Red Room

RR15 Training

Things were starting to get back to normal. The Avengers didn't notice too much about how Natasha acted when Darcy spoke about her. For one, they knew she would most likely be more guarded and cold. They knew that their friend didn't want to feel vulnerable and helpless, and Natasha was hiding it well. They were happy that she was taking things this well.

Natalia wouldn't let anyone in her room except for Darcy. She didn't want to be weak in front of her 'teammates', and since she couldn't remember them too well, she didn't want to blow her cover. She learned that Darcy didn't know her very well, or at all really so she allowed her to help her recover. Darcy felt happy to be around her, and she suspected nothing out of the ordinary since she had only just met the red head a week ago. Natalia quickly started to gain her strength back. This was greatly helped by the tea Bruce would send her. He had added some kind of concoction to it that helped her heal faster. Natalia was thinking that her own super serum accelerated whatever was in it, causing her to get better and stronger. She was also trying to work out in the small space of her room. She wanted to stay sharp. When Darcy relayed the information back to Bruce, he agreed with her since he gave some to anyone who was injured and that they didn't recover as fast as she was. Natalia had also discovered JARVIS, and she quickly read files and watched video of the team. She learned about how 'Natasha' acted around them, and learned the teams fighting moves so that she could use that against them. She saw that Natasha was always holding back when she was in a fight. Natalia had no idea why, but she knew she was quicker and stronger than that. She also learned about the pasts of the Avengers, and was surprised when she read that Steve was almost as old as she was, and also had his own super serum. Also that Thor was an actual god. She then recalled Loki talking about his brother, whose name was Thor. This concerned her, having to kill Loki's brother. The Red Room came first though. She was also quite surprised when she learned that the level headed Bruce Banner could transform into a giant green monster. She thought to herself to test him out one day. She saw a clip of Natasha fighting him, but Natasha was being slow, and not as quick and agile as she could be. This frustrated Natalia. She didn't use a lot of the skills taught to her in Red Room and she still had no idea why she acted that that. It was almost as if she was afraid to let herself go and lose control. She spent hours upon hours studying the files. She finally knew her team.

When Darcy brought her breakfast and tea that morning, she felt amazing. She told Darcy she was ready to leave her room, so she did. Dressed in comfortable grey sweats and a black tank top, she went to the training area. She started by doing some stretches, stretching out her healed muscles. They gave no protest. The tea and her working out did her body good. She started with a few laps around the gym and then did some push-ups and crunches. She was pleased to find that she could do many, and that her wrist hadn't started hurting. She then went over to the gun range and picked up a beautiful looking handgun. She played with the course settings, setting them to the hardest level, and shot down every single target, right through the bull's eye. Based on the videos she saw, she couldn't do that before and again, made her mad. Why was she holding back when she was drilled to be her best? She ran a few more laps until she started to get tired. Not wanting to push herself anymore, she went back to her room for a shower.

While she was rinsing off, she was hit with another flashback. She was back at the Red Room facility. She had just finished a training session with James when he kicked her in the stomach, hard. She stumbled over to the wall while holding on to her aching midsection, all the while fighting back the urge to vomit. When she couldn't hold it any longer, she emptied the contents of her stomach on to the floor and then looked up to see Ivan standing over her with a look of concern. He grabbed her by the arm and half dragged her to the lab where Dr. Andrei was waiting. Ivan looked mad. "I'm fine Ivan, I've taken worse hits before," she said. Ivan looked at her and then slapped her across the face. "What have I told you about being always being alert! I saw you, you watched as your knife was knocked from your hands and skid across the floor. You should have been focusing on your opponent! Have I taught you nothing!?" She then received another slap across the face. Before she knew it, she watched as Dr. Andrei slid a machine next to her and then inject her with a needle into the arm. After a few moments, everything went black.