Sorry everyone that's its so late! This one gets a little more into Yelena, and to the best of my knowledge it's pretty consistent with her experiences in the comics according to the Marvel Universe wiki. Sorry as well, there's a lot of perspective switching!

Disclaimer: Don't own pretty much anything related to the Avengers, Marvel, or anything else even remotely that epic.

Chapter 8

"Enough, I will not have you sacrificing the bait to let out your anger issues. Drop the dagger and come here." Red Skull's voice broke through the silence. Clint looked up at Yelena and saw her eyes were filled with anger as she pulled back the dagger, and slid off him. Clint sat up, and saw Red Skull standing, now visible in the corner of the room. Yelena was facing him, and held up her hand as she clenched the knife.

Clint had no idea what was going on, but it didn't take a genius to know Skull was controlling Yelena. His arm hurt like a bitch, blood was running down his arm. He'd have to get some serious medical attention when he got back to SHIELD. He refocused on what was happening; it hurt too much to move. Based on the way Yelena did everything slowly, it seemed she was fighting it. That and the fact she was still holding the dagger.

"I said drop it." Skull looked almost irritated.

Yelena gritted her teeth. She was not going to let go of her weapon, she was not going to let go of her weapon, and then the dagger clattered to the ground. How was he doing this? What would he do with her? She cloaked her fear in anger, how dare he try to command the Black Widow!

"I'm sure you're curious as to how I'm… directing you? It quite a useful combination of things we whipped up back in the good old days, how else would so many have committed all those atrocities, if we didn't have control? Some do-gooder would always get in the way, worming their way through the good troops and ruin everything. This eliminates that. I've been drugging you since we began business. Now, kneel." Skull was obviously relishing his control of her, and she fell to her knees with a painful thud. Skull reached out to stroke her face, and she practically hissed she was so angry.

Clint reached slowly behind him to grab his bow, even though he probably couldn't shoot with his arm, but instead he felt his fingers wrap around a gun. Natasha's gun to be precise, it must of slipped out when he'd gotten shot. Now he had a problem, he could shoot the pair of them and be done with this mess! Or he could shoot just Red Skull. Yelena looked like she was in trouble… he imagined what Natasha would say if she saw him, you idiot! Shoot the bastard and the bitch!

Well maybe that what she would do, it's not like he wouldn't shoot a woman. He'd shot many before, but she had no way to defend herself. He imagined what Cap would say, he'd probably say to save her, granted that worked so well the first time. Banner would just be concerned he'd get mad and hurt someone. Tony would save her, so he could try to get her in bed….so not quite. Besides if she turned on him, he wouldn't be able to do much. His arm was shot, literally and metaphorically.

"What the hell." He muttered as he shot the Red Skull where it'd count. It was a spot easy to save, if he got medical attention quickly enough. He turned the gun on Yelena.

The minute Red Skull had been shot, she knew she was free. She grabbed the dagger, and slowly turned to face Clint. She knew she could block the shot with the dagger if it came to that, she was trained that well. However, she was interested. She knew Natasha cared for him, which would indicate some killer instinct and if the positions were reversed she would shoot him in a heartbeat, his actually. However, he seemed to be struggling. They were locked in silence as they looked at each other. The gun was pointed to the same place he'd shot Red Skull, but there wasn't a sound.

Captain America had handed Natasha to medical personal the minute he got to the carrier. The personal in turn ushered her into several procedures. Her head was swimming, but she knew there was something important she needed to ask about. Then they started dosing her with drugs for the procedure where they shoved a tube down her throat and poured charcoal down her throat. It was not pleasant, but it'd eliminate whatever cocktail all the drugs in her system were forming. They started strapping her down; there was a good chance she'd barf of the charcoal solution, very nasty.

Her limbs hurt, there was lot of pain. She wondered where Clint was, she usually could see his face peering in from the window. She'd never tell him what that meant to her, him watching over her while she was unconscious. The comfort and security he gave her when she was so vulnerable. So why wasn't he here?

She gasped as she realized that Clint was facing Yelena and the Red Skull alone! She'd even taken Cap as back up! She was an idiot, she needed to help him…but the stupid medical people thought that her gasp was one of pain and gave her more drugs, as they flooded her system she quickly lost grip on reality.

Cap immediately sought the man who was monitoring all the personal in the tunnels and directed him to the room where Hawkeye was fighting. Cap knew if Clint made it out, he need help getting back here. The leader gave a curt nod and Cap started to head that direction.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why what?" Yelena asked with frustration. Clint didn't blame her, he doubted she'd been in many situations where people asked questions first and shot later, but he was curious after all Natasha had told him, he was curious.

"Why do you want to kill Black Widow so much?" Clint asked, "I mean I get wanting full rights to the name, but that's not you. You are an amazing assassin, so why are you focusing so much on stealing from someone else? You could easily get your own name."

"It's not just the name fool," She scowled, "you don't know what it's like, from the minute I began the Black Widow program, I was constantly aware of her." She spit the word out like it was diseased. "The Russians always talked about her, and I was her replacement. Constantly trained and prepared to be like her."

She continued, "No one cared about who Yelena was, I was 15 years old. Other girls learn about who they are, I learned how to kill a man like Natasha would. I was injured like Natasha was during her training, punished if I didn't recover, fight, or do anything that Natasha wouldn't. No, you don't understand, how could you? She is everything they wanted me to be; can you even understand what it would feel like to have the ultimate victory? To finally prove that I was better, that I was good enough. That I'm a real person.

You know what the kicker is? If she had never left Russia, I would never have been chosen. I could have done something, been something. I could…have been a kindergarten teacher, me the assassin teaching little kids their ABC's. But I never had a chance." Yelena's voice was bitter.

She had never said those words out loud; she didn't trust anyone with them. She understood now why Natasha loved him. He was someone you could tell everything too, and he'd still accept you. She knew every murder Natasha had ever committed, every kill and she bet Hawkeye knew them too, but he still loved her. There was something there to love.

She waited, wondering what Hawkeye would do; she had threatened his lover, beat his lover, beat him, tortured him, and drugged both of them. She knew what she would do, and she knew what Natasha would do. But this was not Natasha or her; this was the man that Natasha loved. The man who loved Natasha back.

Clint stumbled out of the room. He was idiot, a complete fool. Natasha would probably injure him. He had her, the woman who had been torturing them for who knows how long! But he'd put the gun down.

A breath passed, and then she was gone. She darted out the door and ran; he could hear her steps down the hall. He had waited until he couldn't hear her steps anymore, and then steeled himself as he tried to pull himself up. He had to get back to SHIELD, he had no idea what he would say…to anyone. He felt that moment with Yelena and he felt like he understood, a little. He had heard every horror story from Natasha's training; he knew what she'd been through to get out, to get to him.

When he met her, she was very similar to Yelena. He hoped she could find herself.

By the way, I won't have a chance to post a new chapter for a while, SHIELD just called me on an assignment that may last for a week or more (you never know with those pesky spy missions), anyway I'll be deep undercover and won't have access to internet, so I'll see what I can do when I get back!