Red Daughter (Natasha Romanoff)

Eighteen

As it turns out, they didn't have to wait long until a guard came for them.

Bright light floods Natasha's cell and she has to close her eyes against it, only opening them again when hands grabs her legs and pull her from the cell before hauling her to her feet. More hands pull her arms behind her back, making her injured shoulder scream but Natasha forces the pain down.

"Where's Elodie?" Natasha demands as the guards cuff her. "Where's Yelena and Wanda?"

"Quiet prisoner!"

"Screw you!" She retorts. "Take me to Dreykov!"

"What do you want with papa?" Elodie's voice floats over to Natasha and she struggles to find the girl. Suddenly she appears from thin air, her suit rippling. She laughs at Natasha's stunned expression, "Do you like my suit? It's my favorite one. I have toys here that not even Tony Stark could dream of."

"Are you alright?" Natasha asks her, ignition the suit and the red glint in the girls eyes. While Elodie's face furrows in confusion, Natasha searches for the girl she knows and loves. "Have they hurt you?"

"Papa wouldn't hurt me," Elodie scoffs. "And none of the soldiers would dare to lay a hand on me. I am their superior, the Red Daughter of the Red Room, thanks to Dr Orlov and papa."

"He's not your father!" Natasha snaps. "He may have given you half your dna but that man is no father to anyone."

"I think Antonia would disagree with you," Elodie, or  rather Red Daughter, retorts. "But she can't since you blew her up. Or did you forget about that?"

Natasha's heart sinks, "I didn't forget. I could never forget about her."

Red Daughter shrugs, "well you do have the habit of forgetting about children so just making sure."

"Suka!" Yelena yells as she's hauled from her own cell a few doors down. "Uncuff me and fight me like a woman!"

Red Daughter looks over at Yelena, "you want to fight them?"

"I'll fight them all!" Yelena yells.

"Good!" Red Daughter laughs, "because that's what you're doing today."

Yelena pauses in her struggles, "what?"

"You will fight them," Red Daughter says again slowly. "You will fight until you can't fight anymore and then you will keep fighting until I tell you to stop or I get bored and kill you." She grins sickly, "and honestly I wouldn't count on the first one too much. I'm not known for my mercy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True to her word, Red Daughter was not merciful that day or any day in the week that follows.

When they had been tossed into the arena, they'd only had a brief moment before the first wave of Widows descended upon them. Normally it would have been easy to beat them. Natasha and Yelena having been trained in ways that the newer generations couldn't dream of, each having been trained in crafts who's masters were long dead. But with their bullet wounds, they had a hard time even standing after the first fight.

By the third wave of Widows with shock batons, the girls went down fast and stayed down, Red Daughter watching in a sick amusement having every intention of letting them get beaten to death.

"Enough!" Dreykovs voice booms. All the Widows froze at once and backed away from the two unconscious girls who were now suffering from broken ribs and concussions along with their bullet wounds. "Daughter, I thought I told you not to kill them."

It wasn't a question and Red Daughter didn't treat it as such, "I thought they'd get back up."

Dreykov looks at his daughter thoughtfully, taking in the sick grin and the permanent red eyes that had often sent a shiver through him even though he'd never admit it. He almost hated what the good Dr Orlov had done to the once sweet child in the name of science, but the results were promising and once Red Daughter outlived her usefulness she'd join her mother on the compost pile.

"What did we say about breaking our new toys?" He chastises softly.

Red Daughter sighs, "only once they've served their purpose."

"Correct," he tells her as he cups her cheek almost tenderly. "We need them, alive. At least for now."

"What about the witch?" Red Daughter asks hopefully. "Can I play with her today?"

Dreykov chuckles as he drops his hand, "why do you think I'm here? She has asked for you."

Red Daughter grins even bigger, "it's going to be fun breaking her."

"Break her and then build her back up," Dreykov instructs. "She would be a good candidate for Project Red."

Red Daughters grin fades slightly, "you.. want her in the program?"

"Yes," he confirms. "With her powers and my brain, the child would be unstoppable."

Now her grin was gone completely, "but you said that we were just going to harvest data from them. You said that they were too unreliable to be in the program!"

Her tone turns sharp at the end and Dreykov scowls, "do not forget who you are talking to, daughter."
His hand slips into his pocket and he presses the small device hidden within, causing Red Daughter wince and groan as an electrical shock pulses through her body. As he shocks her he continues, "as for what I said, I said that Natalia and Yelena were not to be in the program. I made no such promises for the witch since I did not instruct you to bring her to me. But," he shrugs as he releases the button, "one cannot look a gift-horse in the mouth." He takes in the now shaken girl in front of him, "the pain makes us stronger, daughter."

"Yes papa," Red Daughter agrees robotically. "Please repeat mission parameters."

"Break the witch, sway her to our side using whatever means necessary and do NOT kill her," he tells her firmly. "Are mission parameters understood?"

"Understood papa."

"Good," he grins. "Now get to work."

He leaves the girl there without a second glance, not noticing her eyes flickering between red and green.