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Most of the story about the ‘Black Widow’ is a legend, to the point where a lot of people still assume she’s an urban legend. But some rumors had slipped through, and people eager for knowledge had latched onto them.
The press knows the story of the ballet dancer that fell in love with a pilot. The story of the dancer that lost said love, the story of the woman who wanted vengeance and whose words and devotion moved the Leader of the communist party himself. He allowed her to join in and use her abilities against the Americans.
Legend says Superman himself trained her. Most people accept that story since it’s a good explanation on how the Black Widow became so fast, so capable and so lethal when she’s just another comrade. If she was just like any other woman who’d have wanted to help her country fight the fight, she definitely should have been trained by the best. And someone who was trained by the comrade of steel would also have all his trust: Those up enough in the chain of the communist party think the Black Widow and the Winter Soldier are the ones Superman trusts the most in the entire party.
Which is true, he trusts them almost implicitly. He would trust them with their life if he had to. But that’s the only part of ‘truth’ in the story they have.
---
In truth she was almost a child when the comrade of steel first saw her.
Or maybe she had only looked like a child to him; it’d been long since he’d actually stopped to count the years. And he only remembered noticing her specifically because of her red hair standing out in the middle of the crowd of trainees.
He’d always liked red hair, like Lana’s. Like his best friend when he was younger, when he still thought he would just be another man serving the country as much as he could. When he couldn’t even begin to dream of what he would end up offering to it back then, so he’d imagined a life by her side. And looking for that particular brand of red hair among the crowd had begun to feel like a habit.
He knew now he never really felt what other people called ‘love’ for her, but by then he was just a child thinking he had everything figured out. He’d thought he loved her at the time, but looking back he realized he’d just liked having someone to play with. Someone that made him laugh and held his hand. Someone who asked him, in hushed whispers because they still held the illusion of hiding his powers, what he could see through the walls. What he could see in the kitchen, in the next town over, inside her pocket or her hand.
She’d cried when he had told her his identity would be kept secret from now on. She’d understood that he could never go back to the field even before he’d told her. Lana had been 10 then, and couldn’t yet understand just how much bigger than them it was, couldn’t see Superman belonged to the nation and he had to act as such. He’d kissed her then (the first and the last time they had kissed) but he hadn’t cried. He simply wished her the best.
All that was going through his head with just a glimpse of bright red hair and he couldn’t help but shake his head briefly at how sentimental he’d gotten.
(He didn’t actually smile, but the corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement all the same)
“She’s one of my best requits.”
The winter Soldier said with a glimpse of pride in his voice, startling him from his thoughts. Kal-El realized he’d thought she was admiring her technique when he had actually just been caught up in his own memories. Just as well, it wouldn’t do for people to think he lost himself to the past when he was supposed to look to a brighter future.
“Is the winter soldier playing favorites?”
Any hint of a smile flew from his face at the implication, and Kal himself had to bite back a grin. He didn’t want to be feared but he wanted to be respect5ed, and he knew he’d lose some of that respect if he started looking soft so people. And while the Winter Soldier had his entire trust (he wouldn’t be in charge of the students in the extremely secretive and private Red Room if he didn’t), he also knew he’d be the first one to frown at him if he turned soft.
“Merely an observation, Leader.”
He gave the young man a nod, but apparently his soldier wasn’t quite done.
“We hesitated taking her in, at first. She’s a Romanoff.” Which made Kal-L raise an eyebrow. The name had its implications and he wasn’t blind to them, but it surprised him they were willing to turn someone away when they wanted to help his cause. Especially someone that young. “But she’s proven herself many times over. I expect great things from her.”
Superman just gave him another nod; thinking to himself that time would be the one to decide if the Romanoff girl was meant to do great things for her country. And that had been it. He hadn’t even known at the time that they were talking about ‘Natalia’.
And he wouldn’t know for years to come.
---
No one actually knows anything about the Winter Soldier. He’s a hushed name, at most, and if you say his name out loud most people will look at you with a funny face and then laugh right at your face. But some still believe he exists. And those who believe try to make sense of his existence.
He’s a ghost.
He’s a Kryptonian just like Superman.
He’s a volunteer for an experiment, someone who has been genetically manipulated.
He’s an android created by Brainiac.
He’s Superman wearing another uniform, fighting the fight a leader couldn’t fight without splashing some blood on the way.
And those are only some of the most believable and less crazy ones. The Winter Soldier doesn’t mind the rumors. He’s even invented some of them under Superman’s orders; it helps make his job easier when those who do know of his presence for sure respect him as a ghost or an alien or something or other.
The truth is no less weird, but the further from it the theories go the better to keep his anonymity. And the fear in people’s eyes.
---
The first time he saw him he saw a screaming young man in obvious pain, strapped to a chair. Brainiac kept on reciting his stats and how useful he would be to the cause but all Kal heard was the man. He wanted to make it stop, but he wasn’t sure how. He’d cauterized the arm, and Brainiac had assured him the one he was making for him from scratch was even better. In a few days the man strapped to a chair would be the envy of everyone else when he showed of his arm’s abilities.
“- and he’s in shock at the moment, so it’s probably the best time to do it. Once we erase his memories-“
“-What?”
Brainiac looked upset that he hadn’t been listening. Or would have, if the insides of what had once been the alien robot could look ‘upset’, or show any emotion at all that. Kal had sometimes wondered if he really needed to have something that acted like a ‘face’ at all- but he was no one to judge the way other alien beings looked. He’d just been lucky enough to be able to blend in if he had wanted to.
“He’s American, sir.” The way Brainiac spat out that word made the Kryptonian let out a little hum to himself. He was aware that the only reason he loathed the capitalists was Kal’s own programing, the robotical being hadn’t even bothered giving his own voice any kind of intonation whatsoever before Kal decided he was done with the thread he represented.
He had felt bad about it at first- he wanted to bring people by his side with the right words and arguments, by making the see communism was the only way to avoid everyone stepping over everyone else like animals. He’d never wanted to force people to see things his way. That was the main reason he’d refused to take the place as the Leader for as long as he had. But he couldn’t argue with the results. Brainiac had been incredibly valuable for the party, for his land and for his people. He had no doubts now he’d made the right decision.
But that had been a robot. And the ones after him had all been criminals beyond salvations, people who would have been better off dead. Changing their thoughts and memories had been a mercy to them.
But the person in front of him was almost a kid to his eyes. And he hadn’t even gotten to talk to him, He was in so much pain and there was so much anger inside of him he’d only screamed in both frustration and agony. That spoke of a strong spirit. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you shaped it.
“I know that.” He finally said, trying to keep his tone neutral. His fellow alien’s intelligence meant he couldn’t fool him, but there were nurses in the room with them and he didn’t want them to think his leader was easily angered.
“And he’s been helping the disgusting imitation of you Luthor has made out, what he calls his own Super Soldier. They call him ‘Bucky’.”
He’d heard of the Captain. Luthor’s own attempt at lifting people’s spirits… and now he had a helper by his side? Superman had always made sure he looked like he didn’t need anyone, he thought that made people feel safer. Their leader should always be flawless, strong, be able to protect them without needing anyone’s help.
But apparently Americans didn’t think like that. He looked at the man once again.
Except he wasn’t a man at all, was he? He looked so young; he was on his twenties at most. Was Luthor really so desperate? Was he requiting kids now? Kal himself had thought about creating some sort of training room for future soldiers… but the man- the kid in front of him had seen war already. Had tasted it, and the missing limb was probably not the first casualty he’d had to suffer and, if they hadn’t rescued him, it would probably not had been the last. He had probably already seen the worse humanity had to offer and he hadn’t even reached the peak of his life.
In times like these it was easy to hate America, but he had to remind himself it wasn’t fair to blame an entire country for the mistakes of the man in charge of it. Luthor would be gone eventually, and the communist party would welcome the United States with open arms like it had welcomed every other country.
No child would have to see war in his utopic world, ever again. And then all of this would be over.
“Make him loyal.” He raised a hand in a dismissing movement as he left, as if he had just decided this matter required his attention no longer. In truth, he just didn’t want to see the kid in such pain anymore. “Make him one of us. We’ll take care of him, we’ll train him. Once he’s on our side he will not have to suffer like this any longer.
And maybe he will even be of us to us, one day.” Those were his last words as the doors slid behind him, and Brainiac got to work.
The man, once he truly became a man, grew to exceed all his expectations. But he wouldn’t know until much later.
----
“I believe you were looking for me?”
For being the first time she had been called in front of him in the palace of solitude, she didn’t seem the least intimidated.
Natalia had the ability to stand in a way that looked sure of herself to the point of even daring the man in front of him to even try to scare her… and yet still looked loyal and eager to hear about her orders. It was probably why she had kept being the best in the red room, even years after her training had started: she listened, she fulfilled her mission perfectly and then some. But she still had a brain between her ears and had her own opinion on things. She wasn’t just a follower.
Kal’s army was mostly made of followers. What use was being a Leader if you did not lead? The country wasn’t getting better and better each day just thanks to his luck. It was getting better because he made sure they listened to him. Because he knew what was best for them and gave it to them. But it had been proven he could not be everywhere many times before. And since he was basically the union’s greatest weapon, he couldn’t be used in any single conflict. He needed someone who could improvise, do their own thing, and still obtain the results Kal had asked for.
Which was why the young woman was in front of him right at that moment.
“Hello, Natalia. Do you have any idea why you have been brought here?”
“No, Superman. I was simply told I was to come here.”
“Do you have any suspicions about it, then?”
She gave him a nod then pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. He didn’t know if she was just trying to look relaxed or if she was truly relaxed even as she stood in front of her leader. Both options were good signs: either she was a good actress or fearless. It didn’t matter much.
“I was never pulled away from the other girls training alongside me, unless they were pulled out of the program and given other jobs where their abilities would be used more proficiently. Maybe you’re to explain what my new job will be.” Her voice finally gave away some disappointment. Good. He was beginning to think she didn’t even want the position after she’d trained so hard. “But I didn’t think the leader would be the one to handle such things.”
“You are correct.” He replied, with a hint of a smile that only lasted a second. He’d smiled a lot once. But once he’d also not been the leader of the biggest and most proficient nation in the world. “But you are partly wrong as well. I am here to assign to you your new job, but it is not because your abilities were not adequate to the program.
Quite the opposite, actually. You have been chosen as the perfect candidate for the Black Widow.”
There was a long pause. At first he’d thought she was simply trying to process what he’d just told her- it was a big responsibility, after all, and also a great honor. All the girls in her same team in the Red Room knew they were part of codename: Black Widow. They had also been told only one would succeed, because even if competitively was something to erase in some people, it was something that could become useful to a soldier. So of all the girls that had been proudly pulled from their families for the possibility to become something greater than they had ever imagined, she had been the chosen one.
Then he realized her hands were trembling behind her back. So it wasn’t that she didn’t understand yet just what she had been offered, she just was trying to rein her emotions in before she spoke. He liked this girl more and more as he got to actually meet her.
“I will live up to your expectations, Leader. I will not disappoint you.”
“I know you will not. That is why you have been chosen. The Winter Soldier spoke highly of you.”
She gave him a confused look, and Clark was glad to see he still had the power of confusing her even if only a little. None of the girls had known that the man supervising their every move was no one other than the Winter Soldier. The bionic arm had been easy enough to hide, and they had been told the supervisor would wear a mask for the sake of the program’s secrecy. But truth was, he did not want to risk any of them recognizing his face in the future, even if that was a slim chance.
“You did not think I would leave the training of my future agents to anyone but the best soldier I have under my command, did you?”
She blinked, comprehension shining in her eyes before she masked it. Which Kal did not like so much: people who masked their own emotions usually had something to hide. But if she was going to use Natalia for the most of undercover and stealth missions he couldn’t exactly expect for her to be open.
“No, I suppose not. It’s has been an honor training under his command.”
Which wasn’t entirely what had happened. They had had plenty of different teachers for all the different kinds of training they had had to go through. The Winter Soldier had simply been the one supervising them all and the one grading her. But it was understandable she’d see it that way.
“I will be just as loyal as he has always been to the party.” She continued. The corner of Kal’s eyes wrinkled in slight amusement.
But he couldn’t exactly tell her the problems her supervisor had gone through to stay loyal.
---
“But I know him…” Murmured the man, looking at the screen.
It was filled with images of the so called ‘Captain America’, though they had been careful to exclude anything with ‘Bucky’ himself on them. Brainiac had warned him that anything involving the Captain (‘Steve Rogers’, said intelligence) could trigger some memories on the soldier. It was something Kal had understood, but he couldn’t bring himself to keep the man from the truth. They had to keep them from hurting themselves and do their best to make them a part of the community, but that didn’t mean they had to lie to them 24/7.
Bucky’s brainwashing had been different than the ones he had subjected those that had broken the law to that point. He didn’t need a brainless drone, or someone who would only do as he was bid. Productive workers were the reason the entire world was thriving under his leadership, but that wasn’t what he wanted or the ex-American.
He had so much talent, so many different skills it would simply be a waste. Not to mention all he could learn under his wing, all he could teach him. He had been used by Americans, but now he was finally with someone who saw his true potential and was going to unleash it. So he’d choosen different chemicals, suggestions and “brainwashing” techniques (though he personally loathed calling them that) to clear his mind and make him whole again with their ideals. But it was proving more difficult than he’d assume to fully bring the man to their side. Still, he’d try her best because the poor man deserved nothing less after all he had endured under Luthor’s command.
“It doesn’t matter if you did. What matters is who you are now.”
He looked at Kal, but his eyes were mostly glassed over. As if he were trying hard to focus and see him, but it was an incredibly hard task for him.
“And who am I now?”
Well, at least he was processing his words. It was hard to tell sometimes. Kal thought Brainiac had gone too far when it came to shifting his mind sometimes, but there was no going back now so they had to make do with what they had. And to be honest it seemed like the man’s body was in very good shape, and every time someone attacked or hurt him he reacted just fine. They had given him swords, bow and arrows and- after a lot of hesitation- a gun. He was incredibly good with them and training by his side he would get even better.
But the mind was another thing altogether. Brainiac kept suggesting they just attack the lobotomizing device they had used with all the others, but Kal was determined to use that only as a last resource. It was a necessary evil sometimes, but he wanted to wait until he was completely sure it was indeed ‘necessary’.
“You’re a member of the communist party. You’re someone I will make sure is well-fed and taken care of like I do with everyone. You will be happy, because everyone under my rule is happy and I do my best to keep it that day every day. That’s not an option, all of that is simply fact.
But you’re also skilled, very much so. You’ve a lot of training a lot of people under my command wishes they had, you’ve obviously been training from a very young age.”
Once, he’d have spit the words. Now he saw the benefits of training the kids so once they were old enough to go to war they would go there prepared. Helping kids take care of themselves was maybe ugly, since it put children in contact with things he’d rather keep away from people so young. But it was also a necessary evil. As long as there were some lines he wouldn’t cross he had to let go of some of the things that made him uncomfortable.
“So what I’m asking is: will you join my side and fight? Fight him?” He pointed at the television, where the captain was smiling at the camera. They probably expected everyone to smile along, to think no one behind that smile could be truly evil. But as long as he fought for capitalism, he was fighting for people getting hungry. He was fighting for 1% of the people holding 99% of the riches. Sure, the country was doing better off under Luthor’s rule- but it was only a matter of time. The tide would turn. And he wanted the Winter Soldier on his side when that happened. “You will be taken care of anyway. But I wanted to give you the option to use his abilities to good use. No one will force you- no one over forces anyone to do anything, here.”
The man didn’t say a word, didn’t even bother looking like he had understood him at first. After a few seconds he simply nodded. He nodded once, and then after a pause he nodded another time.
But a nod was all Kal needed.
---
Legend says the Black Widow and the Winter Soldier still meet by Superman's grave to cry, sometimes.
Legends are, as is usual, wrong.
Neither of them ever allow themselves to cry.