Natasha floated in and out of reality, not quite asleep, not quite awake. Her body had ceased to ache, her muscles finally releasing their tension. Steve lay beside her, his body warm against her back. She craned her head back to look at him, confused. "You shouldn't be here," she muttered, blinking to try and clear the haze over her vision, "It's not safe."

Steve smiled, "You should have known I would come. I swore to you I would. I never lie." He bent and kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes, savoring the feeling.

"There's no way she was able to gain that enhancement on her own. Look at his file, Rogers has that same power. That can't be a coincidence. They're lovers Darya." The sound of Anka's voice nearby made Natasha stiffen, her stomach fluttering in a panic. She turned into Steve, "You have to go! You can't be here!"

Steve just smiled at her, "I'll be fine. I'm staying."

"I've run the tests on her blood. There's an element there that doesn't match what we have on file for her but it's trace. We need the original source, and I think it's him. Don't kill him Darya, capture him. He could be the final piece."

Natasha struggled to sit up but couldn't make her body obey. Steve looked at her tenderly, completely ignorant of the conversation Natasha was hearing. She snarled at him, "Get out of here Steve, they're looking for you!" Steve shook his head, "I can't. Not this time."

"We don't have the resources to capture him!"

"Then make her do it." There was a pause, "She is resilient. Maybe it will work on her."

"We can't afford for her to die."

"I think it's our best chance."

Natasha's breathing hitched as she heard footsteps coming her way. She took his face in her hands and begged him, "Please Steve, leave me! They will kill you! I can't bear one more death!"

Steve looked up as Darya entered the room, and Natasha's eyes flew open as she sat up. She looked around, bewildered. Steve was nowhere to be found. She sat on the hospital bed in an austere room, sterile in it's decor. The lights above were bright and painful to her eyes. Darya looked at her with disgust.

"See how he has weakened you? Calling out his name in your sleep. The Natalia I knew needed no one, succeeded at every mission." She turned from her and muttered, "Right up until Kristoff. I still can't quite believe that."

Natasha didn't respond, still reeling from the sudden absence of Steve. She was relieved he was still safe, but his departure left her with an emptiness inside. If she was going to have even a remote chance of survival, she knew she needed to concentrate. As Darya sat and typed something on her computer, Natasha closed her eyes. Tenderly, she brought up each one of the Barton family that she had lost, and placed them in the farthest point of her mind to mourn later. She cut away at their hold on her heart, the stranglehold that kept her from functioning. They were gone, and she would pay for their loss, but not now. As she stripped them from her heart, she felt the softness leave her, hardening into what she was more familiar with as a spy; detachment. Darya and Anka were up to something more than revenge, and Natasha felt duty bound to figure it out. Mentally she reviewed what she knew. Darya was interested in her enhancement, she had figured out her healing power. She still didn't know about her connection with Steve, and Natasha felt certain she never would. They wanted Steve, originally for power over her, but now possibly to study the serum in his blood. Natasha knew what they would find there, the key to super soldiers.

She opened her eyes and looked at Darya, "Tell me why you have captured me here. I am a traitor to Russia, what good am I to you?"

Darya looked up at her thoughtfully, "You were the best student I ever trained. Your flaw turned out to be an appreciation for kindness, perhaps because I never showed you any. I want to rectify that."

Natasha laughed, a painful sound, "You threatened my friends, poisoned me by stabbing, killed them, and kidnapped me so that you could be KIND? Well let me just say, really well done there. I'm all softened up." She strained forward against her ties, "I will NEVER help you."

Darya stood abruptly, her tone severe, "What those people showed you was not kindness, it was pity. They never knew the true you. Not really. They twisted you into someone that you aren't. Tell me Natasha, if you had shown them every aspect of your red Room training, every mission you completed, would they still be so trusting of you, so kind?"

Natasha hesitated. It was a question she had often wondered. Even with all she had shared with Clint, with Steve, she had never told them everything. She shook her head. How could she doubt them? When they had proven their love and loyalty over and over again?

Darya watched her closely, "I can see that there is a part of you that wonders." She drew closer to Natasha, seeming to hesitate, "I know that we taught you girls that you had no place in the world. We did that to protect you from becoming attached. The truth is… You belong here. You are a black Widow, you belong with your own kind."

Natasha looked at her, her gaze icy, "Truth? Truth is what you make it. Is your opinion of me so low that you think I would fall for such a classic manipulation? That I would forget that particular lesson?"

Darya grinned, "Some lessons stick don't they my dear? I'm glad."

Natasha looked at her surroundings, her eyes narrow. "Where have you brought me? Not Russia, I would feel it. Where are your newest recruits clamoring to see a real live traitor? I remember you bringing back failed Widows. It wasn't so long ago."

Darya pursed her lips, "The widow program is not what it should be. After you disappeared you can imagine what they did to me. I'm sure you relished the thought." She turned and lifted her shirt so Natasha could see her back, a veritable maze of scars. Natasha's expression didn't change. She met Darya's eyes, "I had hoped they would kill you actually."

Darya nodded, "That was their plan, but it didn't work out that way. It turns out they needed me, my training with enhanced individuals makes me valuable to the next phase of the Black Widow Program. Or would have, if SHIELD hadn't tracked down our headquarters and effectively shut down the program. I assume you had something to do with that?"

Natasha was silent. She had begged Nick Fury to take on the mission, to shut down the Black Widow program in the hopes that she would be safe, and no more girls would grow up like she did. He had agreed, but refused to let her in on his plan. She hadn't known for certain if he had succeeded based off her intel.

Darya's eyes sparked with barely concealed fury as she analysed Natasha's carefully blank face.

"I thought so. Now I'm just stuck with scars and failed students to retrain. We don't have time to raise a new generation of Widows, so we are exploring… other options. I notice your signature scars are missing. Why don't you tell me how that happened?"

Natasha swallowed, but said nothing. Darya sneered, "What? You thought I wouldn't notice? I gave you half of those scars myself! Tell me what happened to them." Natasha looked up, "Excellent scar creams. Thor is really into beauty products." Natasha smirked. Darya looked at her thoughtfully and went to sit back down in front of her computer. Hitting a key decisively, audio began to play. Steve's voice made Natasha's stomach clench, she couldn't bear the idea of Darya seeing him, listening to his voice. Steve spoke:

"Two days ago, Natasha Romanoff, also know as The Black Widow was drugged and captured by the US government under the authority of Senator Everett Ross. As you know, Ms. Romanoff willingly signed the Accords, which afforded her rights within the law. Ross captured her in an effort to blackmail me into signing the Accords despite this."

Darya hit pause and looked over at her suspiciously. "Tell me Natalia, why did the US government think that you were the best tool to use against Steve Rogers as blackmail?"

Natasha gave her a withering look, "Rogers is bound by a code of honor. They could have picked anyone and he would have felt duty bound to save them. It's a sickness."

"They didn't pick anyone, they picked you. Natalia Romanoff, notoriously hard to capture. There would have been many easier targets. Not to mention the rest of the footage showing your truly selfless sacrifice to save him. The evidence is all right here. Don't play games, you've fallen for him. You have a weakness for kind men." Her voice rose, "After your serious injuries you fall into a coma, but somehow, miraculously, you recover, only now you have the power to heal that matches the power of your dear lover. Do you still want to pretend like there is no connection between you?"

Natasha looked at Darya, exasperated "You are really grasping here. The United States has the best healthcare in the world. That's the source of your little miracle. Not Steve Rogers. I just heal quickly is all."

Darya's face twitched, "You really do love him. That's problematic… Anka?"

Anka appeared moments later in the doorway. "Prep her. We're doing this the hard way. We have no choice"

Anka looked at Natasha gravely, "Will she survive it?"

Darya nodded, "This one will. I know it."

Natasha looked between them both, alarmed. Anka unlocked the wheels on her bed and rolled her into the next room. As she saw the contraption before her, the red star glaring it's light upon her bed, it suddenly all became clear. She struggled frantically, ripping away one of the bonds on her wrist. As Darya called out in warning, Natasha landed a blow to the side of Anka's head. She kicked out viciously and freed her feet, leaping off the bed and kicking out at Darya as she came closer. She yanked in a panic at the final bond on her wrist, still kicking to keep Darya at bay until finally she was free.

Natasha lunged at Darya, who parried quickly and hit her square in the stomach. Natasha absorbed it with a grunt and turned back to Darya in time to see Anka get back to her feet. The three of them stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Anka grinned and pulled her dark hair back, blue eyes sparkling dangerously. "Come on Darya, I want to see what your best student is capable of."

Natasha felt herself center as she always did when she fought. Her mind cleared, her focus sharpened, and emotion melted away. Mentally she took note of everything in the room, anything that could possibly be used as a weapon. Darya circled her slowly, Anka warily keeping Natasha at a distance. Natasha swung at Darya, who blocked her easily. Natasha tried again, sending blow after blow, kicked after kick but it was as if Darya could read her mind. Blocking again Darya caught Natasha not guarding her face and connected her fist to Natasha's cheek. She reeled backwards, disoriented. Darya screeched at her, "You aren't fighting some thug Natasha, you're fighting the best! Get up and stop embarrassing me."

She was right, Natasha realized. She couldn't treat Darya like any other adversary, this woman had taught her everything she knew. She switched gears. Natasha's eyes pricked with tears of pain and she allowed it, putting her hands up before her. "Please," she said, her voice wavering, "I don't want to fight. I'll do what you want, just don't put me in that chair. I've seen what it does. Don't put me through it." She nursed her jaw where she had been punched, blood staining her lip.

Anka frowned, "How does she know about the chair?"

Darya answered, not taking her eyes off Natasha, "Barnes is one of them now." She strode towards Natasha with a purpose, seizing the hair at the base of her skull and turning her so they were directly face to face. "You will obey me, or the chair is your fate. Do you understand?"

Natasha trembled, "What do I have to do?"

"Get Steve Rogers here to us."

Natasha's eyes widened, "What for? What will you do to him?" Darya's grip on her hair tightened, and Natasha flinched. Darya smiled into her face, "Russia will have it's own brand of super soldier. Imagine it, Black Widows who heal themselves, with superhuman strength. You will be the reason Russia becomes a world power again, and I will be vindicated."

Natasha's foot connected to the side of Darya's knee with a sickening crack. Darya let her go and shrieked in pain, but Natasha was already raining punches down on her face, driving her to the floor. Natasha ducked as Anka swung at her, pulling Darya's knife out of her boot and slashing at Anka. Anka grabbed her wrist and they grappled for control of the weapon until Darya rose painstakingly on one leg and hammered her fist into Natasha's temple. Natasha fell, dazed. Vaguely she was aware of being lifted off the ground, but only realized what was happening when she was seated in a chair. She flailed wildly, hitting the star on her bracelet.

STEVE!

With one final punch, Darya sent Natasha spiraling into a world of darkness.