Falling out of love

Chapter 9.

Warning: Untrue facts are used to fit this story

Walking into the new SHIELD headquarters was like a wave of familiarity for Steve as he walked into the building. There were new agents, and some he remembered from his last days there. 

Tony came walking up to him dressed in what looked like a highly expensive suit, Clint and Bruce following in suit. 
"Cap, or should call you Caleb," A smirk was forming on the billionaires face. 

"Just trying to get some peace." He sighed and then looked at them all.  "Have to say as much as it is great to see you guys, I wish it was under better circumstance." 

"Don't we all," Clint said. "Our team is hardly the same without her though," He said. 

"It's better to keep her out of this one," Steve said. "Where is Fury?" 

"In his office with Agent Hill, most likely watching us right now," Bruce said. "We have a lot to go over." 

"And here I was thinking we could all stop for a drink and catch up," Tony said sarcastically as they all began walking to Fury's office. The group all received looks as they walked through, it wasn't every day you saw the original Avengers together again.

The group walked into Fury's office, and there he was wearing his usual all-black outfit, Maria standing beside him in her shield uniform. Getting right to the point Clint spoke up. 

"Why exactly are we doing this without Natasha?" He asked. "If anyone knows how to handle this situation it would be her," 

"Agent Romanoff is particularly sensitive when it comes to her past. Something has come up and it's better to keep it away from her for the time being," Maria said, "If things get too out of hand we will call her in but for now keeping her away from the situation, in general, is better." 

"She won't like this Fury," Steve said. "I know it's best for her but when she finds out she will be angry with all of us." 

"Well, I don't count on her finding out," he said, "I trust that none of you will go running to agent Romanoff when the mission is over, not involving her is better for her safety both physically and mentally," 

"What exactly are we doing Nick?" Steve asked. "I know it has to do with the red room but no one has told me the actual problem we have to handle." 

Nick laid out a file labeled with two bold black words, Red Room, and stamped classified on the cover. Steve eyed it carefully, he knew of the organization, Natasha told him all about it. It was supposed to be shut down. 

"The Red Room is a top-secret Soviet brainwashing and training program." Fury told them looking them all in the eyes,  "The program takes young women and turns them into the world's deadliest and most elite assassins. The girls chosen are put through strenuous daily training, including hand to hand combat training, acrobatics, weapons training, and tactical skills. Occasionally two girls are chosen to violently spar against each other; weakness is not tolerated and the loser is killed by their opponent."  

"It's sick," Clint muttered on his breath, he knew of this, he saw it happen when he was researching Natasha all those years ago. 

"The girls are forced to watch video projections such as, however, the videos are full of subliminal messages including "Instill", "Fear" and "Pain", slowly brainwashing the girls. During sleep, all "students" have both their hands handcuffed to the bed frame preventing escape.

The girls' training also includes intense ballet dance lessons, where their instructor orders them to repeat their routine over and over again, so they can become "unbreakable". Many times, when the girls get trained in the use of firearms, they get to have actual people as shooting targets for practice." The room was silent as Fury gave an overview of everything those girls had to go through, everything Natasha went through.