A/N: Happy holidays everyone! (Or to people who are celebrating. :)) This chapter might end in a teeny tiny cliffhanger... but I've been updating every day so just hold on tight. And please please review because it makes me happy. :D WARNINGS: Language, violence. (Torture, electrocution.)

Two weeks went by. All Natasha did was cook food, make coffee and clean. Daniel was lazy in showing her around, he just grunted and pointed to rooms for her to clean. Then he would sit around doing god-knows-what on his cell phone. She was provided with cleaning products, but not much, so she had to improvise sometimes. She had the feeling that she was more of a maid than a secretary. Not that these guys would know the difference.

She'd spent the whole time doing exactly what she was told, getting the disgusting men whatever they wanted, and keeping to the rules. But once she felt like she'd earned their trust, she decided to start on her real job.

The whole time, she'd observed her surroundings, making note of little things she saw in the rooms Daniel led her into. For example, she saw papers with DNA test results, and some names that looked like anagrams. She didn't get a chance to look at them closely, however, because Daniel led her to another room.

On her first night, she noticed that someone locked her door at 7pm. That happened every night after, and she let it be. For a while. On her eighth night, at exactly 7pm, she used a couple of bobby pins to open her door a crack. Despite the fact that they were probably running some huge criminal organization, their locks were pretty crappy. She wasn't complaining. When she opened the door, a man was standing there, dressed as a guard. He frowned at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking at the lock, confused. Fortunately she'd put the bobby pins back in her hair, so she frowned as well.

"The door was unlocked, I was just going to pick something up that I left in one of the rooms." She explained innocently. The man looked from her to the lock, the lock to her, trying to figure out what had happened. He was obviously a huge idiot, just like most of the people there.

"Well… go back inside! You can't be out here past 7pm!" He yelled, gesturing back into the room. Natasha thought it was funny that they expected a supposed regular woman, who was supposedly not a spy, to accept the fact she would just be locked into her room with no explanation as to why. She chose not to mention it - this whole place was messed up.

"Well… could you maybe go get it for me please? I left a pen in the room on the other side of the building? I think it was room… 27? Or no, it was 28. You know what, just check 27, then 28, then 29. It's in one of those." She smiled and folded her hands. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

Then he left. He locked the door, but of course she just picked it again, because she was a master assassin. She estimated that she had about 10 minutes, because she'd sent him to the other side of the building. She noticed that he had a slight limp in his left leg - not too bad, but would slow him down. She'd also told him to check 27, then 28 and then 29, when she knew the pen was in 29. Yes, she had actually left a pen in that room. It could always come in handy. She didn't hear or see anyone coming, so she stepped all the way out and closed the door. She locked it to make it seem, to the other guards, that she was inside.

Around the corner, she was surprised to find no guards at the entrance to the other room. As she approached, she peered through the small glass panes in the doors.

Inside, everyone, including Boris, Sidorov and the Boss, (who still hadn't introduced himself, quite rude really,) were all standing in a group around the boxes in the middle of the room. As they opened them, Natasha noticed that they looked like parts of something - they were mostly made of metal and technology, as far as she could see. Several people began to assemble them, and as the Boss stepped into one of the other rooms, whatever they were building began to take shape. Then the Boss came out of the other room and 5 guards followed. They were each guiding another person to the center of the room. When Natasha looked closer, she saw some people she recognized. They were the missing SHIELD Agents! Well, 5 of them anyway. Fury had told her that 8 had gone on the mission. She assumed they'd been killed.

"Welcome back. You know the drill, on your knees." said the Boss, however muffled his voice was through the door. Each Agent knelt down, their faces filling with dread. They'd clearly done this before.

One woman, who looked very much like a vulture, rolled the newly assembled machine over to where the Agents were kneeling side by side.

"It is assembled, Sir." Vulture Lady announced.

"How many times have I told you to call me Seth, Oksana?" the Boss said groomingly. Oksana (AKA Vulture Lady) nodded and retreated back to where the other guards were standing.

Seth examined the machine for a second, and then motioned for Sidorov to take over. Sidorov smiled his cruel smile and walked over to the machine. He detached a tube from the side of the machine, and walked over to the first Agent. Natasha was pretty sure her name was Lilith - she'd seen her around SHIELD before. Sidorov stuck the end of the tube into Lilith's neck. She flinched, and Natasha assumed it was a needle. Then Sidorov took a small suction cup attached to the machine and placed it on Lilith's back. Then he did the same, with the needle and suction cup to the next guy. It was the man who had seen her the other day when she'd arrived. She recognized him now - his name was James. After Sidorov had attached tubes and suction cups to each Agent, he licked his lips and he approached the control board on the machine. It was sickening how excited he was. Natasha recognized that expression on him - something unpleasant was about to happen to the SHIELD agents.

"We have a new machine today, my friends." He growled, and pressed a button on the machine. The fourth guy in the row began to thrash, and he collapsed to the ground. He yelled in pain as he thrashed, and then Sidorov pressed another button and he stopped. He was panting, his eyes screwed shut. But he picked himself up and kneeled again.

"Perfect. Now, that was quite a low setting. But I can make it worse for you, unless you answer my questions."

"You've been asking us the same questions for the last… what, month? Each day with a different torture method. We haven't answered your questions, and we won't. So stop tr-"

She was cut off by Sidorov pressing another button. She had the same reaction as the other guy. Natasha shivered, feeling sick. She'd been electrocuted several times in her life, and it was not fun. She tried not to think of the other types of torture these people must have endured.

She wanted to stay and hear what the questions were, but she was running out of time. She reluctantly creeped back to her room and locked the door, using a clip, from the inside. Just as she sat on her bed, the guard walked in and handed her the pen. He looked extremely annoyed.

"Please keep better track of your writing utensils." He grumbled, before he left the room and locked the door.

The next morning, Natasha got up as usual, did her chores, and stayed in her room all night. She wanted to put a day between her little adventure and what she was planning to do next. But the next day, she casually asked one of the men, his name was Alexei, a question.

"Do you think I should clean the rooms in the corners over there? I haven't been asked to, how come?"

Alexei frowned.

"You do not go in there." He answered simply. Natasha took a deep breath and pressed harder.

"Why not? What's in there?"

Alexei looked appalled - maybe she'd gone too far. But he answered her question.

"The Boss and Sidorov have instructed us that you cannot know. There are things in there you are not allowed to see. You do not get to go everywhere here, we are a careful organization."

Aha.

"And what organization is that? I was never really told."

"A careful one!" He yelled and walked away. She wasn't really sure what the takeaway was from that, but if she could get him to talk, even that much, she might be able to get some more information. But she didn't get the chance.

That evening, Natasha entered her room to find it looking different. A regular person wouldn't have noticed, but her bag was slightly out of place. But she left it alone. She put her gun under her pillow that night and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Before the sun even rose the next day, Natasha was jolted awake by someone grabbing her. The hand wrenching her arm was familiar, and she opened her eyes to find Sidorov smiling at her. The blurriness in her eyes immediately cleared and she sat up and reached under her pillow for the gun she kept there. Before she even realized what she was doing, the gun was in Sidorov's face. She cursed internally because if this wasn't about her being about a spy already, it was now.

"Come with me, Natalia." Sidorov growled, and Natasha knew that this time he didn't mean Natalie.

He knew who she was.