At Once Returned

Chapter 12

Natasha was not happy, to say the very least. Not only had Ross decided to interrupt her and Pepper's evening, but he'd also had the audacity to point a total of nine guns at them.

She could have taken them. She would have, too, if she'd had a single weapon on her and Pepper wasn't at risk of getting hit in the process. With no other option at the time, though, she'd surrendered to Ross's men.

Once she'd been handcuffed with what she could only describe as two shock collars wrapped around her wrists, she'd been told why she was being arrested.

"You went against the terms of the Accords, a document you signed days prior to helping Captain America and his team escape."

Apparently the second chance to sign the Accords was only being given to those who hadn't signed and broken them first.

She couldn't say she was terribly surprised Ross had found a loophole. The fact that he had allowed them in the Compound this long with trying to attack had only served to make Natasha more suspicious of him. Unfortunately, she hadn't thought that she would be the only one he was after.

"Keep your guns at the ready," Ross told his men, staring across the helicopter at Natasha. She stared back. "You're something, else, Romanoff."

"I could say the same for you," Natasha replied evenly.

A man pressed a gun to her head. Ross smirked and Natasha's gaze hardened.

"I should have told you," he said, shifting but not looking away from Natasha. "Anything you say will be viewed as aggressive and protective measures will be taken."

"Why would I threaten you when I'm so clearly outnumbered?"

She felt the skin on her temple break as the gun was pressed harder against her head, but she wasn't worried. Ross wasn't someone who would kill her. Not so soon. She'd heard how the others had been treated while imprisoned for the few days before she and Steve could get to them. He wanted to make her miserable, not murder her.

"Keep talking." Ross sneered at her and gestured to the gun at her head as he said, "He might blow your brains out."

Natasha snorted. "No, he won't."

It wasn't much, but she did feel the pressure leave her temple just slightly.

"You don't want to kill me."

"Then, pray tell," Ross demanded, "why would I have my man put his gun to your head?"

"You're afraid of me," Natasha reminded him, "and until that changes, it's a power move that you can make."

Scowling, Ross waved at his man to put his gun down. His eyes never left Natasha's but she didn't let it unnerve her.

"You might want to be careful, Romanoff," Ross sneered. "We're headed to my house where I make the rules. You may not like them."

"We'll see," she responded evenly.

* * * * *

It was a short flight from the Compound to the Raft prison, much to Natasha's surprise.

Once the helicopter touched down, Natasha was escorted inside by all of Ross's armed guards, their guns trained and ready to shoot at any moment. 

Ross followed his men down the hall, his eyes never leaving Natasha's blonde head.  As they approached the first lift, Natasha was pushed to the centre and the guards put down their guns to make more room in the cramped space.

As soon as the elevator doors shut, Natasha raised her wrists and brought the heavy cuffs down over a man's head. He crumpled to the ground unconscious and she turned to do the same to the next man, taking advantage of their lowered guns. Before she could bring her wrists up, however, she received a shock so strong that her muscles spasmed.

She tried to gasp, but the current ripping through her was overwhelming. Her lungs seized and involuntarily, she curled into herself. When the current finally stopped, she took a deep breath, heaving on the floor as the guards trained their guns on her.

"No funny business," Ross reminded her, holding a remote just high enough she could see it.

She opened her mouth to curse him, but he pressed the remote again and she was hardly able to breathe through the resulting shock. Only when the lift doors opened again did Ross turn the cuffs back off.

"On your feet."

She was pulled off the ground and bit her tongue at the aching of her muscles. 

She was taken down a long hall and pushed into a room where a single woman was waiting anxiously. Natasha eyed the woman warily, taking in her white lab coat and trying to determine what she was there for.

"Search her for weapons," Ross demanded the woman before leaving the room with his guards. The door locked behind him. 

Still catching her breath, Natasha remained perfectly still as the woman approached her.

"I have a family," the woman said quietly, looking up at Natasha fearfully. "Please don't make my children grow up without their mother."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Natasha promised softly.

 The woman nodded but still approached Natasha cautiously.

After thoroughly searching her and making sure Natasha didn't even have the knife she kept in the band of her bra, the woman called the guards back.

At the very end of the hall, Ross was waiting for her outside of a cell. The guards pushed her inside roughly before removing the cuffs, keeping their guns trained on her.

"Get changed," Ross ordered, nodding to a set of blue prison scrubs in the corner.

"And if I don't?" Natasha challenged.

"Your stay will be much less enjoyable," he said.

With a wave of his hand, he led the small army of guards back down the hall, leaving Natasha alone for the multiple security cameras posted in the corners of her cell.

While she knew Ross would do everything in his power to make her time on the Raft miserable, Natasha decided not to change into the scrubs waiting for her. Instead, she tore the cuff off the pants and used it to cover the burns on her wrists that had been left by the cuffs. 

She'd had her suspicions that the electric shock had burned her, but until the cuffs had been removed, she hadn't known just how badly she'd been burned. Now, though, with the cuffs off and some time to herself, she could at least attempt to take care of it before Ross came back.