Red Daughter (Natasha Romanoff)

Nineteen

For the next week Red Daughter oversees the data collection of Natalia and Yelena while watching the witch on her cell cam.

She never goes to see her and prohibits anyone from entering her cell. The witch paces for hours, sometimes tugging at the collar around her neck or trying to use her powers. Red Daughter can't help but to chuckle each time the witch gets shocked, each one getting worse until she finally passes out from the pain.

You'd think after the first few times she'd learn to stop trying but the witch was surprisingly persistent. Given her past with Hydra though it was no surprise that the witch was used to the shocks.

And while Hydra had its own barbaric methods of torture, Red Daughter had her own.

After a week of isolation, she had half expected the witch to throw herself towards the door when Red Daughter opened it, but she just continued to sit in her bed with her eyes closed.

"Dinner," Red Daughter tells her softly as she puts the tray next to the witch.

The girl makes no move, giving the tray nor Red Daughter any mind. Red Daughter watches her curiously, wondering how she could stay so still, how she could keep her breathing so even.

Even after years of training and punishment Red Daughter couldn't do that. Her nerves were always to jumpy, her breathing giving her away. It was the one thing she wished that Dr Orlov had fixed.

"You don't need to be fixed," the witch mutters. "You've never needed to be fixed."

"I never said that I did."

The girls eyes open then, red dancing in them, "but you were thinking it."

"You shouldn't have your powers," Red Daughter muses. She wasn't afraid, she rarely ever was. "That collar must be faulty."

"It's not," the witch tells her. She pulls the collar aside to show the burn marks on her skin from the prongs that line the inside, "I'm just used to the pain. If there's one thing I learned from Hydra it's how to compartmentalize."

"That still doesn't explain your powers. You shouldn't have access to them at all."

"I don't," the witch answers as she scoots the tray back towards Red Daughter. "I can't move things, I can't manipulate your mind or reality. All I can do is hear your thoughts. Only yours though, so don't worry. I haven't learned any secrets." She glances down at the tray and back up, "except that you and Hydra have the same cooking abilities."

"I made that you know," Red Daughter half jokes as she tries to hide the hurt in her voice. "Made it special for the little witch."

"I'm not a witch," the girl tells her. "So stop calling me that and stop thinking it."

"Or what?"

The girls eyes flash red again and this time Red Daughter can see the sparks from under the collar, "or you'll find out just how well I can ignore pain."

"Stop that."

"Stop calling me a witch."

"Wanda stop!"

The name hangs in the air between them, both surprised that Red Daughter had said it. Or did she? Green eyes meet red, but this time it was Wanda's that were red and Elodie's that were green.

"There you are," Wanda says softly, her eyes going back to the color that Elodie loves. "Took you long enough, El."

"For what?"

"To come back to me. I wasn't sure how long-," Wanda starts but stops suddenly when Red Daughters hand is around her throat.

"Enough of your tricks," Red Daughter hisses. Her eyes are back to their normal red as she chokes the witch. "This is who I am, not that pathetic girl you thought you knew. Try something like that again and the punishment you get will make Hydra look like a day spa."

Red Daughter pulls herself away from the witch and towards the door, stopping when the witch coughs out, "at least you learned how to choke a girl properly."

"What?" The statement was so absurd and unexpected that she had to stop and turn back to the witch.

A witch who was smiling lazily up at her from the bed, "I said, at least you learned how to properly choke a girl. You only squeezed the sides of my neck just now, not the front. You never blocked off my airway even though you were threatening me."

"And?" Red Daughter grits out. "Maybe I just didn't want to kill you yet."

The witch shrugs, "maybe. Or maybe my Elodie is still in there."

Red Daughter laughs, "she's not. She was fake, I am real."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"But do you really?" The witch asks as she gets up and comes to stand in front of Red Daughter. "Maybe, just maybe, the Elodie that I know and love, is the real you and Red Daughter is the one that's fake." Her hand goes to cup Red Daughters cheek, the girl pulling back slightly, but the witch doesn't stop. Her hand comes to rest gently on the girls face, her thumb stroking the girls cheek. Red Daughters eyes close involuntarily at the familiar contact and she leans into it, only opening them again when the witch whispers, "look at me."

For the second time that day, green meets green.

"Hi," Elodie whispers, her hands going to Wanda's waist and pulling her close.

"Hi baby," Wanda whispers as she pulls Elodie into a kiss.

"I'm so sorry," Elodie whispers between kisses.

"For what?"

"For this."

The witch falls to her knees in agony as a large electrical surge courses through her from the collar.

"It was a nice try," Red Daughter says with a grin. "I'll admit you're first prisoner to try and seduce me so I'll give you points for creativity. But if you ever try it again, I'll turn this on and I won't turn it off again until your heart stops."