Scared To Be Lonely

Chapter 14: What Doesn't Kill Me

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Nick wasn't sure when or how long she had passed out from exhaustion after being stuck down there for over 24 hours, but she jerked awake when there was a loud noise of Ultron getting back. But he didn't come back with the twins... but with an unconscious Natasha. 

The girl's eyes widened as she quickly got to her hands and knees, crawling over as best she could, to where the robot had dropped the ex-spy, who now had a busted lip. As Ultron was facing the other way working on something, Nick shook Natasha's shoulder and whispered. "Nat? Nat, come on. Wake up."

After a few more shakes, Natasha's eyes began fluttering open, her eyebrows pulling together as she looked up and around herself, before her eyes seemed to focus on the girl. 

Nick's hair and skin were definitely dirty, her hair even having specks of shattered glass in it, while she had some scratches across her cheeks from the car accident, and a split at the corner of her left eyebrow that had a bit of dried blood trailed down the side of her face. She also had bags under her eyes, as though she hadn't gotten much sleep - which wasn't a surprise.

"Oh my god, Nick.." Natasha quickly sat up, but then Ultron spoke up - causing Natasha to quickly put an arm protectively in front of the girl, and faced him. "I wasn't sure you would wake up. I hoped you would. I wanted to show you, both of you."

Nick brought up her chained hands a bit, moving to lean her back against the stone brick wall again, which was actually right next to a small closet looking opening that had an open cell door. They watched Ultron look back down at the table in front of him, "I don't have anyone else. I think a lot about meteors. They purity in them. Boom! The end. Start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild. I was meant to be new."

He began moving towards them, causing Natasha to back up a bit as well. "I was meant to be beautiful. The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead, they'll look up in horror because of you."

Ultron begins stalking fast towards them - or, more specifically, Natasha. "You've wounded me. I give you full marks for that. But, like the man said, what doesn't kill me-" Suddenly the Ultron that had been talking, gets destroyed by another, bigger, bot.

Nick's eyes widened as she brought her knees and hands up, while Natasha backed up into the closet. The metal pieces fell around them as the new Vibranium Ultron steps forward. "-Just makes me stronger." Then he pulls and slams the door shut on Natasha, locking it, before walking away. 

The 14-year-old squeezed her eyes shut as she leaned her head back, trying to swallow the lump in her throat as she tried to calm down her once again racing heart. 

"Nick? Nick, are you okay?" Natasha looked at the girl through the rusty bars and Nick opened her eyes again, crawling over to the door, her chained hands gripping some bars as she nodded with a breath. "Yeah."

Natasha's forehead was creased with worry as she looked over the girl, bringing her hands up and through the openings between the bars, cupping the girl's face as she shook her head. It was a relief to see that she was alive, and honestly, Natasha hadn't realized how much she had grown to care for the girl over the couple years, until they had gotten the news that she was taken. 

Nick felt her bottom lip tremble as she leaned into Natasha's touch, because just hours before she was nearly in tears from how alone she felt... but now she realized that maybe alone would have been better, because that meant that no one else she cared about would be there. 

Natasha's thumb brushed against the cut on Nick's eyebrow, which made the girl flinch a bit - honestly just now realizing the cut. "When Hill told us that you had been taken.." Natasha shook her head, and Nick's eyebrows pulled together as she whispered. "How's Tony?"

Finally taking her eyes off the girl's injuries, Natasha met her eyes. "He's worried. They all are." Then her hands finally dropped from the young girl's face as she looked down at the handcuffs... then the cuff with a light on it, making her frown in concern. "What's this?"

Nick looked down and shook her head, "It's to keep me from using my powers. That's why I haven't been able to get out of these cuffs."

Natasha looked at the cuff, before looking at the chains, then she looked down at the girl's ankles - before looking up and over to where Ultron had disappeared, no doubt to what half his legions had been working on, on the other side of a long tunnel (which led to underneath a church at the center of Sokovia, but the girls didn't know that). 

The red head then quickly looked down and around the ground, trying to see anything that could help them, before eventually finding a small enough piece of metal. She then looked back at the girl, keeping her voice just above a whisper. "Okay, when I'm able to get these off, you need to run. Get to the city and stay low. Get a message to Clint, and make sure not to use the Internet."

"What?" Nick looked at her, shaking her head. "But - No. I'm not leaving you."

"My priority is making sure you get out of here." Natasha gave her a nod before having her bring her feet forward, allowing Natasha to begin working on picking the lock on the chains on the girl's ankles, which did take some time. But the moment her chains fell to the ground, Natasha wasn't even able to move onto the ones around her wrists before they heard Ultron coming back - and they knew they didn't have enough time.

"Go." Natasha rushed the girl, who shook her head. "I'm not leaving you."

Natasha grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go. "Go, now."

Reluctantly, Nick finally got to her feet and quickly headed the way she remembered coming in when she and Tony first got there. She had to duck and sneak around some of Ultron's legions, before she quickly ran up the stairs and up to the hidden door, which wasn't hidden on this side. She felt around quickly for any indents or handles, since it was about pitch black in the hallway, before eventually finding a curve in the false wall and she gritted her teeth as she pulled at it with all her strength to get it to open. 

Then she quickly ran through the room, trying to remember when they had infiltrated this base when she had gone there with the Avengers. But as she ran down more stairs, and down another hallway, she suddenly jumped and got launched forward by a blast. Nick glanced over her shoulder with wide eyes, seeing that Ultron had sent his legions after her, causing the girl to quickly crawl over and grab the railing, swinging herself under it and onto the lower floor faster - allowing her to get to the balcony quicker. 

Nick then ran down the outside many steps and to the trees, the night sky providing more coverage for her, but not enough as the legions didn't stop.