Just FYI, this story takes place about 3 years before the Avengers. Review when you finish!
"Romanoff, 30 kilometers until you're in range." Coulson's voice said in her ear.
"Roger that". She turned to face the two techies in the back seat, "Everything ready?" They nodded in reply. July in North Korea was generally not how Natasha preferred to spend her summer, but SHIELD has received intel that a group of 'visionaries' in North Korea were constructing a potentially very dangerous nuclear weapon. The two techies in the back could disarm it once they were within range.
"2o kilometers" she updated. As she looked up from her screen Natasha's eyes drew her to a glinting object directly in their path.
Her body was thrown against the side door as the grenade dismantled the hummer's structural integrity. It was as if the world had shifted at an unfathomable speed. For a moment Natasha was frozen, the center of a fracturing world. The hummer flipped once, twice. And then she felt her body whip to the ground, restrained only by her seat belt. Her head knocked something hard, sending her spiraling into unconsciousness.
The unconsciousness only remained for moments before Natasha was greeted by the pain. Her body still sat in its seat, and the hummer had landed on its side so that she was on the top. An agonizing headache had formed in her head; Natasha felt as though there was a gaping fissure opening in her skull. A bruising pain engulfed her body, making her movement stiff as she twisted to check on her comrades.
"Whitmere?" He voice had become a rasp. She looked at the driver's seat. Natasha swallowed when she saw him, a nasty gash scarred half of his head. Even if the impact hadn't killed him, he probably had severe brain damage.
She fumbled with the door. Her extremities didn't seem to respond as well as they should have, considering the amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins. The two techies were unconscious in the back. Alive or not she didn't know. Outside the car she heard some garbled words, presumably Korean. A few moments later, Natasha felt a massive force come from behind . Unsuspecting, she flew forwards as the top of the hummer was bashed in. She landed protectively her torso, but once again her head bumped into the console of the car. Dizzily, Natasha struggled into a kneeling position. Her head swam and her thoughts were fuzzy and disjointed. Natasha blinked, trying to dispel the blurriness from her vision.
The second blow cut a hole in the hummer's roof, and part of the debris caught Natasha in the shoulder. She fell back, and sank into unconsciousness. She slowly opened her eyes. As she lifted herself onto her forearms, Natasha collapsed back. Blackness began to envelop her vision, the light becoming an ever-shrinking circle.
A pounding force beat into her eyes. Natasha sat into a sitting position while trying to keep her movements to the minimum. From the way they were cutting into her wrists, zip ties restrained her hands behind her back. Natasha rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment. Resoluting herself, Natasha took in her surroundings. Her findings included that she resided in a dark room, obviously a cell, and that the only light source came from behind the door. Further inspection revealed the small camera in the corner of the ceiling.
Footsteps thudded towards her cell and Natasha struggled to get into a fighting stance. But her limbs just didn't seem to be working. After some screeching from the door, light poured in, but more importantly announced the presence of three men. A rough bag was thrown over her head and Natasha was resigned to darkness. A hand grabbed her shoulder, guiding her out the cell. And on her other side Natasha felt the all too familiar feeling of a gun digging into her ribs. Her eyes strained against the darkness, searching for a reprieve from its shadowy confinement. With her eye sight compromised, Natasha's other sense became more on edge, atuned to every new development. The only sound came from their thudding footsteps. With every step Natasha felt a jolt of pain from her hip, which had been bruised when the hummer had flipped.
They men guided her through several hallways until they came to a halt. A pair of hands pushed her to into a chair. The bag was pulled off her head and Natasha was greeted by stark, unforgiving light. She blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to focus her hazy vision. A voice talked in Korean, but Natasha's scrambled brain could only decipher a couple words.
"I ask again," A man's voice spoke in accented English. "Why were you entering this sector?" Gathering her scattered thoughts, Natasha recalled that the visionaries were being shielded by a wealthy businessman.
"There was much tech supplies found in your car. Why were you trying to enter? Are you a spy?"
"I am not a spy," Natasha mumbled in English. She figured that there was no way they were going to believe that she was Korean, and so in the two seconds that she had deduced this, formulated a cover in which she was an American journalist. She just hoped that the techies, wherever they were and whatever state they were in, would not reveal SHIELD.
16 Days later
Natasha sat against the hard, grimy floor of her cell. Her head drooped to one of her shoulders. She had lost track of time; all she knew was that she had been here for a long while. Subconsciously, her forearm hovered protectively by her side, which now sported not only a gash, but also several bruises. They had taken her to the bright room on several occasions by now. She dozed off, exhausted, but never able to sleep.
She was in the bright room again. This time, one of the techs was there too. She took this as a good sign; at least one of them wasn't dead yet. She wasn't positive, but she estimated that they had been in captivity for about 3 days. "Who do you work for?" praying the other agent would stay silent, Natasha resolutely stared ahead, saying nothing.
"Fine," After several more minutes of obsolete silence, the man's patience had worn thin. With a glint in his eye, he swiftly punched the techie, Natasha thought his name was Robert, in the gut. Wheezing, he doubled over. Natasha swallowed and remained silent, there was nothing she could do to help him. Even if she did reveal SHIELD, it would not stop them from further interrogations. So if they were going to go down, they might as well maintain SHIELD's secrecy.
Her dream shifted to later in the interrogation. So far, they had only picked on Robert, leaving her alone. Natasha shut her eyes for a moment and tried to block out the pained wheezing of Robert. With a final blow, the man struck his head, causing him to go limp like a ragdoll. Natasha was almost thankful when she heard the declaration of death after the man checked Robert's pulse. At least he was no longer in pain.
Natasha jolted awake. The nightmare had sent adrenaline pumping through her system, preparing her body to ward off the memories. She took several deep breathes. Natasha shut her eyes as she did her best to block out all the pain. By now, she was the only one left. The others had died under interrogation.
Footsteps resonated in the corridor outside her cell. Natasha instinctively tensed up and braced herself. No. They had just finished with her a couple of hours coudn't come. Not so soon after she had gotten back. They coudn't take her again. The familiar sound of the metal door opening would have made her retreat deeper into the cell, but at this point something died within Natasha. She didn't care anymore. Something in her had been extinguished; she had lost the will to survive. Let them torture her. Let them cut her. But she would never give them what they wanted, even if it was the last thing she did. A great slamming noice and her door was kicked open. Natasha didn't remember much of the rescue, just bits and peices. A figure carrying her out to a medjet. Shouting and someone giving orders. The last thing she remembers before slipping into the grips of the sedation is the sight of Clint next to her, gripping her shoulder.