Author's Note: This Chapter is still set back seven years ago. The next one or two chapters will also take place during the seven years Darcy spent sleeping.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Marvel or Disney or Fox...or whoever has the rights, right now.

"Did we just let that happen?" Tony asked the empty corrider, waiting for Jarvis to pick up Darcy's heat signature, as he paced back and forth outside of the Black Widow's makeshift hospital room. He was just as happy as everyone else gathered around a confused and alive Natasha, he was just irritated that everyone else thought what they had allowed…no…what they had let happen (allowing meant they had handed her over on a silver platter, and they didn't see it that way) was fine and peachy. "The greater good my ass." Tony mumbled, touching a spot on the wall to make the wall of Black Widow's room transparent. The Black Widow sat on her bed with her head in her hands, and Barton standing in front of her yelling. Captain America who had been sitting in a chair placed beside Natasha's bed quickly stood up and placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder, while giving Barton a stern look.

Tony scoffed. He didn't know Natasha as well as Katniss did, but he could surmise she wouldn't be too happy with letting a pregnant woman be kidnapped, while risking the lives of said pregnant woman's unborn children. They had made a mistake. He realized it the moment they landed at stonehenge. Take a empath and put her around Barton, that was a recipe for emotional manipulation. It was almost like Darius had known.

Darius, the man they had let just waltz away as if he didn't cause all of their post-Reindeer Games problems. They had been played with like pawns on a chess board. Darius had played them all, as if he knew that harming Natasha would somehow lead to Darcy doing what he wanted, but that was impossible. Wasn't it?

'Shit.' Tony thought, punching the wall and watching as the transparent flickered between being opaque and then transparent. The occupants of the room turned to look at him, as if just noticing that the wall was see through. Tony pulled his suit covered fist from the hole he created in the wall, causing the transparency of the wall to vanish completely. He didn't know what was fucking logical anymore. What an alien could do or couldn't do. Did Darius know the future, was he capable of mind control? Were they being controlled even now? Was anything even real?

The face of Tony's helmet opened, revealing his face covered in sweat, as his breathing increased and his vision blurred.

'I need to get some air.' Tony thought, staggering down the hall and ignoring the sound of the opening and closing door behind him.

"Stark, you alright?" Captain America asked pausing outside of the closed door to stare at Tony concerned.

"Am I alright?" Tony asked laughing humorlessly. "I'm great!" Tony yelled back trying to catch his breath.

Captain American ran past him. 'Good riddance'. Tony thought coughing and looking down at the tiled floor, trying to calm his racing heart, his eyes met the familiar boots of Captain America causing Tony to jerk his head up.

"You're not alright." Captain America said frowning. "Tony Breath." Captain America ordered, grabbing both of Tony's iron covered shoulders firmly.

"I'm doing that." Tony answered pulling away.

"You're hyperventilating."

"Sir." Jarvis's disembodied voice called out above their heads. "I cannot detect Miss Lewis's presence on Earth; however I did locate Mr. Darius at longitude-"

"Hey!" Tony shouted interrupting Jarvis. "Send the information to my suit."

"You need to see a doctor." Captain America said. "Hawkeye and I will go."

"Like hell you will." Tony responded.

"You are not in any shape to leave this building."

Tony straightened to his full height once his breathing calmed, and glared at Captain America. "You might get your kicks from calling yourself Captain America, but you aren't my Captain so step aside grandpa."

Steve lowered his arms to his side and returned Tony's glare. "Do you think I'm not upset over what happened? Do you think I was happy to let an innocent woman hand herself over to save one of us?" Captain America yelled. "I'm not, but it wasn't my choice. It wasn't any of our choices. Miss Lewis choice to save Black Widow, and all any of us could do, was respect her decision."

"She was pregnant." Tony said, gritting his teeth.

The anger seemed to drain out of Steve as he let his shoulder's droop. "I know." Steve answered, sighing. "The best we can do now, is bring the person responsible for all of this to justice."

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, leant his back against a wall, and stared down the hall at the closed door to Natasha's room.

"And what is that exactly?" Tony asked.

"What do you mean?" Steve stared in the direction that Tony was looking, before staring back at Tony.

"Is locking Darius up in a nice cozy cell justice? Do we hand him over to Shield to dissect? Or for once do we nip a problem in the bud before it comes back to bite us in the ass like Reindeer Games and his frequent visits to Earth."

Captain America frowned. "We can't be the judge, jury and executioner Stark. Everyone, even if we know they are guilty, deserves a fair trial and—"

"Do you believe any of the bullshit that comes out of your mouth? I have a newsflash for you Mr. Morality, prison isn't a rehabilitation camp. Criminals don't go in and come out model citizens, they just learn how to be better criminals."

"We both know in our line of work dying is a very real possibility." Natasha whispered, cradling her head in her hands and keeping her eyes closed against the brightness of the room. She didn't need to look to know that Barton was standing right in front of her, yelling at her to understand.

"And you know, that if it was the other way around that you would—"

"What, sacrifice a civilian's life to save yours? That's not what we do and you know it." Natasha squeezed her eyes tighter. She was developing a splitting headache.

"You would have did whatever you could to save me!" Barton knelt and put his hands on Black Widow's shoulders. "I couldn't stand back and watch you die. She wanted to save you."

"Nat look at me." Barton grabbed Natasha's hands and lowered them to rest in her lap. When Natasha opened her eyes to look at him they were watery.

"You of all people Barton know how much red I have in my ledger, how much blood I have on my hands. Next time, because trust me there will be a next time." Natasha laid down and closed her stinging eyes. "Let me die."

Black Widow waited until she heard the opening and closing of her door, and the sound of Barton walking down the hall. When she felt that she was alone she sat up and wiped at her eyes, before rubbing her thighs. Her legs felt numb from disuse and she knew she would need to rebuild the lost muscle mass in them and in other parts of her body before she found Darius. She would also need to report in to Fury sooner than later. Black Widow stared around the room she was in, instinctually analyzing the layout and items that could potentially be used as weapons should the need arise. She tried to ignore the odd feeling that something was missing, something crucial, but she couldn't. She remembered running into that room, seeing Darius's abdominal section held open with metal clamps as he lay prone on the operating table, while Darcy unstrapped him. She fired a warning shot trying to stop Darcy, but not wanting to shoot her unless she had too. Then Loki appeared, the lights went out and something hit her in the head. She remembered fading in and out of consciousness. At one point she felt her body lift from the ground and then she felt herself placed in a lap.

Bile rose in her throat as she remembered what Darius did to her, what he took from her. It had felt like she was burning alive, yet when she tried to scream no sound would come out. When she tried to fight him she couldn't move. There was just pain.

When she awoke in an unfamiliar room with Barton and Steve staring at her concerned, it took her a few moments to realize the pain had stopped. That she was free. She wanted to cry but she was trained to never cry unless it was needed to manipulate a target. So she settled for stoicism. She asked Barton how long she had been out. He told her half a year, she felt her perfect mask crack in the form of a large intact of air. Next she asked if they had captured Darius and returned him to Shield. When Steve told her no. She asked if they killed him. When Barton began to explain what happened and Steve interrupted him, telling him that maybe he should wait until Natasha was more rested. It took all of her self-control to not tell the Captain to leave. Thankfully Barton understood that she would want to be debriefed as soon as possible, and when he told her everything and explained that the same girl she had called a murderer and shot at had traded herself to save her she felt anger. Anger at not being able to protect herself. Then anger became guilt, and she didn't need anymore of that.

"Darcy Lewis." Natasha spoke the name to the empty room, as flashes of memories that didn't belong to her danced across her mind: The face of a frowning eight year old brunette haired girl staring at her bruised reflection in a puddle of rain water. 'Just another fight.' Black Widow thought. Remembering the incident like she had lived it, except she hadn't. Natasha brought her hand to her lips, feeling phantom lips against her own. Warmth and light had pulled her from the pain…and the smell of rainwater…Darcy smelt like rain. Natasha brought both of her hands before her eyes and stared at them confused. She didn't feel the same as before, there was somewhere she needed to be, but she didn't know where.