The rhythmic buzz of a text sounded against the table. Steve picked it up and glanced at the phone. Anything to distract himself.

/ Hey /

/ Want to see your kid's fight with the goons? The cameras were still recording. /

/ Haven't seen it yet./

Did he want to? It may be a good idea to see how she fought when not mentally unstable. Not to mention, he was curious.

/ So??? /

"Let's do it." Natasha suddenly said from her place on the couch. How?

"It's a group message." She answered without looking up. Oh.

XxX

"Why does this feel like a messed up movie night?" Clint perched on the edge of the table, swinging his legs. He had been set to go home but figured he'd watch for a bit first. Might as well. Especially since he was one of the few non-enhanced people on the team. A few pointers may be good in the future. Hopefully never needed but still good to have.

"That's one way to put it." Steve was leaning against the door, his muscles tense. Nadia had broken his ribs in their fight and, in general, beat the shit out of him. Thankfully, due to the serum, the ribs were already mostly healed by now.

"Well let's get this started." Natasha had brought a bean bag chair and Tony's hoodie had apparently been repossessed, the hood covering the bruising that were still fading from around her neck.

Tony nodded and Friday began to play the footage.

XxX

The sagging eaves, water marked windows, and chipped paint did little to recommend the seemingly abandoned gas station situated across from a little deli shop and a bakery in one of the various suburbs of New York City. Yet there was the open sign, blinking at an overly rapid pace as if to speed along its inevitable death.

"One oh seven…"

Trash Panda's words repeated in her mind, rolling around like his stinking breath in her nostrils. There it was. Three multicolored numbers in spray paint disguised in a montage of vandalism. Hydra could play both fiddles it seemed, up with the government officials right down to the delinquents of New York.

XxX

It wasn't the fact that she had his strength if not more so. Nor was it that she was highly effective in her kills. It was that smile. The quips she occasionally made before gutting someone. She would go from serious with no facial expressions to as if she were making a joke. Was it training or truly how she felt?

"Hey, boys," She seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself, blood dripping from her face, "Mind if I get by ya real quick? Need to get to Sam's cookie stash."

She went through the men as though they were standing still. More often than not using the bodies of the others to fight or kill their comrades. Not once did she pick up one of their guns or weapons. All she used was the kitchen knife and them. Nothing about this was graceful. Simply put, smashing through them seemed to be her method.

Even as a war hardened veteran, Steve found it difficult to watch as she made quick work of the ten mercenaries. However, it wasn't until she literally kicked one guy's head off and sent said head straight into the face of another one that somebody let out a small retch.

XxX

The obnoxious chime of the door barely made the sad, deflated clerk look up from his perch behind the counter. He gave her a once over, his bright blue mohawk bobbing a bit at the motion, "Nothing to steal here, man, so don't bother."

"Lemme guess," Nadia scanned the place, saying the code words casually, "Someone beat me to it?" There was little in the shop to recommend it to anyone coming to buy something, several shelves were empty and all the available edibles looked like they had been there for ages. The entire room smelled of cigarette smoke and an undertone of some orange scented cleaner.

"Less than two hours ago." He smirked, nodding towards the back, "But they missed some stuff in the back so you might as well finish the job for 'em. It's not as if I'm paid enough to bother anyways." With a gesture he said, "All the way to the left, in the back lot."

Nadia couldn't help but admit it to herself, she felt pretty damn cool right at that moment. Every other mission she had in the past was right down to business and the others already been alerted to her that she would be there. Now here she was spouting code phrases and doing the fun stuff. It really was too bad Hydra had done all that it had to her. Maybe after this the Avengers would recognize where her worth was.

The back lot was a small parking lot probably for employees, holding only one car that looked as depressed as its owner inside and a shiny new dumpster. Cameras were perched in various places, town traffic cameras were nearby at that. Why would Hydra choose this place of all places? To rub in that they were just that good at being under cover in everyone's faces?

A scuff of a foot, a heartbeat, slow and calm, shallow breathing. A predator stalking it's prey. A scent that seemed so vaguely familiar. Nadia spun around, her knife coming up to the scarred throat of a young man.

XxX

One man started to crawl away, hand grasping at the edge of the door. Nadia walked over, a kind looking smile on her face, "Oh come now, Mel, you don't want to play anymore?" Yanking him away from the door, she threw him by the ankles into a woman who was staggering to get up, gun in hand. Her face went blank again, blood covered knife in hand, it was only the two people left. Two had been decapitated, one gutted, and the others killed in more various bloody methods. These two were no exception. One she stabbed in the back of the head and the next one she just broke his neck.

Nobody moved as they waited to see what she would do now. Natasha sat forward. This girl was good. Messy in her methods she chose but damn was it effective. Granted, the goons didn't seem to fight very well but a group of heavily armed people wasn't something to take lightly.

It'd taken a total of 19 minutes for her to kill them. Good time. Steve probably couldn't do much better and it would have taken Natasha at least twice that even with her Widow bites.

Now, Nadia would probably start cleaning up and categorizing what was left of the bodies.

Except she didn't. She took in a breath, let it out, then went towards the couch which was smashed against the wall. Her face arranged in a grin that made Natasha's blood run cold.

XxX

His face, despite the scars. The red hair in braids tight against his scalp, eyes as blue as the sky. His scent. It was him.

"Brother." The knife fell away, her other hand ghosting over his face, "Brother." It was all she could get out. He was alive. Subject 5. She hadn't killed him. There was the scar from bullet. Right in the center of his forehead. How was he alive?

Taking the tracker out of her pocket, she showed it to him, then crushed it. A small plume of dust came from between her fingers. The Avengers could think what they like. But she was going with her own plans.

A flicker of expression came to the young man's features before going back to blank. Where had he been all these years? More importantly, what had been done to him all these years? Was he worse off than herself? Why wasn't he speaking?

With these thoughts, she felt herself go under as Five stuck a syringe in her arm.

XxX

Nadia got to the couch and tilted it on it's side, revealing a man. The one who had seemed like the leader in the gang before he had been killed by the couch.

Evidently, he wasn't as dead as they thought he was. His breathing was labored, leg bent at the wrong angles, and his mask had flown off. Without the face gear on, he would have looked like those soccer dads at the elementary games or a store clerk. No malevolent, sharp features or horrifying scars. He could have been anybody.

They watched as the girl lowered herself beside him. Her face looked him over, only a slight hint of caring in her featureless face as her hands went over him.

Pulling off something on his gear, she pursed her lips at the man. "Hydra really should learn to hide their self destruct mechanisms better." She tossed what looked like a metal disc aside and out of reach.

The man's eyes went wide, the implications clearly coming through to him, "No."

"Yes." She grinned, looking as though she were ready to eat him alive, "You're all mine to play with now."

Suddenly, he gave a gasping cry, "Damn you!" A knife was protruding out of his side, "Damn you, fucking thing!"

Nadia cocked her head, seeming confused, "What is it, Trash Man? Don't like the taste of your own medicine? You know full well I haven't stuck you anywhere completely lethal." She twisted the knife a bit. "Just tell me one thing."

"I'm not saying shit!" He managed to yell, face contorted in pain. "Agh! Do what you want to me. Damn you!"

Another knife was produced, covered in congealing blood, a sickening smile crept across the teen's face, "While it would be so nice to do to you every single thing you ever did to me." She slid the blunt side of the knife across his cheek, a trail of blood in its wake, morbid desire lit in her eyes, "But I'll do you one better, Kevin." At the sound of his name, he stiffened.

"There's nothing you can do to me to get me to talk." He spat, though his eyes said everything, "So just kill me and get it over with."

"Oh no, Kev," She ran her thumb over his cheek where the knife had once been, sounding soft and kind she might have been soothing a child, "I'm going to save you." There was a hunger in her eyes that said she wanted to the exact opposite but taking joy in this outlet of torture as well.

Kevin blanched, his face revealed nothing beyond that, "Then what? Let your new fucking masters tote me off to jail? You'll still get nothing!"

She pretended to think, as though she was relishing every single moment of this interaction, "I doubt Doctor Grante would let you even get that far." The knife wiggled a bit, causing a grimace from the man, "You know how he loves loose ends, not to mention failures." She paused, "And what he does to them."

Kevin squirmed some, breathing hard, "If I tell you, you'll kill me?" Sweat ran down his face, fear seeping through his mask of bravado.

She spun the currently unused blade on her finger tip, "Yes. How good the information is will determine how quickly I do it."

"You fucking bi-" He cut off with a yell as the knife in his side twisted.

"How does it feel having a knife scraping against your ribs, eh? Learned that one from you." She stopped, leaning in, "Now tell me what I need to know before I rush you to the medical unit and start patching you up."

He told her some address that Clint immediately took note of. It was horrifying watching the kid torture and manipulate this man. Granted, he had been there to capture or kill her and, from what it seemed, he had a past of abusing her as well. But that didn't dismiss the fact that Nadia was actively torturing this man. Then again, it wasn't nearly as graphic as her fighting or even, from what he had heard, her past records had been.

"I told you everything I know." The poor man was sweating, "He contacted us two days ago, gave the mission, and told us to drop you there. After that, I have no idea." He seemed to steel himself, "Now keep your end of the deal."

Nadia was sitting Indian style now, playing with the knife, "Do you remember what I told you the last time I was your canvas for your bloody tools?"

He gritted his teeth, obviously not understanding why she was taking a trip down memory lane, "Yes."

"Mary Lynn, Erin, and Ava." Was all she said.

The man's face became a slide show of emotions. Shock, horror, anger, grief. A single tear rolled down his cheek, he barely grit out, "You bit-"

But he couldn't say anymore as the knife in her other hand had been thrown with enough force to bury into his skull past the hilt.

"Thank you, for your cooperation." She patted his shoulder before getting up.

After that, all she did was make the one meal that Steve had taught her so far and meticulously cleaned the entire common room before settling back down with the book she had been reading before. Not five minutes late Steve and Clint burst into the room.

"Damn." Stark looked green and Natasha didn't blame him.

Steve had that expression on his face that by now she knew he was upset but was trying hard not to let anyone see. He stood up, "Well, let's get a look at where that address is."

"That's it?" Stark looked up at him, "No commentary on how your kid literally made minced meat of those guys and interrogated - no, tortured - one of them?" How else had they thought she'd gotten the information?

"That's what she was taught and hasn't been taught anything else." Steve's gaze landed on the screen, "But maybe we can help her with that."

A/N - Hey all! Sorry this took so long to update! Life's been crazy.

Also, MarvelDclover, if you're still reading this, the answer is yes! :D Sorry to reply this was but my phone hates me and this was the only way I could respond. /