Scarlett
Part 32
She couldn't believe it waking up in a cell, approximately the same cell Scarlett was imprisoned so long ago. It has already seemed so far. Steve was sitting in a chair staring at her.
"Did you sedate me?" she asked angrily looking around the room.
She was still wearing the clothes she had been wearing when Captain America found her. Only her boots were neatly sat on the floor.
"Where did you drag me?" Natasha sat up in bed.
"Don't you recognize former facilities of the S.H.I.E.L.D.?" He looked at her seriously worried about her state. A father would look like this at his disobedient child. "I restored the facilities as well as the organization but made it my style. Now it is responsible not only for what happens on our planet but there are some heroes at other planets trying to preserve peace and quiet everywhere."
"What am I doing here?" NowBlack Widow was sitting at the side of the bed glaring furiously at Steven, who was quite relaxed in his chair.
"You are on a suicidal watch."
Romanoff couldn't hide a wide, evil grin. "Who says I am suicidal?"
"Your behavior. How many times have you been shot recently?" He nodded at her left shoulder which still hurt from the last encounter with the crazy maniac or whoever he was. "I don't even mention going undercover alone in a drug-dealing gang as a go-go dancer and then becoming a girl-friend of the boss."
"DTO ceased to exist." She replied calmly.
"Yes, now other small groups try to find the place under the sun. Killing bosses and their squealers doesn't mean cleaning the area of other monsters. Besides, they all had families."
"I didn't kill their children." She responded.
"No, you killed everyone who was involved in drug-dealing and other hanky-panky business. You shrank each family dramatically not paying attention to innocent children who lost breadwinners." Steve said it in her face.
She wasn't a naïve, innocent girl, who didn't understand what she was doing. She became an assassin again. He would make sure the woman understood how much grief she caused no matter if they were outlaws. He believed they should have gotten into prison but not died in the streets like stray animals. This would be fair according to his judgement.
"I got your point and I don't care. I'm leaving."
She put on her boots determinately, got to the door and tried to open it. To her surprise it was locked.
"Nat, you are not going anywhere until I see the woman, whom I first met at the Helicarrier."
"You will never see her!" She growled ready to attack.
"I try." Steve stood up and prepared for the defence.
The fight was short but furious. Natasha attacked Steve's weak points thinking that it would give her freedom, but Captain America was right, she was worn out by bullet shots, broken bones and obviously drinking too much. He wanted not to be too hard on her but the woman was stubborn. She didn't give up until she curled up on the floor totally weakened.
"I have sent for the doctor. I'll be here. Don't want you to do some stupid things anymore." He said softly kneeling next to her curled form and brushing some sweat locks away from her face. Romanoff was heavily breathing on the floor. The whole situation reminded her of Agent Barton, who was spelled by Loki. That time she hit his friend hard in the head to free his foggy mind from the spell. Maybe it was Steve's time to take away the pain from her. She didn't know how to answer this question. How can anyone live if their child is dead?
"You know that I can break her neck in seconds," Natasha hissed when the doctor touched her ribs.
"I'm here to prevent this from happening," said Steve sighing. Why should she be so mean? He was sure Natasha was hiding her better self too deep inside. It was a lot of pain for everyone in this world, but maybe the worst for her.
"How are you going to do this if you're staring at the wall?" The woman asked sarcastically hissing once again because of this awkward woman who examined her together with a nurse, who helped.
"Nat, we both know that you are not a monster and depression isn't something that should be cherished." Steve folded his arms in front of him still not turning his head to see what was happening behind.
"I'm not in depression," she grumbled stubbornly.
"Then you cooperate."
When Rogers assured himself that Romanoff wasn't going to do anything extraordinary, he left the ladies on their own. In two hours Dr. Bedingfield handed in a thorough report on Natasha's physical state and partially on her mental condition. Partially, because Black Widow was too smart to give any information about her emotional state. These were hazards of trade. According to the report the woman had 6 bullet scars, a deep gash that considerably healed from her left shoulder to the lower back probably from a sword, one broken rib and lots of bruises of various colors from black till bright purplish red that covered all her tiny well-shaped body.
After taking a shower and dressing in comfortable clothes Natasha found a tray with meal and a laptop at a bedside table. The food smelled delicious, so the stomach made a noisy hungry gurgling sound, giving the owner a hint to feed it. While eating she switched on the laptop, where she found some files on the job done by the new S.H.I.E.L.D agency, the list of agents working and the departments already established. It also included the links with governmental and non-governmental organizations, which helped with different needs or were helped by this new Steve's offspring. She was impressed how much Rogers managed to reorganize. Now it seemed to become a Red Cross or half-military half-charitable company, which mostly followed the dogmas only an old-school man could still preserve.
Looking through the information given she couldn't fight the curiosity to open the file with the name "Fox-Cub" on it. It was full of video files. She opened the first and gasped in surprise. Of course, everything was recorded in such an organization as S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha watched her first day in this very cell, where she found a small girl strapped to this very bed. She couldn't stop the tears falling down her cheeks when the child on the screen touched her to heal. Romanoff looked around in every corner of the ceiling to find cameras at their places. It was a dejavu but now she was the one to be saved.
One minute streams of tears ran down her cheeks and another the laptop crashed into pieces smashing into the opposite wall. Romanoff threw her plate and cutlery, destroyed the small table that her food was on a moment ago. She was trying to tear the bedsheet in pieces, if she could, she would turn the bed upside down but it was screwed to the floor. Steve stopped Natasha's hand with the knife when it was an inch from her carotid artery. She jerked, but he was faster and stronger. The man took the knife not paying attention to the pain that his palm went through when the blade cut into it. He held the woman tight to his body, who was violently trying to set herself free from his almost arm-wrestling embrace.
"That's it. That's it, Nat. You can't revive her!" Steve whispered his lips brushing over her ear. "Now you know how I felt all these years. We should live in our time. We should be brave to face our demons and move forward. I didn't have the chance to live in my time. I'm really sorry that you couldn't be with Scarlett, instead you were with me fighting that alien Thanos. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect my friends. I don't want to lose those who are still alive, though."
He lulled the red-head in his arms until she stopped fighting, until he could hear just her soft sobs that she couldn't hide anymore. They were sitting on the floor for some time. Were these several minutes or hours nobody knew. It seemed like the time stood still. The blood from his palm soaked Natasha's PJ shirt that she was dressed in.
"Let me go," she said softly almost only with her lips opening and closing. As if the sound disappeared from her sullen form.
"Promise not to do anything stupid."
"I don't, I promise. I won't stay here either." She pronounced more audible this time.
"There are plenty of rooms here. You can stay in the flat where you lived before." He offered innocently knowing quite well that she lived there with the child, it might provoke another outburst of emotions from Romanoff's side.
"I thought I am on suicidal watch." She mocked at him.
"You are but CCTV is everywhere." He assured her.
"Even in the shower?" Romanoff raised one brow.
"If need be, it will be even there."
"The cell like this is comfortable enough." She concluded.
Three months passed in a blink of an eye. Natasha lived in the cell of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. She analyzed missions, consulted Steve on issues that might appear in different situations, completed the teams according to the agents' abilities, took care of fund raising. In this short period of time she became an irreplaceable commander and Steve's right hand. The only thing that was unusual, she didn't leave the cell. The woman lived as a soldier, ate what was served for her, wore what they brought her, had morning and evening trainings with Steve and that's it. Nat made a subscription to the Congress Library. So, she relaxed by reading books. Constant routine set her mind at peace.
"Nat, come with me. One of the agents got compromised. She disobeyed the order and now might be up shit creek!" Steve said through gritted teeth mostly worried than angry.
"Wow! I've never heard such language from you before. Where you two close?" Nat jumped up from her bed where she had already settled to read another book.
Instead of replying something in return Steve ordered: "Come with me! Your clothes and everything you need is already in the Quinn Jet. We are leaving now!"
In an hour they stormed into some kind of meth's base. They got separated. Natasha went with her team to find the agent and Steve with another group mopped up the area. While agents took down everyone who suddenly wanted to attack Nat, she went further with stern determination eliminating every moving figure on her way. Finally, Romanoff found what she was looking for. Bobbi Morse, an effective blonde woman, now embattled and heavily drugged was lying on the floor in a puddle fo her own blood. She was convulsing and suffocation because vomit couldn't get out from her mouth. Natasha kneeled beside the body, turned the woman to one side and pushed two fingers into Morse's mouth to let the slush go out. Woman's pulse was weak but stable.
"I found her. I need stretchers and a medic in here." She informed somebody on the other side of her INTERCOM.
"Copy that. A medic and guys with stretchers are on their way," told the male voice.
Barbara came round in the Quinn Jet. She opened one eye that wasn't too swollen and looked around getting calmer when she saw familiar faces.
"Drink a little," Natasha pressed a cup of water to Bobbi's parched lips.
"Agent Romanoff, I thought you were dead," said the woman in a hoarse voice after taking some gulps of water.
"It's just a hallucination, Bobbi. You are under drugs and had an overdose of meth. It's a miracle you're still alive."
Romanoff gave the woman some more water and let her sleep. This was her first mission with Steve after such a long time.
To be continued…