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Natalia hits the floor, hard.
Her hand-to-hand combat teacher, Vassili Yurievich, looks down on her. Madame B., on the sideline, doesn't look pleased either.
"Sorry," Natalia apologises.
"Don't be sorry," madame B. admonishes her. "Be better."
So Natalia does better. She pushes herself, to be stronger, faster, smarter, better than all the the other trainees.
She doesn't just become better, she becomes the best.
*
The Red Room taught her to use every tools at her disposal. It also taught her that people were tools. So naturally, even after defecting to SHIELD, she keeps using the same methods, since they are efficient.
It doesn't please everyone though.
Barton looks at her with disappointment.
The mission is a success, if not for the loss of her informant. A young girl, the niece of the mobster involved with arm dealing they were tasked to take down, didn't make it. She was murdered by her uncle's right hand. It's not like it's her fault.
"She was just a kid, Nat," Clint fumes. "She was only thirteen!"
At thirteen Natasha was already a murderer. She doesn't think it's a point worth making though.
All she can think of replying is "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he tells her, dejectedly. "Be better."
*
Lila hits the padded floor with a groan.
"You should have seen that punch coming," Natasha tells her.
"Sorry," her niece apologises while getting back on her feet.
"Don't be sorry, be better," is Natasha's automatic response, before she bites her bottom lip.
The spy sighs. She can't treat Lila the same way the Red Room trainees were treated.
"Hey, I'm sorry." Natasha swipes a stray lock of hair back behind her niece's ear. "I know you're doing your best. It's just, I'm teaching you how to fight so you can protect yourself."
"It's a dangerous world outside," Lila echoes the words her auntie Nat have told her countless time in the past.
It's not a reality Natasha is happy to teach the kids, but it's a necessary one. The world is a scary place.
"It is. So I'm trying to give you all the tools to keep yourself safe."
"I know."
"Okay then, ready? I'm going to show you how to be better."
"Ready when you are."