RR25- Phase 2

The moment Loki used his powers to give Natalia her memory back, the force pushed them to their knees and Loki was unable to remove his hands from Natalia's head. They were frozen in pain as the memory came back, and from the crystal on Natalia's wrist. The crystal recognized a new power and latched on, which in turn created a power current. Natalia couldn't move as she was thrust back in time.

1953

Natalia was getting restless as her training got even more restricted. She needed to move, she was feeling sluggish and it was messing with her head. The constant checkups were annoying as well. They always put her under and she had no clue what kind of tests they would run. The guards around the compound were always watching her as if she were going to escape at any moment. They never caught her at night though, she was better than them. It also made her sad that James was gone. She guessed with her restricted schedule they no longer had a need for the assassin team, and he got shipped to another location. He was gone shortly after Ivan was seen yelling at him the day she got kicked in the stomach. Accidents happen, so that couldn't have been the reason he was gone so it had to be because of her. She hated to admit it but they had started to become friends. They were the greatest assassin team in the world.

As she was doing sit ups one morning, one of the guards entered her room and forcefully pulled her along to another appointment. She had tried resisting the last two times since she didn't know what was going on. It concerned her when they switched to batons rather than tasers to make her comply. She felt too weak to fight back, maybe her serum was wearing off and they needed to constantly test her levels? That was the only thing she could think of. The familiar gray walls bored her on the way to the lab. The lights cast off a dreary glow and she thought of the whole place as a dungeon, and she was the princess in the tower. Some princess she was, she couldn't even fight back to her tormentor, Ivan. That man seeped evil and there was something about him that made her listen to his every word.

The medical lab was just another cell. Knowing the routine, she shook off the guard and made her way to the exam table. Dr. Andrei along with Ivan came over and she felt the familiar needle slide into her arm. Staring defiantly at them, she slipped once again into unconsciousness. What felt like moments later, Natalia woke up and kept her eyes closed like she always did to survey her surroundings. The only thing she heard was a newspaper page being flipped and she knew it was the nurse who always led her back to her room. She sat up and steadied her dizziness when the nurse took her by the arm and helped her into her room. Once the nurse left, she groggily tried to create a plan to find out what was going on. Later that night, she would sneak into the lab. She had snuck around many places in the compound, but she steered clear of the lab, it was too dark and evil. This princess was going to find some answers; all she needed to do was avoid the dragon and his henchmen.

It was a cold walk back to the lab. It seemed so much different when the corridors were lit in the daytime; she had to rely on her senses in the darkness. She passed no souls on the way so she continued her path. Loki was supposed to come tonight, but she had to find out now. "Sorry my friend," she muttered, knowing that he wouldn't hear. She reached the lab and found it to be locked. It was no surprise, but she picked it just like any other and got it open in no time. Quietly closing the door, she flipped the light on and took a look around. It was spotless, as usual, but the smell was still the same. She couldn't describe it, but it was the smell of death and metal. She wondered if all dungeons smelled like that, familiar yet unexplainable.

Natalia made her way over to the filing cabinet in the corner. All of the drawers were locked but like the door to the lab, she forced them open. Leafing through the files, she found hers. She sat it on the table and sat to read through it. The only thing that stuck out in it was letters and a number written in pen on the inside cover of her file. It read 'BWp2exp.' She raised her eyebrows in question as she scanned over the info. Finding nothing else surprising, she picked it up to replace it and a key fell out that she hadn't noticed before. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand. It was a small key to a safe or something. She then scoured the room for evidence of a safe but found none, it must be in Ivan's office. She pocketed the key and went to put her file back.

When she placed it in its drawer, she noticed that it was shallower than the other four. Curious, she took the other files out and smiled when she saw what was in the back corner. Blending in with the color of the bottom of the drawer was a keyhole. Testing it with the key, it slid in like butter. She turned it and the whole bottom popped up. She lifted it out and found a hidden drawer that contained only one file which read 'BWp2exp.'

"Bingo." She whispered and sat in a chair to flip through it. What she found made her want to pass out.

Black Widow – Phase 2 Experiment

Natalia Alianova Romanova

a.k.a Black Widow

Simulation of Phase 2 Experiment has failed.

A lot of the pages went on like that, but when she found the good stuff, it wasn't so good.

Black Widow – Phase 2 Experiment

Natalia Alianova Romanova

a.k.a Black Widow

Simulation 27 of Phase 2 Experiment points to success. Must be field tested before proving true.

Black Widow – Phase 2 Experiment

Natalia Alianova Romanova

a.k.a Black Widow

Simulation 27 of Phase 2 Experiment proved successful. Proceed with caution.

Natalia then flipped to the back of the file to see exactly what Phase 2 was.

Black Widow – Phase 2 Experiment

Natalia Alianova Romanova

a.k.a Black Widow

The purpose of this experiment is to find out if the sterilization process can be overcome by the super serum. After many simulations, the experiment proved to be a success and the product will be the first of its kind.

When DNA from James Buchannan (weaponized soldier of HYDRA and RED ROOM), and Natalia Romanova were combined with a hybridized version composed of the super serum from both person's blood, the product was formed. The new serum was injected into Natalia 3 months prior to this report. Product appears to be healthy despite the fear of accidental abortion when a blow to Romanova's abdomen occurred. Training was halted and suspended until after product arrives.

Product will be taken from the mother upon birth, and various experiments run to find out if he/she portrays any trace of the serum in its system. If present, experiment will be repeated.

-Alexi P.

Natalia's hand flew to her stomach. She wasn't gaining weight due to restricted training; she was gaining weight because she was pregnant. It couldn't be possible! She went through the sterilization process when she graduated to the next level. But the serum, could it possibly have worked? It had to of, she had been so sick lately, and oh god, Loki was right. A few weeks ago when she stumbled from dizziness in the cave and he caught her, he said, "Natalia, are you pregnant?" She denied it since she didn't think it could be possible. She picked the file up from where it dropped to the ground in her surprise, and pictures fell out. They were ultrasound pictures, and she could see her baby as plain as day right there in the middle. Tears sprang to her eyes. She didn't know how to process the information. She shoved everything back into the file and back into the cabinet and ran back to her room. She spent the rest of the night trying to deny what she had saw, but it was no use. Her eyes kept flitting to her stomach and she started to wonder. What will happen to it when it's born? She then fell into a fitful sleep.

A little girl sat by a fire in a warm living room with what looked like the parents behind her. The little girl was playing with a doll while her mother knitted and hummed a lullaby. The father sat reading a newspaper and seemed extremely nervous. His eyes kept flitting around the room and he jumped at every little sound. The mother in the room sensed his tension and told him to relax, but he never did. The little girl playing by the fireplace had no clue as to what her father was feeling. Before she knew it, she heard a loud bang at the front door and her mother scooped her up and ran up to the top floor of the house with the father close behind. Her father grabbed the crying girl from the arms of her mother and opened up a small door in the floor that she had no idea was there. He gently kissed her head and lowered her in, the mother following. The little girl was worried for her father, and for her doll she dropped in the doorway to the room.

The father ran back down the stairs and opened the door to see who was there, there was no one. He was thinking it had to be Mr. Petrovich. He turned to go back up the stairs and that's when he noticed the dark figure sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace. Before he could let out a warning, the man shot him in the leg. He stumbled and fell but he made it back up the stairs to try and keep the man from harming his hidden family. It was no use, in a matter of seconds, the entire first floor burst into flames when the dark figure spilled kerosene all over the place and walked out of the door. He tried to yell for his wife to get their daughter out of there but a body fell onto his. Another man was in the house and had grabbed the mother when she emerged from the hiding place when she heard the gunshot. She left her daughter alone and was shot in the chest along the way. She made it to her husband before her legs gave out. Neither of them could move as the flames reached higher.

The little girl stayed as long as she could in the trap door, but it soon became too hot. Not knowing what was going on, she opened the door with her little arms and saw flames licking at the room. She saw her doll in the doorway, covered in flames. She knew fire was bad when out of control, and if she didn't leave, she could be burned alive like her beloved doll. Running to the window, her small little hands wrenched it open and she leaped to the snowbank far below. She could hear the screams of her parents over the roaring of the flames. Her old life of love and happiness was now over.

Natalia didn't sleep a wink after the dream that night. She just knew it was how she ended up here. Ivan took her that night when he burned down her house. She could feel the love her parents had for her and it was a feeling she hadn't felt sense then. Could her hormones be bringing it back? Looking at her rounded stomach, she started to feel an inkling of that love again. The next morning, she decided to go for a walk in the courtyard to soothe her mind. As she breathed in the clean, cold air, it started to lightly snow. Ice covered the ground and the gray of the dead forest dampened her spirit. Deciding to head back in, she turned around and slipped on a patch of ice. She fell forward and almost instinctively protected her belly. She wasn't injured, but two guards ran to her side and radioed Dr. Andrei, alerting him to the incident. They then rushed her to the lab and Ivan was standing there next to Dr. Andrei looking concerned. The familiar needle came out as she was placed on the table and she caught Dr. Andrei's arm as he brought the needle closer.

She stared him dead in the eyes and said, "I know."

"Know what my dear? Release me so I can perform your checkup."

This time she looked at Ivan. "'BWp2exp.'" She took the key out of her pocket as she said it and threw it at him. Ivan bent to pick it up, and then looked at the file cabinet.

He walked closer to her. "My little spider, you weren't supposed to find out yet. I wouldn't want you to do anything drastic to the product."

The word 'product' made her angry. "Product? This isn't one of your 'products!' It's a baby, a live human being and you want to experiment on it before it's even in the world for a week?"

"My dear Natalia, if the 'baby' doesn't make it, we will just do the experiment again and again and again until it works. Do you know what this would mean? A whole army! You, Natalia will produce the greatest army alive if this works."

Natalia was horrified. She was going to be like a machine; she didn't want that, she didn't want her child to suffer either.

"You will not take this baby from me." She threatened.

"Oh really, we will see about that."

With that, he grabbed the needle from Dr. Andrei and plunged it into her arm. Before falling asleep she head Ivan say to Andrei, "we will have to find a way to keep her weaker so she doesn't escape."

She woke up on the exam table and her hand immediately flew to her stomach. The bump was still there so she relaxed. The nurse in the room raced over to her and guided her back to her room. The moment she sat on her bed, she vowed to not let anything happen to this child. She grabbed the doll from underneath her pillow and hugged it close. It reminded her of her doll she had as a child. She then realized that so many things become beautiful when you really look. I wonder how many people I have looked at and never really seen?

For the next month, Natalia was constantly guarded. She had zero chances to sneak away and see Loki. She only wondered what he thought happened to her. Every few night though, she would see the light in the sky where his portal would open. He never stopped waiting for her to show up. She would have to make an attempt to go see him as soon as the guards relaxed.

She talked back to Ivan today and was rewarded with a smack to the face. She gladly took it as well. He had the nerve to start calling the 'product' as his son. He even had names picked out. For a boy, he wanted the name Nikolai, which meant 'victorious' in Russian. For a daughter, her name was to be Vladlena, which meant 'to rule'.

She told him she would never call her child by that name, and it would never be known as 'his child'. She sat in her room mad at the world, her face still stinging. To her luck though, that night she was able to sneak out. The bitter cold bit at her bruised face as she bundled up and trekked to her and Loki's cave. She didn't know how much time she had to wait, but she left as soon as she could. Loki might not even be there yet. She was only there for five minutes when the familiar green eyes entered to her left.

"Natalia! Where have you been?" He ran to her and gave her a friendly hug.

Natalia opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't. Tears formed in her eyes and she unbuttoned her coat. Loki's eyes fell to her midsection and then he knew.

"Natalia, I am so sorry." He then just held her and let her cry. She then told him of Ivan's plans and it made him furious. He thought she had been pregnant, but she convinced him otherwise when she told him of the sterilization when she graduated.

Loki tried to come up with a plan. "I will work on my teleporting, and then I can get us both out of here. I can only do it by myself at the moment." He then started pacing.

"I can talk to Heimdall but no human is allowed on Asgard without permission from him or the king, the portal won't even open if Heimdall senses danger. He is all knowing. What if we just run?"

"We can't just run Loki, we are in the middle of nowhere and Ivan wouldn't stop until he found me. I'm too weak anyways, they are giving me something. It was hard just to get here and look, my face is still bruised, and it hasn't healed yet. I just don't know what to do."

The two tried to come up with a plan but nothing would come to them. After a little while, Natalia had to leave. She didn't want to be found missing if someone tried checking up on her.

Three months passed with no solution. Natalia could now feel the baby kick and she loved it. Loki was able to feel it the few times she escaped to see him. He thought it was so amazing, and he couldn't wait to see it if he was able to before it was taken away. One night while in the cave, Loki had a small fire going and they sat near, but not close to it. He knew she didn't like fire but he wanted to keep her warm.

"Ksenia." She said out loud.

"What?" Loki asked.

"Ksenia, what do you think about that name?"

"I think it's beautiful, how did you choose it?"

"I don't know, I've heard it before and have loved it ever since."

"Well I love it. What about a middle name?" Never in a hundred years did Loki think he would be listening to a human name her child. He was breaking every rule just to see her, but he didn't care. He still couldn't believe Heimdall opened the portal for him, he must have seen his soul where he meant no harm. She was his only friend who understood him.

Natalia thought for a few moments. "Elena, it means light. Ksenia Elena."

Loki smiled. "And for a boy?"

"It's a girl, I know it. If it is a boy though, Luka. It also means light. Either way he or she will be my light in this world." Her smile slipped away as she started to think about the future. She didn't know what it held with Ivan in it. She loved her unborn child with a love she felt from her parents. She hoped she could protect it from the horror she had went through.

The two talked some more and before they knew it, Natalia had to leave. Loki took it upon himself to walk her back to the compound so nothing would happen to her. In this part of the winter, the wolves were bad. She walked with wolves without fear, for the wolves knew that a lion was among them. Though they sensed that Natalia was dangerous, Loki still didn't trust Midgardian creatures. The people could be horrible enough.

The next day, she had another appointment. Ivan didn't want her to find out as soon as she did in case she did something bad to the baby, but she had found out at three months. He knew she wouldn't harm the baby now; she had grown attached and protective. He was so excited for it to be here. He grew excited at all of the things it would be able to do, if he could take it from her of course.

The next week, Natalia had to ensure her baby's safety; she had to make a deal with Ivan. Mustering up the courage, she left her room and headed to his office. She had only been in there a few times before and she always felt insecure in there. Before she reached the closed door, she heard voices. It was Ivan and Dr. Andrei talking together in the office. She came closer to listen in, there was no use barging in when she could just hear what they were saying from the door. She really didn't want to go in that room.

"They need to be separated," Ivan said.

"I thought that was the plan?" Andrei sounded confused.

"I mean they need to be separated before she goes into labor. I think she will do whatever she can to protect it, so this needs to be done. We can do it in a few weeks at her next checkup. This child will be momentous! I will make history!"

Natalia grew horrified. She backed away soundlessly from the door and rushed back to her room. She had to escape, and do it now. There was no way her child would be safe with this monster in this place. She refused to have it go through what she did, she would leave tonight. The princess was fleeing the castle.

It wasn't too hard to pack all of her stuff, she didn't have much. The only things in the duffel bag were a few pairs of clothes, the doll, and a blanket. To save room, she wore two pairs of clothes under her winter coat. Her snow boots were waterproof and had a space for her trusty knife. Within minutes, she was ready to go, but she had to wait for the cover of night fall. She looked out of the window to waste time and tried counting snowflakes. The white flurries soon became too immense to count as it started to snow harder. Many people would say that her view was gorgeous, and she had said that before, but when it is all you have to look at for years it starts to turn ugly. It was always gray from the trees that were dead from the cold or white when the forest was blanketed with the white death. Even the animals were white to blend in with the surroundings. That's why she loved the cave. The heat from the fires made sparse green vegetation grow. The frozen waterfall was blue, and when the light from the moon shone through it, the cave looked purple, and the orange of the fire made the ice shine like magic. She could only imagine what Asgard looked like. Loki described it as rainbow and gold. She would have loved to see it.

When the moon was at its highest point in the sky, she grabbed her bag and quietly snuck down the halls for what she hoped was the last time. Whatever drugs they had been giving her had made her weak, and she was soon out of breath. What felt like hours, she made it to the gap in the fence. Natalia couldn't believe that no one had found it as she squeezed her seven and a half month old belly through. She feared nothing on the journey to the cave except for her child's safety. As her adrenaline kicked in, the baby started kicking as if it sensed its mothers worry.

Natalia made it to her safe haven in only an hour and a half; she was slower this time due to the heavy snowfall. She sensed that Loki wasn't there before she even squeezed behind the ice wall. She set her bag down near the back wall and sat down wondering what to do. She needed to keep warm for the baby, but that would include making a fire. Maybe if she bundled up in all of her clothes? No, that was selfish; she had to think of someone else for the first time in her life. Her nerves were a mess as she piled up Loki's wood stash that he kept in the cave. Finding his fire starter, she striked it. The sudden sparks startled her as the heat warmed her hand. Abandonment filled her mind, she had felt abandoned when the fire took her home. Would this be how her child felt if it ever grew up? Would she be there for it and be able to love it like her parents had loved her? She did not like the feeling and it made her stomach tie in knots. She tried again, this time anticipating the sparks, and angled them towards the dry wood and moss. It quickly caught fire and for the first time in her life, she smiled at the flame. She grabbed her blanket from her bag and layed in on the ground as she slept and warmed her body.

Sleep didn't last long when she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Bolting upright, she held her midsection. She sat frozen for a minute before lying back down to attempt sleep again. She only hoped the baby wasn't coming due to stress. An hour later though, she felt it again.

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I thought about making this chapter super long, but the next one is going to be momentous. I want to especially thank Avengergirl1306 for that amazing review. It made me feel so good about my writing and I thank you so much for that. I also want to thank my other reviewers for their kind words. I hope this chapter didn't kill it for everyone, but I put as many clues as I could about it in previous chapters without giving it away. Is this what you thought it was sailorraven34? Let me know what you guys think. The next chapter is going to be amazing and I promise you all will love it.