"Come on council woman." Pierce waved the gun towards the chopper outside and held his finger threateningly over the biometric controls. "You're going to fly me out of here."
Natasha shared a disappointed look with Fury. He dropped his eyes to the floor before sighing wearily, he was getting too old for this. Natasha looked away from the director and searched subtly for a widow bite, or really anything that would render her unconscious. Unfortunately she hadn't been prepared to use them as the council woman and so she came up with nothing.
She fitted the headset on and geared up the engine. Alexander still had a finger hovering over the controls of the small bomb in her badge. She sighed and lifted off, she could only hope the others were safe. In her ear she heard Maria and Fury conversing and Sam screaming for someone to pick him up at the 41st floor. Natasha cast a quick glance at Pierce who yanked out her comm and shattered it beneath his foot. He shook his head and Natasha could only watch in horror as Sam came barrelling out of a window and falling into the wreckage below. No way would he survive that.
She didn't have much time to grieve as Pierce directed her to a Hydra safe house and she was forced to comply. Maybe she could use this to her advantage and gather crucial intel. Besides, she'd just dumped Hydra's files all over the Internet, she'd be found soon.
Or not. When she landed she recognised the all too familiar cryogenic super soldier facility in Siberia. It was Hydra's deepest and darkest secret. It would have been buried so far, in only hard copies, that Natasha knew she was doomed before she'd even stepped inside. She closed her eyes against the memories threatening to rise and was pushed forward into the cold bunker. "Welcome home Agent Romanova."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was directed through a maze of corridors and into a sort of locker room. The guards shifted uneasily whilst an officer threw a bag at her feet. She stared at it curiously. "Get changed." She raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Don't ask questions." The officer snapped. She eyed him coldly before unzipping the bag and pulling out the original Black Widow catsuit. Her lips pursed in displeasure as she recognised it from her previous red room days. It was standard issue for all female agents aka the widows. She stared pointedly at the guards until they turned their backs on her.
"I catch you peeping and I promise you I will slit your throats." Their Adam's apples bobbed nervously.
It fit like a second skin, a little tight around her hips and chest but that was to be expected. Usually widows didn't reach her age and maturity. Usually they were retired. Natasha pulled her hair away from her face and cleared her throat. "You can turn around now." They shuffled forwards and beckoned her to move in front of them.
She was pushed along another, more familiar, corridor until they came to the cage. The cage was only a story when she grew up training, however as she became older and worked with the Winter Soldier, she realised that those myths were her reality.
"Miss Romanoff! So glad you could join us." Pierce stood with his hands behind his back. He stood tall and confident with the Winter Soldier by his side. Natasha shut off her feelings when his blank eyes met hers, not an ounce of recognition within them. He clenched his metal fist and turned away as Pierce nodded at him. He stalked into the cage and stood, waiting.
"I've heard a great deal about you Agent Romanova. I don't mean Natasha, I mean Natalia Alianovna. You were once the pride and joy of this organisation. You didn't know though did you? Only when your affair was exposed did you understand. Unfortunately the KGB weren't harsh enough, insisted that a memory wipe would sort the both of you out. Only it didn't, did it? You remembered and you deserted. Traitors are something Hydra can't afford to have agent. There is only order, and order comes through pain. We're going to show you true pain, and then, you will comply, willingly or not." He produced the little red book and Natasha felt her mouth go dry. It was James's but she knew that she had one too.
