Clint was pacing around the room, trying to think of what to do. They had all been like this for about 5 hours and still had come up with nothing. It was silent in the room and he made to leave, to try and escape from the tension, but just before he had opened the door a loud noise woke him up from his daze. He whipped round to find Tony's giant computer screen turned on and a man leering at them. "Drakov," Clint snarled. "Ah, Mr. Barton, I believe," Drakov smiled provokingly at him. "Ms. Romanoff has been asking for you recently." "Natasha!" Clint screamed trying to see her. The others went closer to him to protect him from what was inevitably going to happen next. "Would you like to see her?" Ivan knew the answer. Clint nodded immediately. Behind him, Tony had started trying to track their whereabouts, but he shook his head as it didn't work.
Drakov stepped away from the screen. Clint fell to the floor sobbing as Pepper and Jane screamed out "Oh my God!" simultaneously. Steve knelt down to hold Clint as his sobs racked through him, while Tony and Bruce stood there in shock. Thor was hugging Jane and Pepper. They were Natasha's best friends once she had been convinced by Clint to let them in to her life. Once they learned more about each other, the three women hardly spent any time away from each other, always talking and joking about. Natasha never said much about her past to them and they respected her enough to let it pass. Seeing her like this was excruciating.
Clint shakily stood up, holding on to Steve to look at Natasha again. They all tried to hide the shock and pain as they looked back at her. She was covered in blood from head to toe and it was pouring out from her all over the floor around her. Her eyes were half closed and her pupils were dilated. She was shaking and trying to breathe calmly but failing. There were deep cuts slashed into her from the knife in front of her. It was covered in her blood and Drakov started laughing, not quiet sneering laughter, but full blown evil triumphant laughter. She winced at the sound as it went into her ears.
"Please, let her go, I'm begging you!" Clint said between sobs. Drakov continued laughing as he told them there was no way she was getting away this lightly. He looked back at Natasha. "You want some more medicine?" She shook her head lightly and it was clear that even that was killing her. "Sorry?" Drakov asked, cupping his ear. "No...please..no." It was the first time they heard her speak and her voice cut through them all. It wasn't Natasha at all. Her voice was strained and terrified, hoarse from the screaming. Steve took a small step forward. "What medicine?" he asked, there were tears coming out of his eyes. He treated Natasha like a sister and he couldn't cope with her hurt like this. "Oh, this?" he held up another syringe with cloudy liquid in it, "It amplifies the pain, you see, about a thousand times more." He grinned, victorious. Steve stepped back like he had just been punched in the stomach.
They could do nothing as he pushed the needle into her arm and injected her, and she shuddered as it went in. They could do nothing as he started punching her, shouting at her, blaming her for the death of his daughter. They could do nothing as he picked up the knife and started slashing into her, again and again. They could do nothing as she screamed.
