Seven Devils // Natasha Romanoff

Part 9 - Never Fear, Melina's Here

I wake up to something cold and metallic brushing against my cheek.  My eyes fly open to see the Taskmaster looking down at me, her metal glove ghosting over my face.

"Vallonia?" Dreykov's voice asks.

I quickly look around, realizing I'm in one of the transport planes.  The Taskmaster steps forward, carrying me with her.  I look to see who she's facing, my gaze landing upon Dreykov standing on the Red Room's airstrip.  He is wearing a somewhat worried expression, which only grows more concerned as he catches sight of me.  "God, she did a number on you," he mutters.

The Taskmaster continues walking forward, carrying me to Dreykov.  He turns to walk with us as we continue towards the entrance to the Red Room.  "Vallonia, can you talk?"

I open my mouth to respond, and I quickly gasp in pain; as soon as I moved, it triggered all of the pain in my body that I did not feel at all until now.  I continue to inhale dramatically, feeling as if I can't get enough air.

"Shit," Dreykov mutters.  He turns towards the doors, waving for whoever is there to come forward.  "Medic!"

I grab onto the Taskmaster's arm as I sharply inhale again, now beginning to panic in fear of not being able to breathe.  The Taskmaster helps set me down on a gurney as a group of medics surround me.  I continue with my short, panicked breaths, desperately trying to get enough air.  "She's hyperventilating!" one shouts.

"Administering sedative," another states.  "Somebody get an oxygen mask on her."

I feel a prick in my arm as an oxygen mask is placed over my nose and mouth, and my breathing begins to slow slightly.  My head feels fuzzy as my vision blurs, and I soon find myself drifting off to sleep again.

......

"Vallonia?  Are you awake?"

I slowly open my eyes, recognizing the voice.  Is that... Melina?  I blink a couple of times, my eyes adjusting to the stark lighting of the medical wing.  "Melina?" I ask, my gaze now focusing on Melina, who is sitting at my side with Dreykov in the chair beside hers.

"Oh, yes, it's me," she smiles as she takes my hand, her Russian accent thick as ever.  "How are you doing?"

"You know, if you had told me that all I needed to do to get you to come back to the Red Room was get held hostage by an Avenger, I would've done it sooner," I tease.

She chuckles lightly.  "I'm glad to see that you're feeling good enough to take jabs at me.  I talked to the doctors, and they said that you're only looking at very short-term injuries.  Your little incident when you arrived was just you being overwhelmed from the pain after the adrenaline wore off.  They sedated you so your body could naturally calm itself, and now you're all good, see?"

I look down at myself.  "How bad is it, exactly?"

Melina shrugs.  "Not bad at all.  It seems that Natasha only aimed to cause pain, not leave long-term damages.  You got lucky."

"Lucky," I scoff.

"Vallonia," Dreykov speaks up.  "If you can, could you tell us absolutely everything about this incident?  It's better that we document it as soon as possible when your memory is at its best."

"Of course," I nod.  "My head is just a little bit fuzzy, but I can remember most."

"Oh, yes, you have concussion," Melina adds.

"I figured that much," I shrug.  "Anyways..."

I tell them everything that Natasha told me to tell them, telling them the truth about everything up until our conversation and then finishing it off with her knocking me out.