Natasha had no idea what day it was, what time or where the hell she was on the good old Earth. She was just surrounded by darkness. She had tried to keep track of the time, using her senses, counting down the hours. But the drug made it difficult. They gave her regular injections but she couldn't tell how many hours apart. She thought maybe every day or every two days, she couldn't really tell. But she knew she had been captive for a very long time, too much for her liking.
She had resisted. She was proud to say that she had destroyed ten guys before the drug was in her system. A bastard had had a lucky shot, that's how she had been drugged in the first place. They didn't beat her up much after that, just watched her struggle. She was just barely lucid enough to realize the effects of the drug. It drowned her senses, gave her similar side effects to that of a hangover. Despite the dizziness and nausea, she didn't throw up. They had locked her somewhere entirely dark. But the weirdest part was that she could hear the sea.
She was on a freaking boat. Surrounded by the ocean and seagulls. She got the confirmation when she had tried to escape and barely made it ten feet outside, seeing the waves stretch towards the horizon. And now, she could hear weird noises. Her mind was too foggy to guess what was going on and she lied on her side, her back pressed against the hard cold metal surface of her prison. It was completely dark around her but she kept her eyes closed, fighting the effects of the drug.
She covered her ears with her hands, frowning. She wanted that noise to stop. People had been making a lot of noise outside of her prison some days, as if they were moving heavy stuff. She had heard machines, the hauling kind, and of course the loud puffing of the ship itself. Sometimes men yelled too. But now she was too tired. She barely slept actually, her mind constantly trying to fight the drug. Because she knew that if she let herself become completely numb, they'd take advantage of her. She was a survivor; there was no way she'd give up.
But the noise only became stronger. It still sounded as if she was underwater or that her head was filled with liquid. Suddenly something heavy landed on the roof of her prison but she didn't stir, the drug induced weakened state slowly claiming her despite her own thoughts trying to fight against it. She had been fighting for so long, she was reaching her limit. She heard shouts outside but ignored them, pressing her hands against her ears harder. She brought her knees to her face. She had adopted that position very early in her captivity; it allowed her to rest without being comfortable enough to actually sleep well. She probably didn't sleep much because of that actually.
Something was dropped on her roof again, this time causing her to whimper in her painful slumber. She didn't crack her eyes open because she knew that wouldn't change a thing, it was completely dark in there. Maybe her captors wanted to torment her again. One time when they were bored, they slammed metal bars on her prison, making the whole damn thing resonate. She nearly got insane that day and her ears hurt so much the next day that she hadn't received the usual shot. That's when she had made her escape. She had been blind and deaf but she was still the Black Widow: she could kill a man with her eyes closed. All she needed were her thighs. Unfortunately, she didn't escape and they threw her back inside the prison.
They usually gave her the shot during silence time. She had come to divide the time in four periods. Noise time was when all the machines worked and people yelled. Seagull time when the birds where loud and stood on the roof of her prison. It was also the warmest time so she figured it was probably noon. Then came lazy time which was the hardest period to go through because it became quite warm in her prison and since it was only opened once a day (or so she thought at least), the air was thick and she sometimes had trouble to breath. She usually went through it wheezing in the darkness. Then there was silence time when they brought her food and shot her with the drug. The cold settled during silence time but she always welcomed it after lazy time. She slept best during silence time.
Now was silence time. Or at least it was supposed to be. She was confused when the noises outside only intensified and she opened her eyes in surprise. Only darkness welcomed her. Why was someone messing up with her divided periods of time? The noises grew louder now that her hands had left her head. She was scared and so she brought her hands to her chest, her knee coming even closer. But she didn't close her eyes, she promised herself not to close them until the noises died.
But they didn't and after a while, the doors of the container she was in were finally opened, one of them at least. It made a grinding metal noise and moonlight entered her prison but on the side she wasn't on. She still lied in darkness but her eyes looked at the opening, not understanding what was going on. A silhouette stood in the moonlight; she could vaguely make out the body of a male human. She shivered and closed her eyes, wincing. The light wasn't really strong but it was enough to hurt her.
She heard the silhouette come closer and say something but she couldn't quite here with all the ruckus outside. When he took a step inside, she opened her eyes and forced herself to sit up despite the dizziness that made her sway. She caught herself and pushed herself in the corner of the container, as far away from the man as possible. They never came to torment her during silence time. She had already received the shot, what did they want more? The man had a light on his hand and she squirmed and yelped, closing her eyes and turning her head away from him. He didn't understand at first and she looked for something, anything to show him he was hurting her and to make him stop. Her hand closed on an empty glass and she threw it at him without even looking. He glass smashed on the floor. She didn't know where but she seemed to have made her point because she couldn't hear the heavy iron steps of the man anymore. And the light from his hand was gone too.
Wait a second, iron steps? She opened her eyes and looked at him when all the noises outside finally died as quickly as it had started. He wasn't entirely human, something seemed to cover him. She couldn't quite make out the colors in the dark, even with the moonlight but her brain took over for her, saying it was red and gold.
"Tony?" she croaked.
Tony let the other Avengers take care of the bad guys, guards, mercenaries, slavers of whatever the hell they were at the time. The battle went full on when they discovered that the bastards were well prepared and had their fair share of heavy weaponry, including EMPs that almost fried Tony's suit and bombs and machine guns. Even a damn rocket launcher!
But they were no match for the Avengers. Steve told him to find Natasha and he scanned all the containers. He finally found the only one with a person emanating a heat signature. But what he saw inside, he wasn't prepared to see it.
The moonlight only lit half of the container. Tony had trouble opening the first door and so when he saw a woman recede in the darkness, he thought it was maybe better to leave the second door closed. Until he could assess the situation that is. So he lit his left glove and entered the container, shedding light on the dark corner where she was.
He couldn't see her well, but what shocked him was her defensive position. She was curled up in the corner, shaking badly, her red curls loosely falling around her face, partially hiding it. Her green eyes glimmered in the darkness but they seemed clouded. When he directed the light from his glove to her face, she squirmed and yelped as if he had burnt her with fire. But he realized quickly that she was only trying to hide her head, wrapping her arms around her eyes. In her panic, she threw a glass at him but it landed awkwardly between them, not reaching him by far. It wasn't like Natasha to throw aimlessly like that. He bitterly realized she wasn't quite herself and extinguished his light.
She calmed down instantly or at least she stopped thrashing around. He didn't move, still close to the entrance of the container. She was shaking and her arms were wrapped around herself, one around her chest and the other around her stomach. "Tony?" she croaked. A wave of relief washed over him when he heard his name. She wasn't brainwashed or completely out of it. He took a step forward, both hands raised in front of him. He made his gloves disappeared, revealing his bare hands. He took it as a good sigh that she didn't flinch when he approached and knelt in front of her. She was looking at him but at the same time she wasn't, almost as if she couldn't see him.
He gently pressed his hand on her elbow and she grabbed his hand as if to make sure he was real. But after a few seconds, she dropped it and hugged her side again. "Guys, I've got her," Tony said. Clint and Steve were the next ones in the container and Tony walked out, not wanting to crowd the place and spook her. She didn't flinch when her best friend gently grabbed her by the shoulders to take her out of the corner of the container.
"Can you walk?" he asked. She nodded and tried to get to her feet, but she was too weak, her mind too foggy. She fell and Steve and Clint both caught her by the arms.
"I'm sorry… I… they drugged me," she slurred. "I don't think I can… move." Steve told her it was alright and lifted her in his arms. Steve realized she weighted nothing and that scared him. When he walked outside though, she squirmed in his arms and hid herself in his chest, away from the moonlight.
"It's the light," Tony said. "She seems to be somehow too sensitive to it."
"What have those bastards do to her?" Clint whispered under his breath. Natasha just clung to Steve, grabbing his jacket weakly, way too weakly. In the darkness of the night, he couldn't get a good look at her features but he was sure she didn't look good.
"Who… who else is here?" she croaked.
Steve knew she had no idea how the others had been doing since the last time she had sent Tony a postcard three months ago. "Wanda, Vision and Sam are here with us," he said as he walked towards the Avenger jet that Clint was already piloting, ready to take her in the air. Steve saw her smile and relax in his arms. "Nat?" he asked, worried by her sudden numbness.
"It's ok," she whispered. "I just need… to sleep for a while. I'm… safe now."
Steve rushed to the jet and everyone followed. They left the ship and Tony destroyed half of it, preventing it from sailing and reaching the coast without actually killing everyone on board. Steve gently laid Natasha on the gurney in the center of the jet.
"How is she?" Wanda asked, taking the redhead's hand in hers. Steve checked Natasha's pulse. Her heartbeat was present but weak. He didn't speak though. Clint took them in the air and they headed for New York.
"Friday, scan her for any injuries, toxins, anything that isn't the same as your regular readings of Agent Romanoff," Tony ordered. The AI set to work as the Avengers watched her sleep. She looked peaceful and only frowned from time to time. Her skin was getting clammy and Steve put a wet cloth on her forehead when he felt her burning up. In the light of the jet, they could all see her hollow features. The bones on her face were so visible she looked like a skeleton or a zombie. Her hair was slightly longer and was wavy as usual but had lost its natural brightness and the red seemed almost dull.
"Miss Romanoff doesn't seem to have suffered any grave external or internal physical injury. Her body is very weak though. She suffers from under nutrition; she weights now no more than ninety pounds whereas she used to weight a hundred and thirty." Tony's heart sank: she almost lost twenty kilograms. "Her system is filled with an unidentified drug that seems to prevent her brain from working efficiently."
"Give me the list of this drug's components and start working on a cure. Anything else?"
"Her eyes seemed to have gotten accustomed to complete darkness. Miss Romanoff won't be able to stand any kind of light for a while. I suggest helping her get accustomed to it slowly and progressively."
"Thank you Friday."
Tony then looked at his fellow Avengers and saw a fierce determination in their eyes. No matter what would happen, no matter what the government threw at them, they would help Natasha. They were a team but at that moment, they were more of a family.
