Project Laika
chapter one
Poly!20 squad x ex!black widow ; fem!reader
A/n : I'll make a small introduction post for my OC's later on since yes this is a reader insert story but I added a few original characters that will be relevant to the plot later on :)
!! this is more of a backstory chapter since 20 squad will be introduced later 🫶 also I do NOT speak Russian so if the translations are wrong please feel free to correct me !!
Warnings : mentions of torture (it's just one tiny paragraph) & drugging (at the very end), if there's anything else I should add please let me know! <3
Translations :
хорошая девочка - good girl
Лайка - Laika
Deep in the Siberian woods, December of 19** Secret base of the Red Room training center.
There was no escape.
No way out.
The last girl who even tried that was captured. No one knew the fate she suffered after that. There where rumors of course- but no one truly knew what happened to her. Only her screams were heard through the dark hours of the night.
The trainers always called you 'a smart girl'.
Since according to them you knew your place.
You wouldn't cause a fuss or try to escape.
They had brainwashed you well enough right…?
They had trained you well enough…
They called you "Лайка" which meant "Laika" in english. You despised that nickname knowing what it meant, knowing what it represented. But at this point fighting back was pointless.
At first you would bite, scream, kick and throw a massive fit each time the guards wanted to take you somewhere- but by now you were just used to it. You still hated being taken to see the 'doctors' since you knew it meant. The doctor would poke and prod at you, calling you "хорошая девочка" when you didn't fight back and would sit there obediently as they injected you with different things in the name of science.
What was much worse was the ballet training. You despised it so much, at first you tried to sneak out during breakfast or hide somewhere under the beds or in the bathrooms. Which was no use, the cameras were everywhere, watching each move you or any of the girls made. The guards would drag you by your arms and legs into the training room. Tossing your ballet shoes at you with a harsh glare, as if daring you to fight back.
Fighting back meant being tossed into that small cell and being hurt over and over again until they deemed you worthy of being brought back into the 'normal' rooms. It also meant being woken up by having ice cold water tossed on you and being tassed. It was a torture method.
Being handcuffed to the bed frame was by now normal to you. Every time a girl moved too much in her sleep everyone would get punished by having an extra hour of training or less food. They said it was supposed to teach all of you to sleep still like statues without moving around too much.
After spending so many years in what they liked to call "The Academy" you got used to your new life. However you never stopped looking for a way out, for a way to escape from this place and return to your mama, since you were taken away from her as a small child. One day you were peacefully playing on the slides and swings in your backyard and the next moment you were here in this place, at first you cried a lot and refused to eat or do anything. Which resulted in a lot of punishments for you.
Until one of the older girls took pity on you and during breakfast she sat down next to you shortly after you joined the academy. Whispering that you need to obey by their rules or else you'd end up in an even worse situation. She looked at you with pity and sadness, you were so young and scared. Too young and fragile to be here… In someway she saw part of someone she used to know in you. Upon noticing how you suddenly began to comply more the trainers paired you with the older girl, telling her that now you were her responsibility.
Anya took care of you, she'd sometimes sneak you some of her dinner so you would have more food to eat. Saying that "growing girls needed food to grow." with a gentle smile. Anya just ignored all your questions on why she wasn't hungry or why she was giving you her food. You were always a curious child. She was the one who taught you do all those fancy braids and ballet buns in your hair. Anya would sometimes hum songs under her breath, each melody sounded sad yet somehow comforting to you.
Soon with some help you could fluently speak Russian and Spanish along with being able to disarm a weapon in less that 30 seconds. You noticed how sad Anya's eyes got whenever you would tell her about it. She knew what fate awaited you, but she couldn't tell you what was going to happen to you, even if she wanted to warn you, to tell you to run and not look back. Each time you asked her about it, she would simply reply in english that "you worry too much about me." with a soft smile that never reached her eyes.
Training was brutal, especially gymnastics and ballet, if anyone failed they'd be punished. If a girl slipped or made a wrong turn or move, she would suffer. Therefor failure was never an option. Anya always noticed how eager you were to please the trainers, you needed to be perfect. She was in the academy long enough to know what happened if they saw someone with potential. They'd be dragged away from the others into a different program, more brutal and demanding.
Just as Anya was afraid, one day during breakfast the guards approached the table that the two of you were sitting at, you still hadn't noticed the guards…. The guards grabbed you by your wrists, tugging you upwards before dragging you away. Confused and scared you began screaming and kicking, looking around for Anya with fear and desperation in your eyes. You didn't want to be separated from her, you wanted to say where you were. You didn't want to be ripped away from everything you got used too.
Anya just stared, she couldn't do anything but watch as one of the guards placed a cloth over your mouth as you went limp in their hold. She was worried for you but she knew that if she wanted to help you she had to be smart about this. One of the trainers — Ivan was watching Anya for her reaction. Emotion meant weakness. It meant that someone wasn't trained well enough, emotions were for babies, not smart girls.
If only she knew what kind of fate awaited you…