Chapter Twenty- Five
Previously…
"Natasha!" Hill shouted as she dropped onto her knees next to the Widow. Hill saw the struggle her student was having trying to stay awake,
"Don't close your eyes Romanoff" she ordered, "Stay awake!" she felt horrible not just for pushing her to this state of exhaustion but also ordering her in her obviously weakened state, yet she knew no other way in which to keep the woman's eyes open.
"Her unquestioning attitude towards pain, punishment and torture is annoying and highly disturbing" Fury spoke, resting his chin on his hands,
"I want you to try and break her out of the habit of expecting any of those three when it comes to us and our orders." Hill nodded,
"That's not going to be easy, she has been conditioned like that for most of her life" Hill commented.
Two month later…
"Romanoff!" Hill snapped as she saw the woman about to turn the corner down the corridor, Natasha stopped moving instantly and spun round to face her superior office,
"Ma'am?" she responded. Her face remained blank as Hill approached her,
"Where are you heading Recruit?" she questioned coldly,
"To my Quarters Ma'am" she replied instantly. Natasha had gotten used to the random questions Hill threw at her and always told the truth.
"I thought I told you to be in the training room ready for our next session" Hill told her sharply, in fact she had told her no such thing however she continued to push her recruit as far as she could to get a rise out of her.
"Yes Ma'am. Sorry ma'am" Romanoff replied with a short bow, "May I be dismissed?" she asked politely. Hill nodded before spinning around and walking back the way she came growling inwardly as she did so. Natasha rolled her eyes at her boss's antics before turning back round and heading towards the training room as ordered.
"Agent Barton will be joining us today. You are to treat him in the same manner as you treat me. Is that understood?" Hill asked as she walked into the room and came to a stop in front of her recruit. Natasha stood at attention and nodded her head sharply,
"Yes Ma'am. Understood." She knew exactly what Hill was playing at; by making her act like a subordinate, she was effectively destroying any familiar relationship that had formed between them.
"One thousand pushups. Start." Hill ordered. At once Romanoff dropped to the ground and began pumping out the required number. Barton walked in just as she was finishing and saw how she immediately stood once more at attention.
"Agent Hill. Natasha" he greeted the two with a wide grin on his face.
"Agent Barton" Hill returned the greetings before glancing at Natasha as if warning her. Natasha got the message and responded with a slight bow,
"Sir"
Barton frowned,
"Come on Tasha, we're friends no need for the whole 'sir' thing" he said, waving his hand dismissively.
"Sir, you are my superior therefore the correct address is needed sir" she responded, her voice flat and cold. Barton opened his mouth to object however Hill beat him to it,
"Agent Barton, what the recruit said was correct therefore end of discussion" her tone leaving no room for argument. He looked oddly at her before fixing his gaze back onto the woman he hoped was still at least luke warm towards him.
"Righttt" he dragged out the word, clearly unaware of what was going on.
"Agent Barton, you will be assisting me in her training session today. Any orders you give her will be obeyed without question, won't they Recruit?" she asked Natasha
"Yes Ma'am" Natasha replied instantly.
Barton looked uncomfortable at what he was been asked to do however he knew better than to question Hill in front of other agents.
"Recruit, begin working your way round the equipment in the room; spend thirty minutes at each post. Understood?"
"Yes Ma'am" Natasha responded coldly before hurrying off to obey.
"Agent Barton." Hill spoke as she watched him watch Natasha. Barton snapped his attention back onto his superior officer,
"What the hell Hill?" he demanded angrily
"We need to find out how much we can trust the Widow Barton. Because of that, Fury has ordered me to make her life a living hell for the past two months and to figure out how far we can push her before she snaps. She knows that she has to obey any and all orders I give her without question and without losing her temper once." Hill calmly informed him.
"What have I got to do with it?" he asked, still angry at her. Hill looked at him,
"You are another trigger for her, you are the only one that has been allowed anywhere near close to her therefore you treating her like an inferior may have an effect upon her" Barton rolled his eyes,
"Close!? Seriously? Just because I'm the only one who can talk to her without getting punched does not mean I will have any effect on her."
This time, Hill was the one who rolled her eyes,
"My point exactly you are the only one. Now. Whilst you are here, you can only address her by recruit or Natalia. You are to speak coldly and indifferently whenever you speak to her and you are to insult her whenever you get the chance understood?" she ordered. Barton nodded stiffly.
"Is that why she did not react to the agents last month?" Hill nodded,
"Yes. She was ordered to not react or attack even if other agents insulted her"
Flashback
Natasha walked into her normal training room at 0300 as ordered by Hill when she saw that there were already eight other agents there. She inwardly sighed as she realized that today was yet another day where she had to put up with and train with other agents. Needless to say she hated it.
"Hey look who it is" one of the agents started as he caught sight of her, "It's the flaming pixie" several chuckles accompanied the words as the other agents joined in,
"Why are you still here Pixie, haven't you realized yet that no one wants you here?"
"Yeah why don't you be a good little soldier and off yourself and save everyone else the pain of your company" another taunted.
Natasha curled her hands into fists as the ridicule continued; if she had a choice, every single one of them would be on the floor in various amount of pain or perhaps dead already however Hill had ordered her on the second day of training that she was to ignore and not react to the other agents even if they attacked or ridiculed her like today. One of the more cocky agents swaggered over to her. The majority of the agents were pretending to be horrible however there was always one who didn't care and wanted to see her suffer.
"Look, if mummy and daddy didn't want you and killed themselves to get away from you why would you think that anyone else would and could put up with you?"he taunted as he stood right in front of her. Natasha dug her nails into her palms until blood was drawn however did not respond. The agent got annoyed at being ignored and backhanded her across the face,
"Hey! I'm talking to you" he spat in her face. Natasha slowly move her neck so she was facing him again, her features blank save for a spark of fury in her eyes. This time he landed a hard punch in the stomach. She tensed slightly but gave no sign that it hurt or that she had even been hit in the first place. Growling he punched her again, she jumped back to avoid his fist however did not retaliate.
"Hey Tom, what the hell man? Leave her alone" another agent yelled at him as he jumped in between the pissed off agent and Natasha. The agent, Tom, simply shoved him aside before stalking forwards. Natasha tried to get herself under control as she watched him approach.
"Think you're tough huh?" he snarled as he grabbed her round the throat and slammed her into the wall,
"Think you're better than us just because you've murdered innocents?" he tightened his grip while smashing his other fist into her stomach,
"Cause let me tell you something, you're not. You're nothing!" he punctuated each word with a punch. She gasped for breath as her supply was cut off. Several cracks sounded in the room as he continued to deliver the punches. The other agents snapped out of their horror and ran forward before dragging an enraged Tom off a badly injured Natasha. Natasha sank to the ground on her hands and knees, gasping desperately for breath all the while ignoring the pain from the ribs and trying to control her anger. Two agents stepped up to help her however she violently shook her head as she lifted her head up,
"GET OUT" she roared before slamming her eyes shut and breathing harshly. She staggered to her feet as the other agents slowly backed away, they could clearly see the rage burning in her eyes as she glared at them.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
Hill had arrived. Natasha immediately snapped her attention to her angry superior who was stalking into the room. Her breathing was still fast and harsh as she flicked her glare back and forth between the group of petrified agents and Hill. Once more her hands were curled into fists and she was shaking with the exertion as she prevented her instincts from taking over.
" We.. we-" stuttered one of the agents. Hill raised an eyebrow at him,
"You what?" she hissed at him, she turned a concerned eye to her recruit and clearly saw her struggle to remain calm.
"Recruit." She snapped, Natasha turned her glare onto Hill, "Leave the room and wait outside until I call for you" she ordered harshly. Natasha nodded her head stiffly and staggered out the door however not before throwing an 'I am going to kill you' glare at the agents. Hill watched her leave before turning her angry gaze back onto the agents,
"So what was it that you did?" she asked them quietly.
The guy who first tried to stop Tom spoke up,
"At the beginning we were just obeying your orders and insulted her. she did not rise to the bait and remained silent, Tom however, was not satisfied and continued to taunt her, when he did not get the action he wanted he backhanded her across the face" he stopped when Hill glare turned murderous.
"You did what?" she practically snarled at Tom. Tom shrunk back as his face turned pale,
"Continue!" she barked at the agent. (Matthews)
Agent Matthews opened his mouth and did as she ordered,
"After Tom backhanded her, he continued to insult her and her parents when she refused to react. He got so pissed that he punched her in the stomach, once again she gave no reaction and so he went to punch her again, this time she jumped back to avoid it however did not retaliate." He faltered again as Hill took a step forwards, Tom took a couple of steps back before trying to hide behind him fellow agents, Hill waved her hand impatiently for Matthews to finish his report,
"Well after she jumped out of the way, he got so enraged that he grabbed her by her throat and shoved her into the wall. He started to choke her while he continued to punch her. The rest of us were startled out of our frozen states when we heard the sound of bones cracking. We quickly ran forward and yanked him off her. Romanoff fell to the ground breathing hard; Agents Cameron and Davis attempted to help her up however she yelled for us to get out before staggering to her feet. We started to back away once we saw how furious she was. Then you came in." he finished lamely.
Hill glared at them all for a minute,
"Agent Richards I want to see you in my office in five minutes, if I were you I would leave now" she spoke through gritted teeth. Tom took off running.
"The rest of you can leave and come back tomorrow instead for the training session. Tell Romanoff to come back in when you see her" the agents all gave her quick nods before hurrying out of the room. Thirty seconds later and the door opened once more and Natasha walked in slowly.
"Ma'am" she greeted quietly, giving Hill a small bow
"Recruit" Hill greeted her back, "Well done on keeping your temper. How are your injuries?" Natasha smirked slightly, "they're healing. They will be fully healed within the next ten minutes" Hill nodded,
"Good. Next time you are attacked unprovoked you have permission to defend yourself." Natasha's smirk became full blown,
"ONLY to defend yourself. No harsh injuries on your attackers, understood?" Natasha nodded,
"Perfectly"
"Looks likes she finished" Barton commented as Natasha dropped to the ground from where she had been hanging from the rings. Hill nodded and together they made their way over to where she was waiting for them. Natasha instantly stood to attention as they approached,
"Recruit!" Barton snapped coldly, inwardly regretting what he had to do
"Sir?" she replied cautiously,
"Did we not say thirty minutes on each piece of equipment?" he asked coldly, nervously she nodded her head,
"Why then did you only hang up there for twenty?" he demanded, lying through his teeth. Hill looked at him approvingly,
"Apologizes Sir, I have no excuse" Natasha replied tonelessly as she stared at the ground. She knew for a fact that she had spent thirty minutes on every piece of equipment as ordered and she knew that this was just another tactic to try and get her to blow up.
"At least you can be honest" Barton told her gruffly, "As punishment you can get back up there and hang for one hour. Understood?"
"Yes Sir" she replied with a nod before jumping back up onto the rings and pulling herself level.
"Well done" Hill muttered in his ear as they both observed Natasha.
"Does she ever react to anything you say or do?" he whispered back
"No" Hill replied annoyed, "You can see why I'm getting frustrated and being cruel" Barton just nodded, if the rumors were anywhere near the truth that he had been hearing for the last two months about these session he was incredibly impressed with Romanoff's patience and control.
One hour later…
"Get down!" barked Barton. At once Natasha dropped to the ground and stood there waiting for her next orders.
"We are going to spar, all three of us" he told her with a cruel smile on his face.
"The rules however are that you are only allowed to dodge our attacks. If you defend yourself beyond that or lash out you will be doing ten thousand pushups. Is that anyway unclear?" he growled. He inwardly winced at what he was doing to her however he knew that if anything was going to break her calm it was deliberately preventing her from attacking constantly.
"No Sir" she replied through gritted teeth.
Hill and Barton began to circle her as Natasha eyed them warily. Hill went first and threw a flurry of punches; Natasha ducked, dodged and weaved through them all however she failed to prevent Barton's from hitting her. She stumbled back slightly from a blow from the back and she spun round just in time to dodge the barrage of blows raining down from that direction. Natasha's eyes widened as realized she had no hope of getting out of this unscathed and so began to move faster and faster in an effort to dodge the blows from both Hill and Barton. Thirty minutes later and she was getting tired, she felt several bruises forming across her body from punches she had failed to dodge. Hill threw a partially fast punch at her head which she ducked under however she failed to realize the kick aimed at her stomach from Barton until it was too late. Natasha went flying through the air only to slam against the back wall and then onto the floor with a muffled thud. Barton had badly miscalculated the force he had put into the kick.
"Shit" Natasha muttered to herself as she gingerly picked herself off the floor before facing her two superior officers who were hurrying over to her. Placing a hand gently over her ribs, she winced as she felt at least four ribs cracked and two broken.
"Recruit" Barton snapped. Natasha instantly looked at them while wiping any trace of emotion from her face.
"Are you injured?" he asked, she hesitated not knowing if it was a trick question.
"Just a couple of broken ribs Sir, nothing to worry about. Are we to continue Sir?" she asked tonelessly. Barton could not help his mouth hanging open at her dismissive reply. Hill, seeing that Barton was not in any shape to respond stepped in,
"No Recruit. Go to medical to make sure your ribs have not punctured anything" she ordered. Romanoff stiffened at that. She did not like the medical wing, everyone knew that, especially Hill. She opened her mouth before quickly shutting it, reminding herself that she had to obey all orders.
"Something the matter?" Hill asked emotionlessly, the fact that Natasha hated the medical facility having honestly slipped her mind. Natasha quickly shook her head,
"No Ma'am" she reluctantly walked out of the room and to the medical wing. Natasha promised herself that one day she was going to get even with everyone who insulted, attacked and sent her to medical one of these days.
"Barton!" snapped Hill when she saw him still in shock. Barton blinked.
"How…?" he trailed off, "How can she be so causal about those sort of injuries, especially during a training session?" he asked weakly.
"Because she has been trained to take it Barton" Hill answered tiredly, "My guess is that she has had worse. Much worse"
"Wait! Hill where did you send her?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.
"Medical why?" Hill asked puzzled. Barton looked at her as though she had gone insane,
"Hill, why did you send an angry, injured Black Widow into the one place she hates above all else?" he asked her quietly.
Hill's face paled as she realized what she had done,
"Shit" she swore, "Let's go"
She took off running with Barton close behind.
Natasha was in an incredibly bad mood. Not only had she been suffering injustice after injustice for the last two months but she was injured and was now being forced to spend time in the one place where she would rather die than be. Currently she was walking into the doorway where she was suddenly rushed by at least half a dozen doctors. She closed her eyes and counted to ten in Swahili to calm down,
"If you value your life all but one of you will leave me alone now" just as quickly as they came, most of them left. She opened her eyes and saw a nervous looking junior doctor looking at her.
"Right Doctor, I'm only here because agent Hill ordered it. I currently have four fractured ribs and two broken ones; don't worry they will heal on their own, however I need to know whether they have punctured anything. So can you do that?" she told him crisply.
The doctor nodded quickly before gesturing over to a bed in the far corner of the room. She nodded stiffly before walking over to it and lying down. The doctor grabbed a portable x ray machine and began the procedure. Five minutes later the doctor handed her the x rays, quickly she scanned them and found thankfully that nothing had been punctured. Swinging her legs back over the edge of the bed she nodded her thanks to the doctor before striding over towards the exit. However as soon as she got there she was knocked over by two panting agents who were running full tilt to the entrance. Natasha grunted as her ribs were dangerously hit when she landed and she steadily got back to her feet ready to unleash her fury onto the idiots who dared run into her when she was already injured; her orders be damned. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the two agents were in face Hill and Barton. Hurriedly she hid her anger behind a blank mask and gave the superior agents a small bow,
"Ma'am, Sir. Can I help you with anything?" she asked politely. Hill and Barton looked at her, then at the state of the medical room before looking at each other,
"No Recruit, you may head back to your quarters" Hill answered smoothly.
"Yes Ma'am" replied Natasha calmly before walking out the door. After Barton was sure she was gone and out of hearing asked the room at large,
"Right, is anyone hurt?" Hill just stood there shaking her head while the other doctors looked at them with confusion. After getting confirmation from them that none of them were injured by the Widow he turned towards Hill,
"This is going to be a long month isn't it?"
"You have no idea, Agent Barton" replied Hill tiredly.
A/N: This was probably not as good as previous chapters however I would like some feedback so if it is not too much to ask please review. Thanks.