Author's Note: Okay, so, you guys like the dark and twisty. Glad everyone reading is as mentally unstable as I am. And you bunch of nutcases also voted for the more romantic angle on this, that somehow makes it all even funnier. Dark and twisty with a wee bit extra on the lovins'. I got you guys covered, well, at least on the former. We'll work our way into the latter. Here's hoping my romance is as good as my dark and twisty! Challenge accepted!

Bet you didn't see this coming. Here's a slightly different point of view for this chapter. I'm a little indecisive about Tony's perspective, so you'll have to give me an honest opinion and let me know if it's something you'll want to see again in a future chapter.

Chapter 7:

When Tony entered the lab on Jarvis' warning of an emergency, seeing Bruce standing in front of a video screen wasn't exactly what he expected. Even worse was the green tinge settling over the normally pale man's skin, "Whoa! Doctor Jekyll, you're looking a little green," he rushed out the words quickly, coming around the side of the scientist.

"Enough!"

He dared to glance at the screen and he watched as Strucker disappeared off of it. A moment later there was a shuddering gasp of pain from the redhead as her vitals spiked once again. "Jarvis, is the jet ready?"

"Yes, sir. You had it prepped in case of an emergency."

"How about my new suit?"

"You may still have a few kinks to work out, sir, but it is in functional condition."

"Good enough," It had to be. "Hey, no going Jolly Green Giant in my lab," he warned the other man. "Are you coming with me?"

"With you?" Bruce's voice came out admonished and the idea seemed to have surprised him enough to take the edge off the rage.

Tony huffed out an exasperated breath, "Well, you can come along like a good boy, or you can sit here in time out. I'll be forced to ban your video feed privileges and put you in the containment cell so that Mr. Hyde can go trample all that pent up anger you just swelled up. Or, you can get on the jet, hold it together for... approximately... fourteen or so hours, and go smash these guys." The reality was, he was trying to get Bruce to avoid looking at the screen any longer than he already had been.

It wasn't effective when her vitals started spiking outrageously and Bruce instantly turned back to look.

"Don't do this..."

"Stay still."

The sound that came from her was something Tony didn't even think a human being was capable of making. The first round of electricity took the camera out.

"Bruce-"

"Let's go..."

Tony watched him cautiously for a moment before he nodded. "Well, guess we can test out those new superpants for you..." the attempt at levity fell flat as he watched Bruce stalk silently from the lab and he quickly followed after him. They were at the jet in less than ten minutes and he saw Pepper waiting for them. Bruce bypassed her, getting on without a word and he sighed, stopping beside her. "Get a message to our star-spangled leader and Barton. Doubt they'll get it before we've already taken care of this, but-"

"I'll take care of it," Pepper assured him. He knew there was a reason he loved this woman, "What about Bruce? Can he handle this?" came her hushed voice.

He could only shrug a little at that, "Must like our favorite little assassin more than he lets on. I expected a big green tantrum in my lab, but he managed to keep it bottled up."

"I meant, can he handle whatever he might do?"

"I know," Tony admitted. "Only one way to find out," he offered up halfheartedly. "I know I said I wasn't doing the whole hero thing anymore-"

Pepper's small smile and shake of her head cut him off and he chuckled at her next words, "Like you could ever just stop being reckless," she teased sadly. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his softly for a moment, "Go, before Bruce teaches himself how to fly your jet."

"You're the boss, dear."

"Mmm, and don't you forget it."


Tony had cut at least two, possibly three hours, off the flight to Samara; a flight they were already nearing the end of. It didn't change the fact that Natasha was left to endure whatever was happening to her for the last twelve hours. He glanced to the side at Bruce, who was attempting every possible way to keep calm, and at the moment, that consisted of playing Beethoven over the surround sound of the inside of the jet.

It didn't change the fact that for most of the flight, Bruce either paced up and down the rear aisle or he would sit stiffly and listen to the music. "Five minutes," he warned him. "How do you want to do this?"

There was silence for a moment before Bruce finally spoke to him, "Just open the the side door."

"What?" he questioned, giving his friend an incredulous look.

"Now."

"Romanoff is a bad influence on you," he muttered, but Tony didn't bother to fight him on it. "Jarvis, you heard the man. Open 'er up, then take over the auto-pilot and land this bird for us. We're going in."

"Of course, sir."

He was already up and getting his suit on when he saw Bruce, already turning green, step out the side of the jet as though there were something there to walk on. "Hey! I'm supposed to be the show-off who jumps out of the plane!" he yelled after him. He waited for the rest of his suit to pull together over him and slid the Iron Man mask over his face, then stepped out two minutes behind him. It was in time to see the Big Guy land and run at lightning speed with a howling bellow of rage that echoed through the silence of the Russian night. A moment later he barreled through the wall and into the HYDRA facility, causing enough noise to alert people for miles that there was a monster going bump in the night. Needless to say, anyone inside the compound knew The Hulk had arrived. If he hadn't heard the distress in Natasha's voice when she said, 'Don't do this...' he might have actually felt sorry for what was about to happen to them.

Instead he flew through the crater that was left in the wall, following behind green rage monster as he snarled at and trampled down anyone and everything in his way. "Alright, Green Machine, I know you're pissed," he called out to him. "But remember, our main goal is to find Natasha," he honestly had no idea if the alter ego of his friend would even listen, but he could hope. He did seem to have connected with the redhead on some level over a week ago in the containment cell, which had been more than a little unexpected and more than he or Bruce had ever managed since they started the attempts after New York.

He watched as the Big Guy turned and gave him a rather pissed off growl before throwing the body of one of the guards at him. "Whoa! Not cool, buddy," he mumbled out, using his repulsors to veer out of the way of the careening body. "Think, Big Green, think. You remember Natasha, right? Red hair? Green eyes?"

Another body came flying at him and he dodged it again, flying behind the Hulk as he bellowed his way further through the halls. "C'mon, I know you remember," he added next and saw the him stop when he came across the man who had been on Natasha's video feed with the syringe. The feral noise that came from his throat seemed to make the man think twice about attempting a confrontation and he actually turned to try and escape when the Big Guy, quite literally, bitch-slapped him into the nearest wall. After that he proceeded to grab a hold of him by the leg, then slam him into the wall on the left, and then again against the wall to the right.

"She said the next move was all yours, remember that?" he called out. It stopped the Big Guy in his tracks and Tony watched as he turned to look back at him, still holding the unconscious man by the leg. He still looked enraged, but fortunately the body didn't come flying at his head this time. He took that as a good sign and continued after clearing his throat, "He uh—he deserved that," and he saw him snort in angry amusement. "But Natasha needs you to make the next move here, alright?" he reasoned as he kept his tone calm and nonthreatening.

The Hulk snarled and scowled at the unconscious man in his hands before dropping him on his head and looking around. It was hard to decide what he was about to do next when he turned back to him, but finally he huffed out an angry breath and gave the briefest nod that Tony took as understanding and agreement. Of course, it didn't stop him from proceeding in through the halls in a destructive path, but at least he wasn't stopping to throw everything and everyone.

He lost sight of the Big Guy for a few minutes as he searched room by room and it wasn't until he heard the racket of another wall busting down that he made his way in that direction. A few minutes behind apparently meant he missed a lot, because when he came across it and flew through the Hulk-sized crater in the doorway, he instead saw Bruce, wearing only a pair of tattered and worn pants, "Oh, good. You're superpants worked—mostly. Consider them a work in progress."

"Not the time, Tony," came his friend's haggard and worried tone. He looked as he always did after de-Hulking; ashen and fatigued and ready to pass out at any given moment.

The next retort was lost on his lips when Bruce moved to the side and he saw Natasha trapped in the wooden chair. A thin red cut went vertically over one eyebrow and her teal eyes, along with her skin pigment, didn't hold their usual porcelain doll visage, looking dull and lifeless as she shifted her gaze over to study him. It was as though she had absolutely no comprehension of who he was when the small frown crossed her features even after he retracted his mask up into the helmet. "Bruce—is she-"

The question was lost to him when Bruce raised a hand and waved him off to tell him to be quiet. For once he kept his mouth shut, especially when his own eyes, along with Natasha's vacant irises, saw the remnants of blood on Bruce's fingertips. His friend's brown eyes were wide and horrified by the sight and Tony moved toward them without a second thought. He yanked the other metal latch off her hand and then removed the two on her ankles just as easily.

There was a moment where Tony thought he might have to reach out and grab hold of her when she fell forward, but Bruce's quiet and fretting voice rang out, "Alright—okay..." came the whisper as the good doctor stayed crouched right in front of her to break the fall, then delicately put his arms around her when she came to rest with her cheek pressed cautiously in the crook of his neck. Natasha's hands rested gingerly and tentatively on his chest, and the sight of it was something he had never quite imagined that he would live to see.

Neither of the two looked entirely comfortable with their positions; Bruce with the very idea of physical contact and Natasha being very much the same when it wasn't contact she initiated of her own volition. That, mixed with the uncertainty of everything that seemed to be going on, had her face looking befuddled and lost in the haze of her reality. He watched Bruce's expression change from timid and daunted, into something more disturbed and mortified; his eyes warily shifting to the redhead's back. Tony had to follow his gaze to see the problem and finally cast his eyes on the blood that trickled from dozens of microscopic holes in her uniform, which had proceeded to cover his friend's hands in blood.

"It's okay..." came Bruce's lamenting tone in a blundering attempt to console her. Tony had a feeling it was actually more for his own benefit than for Natasha's, because the redhead remained silent and unresponsive against his chest. He watched his friend looked solemnly over at him in reaction to the hollow woman he was stiffly clinging to, "Strucker?"

"Never found him," Tony admitted with a sigh. "He must have been long gone before we ever showed up. I get the feeling we were an expected intrusion..." He watched as Bruce nodded just a little and then slowly start to pull himself and Natasha up into a standing position, but her eyes had closed and she became dead weight in his wavering embrace. "Here," he offered and held his arms out to take her. He watched his friend's eyes as he debated it, clearly conflicted about letting her go, before he subsequently nodded his agreement. Tony draped her arm over his shoulder and lifted her up under her knees within seconds of Bruce's green light, "Let's go."

It wasn't exactly a swift retreat to exit the compound with Bruce struggling along behind him sluggishly. It was all catching up to the scientist but he was pushing forward without a thought for his own well-being and it was a characteristic that Tony had easily come to admire the other man for. Fortunately, Jarvis had decided that the best place to land the jet was practically right outside the 'door' the Hulk had created earlier. The side hatch opened to allow them entry without either of them having to say a word and Tony took care to place Natasha down on cushioned bench seat in the back. "You uh-"

"I got it... just—just get us back..." Bruce mumbled out as he shuffled his feet over to where Natasha lay. He imagined it shouldn't have been as uncomfortable as it was for the good doctor to unzip her uniform and pull it off of her, not when she had paraded around his home in Bahir in her underwear already. Though Tony knew that the difference between then and now was painfully obvious, not to mention there was a very keen difference between Natasha undressing herself and Bruce having to do it for her. With the short and raspy breaths she was letting out, his friend seemed to have shoved the discomfort with the situation to the back of his mind.

"Let's get going. Jarvis... let's try to go a little faster for the return trip."

"Yes, sir."


The first seven hours went easily enough. Bruce had done what little he actually could to clean up Natasha's injuries and make the redhead comfortable and she had remained unconscious up to this point. Unfortunately, Tony knew it couldn't last forever and that became apparent when she shot up into a sitting position with a gasp.

He dared to look back and watch as Bruce moved over to her side, "Natasha—it's alright, you're fine."

She wasn't having any of it. Natasha quite literally jumped away from him as she stumbled off the cushioned bench she had been resting on, completely oblivious, or perhaps just uncaring, of the fact that she was clad only in a man's shirt that hung just a little down her thighs and a pair of panties. Her only weapon was the thinnest of blankets that Bruce had covered her with earlier was clutched so tightly in her fingertips that her knuckles had gone white from the pressure. Honestly, Tony had no doubt she could kill with just a blanket, her whole body was a weapon.

"Natasha..." Bruce's concerned voice came out softly.

"Doctor Banner, I suggest keeping a distance from Miss Romanoff for the time being," came the warning from Jarvis. "I was running a diagnostic on her blood during our return trip and I am receiving readings of something that SHIELD has formerly found in her system."

Tony glanced from Natasha to Bruce, and fortunately, Bruce seemed to be taking his AI's advice to use caution with her. "Readings of what, Jarvis?"

"They believed it to be a serum used by the KGB and Red Room to erase and restructure memories of the person it is injected into," Jarvis answered. "When Agent Barton convinced her to join SHIELD after she went rogue from the KGB, remnants of this serum were still in her system, however, they were unable to decipher why it was no longer effecting her."

"The chair..." came the redhead's whisper.

Tony's eyes drifted over to Natasha. "The chair?" he questioned, watching as her teal eyes shifted from Bruce to him. There was no longer any expression on her face, she looked vacant and cool, even though he knew she had to be anything but. He couldn't fathom how she did it, how she could hide everything away behind such a veneer of indifference, and it was a skill he would never admit to being envious of.

"You need both," she expanded on it for him with an equally hollow voice to match her expression. "The chair and the serum. The shocks activate the serum's effects the moment it's injected."

This time it was Bruce who asked the next question, "And what are the effects?"

"Memory loss. It's a chain reaction, the serum needs the shocks to be useful, the chair needs to serum to be activated. Anytime you think of a memory, or a face, or a name... the chair shocks you through the needles, activates the serum. Enough times... it all goes away. It leaves you empty."

Bruce frowned as he listened to her hardened and mechanical explanation of how it worked and Tony could only assume that it was something practically ingrained in her. It was disturbing to realize her details of it were something from before SHIELD, something Jarvis had mentioned was previously done to her just prior to her defection. "Do you know who I am?" came Bruce's question and it was one that plagued on both of their minds at the moment; whether or not Natasha recognized them even slightly.

"No—yes..." she mumbled out, squeezing her eyes shut. "I think..." came the hoarse whisper as she brought her hands up to her face and rubbed tentatively at her eyes. "I think..." came her repeated whisper. Tony could only think the she was too young to have had things like this done to her before. Too young to have a 'before SHIELD'. He first met her nearly six years ago and she was clearly already in Fury's inner circle at that time. In fact, Fury had been one of the few people he had seen initiate physical contact with the redhead with ease, other than Clint. The simple introduction he had received of Natasha had included Fury putting an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her forearm almost fondly. During their Avengers' shawarma stint after the battle of New York, Clint had been allowed to rest his foot almost intimately against her thigh while they all ate.

She had never even reacted to either of those moments, as though they were natural moments for her, quite unlike when anyone else made attempts at it. Hell, even physical contact with Steve Rogers, the American Posterboy, seemed to make her a little uneasy if she wasn't the one to initiate it. Tony could see that Bruce was about to attempt something of the sort, and he shot out one of his characteristic and ill-mannered comments, just to be sure that he stopped the potentially hazardous event before it could happen, "Alright, you're already wish-washy enough, stop thinking before you break your brain, Romanoff."

"Tony!" Bruce admonished him.

It was all he could do not to smirk, especially when something akin to amusement combined with indignation crossed the former assassin's face. It seemed that even if she didn't yet recall Bruce and Tony themselves, she did seem to have some recollection for their usual repertoire of witty banter. Given that it was the first real emotion that she actually exhibited since they got her out of the chair, it was a surprisingly refreshing change of pace.

A moment later Natasha huffed and then aimed the barest of smiles in his direction before she responded, "I'm not sure just yet—but I'm going to assume I don't like you much..."

"That may be a gross understatement, Miss Romanoff," came Jarvis' mechanical attempt at being comical, "However, it is a commonly perceived reaction."

Tony could see Natasha's eyebrow quirk up and he shook his fist jokingly in the air, "You're not allowed to betray me like that, Jarvis. You're supposed to be on my side, I made you."

"But of course, sir. I suppose this is the part where you tell me, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out," and it would seem his masterpiece was also making an attempt to put Natasha at ease.

It also seemed that Bruce was catching on to his attempts to get Natasha at least somewhat relaxed in their presence, because his normally reserved friend joined in, "Careful, Jarvis. You know Tony is better at breaking rather than making." It was cheesy and pathetic, but Tony gave him an 'E' for effort.

"Indeed, Doctor Banner. I have been a witness to this many times."

Regardless of the attempts, Natasha seemed keen to ignore them and when he glanced back, she was staring vacantly at the wall of the jet from her new position on the floor.

The rest of the flight went on in silence and he was forced to give up the attempts at either relaxing her or getting near her. Getting closer than five feet typically resulted in her looking for any escape options and Tony was legitimately afraid that if they kept pushing to help her, she might just retreat to a place in her mind that they couldn't pull her back from.

Bruce resigned from his attempts not long after, finally settling into the seat next to him to give Natasha more space.

"Mr. Barton has left a message saying he would be awaiting our return at the tower, sirs," came Jarvis' voice. "I have taken care to explain to him the situation..."

"Maybe he can get through to her?" he heard Bruce whisper his question.

It was a good question, Tony supposed. Truth be told, deciphering whatever the relationship was between the two former assassins had always been near to impossible for him. It definitely went beyond the scope of friends are partners, but to what lengths it reached, he honestly had no idea. "He's the one she trusts, from what I can tell," he finally offered up, "So it's a good idea..." As long as she remembers that she trusts him.

The niggling feeling of doubt he had about that lessened after two more hours. Bruce had retired to sprawl across a few of the seats in the back and he could see the man writhing and squirming. He never did well after coming back from The Hulk and just watching him try to recover from it always left Tony feeling nauseous and hesitant to let him do it again. The fact that it took this long for him to actually give in to all of it was a miracle by any standards, not to mention the fact that The Hulk seemed to have willingly given the control back for Natasha's sake.

And Natasha surprised him most. After two hours of sitting on the floor near the cushioned bench, he saw her teal eyes flash over to Bruce's writhing form with a sudden flash of concern. Apparently, you could twist the memories, the names and the faces—but it seemed you couldn't twist the feelings. At least, it seemed that way.

It became more apparent when the redhead cautiously got to her feet and silently padded her way over to Bruce. She seemed to study him for several moments before that thin white blanket that had been gripped so tightly in her hands the entire time suddenly sprawled out to rest over the quirky scientist.

He kept his head forward, watching carefully on the monitor as she folded her legs beneath her and sat quietly with a neutral expression once more. She didn't budge until she seemed to realize that the blanket wasn't enough to stop the movement of Bruce. She never looked at him, her face never changed, but her hand slowly drifted up and rested over top of his.

Natasha's quiet voice spoke Russian next, "Solnsta stanovitsya real'nym nizkim," and he was forced to read Jarvis' silent translation as she continued, "Otdykh legko, bok'show paren'."

Sun's getting real low. Rest easy, big guy.

Even if her brain was fried for the moment, he gave her credit. He wasn't sure if it was that she had the semblance that they were supposed to be teammates, because Tony isn't sure if they even considered one another a friend, not yet; or if maybe she just felt it was necessary because Bruce's alter ego had busted in to save the day. Either way, Bruce's movement stopped and for the moment he seemed to rest a little easier. Natasha stayed like that, even though Tony wasn't even sure she was consciously aware of it. She sat, expressionless and staring at the wall with her hand over Bruce's for the remainder of the flight. And when she got her memory back, he knew she would likely maim him if he ever dared to tell anyone about it, so he swore himself to a vow of silence instead.

Although he hadn't initially liked her for her infiltration in his company, he couldn't deny a certain amount of respect for her skill in espionage. And, at this point, he sort of thought she deserved and earned his trust to go along with it. Because she was too young and yet she seemed older and wiser than the rest of them, a circumstance due to growing up far too soon, he imagined.


Alright. Let me know what you think of Tony's PoV so I know if I should ever do that again. It was actually kind of fun. Actually giving him some more perspective on everything going on and seeing him actually warm up to Natasha rather than just sort of... accept her. He's a sarcastic douchenozzle, but he's a gentle and caring sarcastic douchenozzle, and I 'adore' him for it. xD