Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Seven: Breaking the Brainwashing.

Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Levi and Steve were all gathered around the lab as they watched Red sleep in her room, with her hand handcuffed to the bed frame above her head. 
Tony leaned against the desk as he watched Red on the screen. "And you're sure it was Russian she was speaking?" He had asked Natasha thus question every twenty minutes since they got back to the tower. 
Nat sighed heavily as she gave him an annoyed look. "Stark, for the millionth time, yes. We are sure. Now stop asking." 
Tony let out a sigh of his own. "Sorry, I just didn't know she spoke Russian." 
"That's because she doesn't." Steve said, still keeping his eyes on the screen. 
"Yet she spoke it so well." Bruce said as he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. "How is that possible?" 
"Because that's not Red." He walked up to the screen. She looked so small, so tired, so... weak given all of the bandages they had to put on her body to stop the bleeding. "That's HYDRA." 
"So they wanted another person to try and kill us?" Clint asked, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Why choose Red for that when there are thousands of people out there that would gladly do the job?" 
Levi, who had been silent since they got back, finally spoke up. "Isn't it obvious?" She slowly raised her head when they all turned around to look at her. This was the first time they had looked away from the screen in two and a half hours.
"Obviously it's not that obvious, Sparky." Tony said in his usual snippy and sarcastic tone. "Why don't you enlighten us?" 
Levi rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What are the odds that HYDRA would just to happen to find a face of SHIELD in a place that a select few SHIELD agents know about?" She nodded toward the screen. "They didn't follow her, they knew she'd show up. They were waiting for her." 
"But why-" Tony started, looking confused. 
"Because who better to be the new face of HYDRA than the last living founder of SHIELD?" Levi asked him in return. 
Steve took a deep breath as she looked back to the still sleeping Red. "So she's brainwashed?" 
She slowly nodded. "Derek, Nebula and I would torture people... break them down and when we were done, we'd build them back up." Levi pointed to the screen. "That's what they did to her." 
Natasha raised an eyebrow as she turned to face Levi. "How can you tell?" 
"Because of all of Thanos's Children... I was the best at it." Steve could tell that Levi didn't look very proud of herself to say it out loud, but he also knew that she knew that this was a powerful tool. 
"So, where now?" Clint had asked once they had taken in that bit of information. 
"Now, I send out a message and hopefully get the answer we're looking for." Levi said before she turned around and left the room. Sure, it was a bit dramatic but at this point, that was the norm around there.
Steve shrugged it off and leaned back against the table behind him, as he watched Red sleep, he kept expecting something to change. Nothing changed, but he was hoping.
"Does she think that HYDRA has a man on the inside?" Tony asked after Levinia had been gone for a few minutes. 
"That would be impossible." Steve said as he glanced at Tony. "SHIELD would have noticed by now if it were true." 
"Yeah," Tony said as he started to fidget with his tools. "She's just expecting the worst out of people. That's our Levinia." 
"But it's weird that they knew where the house was." Natasha said as she sat back into the chair that she had repeated gotten in and out of. 
Clint came over and set a hand on her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "We'll worry about it after we get Red out of the brainwashing." 
"And how exactly are we going to pull that off?" Bruce asked form his corner of the room. 
"Nat, you got me out when Loki brainwashed me." Clint said to Nat as he sat down next to her. She gave him a small smile. "No, I hit you on the head and we all decided that it was good enough." 
"Well, we already hit her on the head, so what's the next plan?" Tony asked, taking the words right out Steve's mouth. 
Steve ran a hand over his face as Natasha got to her feet once again. "I'll see what HYDRA's done to her," she took her jacket off and put her hair up, then she looked at the rest of the group. "After me, Clint. Then Bruce and Tony." She turned to look at Steve. "We'll have you and Levinia go last." 
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Why last?" 
"Because you two mean the most to her." Natasha said as she left the room. 
After Natasha left, Steve walked out next to see where Levi was, and what she could be doing. 
+++
Levinia was sitting on the roof, just over Tony's landing pad with a communication device held carefully in her hands as she waited for Gamora to message her back. "Come on, Gamora." She muttered as she looked down at the busted screen. She knew it hadn't been long since she sent the message to her adoptive sister, and time really was against them in this situation. She didn't know how long the others had been waiting on her to return, but she knew that she wasn't coming back until she got an answer from Gamora. 
Down below, she heard someone come out and onto the landing pad. Glancing down, Levi said that it was Steve. He cupped his hands around his mouth as he called up to her. "Hey, we're about to try and break the brainwashing. Have you heard from your friend?" 
Levi put the device away with a sigh before she flew down to him. "Not yet." She glanced at the window as she reached up to rub at her face. "I didn't think we'd have to break a brainwashing." 
"I know, I wasn't expecting it either." Steve said gently as he pulled her toward him. He held her against his chest and rested his chin on top of her head. "But hopefully this is the last surprise." 
"I hope so because I'm starting to get tired of of always fighting, always running... always having to find a way out." She leaned against him and closed her eyes. "Will we ever get a break?" 
He gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Not while we're Avengers, Levi. Not while we have to fight the battles this world can't."
"This world, and all the others, you mean." Levi said as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Powerful people always draw in powerful forces, Steve... this is going to be our lives for a while." 
He gave her a smile. "I know, and we'll fight them together, okay?" 
"Because we're Avengers?" 
Steve chuckled. "That, and because we're a family." 
"Then we'll get Red back together," she almost smiled as she looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "As Avengers, and as a family." 
"Exactly." 
They stood there, gazing into each other's eyes as the wind blew around them. This was a perfect moment, at least to Levi it was. She knew that someone would come and get them when it was their turn to try and help Red, but for now, looking into this man's eyes was the definition of bliss. 
+++
When Natasha entered Red's room, she saw that Red was awake and seemingly waiting for her. She was staring-no, glaring-at the door when Natasha had opened it. As she dragged a chair to Red's bedside and sat down, she noted that Red looked scared, like she was a puppy backed into a corner.
Nat tilted her head to the side and reached over to hold Red's free hand. "Red, do you know where you are?" 
Red stayed silent as she turned her head to look up at the ceiling, as fearful as she appeared, she was still stony, so cold, it was like she was dead. A shall of the person she once was. 
"Red," Natasha said again, in a soft and gentle tone. "Do you know who I am?" When she got nothing again, she glanced toward the camera that was mounted in the corner of the room. She had to try something drastic. With a sigh, she reached out and struck Red across the face, and to her surprised, this got a reaction out of Red. 
She turned to face Natasha as her eyes went in and out of focus as she looked at the other woman. It was strange looking at Red's face and seeing that the lights were on, but there was no one home. There was no flicker of the person she's grown to love behind those blue eyes. 
Suddenly, Red spat in Nat's face and took her hand back as she recoiled and returned the blow. 
"All right," Nat said as she reached up to wipe the spit off of her face. "I kinda deserved that. But can you tell me anything?" She glanced toward the camera again before turning her gaze back to Red. 
In Russian, as she turned to face the wall, she whispered a string of words that made no sense to Natasha. 
"Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car." 
She may not have known what they meant, but she knew enough that they had to have been used as activation words of some type. She had heard so many different kinds of activation codes over her years in the Red Room. 
Natasha slowly got to her feet and walked back to the lab. She could hear her ears ringing, and when she walked back into the lab, Clint took her face into his hands. 
"Natasha," he said as he ran a thumb over her cheekbone. "Nat, what did she tell you?" 
Natasha blinked a few times as she focused on Clint. She had to keep it together, Red wasn't dead, she was just lost. 
"It was nonsense, Clint." She said. "But I think it was an activation code, it sounded like something that would be repeated to you over and over while you were being tortured." She glanced over to Steve as she stepped away from Clint. She repeated what Red had whispered, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he knew what it meant. 
But that hope was quickly dashed when Steve shook his head. "The only thing I can think of that would be worth something is that Bucky fell from a freight car." 
"So they used his death against her?" Tony asked as he set down the tool he was fiddling with. "They used him to hack into her brain?" 
"That is one of many possibilities." Natasha said as she sat down in her chair. "We don't know for her that they used Bucky to get into her mind." 
"Tony," Levi said with an exasperated sigh. "Are you worried about Red, or are you insecure with the fact that she had loved someone before you?" 
"Levi, now isn't-" 
"What? The time?" Levi said as she pushed away from the wall she was leaned up against. "You're right, Stark, now isn't the time to get upset about your lover's dating history." 
Natasha kept her eyes on Levi as she got ready to tear into Tony more, but she paused as she took what resembled a phone out of her pocket and took a look at whatever message she had just received. A shame, really. It was just getting good.
"Look," Tony said when he was sure that Levi was distracted enough. "Contrary to popular belief, my first priority is Red, my second is making sure she recovers, and my third is finding out who did this to her." 
"So, we're just going to break it without getting any information at all?" Clint asked as he looked between Levi and Tony. 
"Hell seems to have frozen over," Levi said as she put the device back into her pocket. "I, for once, agree with Stark. Our first priority should be helping Red get better, and luckily for us, I know how." 
Steve shrugged as he looked down at Levi, then to Natasha. "She's not going to tell either way, if Levi knows how to break it, let's do it and get our friend back." 
"The soon we break it, the sooner she'll remember." Levi said as she reached over to hold Steve's hand. Natasha raised an eyebrow at that. When did that start happening? "That's what Gamora said." 
Tony blinked at that. "Who's Gamora?" 
"And why should we trust her?" Natasha asked as she leaned back against her chair. She didn't have time to jump through hoops for someone she didn't know, or even trust. 
"She and I worked together under Thanos. She was basically like an older sister to me." Levi said as she took her hand from Steve's and moved toward the door. "And we should trust her because she got me out the moment the portal opened over New York." She stopped at the door, and met eyes with Steve. "We have a chance, we should take it." 
It was interesting watching Levi, she looked at Steve like he was her sunset. It would be interesting to see how her mother reacted to this when she woke up. 
"All right, I'm game." Tony said. "What do you have to do?" 
"I have to walk her out of whatever loop she's stuck in, which means that I basically take a peek into her mind and break her out." 
"And it's safe?" 
"Yeah." 
"Good enough for me," Tony said as he crossed the room and opened the door for her. "Carry on." 
"Hold on, isn't that dangerous?" Clint asked as he pushed the door closed again. 
When Levi looked like she was about to argue, Natasha finally broke her silence. "Clint, I know you're worried, but this is about Red, her well being, her mental state... she's struggling. Her best chance is if we do it now." 
Clint was silent for a long moment before she sighed and pulled the door back open. "All right... all right, fine." He raised his head to look at Levi. "Just be careful." 
Levi offered him a small smile as she sidestepped him and headed in. "I've messed with enough minds to know what not to do." And then, she was gone. 
Clint closed the door behind her and turned to face the group. "Is anyone else concerned by this?" 
"Obviously," Tony said as he sat down and looked up at the monitor. "But we can't afford to wait for another option." 
Natasha chewed on the inside of her cheek for a few seconds as she looked at each and every one of her friends, they were worried, everyone was and they had good reason to be. She crossed her arms over her chest and kicked her feet up. 
"Clint, I know you're worried, we all are. But this is about getting Red back." Natasha said. To her surprise no one interrupted her, so she continued. "Our Red, if that means she doesn't remember her kidnapping and the torture and the trauma she's gone through, then good, I'm glad that she won't remember it right away." 
"I just hope she's careful." Clint said, finally giving up his argument as they watched Levi enter Red's room and glance at the camera.
"She will be." Nat said as she reached over to touch her friend's arm. "She's done nothing to prove that we can't trust her." 
"Yeah," Clint agreed as he relaxed against Nat's touch. "But she hasn't proven that we can either." 
+++
The moment she entered Red's room, Levi glanced over her shoulder and at the camera that pointed at her bed, she gave it a small nod before she sat on the bed with her legs crossed under her. She sat across from her mother and took a moment to just look at her. 
It was always odd to see someone like this, especially when you knew them well. Her eyes were... dead, alien to her face. Red sat up and copied her daughter's stance with her one arm still awkwardly handcuffed to the bed frame. 
"Hey, Red," Levi said in a soft, yet oddly deep voice. "I need you to look in my eyes, okay? Concentrate on my eyes." She said as she looked into Red's eyes and started to gently sway slightly from side to side. "Be in me... let me see into your mind." Levi kept swaying as she felt Red starting to let her in. "Be in me. Relax your mind, Red. It's all going to be okay." 
Levi heard her own voice echo in her own ears as the room faded around them in a large cloud of smoke. 
+++
For a moment, there was nothing. It was just Levinia in a black space with Red beside her, then smoke-golden swirling smoke-gathered around them and formed into the scene of a hospital wing, watching as Thor and Loki sat beside Red's sick bed. The three of them looked at if they had been through Hell and back again, and Red looked as if she had been through the worst thing of her life. 
"What is this?" Levinia asked as she looked around them. 
Red kept her eyes on herself as she answered. "This was... three days after we lost you to Thanos. We always died trying to stop him." They watched as Loki took her hand in both of his as the nurses went to heal her. It was strange for Levi to watch Red not even move to grip her father's hand back, as far as she remembered, the two of them were so in love. 
Levi watched as Red stared at nothing, not even moving or reacting or speaking to anyone as they moved around her, rushing to help her heal. "What were you thinking about?" 
"I was thinking about how terrible of a mom I was." Red said with a sigh. "I raised you for nineteen years, I taught you how to use your magic... and then when someone big and scary came around, I failed to stop him from taking you." 
"You did what you could, you fought until your last breath-Hell, you almost died trying to stop him. But you didn't die." Levi said as she turned away from the scene before her. "That's the important part, you didn't die, you lived and you were able to fine me." 
"But in the moment, I failed my blood." 
Levi scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "Blood?" 
Red nodded as they watched Loki try helplessly to comfort her, there was nothing that could comfort her now. She turned to look at her daughter. "Loki had made you from my blood. You're a part of me, quite literally. He even gave you aspects of himself and Thor, but you have my blood." 
Levi nodded slowly and looked back at Loki as he kissed the side of Red's head. "You tried your best. You all did." 
"I know, but our best just wasn't good enough." Red said as she turned away from the scene and smoke gathered around them again, when it faded away, they were standing outside of a tent as it poured rain around them. 
Red and Steve were inside, arguing with someone who appeared to be a general of some type and there another woman with them-Levi recognized neither of the two of them. 
"What's happening here?" Levi asked as Red let out a sob and the woman beside her held her as she fell toward the ground, another man, who looked so much like Tony that Levi could only assume was his father, came to help and the two of them held Red as they sat on the ground together and let her cry. It was... heartbreaking and git wrenching to watch. She loved this man more than she loved anyone her entire life.
"This was the moment I felt my world start to crumble around me again." Red said as she watched the scene unfold before them. "Even though I didn't remember you at the time, I still felt the pain of losing you, and when I came to Midgard, and I found Bucky-" she gave a small smile. "Or James, I always to call him James-I felt that pain fade slightly, and then... I love my light in the darkness." She said as Memory Red, Steve and the other two managed to walk off, with determination and rage mixing together on Memory Red's face as the small group talked in hushed voices. 
"What are you guys talking about?" Levi asked as they followed behind the memories. 
"We're coming up with a rescue plan." Red said with a sigh and stopped walking as the memories turned away from them. "We did find him, we found all of them." 
It all faded into thick golden smoke again with the two of them standing inside a train as it whipped passed a snow capped mountain. They watched as Steve, Bucky, Red and several others fought to stop it. 
"This was the day I lost him." Red whispered as they watched the fight. 
"You couldn't save him?" 
Red slowly shook her head as Bucky was thrown from the train and another man held her back as she screamed for him. Steve had climbed out of the train to try and grab him, but it was too late, and the man holding her back still held her, even as her fire encircled them as she screamed and begged and pleased with the Universe to give him back. 
"The train was moving too fast for me to get to him." Red explained. 
"Then what happened?" 
"We had taken out the last HYDRA group and headed off to fight the Red Skull." 
The smoke gathered around them without them needing to turn away. When the smoke formed again, the two of them were standing in the middle of some sort of control room. Red was sitting in the room with the same woman as before and Stark. They were gathered around the radio and were talking to Steve, which told Levi that he went after Red Skull alone. 
"I gotta put her in the water." Steve was saying.
"There has to be another way." Red said as she paced around the room. 
"Please don't do this. We have time, we can work it out." The woman on the radio said, she sounded panicked. Not as panicked as Levi's mother was, but still very panicked. 
As Red started to hyperventilate, Stark finally pulled her way and held her against his chest. The woman kept talking to Steve as Red cried into Stark's shoulder, he was the only thing that kept her standing. 
"This was the day Steve went under." Levi said in a whisper. 
"I only had Peggy and Howard." So those were their names. "After he went under, we started the search for him. We kept looking even when the SSR told us to stop. After that, the three of us started SHIELD after everything was said and done." She turned to look at Levi. "I lost Steve and James in the same week, only days apart from one another." She took a deep breath. "Only one of them was able to come back." 
The scene faded into smoke once again and it formed into several different memories of hers, all of them being her worst memories-killing her evil twin, losing her father, failing me over and over-and then, the smoke formed into New York, during the Battle of New York, and Tony was falling from the portal that was open above it.
"But he's alive." 
"He was dead for two minutes. For two minutes, I had lost him too. Until Bruce brought him back." She said as the rest of the scene played out before them. Red held his head in her lab, begging and pleading for him to come back before Hulk had roared and shocked him back to life. 
"Is this what you've been doing while under HYDRA's control?" Levi asked as she looked around them. 
Red nodded as she wrapped her arms around her body. "I can't escape, all I can do is watch as my own personal Hell moves around me." 
Levi moved forward and grasped Red's hands. "I need you to keep calm and keep your eyes on me." When Red turned to face her daughter, she kept her eyes focused on her and worked hard to keep herself calm. "Red, these memories are just things that plague you every day. But you need to remember the good ones and come back to us. Steve needs you, and Tony is beside himself-something I'm not equipped to handle on my own-" Red chuckled, which made Levi smile. "It's time to come home." 
"Please," Red whispered. "Show me the way." 
Levi nodded and closed her eyes, willing the door to appear, like she would have back with Thanos when she was ready to leave the mind she was wrecking. As soon as the smoke formed into the door, and the two of them walked through it, there was a flash of light and Levi pulled herself out of Red's mind. 
+++
When Red opened her eyes, she found that she was sitting in the bed of her penthouse suite in Avengers Tower, sitting across from her was Levinia. She was panting heavily, as if she's been through something very straining. 
Red's mind felt... fuzzy, and she could feel a headache coming on, at least it would be matching with how the rest of her body felt soon. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before looking around the room, it was just her and Levi in there.
"Red?" Levi asked once she finally caught her breath. "Is that you?" 
Red blinked a few times. "Y-yeah, it's me... where is everyone? How long have I been gone?"
"It's been about two and a half weeks." She looks at me with sad eyes. "Red, I have to tell you something." 
Red raised an eyebrow as concern grew inside her. "What happened while I was away?" It was only then, when she tried to get out of bed, did she realize that she was handcuffed to the bed frame. As panic started to rise up in her chest, Steve and Tony walked into the room. 
Tony let her out of the handcuffs and sat down next to her while Steve stood beside the bed. Red didn't like the looks on their faces. They had the kinds of faces that people had when they were about to give bad news to someone. "Guys... what happened?" 
Tony took her hand as Levinia explained everything that had happened while Red was captured, tortured and under a form of brainwashing, all done to her by HYDRA. The Dark Elves had invaded Asgard and killed her mother, Frigga. Loki had died soon after, having sacrificed himself to protect Thor and his girlfriend, Jane Foster, he had died trying to be the hero. Red had put a hand over her mouth halfway through the story, trying to cover up a sob as Tony held her against his chest. 
She had lost two more people, lost them without her being able to say goodbye, without her being able to tell them that she loved them. Tony wrapped his arms around her middle and held her as her sobs ripped their way from her body. Her ears were ringing and she wasn't able to find a way to speak, she just felt everything inside her break and burn and she couldn't breathe. Red was only vaguely aware of Steve setting his hand on her shoulder as Levi got up and muttered something to him before she left the room. 
Tony scooped her up and sat her in his lap as her fire started to build up inside her and flickered in her hands. "I-I never-n-never got to say goodbye. I never-to either of them-" Red stammered through her tears. 
"I know, Red." Tony whispered as he petted her hair and rocked them back and forth. "I'm sorry." He muttered as he kissed the side of her head. "I am so sorry." 
Steve sat down in the chair beside her bed and leaned forward to look at her. "Red... I need to see where else they hurt you." 
Red clenched her eyes closed and took a few deep breaths. She counted down from five, giving herself five seconds to calm down before she slowly detached herself from Tony and sat back down on the bed with a soft, but painful, grunt. She knew they could see her arms and throat, the cuts that were there and on her face, but she could feel the pain in her midsection. 
"Steve," Red whispered as she lifted the hem of her shirt. "They hurt me everywhere." She decided to just take it off. It took her a moment, but she slipped her sweater over her head and left herself in just her bra. "I had through so much. I didn't even know I was slipping. I was in so much pain." 
"No one blames you, Red." Steve said as he rain his fingers over her ribs, checking her over for any broken and fractured ribs. 
Levinia came back into the room with a first aid kit and food. She sat them down as Steve took the kit and got to work patching Red up. Tony helped her lay down so that Steve could have a better look at what was wrong. 
"Do you remember who did this to you?" 
"No, just that they were HYDRA. We need to warn Fury." Red said as she glanced between Steve, Tony and Levi, her grip tightening on Tony's hand as Steve started to reset her ribs. "If HYDRA is rising up, we need to be ready." 
Tony ran his fingers through her hair as he watched Steve work on his girlfriends injuries. "You can go as soon as you're recovered." He raised his head to look at Steve and Levi. "She'll be safe here." 
Steve nodded as he reset another one of her ribs, she gave another groan of pain and closed her eyes. It would be over soon, she would be healed soon and then she can get back into normal life. Red could live her life with Tony and she'd find it in her to be human for him. Something in the back of her mind told her that that was a bad idea, to wait until this HYDRA thing was blown over. 
Her train of thought crashed and burned when the door opened and when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was Natasha, standing in front of them with her arms crossed over her chest, looking like she had bad news. 
Always with the bad news. 
"Fury wants Red, Steve and Levinia back in DC." Tasha said. "He wants you guys back by tomorrow night, and it's an order." 
Red sighed as she sat up on her elbows. "Why does he need me back on the field so soon?" 
"He didn't give me a reason, just said it was of the highest importance." Tasha said, Red knew that it was something. It was always something with SHIELD, maybe she'd get lucky and he already knew that HYDRA was coming for them. 
Red laid back down and closed her eyes once again, sleep was fighting to take her. "Tell him we will be back by six thirty, tomorrow evening." Red heard her walk out of the room and the door closing behind her as she left. 
Eventually, as Steve worked on her, Red fell asleep, thankfully falling into a dreamless and peaceful sleep. 
+++
Tony sighed as he kept running his fingers through her hair. "She can't go back so soon, she needs to recover." 
"I agree with you, but she's never disobeyed directed orders, and I doubt she'll be starting now." Steve said as he finished patching her up. "You're more than welcome to come with us, Tony." 
"I might take you up on that." Tony said as he watched Levinia get to her feet and crossed the room to look out one of the windows that looked over New York City. She had that same look on her face that her mother did when she was thinking very hard on something. 
"What's up, Lev?" He asked. 
Levi shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes moving over the skyline. "There's a storm coming." She said as she turned back around to face him and Steve. "And when it hits, it's going to be less than pretty." 
He and Steve looked at one another before they both looked down at the sleeping Red. If something came for them, she would be right. What happened to the Asgardian sleeping peacefully was just the beginning, and he hoped that she'd be strong enough to face whatever was coming next.