Shackle the Past

From a whisper to a scream

Bruce & Natasha put their hands up. "Sorry, " Bruce muttered, "they must have followed me in." "They're in here," the man said. The sound of footsteps hurried into the room. Natasha gestured to the corner of the room to indicate he should move aside. He nodded & did as she asked. "Hey, don't move!" Natasha kicked him in the face causing an uproar. Guns were firing everywhere & Bruce was struggling to keep the hulk calm. When all the Hydra agents were down a faint, sarcastic clapping grew louder. "Feels good, doesn't it? Having control over a situation. I would know because I have control. Complete control... over you. A slightly familiar man came around the corner with a device in hand. As he turned it a burning, searing pain ran out through Natasha's stomach & she screamed in pain. Everything went blurry & she felt herself falling over, but Bruce caught her. "I will always have control, " the man said, but it sounded distant. "Till next time." And he left. Everything went black.

"Nat? Nat? Can you hear me?" She groaned. The pain was gone, but she was still sore. "Bruce, we need to leave." "You're in no condition to move." She heard concern spreading in his voice like a disease. She opened her eyes to see the white t-shirt she wore was no longer white, but red. "Have you looked at it yet?" "No, " he said softly. "I wanted to wait to ask you-" "Bruce it's fine, you can look at it." He lifted her shirt halfway & winced at what he saw. A giant cut across her stomach had broken open. "I need to patch that up." Bruce left to look for a kit or medical tools, leaving Natasha to her thoughts.

The man. It was like she knew him, but she didn't recognize him. And that device. When Hydra took her they must've put something inside of her, but whatever it was would have to stay there for now, because she couldn't go to a doctor with half the world looking for them & Bruce was a doctor, but certainly not a surgeon.

Bruce came back, interrupting her thoughts. As he stitched her up she felt like something was needed to break the ice. "How's everyone else?" "What? Oh. Um- Everyone's kind of gone their separate ways, but every Saturday we usually come to the "hideout" & fill each other in on any new news." "Where's this hideout?" "I'll take you there, but not for at least another hour." "Bruce-" But a serious look from Bruce cut her off. "As you wish Doctor Banner."

"Nat." "Mmm?" "It's dark we should get going before it's light again." "Alright." Bruce helped her up & they left, being careful not to be seen. It was an hours walk & it was cold. Bruce eventually ended up giving Natasha his jacket & they would stop every 20 minutes to take a break.

"Here we are, " Bruce said as they walked up to a rather sketchy looking, abandoned factory. They walked in & they were met with an arrow missing their heads by an inch. "Nat, " Clint exclaimed. "I thought you were dead," he said as he gave her a brief hug. "I tried to stop them, but we were outnumbered by at least-" He gasped as he saw the dried blood that was plastered across the "used to be white t-shirt" she was still wearing. "Don't worry. I'm fine, it's taken care of." He gave her an unsure look but nevertheless gave her some new clothes to change into. When Natasha was out of site Clint asked, "What happened?" to Bruce. "She doesn't know. They drugged her, but there's definitely something wrong."

A\N: Sorry if this sucks. It's 12:15 a.m. 😁