Winter Phoenix: HYDRA Is Your Place (A 2008-2012 Marvel Fanfiction)

XIV: Санкт-Петербург, Россия (St. Petersburg, Russia)

Warning: sexual innuendos

July 2010. St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Winter Phoenix's POV

I stared at myself in the mirror. My handler, Colonel Karpov, had given me a serum to help disguise the scars on my skin. I was wearing a off-shoulder, crimson red dress that trailed to the floor with a long split in the leg, showing off my knee and inner thigh when I walked. Gold, sparkling heels were beneath, and I was wearing makeup. God, I hated makeup. It felt too thick on my face. The Colonel had brought me to St. Petersburg to attend a party with him, to show off the strength of Project Winter Phoenix. To show off to his comrades and superiors what HYDRA was really made of. I heard the clicking of expensive shoes on a tile floor as a man slipped into the room where I was staying at. The room was directly adjacent to the colonel's, as he wanted to keep an eye on me during the time that we were at the large Отель (hotel) that the party was to be hosted at. 

Several of the senior members of HYDRA and the KGB would be there, including Madame B of the Red Room and several other notable members who had been involved as early as the Winter Soldier Program and the Black Widow Program. I had to do nothing but smile, drink and do exactly as the colonel or my superiors told me to do. The man who had slipped through the door was the colonel. 

'Ты выглядишь прекрасно (You look beautiful),' the colonel praised me in Russian, coming to the mirror and fixing his tie. 'Вы помните, что вам нужно делать, да (You remember what you have to do, yes)?' I nodded. 'Good girl,' he said in English with a thick Russian accent. I stood there and turned, keeping my head lowered. He put two fingers under my chin and angled it up to look at him. 'I do not know what the Soldier sees in you, but I do know you. Be my Winter Phoenix. The world was born to see your gifts, what you can do. HYDRA only needs this for one night. You can do it, yes?' 

'I can, sir. Without fail. Hail HYDRA.' He petted my arm gently. 

'Hail HYDRA.' He offered his arm out to me. 'Shall we?' I took his arm and we walked out the door and out to the main landing of the ballroom, where several people in crisp, polished suits and dresses danced effortlessly. The colonel led me down to the drinks bar, where he indulged myself and him in more than one shot of vodka. He left the bar soon after to engage with some HYDRA leaders, leaving me at the bar. I missed the Soldier, being here, now. I hated being here. It was really quite stuffy. But I couldn't interact with all the boring people, only having the glass of vodka for my company. And that was enough. It was easier that way. Just then I felt a hand on my elbow. I tensed up, then relaxed when I saw the colonel there. 'Come, darling. There are people I want you to meet.' 

We entered a lavish sitting room, where several men in polished suits with their top buttons undone sat, smoking vapes, and the females around the room, some dressed in nothing but revealing lace undergarments, and still others smoking vapes with the men, and still others in party dresses that either showed too much leg or too much cleavage. An older man stood, extinguishing his massive Cuban cigar in an ashtray. He looked at me with a keen, curious look in his eyes. 

'Она так красива, как вы говорите, может быть, даже больше, полковник (She is as beautiful as you say, perhaps even moreso, Colonel),' the man said in a thicker still Russian accent. 

'Не стоит недооценивать ее смертоносность. Она лучший убийца, который у нас есть, кроме солдата (Don't underestimate her deadliness. She's the best assassin we have, besides the Soldier).' 

'Ах да, гордость ГИДРЫ. Солдат. Я слышал, что эти двое исключительны в своей области (Ah, yes, the pride of HYDRA. The Soldier. I've heard the two of them are exceptional in the field),' the man replied. He reached his hand forward and touched my arm, grazing his large, ugly fingers up the skin of my upper arm. He wasn't looking at me curiously anymore, it was more of a leering, sexually-charged look. He was turned on. 'Она ловкая и смертоносная, полковник (She is smooth as well as deadly, Colonel),' he commented. 'Come, моя принцесса (my princess).' He took my arm and led me over to the couch, sitting me down and giving me a glass of vodka. He turned to the colonel and spoke in English. 'To Mother Russia, and the might of the Winter Soldier Program.' The colonel followed suit, repeating his words, as did I. I took a deep sip of my vodka, fully aware that the  colonel's superior was staring at me. I stood, my dark brown hair spilling over my shoulders in a lovely cascade.

'Если вы хотите того, что, как я знаю, вы хотите, сэр, вам следует просто спросить (If you want what I know you want, sir, you should just ask),' I said.

'An assassin who speaks Russian half as well as she fights and kills. And much more beautiful than you say she is.'

'You sing her praises, though I'm afraid a pretty one such as her, as much of an asset as she is, cannot be bought cheaply. I'm sure, though, if you ask nicely, she will service you for singing her praises in the bedroom as well.' His superior turned to me.

'Is there any way I can get you out of that sexy dress and into my bed, моя принцесса (my princess)?' he asked, speaking in English, then switching to Russian.

'Продолжайте называть меня так, и вы могли бы (Keep calling me that, and you just might),' I replied in Russian, putting on a fake smile. I was not fond of sleeping with men, especially after I had slept with the Soldier. But I wasn't about to let anyone in on that secret. I was surprised that I still remembered that night in Italy, but I remembered that I had to do anything they asked of me. And that included certain - favors. He turned to the colonel and spoke. 

'I have plenty of women here, colonel. I will have to desist. Perhaps another time, my princess?' 

'Yes, absolutely,' I said softly. They talked for a while about HYDRA and whatever else, then the colonel took my arm and led me out of the room and up to the room that was his. He opened the door to the adjoining room and ushered me through. He met my eyes, and I lowered mine. Grabbing my chin softly, he lifted my eyes to meet his. 

'You have represented HYDRA well, Soldier.' His eyes flickered to my lips for one split second, then my cleavage. He let go of my chin. 'I'll have extra rations sent to your room. We leave in the morning.' 

'Yes, sir,' I said, biting my lip, then walked into the room, him shutting the door behind me.