Happy Holidays, everyone! I just want to start by saying thank you to you all for the continued support so far on this story; it really means a lot to me!

This is a shorter chapter, but the next one will definitely be longer.

I don't own Captain America.

Enjoy!

-:-

Hydra base in Strasbourg, France; 1946

Natasha didn't know how many times Ruppert repeated the same questions to her. He asked her about the Tesseract, about Red Skull. He asked her about Steve. The second his name was mentioned, her rage came back and she was certain, for a moment, she could've taken each and every single one of them on, even the metal-armed man. After a while, when she refused to speak—because she'd already given her answers—Ruppert resorted to other methods.

Natasha was no stranger to torture. Many of the methods used during her Red Room training could have been classified as torture. That training had hardened her, turned her into stone when sharp instruments and fists were taken to her skin. Hydra indeed made her bleed, all while the man with the metal arm stood and watched, silent, unmoving. When they finally decided that she wasn't going to give them anything, Ruppert back-handed her with a look of disgust on her face, and she could taste blood in her mouth.

"I told them she wasn't going to break," he spat as he turned away. "Take her to her cell."

When they arrived back at her cell, the goons escorting her dropped her unceremoniously onto the hard floor. She watched as they slammed the door behind them, and she heard the sound of metal against metal as a bolt slid into place, locking her in. She spat out a mouthful of blood onto the floor, splattering the off-white tile with scarlet. As she staggered over to the cot, her injuries—both old and new—stung. She figured it didn't matter much. They were probably going to kill her now, anyway, seeing as she hadn't given them any of the answers they'd wanted.

She ran through various escape plans in her head, counted how many steps from her cell to various room she'd seen, over and over again. She just had to stay calm, regain her strength, and get the hell out of there. She was Natasha Romanoff, after all. She was the Black Widow. She'd been through worse than this, and a few scrapes and a guy with a metal arm were not going to stop her from getting out of there.

At least, that's what she kept telling herself as she fell into an uneasy, fitful sleep.

-:-

Natasha had been lying awake for an hour or so when she heard the bolt on the door. She stood quickly, ready for anything. Ruppert stepped through the door, with two more guards than he'd had yesterday. Had it been yesterday? She had no clue how much time had passed since she'd last seen the vile Hydra agent, or even how many days it had been since the metal-armed man had captured her.

"I'm not going to answer any of your questions," she said bluntly.

Ruppert sneered at her. "Oh, I know that. I'm not here to ask you anymore questions."

"Dare I ask what you are here for, then?"

"No need," he replied. "You'll find out soon enough."

Ruppert nodded and three of his guys surrounded her, grabbing her arms roughly and they dragged her out the door. They walked quickly through the twisting hallways, her brain racing to come up with a plan with each step they took. She didn't have any weapons of her own, but considering how heavily armed her guards were, it wouldn't be any trouble to get one of their guns. If only she had a distraction—

"In here," Ruppert interrupted her thoughts, leading them into one of the labs they'd walked by yesterday. It was brightly lit, for the most part. One of the lights was flickering, scattering fractured light over the back of the room. The floor was made of the same off-white tile that was in her cell. There were several steel operating tables off to one side, rows of cabinets full of medical supplies on the opposite wall. Along the far back wall, there were a couple of metal pods, large enough to hold people, and what looked like a dentist's chair, but it was hooked up to some type of machine. She couldn't tell what it was, but she had a bad feeling about it.

As they passed one of the operating tables, Natasha spotted a tray with several medical instruments on it, and she managed to swipe a scalpel, concealing it beneath the sleeve of her jacket. They were in the middle of the room, but she could still easily get to the door. There were the three guards escorting her, plus Ruppert. There was an office in the far right corner, and through its large glass window, she counted four doctors inside, though they were all older, and didn't look like they would be much trouble. Well, it was now or never.

Natasha raised her arm and struck out with the scalpel, stabbing the guy to her immediate right. She hit the carotid artery in his neck, blood spurting out against her hand and face as he fell to the ground, scarlet coating his lips and burbling out of his mouth. Ruppert turned incredibly fast, but she was ready. She kicked out at him before he could draw his gun, and he crashed into one of the operating tables, falling head over heels.

The other two Hydra guards came at her. She threw the scalpel and watched, satisfied, as it sunk into the leg of the far one. He fell to one knee with a scream. The other Hydra guard raised his gun and she ducked just as he fired. When she rose, she grabbed his arm and pushed him back against the cabinets. Supplies were knocked out of the shelves, a couple glass bottles of morphine crashing to the floor, shattering against the tile. The guard struck out with his fist, connecting with her jaw. She recovered quickly, and Natasha slammed his arm against the cabinet, knocking his gun loose. She brought her knee up to his groan and before he could sink to the floor, she grabbed him and swung him around, using him as a human shield just as the other guard, still with the scalpel in his leg, open fired at her. His comrade fell, and with the gun she had knocked loose, she mercilessly shot him in between the eyes.

Grabbing another gun from one of the fallen, she ran for the door. Just as she was about to touch the handle, it swung open and the man with the metal arm came through. Before she could even react he struck her, and she fell to the ground, head spinning. Since she'd dropped one gun, she went for the other she'd tucked away. She fired at him, but he had already moved, knocking the gun out of her hand. His metal arm moved towards her and he grabbed her throat, lifting her off the ground. He squeezed and black spots started to form before her eyes. Natasha gasped, pulling at the metal gripping her neck.

"Stop!" Ruppert's voice suddenly sounded. "Put her down. We need her alive."

The metal-armed man stopped squeezing, and a second later, he dropped her. Natasha coughed, blinking until her vision cleared. Ruppert came over and yanked her up by her hair. To put it mildly, he looked pissed. He probably would have shot her himself if he hadn't just said that they wanted her alive.

"Doctor's!" he shouted, and they came scrambling out from the back room. Natasha saw their eyes flicker over the destruction, the scattered supplies, the bodies of the three guards, the blood coating the floor.

"I want a chamber prepped for cryo. Now!" Ruppert ordered.

"B-but, sir, we haven't run any tests on her," one doctor said. "We don't even know if she can survive it—"

"I don't give a damn about your tests, doctor!" Ruppert burst. "Prep the chamber now."

"Yes, sir," the doctor complied shakily. "Should we wipe her first, sir?"

"No," Ruppert said through gritted teeth. "I want her memory intact when we wake her up."

Natasha had no clue what they were talking about, but the fight drained from her body. Hydra reinforcements gathered in the room behind the metal-armed man, and she knew there was no way she was getting out this time. Two guards came forward, taking her from Ruppert's grasp. They led her over to one of the pod-like chambers in the back as the doctor who'd spoken opened it up and started hitting buttons on the side of it. They took off her jacket and shirt, leaving her very exposed in just her bra. She was wrestled into the pod, and one of the other doctor's strapped her in and poked and prodded her for what felt like hours.

Ruppert stood by and watched with cold satisfaction. She watched him turn to one of the other doctor's casting a quick glance over his shoulder to the man with the metal arm. "I want him wiped and prepped as well. They're both going in."

"Yes, sir." The doctor nodded.

The doctor led the soldier towards the dentist-like chair contraption. The metal-armed man had just started to take off his jacket and was about to pull off his mask when the chamber closed around her. Natasha struggled, trying to see out the small circular window on the pod. The sound of machinery whirred around her. She pulled at her bonds, squirmed in her tight confinement, feeling every last ounce of hope drain away. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe, but the panic stayed, pressing against her ribcage. She closed her eyes. She could see Steve. Feel his lips against hers right before he boarded Red Skull's plane, right before he died. The panic and fear expanded inside her and her eyes snapped open long enough to see ice form over the small window. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was the cold seeping so deep down into her bones she felt like she would never get warm again.

-:-

Hope you guys liked it :) the next chapter will be up in a week, so stay tuned!

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Thank you for reading!

-DaughterOfPoseidon333