Russia

Winter 1996/97

With a final, spinning move, Nadya ducked beneath Katerina's guard and overturned the other girl with a calculated twist to slam her hard into the packed snow beneath their feet, cracking the layer of ice that lay hidden beneath the frigid white blanket. A hollow cry wheezed from Katerina as the wind was knocked out of her, a puff of breath condensing in a thick mist as it gusted past her pale lips. Nadya's own breath panted out in thick, misty clouds in the subzero temperatures of the Russian winter.

Around them, lips were beginning to turn blue and shivers were being suppressed as the other girls stood around observing, their own matches having been completed. Their endurance and resilience in harsh conditions was merely one other facet of their training. Nadya didn't quite feel the cold the same way as the others anymore, but even she was beginning to suffer from the chill despite her physical exertions and enhanced metabolism helping to keep her warm.

Katerina glared up at her, her expression bordering on murderous at being beaten. Once it was hard for Nadya to beat the last remaining girl from her group, Katerina being the best of their group at hand-to-hand combat and ruthless and underhanded to a degree Nadya and the others couldn't quite match. Nadya glared back, knowing her eyes would be cold and hard as they stared down at her groupmate. She would be well within her rights to kill the other girl. She glanced toward Madame B.

The Training Mistress stood just as motionless and emotionless as usual, seemingly unperturbed by the cold that gusted over the roof of the Red Room's mansion. She gave no indication, though, of instruction. But the look in the older woman's eyes, even veiled as they were, had Nadya wary. There was no trace of approval anymore. Had Katerina managed to beat Nadya, it was evident that Madame B wouldn't have batted an eye.

And that Katerina would have received a slight, minute nod.

No, had she not won the match, it would have been the end of Nadya.

She turned from her winded groupmate. Just beyond the gathered girls, a handful of men were approaching, the Winter Soldier among them. Nadya withheld a groan. She was starting to wonder if Madame B really was just trying to kill them all. Surely they had all had enough for today. Already a few of the other girls were beginning to show signs of hypothermic reactions to the cold. And their Training Mistress wanted them to keep training?

As the girls all looked on with varying degrees of visible trepidation, the Winter Soldier's primary handler strode forward to speak with Madame B, his voice low enough that it was stolen by the wind before it could reach anyone save the Training Mistress. But whatever he said, she was having none of it. Looking rather displeased at her immovability, the handler, Karpov, nevertheless turned and gestured sharply. This time Nadya actually groaned, guessing what it meant.

Yet, despite anticipating it, she was just barely able to evade the Winter Soldier's first lightning fast blow, but wasn't quite quick enough to dodge the second, grunting in pain as his elbow caught her side as she dove in for the attack.

She was beginning to get really tired of Madame B subjecting her to becoming this man's punching bag in the name of training...

Eventually, though, it always ended the same way. With a hard thud, a crunching of snow and ice and an angry cry that was forced from Nadya's throat, he had her slamming into the frozen surface of the roof they used for training that day, pinning her on her back, one arm twisted behind her, the other crushed beneath his as he braced his arm across her chest, keeping her immobilized.

Knowing she was beaten, Nadya let her body go loose, indicating she yielded as best she was able with the arm his hand was closed around even as she still glared up at him. But he didn't let her up right away.

The air seemed to grow thick and charged between them, Nadya's skin warming wherever his hard body pressed against hers. Unbidden, heat began to flood through her as he stared down at her, his steel-blue eyes unusually intent on her startled grey ones. She swallowed thickly, trying to slow her racing pulse, suddenly thrumming in a way that had nothing to do with exertion. As she did, his brow furrowed, a distant, puzzled expression coming over his usually blank, unreadable face. His darkened eyes dropped to her lips, which she knew were parted from panting in the aftermath of their fight. He shifted, turning away from where he'd been pressed against her, holding her legs pinned. A gasp was startled from Nadine as heat began pooling in her belly, her body reacting unbidden to the stirring she'd felt against her thigh before he'd canted his hips away.

With a jerk he wrenched away from her, retreating to stand near the edge of the sparring area, his face once again blank and eyes empty and cold, though they flickered with uncertainty.

Nadya was frozen, stunned as the heat beneath her skin refused to abate, though she felt suddenly cold without him close, a shudder skittering through her body. It took Madame B's sharp admonishment for her to quickly pick herself off the packed snow that served as their sparring surface.

As Nadya took her place among the other girls, easing back behind the others, she pressed a cold hand to her suddenly hot cheek.

She certainly hadn't expected that.

Karpov was once again whispering furiously with a stoic and silent Madame B, looking rather irate at the older woman. Neither did she look entirely pleased with whatever the handler was saying. Her thin lips pressing thinner, Madame B turned abruptly away from the handler.

With a sharp nod the girls were dismissed and the older woman glided past them all to descend back into the mansion that housed their training facility. His lip twisting derisively, Karpov was quickly following after her, his companions trailing behind, pushing past the girls that were already trying to retreat out of the cold themselves.

Even though there was no formal order to the way the girls filed from the roof, they nevertheless organized themselves instinctively by group, with the youngest present that day—the group below Natalia's—already having disappeared inside and the eldest ones taking up the rear; the only ones left from the oldest group were Nadya and Katerina.

It also meant they were the last two girls left on the roof.

And Nadya should not have turned her back on the other girl.

With a silent snarl, Katerina had lunged for Nadya the instant the last girl had disappeared inside, a razor sharp shard of ice flashing in her hand. Had it not been for the way her nerves were already almost painfully on edge from what had just transpired between her and the Winter Soldier, Nadya never would have reacted in time, and the knife-like shard would have buried itself in her side. As it was, Nadya was barely able to dodge back and away from the other girl's attack, narrowly missing the ice as it stabbed toward her belly and slashed past her throat. Her blood steamed as several drops were sprinkled onto the snow from the shallow gash Katerina nevertheless managed to open on her stomach, gleaming and vibrant red against the stark white.

Nadya didn't allow herself to react to the searing pain that flared from the jagged cut. With a nimble twist, she dropped and flashed a leg out to catch her heel on Katerina's shin, nearly toppling the other girl. It was a stumble Nadya took full advantage of, spinning again to catch Katerina in the side with a sharp kick before grabbing and wrenching her arm and hand back, dislodging the thick ice shard. While she might once have been the best in close quarter combat, Katerina no longer held that distinction. In a heartbeat she had recovered but it wasn't quite quickly enough, Nadya having spun around behind her, pinning Katerina's arm sharply behind her back and driving her forward into the solid brick wall that held the door back into the mansion. The other girl thrashed against Nadya's hold, fighting angrily to loosen Nadya's hard grip.

"I will get you, Rykova," Katerina snarled, jerking and twisting in Nadya's hold, "I won't let you kill me first."

"What makes you think I want to kill you," Nadya snapped back, "if I'd wanted you dead, you would be dead, Zhirova."

"And that's your mistake!" With a sharp jerk, Katerina wrenched herself free to slam an elbow into Nadya's face, a white-hot shard of pain flaring across her face as her lip split, before Katerina whirled to knee the blonde hard in the stomach. With a gasp Nadya stumbled back, letting herself fall and using the momentum to roll herself away from the other girl and into a more solid stance. But Katerina had leapt into action the instant Nadya had let go, and as Nadya straightened, the other girl was lunging forward to drive Nadya into the wall, drawing a cry from the blonde as her cheek was ground abruptly into the wall, her forearms scraping painfully across the rough brick as she struggled to push herself back. But before she had managed to right herself, Katerina had latched onto Nadya's back, her arms around Nadya's throat as she wrenched the blonde around, twisting her off her feet into the hard-packed snow.

With a snarl of her own, Nadya's arm snaked around to grab hold of Katerina and, with a fluid motion, was twisting her way free just as the other girl had done mere heartbeats before. With a sharp jerk, she had loosened Katerina's grip and lashed out to drive both feet into her torso, sending her attacker flying backward...

...right into the waiting arms of the Winter Soldier.

Anyone else would have been surprised, but he just looked blankly from one girl to the other. He barely glanced at Nadya, but he seemed to study Katerina for a moment before his flesh hand flashed out to clamp around her throat. But Katerina was still worked up and in the heat of her fury. Just as his fingers were about to close around her neck, she was already moving to evade him, just barely able to wrench herself free from his vise-like fingers. But she was so caught up in her rage that she lashed out at him in frustration at being distracted from her fight with Nadya. It was not a smart thing to do. It took only a couple deft moves and he had her flying back toward the door.

Nadya was in a state of shock as the Winter Soldier watched in silence as Katerina stumbled to her feet and reconsidered her assault. With a final glare to both of them, she was retreating back into the mansion.

It was only then that he turned to Nadya.

Under his fathomless gaze, she pulled herself to her feet. A sharp gasp escaped her though, as the movement tugged painfully at the ragged gash just beside her belly button. Her hand clutching at the wound, her own blood hot on her cold-numbed fingers, she leaned against the wall with an uneven pant, sneaking a glimpse beneath her now red-stained palm; it was already beginning to heal.

But then his hand was over hers, adding pressure of his own to the injury. Startled, she looked up, her breath catching as she realized just how close he was standing. Heat radiated off him, warming her even as the brick at her back tried to leech away her body heat. He was looking down at where their hands met on her side, the crease between his eyebrows faint but distinct as the conflicted expression returned.

After a long, uncertain moment, his metal hand rose, brushing back her hair from her face, gently tugging the strands from where they were clinging to the scrapes Katerina had left on her face. His fingertips, the metal chilled from the merciless winter air, traced down the column of her throat, raising goosebumps that had nothing to do with the temperature. The space between them suddenly grew charged again.

As she watched his face while his fingers grazed over her collarbone, her heart was beginning to race again and her skin was suddenly tingling with anticipation. His eyes fixed on hers, the steel-blue darkening as he looked at her with an expression oddly close to trepidation.

Her knees suddenly feeling weak, her free hand rose nearly of its own volition to brace against his solid torso. His breath hitched, his eyes sliding shut as her fingers clutched at the thick fabric. It was only as she registered the sound that she realized she was unconsciously trying to pull him closer, leaning in toward him as she did. The space remaining between them grew smaller yet as he stepped forward to answer her silent entreaty, nearly but not quite pressing their bodies together. A shuddering sigh passed through her as he leaned forward, his head dipping to nuzzle against her jaw, his breath hot and inflaming against her skin. It felt almost as though she were in a dream.

Nadya could barely believe what was happening as the heat began to pool again deep in her belly. An involuntary moan sighed out of her as he pressed closer, their bodies flush against one another from knee to chest, his muscular form hard and arousing from sheer proximity alone. An almost painful sensation of want tightened to life deep in her abdomen at the unmistakable stirring against her hip.

Her hand slid up his chest to curl around his neck, pulling herself against him, her head falling to the side as his head dipped lower, the feel of his lips so close to her skin tormenting her to distraction. She gasped breathlessly as his mouth latched, hot and insistent, against her throat, her teeth clamping down on her lip at the lancing heat that went through her at the sensation.

With a groan, he shifted against her, bracing her higher between him and the wall, not only gaining better access to her neck, but also aligning his hips with hers. Instinctively, her legs parted around his thigh and before she could stop herself, her hips had rocked into his, pulling a deep, primal groan from him that shuddered through her own body. The desperate heat intensified at the friction of his body against hers. Panting, she clutched at his shoulder, her foot sliding against the wall behind her as she searched for leverage. She wanted more, lust searing uncomfortably through her veins as she ground against him, unashamedly wanton as she struggled to sate the unfamiliar and suddenly frantic desire he'd woken in her. A small desperate sound escaped her as the coiling tension deep in her belly tightened far slower than she needed it to.

There was no telling what would have happened next had a voice from beyond the door into the mansion not called out for Nadya. It snapped them both from whatever was happening between them. With a jerk, the Winter Soldier pulled away from her, eyes wide and conflicted—even apologetic?—though his hand stayed pressed against her own where it covered the gash on her stomach. It startled her from the haze of arousal clouding her thoughts, his reaction utterly bewildering to her. After a moment of staring down at her, a war between the blankness and awareness beginning to surface in his eyes, he blinked hard, eyes finally squeezing shut as he was caught up in the monumental struggle.

When they opened again, the expression was gone, leaving behind only a faintly perplexed look shadowing his characteristically empty expression; his programming had won out. Hesitantly, he drew his hand away from her side, looking mildly down at the traces of her blood that had seeped onto his fingers.

Without another look, he turned and disappeared inside.

A shuddering breath shook from Nadya's chest and, utterly bewildered and painfully frustrated, she let her knees buckle beneath her. With a heavy sigh and a heavier mind, she sank down against the wall into the snow, her shirt catching on the rough brick as she did so. She barely noticed, still feeling the lingering sensation of his mouth on her skin and his body pressed against hers.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

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