Attempt not to freak out

"Agent Natasha Volkov, ready for orders sir." Natasha repeated again in that robotic, lifeless tone, arm still cocked in a perfect salute.

Alex's mouth still hung agape, like a fish on land desperately trying to breath. His own body was almost as perfectly still as his mother's. Holy shit. There was no way his mother was just playing some elaborate prank on him. The code word actually worked. She was a spy. A Russian spy. Alex felt his legs begin to tremble. He felt dizzy. Like he needed to sit down and process all of this. But his legs refused to move. As if they were bolted to the floor and no matter how much he tried to move, they weren't coming loose.

"Agent Natasha Volkov, ready for orders sir." Natasha repeated once more, not exactly helping with Alex's stress.

"Y-Yeah, I heard! Just... shut up for a bit! I need to think." The words came out of his mouth before he even fully registered them. Normally, Alex would rather eat a bowl of razors than speak to his mother in such a way. But the weight of the current situation was making it hard for his brain to function properly.

"Yes. Of course sir." Natasha quickly responded, immediately closing her lips as tightly as possible. This sent another wave rushing through Alex. He hadn't even thought about it. Just made some offhand remarks while trying his best not to have a full blown panic attack. But she had fully obeyed without question. Closed her mouth as much as she could to make sure she didn't utter another peep. Whatever those words were, they gave him full control over his mother. Like turning on god mode in a game. He could probably tell her to run into upcoming traffic and she would do it with zero hesitation.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Alex let out in a panic breath as he sank into the couch, finally having managed to tear himself from the floor. "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ." He just kept repeating over and over, his brain running a hundred miles an hour. His heart was beating so fast it could be heard like raging thunder in his ears, making it even harder to think. His mom was a spy. His mom. The widow of an American veteran. The woman who insisted on wearing a tank top with a huge American flag on it every single fourth of July. The woman who, while not being a full nut for the United States, was still very patriotic. So much so that she always cheered on the USA during sporting events, even against her own home country. The type of girl who had such little of an accent that if you just met her on the street, you would think she had lived in the country for her entire life. That woman. A secret Russian spy. He supposed it wasn't completely unthinkable. Alex had always found something a bit... off with his mother's love for the state. Something about it just felt so plasticity. Like she was trying too hard to convince the people around her that she loved America, rather than authentic adoration.

Alex began feeling a big headache coming on. And he had to take several deep breaths to keep himself from throwing up.

After making sure he was fine (enough), Alex forced himself to get up and stand in front of his mother. During his entire freakout, she had stood perfectly still. Even now, she wasn't even trembling from the exhaustion of standing in one place with her arm raised for several minutes uninterrupted. Up close, she was like a statue. If you couldn't see her chest slowly move up and down, you might wonder if she was even alive. Alex began to wonder what if he just left her like this. Would she just obediently stand here until she wasted away? Quickly shaking the thoughts from his head, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Y-You're allowed to speak again." he said in a quick, stuttering sentence, the words carrying absolutely no authority to them. They sounded more like a plea than an order.

"Yes. Thank you sir." Yet despite the cowering words, Natasha still treated them as if they had just come from some rough and tough general, her voice still as clear cut and emotionless as the previous times.

Alex gulped hard, still not used to seeing his mother act this way. "D-Do you recognize me?" he started out, trying to gage how much of this... thing was his mother.

"You used my activation code. So I can safely assume you are one of my superiors."

"A-Activation code?" Alex said, almost taken aback. He had been so panicked, he had almost forgotten how this whole thing started.

"Yes. You used my sleeper agent activation code 'the white bear slumbers under the eagles nest' and put me in debrief mode. Only qualified personnel have been given knowledge and access to this code, so therefore you must be a superior." Natasha explained calmly, seemingly not recognizing her own son in front of her.

Alex had to take another deep breath to calm himself before continuing. "R-Right, of course. In that case, give me a debrief of your mission, agent."

Natasha nodded slightly, her first sign of movement in a while. "Certainly sir. In accordance with operation Vinegar, the cover personality has infiltrated and assimilated into the US. She managed to wed a former army veteran loosely tied to politics. Recently, the husband has passed away, leaving only the cover personality and the child, named Alexei Volkov, behind. Cover personality remains unaware of the existence of her true personality and has not questioned her false past."

Alex's eyebrow raised slightly. "Cover personality?"

Natasha nodded once more in response. "Yes. Following the perimeters of Operation Vinegar, agent Natasha Volkov was gifted a false personality to more easily assimilate and not arouse suspicion."

Alex felt that dizzy feeling begin to overcome him once more. If he was understanding it correctly, then the "cover personality" in question was his mom. But he needed to be sure.

"Agent, give a summary of operation Vinegar."

"Yes Sir. Operation Vinegar. In order to infiltrate and learn more about our western enemy, several female agents were put through intense brainwashing to give them cover personalities. These personalities would be separate from their true selves. They would have no memories of the mission and would believe they were normal everyday citizens. They would then immigrate to America, where they would marry American men. Unknowingly, they would carry a debrief mode within them that collected information and could be activated by a specific phrase. This mode could be used by authorized personnel in cases where they would like a quick debrief on the mission and the information collected. It could also be used to see if the cover personality was beginning to suspect its true purpose and if it would need extra reinforcment. Once the sleeper code was uthered once again, the agent would return to her cover personality. Once a sufficient time has passed, a radio station owned in secret by the motherland will air a song with the true activation phrase. Once heard by the agents, their true personalities will return and they will return to mother Russia with all the information collected."

As Natasha finished her explanation, Alex was shaking again. But this time, it wasn't trembles out of fear or confusion, but instead anger that he was trying his best to keep inside. "So you don't even recognise me at all? Not even a little bit?" he asked again foolishly, as if this cold secret agent in front of him was going to go on some heartfelt spiel about how giving birth to him has changed her for the better.

"I apologize sir. I recognize you as authorized personnel thanks to your use of the activation code."

"I mean as a son! As your child!" he suddenly screamed, his shaking escalating. "And what about dad?! Don't you love him!"

"The real Natasha Volkov did not have a son nor a husband. Alexei Volkov and his father are simply assets for the cover persona-"

SLAP

Alex's hand moved on it's on, as if on instinct. On Natasha's cheeks was a bright red handprint, marring the otherwise smooth and perfect skin. He just couldn't stand it anymore. Hearing his own mother talk about him and his father as if they were nothing more than chess pieces. Just steps along the way to get to what she actually wanted.

As the adrenaline began to wear off, Alex began to process what he had actually done. Never in a million years could he even begin to imagine putting his hands on his mother for any reason at all. Sure, she got on his nerves sometimes, but to assault her was something that he had never thought of. Even in his angriest of fantasies. He felt several things begin to boil inside of him. Guilt from the sheer wrongness of it all. Shame for letting his emotions get the better of him. But also... a twisted sense of pleasure. Even now, after the slap, as her cheek most likely sent several spikes of pain all throughout her face, Natasha still stood at attention, face completely blank. In this state, she didn't recognize or care about anything he did. He could slap her for an hour straight and she would just take it.

Alex looked up from his hand towards his mother. Like, really looked at her. He had always thought she was attractive. And he was sure no one could blame him even as her son. But something about her right now, so still and compliant, stirred something within him. He wasn't sure if he was going crazy, but he could have sworn her blouse was somehow even tighter against her chest than normal. Against all his morals and better judgement, Alex found his hands creeping ever closer and closer.