Part I: She's Been Everybody Else's Girl, Maybe Someday She'll Be Her Own

"And Become All That They Told You"

Unsurprisingly, Lukin did not wait for her consent. Instead, he wheeled the gurney over to an apparatus that Natasha would rather not inspect any more closely.

"Where's Sharon?"

"Your ... associate? I'm afraid she slipped through some incompetent fingers," he answered darkly, glaring in the direction of the other people in the room. "But we won't be here long enough for her to mount a rescue, I can assure you."

"You're scared of one agent out in the cold? This place seems to have the whole setup you need," Natasha told him.

He smiled slightly. "Of course, little Widow. It was a delight to hear that you were on your way to us. I do hate having to move around. But sacrifices must be made to keep your friend from getting in over her head. She's not like you, is she?"

"I don't know what you mean," was her cold reply. "Did you send Dmitri after me in Scotland?"

Lukin rolled his eyes. "He's a poor servant. I'll have to replace him soon. He was not supposed to engage with you until we were ready to receive you."

"What do you want with me?"

"The same thing everyone wants with you. To use your skills so I don't have to get my hands dirty."

Natasha glowered at him, hating the vulnerability she felt. It was like old times. She hated old times. Though she hadn't worked directly with Lukin before, only having seen him on one or two occasions in the background. The Widow program wasn't his main focus. It was unlikely he retained his status in the government, since the Red Room was gone and the unnamed department was no longer funded. As far as her sources could tell, anyway.

"That's old news. I don't do that anymore," she explained calmly.

"Oh? Well, I'm sure we can change your mind. Madame B, come here please."

It was something of a shock to see her old headmistress. The years had been unusually kind to her. The woman came forward and looked sympathetically at Natasha.

"I've missed you. Though it's been a pleasure watching you use all the skills I taught you," Madame B explained gently.

"You taught me?" Natasha growled. "Lukin, I don't need a reunion. Whatever you're going to do, just do it."

Lukin smiled at her. "Unfortunately, Professor Pchelintsov is ... no longer with us. So you won't be getting an exciting new cover. But I wouldn't inflict pain on you without a good reason," he assured her while she snorted derisively. "What we can do is erase the recent years, so you forget that you ever left us."

"It won't work," she told him stubbornly.

"Why not?" Madame B asked soothingly. "It will be just like it used to be."

Throwing herself against the straps on her right, Natasha managed to knock the gurney to the floor. The motion dislodged her bonds enough to start wriggling free. But Dmitri came up and lifted her back into place easily before she could get far.

"Sloppy," Madame B told her in the same disappointed tone Natasha remembered.

"I won't serve you even if you make me forget everything that's happened!" Natasha snarled.

Lukin paused to look over at her from where he was typing commands into the machine. "What makes you so sure, Natalia? You know how effective this is."

She took a deep breath. "Because the people closest to me aren't here. Eva and – and – "

"The American?" Madame B offered, slightly disgusted by having to say it.

"Exactly."

Lukin's smile was cold as he walked over to look her in the eye. "Then you won't have any reason to leave us. I'm sure we can convince you why they're no longer part of your life, don't you think? Now, relax. I'm told it helps."

Whether it did or not didn't matter, because there was no way Natasha was just going to sit back and take this. Dmitri remained just out of arm's length, but they hadn't thought to search her. While they were talking, she had managed to get a hand to her pocket, and knocking herself over had caused her knife to slide into her hand. Carefully, she positioned it along her arm so that shifting her weight caused it to start cutting through the strap that crossed her midsection.

Madame B stepped back, next to Dmitri, and Lukin himself fitted the metal contraption around her face. She held very still, as was expected of her, and waited for her chance. One broken strap wasn't enough, but it was all she had. So, when Lukin moved away from her, she twisted enough to pop the last few threads. Then she slashed quickly at the other straps, leaping from the gurney.

Considerably startled, the others jumped back before beginning to shout orders. Dmitri closed in on her, but she used the same move that had incapacitated him in Scotland to bring him down again. No wonder Lukin was disappointed in him – she would never lose to the same attack twice in a row. One of the shadowy figures came forward and she recognized him as the other guard, Ivan. He went down quickly, too.

Then Natasha ran. While she might be able to overpower everyone in the room, running was better than taking that risk. Within moments, she was at the stairs, then making her way up them two at a time. The laboratory above was still empty, and she sped through it toward the offices, mostly ignoring the yelling that followed her.

Out of nowhere, a person-shaped blur appeared and struck her in the chest. Taken by surprise since she hadn't expected to see anyone until she reached the front gate, Natasha dropped back and hissed in pain. Her assailant was a blond woman. She thought blearily that it might be Sharon, but was clearly not. Glancing down, she was dismayed to see a syringe in her chest. Empty now.

"Who – ?" she began confusedly as she stumbled.

"Go to sleep, Widow. I'm looking forward to working with you," the unfamiliar woman said before Natasha dropped to the ground.

She was in the snow. It was freezing. The other girls were huddled around a fire, and they were all staring at the meager portion of food. Not enough for them all – not even enough for two. They hadn't been allowed to eat for several days before being sent here. They would not survive this.

"Your size is your weakness. Use it against your opponent to tire them out," the American was saying. He glanced at her and she offered him a smile. After a moment, he returned it.

"Again," Madame B ordered, walking amongst them while they did their exercises. The pain was excruciating and Natalia struggled to hold her pose.

Eva smiled at her across the table as they shared a hard-won sweet – a cookie, maybe. "Why don't they have these all the time?"

"Because then it wouldn't be special," Natalia told her cheekily.

"You are unbreakable, Natalia. You could be our best agent. Prove yourself," Madame B told her as she stood, facing a pale, wide-eyed Eva. Taking a deep breath, Natalia prepared to attack.

"Natasha? Natasha!" a voice interrupted, sounding very far away.

"Sharon?" she murmured slowly, feeling like she was trying to move through molasses.

She felt straps across her body being removed. "Yes, come on, Natasha, come back," Sharon continued.

It was enough of an order for Natasha to shake off her thoughts and smile at Sharon. "I could kiss you," she told her fervently.

That gave Sharon pause, and she smiled slightly. "Please don't. Come on, we have secured the place, and we have a doctor standing by."

"Oh, good, just what I wanted," Natasha muttered as she pulled herself to her feet.