"Valeria, do you understand how important this is? They have my friend!" Clint's voice was raised, his frustration with the young girls stubbornness apparent.

"I already told you what I know! I'm sorry they weren't there when you got there but there's nothing more I can say!" She glared waspishly back at Clint as he paced her cell.

"No. You're hiding something. Valeria, what aren't you telling me? There's another location? A new Red Room, is that it?"

Valeria's face hardened and she looked at the floor. Clint's expression darkened, "That's it. There's a new Red Room, they're starting over. Valeria-"

"No. I won't tell you anything more, I can't. They're all the family I have!" Valeria wrenched the shoulder of her tank top aside to reveal her hourglass tattoo, "I finally belong somewhere. I'm sorry for your friend, but I'm sure she's fine. Darya and Anka were obsessed with her, she's valuable to them."

At that moment, Bucky burst through the doors of the common area, creating a commotion outside Valeria's cell. Clint leapt to his feet and ran to investigate. Cradled in Bucky's metal arm was Natasha, limp as a rag doll and covered in blood.

"Help! Quickly! She needs medical attention!" Bucky's face was pale, but Natasha was completely devoid of color, her lips tinged blue. Clint leapt into action, picking up the phone and speaking briskly, "Nanali come quickly, and bring a stretcher. Bucky, where's Steve?"

Bucky looked stricken, "She stabbed him. She- There was poison and I shot her before I knew she was back-"

Clint looked enraged, "You SHOT her? You did this to her?!"

"No! I mean not all three times! Only once! I realized she was back in her right mind and that Steve needed an antidote but I couldn't find it and when I came back.." He looked down at Natasha in his arms and gestured helplessly, "Steve was gone and they had… and she was…" Bucky looked at Clint in desperation, "They have him. I don't know if he survived. I've failed him Clint. And if Natasha dies..."

Clint cut him off as Nanali entered the room at a run, "Put her down, give her to the doctor."

Nanali's face was grim as she quickly looked her over, rattling off information as she assessed it to her nurses, "Three gunshot wounds to the back, multiple abrasions, pulse located, but faint." She continued her list as they rolled Natasha out of the room to the hospital wing. The rest of the team came running into the room as they went, and all eyes went wide as they took in Bucky's appearance, covered in blood and clearly in shock. Steve's absence and Natasha's condition hung over them like a heavy weight, and for a moment, they all were silent.

Finally Tony spoke, "You shot her?"

Bucky spoke through gritted teeth, "She stabbed Steve, he was dying. When I realized it was her and not the evil Red Room version I stood down. She begged me to shoot her but I didn't."

Clint looked pained, "So the other wounds…"

"I can only assume it was the Red Room women. I found her with her gun in her hand, face down in the dirt. Steve was gone."

Sam put a hand on Bucky's shoulder briefly, "Can Natasha heal herself again? Did she get enough time with Steve to fully repair her abilities?"

Bucky shook his head, "I don't know. All I know is she knew what she had done when she spoke to me. She was a mess."

"So she might have needed more time with Steve to fully recover?" Sam looked at Bucky, who shrugged helplessly.

Clint pressed his lips into a hard line and spun on his heel back into the holding cell where Valeria waited. The team exchanged glances, but no one went after him.

Tony cleared his throat, "They have Cap. Dead or alive they have his blood samples. We can't have them using it for themselves."

Sam shook his head, "We don't even know how it worked for Natasha. Tony, you've done countless experiments with the super serum with no results. What makes them think it will work for them?"

"They don't know about me," Wanda said softly, "Some combination of my power, the serum, and Steve and Natasha's connection forged new capabilities in Natasha's body. They must have witnessed her healing and made the connection to Steve. They don't have all the information."

Bucky spoke, his voice low, "They'll bleed him out trying. What do you think they'll do to him when they figure out it isn't working?"

Vision stood, "We have no time to waste. We need their location."

Clint came marching out of the holding room, leading Valeria by the arm, her hands cuffed behind her back. She looked up at him anxiously, but didn't fight him, "Where are you taking me?" Clint ignored her, continuing his purposeful pace towards the hospital wing.

He kept his grip on Valeria tight as they made their way to the surgery room. He pressed her through the doorframe, forcing her to take a good look at the activity happening inside. "Tell me Valeria, what do you see?"

Valeria peered into the room with curiosity that slowly morphed into disbelief. Natasha was laying on her side facing the door as doctors and nurses prepped the gunshot wounds in her back. She was as pale as the bed sheets, her red hair falling into her face, looking more dead than alive.

"Natalia? How… What happened?"

"This is how your 'family' treats those who are no longer useful to them, or get in their way. If they were willing to shoot someone who you say is so valuable to them, what might they do to you?"

Valeria was shaking her head, her eyes transfixed on the flurry of activity taking place in an effort to save Natasha's life. "This can't be true. They went on and on about her, the best Widow there has ever been, they wanted to bring her back into the family. She had lost her way…"

One of the doctors pulled a bullet from Natasha's back, placing it carefully into a container with a plink. Valeria pulled free of Clints grasp, entering the room and leaning in close to see the flattened bullet.

"No rifling, soviet made…" she muttered to herself. She turned to Natasha with slow realization, her green eyes wide. "How could they do this to you?" she whispered, "You're Natalia Romanova…"

The steady beeping of Natasha's heart monitor suddenly flatlined, and the motion in the room increased tenfold. Clint snatched Valeria out of the way of the nurses, his grip on her arm tightening painfully. She looked up at him, but he wasn't watching her, Clints face was taut, seeing nothing but his friend before him. Valeria's expression softened, thoughtful.

Nanali sprang into action, quickly ripping Natasha's shirt open to make way for the defibrillator. The first shock made Natasha jolt, but the long tone of the heart monitor droned on unchanged. Valeria's wide gaze came to rest on Natasha's bare shoulder, and she felt her chest tighten. There, inked into her skin, was the Widow tattoo. Valeria suddenly felt ill. Natasha's tattoo marked her as a high ranking Widow, and the prestigious crown resting above the hourglass revealed her as the first one to be enhanced. It simultaneously marked her as part of the Red Room family, and set her apart as someone to be revered. And they had shot her. Valeria's mind raced, she knew she couldn't go back to the Red Room now, and if this woman died, she would be truly alone. No one would understand her like another Widow could.

A second shock jolted through Natasha's body. Clint looked away, unable to bear the sight of it, only to catch Valeria's expression. She looked haunted, her young face suddenly vulnerable and afraid. Her eyes flickered between Natasha's face and the heart monitor, a sheen of sweat breaking out over her forehead. "Come on Natalia," she muttered. A third shock hit, and Valeria's breath shuddered, "COME ON!" she yelled in desperation.

The heart monitor came to life, steady beeping making everyone in the room exhale in relief. Nanali watched the monitor grimly for a moment, then nodded. Valeria looked like she might cry, but she kept herself together. Natasha's eyes flickered open a crack, wandering unseeing until they rested on Valeria's face. She stared at her for a moment before her eyes shifted to Valeria's tattoo peeking out above her tank top. Natasha's eyebrows creased in recognition, and returned to Valeria, her dark hair framing youthful features, anxiety written all over her face. Natasha looked at Clint and struggled to speak. He came to her quickly, "What is it Nat?"

Natasha swallowed and tried again, "Protect her," she whispered hoarsely. "She's too young Clint, too young…"

"Don't worry Natasha," Clint whispered to her, stroking her red hair, but Natasha's eyes were closed, and she heard nothing more.

Nanali steered Clint back to the door, "We need to stabilize her, it would be best if you left us to it."

"Of course," he murmured, his eyes still on his friend. When he turned back to Valeria, her eyes were filled with tears, but she steadfastly refused to let them spill over.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know."