Many thanks to Jo-Jo287 for reviewing!
A/N Reviews make me happy. Just so you know.
I know I start screaming. I can't hear it but I know that I am. She's gone. Again. Eva has been taken, and I know exactly who's ordered it to be done, because there's no way in hell that I wouldn't recognize that writing. 'Come and get her'. It's obviously a trap, but there's no way I'm going to be able to stop myself from going.
I turn back to Cap and deliver several blows to his chest. He looks at Sam, confused at both me and him, as Sam runs in to the jet and starts looking through the boxes full of anaesthetic, sedatives and other stuff. "IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SO STUBBORN SHE WOULD STILL BE HERE!" I scream at him. I continue to punch him, though I expand to the face too. Surprisingly, he doesn't fight back. Either he knows I need to get out the pain or he's experienced it himself. Maybe both.
The last thought I have is of how angry I am at Rogers, and then I black out.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?" That's Clint I'm sure. Where am I? The last thing I remember is punching Cap because Anya was...
"Where's the smaller one?" I think that's Tony. Why does he care?
"WHY'S SHE OUT COLD?" Why is Clint so angry?
"She won't be much longer if you keep shouting." That's definitely Bruce, under his breath. He's close to me, probably doing something with the needle in my wrist.
"I don't understand. Is the Lady Widow unwell?" Thor's joined the party! That means everyone else must have gotten back safely. Everyone except... her.
"No, Thor, but our dear Captain Rogers will be dead in a minute." I open my eyes, and Steve looks vaguely scared, but as I go to stand up, I find that I have an IV hooked up to me, and that I can't move. I guess Sam must have knocked me out with a sedative to stop me from attacking Cap.
"Nat, are you okay?" Clint asks, bending down to my height.
"I don't know," I whisper back.
"Where's Anya?" He's known her for a day or two and he is worried about her? That's sweet.
"Gone. Rogers' fault. Shit she's gone. Petrovitch took her. I should have killed him when I left." The realization attacks, like it hasn't yet. Like when you've been shot, but you're high on adrenaline so you can carry on and then it suddenly hits you, when you're at your weakest but you've got to carry on, or you'll die.
"How is it Cap's fault?"
"He was being stubborn. Could have got back earlier." Could've killed Petrovitch and Cap could have met his buddy all in one. So it's backfired on him too.
"I'm going to kill him for you." Please do. But save the last bit for me.
"Be my guest." He gets up and slaps Rogers across the face before stalking out. I pull the needle out of my arm and follow him, not listening as Bruce shouts at me to come back.
Ican'tbreakdown Ican'tbreakdown Ican'tbreakdown Ican'tbreakdown runs through my head over and over as I push open the door to Clint's floor. He's sitting on the loveseat, which is only there because when everyone moved in we all got one, so I go and curl up next to him, laying my head on on his lap. "We need to get out and find her."
"I know. Do we do it just us or get the others to come?" No, they can't come. One it's too dangerous, two they're the reason she got captured in the first place.
"Just us. They're too much of a liability." I reply immediately.
"I have uniforms for both of us in the draws, so we can steal a jet whenever you want."
"Now. Uniforms ASAP." We both pull our uniforms on and load weapons everywhere on our bodies.
"JARVIS, don't tell anyone we've gone unless they ask, and only then after six hours. You can say that we've gone to Russia." I command Stark's AI.
"Of course, Miss Romanoff." Ever so polite.
Clint and I go in to stealth mode to sneak up to Starks jet pad, where we grab the jet I've practically lived in for the past few days. The note is still pinned to the wall, and I promise myself that I'll look over it more carefully as we fly. However, I strap myself down and prepare for take off.
Looking over it, I know it's definitely Red Room, not just KGB. If you want to put it sort of in to context, HYDRA is the Red Room, a small branch of the Nazis/KGB. Except instead of giving the KGB New tech and sciencey stuff, it's gives them perfect brainwashed assassins. It's sort of good that it's only the Red Room because they only have one base, whereas the KGB have hundreds. However, it means that they're going to try to put Eva in to the extensive training and procedures that I've endured, and I really would not be able to live with myself if that happened, so let's hope I get there in time. The tell tale signs are the Red star on the corner, the red writing, the unique colour paper that the Red Room use, and the fact that it's in Petrovitch's writing.
Clint doesn't try to talk to me as we fly. He knows that I need time to prepare myself to face what I've been avoiding since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying, as long as you're not scared of heights, is actually very therapeutic. The sky above the clouds is so blue you can just stare at it and marvel for hours. If you look below, it's easy to make shapes out of the clouds. It's easy to stay up here and preteens that nothings wrong, that no one else exists. However, in reality, they do, our problems are real, and we need for deal with them.
We land in St Petersburg the next morning, though afternoon in Russia. I want to go and get Eva straight away but I know we should wait until we're rested, and probably until it's dark too. Clint takes first watch as I try to sleep, and fail quite miserably until he lays down under the blanket too and puts his arms around me. Then I'm able to fall asleep just fine. Except my sleep isn't exactly undisturbed.
"Anya? Anya?! ANYA?!" I scream. They're hanging her from the ceiling via her wrists, she's screaming every time they shock, hit or cut her, which I'm afraid to say, is actually quite often. She can't hear me, and I can't move. It's sort of like I'm completely paralysed, but even without opening my mouth I can still yell. "ANYA LOOK AT ME!"
They slap her across the face again and this time she turns to face me. There's blood dripping from her mouth and the same red liquid dripping from her forehead. I know she sees me, it's intuitive. "TASHA!" She shouts, also without moving her mouth. It's also odd because she's never once called me Tasha. It's always Nat or Alia. "TASHA!" She screams again, but this time it's with Clint's voice. "WAKE UP!"
And then my eyes flip open.
I'm breathing heavily, too heavily like I've just run six marathons without stopping. The back of my throat feels itchy, like when you wake up the day after a concert and due to the amount of screaming and lyric shouting you've gone through, your voice is completely gone. My hands are clammy and I'm covered in a cold sweat. "Tash, are you okay? You were thrashing about and screaming..." Clint asks, a concerned look on his face. I shake my head. Nodding, he puts his arm around me again.
A half an hour later of lying there in silence, I convince him to go to sleep. I sit there in silence on my own keeping watch for anyone who might want to kill us. I wake him up half an hour befor darkness falls and we make our way to the Red Room compound.
It's exactly the same as I remember, they have not changed a single thing. If I'm right by the faint light there is in this hallway, they haven't even changed the colour of the walls. There's a smell of blood and cleaning products in the air, like it always has had, because no matter how much they scrub it, the blood never comes clean. Eva's here somewhere, but she won't be in the dorms with the other girls. Petrovitch will be keeping her close to him, because he knows I'll come. So I lead Clint to his quarters and we take out a couple of guards on the way. It's strangely unguarded, and they should be if anything, with higher guards than usual, knowing I'm coming.
It's when we're almost there that they hit us. All the guards, they've been assigned to protect Eva and Ivan at all costs. It's unfortunate that they'll all be dead soon. Clint and I get to work killing one each at a time. They're not Red Room trained, because they fight like they've been trained for five minutes, not they're whole lives.
I put a bullet in the skull of the last man, and glance up at the door. He's pulling Eva out of it. I want to kill him so much that it shouldn't be allowed. Except I can't move a muscle. Because there's a gun to her head.