The room was tall, as tall as the building. From outside, one might have guessed at there being four or so floors, but that was not so. There were just two very tall rooms. This particular room had black walls and carpet and was lined with desks piled with computers and papers. It reminded Mark of his own desks, just neater. The bright white lights hung from the ceiling with long cords, giving enough light to illuminate the used space, but barely anything above it. There were two big black computer chairs at opposite ends of the room, towering over like thrones.
In one of those throne-like chairs, with a pile of chains at her feet, sat Nina. She was dressed in all black with the words 'V Project' written in Russian on her jumper in purple. Nat glared at her with a mingled feeling of fear and anger, while Mark and Bell felt so much more. Cheated, betrayed. Nat saw the looks on their faces and grew even more frightened still.
Milne was standing above the three, wearing the same as Nina, holding a leather riding crop. The three of them had been pushed onto their hands and knees, while Clint had been chucked aside, still unconscious. Bell was still crying quietly. Nat internally begged for her to stop.
"Ah yes, you found her?" Milne spoke, a strong Russian accent ringing through his voice. One which was not there before. "Well done. Of course, I knew that you would! And you would bring her right to me," He laughed a sharp, accusing laugh. He walked over to Clint, running the crop along his hand. He bent over and stroked his Clint's face with the end of it. "This is famous Hawkeye, I see?" Milne scrunched up his face, "I am bit disappointed," and then he returned to Nat, doing the same to her chin as he had to Clint's. "But you, oh! You are prize! Black Widow, they call you. I am so glad I can add you to collection!" Milne spun on his heels and walked back to his chair before sitting gracefully on it. It was Nina's turn to speak up.
"To be honest," no stutter, no warm motherly tone, "I did not think you would do it, Milne, baby! I thought it impossible to capture everyone you wanted," she ran a hand through her hair; she didn't look as old and helpless as she did last time. She pouted her lips, hiding a smirk. Milne nodded at the guards that had their hands on the three's shoulders. They hoisted them up and over their own shoulders and walked to the wall separating the two, tall rooms. Nat was kicking furiously, wriggling and squirming but the guard was about twice the size of her and contained her easily. Milne tapped the wall with his fingertips, winked at his mother and pressed the palm of his hand to the wall. It spun around 180.
Nat was looking up at a room, exactly the same size and colour as the last room, except so different. It was glowing purple and the change in light blinded her for a minute. In that minute, Milne had walked over to a control panel.
"You are going to love this, I just know you will," he started laughing.
The walls were lined, top to bottom, with people. Some looked to have been there for as long as weeks. Possibly months even. There was so many people, so many helpless bodies. They were tied to the wall, connected, by wires and cords, all radiating purple. Specially designed plugs, also tinged purple, were in their ears and the dummy looking contraption stuck in their mouths. A metal rack was fastened around their ribs and hips to hold them in place.
Nat almost gagged at the horrible sight. Bell continued crying. Mark gaped at the people, some he knew. He quickly pieced together the people. All that he recognized, wether personally or not, were geniuses. Specialists in one degree of another. David Sharp, one of Mark's oldest mates, specialized in animal mutations. Selena Rankin was especially talented with element control. Mark and Nat both saw Bruce Banner at the same time.
"Bruce!" Nat wailed. Bruce's eyes flickered to life slowly. He tensed as his eyes recognized Nat; his body shook momentarily and then went limp again.
"No, no, no. You cannot do that, darling," Milne had pressed a button, causing Bruce to fall back asleep. At least, Nat hoped he was just asleep. "You see, I'm downloading his brain," he smiled a distorted smile, his yellow teeth poking out at odd angles.
"You're disgusting!" Nat bellowed at him. Time to get the interrogation in process, she thought. No use wasting time. "You're a filthy excuse for a human being!" Great, best to start with an insult. The only thing he can do is prove her wrong.
"Aha, yes. I see how you think of that. But you are wrong. I am the best human being. I am going to be the best human being in world. And I suppose you are wanting to know how I am going to do it, no?" He tilted his head towards her, pouty faced. He was practically giving it to her!
"No!" She wriggled under the grip of her guard. Mark and Bell had fallen silent beside her. Thank God.
"Well, I am going to tell you. All of these people, my collection, are very smart people. They are clever. They know of things. I have devised a way to take all of their knowledge and to put inside my brain. You see?" He opened his arms, palms up, as if presenting a rather spectacular afternoon tea. Nat pulled an innocently stupid face, as if she didn't understand. Now he would spell it out for her, going into detail.
"I am going to have to err… spell it out?" He took an annoyed step towards Nat. "Ok. Stupid girl." Nat fought the urge to kick him where it hurts. "My chemical, which is largely made up of Vibranium, is getting pumped through wires into heads. You see? It goes into their brains by their ears and it does its magic. What it does is this: It sorts through their thoughts and knowledge. It find the important things. It copies the electrical charges that make up the thoughts and the knowledge and it takes it back to the giant memory bank that I have. Then the thoughts and the knowledge is sent to the computers in the room next door. Then all of my workers sort through it again. They divide the thoughts and knowledge into folders. And when it is complete, it will be downloaded into my very own brain." He finished abruptly. "This, darling, is my Mind Mansion,"
He smiled at his genius and turned his back to Nat.
"Won't your brain explode?" Bell asked. She seemed to have cleared her head a bit. That's exactly what Nat was going to ask, but she didn't think she could have made it sound that sincere.
"No. I will have plenty of room inside my mind after it has been wiped." He didn't laugh. He didn't smile. In fact, he seemed almost remorseful. Nat spotted a weakness. He didn't want to wipe his mind. Why? He was going to download extreme amounts of intelligence into his brain, why would he mind parting with a few memories to make way? Nat suddenly remembered a time where all she had was memories. She remembered cherishing them, playing the through her head. Why were they so precious to her? Because they were all she had left of something – someone – she loved. Or so she had thought.
"But what about her?" She was going out on a limb here. It was all guesswork from here on in. Her eyes flickered subconsciously to Clint, lying on the ground. Fully conscious. He was staring into Nat's eyes and in a split second, with a few eye movements, they had a plan. "If you did that, you'd forget. Wouldn't you?"
"I knew that you were not a stupid girl," He flung his arm around and slapped her cheek. Clint mustered enough self-control to not retaliate. "Of course I will forget! I will become the perfect human! I will have no emotion. Not even a memory of an emotion! And that is good! That is how I want it to be, how I need it to be!" He was yelling now. He turned from her again, his hands locked behind his head. She looked down to Clint again. He raised his eyebrows. She frowned at him – I'm getting there!
"Ok… ok… I, err… sorry," she stuttered. Very convincing. "But if you want knowledge, why do you want us? We're not exactly smart," She cocked her head.
"But you are physically able. Very fit and healthy. I have another machine for you two. And then there is Mark and Bell. I do not need them, you are right. In fact, I can dispose of them,"
"No!" Mark, Bell and Nat cried out at once.
"Aha. Ok then, they can stay and watch. Much worst, I am thinking," He nodded at them, his smile had returned.
"So… you're going to plug us in and rain us physically, like you're draining them mentally?" Nat still wasn't scared. She felt she should be but her stubborn nature was sticking to it.
"Yes. And you trust me, it will hurt more than mentally," He smirked and turned to walk off. The guards bended to pick them all up. Nat made a clicking noise and her and Clint jumped into action.