Chapter 28: The Red Room

It was the dark of night in the Avengers Mansion. All the Avengers that called the mansion home were fast asleep. Tony was slumped over his work desk, snoring loudly as Dummy draped a blanket over him. Hank was asleep in his bed, Jan snuggled up next to him contently. Hulk was snoring incredibly loud, having ended up on the floor once again with Rick flopped onto his stomach. Thor was resting, Jane tucked under his arm contently. Logan and Steve were sleeping fitfully in their beds, sharing a room so they could help comfort one another when their PTSD kicked in. Clint was lounging on the roof, asleep in a hammock that overlooked the city. Black Panther was resting as well, enjoying his recently refurbished room with a few personal Wakandan touches. Finally, Natasha was resting as well, one hand tucked under her pillow while the other was holding onto the bedpost.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping Avengers, across the street from them, a lone woman made her way across the roof of an adjacent building. She was dressed in a black catsuit with a yellow belt around her waist. She had a pair of guns on her hips, and a knife tucked in her boot. In her hands, she carried a high-power rifle that she began setting up on the edge of the roof.

Once the rifle was set up, she set up a laser sight, aiming it through the curtains of Natasha's window. It traveled along her blankets before slowly trailing up to her head. Unfortunately, it passed over her eye and woke her up.

"Derr`mo!" she cursed in Russian before rolling off her bed.

Her pillow soon exploded into feathers as a bullet pierced her window and narrowly missed her.

"Otva`li, mu`dak, b`lyad!" she continued cursing, scrambling for cover before grabbing her ID card. "Red alert! I'm taking fire! Repeat! I'm taking fire!"

Clint immediately sprang up and saw the woman across the street. He quickly flipped out of his hammock and grabbed the bow and arrow he kept on standby. He then shot an arrow at the woman's gun, knocking it out of her hands.

"Nice try." Clint told her.

Almost immediately, a bullet snapped his bow string in half, grazing him across the face. He clenched his cheek as he ducked behind the chimney.

"Uh, I could use some back-up on the roof!" He called into his ID card. "Anybody?"

Immediately, Cap and Logan crashed through the window and caught sight of the assassin, leaping down from the rooftops and onto the street. Logan extended his claws and immediately charged at her. The woman then took out her pistols and began shooting at them. While Cap used his shield to block the bullets, Logan just took the shots head on.

"Nice try, sweetheart." Logan taunted, the wounds already closing.

Seeing that her tactics weren't working, she decided to bolt out of there. Logan immediately chased after her. The woman ducked into an alleyway as Logan came up from behind. Thinking fast, she turned around and shot some kind of stinger like Natasha's at him, causing him to growl in pain due to the electricity coursing through him. Seizing her moment, she jumped onto the fire escape before backflipping behind a fence.

A few minutes later, the Avengers convinced in the Assembly Hall to discuss what happened.

"Ok, anyone else getting annoyed about bad guys attacking us in the dead of night?" Jan voiced. "Uh, no offense, T'Challa."

"None taken." T'Challa replied. "Though, I think our attention should be redirected to Ms. Romanoff's would be assailant."

"Yeah, whoever she was, she was skilled, a crack shot, and knew just how to take us down. Logan remarked.

"Logan's right." Steve agreed. "It was almost like we were fighting Natasha herself."

"For all intents and purposes, you were." Natasha spoke up.

Everyone blinked in confusion as Natasha activated the mansion's archives, bringing up a holographic image of the attacker.

"Her name is Yelena Belova." She explained. "She's a Black Widow."

"I thought you were the Black Widow?" Jan spoke up.

"One of many." Nat corrected. "There have been others over the years. All of us trained in the same place ever since the Cold War."

"The Red Room." Clint finished.

Logan's ears twitched slightly, the name bringing back an old, fragmented memory. A conversation he heard in the background during his time with Weapon X.

"I heard about that place." He told them. "Some kind of boot camp they sent orphaned girls. Turning them into superspies."

"That about sums things up." Nat confirmed. "Yelena was one of the last Black Widows after I went rogue. Fury told me that the Red Room was shut down not long after."

"Yeah, by Cap's old friend Agent Carter." Tony remarked. "I read the file."

"So why would Yelena come here?" Steve asked. "You two ever have a history?"

"Our paths have crossed a few times, yes." Natasha explained. "I had hoped to convince her that she didn't have to keep following the path the Red Room put her on."

"Guess it didn't work out." Tony remarked.

"Apparently not." she agreed. "But what I don't understand is why now?"

"Well, she's gonna show up again." Steve deduced. "We just need to be ready for when she does."

"No, I need to be ready." Natasha corrected, getting to her feet. "I'm not willing to let the rest of you risk your life for this. Yelena is my problem, one I need to fix."

"We're a team, Nat." Clint told her. "Teammates don't let one of their own go into a fight alone."

Nat turned to Clint, and for a moment, there seemed to be a look of actual fear on her face.

"Listen to me, Clint." she told him. "Yelena is dangerous. More dangerous than you could ever imagine. She was trained to use even the smallest of weaknesses against her opponent. That's why she attacked the mansion. I'm can't risk losing you. There's too much at stake, and if she gets us both-"

She grabbed his wrist for emphasis, choking slightly on her words.

"Do you really want to do that to her?" she whispered.

Clint sighed in response.

"I still think it's stupid for you to go alone." Clint replied.

"I'm not going to back down on this, Clint." she insisted. "I can't and won't lose you."

With that, she walked off towards the quinjet. Logan watched her go, then got to his feet.

"Cap, you coming?" he asked.

"Right behind you." Steve confirmed.

In the hanger bay, Natasha prepped the quinjet for take-off. She went over to where the weapons were stored, making sure everything was in order. As she did, she paused for a moment, then turned on her heels with a pistol in each hand. She breathed a slight sigh of relief as she realized it was just Cap and Wolverine.

"Easy." Cap told her.

"What are you two doing here?" Natasha asked, lowering her guns.

"Hawkeye's right. You need back-up." Logan informed her. "Besides, this Red Room had something to do with Weapon X. I've got a lot of questions that this place might be able to answer."

Natasha sighed, sliding her guns into her holsters.

"You two aren't leaving this ship, are you?" she questioned.

"Sorry Natasha." Cap told her. "We're coming, whether you like or not."

"Fine." she relented. "But I'm warning you now, you're not going to like where I'm going."

"Then let's get going." Cap declared.

With that, the three of them piled into the quinjet before taking off.

Outside Avengers Mansion, Yelena witnessed the quinjet examining it through a pair of high-tech binoculars. She lowered them with a smile.

"Soon, Natasha." she smirked. "Soon, this will all be over."

Sometime later, the quinjet flew over the icy peaks of Moscow. Natasha had a death grip on the steering wheel, her face set to a cold neutral as she tried to keep herself calm. Cap looked over and saw her tense state.

"You sure you're up for this?" He asked.

"I don't have a choice." she informed him. "This is the only way we're going to find out what Yelena's game is. But we cannot afford to be seen or heard."

"I think we can manage that." Logan remarked.

Nat smiled a bit before setting the quinjet down on the outskirts of town. Once they landed, she activated the jet's cloaking feature, allowing it to blend in to the surroundings.

"Hope we remember where we parked." Cap quipped.

"You get that one from the kid?" Logan asked.

Cap just smirked, then the three of them disembarked from the ship.

"The Red Room Academy isn't far." Natasha reported. "Just a few kliks north of us. Tread lightly though. These woods are notorious for being awash with traps."

"I didn't come all this way for a cake walk." Logan remarked, pulling on his mask.

With that, they continued trekking through the woods, unaware of the small ship flying overhead.

The three pressed forward, keeping to the shadows of the woods. Their journey was mostly silent, each hero lost in their own thoughts about the mission at hand. Natasha took the lead, following a trail through the woods as if she'd walked it a million times. Her head swimming with old memories of her days in the academy. Wolverine noticed her uneasiness, recognizing it all too well. Thinking back to what he could remember about Weapon X and the ungodly experiments they were performing on him, he could only shiver at the thought.

"Hey." he called out quietly. "I hate ask but… do you remember what they did to you back there?"

"Every God forsaken minute of it." she answered bitterly.

"Do you know if there was anything on Weapon X going on in there?" He asked.

"I've heard it mentioned a few times, but I was never brought in on the matter." she explained. "I was a spy, not a scientist."

"I just… need to know if there's anything there on what they did to me." Logan told her. "Who I was."

Nat looked back at him, a sympathetic look in her eye.

"I'll be honest, I'm not sure." she told him. "But we can look while we're there. I'll need to access the Academy's mainframe to get ahold of Yelena's file anyhow."

"Thanks." Logan replied.

"Eyes front." Cap told them. "We're here."

Wolverine and Widow turned to see what looked like an old military compound. Much to Widow's surprise, she could see guards marching about the perimeter, and soldiers out in the yard.

"That's not possible..." she whispered. "This place is supposed to be shut down."

"Guess someone decided to pick things back up." Wolverine remarked, extending his claws.

"Hold it, Jimmy." Cap insisted. "We can't go in, guns blazing. This is a stealth op."

"Then how do you suggest we get in?" Logan asked.

Widow pointed down to a convoy that was coming into the compound.

"That's how." she declared. "Everyone, this way."

The two old soldiers nodded and they all moved out.

As the convoy drove down the path, Cap, Wolverine, and Widow all quickly jumped through the curtain covering the back of the last jeep. As they all straightened up, they looked to see several soldiers staring at them.

"Whoops." Natasha let out quietly.

"Fellas." Cap greeted.

Logan just extended his claws as the soldiers came at them. The three stabbed, punched, and bashed the soldiers until they were all taken out. Once the soldiers were taken care of, the three rode the convoy straight into the compound. Once the convoy parked inside, Cap, Nat, and Logan filed out, making sure not to be seen.

"Where to, Natasha?" Cap questioned.

Natasha silently pointed over at a large manor that was erected in the middle of the encampment.

"That's conspicuous." Logan jeered.

"Once we get inside, what next?" Cap asked.

"We find the server room." Nat reported. "That will have the information we require, not only for Yelena, but for you as well, Logan."

"Then let's get a move on." Logan told them.

They then made their way towards the mansion. As they approached the side wall, they looked for some kind of entry point. As Logan looked around, he felt his foot collide with something metal on the ground.

"What the…?"

He brushed some snow aside, seeing a small metal handle poking up through the snow. He brushed away some more, revealing a second handle, as well as a rusty chain and lock.

"Bingo." He let out, unsheathing his claws.

He quickly cut the chain before pulling on the handle, revealing a secret door leading into what looked like a bomb shelter that had been made from a basement.

"I think we found our way in." Logan pointed out.

"Then let's stop yapping and start moving." Cap told them.

As the three heroes entered the basement, they saw how old and overrun it had become. The shelves were covered in dust and cobwebs, the floor littered with crates and boxes.

"This place looks like it's seen better days." Cap noted.

"Whoever's running this new operation must be just now moving in." Logan guessed. "Better keep our guard up."

"Right." Nat agreed. "This way."

She led the two towards a doorway that lead into the mansion. As they made their way inside, Natasha took note of the state of the mansion. Everything was almost spotlessly clean, not a speck of dust to be seen. Everything was neat and perfect, exactly as it had been back during her time with them.

"Shit..." she whispered.

"What's wrong?" Cap asked.

"She came back..." Natasha replied, keeping her voice low.

"She?" Cap inquired, walking up next to her.

"Madame B." Natasha explained.

"Who the hell is Madame B.?" Logan asked.

"The sadistic bitch behind the Black Widow program." Nat clarified. "She returned to start her work from the beginning."

"Then we'll take her down." Cap reassured.

Nat just nodded, flexing her fingers nervously as they moved through the mansion.

Back outside, Yelena walked towards the mansion and saw that the door to the basement was open. She just smiled in response, pulling it open herself before entering the mansion.

As Cap, Logan, and Nat walked down the hallways of the facility, Logan heard what sounded like Swan Lake coming from one of the rooms.

"What the-" He let out, peeking inside.

He saw several girls performing ballet, each of them moving in synch with one another. As they danced, several younger girls were made to watch, each of them sitting up stick straight.

"What the hell is a ballet studio doing in his hellhole?" he questioned.

"It was one of Madame B's tests." Natasha explained. "She'd have us dance the same routine repeatedly. Said it was to make us 'unbreakable'."

"What else did she do to you?" Cap questioned.

They continued moving on as Natasha explained, lost in her memories.

"Hand to hand combat training, acrobatics, weapons training and tactical skills." Natasha listed off. "Occasionally, she'd pick two of us to spar… we weren't allowed to stop until one of us was dead."

"She paired you up with Yelena, didn't she?" Cap guessed. "That why she's after you?"

"I was paired up against Yelena, yes." Natasha answered. "I had her pinned, and was about to snap her neck… But I couldn't do it."

"Why not?" Logan questioned.

"I don't know honestly." she replied. "I was so deep in the program by that point. I was Madame B's top pupil, the most kills, and a perfect record for missions… Or I was..."

"What changed?" Cap inquired.

Nat paused, thinking back.

"I met Clint." she answered.

São Paulo- A Lifetime Ago

It was the dead of night at the Bandeirantes Palace. The guards were going about their rounds, ensuring that their charge was safe. Above them, a grappling hook shot out, connecting with the roof of the palace. Attached to it was Natasha, who zipped up the building until she found the floor she was looking for. She stopped on the rope before swinging up to the window. Once she grabbed hold of the window sill, she reached into her belt, grabbing a small laser cutter. She stuck it onto the window, where it immediately cut a perfect circle in the glass. She removed the cutter, taking the glass circle with her so she could reach through the new hole. She unlocked the window, then slipped quietly inside the palace.

As she made her way through the building, she saw the flashlight of an oncoming guard. She ducked into a small alcove waiting as he passed. Once he was in front of her, she struck. She grabbed him by the neck, snapping it with one fatal twist. He dropped the flashlight, which she deftly caught with her foot as she slowly lowered him to the ground. She arranged him so he looked like he had merely fallen asleep, then continued on her way.

She silently opened the door into her targets room, pulling a knife from her boot. She deftly tossed it, striking the figure slumbering in the bed before her. However, rather than hearing the usual sound of a knife entering flesh, she just heard a soft thud. She blinked in confusion, slinking towards the bed silently. She reached for the knife, yanking it out of the figure before yanking the covers back.

All that was there was an assortment of pillows that had been arranged into a crude pillow dummy. There was a note taped to one of them, one that simply said "HI" with a smiley face with its tongue stuck out.

"What the-" She let out.

Just then, a lone arrow crashed through the window and imbedded itself into one of the pillows. She stared at it in confusion as it blinked twice, promptly exploding. The force of the explosion sent Natasha flying through the window and out onto the palace grounds. She rolled hard, groaning as she tried to regain her senses. As she did, alarms went off and guards converged on Natasha.

"Derr`mo!" she cursed.

As the guards came towards her, she pulled out her gun and shot down three of them as the others ran up. She then punched one guard in the throat before grabbing his head and kneeing him hard. Another guard tried grabbing her from behind, but she shot him in the foot, causing him to let go before she spun around and kicked him in the head.

As she fought, a figure watched from an adjacent rooftop. The figure peaked over the edge of the building, revealing themselves to be Clint Barton. He pulled another arrow from his quiver, aiming it at Natasha.

"Director, I have the assassin in my sight." he reported. "Like you said, femme fatale Russian chick. Definitely one of Madame B's."

"Once you have your shot, take it." Fury ordered.

Down below, Natasha continued her assault on the guards, who just seemed to keep coming. She continued taking them out one by one, never showing any sign of stopping. Clint watched her, noticing something about the way she fought. She never seemed to stop, even as sweat poured down her face and her breath became ragged and labored.

As she continued fighting, one guard shot at her, nailing her in the arm. She let out a grunt of pain, grabbing her arm in reflex before turning to her shooter. Disregarding her injury, she attacked the guard, punching him with her injured arm as if there wasn't a bullet currently lodged in it.

"Man, what does it take for her to go down?" Clint remarked.

Finally, she kicked the last guard in the face, knocking him to the ground. Once the last of the guards were down, she fell to her knees, her exhaustion and pain finally hitting her. Clint focused his aim, preparing to take the shot, but found himself unable to release the arrow. He prepared to lower the bow, but then caught sight of a single surviving guard charging at Natasha. On instinct, he adjusted his aim and fired, catching the guard right through the eye.

Natasha jumped as the guard fell, immediately following the arrow's trajectory towards the rooftop Clint was on. Their eyes locked for a moment, then she spoke up.

"If you're going to kill me, I suggest you do it now." She warned. "I promise you, you won't get another chance."

"Take the shot, Barton." Fury demanded. "That's an order!"

Clint drew another arrow and aimed it at Natasha. She closed her eyes as Clint let the arrow loose. It shot past her face, hitting a guard that was sneaking up behind her. Her eyes opened, and she turned around, watching as the guard fell dead. By the time she turned back to the roof, Clint was gone.

"Agent Barton, what the hell was that?" Fury's voice demanded.

"I missed." Clint replied as he made his way off the roof and away from the scene.

"Clint was the first person to show me mercy." Nat explained. "He helped me, despite the two of us being enemies at the time. He could have killed me, but he spared my life. It was that act that began to break down Madame B's programming, which eventually led to me joining S.H.I.E.L.D."

"So, you owe Barton for getting you out of this hell hole." Logan surmised.

"And for helping me become more than what they made me." Nat agreed. "And now, Yelena wants to destroy the only good thing I've ever had in my life. I won't let that happen."

Cap gave the group a signal to stop, the three of them right in front of a door marked 'Archives'.

"Looks like we found what we're looking for." Cap announced.

"The Archives." Natasha whispered.

Logan unsheathed a single claw, sliding it through the gap in the door and the doorframe, cutting through the lock with ease. He opened the door and was immediately shot right in between the eyes. He fell backward as Cap and Natasha were swarmed by armed goons and dead-eyed women.

They were quickly stripped of their weapons and pinned roughly to the ground. As they struggled in the grips of their captors, an older, blonde woman walked out of the room, a smoking gun in her hand. She blew the smoke from the gun's barrel, looking down at Natasha with a disappointed look.

"Did you really think it would be that easy, Natasha?" the woman chastised. "I thought I trained you better than that."

Natasha snarled at that remark.

"You must be Madame B." Cap guessed.

"Correct." She confirmed. "And you are the famous Captain America. I must say, you do not live up to your reputation."

"But you do." Cap retorted. "You're as sadistic as I've heard."

Madame B. snorted, then turned to her soldiers.

"Take them to the prison." she ordered. "We will make an example of them."

"What about that one?" A guard asked, gesturing to Logan's slowly healing body.

"Take him too." she replied. "Stryker will be happy to hear that Weapon X's proudest achievement has been recovered."

Logan snapped awake at that and got back to his feet with his claws out. Madame B then shot him a second time, and he crumbled again. Cap just glared at her as the three were taken away.

Not long after, all three of them were locked in separate cells in the base's prison. Logan had been locked in an adamantium cage, making clawing his way to freedom impossible. Cap had already begun searching his cell for a means of escape, but there was nothing for him to use. Natasha was sitting in the corner of her cell, holding her legs with a blank expression on her face.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered.

"Stow that talk." Cap told her. "We've faced down worse than this and we've survived. We'll figure a way out of this too."

"I never should have brought you two here." she continued, seemingly unaware that Cap had spoken. "No one else was supposed to get hurt… I didn't want any more red in my ledger."

"Listen to me Natasha, this isn't on you." Cap told her. "We chose to come. We're a team, and we never let one of our own go in alone. No matter what."

"You think this is the first time the Cap and I have been in hot water?" Logan added. "We'll get out of this."

As Logan spoke, the door leading to the cellblock opened, and Madame B. entered.

"How touching." she commented as she waltzed towards their cells. "Comrades in arms refusing to give up hope."

She then seemed to gag.

"That sort of weak minded talk is what got you in this mess in the first place."

"And I'd like to think it's gonna get us out of it too." Cap retorted.

"Anything's better than listening to this bitch." Logan added.

Madame B. laughed.

"You've retained your colorful demeanor, Mr. Howlett." she quipped. "I suppose Stryker's mind-wiping technology left much to be desired."

Logan just growled at her in response.

"Why did you send Yelena after Natasha?" Cap demanded, drawing Madame B.'s attention.

"Yelena?" Madame B. practically spat. "That predatel'skaya suka defected not long after Natasha did."

Natasha sat up at that, her eyes going wide.

"Yelena left the program?" she asked.

"Yes, I did." Yelena's voice announced.

Madame B turned around, just as three shots rang out. She fell to the ground, a hole in her head and two in her chest. Yelena then stepped forward, stepping over Madame B's body.

"Good riddance." Yelena let out.

She looked at the cells, then holstered her gun, smiling.

"Hello Natasha." she said, wrapping her hands around the bars. "Thank you for accepting my invitation."

"Invitation?" Logan repeated. "You planned this?"

"Madame B. emerged from retirement about a month ago." Yelena explained. "I knew she was going to finish what she started all those years ago. I also knew she needed to be stopped."

"Then why not take her on yourself?" Natasha asked.

"Because my revenge would not be complete until every piece of her project was here." Yelena replied. "It took me years to hunt down all of the remnants of the Black Widow project, every little girl she turned into a soulless killing machine, saving her most prized pupil for last."

"Me." Natasha whispered.

"Exactly." Yelena agreed before lifting her gun.

Before any words of protest could be said, Yelena emptied her clip into the lock of the cell, decimating it and freeing Natasha. The door slowly slid open, much to everyone's surprise.

"Killing you like that would've been a waste." Yelena said, answering the unasked questioned. "I want to kill you the proper way. One on one combat. Just like back in the Red Room."

"I won't fight you Yelena." Natasha snapped.

"Then let me give you some incentive."

Yelena fished into her shirt, pulling out a flash drive.

"This is a copy of Madame B's hard drive." she explained. "All the files stored in the archives. It's the only copy as of..."

There was a distant explosion and Yelena smiled.

"Right now." she concluded, sliding the drive back into her shirt. "Manage to beat me, and it's yours."

Natasha started down the former Black Widow, knowing that she didn't have a choice. She got to her feet, walking out of the cell.

"Natasha!" Cap shouted, trying to reach her from his cell. "You don't have to do this!"

"Yes." Natasha told him, her eyes never leaving Yelena. "I do."

Natasha then sprinted out of her cell, trying to strike at Yelena. Yelena quickly dodged the blow and grabber her arm, flipping her over her shoulder. Nat easily landed on her feel and swept Yelena's feet out from under her. As Yelena landed on the ground, she quickly rolled out of the way of Nat trying to kick her in the face. Yelena quickly got back to her feet, snarling angrily as she moved in for a grapple.

As the two women continued their fight, Cap spotted a ring of keys hanging off Madame B's belt. His eyes went wide, realizing what they were.

"Natasha! The belt!" He called out.

Nat glanced down at Madame B's belt and saw the key ring dangling from it. She made her move, catching the ring with her foot and making as if to do a high kick at her opponent. Yelena dodged, and the keys went flying, landing right in front of Logan's cage. Logan reached through the bars of his cell to try and reach the keys, finding them just scant centimeters out of reach, even with his claws extended.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" he cursed.

Thinking of any possible way to get a hold of them, Logan finally thought up a solution. He rammed himself against the wall shoulder first, dislocating it. Biting back a cry of pain, he grabbed at the key, pulling his arm back before his healing factor snapped his arm back into place. He then unlocked his cell and rushed over to Cap's.

While her teammates worked on freeing themselves, Natasha and Yelena continued their fight. Yelena had Natasha against a wall, her arm against her throat hard enough to constrict her breathing.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this." Yelena told her.

Natasha choked for a minute, struggling to breathe. Suddenly, she pulled her legs up and wrapped them around Yelena, twisting her entire body so both she and Yelena went falling to the ground. Natasha tightened her grip, suffocating Yelena as she pinned her body to the ground. Before she could make another move, Cap came over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"That's not why we're here." He told her.

Natasha kept her grip on Yelena, then she slammed her head hard into the floor. The blow did the trick, knocking the femme fatale out. Natasha released her, flopping onto the ground in relief.

"You alright?" Cap asked.

"Yeah..." she replied, slowly sitting up. "Thank you. For stopping me."

"That's what teammates are for." Cap replied.

"Hate to break up this touching moment." Logan spoke up. "But didn't she rig this place to blow?"

Sure enough, a second explosion went off, spurring the group into motion. Natasha grabbed Yelena, taking a moment to remove the drive from her unconscious form and slip it into her own pocket.

"Let's get out of here." she declared.

After escaping the exploding remains of the facility, the three Avengers returned to the mansion, dropping Yelena off with Fury on the Helicarrier. Clint was relieved when they returned in one piece, as were the rest of the Avengers.

"Nice to see you made it out alive." He told his partner.

"Glad these two stowed away." she replied with a knowing smirk. "Guess I needed help after all."

"Always happy to have your back." Cap told her.

"Same with me." Logan added. "We damaged souls gotta stick together."

"Right." Nat agreed. "Speaking of, I'll see if I can find that info I promised you."

She held up the flash drive, getting a nod from Logan.

"I won't hold my breath." he told her. "Still, thanks for grabbing that."

She just gave a shrug, then walked off with the drive.

Late that night, Natasha was still in the assembly hall, looking over the data from the drive. She'd been setting Weapon X files aside, while sorting through the rest with only vague interest. She yawned, contemplating heading off to bed before one file crossed the screen. She froze, stopping her scrolling as she opened the specific file called "The Winter Soldier". She scanned through the documents inside, her eyes going wider with every passing paragraph.

"Impossible..." she let out.

"Agent Romanoff." JARVIS spoke up, startling her. "Is everything alright?"

Remaining silent, Nat printed a paper copy of the file's contents, practically yanking the papers off the printer.

"JARVIS, permanently delete the file." she ordered. "And erase the last five minutes of security footage."

"Agent Romanoff, might I inquire as to why-"

"Just do it!" She snapped, displaying a rare streak of unbridled fury.

"Very well." He allowed.

Natasha watched as the file was deleted, then tucked the papers under her arm. She walked up to her room, sticking the papers into a duffle bag before grabbing some clothes from her closet. Once she had what she needed, she slung the bag over her shoulder and jumped out the window, disappearing into the night.

...

Thank you for your patience with this one. After some much needed editing, we are ready to continue the story. Hope you're all enjoying it as much as we are.