animus
(adj.)
hostility or ill feeling

•••

"After about ten years working as the assassin, I found myself unhappy. The prideful words Madame B gave became repetitive. The girls I favored were all murdered. I was doing thing I hated. The situation was coming to a head anyway."

••

Natalia hurried back to headquarters with the intent of running right back out. The Ant-Man had to be killed as soon as possible. She rode through the dark and didn't even bother going to the Red Room. She went straight to the Moscow Office.

She began stepping lively into Colonel Karpov's voice, passing Madame B on the way.

"What is the problem?" asked Madame B, following after her. Natalia's entire demeanor gave away the fact that something went terribly wrong.

Natalia barged into Karpov's office, causing him to look up from his desk work, startled.

"This has better be good, Romanova," he growled  angerly. Then he turned to Madame B. "She does not have enough control."

"Colonel Karpov," Natalia began. "I finished my mission successfully. B—"

"You burst in here as if you are in charge, just to tell me you succeeded?" he asked incredulously, as is stood up behind his desk. "It is high time you knew your place, Widow."

"Sir, please," Natalia said quickly. They had no time to miscommunicate. "Anne Slovinska. The ring leader. She may have been feeding the girls lies, but someone had been feeding her too."

Karpov cocked an eyebrow as he leaned into his arm that were connected to the hands that he had leaning into the desk before him. "Do you know who?"

"She called him a 'shrinking man'."

"A shrinking man?" asked Karpov. "Was she sane?"

Natalia nodded unbelievably. "I saw him."

"A shrinking man?" asked Karpov, now standing straight up.

"An Ant-Man," Natalia corrected. "He was as small as an ant. When I was interrogating Slovinska, he entered under the girl and tried to keep me from killing her."

"If he is the size of an ant, how could he try and stop you?"

"He grew to and average human size. As large as you are. He was strong all by himself. But when he was small—it's some type of tech—he retained his strength. And something that small with that strength. His punch through my boot was like a bullet. He hit me into a wall. Picked me up. It was incredible."

"But he didn't jeopardize your mission?"

Natalia nodded. "Oh, yes sir, he certainly did. Though I succeeded, it very well could have went very wrong. In my eyes, I believe it did. The Ant-Man is now on the loose. He's seen me. He's seen me kill dozens of children. And he obviously knows where the children are kept in the Red Room."

"Did you kill him?"

Natalia shook her head. "I couldn't. If i had stayed, I would have burned. I threw him into the fire and retreated. But I know he is still alive."

Karpov nodded. He turned to Madame B, who had been left out of the discussion. "Prep your Red Room for invasion. Protect all small nooks and crannies. Cracked windows. Under doors. Prepare to move it. Have Siberia in mind. I suppose we can keep all our assets there."

"Of course, Colonel." She walked away.

"The Ant-Man must die. And since he has seen you, this can be no spy mission. You haven't had an assassination operation in years, have you?"

"That doesn't mean I'm not not capable."

Karpov just sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I've just been pondering. Perhaps that you should focus solely on espionage and I let another asset I have, who I put on a lot of operations such as the Kennedy Assassination and the Waterloo Murder do all the assassinations."

"But this Ant-Man has special abilities," Natalia protested.

"So does my asset," Karpov countered. "Do not argue with me."

"I apologize, Colonel. But, respectfully, I have already faced Ant-Man. I know what to expect."

"But you failed," he pointed out.

"I won't this time," Natalia promised.

"Very well, then. Go," he said apathetically, waving Natalia off as he looked back down to his papers.

"Natalia," Madame B called out harshly before Natalia could turn to leave.

"Yes, Madame B?" asked Natalia respectfully.

"Take Tanya Gorbachov and let her watch your research process," she ordered. Natalia cringed. She hated teaching the children of the Red Room. Especially the pre adolescents. They asked so many questions that it would drive Natalia mad. They wouldn't bother her with the young children.

The adolescents and full-grows such as Gorbachov were so much like Natalia, that she had grown disgusted to be around them. Natalia's entire being had grown into a beacon of self-loathing. She hated herself. She hated what she did. She hated the children who called her a role model. She hated herself.

But she knew that the things she did and the people in charge, along with all the girls who lost their lives was all for the greater good. This was all for the greater good. This was the sole truth that help her get through the day. All the things that she experiences day by day is something she does so the people she serves don't have too.

"Madame Ursula Barinova, I do hope you learn your place under me, old hag. This girl works for the Soviet Army, not the Red Room Academy," Colonel Karpov growled, standing up from his chair. "I have been put in charge of the this highly experimental, child killing operation that somehow has only produced one genetically modified spy and a big headache with my Asset, that I also have to oversee, in all the 50 years it's been running. Stalin invests all the money he can into this program, Barinova, and all it would take for it to be shut down with your head on my wall, would be one word," he finished, hold is pointer finger in her face violently.

Madame B backed away from her commander, obviously shocked. Luchov had always let her manipulate him.

Karpov turned to Natalia. "This is an extremely important mission, that I would like to send someone with you," he said, gritting his teeth for the last phrase and looking to Madame B. "But I can't, due to Barinova's past stupidity and slight surveillance over things that are bound to happen between women and men. So therefore, you will be carrying this out alone, and you will not have to teach along the way. Now go. Find out who this Ant-Man is and report back to me. You will no longer be of any association to the Red Room Academy. When you return from the operation, you will now lay your rest in Siberia with the rest of my mission operatives." He turned to Madame B with anger boiling

Natalia smirked to herself as he exited this room. She hated Madame B with a passion. She was glad that she was getting what she deserved. A good talking down to. As she walked farther away, Karpov's scolding voice only grew more and more muffled.

Natalia ran back to the Red Room to cut the singed the ends off her hair, fitting it into a new style where it was now just below her shoulders. She took a wash and gave her suit over to the women who washed and fixed it after her missions. Then she replenished her body with nutrients and a few hours of sleep before she returned to Headquarters in Moscow.

Looking back upon the Red Room as she drove away almost made her giddy that she would never see ever place again. She knew it was wrong to think such a thing. The Red Room Academy gave her everything from the food in her stomach and the clothes on her back to the advanced skill set and bodily functions she possessed. But for some reason, she hated the place and loved the idea of having no more to do with it.

Natalia, once she arrived back at headquarters, began searching through their intelligence base with top level clearance. There had been many Soviet exploits that had been interrupted by a shrinking man and a few of the most recents also included a shrinking woman. She was reported to have wings like a dragonfly or a wasp. Natalia continued to dig until she found herself in a hole with Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Mitchell Carson.

All members of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Natalia rolled her eyes. S.H.I.E.L.D. was always in their way, ever since its founding in the 60's. She knew for a fact that Stark and Carter were in no way the Ant-Man. She had seen both of them on many occasions. It couldn't be van Dyne, for she was a woman. The Ant-Man was not very smart for allowing his face to be shown. Natalia proceeded to look up Hank Pym and Mitchell Carson, easily finding that Hank Pym had been doing research on the very thing she was trying to catch someone doing. So, despite that it was 'incomplete research,' he was her prime suspect.

Natalia smiled evilly to herself. No one, not even S.H.I.E.L.D. knew who Ant-Man was. There were rumors. But no confirmations. This meant, Pym could tell no one of what happened tonight. This only meant that he was sure to come backs and try and solve this problem himself. He needed to kill the Black Widow. But she had to kill him first.

She had read that Hank Pym was returning to America from an 'ambassador trip' the next afternoon.

Natalia would be waiting for him there.

She hurried to Colonel Karpov's office, sure to knock, not wanting to get back in his bad side. "It's taken you three days. I do hope you have our target."

"I do," Natalia said with a nod, crossing her arms across her chest. "You'd never guess who it is."

He raised an eyebrow. "Walt Disney?"

Natalia's face contorted into shock. "How did you guess that?"

Then he appeared truly shocked. "It's Walt Disney?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

She didn't blame him. She was a very talented liar. She just played a simple joke on him. Something that she does often. It was a trait that she would never know that it was the Winter Soldier that it it to her.

"No it's not Disney. But it's just as good," Natalia assured.

"Well, who is it?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Hank Pym."

He nodded thoughtfully. "That isn't just as good though. Surprising, yes. If Walt Disney has faked his death to become the Ant-Man, that would amazing and so great to say that we were the ones to dispatch him."

Natalia chuckled a bit. Karpov was the biggest joker she had ever met, but he'll only joke after respect was established. He and Natalia instantly were well respected by each other. But he was Natalia's commanding officer, so she never wanted to take it too far.

"It would be fitting. The shrinking man fights crime. Sounds like one of his films."

"It does," Karpov agreed. "So Pym is he still running S.H.I.E.L.D. with Carter and Stark?"

Natalia nodded. "Yes. And they will all three be in D.C. Thursday. Stark's 'prodigy' son will be there too."

"Probably to debrief on us," Karpov growled inwardly.

"Yes," Natalia agreed.

"Its a perfect opportunity. Carter, Pym, and both Starks. I'd tell you to take care of them all, but we need the senior Stark."

"Why is that so?"

"That is classified. Not your mission, dear Natalia."

"Colonel, I need to know for the mission," Natalia pleaded. It's not like she could use this information to her advantage. She was just nosy.

"He is extremely close to recreating to Super Soldier Serum. As soon as he's done it, then I will have another asset take care of it all."

Natalia nodded. "Don't kill Howard Stark," she repeated. "What about the son."

"He's a sixteen year old boy who invented Artificial Intelligence last week. Get rid of him. No use to us. He too intelligent for us to take his work from him. He'll never defect. It would be better to just not have all these things," Karpov told her.

"And Carter?"

Karpov walked over to his window and peered out. "Hank Pym. Margaret Carter. Anthony Stark. Take care of all of them. Hank Pym is prime target. He must be killed before he finds himself in the proximity of Carter and Stark. All forces necessary."

No matter how animus she felt towards herself and others around her, this had to be done. A perfect opportunity to get rid of their most prominent threats.

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