Nick leaves the room, allowing the Avengers to consider the information they have just realized. "Maybe we should wait for Dr. Banner to come back," Tony begins.

"Unless, he brings…"

"But what if they…"

"They could, but…"

"Guys!" Steve raises his voice, signaling them to have their conversation with everyone, not just the two of them. "Is there something else we should know here? Because what I heard in there is that Natasha spent years being beaten, starved, sent to kill, and having sex with much older men for information. How do we help her?"

"I mean, do you think it was easier for her to just… get the information than to face the punishments if she didn't?"

"Viktoriya said sex was a punishment, but also a way to get information, how could they use it as both? Isn't sex enjoyable?"

"Okay, Mr. Virgin, it wouldn't be if they were using it to punish her. Maybe instead of making it pleasurable, they did something else during it? Like one of the other punishments so she wouldn't enjoy it?"

"This feels like an invasion of her privacy."

"That's because it is." The squeak of the wheels on the IV pole followed her into the room. She could still deny it, she made sure her questions were phrased so that it was about Viktoriya's girls, not her specifically. They didn't know that all of that had happened to her. Besides, she had only seen her a few times before and Viktoriya had only said she was in charge of Natasha's time to scare her.

"Did Banner release you?"

"I don't need him telling me what to do," she sneered at her partner. "Did we get enough to keep her? I mean the things she told me about what she did to those girls was horrible, I'm almost glad I had my handlers."

"Drop it, Tash. We know."

"You know what?"

"Quit acting dumb, we know that all of that happened to you. She was only in charge of one widow in the program, and it was you."

"She… She was lying, it wasn't that bad. She's trying to make it so that you guys don't want me on the team, so that she can have me back. You can't seriously believe her over me."

"Lady Natasha, you haven't exactly been forthcoming with us."

"I will be! I'll answer any question you want. I promise."

"Why were you in the infirmary earlier this week with Dr. Banner and Tony?"

Silence. She wracked her mind for a good excuse, but she was caught. Tony, Bruce, or Clint would tell the team if she was lying, even if they wouldn't tell them what was wrong.

"I had some injuries that needed to be taken care of."

"We figured out that much, Nat. What kind of injuries?"

"Just some cuts from after Clint and I's mission."

Clint scoffs and Tony rolls his eyes at her, even Bruce gives her a look of disapproval.

"About a month ago, after a mission, Tony found out that Natasha has been – "

"God, you guys are so dramatic! It's no big deal. Why are we doing this here? And no one has told me if they are keeping Viktoriya."

"You're right, let's do this at the tower and let the team decide if it's a big deal. Fury went to speak with some other SHIELD officials to decide if we have enough about Viktoriya to keep her."

Natasha let out a groan of frustration, but followed the men of the team to a car outside waiting to take them to the tower. Her mind was running wild with possibilities once more. Would Steve kick her off the team? Would they have her admitted and claim that she was crazy? Would they know everything that had happened to her now? She supposed that some of Viktoriya's answers were vague, but if this woman really had been her sole handler… The information she could divulge would ruin Natasha's reputation and set the team back even further. It had been silent for too long anyway, surely they'd be called for a mission soon and how would they treat her, even if she was allowed to stay on the team? Would they let her off the helicarrier and put her on getaway driver duty?

Tony and Clint seemed to be wondering similar things as they observed Natasha sitting between them, lost in thought and no doubt planning an escape route. The car rolled to a stop in front of the tower and Clint gently grabbed the widow's arm, pulling her toward the discussion she had dreaded since Clint brought her to SHIELD. This would undoubtedly change both of them and their relationship. Incredibly, she didn't resist much, resigned to the fact that her life as she knew it was officially over the moment she forced the second interrogation of Viktoriya. They trudged up the stairs and sat in the living room, everyone staring at her and saying nothing until Steve broke the silence, ever the team leader.

"So, Natasha, would you like to explain what's going on?"

"There's nothing to explain. Some of my teammates can't mind their own business, so here we are."

"Why don't you tell us what you felt was none of their business."

"Why don't you accept that it's also none of your business?" She snipped back at him, crossing her arms across her chest and refusing to sit on the couch behind her. By standing, she felt she held more power over the men in the room who had assumed less confrontational positions. She almost dared the men to cross her with the murderous look in her eyes, even though she was still frail and attached to an IV pole.

"I'll start for you then," Stark sneered at her. "Natasha has been intentionally cutting herself."

"Why would she…" Steve trailed off, astonished. "Where? I thought surely JARVIS is enabled to alert the team if someone is hurt."

"She disabled my capabilities inside her bathroom and frequently leaves the tower and returns with elevated vitals, sir." The AI chimed into the discussion, leaving Tony fuming that Natasha had toiled with his abilities. He had assumed after the incident at CVS that she was simply sneaking out to continue her habits without his knowing, but she had once again betrayed his trust and been harming herself inside his tower. Worse, she had deliberately tampered with his security system.

"Why would you do that, Natasha?"

"It's fine, you don't have to act like you care. I understand if you don't want me on the team anymore."

"Nat, no one is saying you are off the team. We just need to know why you're doing this."

"I'm not off the team?"

"We need to discuss what's going on, I can't make any decisions until I know why you're doing this and what else might be happening."

"Nothing else is – "

"How much do you weigh?"

"I don't know," she was lying through her teeth, she had weighed in at 83.7 pounds this morning, exactly two-tenths of a pound heavier than yesterday.

"She was severely underweight at 92 pounds a few weeks ago," Bruce interjected, reading his notes. "I would guess she has been tracking it somewhere, so we could probably find it if you enabled JARVIS to scan her room. We would probably find more blades at that point as well. I can't even imagine what else the Red Room has engrained in her as punishments."

She was absolutely defeated. There was nothing left to do that would help her; they would check her room and they would find the notebook she kept her workouts, calories, cuts, and kills in and it would be over. They'd know how many she'd killed, how many innocents lost their lives at her hands. They'd know how many men she'd fucked just to get a bit of information, how many men had fucked her to remind her of her place. They'd know every single punishment she'd ever received, which cuts were hers and which were theirs. How much weight she had lost, every single thing she felt, and how she squashed those feelings. She had to do something.

"If I tell you, will you please let me at least keep some dignity and not search my belongings?"

The men's ears perked up, some more so than others. Tony and Clint were not convinced.

"You have to answer every question and give us your blades."

She gritted her teeth. "Deal."