'Why am I still alive?' she asked her captor on the third day since she had been taken. 'Why have you not killed me yet?'
'And waste the opportunity of humiliating you, like you humiliated all of us when you defected' he replied. 'Who do you now work for?' he asked slapping her across her already bruised, raw face. They had had this conversation many times but she still refused to talk. As he continued to beat her, Natasha struggled against the straps which tied her to the chair, trying to break free.
'I would not try that if I were you, Natalia' Boris whispered into her ear 'I know your tricks, I taught them to you' he said referring to her neat little trick of standing up and using the chair she was tied to as a weapon. 'Let's see what happens when you have an audience' he added before shouting out in rapid Russian for the girls to be brought in.
Natasha watched as a group of what must have been around fifteen girls, all different ages trooped into the room and all wearing the same dark blue uniform, stood with a military like posture, facing her with cold expressionless faces.
'Girls, may I introduce Natalia Shostakova, the Black Widow' Boris said in Russian, gesturing to the helpless Natasha, who was now feeling like an animal in a zoo.
'I already told you, I prefer my maiden name' she counted. 'If you're going to kill me at least get my name right. Why should I keep my husband's name when he is dead? What you didn't think that the Black Widow was actually a widow?' she asked upon noticing the girls' shocked expressions which were quickly masked.
'I thought you loved Alexei?' Boris asked toying with her 'You were so angry when he died, so violent and deadlier than before'
'Pah! Love is for children' she replied spitting in his face 'you taught me that'
'Where is Elena?' he asked suddenly, looking at the girls who were assembled in the room
'I'm here sir' came a small voice from the back of the group and a small red haired child emerged
'Come to the front girl' Boris ordered. 'I want you to see what happens if you have weaknesses'
The girl, who must have been no more than six years old, headed to the front on the group until she was almost directly in front of Natasha, whose eyes widened with recognition, when she saw child.
'Look at the infamous Black Widow, so helpless' Boris said before slapping Natasha once again.
Natasha braced herself as his onslaught continued as be continued the pound her body, insulting her in both English and Russian. She was not weak and she would show him that he could not break her but she hoped her team would find her soon.
'So what happened, Agent Barton?' Director Fury asked peering down at Clint, who was sitting down at the end of the long table. 'I sent my two best agents into the place, expecting results and only one comes out!'
'Well you were right sir' Clint replied not looking up and the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, 'the place has not been abandoned, there is something going on there.'
'Do you think that the KGB is creating a new Black Widow?' Fury asked
'Sir, Agent Romanoff, before she was captured, thought that it was another organisation or group who had taken over the compound, which is heavily defended, more so than we were expecting'
'And what made her say that it was not the KGB?'
'Well she said that...' Clint hesitated trying to think of the best way the phrase what Natasha had said.
'What did she say Agent Barton?' Fury asked
'She said that she was not getting the same vibes off the place' Clint replied quickly
'Vibes Agent Barton?'
'Well she also mentioned that the guards had a different uniform' Clint admitted, waiting for Director Fury's scathing reply
'I see' was his only response before gathering up all the files belonging to the mission and stalking out of the room.
'Sir, we have to and rescue her!' Clint called out after him, following him out of the room through the headquarters. 'We can't just leave her there'
'Agent Barton' the man said sternly, turning around. 'Whilst your concern for Agent Romanoff is admirable, she has put us in a very difficult situation. Her captors, whoever they may be, will be expecting our return so we must proceed with immense caution. Now if you will excuse me, I have other things to attend to'
'You monster' Natasha stated with difficulty, through her now swollen bloody lip, as Boris was about to leave the interrogation room. 'How dare you take those children away from their homes, teach them how to kill and take away their innocence!'
'I recall that you did not seem to mind when it was done to you' he replied coolly raising one of his eyebrows and walking back into the room to face her. 'I remember you Natalia, so keen and so eager to please. Do you remember that you laughed when you made your first kill?'
Natasha closed her eyes, trying to block what he was saying, trying to think about her blood stained ledger, the ledger she was trying to clean.
'Trying not to think about it, eh?' he asked leaning in closely 'You've changed, Natalia, one time you revelled in your kills'
'I was naive and blind' she replied 'and I trusted you'
'Well trust is a very fickle thing' Boris remarked smirking
'She was meant to be safe. Tatiana was meant to look after her' Natasha stated angrily, glaring at her former mentor who had betrayed her in more ways than one.
'But you abandoned her' he replied with a smirk. 'You abandoned her when you ran away and left her to the mercy of the state. You should be glad she happened to come my way; she could be living on the streets'
'I was going to come back to her!' Natasha exclaimed 'and I did come back to find that the house she was meant to be in had burnt down and there were no survivors. I thought she was dead'
'Well you were meant to be dead when I rescued you from that burning building' Boris replied, referring to the fact that he had been the one who had rescued the five year old Natalia from her home in Stalingrad when it was burning down and her parents had already been killed by the fire.
'So what are you going to do with the girls?' she asked curiously, still tied to the chair 'how can you have them fight each other to the death when they are all different ages? At least we were more or less the same age'
'Ah but you see, that was the KGB's biggest mistake' Boris replied, almost smugly. 'They had no contingency plan if you died or for some reason defected. So when you disappeared there was no one else to replace you. Don't you see all these girls are all going to trained to be the Black Widow and when they are ready, they will be sold off to the highest bidder' he said gleefully.
'So the KGB does not know about this?' she asked while he was still crowing about how clever he was and how rich he was going to become.
'Of course not!' he stated 'when you disappeared they shut down the program but I bet once I dangle a few of my girls under their noses, they will snap them up. Who will be able to resist beautiful multitalented but deadly assassins? Well I'll leave you to your thoughts Natalia, I have places to be' he stated before marching out of the room.
As he left Natasha smirked, though it was hidden from view by her red hair falling in front of her face. Even when she was the one tied to the chair, she was still able to manipulate a man to make him tell her what she wanted to know, she was not just called the Black Widow for nothing. She had been right, she thought triumphantly. This place was working independently from the KGB. Oh how she wished she could rub it Clint's face that she was right and make him do whatever she wanted him to do. She leant back and closed her eyes, trying to conserve what was left of her energy she knew she would need it when the team came to find her.
A huge thank you to everyone who read and alerted/favourited the last chapter and a special thank you to the four people who reviewed the last chapter, reading your reviews gave me the boost to continue with this story and write this chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review to let me know what you thought and what I can improve
Thanks again!
Cherry :)
