Madame didn't visit again for a while. Maybe half a day. Maybe more. If the torture didn't kill her the dehydration, and starvation would. The brainwashing played on constant loops. The shocks came at least twice an hour. When those two things weren't enough she was hauled to her feet and forced to stand when her eyes fluttered with sleep.
So there she stood. Her hands bound to a bar on the wall. She was stretched up far enough that she had to stand on her toes to be comfortable. For the past two hours the screen was void of the brainwashing and streaming an interrogation.
The commander stood before the five soldiers. He had been torturing answers from them. Natasha could read lips, and twice watched two boys give up James' name. The third boy seemed to be James's friend and claimed he was the one who slept with her.
The commander spotted the lie and killed him on the spot. James was silent each time he was questioned. He was stronger than the others. The first boy took his shot at claiming it was him. Talking about the freckle on her spine.
Madame stalked into the room. Natasha read the woman's expression carefully. She looked happy. The pointed to the two middle boys and they were executed. Somehow they had known the middle two didn't do it. Natasha gasped. James looked sullen. The other boy looked frightened.
Madame's lips were easy to read as they said, "Go get the girl. This will end now."
Natasha shut her eyes and waited for the door that slammed open nearly a minute later. Her ballet teacher grabbed her arm as he uncuffed her. Natasha crumbled to the floor unable to bear her weight.
"Get up." He barked as she struggled to push herself up.
He hauled her off the ground and held a vicelike grip on both her arms as he led her down the hallway to an elevator. She couldn't run if she wanted to. Her lips were cracked from dehydration. The constant pounding in her head told her if she didn't do something quick they'd very well kill her on accident.
He led her to a large room filled with machines she had never seen before. In the center of the room both boys were strapped to a chair that looked more like a bed. Large metal plates connected to their head, wires connected to their wrists and necks.
Her teacher placed her in front of the two machines and let go of her. She swayed on the spot and looked at the first boy. The one who was innocent. Fear was in his eyes. She could almost smell it. His friends were dead. Devotion to his program and his friend got him here.
She could feel James staring, and she purposefully didn't spare him a glance.
"What will it be Natasha?" Madame said sharply. "You've gotten what you wanted. Here we are. You control how this ends. Both of them die, or just the one who deserves it."
The first boy lost his composure. If she were closer she bet that she could smell the fear. He gasped for air, trembling and turned to James.
"C'mon, I'm not dying because of some hot piece of ass you couldn't keep secret." He yelled at James.
The boy turned to the commander, "He told us about her. The freckle on her back. How she scaled the building to get to his window. She's not the only trainee to come to our rooms."
Madame looked intrigued and furious. "Do you have names soldier?"
"Markov... Petrova… Yashkin,.. and her." He pointed to Natasha. "She made her way through all of us."
Natasha knew Alina probably did. But the others… Viktoria… Galina… They were 16. Had they done this? She would not let him continue to slander her name.
"I have done no such thing." Natasha shouted at him. She was dizzy with anger.
Madame grabbed Natasha and forced her to look at the boys. The woman's hand fisting her hair tightly.
"Which one was the father?" Madame commanded.
Natasha watched the first boy fall silent and stare at James. He had been playing along till this point. "You knocked her up? You are as stupid as you look."
Madame cupped her hand under Natasha chin and forced her head upwards and to the side. Straining her to the point where one snap to the side would kill her. Her nails bit into Madame's skin but she was too weak.
"Don't make me do it Natasha..." Madame said firmly.
James looked stunned. She finally looked at him. It was selfish of her to look. He was motionless, but his eyes held a storm of activity.
Natasha felt tears leak from her eyes as she made up her mind. "I don't know which one it was…"
Madame forced her head back in inch further. A strangled sob erupted from her chest. Her neck on the verge of breaking. The muscles stretched impossibly to the side.
"Stop!" James shouted. His chest heaving. "It was me… I initiated everything. I sought her out. I convinced her to see me. All the time she was worried about the rules. I convinced her to break them anyway. It's me…"
Natasha felt Madame's grip on her slacken and she slipped to her knees. Her hands rubbing her neck. Men surged towards James.
"Reset him." The commander motioned to a scientist who rushed forward and fired up the machine James was in.
Reset. What the hell did that mean. Suddenly James started screaming. The machine whirring and buzzing against his head.
"No!" She breathed. Everything was happening too quick. A shot was fired and the first boy died inevitably from the trouble he had caused.
Madame forced Natasha to watch as James screamed in pain. "Remember this the next time you think to betray your country and think that you can fool me. I made you. You will do well to remember that."
Madame turned to a scientist. "When he's done, wipe her memory, except for this day and send her back for brainwashing. 3 weeks should do the trick."
Natasha felt her stomach heave. Nothing to expel from it. She could feel the electricity in the air. They were destroying him. The acrid smell of blood from the dead boy made her heave again. Each time she ducked her head, it was wrenched back to make her watch. Tears flooded her eyes. Sobs shook her body.
Several minutes passed before James was hauled limply from the machine. His body disappeared through a door. Was he dead? Did they brainwash him? What did reset mean. She had nothing left in her to cry. She suspected that she couldn't cry if she was as dehydrated as she felt.
Heavy hands pressed her into the machine. It was still hot from use. Beaten down she had fight in her but her body resisted the strain.
Her breath came in deep ragged breaths as a man clicked buttons on the machine.
"You will thank me for this Natasha. When we're done you will be more perfect. You'll remember this moment and know why I have these rules. Why the procedure is necessary. This has weakened you. Look at how broken you are because of something so unnecessary as love." Madame stepped away from the machine and looked to the team of scientists. "Once she's out give her the last round of serums."
The high-pitched whirl of electricity flooded the machine. She grit her teeth as the first shockwave pulsed through her head. The pain was excruciating. Her brain felt like it was burning. It was only for a few moments before she succumbed to the extent of the past day or two and blacked out.
