Havoc and Retribution

After Sigyn, Before Helen

"In Bradlich's notes, there was a section completely dedicated to revitalizing the 'Victory Project'." Barton says to Nat. "A whole floor was dedicated to it."

"Not a bad place to start," Romanoff says. "Where in the building is it located?"

Barton consults the blueprints they've managed to find for the old Warren Biochemical building. "If I had to guess, I'd say it is this subterranean level marked as storage," Clint draws his finger across the plans. "Access is restricted to that floor and only senior management like Bradlich had access to it."

"Sounds reasonable," Natasha says and heads for the elevator.

Inside, Romanoff swipes Bradlich's key card into a slot below the rows of floor buttons. A touch screen lights up above the controls with 'Welcome Mr. Bradlich' written in bold font. There are three options on the screen: Head Office, Victory Project, and Laboratories. Natasha selects 'Victory Project' and the elevator begins its descent.

They stand quietly side by side, each thinking about what they will find below.

After the hours of sorting through files and arguing over a course of action and then finding the trickster god had vanished, Nat and Clint had taken on the task of infiltrating Warren Biochemical's old complexes to try to find the missing or original files on Victoria Strong. On the ride over in the Quinjet, Natasha had turned off the radios and headpieces and pulled Clint aside to ask him what he knew about Jay's past with Bradlich. Years of working with Natasha have made Clint more susceptible than anyone to her manipulations. He caves and tells her what he knows.

Natasha being Natasha, did not say much, just listened with heavy and dark eyes. He knows more about the Black Widow's history than any of the other Avengers, enough to know that the hard look in Nat's eyes is not dismissal but sympathy. The labs they are visiting are where Jaycee was repeatedly drugged and abused by Jared Bradlich. Maybe the other Avengers don't agree with him that Jaycee delivered justice in the Avengers Tower, but he can tell from the look on Natasha's face that she agrees with him.

When the elevator stops, they exit with weapons held loosely in their hands, not expecting an attack, but ready anyways. Neither of them would put it past Jared Bradlich to have booby-trapped the lab as a final act of vengeance. They don't trip any sensors and eventually find the lights.

It is clear Bradlich had been here before staging the attack on the Avenger's Tower. Prototypes of the weapons they encountered are lying on operating tables, half-assembled, but no less deadly. Clint spots an office in the back and motions to Nat. They head for the recessed door.

On the way, they pass several operating tables, straps for restraining wrists and ankles dangling to the ground in macabre leather and metal. Clint suppresses a wave of nausea, remembering how Cap found Jaycee after Bradlich stole her from the Helicarrier right after they had met. There are discarded needles on a small metal tray next to the table and a vision of the scarred flesh on the inside of Jay's arms appears behind his eyes.

Natasha opens the door to the office, jolting him from his painful remembrances. He follows her inside.

It looks like Bradlich has done some of the work for them. Copies of files, old files from the dates he can see on the papers, are strewn across the large desk and the top of the filing cabinets. A diorama of photos and scraps of paper covers one wall, string connecting pins like something out of a detective movie. Natasha looks to Clint. "I'll take the wall, you take the desk?"

He nods and they start their search. The room is dimly lit and bland, a generic office. The only sound is the shuffling of papers and Natasha's sidesteps as she moves across the wall, following each string in turn. There is a creepy ambiance to the whole situation as if they are sifting through ghosts in their search for an answer.