Something had definitely happened. Isabelle wasn't sure what, but something had happened that had Hydra in a tizzy. She had been drug in several times for poking and prodding on her arm and poor Victoria had been taken away multiple times as well, coming back weak and battered each time.

"Vic, Baby?" She called to her. The last time Victoria had been taken away had been a few hours before, and even though they had only kept her for a short while before bringing her back to the cell, Isabelle was still worried. They might be trying to minimize the amount of damage they were doing to her, but she could tell it was still adding up. "Vic?"

"It hurts." Victoria whispered, trying to find a comfortable position on the floor, finally setting curled onto her side, legs drawn up to ease the pain in her stomach slightly. She pressed herself against the wall, letting out a hiss of pain at the movement. "It hurts."

"I know, Baby. I know. You just rest now, okay? Rest and try to get as much strength as you can back. It's going to be okay." Isabelle pulled herself to her feet as she spoke. Victoria needed to rest, but she had to force herself to get moving. With any luck, whatever Coulson was up to that had Hydra all fired up would lead to Shield showing up for a rescue hopefully sooner rather than later, and she had to be ready when that happened. She wasn't sure how yet, but she had a basic plan. When Shield came, somehow get out of the cell in the confusion, get to Victoria and get the two of them out of there and to Hunter, Bobbi or the first Shield agent she could find. She forced herself to move slowly, walking along the wall and willing herself not to stumble too much on legs that were still shaky from the last experiments that were done on her. Victoria didn't need to hear anything that might make her doubt Isabelle's ability to get them to safety at the moment.

Move, keep moving. The entire situation would be easier if she could just think of some sort of weapon to use. She had tried prying at the mortar on the walls but hadn't had any luck breaking off the smallest bit yet. Maybe the element of surprise would be enough, though. It would have to be.

"Izzy?" Victoria called to her. She could hear her moving around in her cell. Moving. She should be moving. If there was a chance for them to get out of there, she needed to get some strength back. She couldn't be weak like this and hold Isabelle back, couldn't put her in danger. Everything hurt so badly, though. "Walking?"

"A little. Just stay still, Vic. Don't try to move, okay, Baby? What did they do to you?"

"Kick. Broke at least a rib." Victoria told her. Tears stung her eyes as she spoke, her entire body throbbing. "You think Shield's coming?"

"I just hope they speed it up a little. They're doing something. It's surely just a matter of time before they get here. We've just got to be ready when they do is all. Baby, do you have any water left?" She didn't bother to ask about food. If Victoria had been kicked, and she obviously had more damage than just a broken rib to join her earlier injuries, she would never be able to eat without throwing up. "Try to take some sips if you can. You don't need to get dehydrated."

Just the thought of anything in her stomach made Victoria want to throw up but she knew Isabelle was right. She forced herself to open one of the packets of water that had been left there while she was being interrogated and took a sip. Her head swam and she had to fight the urge to throw up as she had feared would happen. "How long do you think?"

"Until they come? I don't know." How much intelligence had Bobbi been able to gather? Hopefully enough that this place was on their radar. "Soon, I hope. You just try to rest, alright? You're going to need your strength when Shield does get here."

Victoria forced herself to finish the water off before talking. "If you have the chance to get out, you should go. Go and come back for me." For the last few days, since the interrogations took on a new degree of severity and Isabelle had gotten encouraged it was because Shield was on the way, she had debated telling her to do exactly that. The thought of being alone again was terrifying, but the thought of Isabelle being slowed down and endangered because her injuries made keeping up a challenge was even more frightening. She couldn't let that happen.

"Vic…. Baby…." Isabelle stopped walking and settled on the floor, pressing herself against the wall, wanting to be as close to Victoria as she possibly could under the circumstances. "Baby, I'm not leaving you, I promise." She knew why Victoria was telling her to do it, of course, but that didn't mean that it was going to happen. "We're getting out of here and we're going home together. I want you to come home with me to meet Jane, alright? We're getting out of here together."

"I'll slow you down. I don't want to slow you down." If they tried to escape and were recaptured, what would Hydra do to them? She didn't want to be alone, but she refused to endanger Isabelle. "If you got out, you could bring help back. I'm not even sure I could walk let alone fight."

"Hopefully fighting's not going to be something we'll have to worry about. Vic, it's okay. I've got a plan. Shield comes in, I get out of this cell, which I admit is the part of the plan that still needs some work but I'll get there. I get out of the cell, I get you out and we find some safe place to hide where Hydra won't look for us, I signal Hunter where we are, and we go home. Simple and no fighting involved. You can do that, Baby. I know you can."

"I don't want you to get hurt." It did sound like a workable plan but still,what if she slowed Isabelle down?

"Baby, it's going to be okay, I promise. Get out of the cells, hide to avoid the fighting and signal Hunter to come and get us. We'll be safe at home in no time. You'll come with me to see Jane, won't you? I don't want to think about what sort of story Hunter's cooked up to explain where I am. You'll like her. She does keep forgetting who's supposed to be the big sister in this relationship, though, so when we get there, she's probably going to try to poke both of us into bed to rest for at least a week. Does that sound good, a nice, soft bed with lots of pillows and some warm quilts, Baby?"

Any sort of bed sounded good after sleeping on the hard floor for so long, and the thought of quilts and being warm felt like some sort of wonderful dream. Then something that Isabelle had said hit her. "Baby. You called me Baby."

She had been, without even thinking about it. "Vic, I'm sorry. I won't call you that if it bothers you or anything." She had just wanted to comfort Victoria so badly, and at the moment words were the only thing she had. Had the name offended her, though?

"No, I like it." And Victoria had liked Isabelle calling her Baby, even when she it hadn't really been sinking in for her what her friend was saying. It had made her feel safe and warm and oh, so loved. Loved. Was Isabelle starting to think of her in that way? They had talked about the soulmates thing, but still…. "I just don't want you to be disappointed when you see me, is all."

"Disappointed?"

"I'm not pretty anymore. Not that some people would say I ever really was. I kind of had a scary librarian or terrifying principal thing going on before this Hydra mess. I don't think I could even manage that look anymore." Victoria told her. "Famine victim maybe. I can count ribs, the ones that they haven't managed to break, anyway. I just don't want you to be disappointed when you see me. I'm not pretty."

"Baby…. Vic, you're brave. You've made it through months here and all of the stuff that Hydra's done to you and you haven't broke. You're brave, and I'll take brave over pretty any way of the week. You're not going to be a disappointment to me, Baby, I promise you."

"I just wanted you to know I'm probably not going to look like what you're expecting." Victoria told her. If Isabelle was disappointed when she saw her, and dispute what she was saying, how could she not be, it would break her heart. "I'm not pretty. You can see ribs and bones poking out everywhere and I don't have my glasses so I can barely see. I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Baby, I won't be. I just hope you won't be disappointed with me, with part of my arm missing because I was stupid enough to touch an 084 bare handed. If anything, you should be the one who's disappointed, having to rely on someone who would make a rookie mistake like that. It's going to be okay, Baby, I promise."

"I just don't want to disappoint you."

"You won't. You're brave and you've got the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. As for the starved look, you're not the only one that's got that look going on. It's going to be okay, Vic. Don't worry right now, Baby, okay? You just rest and try to get your strength back so we can get out of here. I promise, Baby, it's going to be okay."