"You know what I think, the Commander is crazy" said Olga as she was cleaning some guns with a cloth as she put them back down on the table.
"You did not realize that before?" asked Kira as she laughed and she finished cleaning the knife that she was holding as they were all in the weapon room.
"Hmm, I did know that he was a very rough man but… I did not think that he was actually this crazy" said Olga.
"Natasha, what do you think?" asked Kira as she looked at Natasha who has just been focusing on what she was doing as she listened to them speak.
"Well the Commander might seem crazy and rough, but he never does anything without thinking first, anything that he tells us has already been predetermined" said Natasha.
"He's still human after all, I doubt that he would actually want any of us to kill each other" said Natasha as she replied simply.
"Natasha is right, the Commander is a very intelligent man… he just has different ways of doing things" said Kira.
"I agree, very different ways" said Olga as she nodded her head.
"Anyway, I am done here, I am going to get my lunch, you coming?" asked Olga as she looked at Natasha and Kira.
"Yes" replied Kira as she placed the knives back in their rightful place.
"No, I'm not done yet, but you guys can go ahead, I will be there soon" said Natasha as she smiled.
"Alright then, see you Natasha" said Olga as she smiled and Natasha smiled at her.
"You want me to keep your food for you, because I don't trust Tatiana with food" said Kira.
"Yes, thank you" said Natasha as she laughed and she nodded her head.
"Alright then" said Kira as she and Olga walked out the room as they closed the door behind them.
Natasha went back to focusing on the rifles that she was cleaning as she was left alone with her thoughts, but she was snapped out of them when she heard the sound of the door open and she did not see the front door open at all, as she turned to the left and she saw another door there as it opened.
"You are the only one here?" asked Romanoff as he walked into the room.
"Olga and Kira finished cleaning the weapons, I still have mine to clean" said Natasha as she replied.
"I see" said Romanoff.
"Yes… what are you doing here Romanoff?" asked Natasha as she wondered why he was back here, wasn't he supposed to be celebrating with the others?
"Well I paid my debt, and I have other things to do" said Romanoff.
"I see" said Natasha as she nodded her head and she went back to cleaning the rifle.
"Well done devochka (girl), you did well" said Romanoff as he smiled, he was not one to ignore when someone did very well.
"Thank you, my teammate helped me very much as well" replied Natasha.
"Speaking of your teammate… Alexi, do you need me to…" asked Romanoff as he was cut off.
"I can handle it myself Romanoff" said Natasha as she stopped him right there, he was not her father, he did not have to stand up for her.
"Alright then, but once again congratulations" said Romanoff.
"Thank you again" replied Natasha as she looked up at Romanoff as he looked at her.
"How did you get that?" asked Natasha as Romanoff knew that she was referring to the eyepatch on his left eye.
"You mean this?" asked Romanoff as he pointed to his eyepatch as Natasha nodded her head.
"Yes, that" said Natasha, she had been curious about that, in the only picture she had seen of Romanoff, he did not have an eyepatch, although that was many years ago, she was still curious.
"Well devochka (girl), I got this back in 95, during a sniper mission" said Romanoff.
"I was captured by the enemy and they tortured me, I was not rescued in time, even though I could have been" said Romanoff.
"Why not?" asked Natasha as she frowned.
"They left me there so I could learn a lesson" said Romanoff.
"A lesson on loyalty" said Romanoff.
"I was left there with the enemy to rot, they pulled out my fingernails one by one, and they also plucked out my eye" said Romanoff plainly as Natasha grimaced at the mere thought of having to experience all that… and yet Romanoff was still here.
"Don't make that face devochka (girl), you make me look bad" said Romanoff as he smiled.
"Does it hurt?" asked Natasha.
"This old thing?" it stopped hurting a long time ago, the only reason I use an eyepatch is so that I do not scare off fearful people who don't want to look at an empty eye socket" said Romanoff as he laughed and Natasha did not know how he could talk about such a gruesome thing as a joke.
"How does it feel?" asked Natasha.
"Close your left eye devochka (girl)" said Romanoff as Natasha did so and she closed her left eye.
"You can still see can you not?" asked Romanoff as Natasha nodded her head.
"It is wonderful how the creator allowed for one part to still function without the other" said Romanoff as he smiled and Natasha opened her eye.
"I can still see very well, and my vision is even better than when I had two eyes, I can shoot at you accurately with this one eye of mine" said Romanoff as he smiled.
"You seem to have accepted the fact that you have one eye" said Natasha.
"When one is faced with the truth, there is nothing else than to accept it, dwelling on regret gets you nowhere but depression, life moves on, and so should you" replied Romanoff as Natasha knew that he was right, life moved on, and they should to, but there were some things that you could not let go of until you have come to terms with them.
"You are right" said Natasha as Romanoff smiled.
"Cheer up devochka (girl), I personally think that the eyepatch makes me looked more handsome" said Romanoff as he smiled and Natasha scoffed at him, of course he thought so.
"Well anyway devochka (girl), I have somewhere to be, I will see you later" said Romanoff as he walked out of the room without waiting for Natasha to reply, but Natasha did not seem to mind at all, she was getting used to the fact that, that was just how he was, Romanoff was always himself, he could be very transparent when he wanted to be.
Natasha just shrugged off her many thoughts as she finished cleaning the rifle.
…
"Alisa, Alisa, Alisa" said Romanoff as he smiled and he walked into Alisa's office without knocking as she was startled by Romanoff's sudden entrance as he did not seem to care and he sat down on the couch leisurely.
"Alisa, my dear Alisa" said Romanoff with a smile as Alisa started to get scared, he never called her dear, never ever, and when he did, it meant that he was about to do something dangerous either to her, or someone else.
"Romanoff… what can I do for you?" asked Alisa in a nervous tone.
"Oh my dear Alisa, many things" said Romanoff as he stood up from the couch and he walked to Alisa's desk as she refused to make eye contact with him at all.
"And you can start by telling me why you did not inform me that Igor spoke to Natasha" said Romanoff as he turned Alisa's chair to face him as he looked at her with a chilling smile that made Alisa shiver.
"I am so sorry Romanoff, very sorry, I… I did not want you to worry, I knew that if you knew, you would go and confront Igor, and that would not be good at all" said Alisa as she spoke the whole truth, she knew that Romanoff would find out sooner or later, but it was sooner than she had expected, maybe Natasha told him.
"So you chose to lie to me?" asked Romanoff.
"Romanoff, I am sorry, please forgive me" said Alisa as she pleaded with him.
"Alisa dear, you know that I don't do forgiveness" said Romanoff as he smiled at her and Alisa felt her heart sink.
"Forgive me Romanoff, I beg you… I was just looking out for you; the union would not want a personal issue to result in the termination of their best two agents" said Alisa.
"Who told you that I would be terminated?" asked Romanoff as Alisa said nothing at all.
"I can handle myself, and the union knows what it would cause to try to terminate someone like me" said Romanoff.
"This is all a game, and none of us are the game masters, we are only pawns on the chess board, everyone uses what they have, and I know what I have" said Romanoff.
"You know, I could get rid of you right now, because I don't like betrayal, and what you did, is the same as betraying me and my trust, you lied, and you deleted the footage, that is a double penalty" said Romanoff.
"I am sorry Romanoff, I promise you, I won't even do it again, this will be the first and last time" said Alisa as she pleaded with him.
"If I am good with you Alisa, that does not mean that you should undermine my goodness, I gave you my trust, and you misused it, which is something I can never forgive" said Romanoff as Alisa knew that this was the last straw.
"I give you a warning Alisa, a warning, I would have gotten rid of you, but I don't think that I can find someone who already knows the ins and outs, and who works well with me" said Romanoff as Alisa sighed in relief.
"Oh thank you Romanoff, thank you" said Alisa as she thanked him, she was so relieved that he did not fire her, or do worse.
"Don't thank me yet Alisa, because if I was in a bad mood, you would hate me and wish me death" said Romanoff as Alisa nodded her head.
"Good, now we are on the same page" said Romanoff with a smile.
"Don't you ever lie to me again, or hide things from me, because those pretty fingers that you use to delete important footage, will be cut off" said Romanoff as Alisa held her fingers tightly, she knew that Romanoff was not joking around at all.
"This is my first and last warning Alisa, I actually like you, don't make me have to get rid of you" said Romanoff as Alisa nodded her head.
"There, now we are good, give me Igor's itinerary" said Romanoff as Alisa nodded her head quickly and she moved to her laptop as she typed and the printer on her desk started to make sounds as it printed out a file as she took the file and handed it over to Romanoff.
"Saint Petersburg?" asked Romanoff as he looked at Alisa after he looked at the paper as Alisa nodded her head.
"He was sent on a mission" replied Alisa.
"Isn't he suspended?" asked Romanoff.
"It was overruled early" said Alisa.
"Alright then, thank you, cheer up Alisa, you only get threatened when you misbehave, and that's not all the time" said Romanoff with a smile as Alisa nodded her head.
"Where are you going Romanoff?" asked Alisa worriedly as Romanoff walked away.
"To have a friendly chat with Igor" replied Romanoff as he walked out of her office and Alisa sighed, when Romanoff and Igor were together in the same room, they would have nothing like a friendly chat at all.
Alisa just hoped that Romanoff would not do anything rash that would get him in trouble.