, it was dangerous. To keep me alive, they developed an injection or serum that balances everything out. With this serum, the accidental mind manipulation is no longer lethal, but it does become lethal when I run out of the serum. Iv've experienced this withdrawal before, I remember having vivid hallucinations as I ran a fever. When I fist experienced it, I thought I would finally be allowed to die. But the KGB would never allow it. You never do anything without their consent, and I didn't have the consent to die. Not on my own. They wanted to kill me themselves.
But things don't always go to plan as I have learnt, and now the KGB will learn this also. I may well die on my own yet, without my enhancers or maybe with an arrow to my black heart.