Chapter 29 just for you! Enjoy!

"Slow down solnyshka I can hardly understand you! What has happened?" Darya caught Anka's eye pointedly, motioning her over. She heard Natasha swallow and exhale purposefully before trying again. Darya pressed the phone harder against her ear in order to catch every word.

"I'm compromised. Rogers has somehow gotten into my head. I heard him talking about my DNA…I thought it was a dream but I could still hear him when I woke! I'm either being spied on in my own head, or I am losing my mind. Either way, I cannot complete this mission. Not without more information."

Darya's eyes were wide, "You can hear him in your head? Truly? Or you just remember him?"

Natasha's voice was hard, "Both. But the memories I have conflict with reality, and I only heard him in my sleep up until today. He spoke to me… I- I know his location. I don't know how I know but I do."

Darya's face darkened. She composed herself before she continued, "I wondered if the Avengers had experimented on you while you were with them. It appears they did. Natalia, I need you to listen to me. Listen very closely. Getting that sample has become more important than ever. You must find him and stab him with the Widows blade. Do NOT shoot him, you understand? It could contaminate his blood and we need it clean."

"But I-"

"NO. Natalia you must. You have an advantage now, use their own tool against them. You know where he is, if he's in your head, then you're in his. Make him pay for what he has done. Kill him, and be free of his influence forever."

There was silence over the other end of the phone. Darya prompted her, "What is your mission?"

"Kill Steve Rogers and bring back samples of his blood."

"You are a Black Widow, merciless and unstoppable. Show him what you are made of. Use the Widows blade, just as he did to you."

"Yes Darya." Natasha hesitated, "I think you may be compromised as well, I planted a bug on Valeria, and the other Avengers are on the move. If he has been in my head then he knows your location."

"We will move at once. We will find you when it is done. We will run some tests on you and figure it all out. But do this first."

Natasha hung up the phone, tossing it into the trash. Her eyes wandered the room from the ground where she sat against the wall. It looked like a tornado had hit it. The small desk was upended, a broken chair beside it on the ground. Papers were strewn everywhere, the curtains ripped from the window. Natasha held her hand out in front of her and watched as it trembled. "Too much, this is just too much," she mumbled to herself, curling her fingers into a fist. She pressed her fists into her temples, as though the pressure on her head would help her get her facts straight. She was horribly confused, two alternate realities mixing and swirling in her mind. Steve wanted her dead, killed her brother. Did she have a brother? She strained for any childhood memories of him, but found none. Steve loved her, had access to her mind, but wasn't controlling her. She shook her head, crimson curls flying about her face. She loved him, somehow she knew she did, no matter how unlikely. Which was going to make her mission that much harder. There was only one constant. She remembered Darya, remembered her childhood. Darya was a constant presence. Some part of her mind nagged at her, trying to remember something about Darya's presence in her childhood, but Natasha pushed it away. She stood and gathered her minimal belongings. She had to trust someone, or she would lose her mind. Darya was the only solid memory she had that made sense. She clung to her words like an anchor, afraid that her treacherous mind would sweep her away into insanity.

She slung her backpack onto her back, glancing in the mirror as she did. She pulled her shirt away from her shoulder, revealing her tattoo. Her eyes traced the hourglass design, her expression resolved.

"You are Natalia Romanova, merciless and unstoppable. It's time to redeem yourself."

"I just don't feel right about this, leaving Steve on his own." Bucky clenched the arms of his seat on the quinjet.

Clint looked grim, "It will take her some time to reach the farm, and we will need the jet. As soon as we arrive at the tower you can gas up and turn right back around. Should be seamless."

Bucky glowered out the window, "That's what they always say."

Tony's voice crackled in Clint's earpiece, "Are you here yet?! This kid is driving me up the wall. Also, Wanda, Vision, and Sam arrived at the location she provided. They found an old German mind control chair thing, but no one was home. So the kid didn't lie, but her information was useless."

"We will be arriving in 30, and I will speak to her myself."

Darya sat looking at Anka grimly, as she hung up the phone, "Change of plans. Natalia is compromised, you were right about her connection with Rogers. It was more than it seemed."

Anka raked her fingernails through her hair in frustration, "What will we do? Ivan wants Natalia! And we need Rogers for the next phase!"

"She's a capitalist tool now! A scientific mutt. We cannot bring her back to the base, not with Rogers and who know what else in her head!"

Darya looked exasperated, wincing as she touched her broken knee, "It's risky, but she may still get us what we need. She doesn't trust him, and she trusts me. When she stabs him we will need to steal Rogers and bring him back to base before the poison gets too far. We will have an ongoing supply of super soldier serum if we can keep him alive. Natalia unfortunately is a liability at this point, we don't know if it's just Rogers in her head. She cannot be allowed to live, we don't have the technology to understand what they have done to her, and we don't have the time. She could bring the whole Avengers team down on our new location! She will have to die."

Anka shook her head sadly, "Such a waste."

Darya frowned, "I had high hopes for her. She had so much promise. We may have to keep Rogers alive, but he will regret ever getting involved with her, I'll make sure of that. When out army is ready, Barton and his family will die for real this time. Natalia will be avenged."

Darya looked up, shaking off her melancholy, "Anka help me up. The sooner we have Rogers the sooner I can heal. Bring him to the base, and be sure Natalia does not see another day.