Chapter 8

A peak into the past:

James Dutton was a Military Colonel in the British Army. When he was twelve-year-old, he was shipped off to an orphanage because his mother and father were killed in a terrorist attack because he had no one else to take care of him.

He was bullied by his fellow residents there and often beaten to a pulp by the matron, to instill discipline. Of course, that only served to make him resentful and when he became of age, he killed her mercilessly. He moved on to his own flat and no one was the wiser.

His parents' death and his childhood had a deep affect on him and he realized that he couldn't fit in anywhere. Even, when he joined the army. The only reason he enlisted was because he did not have any option left. Recently, his college headmaster had expelled him after he had hit a teacher for badmouthing him and he had no job to feed himself. In the army, he had learned one thing that the matron had been trying to teach him from the start. Discipline. Of course, that wasn't the only thing he learned. He was one of the best recruits to ever graduate from the academy with distinction in almost every subject from weapons training to hand-to-hand combat.

He quickly learned that all his fellow officers were dunderheads and didn't have what it takes to end wars. They were afraid to act and kill the enemy. They were afraid to take out terrorists in case of retaliations. But he stayed quiet, climbing the ranks, doing what he was told to do.

One day, he met a General who was as ruthless as him with many connections in the higher ranks. They had similar interests in serving their country. He shared his dream with him of training assassins and pointing them at the Queen's enemies. One thing led to another and they started embezzling funds to make that happen.

Together, they started The Phoenix Program in an abandoned military base known as The Lakeview. The General didn't participate directly and his only job was to provide funds and keep anyone who tries to interfere off of them with any means necessary. James handpicked the soldiers, doctors, psychiatrists, geneticists, trainers and many other people who would be loyal to him and only him. There were so many variables they had to prepare for and It took them twelve years to make the program up and running.

He recruited teenagers and put them through the program but none of them survived. Most of them committed suicide and others were killed off during the training. He had to terminate the remaining recruits to restart from the scratch.

After many trials and errors, the doctors realized that the minds of teenagers were fragile and were not capable of withstanding the training. They couldn't put adults through the program because they wouldn't be pliable enough and there was a possibility of them turning against them. So, with the help of various scientists, they came up with a serum that would speed up the brain development. The serum didn't grant any superhuman intellect but only made the brain grow faster so that they can cope with the mental duress. But the only problem was that the serum only worked to its fullest with children from age 3 to 5. So, they started raiding orphanages and hospitals and dosed the subjects with the serum.

The subjects were brought up in learning various languages, geography, politics, sciences, behavior studies and anything they could be taught along with physical combat. At the earliest stage of physical education, they were to go under intense physical regiment. They would run until they couldn't feel their legs, they would swim until they drowned and so on. But that was just the beginning. They were put through various combat training and mental conditioning to make them obedient. Their trainers ensured that the training perfectly honed their minds and bodies for tasks of espionage and assassination, regardless of the ethics that went into producing such high caliber soldiers. The subjects were tortured physically and mentally for insubordination and to train them to resist giving information to their enemies under extreme duress. And much more. To prevent them from going insane, most of their memories were suppressed and replaced by 'mild training' to cover harsher parts of their training.

Now, here he was, standing in a room known as The Room. This was the place where trainees were taken in cases of subordination and for various tortures the soldiers and doctors cook up from time to time. It was dark in here with no windows and the only source of light was the light bulb dangling from the wall. There was also a strong scent of blood, sweat and sex in here but he ignored it with practiced ease. He looked around and saw various equipment whose only uses were to induce pain. He was not alone in the room though. There were three other people with him. One was the General who decided to visit today and see how the subjects were doing. He didn't like the man but he had his uses so he didn't kill him. And of course, if he killed him the funding would stop so he didn't dare do anything towards him. The second was a doctor whose name he didn't know.

The reason for him being here was the third occupant. He was known as 4N, aged 10 almost 11. He didn't know most of the trainees' name but this one was special because of his rapid progress. 'Harry Ares Potter', he recalled.

He was recruited when he was 3 years old. At first, he looked like all the whiny brats but when he went through classes after The Injections, he began to stand out because of his intelligence. Because of the big brain he possessed, he never stayed in one class for too long. James took an interest in him after that and started giving him books, took him to labs, made him learn from the scientists, sometimes personally trained him in combat. He pushed him more than the normal trainee and put him under an advanced rigorous training which was scrapped in the early stages of the Program after the death of all the subjects. He survived the training but barely. Of course, his memory was suppressed of the training as well. He had already completed most of his training in his 8 years here which was originally designed to be for 14 years. He still needed experience, though to be on the level he wanted him to be.

James always knew that Potter would be the first graduate of The Phoenix Program but that wasn't possible anymore because of the condition he was in. He focused on 4N and saw that he was in his boxers, breathing heavily. He would occasionally twitch and mutter something and went back to shivering again. There was dried blood and burn marks on his face and…..everywhere on his body. Through the blood, he saw numerous bruises and angry looking cuts with salt poured over them.

"Explain." he said in a calm manner but inside he was seething. He didn't mind that his best prize was subjected to pain. Hell, he himself occasionally did that to the boy but what made him angry was the insane muttering that could be heard from him. The soldiers went too far this time.

The doctor seemed nervous and was quaking in his boots but answered nonetheless, not wanting to be shot dead. "At 0600 hours on Monday, 4N disobeyed direct orders…."

"What orders?" he hissed.

"Lieutenant Barr brought in a prisoner, Emma Kendricks, to be interrogated. She is a freelance reporter who found out about our program and would've published it in the media if not for her immediate capture. Lieutenant Barr assigned 4N to extract who the source is, from her but she seemed uhhh….. to be made of sterner stuff. He tried the basic interrogation but she had resisted so far."

The basic interrogation consisted of both various physical torture, and mental torture.

"So Lieutenant Barr ordered for a more…..uhm… intimate approach. 4N chose to neglect that order and went for the instant kill and now we don't know who Kendrick's source was."

James frowned. Not because of the lack of information on the who the source was and certainly not because of the death of the reporter. He knew who the whistleblower was. Here, he eyed the General.

No, he was concerned more about 4N's misconduct. Until now, he had never disobeyed. Yes, he would occasionally kill his fellow trainees outside practice but only in retaliation after any attempt on his life. James disregarded the offences because the victims were jealous bigots and there was no place in here for them. That wasn't to say 4N wasn't punished. Killing a fellow student was an offence after all.

Perhaps, 4N remembered the same situation he had been in before and he killed her to spare her from what was to come. But that was impossible, his memories were repressed. But he knew that some of the memories can bleed through.

"That doesn't explain the condition he is currently in." he asked the doctor.

"You know how Lieutenant Barr is, Colonel. He is easily angered and like most times, he took his anger out on the trainee. But this time he went too far. After the lieutenant's session with him, the subject wasn't responding. So he was brought to me."

"And….?"

"He was in a coma for seven days and after waking up, the subject's behavior was ….. strange. So I did a thorough physical examination and found low blood oxygen. I was already informed of what the trainee went through in his session. So I did other tests and found a severe case of Cerebral Hypoxia. It is likely because of the waterboarding so many times…" he trailed off.

James forced himself to calm down and asked. "What are the symptoms as of yet?" He wouldn't have minded if it was another trainee but Potter was special and the first one to have already completed his training.

He saw the doctor checking his notebook and stated "Hallucinations, lack of verbal skills, disability to articulate. These are the only ones we know for now."

James realized with a heavy heart that the subject was damaged and told the doctor "You have my orders to terminate 4N, Doctor while I escort the General out." The general stayed silent as he always did.

Outside the facility, they were walking to the helicopter when James turned and shot the General point blank in the head. He couldn't let him live after the treason he committed by leaking information about the program. He already had funds to ensure the continuation of the program for some months and by now he also had many friends in the military who would support him in his endeavour.

His thoughts wandered to his student that was to be executed. He took out a phone from his pocket and saw 'The Room' through the camera. He saw the doctor taking out a gun from his holster and aiming it at the 4N's head. He also saw the pure terror on 4N's face.

But he got a feeling of wrongness. Like something very wrong was about to happen and he couldn't stop it. He was proven right when he saw the boy's eyes glowing red. Seconds after, his entire body was covered with a red aura. He didn't know what was happening and for the first time in his life he was terrified. The red light was growing in intensity until the cameras blacked out. He was about to go back inside the facility to check what was wrong but he felt a low tremor in the ground. He knew whatever was happening was because of the boy. He didn't dare to find out what. Instead, he ran to the General's helicopter. The chopper was at the landing areas of the facility which was almost 300 meters away from the facility.

But before he could reach the chopper, the entire facility exploded in front of him. The shockwaves were so great that he was swept off the ground and was dead before he could hit the ground.

So were all the occupants of The Lakeview except one Harry Ares Potter.

Present:

Natasha suddenly regained conscious but didn't dare open her eyes. Her head felt heavy and fuzzy like she had awoken from a hangover. She ignored it with a bit difficulty and inspected her surroundings.

She was currently hanging from her wrists, shoulders pulled back in excruciatingly and her legs bent dangling lifelessly. She couldn't feel any weapons on her and came to the conclusion that her captors had them, even the ones she had hidden. It seemed like her captors were very thorough. She could feel the stale cold air on her chest and belly meaning her front of the jacket and shirt were opened. She could hear an even breathing and guessed that she wasn't alone in the room. She knew she would most likely be tortured and perhaps raped but despite the situation she was in, she remained calm. Panic never gets you anywhere. Her head felt clear now but still experienced sudden bouts of pain. She would have moaned in pain but composed herself. She didn't want to give herself away and let her captors know she was awake. She knows that she had to gather intelligence before attacking.

At first, she couldn't remember how she got in this situation but then it all came back to her.

FLASHBACK:

She was dodging through the numerous corridors and various cameras quite easily and was searching for the control room. She knew from the schematics that it was on the fourth floor, the floor she was currently on. The high-tech cameras swirled around mechanically looking for threats but none of them caught her. As she neared the Control Room, she saw some guards patrolling the corridors.

She didn't have the keycard to open the door, so she snatched it and a taser gun from a guard and left him unconscious in a cupboard. She didn't hurt him – much, because he was a civilian. She sneered in disgust that a company this big had guards who had next to no training. Even Hammer industries had better trained guards who she had incapacitated in minutes during The Stark Expo incident.

Potter was in the R&D's looking for anything suspicious. They both agreed that working closely together would not work for them because of their differences so they splitted. She guessed he was the better person in the tech department according to various advanced books he reads. She knew he was still angry for the act she pulled at the vents. Good. She knew that it was not the most mature thing she did but she really disliked him for some reason. It wasn't just because of him being clumsy, it was because sometimes she got the feeling of wrongness from him. Like she did with Loki. She had never seen anything unusual about him but her senses went haywire whenever he was in close proximity. She tried to ignore it but it was always there lingering in her mind. It was maybe nothing but her paranoia prevented her from letting her guard down. So she did what she was best at, seduction. She was curious though. He was the second person to have resisted her charms in a long time. The first was Clint when she was recruited by him. At first, she thought she knew why Clint did not kill her. She thought every man was same as in The Red Room. He wanted something from her. So she tried to 'thank him' but he refused her gently.

She was trying to get Potter to react so he would slip up and he did. But she was surprised by the anger in his eyes when he stopped her. That was the first time she had seen an intense emotion on his face. She felt like there was more to his outburst but didn't get the time to ponder.

She arrived at the room, took a deep breath to clear her mind and swiped the card on the door. The door opened with a hiss and she noted that there was only one person in the room sitting with his back towards her. He didn't even look back and said "You got the coffee. And for god's sake, don't tell me you put cream on it again. Everytime….." She didn't wait for his rambling to finish and shot him with a taser. She took it back. The guards were way worse than Hammer Industries. At least, The guards there had given her a fight. She really was disappointed. She came here itching for a good fight but instead she found incompetent morons who didn't know which side of the gun to hold.

She went to the guard who was unconscious on his seat and took his place by throwing him on the floor. The system was already logged in so she didn't have to hack. Her computer skills weren't horrible like Rogers, she knew how to hack a system, but she wasn't the best one for the job and was thankful she didn't have to hack it. All the cameras were online and Potter was already in a lab going through various files and numerous projects. She ignored the cameras and looked for anything suspicious in the servers. She thanked god or whatever deity that the system was really organized or it would've taken a lot of time to comb through it. Finally, she found a hidden folder named 'PROJECT AVALON'. If she hadn't been looking for anything suspicious, she wouldn't have found it. But luck was on her side. She wasn't a genius like Stark and Banner but was knowledgeable enough to know that it was some kind of nasty bomb. But that's it. She just didn't know what it was capable of. She noticed something from the corner of her eye and looked at the screen.

Potter was standing in the same lab she had seen him before but he wasn't alone. There were eight to ten guards surrounding him. She noticed by their stance and coordination that they were all well-trained. They shot Potter in the neck and he fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. At first, she thought that he was dead but then she noticed the dart sticking out of his neck and breathed a sigh of relief. She really didn't care if he lived or died. Agents died on missions and she never cried over it but they had a bomb on their hands and according to the S.H.I.E.L.D, it was the mother of all bombs. Potter was the only person who had hands on technical skills to disable it. At least, she hoped he did or she would shoot him herself.

She reloaded the taser gun and took out her wooden knife. The knife was given to her by Stark at the airport. It would prove to be quite useful if used skillfully and only on the weaker parts of the body. She heard several footsteps nearing the control room and decided to leave as quickly as possible but before she could do that the exit was blocked by guards. There were at least 10 of them training their weapons at her.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" A guard said with a smirk. It seemed like he was the leader of the group. Now she had two options. Option A was to take them out and run but she wasn't sure she would be able to do that. There was only on exit which was blocked and she was outnumbered ten to one. She could take them out but not without some serious damage to herself. Option B was to surrender herself and go with them. She had seen Potter being tranqed by them and guessed that the same would be done to her.

"Oh…. Uh….hi," she acted shocked and pointed the taser at them clumsily like it was the first time she held it. She wanted to appear as non-threatening as possible, so they wouldn't do anything extreme, like shooting her. They didn't buy it and she felt a sting on her neck. She assumed it was a dart and looked at the person who shot it. "We know who you are. The infamous Black Widow is here guys. Your reputation is wide known, Widow and we're not taking any chances with you. I'm going have fun with ….." She didn't know how they knew her but didn't have the time to ponder as her world went dark cutting off his monologue.

END OF FLASHBACK

"I now you're awake Miss Romanoff." She heard a voice with a German accent and reluctantly opened her eyes. Her plan of intel gathering had failed so she had to come up with another one. The first thing she noticed upon opening her eyes was that the light was very dim in the room but it wasn't dark enough to not see. The second thing she saw was a figure whose face was covered in shadows in the corner of the room. A woman to be exact. She was dressed all in black and wasn't armed as far as she could see. It seemed the unknown woman was confident that she wouldn't be able to escape. Her loss is Natasha's gain.

She noticed from the corner of her eye another figure chained to the ceiling with his wrist, like her. His entire weight was being supported by his arms and his knees were folded in an uncomfortable position. It was Potter. He didn't seem to be any close to waking up.

She turned her eyes towards the woman when she noticed her moving from the corner of the room. When she came close to her, she instantly recognized the woman. It was Anna Sauer. It seemed that the intelligence was correct. She was well and alive and was the epicenter of the whole bomb thing. She was looking at Natasha hungrily with a cruel glint in her eyes and licked her lips. One look at her and she knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant night. She prepared herself mentally for the pain. She could hold herself for quite some time and resist the pain, she was confident in that but wasn't sure about her fellow prisoner. His file didn't mention about any resistance training. 'Even if it did, he would've sucked at it', she thought sarcastically. Sauer stopped just in front of her and stroked her cheek lovingly like a lover would do. She didn't dare smack her hand away despite the urge to. It'd be better to not to anger her captor.

"I have heard a lot of stories about you. The great Black Widow, who did a lot of heinous things in her life but then suddenly she joins the 'Good Guys' and terrorizes the ones she used to work for." Sauer's hand started to go lower from her cheek dragging her sharp fingernails across her neck leaving a trail of blood. "Then the same assassin fights thousands of aliens falling from the skies with individuals now known as The Avengers." She stopped at her lacy red bra and pulled the front a little by hooking her index finger. "And now the public adores her, thinking that she's their savior." Her hand went lower stroking her abdomen with her fingers and stopping at her navel as she put her thumb in it. "Now that I see you in person, I have to say, I'm disappointed." She suddenly stepped back. Natasha didn't do anything except glaring at her, not affected the slightest by her administrations.

Sauer did not get a chance to say anything else when the door opened and another person came in. This was a person she recognized easily. Charles Newton. He came in with his underlings towing a cart. The carts had various tools on it, some she recognized and some she didn't. But she knew what they were for. Newton barely glanced at the captives and turned to Sauer. "It seems that working with you has been beneficial. So, a gift from myself and rest assured, many more will come." He waved at the cart and left with his minions.

Natasha knew that the pain was inevitable but she tried to stall her anyways. "You joined hands with Newton. Why? It can't be only for revenge from S.H.I.E.L.D or I, because as far as I know, we've never met." She knew that if what Potter said was true then she must be only after him, but she only wanted her to keep talking. Sauer laughed cruelly and went to the cart and examined a rod crackling with electricity. "You think that the universe revolves around you, Romanoff. I don't want anything from you. You are just in our way for world annihilation but you already knew that, didn't you? I just want him to suffer." She nodded towards the only guy in the room. She went to him and shocked him awake with the rod.

Potter awoke with a gasp and looked around wildly. His eyes settled on Sauer and she could see slight fear in his eyes before he masked it. She didn't give him a chance to speak and pressed the rod to his stomach again. "Surprised to see me?" Potter didn't scream but he was close to. After half a minute, Sauer removed the rod. She could hear his frantic breathing and saw him twitching here and there.

Natasha didn't know how long he was going to last before he breaks but she was impressed that he hadn't screamed yet.

Maria Hill was currently sitting in Coulson's office when he got a phone call. She wasn't here on official business. She was really tired from previous week when she was needed in the F.R.I.D.G.E. And anything related with the facility required a lot of sleepless nights. SHIELD's most dangerous prisoners were held there and, in her opinion,, most of them didn't have the right to live after the quite the extensive atrocities they've committed but it wasn't up to her who lived and died. It wasn't only a prison though, the facility also housed several 0-8-4's, objects of unknown origins, and other powerful weapons which would be dangerous in the hands of criminals and other terrorist organizations. So she stopped by at Coulson's because of his wine collection. A glass or two always calmed her down. Of course, it was not allowed to drink on duty but nobody would know.

She didn't hear what was said on the other end of the call but knew that it was nothing good judging by his tensed shoulders.

After the call ended, she raised her eyebrow at him not expecting him to tell her anything at all. In their line of work, everything was compartmentalized but she was surprised when he ignored her and dialed a number. He always remained polite but something must have happened for him to forget his etiquettes. "I need medical on standby." He barked.

He sighed wearily and looked at her "It was Stark. Clint is injured and he's bringing him in."

"I thought Clint was in London. What is he doing with Stark?"

"I don't know but I'm going to the infirmary to prepare for their arrival." She noticed that Coulson was worried. Most people wouldn't be able to see it but she knew his tells by now.

After an hour, she was at the landing strip with Coulson, his face stoic as ever. Only his eyes betrayed his emotions. She would never admit it to his face but he was a mother hen. She knew he was quite attached to Romanoff and Barton and sometimes proudly showed off their achievements, like a father, to his colleagues including her. At first, she was irritated by his behavior and told him to get a life but she got used to his quirky behavior. Well, it wasn't every day you see the usual stoic man so animated.

Maria heard the quinjet land and saw Stark came out with Clint on a stretcher. As soon as the ramp opened, Coulson was at Clint's side in an instant.

She didn't see any blood on him so maybe he wasn't in critical condition. At least, that's what she her uneducated diagnosis was. She was not a doctor. She also saw a burn mark on his abdomen done deliberately. Maybe to close the wound. He was quite pale and would shiver occasionally. All in all, he looked worse for wear but not the worst condition she had seen someone in.

Then there was Stark. He did not look his usual self as well. Well, he was still being arrogant and made snipes here and there but he was more reserved and would shoot the Archer worried glances.

After hours of doctors' fussing over Barton, Coulson's fidgeting, and Stark's prodding the doctor called them in. She was ashamed to admit that she had lost her cool many times with the billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and if it wasn't for Coulson's intervention, she might have taken his head off. She was supposed to be the calm and composed one for god's sake. But in the end, it was worth it when she saw him sending her wary glances. She smirked when she heard him mutter "Should've listened to Barton and stayed away from the crazy vampire." She knew that some agents called her a vampire because of her pale complexion and stoic features but she didn't mind them.

Barton was awake and seemed better than before but still it'll take him some time to fully recover.

She had seen Coulson a bundle of nerves and expected him to run to the Archer like no tomorrow so she was surprised when she saw him turn to the doctor and asked for his injuries. 'It seemed he still knew how to compartmentalize his emotions.' She thought dryly. She was worried about Clint too but you didn't see her having kittens.

"I am happy to say that Agent Barton is not in any life-threatening situation." In a happy tone and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "But whoever cauterized the stab wound should have definitely taken some medical classes before tending to a wounded…." She admonished them like it was their fault.

"Well, next time when I'm hurt, never let Potter anywhere near me." Barton whined.

"…It could have been infected and not to mention the fact that you didn't have any medical tools. Don't get me started on the way his wound was cauterized, that was highly irresp…" she rambled, lost in her own thoughts.

Maria interrupted her "Doctor?"

"Yyyee…yes" she appeared startled to have been interrupted out of her musings.

"Is there anything else we need to know about his injuries?"

"No, but…"

"But nothing. You may return to your duties now." She told the raving doctor forcefully. Her patience was wearing thin. First, she had to hear Stark's ravings about science and tech and now her. Speaking of the devil, after checking up on Barton, the billionaire was off to the other side of the infirmary harassing some other medical personnel. She was completely fine with it.

Coulson looked at Barton searching for something. Barton looked back at him defiantly. It seemed like Coulson was satisfied with what he saw because the next thing that came out of his mouth was.

"Mission Report."