The Corridor - Night
Natalia moved like smoke.
She checked the hallway to ensure it was clear, then pressed a hidden brick in the wall.
A small compartment opened, revealing a stash of tactical gear she had hidden weeks ago: throwing knives, garrotes, and poison darts.
From the shadows, Ernst watched her, impressed.
'I scanned this hallway ten times,' he thought. 'She hid that right under my nose. The Red Room trains them well.'
Natalia geared up, her face a mask of cold determination.
She moved toward the laboratory, slipping past the patrols with the timing of a metronome.
She knew every blind spot, every shift change.
Ernst followed, masking his footsteps with his own control over sound waves.
When she reached the lab, four elite Hydra guards blocked the entrance.
"Halt!" one guard shouted, raising his rifle.
Natalia didn't flinch. She walked straight toward them, adopting a flustered, innocent posture.
"It's me, Natalia," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
"Dr. Ernst left his notebook inside. He sent me to get it. He's... in a mood."
The guard hesitated, lowering his weapon slightly.
He knew the Doctor's temper.
"Wait," another guard narrowed his eyes.
"The Doctor never allows, "
Thwip. Thwip.
Before he could finish, Natalia flicked her wrists.
Two needle-thin darts struck the first two guards in the neck.
They collapsed silently, the neurotoxin acting instantly.
The other two reached for their sidearms, but Natalia was already moving.
She closed the distance in a blur, daggers flashing.
Slice. Slice.
She severed their vocal cords and punctured their carotid arteries in one fluid motion.
They dropped without a sound.
Ernst, watching from the darkness, raised an eyebrow.
Ruthless, he noted. Efficient.
He waited until she dragged the bodies into the shadows before following her inside.
The Serum Room
Natalia moved quickly to the containment unit.
Inside sat six vials of the Super Soldier Serum, the first generation batch.
She cracked the seal and loaded them into a lead-lined case.
She also grabbed a test tube of blue liquid, a synthesized extract of the Celestial Phalanx.
"Greedy," a voice echoed from the doorway.
Natalia spun around, a knife instantly in her hand.
Ernst leaned against the doorframe, looking bored.
"I thought you were just reporting to the Soviets," Ernst said, walking forward.
"But stealing the entire inventory? That is bold, Natalia. Even for you."
"Stay back," Natalia warned, her voice tight.
"You put me in a difficult position," Ernst sighed.
"Schmidt will kill you. If I turn you in, you die. If I try to stop you, I have to hurt you. Give me a reason not to end this right now."
Natalia backed away until she hit the desk.
She looked at Ernst, her eyes searching for a weakness.
"You won't kill me," she said.
"Why?" Ernst asked, stepping closer.
"Because we slept together? Sentiment is a luxury spies cannot afford."
"No," Natalia said, her hand resting on her stomach.
"Because I'm pregnant."
Ernst froze.
The air in the room seemed to vanish.
"A lie," Ernst said, though his voice lacked its usual certainty.
Ernst narrowed his eyes.
He extended his mental senses, scanning her biology.
He looked past the fear, past the adrenaline, focusing on her uterus.
There was a second heartbeat. Faint. Tiny. But there.
Three months along, Ernst calculated. My child.
He was stunned. How? He had absolute control over his biology.
He could stop his own heart, knit his own bones. Sterility should have been a simple mental toggle.
Then, the realization hit him with the force of a physical blow.
Hyper-Survival.
He rewrote his biology for aggressive adaptation and immortality.
While his conscious mind, that 27%, was busy plotting wars and serums, his biological imperative had been working in the background.
His reproductive cells had treated his subconscious suppression attempts as an environmental threat to overcome.
'My own biology outsmarted me,' he realized, a mix of horror and pride swelling in his chest.
'They fought to exist. Just like me.'
His arrogance had been his blind spot.
He thought he was the master of his body, but evolution was still the king.
He was stunned. He had calculated every variable, manipulated every outcome, but he hadn't accounted for life.
Natalia saw his hesitation. It was the only opening she would get.
Swish.
She threw the knife with all her strength.
Ernst saw it coming.
His reflexes were fast enough to catch it.
His skin was hard enough to shatter it.
But in that split second, a plan formed.
'If I stop her unscathed, Schmidt will know I let her go. If I let her go without a fight, she disappears.'
'I need to mark her.'
Ernst intentionally dropped his bio-shield for a fraction of a second.
He shifted his body, allowing the knife to strike his shoulder instead of his throat.
Thud.
The blade bit deep.
Blood spurted from the wound, splashing across Natalia's face and chest.
"Go!" Ernst roared, clutching his shoulder and falling to one knee.
Natalia didn't hesitate.
She grabbed the case and sprinted out the back exit, disappearing into the night.
Ernst stayed on the floor, listening to her footsteps fade.
He pulled the knife out with a grimace, the wound already beginning to close as he reactivated his healing factor.
He looked at the blood on the floor.
'I let you go,Natalia', Ernst thought, a cold smile touching his lips.
'But you didn't escape.'
His blood was on her clothes.
His living cells were now attached to her.
With his biological tracking ability, she was a beacon on his mental radar.
He could find her anywhere on Earth.
"Run," Ernst whispered.
"Keep the child safe. We will meet again."
——-
Authors note
"Ernst can calculate the velocity of a grenade, warp reality, and hack the human genome... but apparently, he forgot how babies are made.
That is the ultimate 'High Intelligence, Low Wisdom' moment.
Natasha: "I escaped! I outsmarted the Mad Doctor!"
Ernst (watching a mental radar): "She's stopping at a gas station. She bought snacks."
Azazel: "Are you going to go get her?"
Ernst: "No. Let her think she won. Child support is cheaper if she's on the run."