Thank you so much for the reviews and the follows! Things start to get interesting from here. . .
"Steve, someone's hacking into our Comms!" Bucky frantically adjusted dials and switches. "They're commandeering our screens."
Suddenly all the screens on the Quinjet went fuzzy, then broadcasted the same picture. Steve nearly choked when he saw it. Natasha, skin bare and striped with claw marks, bleeding. He was going to kill Black Panther. She stood defiantly before Everett Ross, her face pulled carefully blank. Ross spoke to her, but there was no audio, he was clearly pleased about something. Steve watched as Natasha suddenly looked right into the camera, straight at him. Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head no.
In the next instant Natasha was on the ground in a fetal position. Her face, usually so carefully guarded, was a mask of pure agony.
"Natasha!" Steve yelled at the camera as though she could hear him. The screen went blank except for a set of numbers at the center of the screen. Coordinates.
Bucky looked horrified. "I've seen that tech Steve. They are using Starks constrictor on her."
"What the hell is that?"
It's a device Howard Stark invented by accident. It causes catastrophic muscle contractions, your own muscles contract so hard they break bones. Steve, this is serious."
"How is he doing it? He didn't even touch her!" Steve quickly scribbled down the coordinates on a piece of paper. He paced the jet , hands balled into fists.
Bucky watched him cautiously, "They modified it since Howard invented it, made it smaller… Steve, they put in inside her…"
Steve's face paled. "Dear God, they can control the Black Widow." He slammed his fist against the wall, "Bucky, I have to go to her."
"You saw her Steve, she doesn't want you to. She knows they're using her to get to you!"
"They'll get a whole lot more of me then they expected. I can't leave her with them Bucky, it isn't right."
Bucky was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "No one should be forced to do what they don't want to," he said softly. "We will split up. I'll drop you at the coordinates and I'll continue our search. Steve, you know this is a trap right?"
"I'm looking forward to it."
Gasping for air, Natasha lay on the cold tile of her room, her arms wrapped around her middle. The pain was slowly fading, the rushing sound in her ears gradually easing. Ross looked down at her with a look of mock concern. "I'm sorry my dear, I know that's uncomfortable. And that was the lowest setting too! I'm told this setting simulates the pain of childbirth." He paused as though a thought had just occurred to him, "That's rather sweet really. Now you have experienced something that you couldn't have naturally." He smirked at her furious expression, all pretense of friendliness dropped. "I read the files. A woman like you shouldn't be having children anyway. Let's hope the Captain got our message so we don't need to continue."
"I signed your Accords..." she managed, accusation in her voice.
"Yes, the same Accords that say that you will submit to the nations who will decide what you are best used for. Well, flushing out Captain America and making him legitimate is currently the best use of the Black Widow."
Natasha made to move towards him, murder in her eyes, but Ross held up his hand to stop her, a controller in his grasp. "Make one more move toward me and we will kick it up a notch, see what this thing is capable of. I'll be sure to film it for our mutual friend."
Natasha froze. If this was what the government had in mind when they formed the Accords, then it was even more important that Steve remain free of them. She hoped he had gotten her message. But part of her knew with sinking certainty that Steve was on his way.
Ross smiled as though he could read her thoughts, "If Steve Rogers gives us any trouble when he gets here, we can ramp this baby up to ten! I'm not one hundred percent sure what it will do to you, but maybe we won't have to find out. It's a win win really, if Rogers folds, we have his signature, if not, we're rid of an untrustworthy, unreliable agent with lethal killing powers." He chuckled to himself and left, locking the door behind him.
Natasha stared at the closed door. How could she have been so stupid? No government in their right mind would want her on their team after what they knew about her. She had picked the wrong side, thrown her trust in Steve to the wind. And now either she would pay, or Steve would. She was determined not to let him sign. She was accustomed to pain, her tolerance for it unnaturally high. But if what Ross said was true, and he had only been using the low setting, her body would rip itself apart. And for what? Steve was coming, she knew he was, and she couldn't stop him.
Natasha painstakingly pushed herself into a sitting position. She needed a plan. She knew they would be watching her, she tried to keep her discomfort from her face but her limbs gave her away, she was trembling. She scowled at her traitorous body.
Ripping the sheet off the bed she folded it and began wrapping it around her body, her cuts bleeding again. She was beginning to feel light headed, she needed to get herself bandaged up. Pulling tightly, she knotted the sheet around her. Pulling herself on to the bed she fell against the pillow, exhausted.
Her abdomen ached. Was that really was childbirth felt like, she wondered. She would never know. Ross's words played in her head on repeat, "Unreliable… Untrustworthy...should never have children…" Blinking furiously she pushed the thoughts from her mind. She would deal with them later.
She shifted slightly, turning away from the camera. Peeling away part of her makeshift bandage, she looked at the stitches on her stomach. They had taken all of her weapons, even her most hidden knives. She huffed in frustration. The wound was tightly bound, she needed something sharp. She picked at the stitching, trying to break the thread. A sudden strong jolt of electricity brought her knees to her chin, shooting pain rolling through her middle. It stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving her gasping. A male voice came over the intercom, "Ms. Romanoff, please refrain from tampering with the insertion site. Thank you." The voice cut out with a click.
