Chapter 12:

They arrived two hours later outside a seemingly abandoned small house, the windows where boarded up from the outside and the door looked to be as well. She stopped Isra from getting out of the car grabbing her shoulder. Isra turned to look at her. "I just have one favour to ask before we go inside."

Isra nodded her head Darcy took a breath "Bo has no family or anywhere to go, before the ring picked her up she was homeless. Could you possibly find somewhere safe for her to stay or maybe you could find some place on your team that she could fill. She's gone through a lot in her short years from what I can tell and she is still strong. She may benefit from having a place in something." Darcy explained to her. Isra's face softened.

"Always helping people Shay." She mused "I think something along those lines could be arranged." She smiled and left the car wincing as she stood up. She shut the door and left Darcy alone in the car.

"Yeah, you won't be thinking that for long." She whispered before she got out the car herself and helped Isra carry their things into the house. She grabbed the first aid kit as well.

She followed Isra around the back of the house, she pushed aside the wooden covering to the backdoor and put her things down grabbing her lock picking tools out of her utility belt before getting to work on the door. It took her less than a minute before the silent early morning air was filled with a satisfying click. The door swung open and Isra took one step into the threshold before quickly typing in a code onto the keypad on the left wall.

They carried their things into the house and Isra lead them upstairs to the only bedroom dumping their things onto the floor near the large double bed. She stretched like a cat her back clicking loudly. Darcy shucked off her boots happily, she let out a sigh of relief as her bare feet touched the smooth wooden flooring of the bedroom. Isra placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at Darcy's little display

Isra folded her arms over her chest and Darcy's eyes were drawn to the reddish tint on the fingers of her left hand. She stalked over to Isra and took her hand in hers "Isra you're bleeding." She stated worriedly, "You said it wasn't that bad." Darcy dropped to her knees in front of Isra, she felt around her right upper leg looking for the source of the bleeding. Isra tutted but hissed when Darcy's fingers found the wound, the cut went from just under her right hip and down some of her thigh. She couldn't tell the full extent of the wound whilst Isra was still in her suit.

"Strip" She commanded as she got up from her knees and grabbed the first aid bag before shuffling Isra into the en suite bathroom. Isra huffed a mixture between a growl and a laugh "It's been a long time since you last told me to do that." Her voice lilting flirtatiously.

Darcy rolled her eyes then raised her eyebrows impatiently tapping her foot. "Fine" She growled unbuckling the latches on her utility belt letting it drop to the floor before she started working on the buckles on her top. Darcy laid out the suture kit and bandages around the edges of the sink before washing her hands thoroughly. The jacket quickly fell to the floor joining the utility belt. Leaving Isra stood there in her black sports bra, her toned and scarred body showing.

Isra set out on removing her trousers only to cry out in pain as the trousers pulled at the raw skin at the top of the cut, blood sticking the material to her injured leg. Isra bit down on her lip to keep her cries of pain in. Darcy walked over and stood in front of Isra. "This is what you get when you leave the injury long enough for the blood to clot." She reprimanded and Isra let out a pained laugh the adrenaline high she had been riding on the past few hours leaving her suddenly.

"What about your cut?" She questioned her hand gripping onto the basin around the sink for support.

"I heal fast." Darcy deadpanned, "hold onto the basin with both hands and I'll pull your trousers off, I'll have to do it fast, like ripping off a band-aid." She explained as Isra moved round so she could grip the basin with both hands.

Darcy knelt behind Isra and slipped her slim hands into the waistband of Isra's trousers easing it down until it was at the top of the cut. "Okay on the count of three. One… Two-" She yanked pulling the band down as Isra cried out in surprise and pain. Her knuckles where white with the strain she was putting onto the basin of the sink.

Darcy stood up and smiled, "There now that wasn't so hard was it?" she asked sarcastically. Isra glared at her, Darcy repressed her laugh, but took her help in perching on the top of the basin so Darcy could have full access to the cut on her leg. She grabbed the antiseptic wipes from the basin and set about cleaning up the mess of blood on the tender skin of Isra's leg, she swiped away the blood leaving the clean line of the six inch long cut on her leg. Darcy carefully pressed her fingers into the cut to see how deep it is.

Isra whimpered in pain. Darcy glanced up apologetically; the cut deep enough to warrant sutures.

She reached up to grab the needle and thread but before she does she asks "Do you want an anaesthetic?" Isra just shakes her head, Darcy mutters "Alright then."

She set about the task of stitching Isra up, making sure to keep the stitches neat and even. Isra's muscles twitching with the lack of adrenaline and energy.

"Do you want to talk now?" She questioned her voice tinged with exhaustion. Darcy stopped but slowly nodded her head finishing up the sutures; she cut the thread and put the needle down. She picked up the cream and smoothed a layer over the cut; she pressed a dressing over the damaged area before she wrapped the bandage around Isra's leg.

"I just want to say first that I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but I couldn't find it in me to tell you. I… uh … it was just nice not having to follow someone's orders for once in my life." She looked down; she stood up and shook off her own jacket. She closed the lid of the toilet and sat down on top of it whilst Isra grabbed a stool from the corner of the room and sat down carefully in front of her.

She focused her eyes on a spot over Isra's shoulder. "I was born in Russia a long time ago, I have no idea when but it was at least forty years ago, most likely longer. I was put into an orphanage but that doesn't really matter. Everything started when I was four years old. Our orphanage was attacked in the middle of the night and this group of masked men kidnapped a bunch of us including me. They took us to some strange place." Isra frowned and grabbed Darcy's hand reassuringly. Darcy ignored the contact and carried on.

"They put us into a sort of bunk room after taking our blood, I cried my eyes out I was so scared of what else they were going to do to me." She took in a deep breath. "A girl from the bed next to mine slipped out of her bed, she was about a year or so older than me, she was already in the room when we got there. She told me not to show any emotion at all otherwise they'd use it against me. Her name was Natalia." Isra squeezed her hand, Darcy looked up to meet her eyes momentarily braking out of her trance.

"There are so many people whose lives I've taken away, I don't even know how many, but most of them were when I was with them. Sometimes I just wish I could remember their faces. " All she could remember was that there was an oceans worth of blood on her hands.

Isra leant back away from Darcy, she couldn't tell whether it was from shock, disgust or something else. "Who were they? The people who took you." Isra asked calmly looking down.

Darcy blinked a couple of times to remove the moisture from her eyes and she straightened up her back, steeling her voice she carries on. "Have you heard of the Black Widow?" Darcy asked trying to keep the venom out of her voice.

"Yes of course I have, she's one of the avengers." Isra replied her eyebrows rose in confusion. "Why…why is that important?"

"Well she's not the original Black widow. Over the past century an organisation called the red room took girls from all over Europe. They trained them to become the perfect spy, assassin their very own collection of deadly weapons. I was one of them." She let go of Isra's hand placing her own palms down on her thighs.

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life and most of them were when I was one of the Black Widow operatives, my codename was Bella Donna, my friend Natalia she was their favourite operative. They gave her the title of Black Widow. The only way you can get the title of the Black Widow is to kill the original." She looked up and caught Isra's slightly horrified eyes.

"The red room was strict about relationships between their operatives, they looked down upon any form of emotional attachment, and they saw it as a weakness that needs to be eradicated." Darcy coughed lightly. "I guess that's where Natalia and I screwed up, we became friends since that first meeting, we thought that we were being discrete and that nobody saw us but we were wrong. They sent another one of their operatives to kill Natalia, she succeeded."

"Is she the current Black Widow?" Isra asked softly.

"Yes, she took the mantle; she even took Natalia's name. Part of me wishes her dead, because she doesn't deserve to live because of what she's done. But she's doing something good with her life now, something I wish that Natalia would have had the chance to do." She states her nails digging into her thighs, the hatred for the woman walking around as Natalia would always be there.

Isra eased Darcy's hands from her legs, leaving half-moon indents on her skin, rubbing her thumbs over Darcy's sore knuckles. "Was Natalia who you were hallucinating about when I first found you?" Darcy's eyes snapped up.

"What hallucination?" She asked immediately, she knew that she was missing a giant chunk of her memories but she thought she would at least remember all of her time with Isra.

Isra frowned but carried on, "When I first found you, I remember you looking around all the time, muttering to yourself in Russian always looking to your left. Not to mention you were pumped up with drugs, I assumed that it was a withdrawal symptom from them." Darcy stayed still, her mind racing, she knew that the red room used drugs to control their operatives and that she was one of them.

That was the main reason she was very particular about what drugs she put into her body but she didn't remember hallucinating anything that wasn't memories. She didn't dare think what the hallucinations were about or when they started.

"Are you okay?" Isra asked.

Darcy blinked and replied. "Yes I'm fine."

"Let me sort your injuries out so you can shower before coming to bed." Isra said getting up from her seat to wash her hands.

Darcy removed her jacket quickly letting it drop to the floor; she stood up and tried pulling her ripped dress over her head but stopped when her ribs screamed in protest. She grunted and grabbed the rip in the dress near her hip and pulled it a part, ripping the dress up so she could pull it off her shoulders easily. Her messy blond hair falling her shoulders and purple bra, the ring that Isra gave her resting in between her breasts. She pulled out the gun from her thigh holster and put it on safety leaving it on the side, she unclasped her thigh holster and let it drop.

Isra turned around and looked at Darcy, releasing a hiss she spoke "You weren't joking when you said you might have broken ribs." Darcy looked down at the almost constant band of purpled mottled bruising that banded around her ribs. Isra walked over and placed her warms hands on Darcy's ribs gently looking for any breakages. Darcy clenched her firsts and held in a gasp of pain as Isra reached her bottom rib.

"You'll have to wrap this up once you've showered, there's nothing much that we can do. But I can definitely clean up your wounds on your face and your knees." Isra said slowly ushering Darcy to sit back down on the lid of the toilet seat. She obliged on autopilot her mind not focusing on what Isra was doing.

Isra cleaned her wounds with hydrogen peroxide, Darcy had to stop herself from wincing so that Isra could clean the whole cut on her face. She let Isra wipe away the blood on her face and knees.

"The cut just needs gluing but you can do that after your shower. I'll leave you to it." Isra spoke softly, her dark orbs lingering on her, before leaving the bathroom to grab Darcy some clothes to change into. Darcy sat there until she heard the soft click of the bathroom door. She quickly shucked off the rest of her clothes, unclasping the necklace and leaving it on the side of the sink, before she climbed into the shower and let the hot water ease her aching body.

She washed her hair thoroughly watching the red tinged water rush down the drain; she then scrubbed away all the accumulated grime and dirt from her body before climbing out of the shower and towelling her sore body dry. She pulled the underwear and pyjama shorts on before grabbing the bandages from around the sink and wrapped them tightly around her ribs making sure that they would set correctly. She buttoned up the oversized plaid shirt over her chest.

She grabbed the tube of glue and a q-tip before sealing her cut, her eyes watching the movement in the mirror above the sink. The bruising around her eye was a dark purple blue colour which stood out against her pale face and hair, her lip was swollen and split.

She braided her hair into two pigtails before leaving the bathroom. She looked at the clock '6 o'clock I should take the sofa downstairs I don't want to hurt her in my sleep'. She saw Isra already laid down on the bed a book in her hands.

"I'm going to take the sofa downstairs, let you have the space to rest your leg." She said padding her way over to the door. Isra sat up quickly.

"Nonsense, I've shared a bed many times with you before when I'm injured now is no different." Isra replied swinging her legs out of the bed, she walked over to her bag in the corner of her room. "I even remembered to bring you this, I know that you don't use them all the time but I thought after what could have happened you might want them." She said whilst pulling something out of her bag. The glint of silver caught her eye and a wave of recognition coursed through her.

Handcuffs

Slowly she moved round to the left hand side of the bed and pulled the covers back before slipping under them. Isra sat down beside her on top of the covers. "Your flight is at five o'clock, I'll drive you to the airport and you'll be back at to your normal life in no time." Isra said in a light tone of voice.

Darcy nodded her thanks and laid her head down on the pillow before lifting her left hand up. Isra clasped the handcuff around her wrist before securing it to the railing above her head. Isra switched off the bedside lamp and got underneath the covers with Darcy.

"Shay?" Isra asked

"Yes." She replied

"I just want you to know that I'm sorry for the things that you had to go through and I don't think I'll ever see you the same again."

Darcy shifted back thinking that Isra was disgusted with the things she had done, 'I certainly am.' she thought closing her eyes.

Isra shifted so her face was inches away from Darcy, she could feel her breath on her face the body heat under the covers. "You're so much stronger than I ever thought you were." Darcy released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She opened her eyes to see Isra's rich dark eyes looking into hers. "Which is hard considering I thought you were strong since I first met you. I knew you were a survivor." Isra smiled but her eyes had a sad note to them. She kissed the corner of Darcy's lip on the cut before rolling over.

"Good night." Darcy whispered, settling down into the pillows.

"Night" Isra replied.

-Flash back-

Natalia was dead.

A bullet to the head, the blood the same colour as her long red curls.

That was the only thought that was filtering through Daria's hazy mind. Daria laid still on her cot her left hand above her head. 'No she can't be dead, I don't believe it. They only showed me pictures, they would have shown me her body if they really wanted me to believe it.'

Daria's mind stopped in its track. 'I need to see her body then I can believe it' She grabbed her thumb between her fingers and pulled hard dislocating it. She slipped her hand out of the cuff and silently lowered her feet to the floor, forgoing her boots so she wouldn't make any noise. She snuck over to the door and hid to the side of the door so no one will be able to see her through the window on the door.

'Someone's watching me' She looked back and saw Yelena looking at her from the corner of the room, she rolled her eyes and closed them again. Daria looked out the window and saw the guard walk past the door.

Quietly she pried the door open and slipped out of the room. She ran down the corridor towards where she thought the mortuary was. 'I just need to know'. She reached the door to the mortuary just as she heard footsteps coming round the corner. She yanked the door open and slipped inside the cold room.

She shivered in the cold before her body adjusted. There were four body shapes lying on the metal tables, the two closest to her were too large to be Natalia so she walked further into the room. 'Maybe she didn't die'.

She stalked over to the last two stainless steel slabs ripping back the first sheet she released a breath in relief. She walked around to the other side of the tables and slowly pulled the cloth back. 'What if she is dead'. She shook her head and pulled it back revealing matted blood red curls.

'No ….no …she's dead.' She sobbed, her whole body shaking as she ripped the rest of the cover back to reveal her blood covered face, a perfect circle shape in her forehead. She fell to her knees "Natalia, no." She wept, her hand grabbing Natalia's where it had fallen off the metal table.

The doors swung open and guards rushed in. "Hey, you aren't allowed in here." One of the guards shouted. She scrambled to her feet and rushed at the guard elbowing him in the face. She fought the guards off, using the skills the red room taught her. She attacked with the ferocity of a caged animal.

A guard in the corner radioed for help, "Sir should we put her down?"

"No…sedate her. We have a different procedure we would like to try first." The static voice of the technician replied.

The guard snuck up behind Daria as she had one of the guards in a chokehold. He stabbed the needle into her injecting the sedative drug mixture into her blood stream. She slumped to the floor her head cracking against the floor.

'What the hell?' She thought her head felt like cotton wool. She felt a cool surface pressed into her cheek, her arms ached as did her eye. She tried to remember what had happened 'What the hell happened?' She kept her eyes pressed closed.

"I died Daria. That's what happened." A young voice that Daria instantly recognised whispered in her ear. 'Natalia' She snapped her eyes open, no one was there. She was in a small square room with a stainless steel table in the middle of it. She was laid down on the floor, her cheek pressed into the cold floor. She tried to sit up by pulling her arms forward but she just ended up falling onto her face. 'What?' She looked down and saw what she was wearing.

A straight jacket. She snapped her eyes shut again.

'It's ok I'll be able to find a way out' she thought to herself trying to get her heart rate down. She pulled in a deep breath.

"No you won't, the red room made the jacket, they'll know how to keep you in it." The girl…Natalia said. She pulled her eyes open and repressed a scream as she saw the sight of a young version of Natalia.

"You're not real, you're dead." She muttered to herself bitterly.

"And whose fault is that, you said you'd protect me Daria." Natalia accused standing in front of Daria.

"I didn't know you were in danger Natalia." She spoke without realising, she pressed her cracked lips together.

"Yes you did, you were just too scared. You knew you were too weak to protect me." Natalia hissed her face inches away from Daria's. Her blood started rushing through her ears and her breathing became erratic. "No, you're wrong." Daria said venom lacing her voice.

"Then why didn't you save me?" Natalia asked her voice breaking her eyes watering. Daria closed her eyes trying to lower her heart beat. "You're…you're not real." Darcy stuttered, closing her eyes and pulling in deep breaths.

"Yes I am." She heard Natalia's normal voice state; she opened her eyes young Natalia wasn't there. She looked around the room again; the only thing she could see was the metal table.

She leant back against the wall and tucked her feet underneath her. Bracing her feet she pushed herself up onto her feet. She stumbled over to the metal table. She sobbed.

Natalia's body was laid out on the table her glassy green eyes wide open.

"I didn't have to die."

Daria screamed, Natalia's eyes swivelled over to Daria. She stumbled back against the wall and fell down sobbing and clenched her hands tightly. A sudden pain started in her forearms as if someone was tearing away at it.

-End of flash back-

"Shay, stop. Please."

Darcy's arms were stinging in pain. 'What's happening?'. Her head felt groggy as if someone had poured liquid in it. She couldn't open her eyes. Her hand tightened.

"SHAY!" Isra shouted but it sounded muffled.

Thwack!

Darcy's eyes flew open in shock at the blinding pain. She looked down to see her right hand wrapped around Isra's throat. She released her hand and scrambled back away from Isra.

Isra sat up her hand going to her throat as she pulled in deep coughing breaths. Darcy's hand kept pulling at her cuff. 'Oh god, oh god, it's true.' She thought pulling at her hair, 'I'm so weak.'

"Isra I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." She exclaimed perching at the top of the bed as far away from Isra as she could manage with her hand cuffed to the bed.

"It's ok, I'm ok Shay." Isra replied as she knelt on top of the covers, pulling her hand through her hair.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." She repeated her eyes darting from side to side to make sure there was no hallucination present.

"Shay calm yourself." Isra stated trying to capture her attention. Darcy's breathing became erratic her eyes still roving round the room. "Shay…Darcy!" Isra yelled grabbing hold of Darcy's face in her calloused palms. Darcy stopped, her eyes latched onto Isra's.

"Breathe with me ok." Isra requested. As Isra took her first inhale Darcy mirrored her action.

Once Darcy's breathing settled down to normal she spoke. "I'm sorry I don't know what happened, I…uh …I think I was remembering something." Isra nodded smoothing her hands over Darcy's shoulder in a soothing gesture but it just seemed to put Darcy more on edge as her shoulders hunched up. Isra lent back and put her hand behind her to grab something.

"Here." She said passing Darcy the key to the handcuffs to Darcy. She quickly unlocked the handcuffs and high-tailed it into the bathroom quickly shutting the door behind her.

She turned on the cold tap letting the sink fill with the cool water. The sound of the water splashing in the sink grounding her to the present. She looked into the mirror and saw a younger version of herself, her blonde hair in braids just like the way they always used to wear their hair. She pulled her hair ties out and undid her braids before pulling her mass of wavy blonde hair into a high pony tail. 'There, I look more like me now' She thought 'I just need to die my hair brown again, wear my glasses and I'll be Darcy again.'

She shut the tap off and braced her hands on the edge of the basin. She plunged her head into the cold water holding her breath, she opened her eyes letting the icy water wake her up.

She pulled her face out the water and towelled it dry, she frowned when she saw the red marks on the cream towel. 'Damn it' she swiped her finger along her cut and it came back red she sighed before grabbing the glue and leaning into the mirror. The cut looked cleaner but it would still take a day or two to heal, by tomorrow she would only need to put a line of butterfly stitches along it.

She exited the bathroom and saw Isra pulling a fresh set of clothing on. "We have about two hours before we have to leave for your flight, I'm going to head downstairs to make breakfast whilst you get ready." She stood up and Darcy saw the red marks around her neck that she had caused. Isra caught Darcy's line of sight and sighed.

"It's not your fault stop beating yourself up about it." She huffed.

Darcy raised her eyebrows "I'm the one that beat you up, remember." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Details!" Isra waved her worry off. Darcy snorted walking over to her bag of clothes.

"I'll call my boss, tell her I'll be back in America tonight." Darcy smiled slightly, thinking about seeing her loveable scientist again. Isra walked out the room and Darcy put her suitcase on top of the bed and pulled out her clothes for her to get changed into and her wig, before sliding out her phone.

She perched on the bed a bit of a stupid smile on her face, 'it's nice to be able to be friends with someone normal - granted that someone normal is banging a Norse god - who knew what she was'.

She unlocked her phone and tapped on Jane's contact and phoned her. She placed it between her ear and shoulder so she could pull her clothes on whilst talking.

"Hello this is Dr Jane Foster's phone." Darcy smiled hearing Thor's cheery voice. She could hear the background clatter of Jane messing around with some form machinery. She laughed quietly into the phone.

"Hey Thor." She beamed down the phone whilst pulling off her pyjama shorts and replacing them with a pair of black tights that would cover up her red healing knees.

"Ah Lady Darcy it is nice to hear your voice, how fairs your-" She could hear a soft slapping sound and Thor's muffled protests. She unbuttoned her plaid Shirt and let it fall to the ground.

"Hey Darcy. When are you getting back?" Jane asked immediately. Darcy smiled as she pulled her bra on being careful of her wrapped up ribs.

"I'll be back by midnight tonight, it's a bit screwy with all the time differences. How have you been doing? And what were you doing to that poor machine?" She inquired pulling on her pencil skirt.

"I was just recalibrating it I swear." Jane replied guiltily, " I'm fine, Thor took me out to dinner last night to that sushi place you suggested. Are you ok?" She asked rapidly and Darcy knew her hidden meaning.

"I won't be able to come into work tomorrow, Jet lag, but the day after I should be ok for work. Why don't you stay over for a girls night tomorrow and we can watch that movie you've been begging me to watch. The maze runner?" She asked knowing that Jane would want visual confirmation of her being ok.

"Sure sounds great, I'll bring some wine. I missed you, you know. My intern" Jane huffed, Darcy pulled her shirt on.

"I think you mean Babysitter and I missed you too Boss lady. I'll text you an address where I can pick you up" Darcy smiled into the phone.

"Kay, have a safe flight back." Jane replied her voice sounding slightly distracted, Darcy could hear a strange whirring in the background.

"I will, oh and I hope you like motorbikes." She added, buttoning her shirt up.

"What?-" She heard Jane question as she hung up the phone. She quickly sent off a text with her address in before finishing getting changed and covering up as much of her injuries as she could.

She piled her hair on top of her head and donned her disguise of Joan Parsons the busy business woman.