Seven Devils // Natasha Romanoff

Part 10 - Melina's Revelation

I spend the next few days mostly sleeping, the sedatives undoubtedly working very well.  On the third day, I've gotten to the point that I'm off sedatives and completely fine to walk around.

I find myself in the middle of taking a lap around the medical wing when I spot the Taskmaster walking by, most likely taking the shortcut from the training rooms to the airstrip.  "Hey!" I call, waving to her.

She stops briefly, turning to me.

"Thanks," I say, sending her an appreciative nod.  "For rescuing me from Natasha's."

Please say something, please say something.  I swear to god, I need to know whether she's a real person or not.

Unfortunately, all that she does is nod in return.  She resumes walking down the hallway, continuing to wherever she was heading.

I sigh defeatedly as I turn around, resigning to taking another lap around the medical wing.  However, I quickly perk up upon hearing a familiar voice.  "Oh, excuse me," Melina says in the distance.  I turn to see her walking in from the airstrip, slipping through the door after the Taskmaster has walked out of it.  "How's my favorite Widow doing today?" she greets.

"Well, I think I may be losing track of the time.  You did say 'tomorrow' in our last meeting, did you not?  I'm pretty sure it's been two days since then."

Melina rolls her eyes endearingly as she catches up to me, her brisk walk making her cover the distance between me and the door in seconds.  "I am busy woman.  What matters is that I'm here now.  Tell me, you are good to walk now?"

I nod.  "I'm feeling a lot better.  I just got off the sedatives and am totally fine to walk around."

"Yes, as I said, short-term injuries.  You should return to normal by fourth day.  I'd consider working self back to normal condition today."

I raise a brow.  "Why?"

She tilts her head toward my room, and I get the message that she wants to talk in private.  "Let me help you back to your bed, no?" she offers, holding out an arm.

I take her arm, leaning against her slightly as she walks at a pace much faster than mine to get us to my room. "Melina, careful," I warn, tripping slightly.

She rolls her eyes, not slowing down in the slightest; it's clear she's in a rush. "You need to speed up recovery anyway."

"Have I ever mentioned how you aren't the nurturing type?" I mock.

She scoffs lightly. "You may not want to offend person helping you."

I chuckle as we reach my room and she swiftly shuts the door behind us. "Do you remember what I made the antidote for?" she asks, walking us over to my bed.

I nod as she releases me and we both sit on the bed. "You were working on mind control for your farm animals. That was just the antidote to that."

She nods slowly. "Yes... but I omitted some truth when I told you that. I first experimented with mind control on my farm animals, but after that succeeded, I moved on to better things."

I furrow a brow. "What... do you mean?"

She takes a deep breath, clearly having something big to tell me. "I... look, it wasn't my idea, okay? After Natasha defected, Dreykov wanted a way to guarantee that no Widow would ever defect again. I was planning to just use my mind control on enemies, but-"

"I'm sorry, what?" I interrupt. "Are you saying what I think you're saying, because you had better hope for your own good-"

"Vallonia, I had no choice. I was working on the research here, and Dreykov was aware of it. When he requested to use the mind control on Widows, I told him no, but he ultimately is in charge of Red Room and overruled me. He agreed to not use mind control on me, and this is where we're at-"