Chapter 14
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AN1: Thanks for the support you have given me for this story.
"Are you sure?" Natasha asks, allowing herself to hope.
"I'm sending though the footage now." Skye says and a minute later an email arrives which the group plays. The video reveals a woman who could be Melinda being pulled out of a black car and taken into what looks like a cabin in the woods.
"How do you know that it is Mel?" Natasha asks as while the general shape does look like Melinda the video is clear enough to be sure.
"Because I tracked it from the first location the cars ended up at." Skye tells Natasha, "She wasn't in one of the six decoy cars there were another three that left an hour after those six." Skye explains, "Plus because I knew that we needed to be sure I hacked into a NSA spy satellite, where the zoom is so much better, and go this." Skye explains putting up a zoomed in image of the woman, who is clearly Melinda.
"How long ago was this?" Maria asks as Natasha is just staring at the image.
"Around Twenty Two hours." Skye answers, "Seven after she was taken." Skye explains.
"Has there been any sign of her since then?" Clint asks.
"So far no." Skye answers, "But I'm still running through the footage." She informs the group.
"Skye, look." Pepper's voice says.
"Hang on a second that could be about to change." Skye says suddenly sliding out of view for a second and sliding back with a laptop and Pepper walks into the shot.
"Skye what is it?" Natasha asks looking away from the image of Melinda.
"We might have something more." Skye tells her, "I'm just zooming and rewinding." Skye reveals then as she and Pepper watch whatever it is that they are watching they both get looks of horror on their faces, "Oh god, what did they do to her?" Skye asks.
"Skye, talk to me, what is going on?" Natasha asks, displaying something she never lets show, fear.
"Um, we've got more footage of May." Skye says looking up from her laptop to look at them through the video feed, pain and concern clear on her face.
"Send It through." Natasha requests.
"I'm, um, I don't know if that's a good idea." Skye responds nervously.
"Send it." Natasha says sternly.
"Skye's right Natasha." Pepper tells her friend, "I don't think you should see this." Pepper tells her wanting to save Natasha the pain of seeing Melinda in the state she is in.
"You thinking I shouldn't see it is exactly why I need to see it." Natasha says a slight hitch to her voice, "Send it." She request, the tinniest bit of visible pleading in her voice.
"It will take a couple of minutes." Skye says as she sends through the footage, "There it's sent." She says three minutes later.
The segment of footage that Skye sends through is off the front of the 'cabin' the veranda. The door to the cabin bursts open and Melinda comes out but when she is on screen everyone is shocked. Melinda has a bandage on her right thigh and on her left knee, burns over her legs and arms, various other wounds, she has no shoes and is only wearing boy shorts and a tank top. They watch as Melinda turns to look at what a man who is sitting on a couch near the door and he raises a gun and fires. Causing Melinda to go down. Once she is down the man who shot her walks over and injects something into her neck, and it's in that moment that everyone realises that it was an ICER, and they watch as Melinda is dragged back into the cabin by the mystery man and one of the Hydra agents.
"How long ago was this?" Steve asks being the first one able to speak as Natasha feels someone, who she knows is Clint, reach out and grab her hand in comfort, but she pulls away, not accepting the comfort he is trying to give.
"Fifty nine minutes." Skye answers.
"Where?" Tony asks.
"Near the Canadian Border, around five and a half hours away from here by car, I'm sending you the exact coordinates." Skye responds.
"Clint, Tripp, get us in the air, I need…." Natasha says trailing off at the end and walking fast to Melinda's bunk, not wanting to fall apart in front of the others.
The others watch as Natasha goes to Melinda's bunk and slam the door, all of them with varying looks of shock and sympathy on their faces.
"You heard Agent Romanoff, go." Coulson instructs.
"Yes Sir." Both Clint and Tripp say and they head to the cockpit.
"Wow." Tony says shocked, "I never thought…" He says trailing off not sure what to say as he has never seen Natasha show real feelings like that.
"To do what she does Tash needs hides her emotions, her real feelings on things but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel them." Maria tells the group.
"What do we do?" Steve asks concerned, wanting to help his friend.
"Give her space." Coulson answers, "Considering she pulled away when Clint tried to comfort her I don't know if any of us could help her, if she would let us." He reveals, "Skye? Pepper? Are you still there?" Coulson ask.
"Yeah." They both answers.
"Get us everything you've got on that location." Coulson says and they both nod.
"And how long did it take you to hack the NSA?" Tony asks interested.
"Not long." Skye responds before ending the video call.
Once she is in the safety, the solitude, of Melinda's bunk Natasha allows herself to cry as she sits down on the bed. Terrified about what exactly has happened to Melinda and how much worse she will be when they find her, or whether it will be too late. Even though she knows that it useless Natasha repeats, "I'm coming Mel, just hold on, please hold on." A few times and makes a promise to both herself and Melinda that she will make the people holding her pay.
(Line break)
When Melinda wakes for the first time after her escape attempt she once more finds herself cuffed to the table and unable to move.
"I allowed you to leave this room just so you knew how futile escape is." The mystery man responds, "You are not going to escape and you will break." He informs her.
"I will escape, and you will never break me." Melinda tells the man, complete determination in her voice.
"You say that now." The Mystery Man says walking towards her with a briefcase.
"No, I mean that." Melinda tells him, "There is nothing you can do to break me." She tells him.
"We'll see." The Mystery man says and he opens the briefcase and reveals an IV bag, "This is a creation of mine." He reveals, holding up the bag, "Each bag lasts six hours and for that six hours you will feel the most intense pain you have ever felt, you will be begging for relief." He reveals, "Let's see if you're still so confident of my inability to break you after a couple of these, shall we?" He says and he hangs the IV bag on a poll near Melinda's head that wasn't their earlier and inserting the other end to her arm.
For a few minutes Melinda feels nothing and then it feels like entire inside of her body is on fire and there is nothing she can do to stop it.
Even though she truly wants to Melinda doesn't let herself scream or show how much whatever the Mystery Man put into her is hurting her and even the remembering good times with Natasha doesn't help distract her from the pain as much as it did and as she spots him out of the corner of her eye she is positive that the Mystery Man is smirking, that he is enjoying her pain.
Once they are in the air and Clint is sure that Tripp can handle thing Clint leaves the cockpit and goes back to the main part of the plane where he finds, Tony, Sam, Steve, Maria and Coulson, all of them shooting looks at Melinda's bunk where Natasha still is.
"Have one of you tried going in there?" Clint asks the five.
"We weren't sure if that was a good idea." Sam admits.
"We were giving her time." Maria admits, "I thought she could some time alone." She tells her friend.
"And she's had some." Clint says, "I think it's time to change that." He comments and he heads to the bunk, both Coulson and Maria right behind him.
"Do we follow?" Sam asks interested and Steve shrugs confused.
"No, I think we should leave it to them." Tony tells them.
When Clint, Coulson and Maria enter Melinda's bunk they find Natasha sitting on the bed cross legged.
Maria walks over and sits on one side of her, Clint sits down on the other and Coulson sits down on the edge of the bed.
"We're here for you Tasha." Maria tells her friend and the four of them drift into silence none of them needing to say anymore.
"I'm going to take the footage down to Simmons and Bruce, see if they can tell what May's injuries are." Skye says to Pepper once she has sent through all the information that she currently has to the bus and while Jarvis is searching for more.
"Good idea, I'll come." Pepper says and the pair head downstairs.
"Can we come in?" Skye asks as she and Pepper reach the labs but neither of them entre as they don't know what exactly Simmons and Bruce are working on.
"Sure." Bruce responds.
"What' going on?" Simmons asks curious.
"We've got footage of May." Skye explains, "She's not where Natasha and the others are but at a different place that they're on their way to and I was wondering if you guys would be able to tell how bad she is hurt from the video." Skye explains.
"Maybe, it just depends." Bruce answers and Skye puts her laptop on the desk, and presses play.
"No." Simmons says and like Skye she looks completely shocked and a look of pain is all too clear on her face. Wanting to help her friend Skye reaches over and grabs her hand.
"Has Natasha seen this?" Bruce asks concerned.
"She insisted we send it over." Pepper answers, "What do you think?" she asks Bruce.
"It's bad." Bruce answers, "But what concerns me the most are the wounds underneath the bandages." He reveals, "As they must be pretty serious for whoever is holding her to actually provide her with medical care." He admits.
"Plus it most likely would have made things worse walking on them." Simmons adds, "They needs to find May as soon as possible." She says and everyone becomes more worried, and Simmons realises that there is a tear in her eye, "Skye?" Simmons asks worried.
"I should have fought." Skye says, "I shouldn't have hid. They took her because she was fighting alone, it's all my fault." She admits.
"No, it's not." Simmons tells her friend letting her hand go and hugging her tightly, "If you would have fought we could have had to try and find both of you." Simmons tells her friend, "You and I have spent enough time around May to know that she wouldn't want you to blame yourself." Simmons tells her, "You followed her orders, that's what you were supposed to do." Simmons tells her friend.
"I wish the people we cared about would stop getting hurt." Skye says to Simmons in a whisper.
"So do I." Simmons responds as they continue to hug, neither of them wanting to break it.
Even though she has tried to count how long the Mystery Man's drugs have been going into her Melinda found it impossible to keep track after the first hour as she realised if she wanted to stop herself from screaming she has to dedicate everything she has to that. She is positive that there is quite a lot of blood inside her mouth from bitting her lip and tears are rolling down her face due to the extreme pain, but she will not let out a scream, she won't let him win.
Even though she cannot keep count anymore another few hours pass and with every minute it becomes harder and harder for Melinda to keep her screams in. As she lays on the table, un able to move, the taste of her own blood in her mouth Melinda can say with certainty that she has never been in this much pain before and that she would like nothing more than for it to end, but because she knows that that is exactly what the mystery man wants her to think she doesn't let herself dwell on those thoughts she just continues to try and distract herself with the best method she has; Thinking of Natasha
"It is useless to continue to fight me Agent May." The mystery man says walking back into the room, "It has been four hours and I can see that you are begging for relief" He tells her, "So if you say the word I will remove the drugs and begin the process for making you into my new weapon." He tells her as after The Winter Solider and Deathlok he learnt that breaking the person first before making them a weapon is a better idea because then there is less chance of defiance later on.
"Never." Melinda tells him, "I told you, you're going to have to kill me." She says and it takes more strength than she thought she had to get that out without screaming.
"Oh, I'm not going to kill you." The Mystery man says running their back of his hand against Melinda's face, "I am going to keep you alive until you beg me be to free you, to make you into something that doesn't feel just to get rid of the pain. You will be my greatest achievement." He tells Melinda.
"Never." Melinda tells him.
"Oh, you say that now." The mystery man says and he once more opens his briefcase and pulls out another IV bag, "Let's see how you handle two." He says and he inserts an needle into Melinda's other arm, hangs the bag up on the pole and positions the tubing right before connecting it all up.
If Melinda thought the pain was bad before it is nothing compared to the pain that she experience when the second dose of drugs go through her body simultaneously. The pain is multiplied by a hundred and she is positive that she isn't going to be able to handle much of this. The pain is so server that she can't even make herself think of Natasha and she finally lets out a scream and once she starts she can't stop.
Three and a half hours after Coulson, Clint and Maria came to sit with Natasha in Melinda's bunk Tripp lands the plane at a clearing as close to the 'cabin' that they can get, which is about a mile away and once more they are going by foot.
"Do you want me to go scout first?" Tony asks.
"No." Steve answers, "we landed too close they are likely expecting us." He says, "We should attack together." He says and Tony nods and together the group leave the plane and walk at a rather fast pace in the direction where the cabin is. They have been walking for several minutes when the group hears screams of absolute agony, which Natasha knows with certainty belongs to her wife, and without thinking she starts to run towards the screams, but she finds herself unable to because Steve has grabbed hold of her.
"Let me go Steve." Natasha tells her friend, fighting against him.
"No, listen to me." Steve says turning her around so that she is facing him but, not even for a second, does he let her go, "You can't just run in there forgetting everything else." Steve tells her saying things that he never thought he would have to tell Natasha Romanoff, "That won't do either of you any good. You've got to be smart, tactical." He tells her and Natasha nods knowing that he is right.
"Tony, Clint, Sam, Tripp, take the back." Natasha says, "We'll take the front." She says and the all nod and Steve lets go of Natasha, though he is watching her closely.
A few minutes later during which Melinda's screams never stopped for a second everyone is in position,
"Now." Natasha says and everyone fires. Natasha herself having switched from an ICER to a pistol once Steve let her go.
As soon as the guards out the back are taken down Clint rushes in only fighting if he absolutely has to and leaving the rest to Sam, Tripp and Tony, having only one goal in mind; getting to Melinda and stoping the screams that are full of more pain than Clint has ever heard in his life.
Country to popular belief it wasn't Fury or Coulson who convinced him to join SHIELD It was Melinda, and for the past eighteen years she has been a sister to him, his pranking buddy back before Bahrain. She has watched over him, she even sat with him when he was under a psychiatric hold after New York and never once left him, even when nurse and doctors tried to force her to, and he will not let her continue to experience whatever it is that is happening to a second longer than he has to.
Making his way thought the battle Clint makes his way towards where Melinda's screams are coming for and he breaks down the door. When he enters he finds a man standing over Melinda with a scalpel pressed against her neck.
"Do you honestly trust your skill enough to shot me before I can kill her?" The Mystery man who Clint recognizes to be Felix Krause asks.
"You obviously have no idea who I am." Clint says and he fires an arrow directly at Krause, but as he does he realises that he isn't the only one who did as he looks behind him and sees Natasha who fired at the exact same time, and between them Krause goes down with a bullet to the brain and an arrow to the chest.
"Get Tripp." Natasha says to Clint as she rushes over to her wife.
"Mel, Mel, I'm here." Natasha says when she reaches Melinda's side, trying to touch somewhere where there isn't a wound, not sure what to do as tears well in her eyes.
"Nat." Melinda is barely able to say.
"Yeah it's me. Help's coming, we'll get you out of here." Natasha promises her wife as she brushes Melinda's hair back with her hand.
"I can't move." Melinda tells Natasha, once more fighting to keep the screams in, "He gave me something to paralyse me below the neck." She reveals as Coulson, Clint, Tripp, Sam, Tony and Steve come in.
"Okay, we'll fix it." Natasha says, "Tripp why is she in so much pain?" Natasha asks.
"The IV's." Melinda says before once more screaming, not being able to keep them in.
"DON'T PULL THEM OUT." Tripp yells as both Natasha and Coulson are about to, "We don't know what they are, we could do more harm." He reveals.
"Look at her." Natasha says angrily, "She is in excruciating pain, we need to pull them out." She says, pain perfectly clear in her voice as she hates that Melinda is in so much pain and she can't do anything to help.
"Romanoff's right." Tony says, "We'll take the drugs back with us but we can't let her be in this much pain, it's cruel." He says and Tripp nods, as even though he is worried about the side effects he knows that Natasha and Tony are right and that it's cruel to leave her in so much pain, so together Coulson and Natasha carefully pull out the IV'S, and for a couple of minutes the group thinks that it has done nothing until finally Melinda stops screaming.
"Thank you." Melinda says to Natasha before losing consciousness.
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