"Just trust her!" Natasha nearly had to shout over Tony who, after hearing the rest of what Nadia had said so far, was about to blow a fuse.

…I won't crawl back to the Avengers because I refuse to go back to their cage of normalcy. The supposedly great Captain America and that traitorous Black Widow want me as a normal girl…

A knife to the back would have been less painful. Steve tried to see it like Natasha said, it was a trick to get whoever this Doctor Grante was to trust her. But that didn't mean it hurt less. What if she meant what she'd said? And they had just made a massive mistake?

"No!" Tony threw his hands up in the air, "Why should we? She was fucking raised by them! Of course she'd go back!"

… They don't want me for what I am and I don't want them…

The past hour the microphone had been completey silent beyond the random movements and sound of breathing. Doctor Grante had brought her to a room and Nadia had evidently fallen asleep.

She had to be acting. She had to. She was trained in espionage. Maybe she was better at it than when she wasn't going crazy. Or maybe she was just that good. Making them think she had gone crazy when her cover was blown, then gaining their trust, only to turn around and betray them.

The microphone gave a small squawk as it was suddenly overwhelmed by too much noise. As it adjusted, all they could hear was the doctor spewing profanities at her.

"You worthless, liar!" The sound of a smack, "You think I fell for your God damned ruse, little bitch? That I would let you sleep in this house? No!" Low, angry words in a language that Steve didn't understand came from him. The words, however, turned Natasha pale.

Creaking of the bed, fabric against fabric as Nadia must have moved to sit up, fear she was trying to hide in her voice, "Sir, you must be mistaken. Please, sir -" She cut off with a sharp, screech of pain.

"Your handler said otherwise, subject." His voice was close, "I knew you weren't to be trusted."

Only a low groan came in response. What had they done? What was this monster going to do? How were they going to find her? The secondary tracker was only able to be turned on if she activated it.

As if on queue, Natasha's phone started to beep. Tony's screen that was pulled up from the security footage changed as well to show a map with a red dot.

"Don't even think about it." Stark looked between the two parents before either could so much as twitch, "It's obviously a trap."

"We don't know that," Steve countered, "Nobody knew about the microphone."

The billionaire set his lips in a hard line, "This is Hydra, Rogers, you can't trust them."

"You're right, Stark." Nat sighed, looking as heart broken as Steve had ever seen her, "It's a trap." She took a breath before bringing her features under control, "It's a trap but we can't just leave her. She said it herself. She's a weapon and one we don't want in the hands of Hydra."

Steve looked at her a frown forming before he could stop it, "You don't trust her?"

"Stark's right we can't just trust her, Steve." She sighed, "I'd like to but I experienced something very similar to how she was raised. We can't trust her yet. Not until she proves herself."

"Then let this be how she does." The super soldier didn't back down, "We'll bring the sedatives and be ready but we have to give her a chance to prove she's innocent."

Stark groaned, scrubbing at his face, "We can't bring everyone. The media is already all over the terrorist supplying douche bags. We don't need them on this too."

"We only need the two of us," Natasha's face said everything the billionaire needed to know, she was willing to do what had to be done, "Then if things go south you can be on standby as well as Wanda."

Tony nodded, "You better get going then."

Xxx

Nadia readjusted herself against the side of the van. It smelled of old bodies, stale food, and some sort of vehicle fluid that she knew nothing of. Across from her on the other bench sat the Weasel himself. The Avengers had brought him low it seemed. Very low. Hydra didn't deal well with crippled or dysfunctional components. Maybe Hydra really was destroyed then – or at least wounded for the time being. Otherwise, this mad scientist probably wouldn't have been allowed to continue operating.

Your plan better work. His hands moved in BSL sign, forming the words with just enough hesitation to show he wasn't completely fluent. His hands were made for torture, not speaking a beautiful language.

It will. She replied in kind. It will only be a few of them. That's how they do these things. We'll tear them apart one bite at a time.

The drugs must have been beginning to wear off. There couldn't be any other reason the pang of guilt was getting sharper. There was no tell tale feeling of disorganized thoughts, more murderous intentions than normal, and all around utter madness, though. So she was fine. Perfectly fine.

The van rattled on. With no windows and no proper point of origin, Nadia had very little idea as to where she was. All the Weasel would say was that it was a place near plenty of people and perfect for a trap.

Twenty minutes later, the scent of the ocean wafted in and Nadia felt her stomach drop. No. She didn't want the ocean to be ruined by this.

No. It wouldn't be ruined. She would be free after this. The ocean would still always be her place.

The vehicle stopped and a moment later the doors opened to reveal a warehouse – or rather several. The slap of water against the docks, seagulls screaming, and distinct scent of fear was enough to tell her where she without needing to look around. It was one of the slaughter houses. There was one here and another on the docks of Boothbay, Maine. She'd never seen it in person as there'd always been ways to keep her from seeing it on the outside. But the test drugs didn't always work. Not to mention, she had been taught how to take in as much as possible in while under their influence and having various senses taken away.

A small smile attempted to come through as she remembered the ice cream she always got after a good kill when she was younger. Mental conditioning they called it. Damn good food was more like it. Ice cream was priceless.

How many people had she killed here? Too many to remember.

And now it was time to add another two to that list.