Hey guys! I'm here with a new chapter but I have to put out a WARNING:
This chapter contains mentions of torture, torture, blood, gore, and some gruesome stuff.
Personally I don't think its all that bad but if you cringe at the sight of your own blood I wouldn't read it. This is probably the most gruesome thing I've ever written, and I must say doing research for it, I saw things that I can never un-see... It was a very interesting learning experience.
Alright I hope you enjoy.
Captured
Chapter 28
Natasha and Steve had been gone for two days. At first, they were able to stay in contact with hourly updates. That changed, however, three hours ago… "Where's Mama and Daddy?" Emma asked.
"How come they haven't sent us anything in a long time?" James asked innocently.
That made every adult in the room just about melt. For the past three hours, the twins had been asking similar questions every few minutes. Bobbi, Jane, and Pepper were beginning to run out of excuses. It was time for the remaining Avengers to step in.
Steve and Natasha were supposedly in Russia infiltrating a Red Room base where there was known human trafficking. Natasha hated the Red Room, and Fury used that to his advantage. Any missions involving the Red Room or the KGB, he would call Natasha and Steve because he knew she would kill any Red Room or KGB agent without hesitation. "They're in China," Tony lied.
"Aunty Pep said they were in Cuba," Emma repeated the previous lie she had been told.
Tony groaned but Clint covered for him as he tried to recover from the observant child's blow. "They were in Cuba but they had to chase a bad guy to China," Clint continue the thread of lies.
"Oh," James and Emma said.
The adults let out quiet sighs of relief. "When are they coming back?" Emma asked for her brother.
Tony let out a more noticeable groan. "Soon," Bruce answered hopefully.
"When's soon?"
Tony began to bang his head on a table. "Why is Uncle Tony hurting himself?" Emma asked.
"Because he's dumb," Clint said.
"Mama says he does things to get the attention his Daddy didn't give him when he was little," Emma said whilst her brother quietly stood beside her nodding in agreement.
The adults began laughing and Tony glared at them, "Shut up!" He growled, "Smart ass kid," he then mumbled.
"Swear jar!" Emma yelled.
"Damn super hearing," Tony continue with his groaning.
"Swear jar again!" Emma giggled.
….
Steve came to in a dark room inside Russia's Red Room building. He didn't know how long he had been out. All he remembered was helping Natasha try to break into a secure holding cell were people were being held as slaves. He remembered Natasha dropping to the floor. That was all he remembered before everything went black.
Natasha!? He opened his eyes and looked around. Natasha was next to him, tied to a metal chair. Her hands tied behind the back of the chair. He was tied up too, except he was bound by chains and not rope. The room seemed large. It was dark and damp. The only sound Steve could hear was the sound of water dripping onto the floor from a leaky pipe and the mumbles of voices outside the room.
The room seemed to be made of metal. The only source of light came from a flickering lamp hanging from the ceiling. Steve had a metallic taste in his mouth and he knew it from his blood, leading him to conclude that he must have been punched in the face, which probably busted open his lip. Steve looked over at Natasha, "Natasha?" He whispered in a rushed tone.
She shifted a bit, "Nat wake up!" he continued to whisper.
Her eyed fluttered open and she winced. Natasha had been hit on the head with a hard object. She looked around, soaking in her surroundings, "Shit…," she mumbled in frustration.
"It's okay, we'll get out of here," Steve tried to reassure her.
"So you have a plan?"
"Yes… I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah. It looks like this room is metal lined. We can break out of here and get my shield and your various weapons. From what I remember, this place didn't have too many agents posted and we took out a lot of agents before we ended up here. So, I think we can go stealth style. Once we get our weapons, we'll head to the basement to get the hostages and then ge…" Steve's plan was interrupted by Natasha.
"Steve these are Red Room agents; stealth won't work," Natasha said harshly.
"Then we'll go in hand-to-hand until we find guns."
Natasha closed her eyes and shook her head, "What if we don't make it back Steve?"
"Don't say that," he stated, looking at her. This time Natasha genuinely looked scared.
"Steve, I worked for these people. I don't think we'll make it out of this…"
"Nat…"
"No Steve! What will happen if we don't make it back?"
"Nat I'm not talking about this now."
"No! Answer me now," she ordered. Natasha looked like she was going to cry … she wanted was to see her children again…
Steve looked at her, his mouth gaping open. He closed his mouth and looked down, "Then our friends will take care of James and Emma, and Sam will hopefully become the next Captain America. And we'll be remembered by those we loved," Steve replied with sad eyes.
"I love them so much. I don't want to miss seeing James and Emma grow up," Natasha stated with tears welling in her eyes.
"We won't Nat. Stay positive. We are going to get out of this, and we are going hug and kiss our children and appreciate having them all the more. But first, we have to get out of here," Steve said with worried eyes.
"Okay … Let's do this," Natasha was looking around, hoping to find something to cut her ropes with when a man walked in.
They watched as another man followed. The two men picked up Natasha's chair, with Natasha still in it, "What are you doing!? Where are you taking me!?" she yelled.
"Natasha!" Steve yelled.
The door slammed shut. Natasha was gone and Steve was alone…
….
An alarm sounded in Avengers Tower, "SHIELD Alert. Avengers assemble. I repeat, Avengers assemble." JARVIS announced across the entire tower.
"Shit," Tony mumbled and ran out to get in his car.
Clint, Thor, and Bruce followed close behind.
Peter was about to come but Clint stopped him, "Spidey, I need you to hold down the fort here. Until you understand how we work, you can't go on missions," Clint ordered.
Peter wanted to argue, but instead, he nodded obediently.
So, there sat Pepper, Jane, and Bobbi alone with two curious children who missed their parents, parents who could be dead for all anyone knew. "Why do the Avengers have to work? What's wrong?" Emma asked, which caused her brother to nod in agreement.
The three adults looked at each other. Should they lie? Should they tell the children the truth? What was the truth? Should they simply say something's going on and the Avengers need to fix it? "Something's going on and the Avengers have to fix it," Pepper announced quietly, not a lie.
"But what about Mama and Daddy? They're already on a mission. Do they have to leave their mission to help fix this?" Emma asked. She was very observant.
The adults exchanged glances and Bobbi spoke, "Probably not. They'll keep working on their mission," also not a lie.
"When are they coming home? I miss them," James was beginning to whine now. He had a very sad face that could make anyone melt.
"Hopefully soon sweetie," Jane answered with equally sad eyes. What would happen if Steve and Natasha didn't come back? These two kids would be heartbroken. Two icons dead would send the nation into sorrow. Thor and Clint would be wrecks and life would overall be very depressing without the soldier and spy.
The three adults hoped to god that Steve and Natasha were still alive and well.
….
Natasha now sat alone in a metal room. It was smaller than the first room she was sharing with Steve. She sat in her chair and looked around. She had to get out and get Steve. Looking behind her, she managed to see that the rope binding her hands was being held against the back of the chair by a screw. All she could think was that was such an amateur move, especially considering she was being held by the Red Room. She began to move her hands back and forth, carefully making sure the rope was rubbing against the screw. Just as she could feel the rope threads beginning to break, the door opened and someone stepped in. She steadily held her hands behind her and watched as a man walked in.
He looked at her piercing green eyes. She held a steady, emotionless face. Natasha watched his every move, trying to calculate the best way to kill him. He grinned maliciously at her and spoke, "I know who you are and you know who I am so we'll skip introductions." He walked behind her and saw what she had done to the rope. He picked up the extra rope on the floor and tied up her hands again.
She stayed silent. "My god, look at you. I remember when we were children and I could never win in a fight against you. You are even more beautiful than ever…"
"And everything about you is uglier than ever."
He frowned, "Well aren't you still ridiculously rude and defiant."
"Thank you, but don't try to flatter me," she gave him a faint smirk.
He frowned, but decided to get down to business, "Do you still live in Avengers Tower?"
"I don't know. Do I?" She replied with a snarky hiss.
He glared at her and then asked, "Is it true you had a baby?"
"Red Room doctors kinda took that ability away from me, remember?" She snapped.
Quickly he slapped her. Her head turned and she slowly moved to face him again.
"Is the Captain the father?" He asked with impatient eyes.
"Can't have children, remember?" She hissed.
He slapped her again and she glared at him, fire flaring in her forest green eyes.
"I have pictures," he pulled a stack of photos out of his suit jacket and pulled up a chair to sit next to her. "Let's go through these, shall we?"
She glared at him as he sat down next to her. He put the first picture in front of her. The picture was of Natasha holding a baby boy with red hair and green eyes. Her eyes widened. Whoever took the picture took it from a building near the Tower and used the window to see them, "He looks a lot like you."
He took that picture and put it at the back of the stack, revealing a picture, similar to the last one, except this time Natasha was holding a baby girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The man saw a crack in her wall. He knew her husband and children were her weakness and he would use that against her, "They look so much like their parents."
Natasha had thought to say the children were adopted but after seeing the photos, she knew there was no use in lying about it. It was obvious to anyone that those children were the offspring of her and Steve. She stayed silent and he grinned as he stuffed the pictures back into his jacket. "Where can I get them?" He asked.
She glared and spat on him. He growled and slapped her, "Fuck you. You can't touch them. Asgard, SHIELD, and the Avengers will destroy you if you try," she snarled.
He shook his head and stood up with a grin, "Then I'll go talk to the Captain. I don't want to stab or shoot a defenseless woman," he grinned at her, knowing she wasn't defenseless, but also knowing that statement would get to her. "But I can always shoot or stab him."
"No! Don't touch him! Please!" She yelled, but he was already out the door, leaving two men to guard her from the inside of the room.
…. Warning!
(Song Suggestion: Blood On My Name. By: The Brothers Bright)
Steve sat alone in the same dark room. He was in a metal chair, tied up with chains instead of rope. He had to get out and get to Natasha. At this point, Steve was pretty sure Natasha was probably out and about by now, trying to find their supplies and the room where he was being held. He looked around, he needed to find his way out.
Soon a man walked in and grinned, "Did your wife have children?" The man asked.
"Who are you?" Steve asked with a low growl.
"I am a representative of the Red Room and the Red Room wants the offspring of two serum carriers.
"We didn't have a baby. You took that ability away from her," Steve said with gritted teeth while glaring at the man who had black hair and brown eyes.
"I have pictures of two children in Avengers Tower that look much like you and your wife. The Red Room wants the two most powerful children in the world so that they may have super assassins and super spies."
Steve stayed silent and just glared at the man, "Is the serum inheritable?" the interrogator asked.
"No." Steve lied.
"Are you lying to me?" He asked as he moved within inches of Steve's face to search the ocean blue eyes for an indication of lies.
"No. We've tested their blood multiple times. Not once did the serum show up," Steve answered. His lies had gotten much better with Natasha's training. However, this man was trained to read lies. Would Steve's new talent be enough to fool him?
The man grinned, "This is off topic and I am sorry for that. But I have to ask."
Steve glared and the man continued, "Natalia Romanova was trained, highly trained, to never love, or feel any emotion. How did you do it? I would like to know how you cracked the strongest wall we ever created. We want to improve our training so this problem doesn't happen again," the man asked.
"You didn't train her to feel no emotion. You trained her to ignore her emotion. All I had to do was show her that she didn't have to," Steve said with a glare.
The man looked stunned. And Steve continued. "You failed. And you always will."
The man growled at Steve and picked up a whip. He banged on the metal door and five men poured in. "Set him up!" The man ordered. The Russians unchained Steve and then shackled his wrists and arms to the wall and ankles and feet to the floor. So Steve was facing the wall, and his back facing the leader and the other agents.
Steve growled and tried to break the shackles where they were connected to chains. The chains had been pulled so tight that he could barely move and the chains were, unfortunately, bolted to the wall and floor. The Russian agents cut open the shirt of Steve's super suit ripped it off of him. His upper body now exposed, the leader lifted his arm, ready to whip Steve.
The whip was a Cat-o-nine-tails, commonly called the cat whip. It was a whip consisting of nine tightly wound and knotted strands of leather cord attached to a dowel of leather, bound to splintered wood, metal shards, broken glass, and/or fishing hooks. In this case, metal shards.
Steve looked behind him and went wide eyed. He knew this would be painful, even with his high pain tolerance, it would be extreme. "Do you know who I am?" The leader asked.
"No," Steve grumbled. The man sent one powerful whip against Steve's back. Small pieces of skin and flesh ripped off as the metal shards punctured the skin and ripped it as they were pulled back. That one blow left slash marks from the leather whips, as well as rips in his flesh from the metal shards.
The man chuckled, "My name is Nikolai Morose. I am, as you Americans would say, 'the right hand man' of the Red Room's leader."
"What makes you think I care?" Steve said and then tried to move to look back at Nikolai, but he simply winced and felt blood drip out of his new wounds.
"I don't," Nikolai said, then he whipped Steve again.
Steve stayed silent but he kept his eyes closed tight, "What are your children's names?" Nikolai asked.
Steve stayed silent; he refused to answer. Whip. "What are their names?" No response … another blow from the whip. Blood was splattered and the walls and floors, as well as the blood pouring out of Steve's wounds, dripping onto the floor. A puddle of blood was beginning to form at Steve's feet.
Then Nikolai starting whipping Steve, over and over again. Steve lost count after twenty seven. The severe pain caused Steve to lose focus. His head dropped down in front of him, where he could see the warm crimson fluid puddled at his feet. It was dripping down his back onto his pants. Skin was hanging off his back, multiple patches of missing skin layers, some of it not completely unattached so it hung.
Steve couldn't move his arms or legs, so he couldn't try to somehow rip off the hanging pieces of skin or mangled flesh so it might be less painful. But he couldn't, "What are their names?" Nikolai continued to ask.
Steve stayed silent, his blue eyes foggy, and his face showing immense pain. "Could your son's name be James? After the man who died because of the men I hired to capture you," Nikolai asked while glaring at Steve.
Steve rattled against their chains, "How do you know his name!?" He asked with a weak yell as he tried once more to break free. His wounds began to sting from moving so swiftly.
"I didn't, until now. But I do know your daughter's name. Emma Natalia Rogers. Adorable, to give a child at least one name from their parent is sacred. It's a beautiful name really, and unfortunately sacred and valuable things are delicate… and wanted by many... It's unfortunate that those two children will be trained killers soon," Nikolai said with a grin and then whipped Steve once more.
Steve yowled in pain and then yelled, "Don't you dare touch them!" Steve then wrapped his hand around one chain and used all this strength to pull and rip it from the wall. Steve then performed the same action with his other hand. He winced and crumbled to the floor in pain. Kneeling in a puddle of his own blood and a pile of ripped, fleshy, bloody skin. His back was swollen and red from blood and skin irritation, each whip slash mark puffy and swollen. It was like a ravenous animal with massive claws tour up his back. His side was missing a large layer of flesh and his skin was ripped off a portion of his upper back. His whole back was starting to bruise, purple, black, and blue was added to the swollen red slashes. Steve's breathing was heavy and labored. He was hurting and the loss of blood was starting to make him light headed.
Nikolai went wide eyed and beat on the door. Five men poured in and grabbed Steve and stuck a needle into his neck to sedate him. Due to the serum, the sedative would only last seconds, but that was enough.
They unchained Steve's ankles and put him back in the metal chair and chained him to the chair once more. He woke a couple seconds later, his back stinging from the cold metal pushing against the open wounds of his back. All the men were gone except Nikolai, who was holding an extremely small, but sharp knife. "Have you ever heard of Lingchi?" Nikolai asked with a grin. (If you've never heard of Lingchi, it's a Chinese style of torture and execution - translated into 'Death of one thousand cuts' in which, someone is executed by the cutting of one thousand different pieces of flesh off of your body and leaving the person to bleed out and die. But, in torturous situations they usually just slit your wrists and the back of your ankles (Sometimes shoulders and necks but they are careful not to hit the carotid artery, or else the hostage will bleed out within a matter of seconds) until you give them what they want. Messed up isn't it!? (If my info on Lingchi is wrong do correct me.))
….You're safe now!
The remaining Avengers were on the Qinjet. Thor was pacing, which was something the god never did. "Do you think they're alright?" Tony asked worriedly, sitting in his seat watching his friends who were equally or more concerned.
"We're talking about the Red Room; they could both be dead, or having panic attacks because of some drug," Clint, who was also pacing, responded with fear and anger in his voice.
"Well, if they're hurt, we can save them. If there's something they put in their blood to make them crazy, we can reverse it. I don't think the Red Room would kill them. I think they will try control them and use them, if anything," Bruce said trying to look on the bright side. However, the bright side was still pretty scary and not at all "bright."
"Nat told me some of the things they did to her in the Red Room. I can't let them hurt her. She's been through enough in her lifetime," Clint said, suddenly panic stricken. His 'Big Brother' senses were starting to kick in as he paced back and forth.
"As long as she and Steven are not separated, I am sure she will be unscathed. It is Steven I believe we should worry about. He has so little regard for his life when it comes to protecting his wife and children," Thor said with his eyes growing more and more worried as he paced.
"What happens if they … you know …" Tony asked.
"What'd you mean?" Clint asked.
"What happens to James and Emma?" Tony asked, trying to keep the tears from welling in his sad eyes.
They all looked down, "We would raise them together and do everything we can to protect them," Bruce stated.
"Their futures are in our hands at this time," Thor stated.
Everyone nodded in agreement, "We have no choice but to save Steve and Nat. No other options," Clint stated, looking almost enraged that the Red Room had the guts to capture the duo and that might try to torture Nat again.
"That's if they're still alive," Tony reminded glumly.
….
The remaining "non-Avengers" sat in the common room of the Tower. "Where are Mama and Daddy?" Emma asked again, almost in tears. By this time, James was in tears. The twins not only missed their parents, but now they were scared.
The adults looked at one another. Was it time to tell the children the truth? Jane nodded to Bobbi.
Bobbi sighed, "We believe your parents got captured on their mission. So your uncles went to rescue them. They'll be fine; your uncles will save them. Please don't worry," Bobbi said quietly.
Tears poured down Emma and James' faces. Emma got up and bolted for the elevator with James trailed behind her. "James! Emma!" The three women yelled. Before they could get up, the quick children were gone.
"Jarvis," Pepper called, "Don't let the children leave the tower."
"The children have retreated to their bedroom, Ms. Pepper; they are not trying to leave," JARVIS announced.
"I'll go talk to them," Peter said quietly and then he walked off taking the elevator to Steve and Natasha's floor so he could hopefully make the twins feel better. Having lost his parents as a child, Peter hoped he might be able to calm them down.
He slowly knocked on the door, "Hey guys … wanna talk?" He asked.
"No!" Emma yelled, she sounded like her face was stuffed in a pillow.
"Okay. Well uh, I'm comin' in anyway."
"No leave us alone!" Emma yelled at him as he opened the door. When Peter was in their bedroom, Emma threw a pillow at his head. He quickly dodged the pillow, which hit the wall and fell to the floor. He walked in the room and slowly shut the door behind him. He bent down to pick up the pillow.
"Go away," the two children said simultaneously. They sounded so pitiful; it broke Peter's heart. James was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling and Emma was laying on her bed with her face in another pillow.
Peter walked over to Emma's bed and set down the pillow he was holding. "Hey guys, I know you're upset. But it's gonna be okay," He said as he walked over to sit down on the edge of James' bed. Peter rubbed James' back and James crawled to his right to curl up next to Peter. Emma stayed put, "Emma come over here, please." Peter said quietly, his voice was kind and gentle. He figured if he was to handle this situation correctly, he needed to think like a father, like Steve (Who had honestly become a father figure for Peter).
So he pulled from the memories of how his family spoke to him when his parents disappeared. He used as gently of a voice as he could and would use words of encouragement, kindness, and tenderness; hopefully it would work.
Emma crawled out of her bed and shuffled over to her brother's bed and sat on Peter's left. "There we go…" Peter wrapped his arms around the two. "Alright. So, I know you guys must be pretty scared, right?" Peter asked as Emma snuggled into his side. They both nodded in agreement, "I understand. But don't be scared. Okay? Cause your uncles are going to save your Mama and Daddy, and everything will be okay."
"How do you know?" James asked looking up with his green eye filled with tears.
"Because your parents are tough. I bet they're kickin' butt right now so they can get back to you. And your uncles will do everything they can to help your parents," Peter promised.
"Promise?" Emma asked Peter looking up at him with glossy blue eyes.
"I promise," Peter said with a smile, "I'm new to the team and I know if I were there, I would do everything in my power to bring your parents' home safe. So, I know all the other Avengers, who know them even better than I do, will do that and more."
The two nodded in hopeful agreement. "How 'bout we go back downstairs. Your Grandpa Fury will call when your parents get rescued," Peter said.
….
Natasha slowly she crept down the hallway of the Red Room base. There was a disturbing lack of guards, forcing her to assume that she and Steve killed a lot of them getting into the building, or maybe when she got knocked out Steve took many of them out, either that or they all are guarding Steve. She walked quietly through the building. When she turned the sixth corner, she saw it – an open door to a room with five Red Room agents, all playing with Steve's shield. All she could think of was how ridiculous they looked.
On her way out of her own cell, Natasha killed two guards. They had the nerve to take her guns and keep them as their own. So she retrieved them the only way she could. Since they also took her holsters and tool belt, she had to carry her guns in her hand. She cocked each gun and happily shot each of the five men in the head. She walked into the middle of the room and there, sitting on a metal table, was her tool belt and gun holsters. She put on her tool belt and made sure everything was still accounted for, which everything was. Then she put on her holsters and placed her guns in their rightful place. She looked over at Steve's shield on the ground. She couldn't believe highly trained Red Room agents were playing with Captain America's shield like five year old children. Quickly, she picked up the shield and placed it on her arm and then looked around.
She remembered this base. They brought her here when she was about ten years old. She remembered getting whipped by a Cat-o-nine tails, when she refused to kill a fellow agent who had helped get her more food. Once they finished whipping her, she shot that agent without a thought. She would never forgive herself for killing her only friend in the Red Room … well not her only friend. She remembered Ivan Petrovich. Ivan … the man who 'saved' her and 'raised' her inside the Red Room. He eventually became her partner for a while. He trained her, took care of her. It hurt to think about how she had to kill him. Ivan, the father figure in her life … the man who protected her for so long. It pained her … Ivan.
She could never forget him. He wasn't the one who took her from her family. He was the one person in the Red Room who stood up and said he would take care of her, instead of letting the guards do it. He probably saved her a lot of pain, no matter how much she felt anyway, Ivan saved her from additional pain.
Natasha never knew why she was taken. But now she had a chance to find out. After hacking into the computer on the desk, Natasha opened a pouch on her tool belt and pulled out a hard drive. She stuck it into the computer and uploaded every file. She was surprised how easy and quick it was. Once the upload was finished, she took the hard drive and put it into its respective pouch. She'd read the files later. She would finally find out why she was taken.
She took a deep breath. She just got so off track and she needed to refocus and find Steve and save him. She bolted, turning corners and killing men with her knives. She couldn't waste ammo because she didn't know how many men would be guarding Steve. Finally she reached the last corner she remembered. Natasha looked around the corner and saw four men guarding a metal door. That had to be it. Who else would require four huge men with huge guns to guard their door? This had to be Steve's containment room. She quickly sent four bullets flying, each hitting one man in the head. They instantaneously dropped to the floor and Natasha bolted to the door and looked through the peep hole. Nikolai stood unscathed while Steve sat covered in blood and sweat… Great…
She opened the door and lifted her gun aiming it directly at Nikolai's head. She pulled the trigger… Nothing. She tried the other gun … Nothing … How could she be out of ammo!? Steve looked at her with hopeful eyes. She dropped the guns and bolted towards Nikolai as she pulled a knife from her tool belt. He pulled out a gun and shot her in the knee cap. She yelled in pain and dropped Steve's shield. "Natasha!" Steve yelled. His eyes were filled with fury, anger, and fear – the same look he gets when he's hungry. His muscles flexed and he began to fight against his chains.
Natasha laid on the floor; she couldn't walk and crawling wasn't the best option so she stayed put. She looked towards Steve and noticed it … the look; he must be hungry. Soon, the chains on Steve's wrists snapped, followed by the chains on his ankles. He reached up and grabbed the chains on his chest and then snapped and crushed the chains into a thin strand of metal. Steve stood and turned around, his back facing Natasha. She was horrified to see that he had been whipped, and it was bad. Covered in both drying and fresh blood, Steve's back had pieces of skin dangling by a single tiny threads of skin. Flesh was missing from different spots of Steve's back, some pieces still dangling from his skin. She then noticed there were horizontal cuts on his wrists and then slash marks over each careful cut. Steve slowly started to walk towards Nikolai, "You shot my wife," Steve snarled.
Nikolai scrambled to get a bullet to load in his single action pistol (single action, terrible for any situation other than target shooting for fun. You'd want a mag pistol with at least 4 rounds available, just sayin). But it was too late. Steve grabbed Nikolai and shoved him up against the wall. He ripped the pistol out of Nikolai's hand and threw it to the ground. He lifted Nikolai up by his shirt and held him up against the wall.
Nikolai looked terrified. Suddenly, Steve dropped him to the floor. Stunned, he decided to take a chance and reach for his gun. Nikolai wasn't fast enough. Steve grabbed him by his hair and lifted him to his feet. Steve turned Nikolai around kicked him in the back of the knee. Now that Nikolai was on his knees, Steve again grabbed his hair and pulled his head all the way back, breaking his neck. Nikolai was barely alive and he screamed in agony. Steve noticed a knife on the floor and he reached down, picked it up, and jammed it into Nikolai's solar plexus and twisted the knife in a circle. When Steve knew Nikolai wouldn't survive his injuries, he then dropped the nearly dead body and walked over to Natasha. He picked up his shield and strapped it on to his arm. He knelt down and gently picked-up Natasha. She could still see fire raging in his eyes, but not nearly as bad as three minutes ago.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"I'm fine; let's get out of here."
Steve nodded and bolted for the back door. He ran to the front of the building just as a Quinjet landed. Their fellow Avengers bolted out of the Quinjet. "Your timing could not have been worse," Natasha yelled at the men over the loud engine noise.
"Bruce stay here. You three go get the hostages and load them onto another Quinjet," Steve ordered and he carried Natasha on to the Quinjet. The three Avengers were about to go, but as Steve passed them, they all saw his back. Tony and Thor cringed at the sight, "Jesus...," Tony mumbled. Steve, Natasha, and Bruce disappeared inside the Quinjet and then the three ran towards the building.
Bruce looked at Steve and knew he could tell Steve was hungry. He reached under Thor's seat and pulled out the Pop Tarts. He threw the box to Steve who consumed every pastry within minutes. Once he was normalized, he walked over to Natasha, who was sitting in her seat wincing in pain. He knelt down in front of her. He was still shirtless and covered in blood, but that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was his wife. He began to field dress her wound. He took tweezers and pulled the bullet out. She cringed, "Just like old times, huh?" Natasha said with a smirk.
Steve smiled and nodded as he cleaned the wound with peroxide. He looked a bit haunted…, "You okay?" She asked him.
"I gave that man a slow, painful death. That isn't right," he whispered.
"It's okay Steve. You weren't you back there."
"Still…" he stated almost silently as he wrapped her leg. Natasha may need surgery to remove the bone shards and reassemble her knee cap. But this was the best any of them could do until they got to a hospital.
Natasha sighed, "My turn," she stated and he turned around revealing his back to her. It was covered in blood and slashes. The slashes were everywhere on his back and they were deep as well. Skin hung from different wounds and pieces of mangled flesh dotted his back. "This is really bad Steve," she whispered as she dapped a peroxide covered towel on his back.
He winced in pain with every touch. Shutting his eyes tightly, he spoke to Natasha, "I know … he wanted to know their names. I wouldn't tell him."
"Who's names?"
"James and Emma."
Her eyes widened, "Oh," was all she could say.
Steve nodded, "Steve I'm gonna have to cut off this skin and flesh," she warned.
"I know. Just do it," he whispered with tightly shut eyes…
Natasha sighed and grabbed the scalpel and medical scissors from the medic kit. She began to gently cut the hanging skin and flesh off Steve's back. She knew it would grow back quickly because of his cell regeneration. But it couldn't do so if she didn't cut off the damaged skin first. Natasha winced while doing it, because she knew it hurt. It was different with a partner or friend, but this was her husband. Bruce walked over and looked at her, "I'll finish," he offered.
She nodded in thanks and Bruce helped her stand up slowly. She sat next to Steve (He was kneeling on the floor she sat in the chair next to him, since kneeling was obviously not an option for her), "I'm so sorry they did that to you."
"No. That's only a piece of what you went through before. I don't care about me,"
"Sweetie its fine…"
"No, it's not! Did they do that to you before you defected to the U.S?" Steve asked with sad eyes.
She shook her head slowly, "Don't lie to me," he said, his eyes were red and blood shot. His usually baby blue eyes were now faded and cloudy.
Natasha looked down, "Yes. They did a lot of different things…" she said, then looking up at him, her face showed she didn't care anymore that they did these things to her. But her eyes showed the truth. All the pain and anguish she went through.
"I'm so sorry… I'm sorry that you had to go back to that place, and uproot a bunch of memories that you worked so hard to forget," he said as Bruce wrapped his torso with bandages.
She looked at him and threw her arms around his neck, careful not to touch his wounds, he straightening his back out and leaned closer to the chair and let her hug him. Tears welled in her shut eyes, "I'm glad they didn't do to you what they did to me."
Steve nodded and wrapped his arms around her. She nuzzled her head into his neck and he just held her. "It's okay. I'll never let Fury make you go on a mission that involves the Red Room ever again," he promised.
She nodded weakly and pulled away, "I love you…," she whispered.
"I love you too," he said as she leaned in and kissed him passionately.
So many memories uprooted in the past two days that Natasha felt so broken again. But with Steve, she felt safe… Like all of it never happened. She pulled away and wiped her eyes, "Let's go home…," she whispered.
….
After getting the call that Steve and Natasha were on their way back home, the four adults managed to convince the children to leave the comfort of home and go to SHIELD Headquarters, where they would hopefully see their parents. Fury called them into his office because he didn't want the twins to get scared by the crowd of SHIELD agents on the ground floor. Currently the twins were sitting on Fury's lap asking questions, while the four babysitting adults were standing by the door silently. "Are Mama and Daddy on the plane coming home yet?" Emma asked.
"Yes they are. They should be here very soon," Fury answered.
"When's soon?"
"Within five minutes maybe," Fury decided to call them when Steve and Natasha were ten minutes away, due to the fact he didn't feel like dealing with more than three questions from the children and he didn't want them to have to wait to see their parents.
The phone rang. Fury slowly picked up the phone, "Director Fury speaking."
"I'll be sure to tell them," Fury hung up the phone and looked at the two children, "Alright. Your parents are back."
"Really!?" James asked with bright green eyes full of hope.
"Yes, but… they're hurt."
"Are they okay!?" Emma asked, her eyes welling with tears. Hurt to a six year old meant almost dead. Especially in a family of super heroes.
"Well…," he looked at the other adults in the room for support but, like before, they stayed silent. Fury shot them all a glare for not helping him. "Your Mother was shot," he stated gently. The two looked up at him with tears in their eyes. James and Emma both wrapped their arms around his neck and cried into his shoulders. "She's not dying or anything; she's just hurt," Fury tried to explain. But it was no use, the children were inconsolable. He would never understand children. The twins wouldn't move from his lap. After about two minutes of crying and Fury trying to figure out if he should pry the two off of him, there was a knock on the door.
Peter slowly opened the door, "Hey Cap," he whispered.
Steve walked into the room, limping faintly. He looked at the scene in front of him, "What happened?" he whispered to the four adults.
"Fury told them Nat was shot," Bobbi explained in a whisper.
Steve shook his head and slowly walked over, "Hey guys," he said quietly. The two children looked up at him and finally jumped off Fury's lap and ran over to Steve who knelt down and embraced them both in a big "bear hug," he winced a bit as their tiny hands hit his back, but that kind of pain was just fine with him. He was just so glad to see them. While on the Quinjet, Bruce performed all the possible treatment on Steve's back that he could. The only thing left to do now, was to wait for it to heal.
"We missed you, Daddy," James managed to sniffle out.
"I missed you guys too, a whole lot," Steve muttered. Tears were welling in his eyes. Back at the base he thought for a while that he wouldn't make it back.
The two pulled away and looked at him, "Where's Mama?" Emma asked with tears streaming down her face.
"Mama is on the hospital floor downstairs; I'm here to pick you up before her surgery."
Emma threw her arms around his neck and dug her face in his shoulder and neck. "Hey it's okay. Calm down, she's gonna be fine," he listened to her cry on his shoulder. He tried again to console the distraught child, "Shhh. It's okay sweetheart." Slowly he picked her up, even though she was too old to be carried. He stood up and used his free hand to take James by the hand. Slowly he walked to the door and Peter looked at him with sad eyes and opened the door.
Steve walked hand in hand with James, while he carried Emma. They all took the elevator to the hospital floor of the building. It was a small floor but it had enough room for 10 injured agents and three surgical suites. The hospital floor also functioned as Bruce's work space as well.
Steve stopped in front of Natasha's room, she desperately wanted to see the twins before she went in for surgery on her knee. James was smart enough to figure out that Steve had no hands to open the door so James did it with his free hand. Slowly they all stepped into the room.
Natasha was laying in the hospital bed, her striking red hair fanned out over the white pillow. She opened her eyes and looked over at them with a smile, "Hey," she said with a wide smile.
James walked over and smiled, "Hi Mama. Can- can I hug you?" He asked.
"Of course you can!" Natasha replied and then leaned over to hug her son.
Natasha looked over at Emma, "дорогая what's wrong?" Natasha asked as Steve carefully walked to the other side of the bed and laid his daughter down next to his wife.
Emma quickly snuggled into her mother's side and dug her face in Natasha's arm, "Grandpa Fury said you got shot. I thought you were gonna die," Emma whimpered out and James crawled onto the other side of Natasha's bed and snuggled into his mother's other side.
"No! I'm okay. Look at me. Your Uncle Brucie is gonna fix my knee and I'll be good as new. No need to worry дорогая," Natasha said tenderly and then wrapped her arms around the two. Emma laid her head on Natasha and James looked at her and smiled.
"So you're really okay, Mama?" James asked with glossy green eyes looking up at her hopefully.
"Yes. I'm fine ребенок," Natasha said and she first kissed her son's head followed by her daughter's head.
Steve smiled and Bruce slowly stepped in and nodded to Steve, "Alright we gotta go now. Your Uncle Brucie is gonna fix Mama's knee," Steve said gently. He then leaned over Emma and kissed Natasha. "Good luck; I love you," He whispered to her.
"I love you too," she said back.
"Eewww," Emma mumbled which caused Steve, Natasha, and Bruce to chuckle.
Steve picked up Emma with his right arm and James with his left, "Oof. You guys are getting so big." Steve exaggerated as he walked out of the room. He headed to Avengers Tower to hopefully get the kids to nap.
….
The next day, Brue allowed Natasha to return to Avengers Tower, as long as she promise to stay off her leg, except to perform her physical therapy exercises. That night, she sat alone in bed. Steve was telling the kids a story, so she had a few minutes to herself. She took out her laptop and opened it up and turned it on. She fumbled from the bed to the side chair to grab the hard drive from her jacket. After her hobbled back to the bed, she inserted the hard drive into her laptop. She began to open and review the files she stole from the Red Room. She clicked on the file named "Black Widow" and saw her name. Taking a deep breath, she hesitantly clicked on her name and then saw it all.
Natasha chose the English Translation, as she wanted nothing to do with the Russian that was spoken in the Red Room.
Name: Natalia Alianovna Romanova
Born: 1984
Father: Draykov Romanova
Draykov Romanova is the carrier of a dormant Warrior gene. The Warrior gene is a rare gene which enables the holder to adapt to environments within minutes, restrain emotions, and easily lie for survival. The final benefit to this gene is that the holder remains in almost perfect health. However, children carrying the gene do not survive. The reason why remains a mystery. To date, each child we have taken has died.'
When it was discovered that Draykov Romanova had offspring, the Red Room decided that the child must be brought in if she also carries the gene. Her medical file was easily hacked and it was discovered that Natalia Romanova also carries the Warrior gene and the gene is dominating in her cells.
So she was taken because of a single tiny gene. She was taken for the stupid reason of a single gene she inherited from her father. Her childhood was ruined because of a gene. They turned her into a monster because of it. Her parents were killed because of it. She could barely wrap her head around it.
'It was decided that at the age three, Ivan Petrovich and Boris Rostrocav will bring Natalia Romanova to the Red Room and put her in the Black Widow program.
Once Natalia Romanova was brought here to the base, Boris assigned Agent Morich to be her trainer and master. For unknown reasons, Ivan Petrovich asked to be assigned to Romanova, so Boris switched her handler.'
She looked at a picture of a man with thick slick black hair and a big black handlebar mustache, with hints of grey in his hair and mustache. He had dark blue grey eyes, and he looked to be in his early forties. It was Ivan Petrovich. Tears began to well in her eyes. Ivan, the man who cared for her, who helped her when he shouldn't have. She began to read on.
'Ivan Petrovich trained and cared for Romanova. Unfortunately after a series of unplanned events, she was forced to kill him. Petrovich's body is being stored in the main Volgograd Red Room base, awaiting at time when The Red Room can remove the fatal chemicals he was injected with. His body will remain at the base cryogenically frozen in order to keep the chemicals intact until that time.'
Tears poured down her face. Painful memories flooded in. Fury may have become a father figure, but no one would replace Ivan. She remembered when she was ten, he would forget to shave his beard and she would rub the sides of his face and tell him that he felt fluffy. She remembered his big deep laugh and his jolly eyes. She remembered it all. She picked up her phone and texted Fury, 'Volgograd, Russia. Ivan Petrovich probably frozen in the main Red Room Base. I'm asking you to retrieve him and give him a proper burial. I am asking this as a favor, please,' she sent the text to Fury and he instantly sent back "Will do," she wiped her face and she continued to read.
'After injecting Romanova with a variant of Erskine's super soldier serum at age six, she began to exhibit regular muscle spasms. Once she was stabilized, we found that the serum variant was now safe. We then tested the serum on thirteen more women, all of whom died within the first 10 months of injection, leaving Romanova as the only true super spy. Further testing was suspended due to complete failure in subjects without the Warrior gene.
Training:
After training her in phycology and lying, she has been trained her in every type of fighting style our agents know. Her skillset now includes: spying, seductive spying, lying, martial arts, acrobatics, ballet, street fighting, all assassination styles, computer programming and hacking, all forms of espionage, and many other small, less significant talents.
At a young age, Romanova exhibited very stubborn, aggressive, defiant, and intelligent behaviors. So, she underwent weekly brain washings. When she acted in a defiant manner, we made the decision to whip her with a cat-o-nine-tails, each session lasting 50 strokes. After ten, such sessions, she stopped her defiance and began to listen and obey us unconditionally.'
Tears continued to stream down her face as Steve walked into the bedroom. "Nat are you alright!?" He asked. When he saw her face, he quickly walked to the bed and sat down next to her.
"I'm fine…"
"Why are you crying?" He asked with worried eyes.
"I stole some files from the Red Room base. I'm reading about why they took me, what they did to me, and about Ivan," Natasha whimpered out.
"Ivan? Who is that?"
"… My protector. He raised me, saved me, and protected me," she said as the tears began to come harder.
"Oh Nat, it's okay," Steve said and then he wrapped his arms around her and she nuzzled her face in his chest.
"I killed him … I had to … But I killed him," she mumbled.
"You did what you had to do … it's okay," he stated and then he leaned down and kissed her head.
She stayed in the same position, not wanting to let go. She sniffled, "I miss him so much…"
"Shh… Just calm down. He's in heaven now, and he's proud of you, and still watching over you every minute," he reassured her.
She nodded slowly and looked up at him with glassy green eyes, "Your eyes…" She said with a faint smile.
"What?" He asked in a confused tone.
"Your eyes. Every time I see them, I see Ivan…" she said with a sad smile.
Steve smiled, "Well … you see, he's watching over you, so am I," Steve grinned.
"I love you."
"I love you too," he whispered back and then kissed her head and held her close. Her breathing evening out and she slowly drifted to sleep in his arms. Steve rubbed her back in soothing circles. He looked at her with sad eyes. She had been through so much; she deserved what she had now. And he never knew Ivan. But, he was sure that Ivan was with him every minute when he worked so hard to break down her walls.
Slowly he shut the laptop and used his one hand to push it to the side. Looking down at her he smiled. He would always help her… And he was now sure, that he isn't alone when he is helping her.
Alright so that was this chapter. Pretty gruesome. I'm sorry I didn't have a lot of James and Emma+Parent interaction but I hadn't done a mission in a while so...
We are slowly nearing the end of Our Situation. I may have told you already but I'm stopping at thirty chapters doing an epilogue that will be short and vague and then its over... But I've run into a bit of an issue.
You see, when I was sick (I don't know how many chapters ago) I was not allowed outside, nor was I allowed to go to my football games (They benched me. I wanted to blow my brains out) So, I went into total writing overdrive. Because of that I finished every chapter (including the epilogue) except chapter thirty... I don't know what to do for CHAPTER 30 . I literally have no clue what to do for it. So I'm asking you guys. I understand half of you are shy and you don't comment, but I'm begging. And I'll beg at the end of next chapter. I need ideas. I'm giving you all a chance to tell me what YOU want to see. I have like one idea for one thing in Chapter 30, other than that I have nothing. I'm begging you guys. Please... I need ideas, and I need you to help me get ideas. -virtually gets down on knees and begs- No joke guys, I'm literally screwed, I and all out of ideas and I hate it. HELP ME!
