Chapter Text
18 December 1928, Brooklyn
It was the dead of night, near midnight, everyone in Brooklyn was sound asleep, tucked into the safety of their homes. The Rogers, despite not having a lot, was sleeping peacefully, until a high pitch scream woke them up. Steve Rogers ran to his sister's room, where the scream came from, to find it completely empty and the window ajar.
"Cathy...come on, go back to sleep." Steve said, thinking she was just hiding and playing a joke.
Sarah Rogers also came and started looking around her youngest and only daughter's room. "Cathy come on, it's not funny anymore." Sarah called out worriedly when there was no responds.
Sarah and Steve looked at each other, worry carved onto their face as the silence continued. "Catherine this better just be some sick joke you're playing!" Steve called out with a trembling voice, starting to panic, only to be met with the same result.
None of Catherine's valuables were missing so the two concluded she was kidnapped. They filed a report and, with the help of Steve's best friend, Bucky, and the police, they searched for her for over a few months. Eventually the police closed the case and declared her as dead. The family didn't believe it and kept looking but eventually excepted it, making an empty grave for her next to her father's. The Rogers mourned for another family member they just lost for days, what they didn't know was she was on the other side of the world, facing something much worse than death.
18 December 1928, Russia
"Any witnesses?" The director, a short plump man with spectacles, asked.
"No sir." The Widow answered, technically not lying as no one had seen her.
The director nodded, allowing the Widow to leave and go back to training. He stood up and went down to the cells where the young girl, who had been drugged, was sleeping in her cot. The man watched her chest rise and fall with an evil glint in his eye as a taller man stood beside him, a similar expression on his face.
"Арман Дамьян Орлова. Arman Damyan Orlova, you will be the perfect Widow Soldier created." Dreykov renamed her, having a sinister grin which both men shared, having many plans for the young girl, even if she didn't know it.
The next morning, Catherine, or now Arman, woke up in a dorm with about 50 other girls her age. She looked at her side and noticed they were all handcuffed to the bedpost. She noticed the other girls looked calm, like they were used to it, and they were all silent. Before the girl could ask, the door unlocked, the Matron coming in to unlock the handcuffs. The other girls stayed silent during this entire time so Catherine followed suit, they only started moving and having silent conversation after the guard left.
Catherine didn't know what to do but she saw the others making their bed first. Not wanting to get into trouble, she quickly follow suit, thankfully, it was the same way she folded her bed sheets at home. While folding, she heard snippets of the conversations around her, words like "new girl", "American", "rumors" and "Arman?". She could see that most of the other girls were side eyeing her, she knew they were probably talking about her but she had no clue what they meant by "Arman".
Suddenly, Catherine felt a tap on her shoulder. As she turned around, a girl, maybe a year older than her, with dark red hair spoke, "Вы говорите по-русски?"
Catherine stared back blankly, she knew it was russian but no words were understood. The older girl sighed, "English? You speak English?" Catherine nodded.
The older girl quickly took out Catherine's uniform from the drawer, "Good, listen new girl, if you want to survive I suggest you follow exactly as I say. You wear the uniform for lessons in the morning, the blue gear for training in the afternoon, and the leotard and tights for ballet in the evenings, all of them are in this dresser." She pointed to the dresser she took the uniform out of, making Catherine wear it while listening.
The red head was shocked Catherine was not shy about changing in the open but masked it. "Matron comes in at six every morning, unlocks your cuff and you get dressed and make your bed. Fold your nightgown neatly on the end." The girl paused momentarily to point to the small wash bag, sat atop Catherine's dresser. Inside were Catherine's own toiletries. "Take that with you. Then brush your hair and braid it. One or two braids, French or Dutch, you can choose. Down for school, pin them up for training and then put your hair in a bun for ballet. If you don't know how to do any of that, learn. Nobody will help you." The girl said sharply. Catherine nodded mutely.
"Your shoes are under the bed. By six fifteen you need to be ready and standing at the end of your fully made bed. Matron will come in then and do her inspection. Once she's done we head downstairs to the main hall with the rest of the girls in the school. Everyone lines up in their divisions, in order of last name alphabetically. Then Madame B will come in. We greet her and she will do her own inspection. "Finally, we go for breakfast. It's served at 6:30, lunch at 12 and then dinner at 6. You'll come back here after the two later meals and change for the next class." The girl took a deep breath. "Any questions?"
Catherine straightened her uniform. "Who's Madame B?"
"She runs this branch of the academy, watches over all of the girls and makes sure they are progressing the way they should. You should treat her with the utmost respect." The older girl said, her hands behind her back.
Catherine nodded as she placed her nightgown at the end of her bed, "anything else?"
"Yes." The girl said after pausing. "Your new name is Arman Damyan Orlova, you are to answer to that, understood?"
"Wh-?" Catherine wanted to ask but was quickly cut off. "No asking questions, one of the most important rules if you want to survive." The older girl glared before walking away and back to her own bed just as the matron unlocked the door.
Everyone lined up, Catherine quickly joined the few at the back, and walked out towards the washroom. Once they were all inside, the other girls immediately made a beeline for their respective sinks. Seeing as there was only one sink left at the very end, Catherine was left no choice but to use that. She quickly brushed her teeth, washed her face before wetting her hair to tie her Dutch braid. Once all the girls finished, the matron unlocked the door, leading them back to the dorms. Catherine quickly kept her toiletries and stood at the end of her bed like the rest of the girls.
Two seconds later , the matron came in, did her inspection and led them down to the dinning hall. Catherine watched as other girls from the different dorms walked out in the same straight line, only difference was they were older girls.
The girls all quickly lined up alphabetical order right before Madam B came in. She was a tall woman whose grey hair was tied into a tight bun at the top of her head, not a single strand was out of place. One look at her and you'd know she was not one to piss off. Madam B went down the line, making sure that not one strand of hair was out of place and there was no creases on their uniforms. She paused a second longer at Catherine but it was barely noticeable. Once she was done, she released them to eat.
Catherine observed the cafeteria, it was bustling with girls which shocked Catherine who did not expect there to be so many girls. The girls were split into two lines for food, the older girls getting a larger portion. Catherine waited patiently in line for her food. When she reached the front, she was given a metal tray with a bowl of porridge and oatmeal. She moved to the next station where she chose pear over apple and water over milk for the last.
Once she collected her cutlery, Catherine realized she had a major problem, she didn't know where to sit. She had looked around earlier but found no official sitting plan, everyone just knew where to sit. Lucky for her, there was an empty table in the far back of the cafeteria. She sat down at the table by herself. She looked at her tray and found a container containing two pills. She looked up and noticed the other girls were taking both of them before eating.
Catherine wanted to ask the older girl who helped back on the dorms but a voice stopped her, "No questions." She bit her lip and took the pills. No questions