Hello my lovely readers! A few short bits of news:

1) Finals are almost all over, so we are back to regular Sunday updates

2) The results of the poll are: A TIE! Between Steve and Bucky. So, I have decided to do a love triangle and y'all just gotta wait to see which one she really winds up with :D

Thank you all for your patience, I'm going to do some make-up chapters for the weeks I missed. They will probably be in two weeks.

-Stax

Chapter 12

"Just breathe, you can make it. You are strong. I'll tell you a story after, just think about the story" Dani urged the young girl before her.

Dani had asked Natalia where they were. Since she didn't speak Russian, there was obviously no reply. But Dani quickly figured it out herself.

This was hell, that was the only possibility. Not for Dani- but for her new friend. She lived with a bunch of other girls, all there against their wills, with several older women. The worst was Madam B. Dani remembered her from the Age of Ultron movie. In person, she nearly made her shit her pants.

At this moment, Madam was making all the girls go through a complex dance move that required the foot above the head. Girls had begun to collapse an hour and a half ago, and now only seven remained. Right on cue, a girl with jet black hair and bags under her eyes fell and began sobbing. The poor child, who should barely be in first grade, resigned herself to be dragged off by two older girls. Dani shuddered. The girls who failed always came back black and blue, sore and quivering. She turned back to Natalia.

"Story after. Finish" she said to the redhead in Russian. She didn't know enough to really hold a conversation, her new friend taught her more words every day. A bead of sweat ran down the back of the child's neck; she was clearly exhausted, but a fierce determination burned in her eyes.

Granted, even if Natalia failed, Dani could take some of the pain of the resulting torture. But she had just gotten back from another ordeal with Bucky. Every time the poor guy had to have his mind wiped after a mission, she was dragged there. The pain was the stuff of nightmares, but when she considered leaving him to deal with the pain once (which she was not proud of), she had visions of Bucky dying. He would freaking die from the pain. That's how much that crap hurt.

So she really didn't want to deal with Natalia getting beaten right now, thank you very much.

"Again" ordered the ever imposing Madam. Or, at least, that was what Dani figured the sharp command was. Nat's ankle shook on this execution, which did not escape her tormentor's watchtull eye. "Again." This time it was apparently to her liking. She nodded at the girl. "Natalia" she began, and let out a string of words that sounded like a command- and maybe a little bit of praise.

The sweaty child curtsied and quickly left the area. Dani followed, wincing as another child fell behind her.

"Story?" Nat asked as the two hurried down the cold hall.

"Bath" Dani insisted. Looking quite depressed, she complied. She bathed in record time, however.

"Story" she demanded. Dani blew a chunk of hair out of her face and led her friend over to her bed. They sat down side by side and she pulled out her phone. Since Dani only knew enough Russian to grunt one-word commands, she just fed stories she found from the internet through google translate and read that as best she could. They were currently part way through a creepypasta that Nat had taken a shine to. She could be a bit morbid at times.

Typically, Dani would read and Nat would correct her pronunciation every six words or so. She was improving her accent and learning new words, and viewed it as a lesson for her. Two birds with one stone. It was always the best part of the day. But she had barely gotten past the first sentence when gunshots were heard from down the hall!

"Get under the bed!" Dani ordered. Nat stared blankly. Dani pointed under to demonstrate what she meant. "What do you MEAN, no?" She asked as the girl shook her head. "Oh." Natalia rolled under the low dresser, having to squeeze a bit to fit. "I guess you can hide there..."

More gunshots sounded. Dani felt her breath catch. She suspected she had a tiny bit of PTSD from the war, tiny things triggered it occasionally, but now there were REAL guns. She heard a scream from down the hallway followed by a gunshot.

"Stay here" she said in the general area of the dresser. Not waiting for an answer, she went trough the door and looked left. "Oh my Lord."

Running to the small girl on the floor, she ignored the crowd of men with military grade weapons. In the past when she had tried to take the pain of the other girls it hadn't worked, but maybe... Oh no, God no...

Leaving the lifeless, small body on the ground, she stood up and lunged at the closest man screaming in a guttural fashion. Of course, she sailed right through and body slammed the wall. Shaking her head, she turned around. I have to keep Nat safe...

She returned to the room and made gestures to tell the girl to stay. Her blue eyes peered calmly at her from under the dusty piece of furniture. Shortly, a group of the men came into the room and began to ransack the place. The first place they checked was... under the bed. Good call, Nat. Good call. Her heart stood still when one of the men looked under the dresser.

But he moved away without pulling the child out. Dani knelt to look underneath as well. Her friend was nowhere to be seen. She slid underneath further and looked up.

"Hi. Don't your arms hurt doing that?" Natalia was hanging from the underside of the drawer, just out of view. The girl indeed seemed to be tiring. Sweat was dripping down her face and her arms were shaking. After what seemed to be an eternity, the men left. Dani felt guilty at her sigh of relief, as more gunshots could be heard. Dani made Nat stay hidden long after the noise died down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Very few girls were gathered in the room with Madam B. Dani couldn't understand what she was saying, but the men from before were standing behind her. From what she could gather, this had been planned to weed out the weak links. Dani shook with rage. The children were dismissed before long, and Nat had to calm her raging friend.

"Denny" she said soothingly as she turned to hug Dani. She took a deep breath and helped Nat get tucked in. "Story?" She asked. Nodding, Dani pulled her phone out and continued from where they had left off. Nat might get to sleep tonight, but she knew she wouldn't rest as long as this sort of thing was a possibility. No way in hell is Nat dying on my watch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Like I always say, they have your body but they don't have your will" Dani said to the sad woman on the bed next to her. Five years, according to her phone, had been spent here as moral support for Nat. Bucky as well. Nine years in this stupid, stupid dimension. It felt like an eternity. Nat had, with Dani's help, survived all of the purges that Madam B. had thrown at them.

But things always got progressively worse here. At one point they began handcuffing the girls to their beds at night, the two were currently waiting for the morning guard to come and unlock Nat. And they made her do horrible things... Dani tried to be her friend's "little angel on the shoulder", but every time the girl tried to do the right thing her life was at risk. Now her friend was eighteen. That was how old I was when I first came here. It seems like lifetimes ago.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turned to her distraught friend. They were going to sterilize her after her graduation from the program, and Dani could not for the life of her think of a way out.

"They will kill me if I just sit down and quit" Nat stated emotionlessly. She was good at that. Dani wiped her hand over her face.

"Yes, they will. I can't stop them and you can't stop them in that scenario. I can't make the decision for you, Nat. Having children isn't everything... and someday, when you get out of here, you could adopt." Her friend shot her a dubious look. "You WILL get out of here. You will have a life and more friends and you won't need me" she assured her.

"No! Don't you ever go away!" Nat said, emotions uncharacteristically showing through. Remembering situations of the past, Dani sadly shook her head.

"I can't promise that. But believe me when I say you won't need me. You are strong, stronger than you think." The morning guard came in to unlock the girls in that room, and Dani stood up. "I'll see you after your graduation" she said, feeling herself slipping away again. Nat nodded and left the room.

Dani expected to see Bucky as the room around her faded away. She steeled herself for the coming pain- she had lost track of the number of times she had sucked her friend's pain through a mind wipe, crying and barely able to stand, breathlessly chanting "Your name is Bucky. Your name is Bucky" to him. It had been almost two months, however, since the last time she had seen the man. She had almost hoped that she was done with all that. A door appeared in front of her, and breathing deeply, she opened it. Bucky was not on the other side- but a very familiar scene WAS.

"...Is this... nineteen forties BROOKLYN!?"