Steve

Steve sat on his motorcycle and it was early morning. The sun was just peaking over the clouds and the baby blue sky was being shown. The wind was bitterly cold though and thin snowflakes were falling subtlety to the ground and they were beginning to cumulate. Steve was sitting in a parking lot on his motorcycle sideways. He watched the sunrise and he could feel the wind nipping at his cheeks and making his ears become numb and red.

He sat there with his right hand rubbing his chest. The wound was mostly healed, but he felt like the blade was still in his chest. He wasn't in a very good mood, and he was hoping the sunrise would have helped; it didn't. He was worried sick about Natasha, and now he needed to get her out. He had to wait till at least eleven before he could go in.

He wanted to go in at that very moment, but he knew it would be rude and very unorthodox. He knew he had to wait, moving too quickly into something, can make things worse. He just hoped to God that she was having a good day.

Steve stared at the sun as he watched it slowly climb into the air. He began to think about the first moment that he woke up three years ago. He first felt relief and that he was back home and he was expecting to see Peggy, Stark, or even Coronel Phillips. Then he felt odd, as if he had been asleep for a long time and he was just waking up and he didn't want to move. The radio was the first thing that made him wonder if he was dreaming, or dead. He had been at that game, and he remembered the empty feeling as he sat up. He knew something was different, something just felt off.

He stood up and then a woman came in and she smiled and said hello. He returned the gesture with a where am I. Not very nice for the first conversation to have in seventy years. Then the panic as he noticed that he was in a fake room. He ran out into the street of New York and all the bright lights, and the weird looking cars. He thought he was in a nightmare, until Fury stepped out and spoke to him, then he really was in a nightmare. He spent that first year in a dark place, and he had spent most of his time at home staring at the files with his dead comrades in them. He felt alone, and like somehow he failed.

Then one day Fury comes in and wants him to help with something and then he is on a Quinjet with agent Coulson. It was a rather uncomfortable first meeting, but then they landed on the Helicarrier. He saw the most beautiful thing in the whole world, and she was on a military ship. He felt at home on the Helicarrier, yet there was something about Natasha that just got him out of his slump. He didn't know if it was just because she was gorgeous or that she reminded him of Peggy.

Steve looked at his watch and it read: 12:25 pm.

He exhaled and he stood up and he noticed that he was covered in snow, how long was he thinking? Steve brushed as much as he could off of his shoulders and head. He walked toward the doors and he opened them. The smell of a building that was completely packed with medical supplies filled his nostrils. He hated that smell. He walked up to the counter and a young woman was standing there looking at a computer. She glanced up and noticed him.

"Can I help you?"

Steve looked at her and nodded "Yes, I'm here to see Peggy" Steve said

"Oh, your Steve right?"

"Yeah"

"Sorry I didn't recognize you with the beard" she said lightly laughing

Steve smiled and chuckled and he rubbed his face "Yeah that has happened a lot"

"Trying out a new look?"

"Yeah, my girlfriend wanted me to" Steve said and he suddenly felt a sudden pain in his heart as he thought about the memory of him and Natasha lying in bed and she was stroking his beard and told him to keep it.

"Well, you look nice"

"Thank you…"

"Judy"

"Judy, ok well can I see her?"

"Yes, she is having a good day"

"Oh good" Steve said following Judy toward Peggy's room.

He stayed a good distance behind Judy and he thanked her and she walked back to the desk and Steve opened the door and Peggy was lying in bed. He walked in and Peggy saw him and smiled and she looked at him funny.

"When did you grow the beard?" she asked

"Oh, I've had this since thanksgiving" Steve said smiling and he took a seat in the chair he usually sat in.

"Oh so you've had it for a while good, I was hoping that was it. I didn't want it to be that I saw you yesterday and I had forgot about it" Peggy said smiling

"Yeah" Steve said looking down

"This isn't a social visit is it?" Peggy said reading his glum expression.

"No, it's not. I wish it was" Steve said looking at her and Steve half smirked and it quickly disappeared and turned back into the frown.

"What is it, you look like you have just lost something"

"Huh, I did lose something"

"What was it?"

"My partner was kidnapped yesterday, and I stepped in front of a knife to save her" Steve said almost shuttering at the memory of seeing her face slowly become darker as he closed his eyes and then to hear her scream his name.

"Then what are you doing here?" Peggy said quit loudly

"I need a lead, the man who kidnapped her, he's from Red Room"

Peggy's face turned from worried to becoming very stern "Red Room, you're sure?"

"Yeah, and he was enhanced with the same serum that Natasha has"

"What is his play?"

"I don't know, but his name is Niko Constantin"

Peggy's face shuttered into grave fear "Niko Constantin?" she said shakily

"Yes, Peggy what do you know about him?" Steve said leaning closer

Peggy wouldn't look him in the eye and she stayed quiet. Steve didn't have time for this.

"What do you know Peggy?" Steve asked again, but this time with more authority in his voice

"Steve, if you go after him alone, you will die"

"I'm not going alone, do you know anything that could help me?"

"Niko Constantin was a product of Red Room, and he was deemed a failure, because they couldn't control him" Peggy said

"That I know, and then he was put on ice then sent to prison and he has this grudge against Bucky"

"There isn't much more than that"

"There is something, I saw it in your eyes when I said his name"

"Steve…"

"No Peggy, I need to find him and save her" Steve said sternly

"No, I won't…"

"Peggy, I am running out of time, where does Niko sleep?"

"How would I possibly know that?"

"I read reports about you after a few years after I went in the ice, you had a run in with Red Room. Do you know anything about Niko Constantin?" Steve asked rather loudly

"All I know is that he was sent to the Russian Gulag and then he was reported to have died in a prison riot to take over the Gulag" Peggy said

"Well clearly the reports were wrong, and he is still around"

"That is impossible"

"Unless he took over the Gulag and faked records" Steve said

"The Gulag Steve, is still a prison"

"Then I guess, I need to get arrested then" Steve said standing up to leave

Steve made it to the door and he looked at Peggy "Thank you" and he went to leave

"Steve?" Peggy said

Steve stopped and he looked back at her.

"This partner of yours, she means a lot to you doesn't she?"

Steve inhaled and he lowered his head and he slowly raised it.

"More than anyone would know"

Natasha

Natasha could tell she was in a chair, and that her left arm was in a splint. Her eye lids were heavy and she didn't want to open them. She could smell the room, it was musty and damp. She honestly was disgusted by the smell. She slowly opened her eyes and she was in a room and the walls were stone. She was tied to the chair and she felt dehydrated, her throat was dry. She could see a metal door in front of her. She needed to get out of the chair.

She still felt a bit dazed and she could hear her heart beating in her ears. Then the memory came back, she was dragged away from Steve then a rag was put over her mouth. She lowered her head and her eyes burned with tears as she could see the image of Steve lying on the floor with blood flowing out of him. Was he dead? She pushed the idea away from her head. Of course he wasn't dead, he'd been through worse. Then again Steve fell limp and his eyes were closed. Could he be dead?

Natasha couldn't think straight and she kept coming back to the image of Steve bleeding out on the gym floor. She needed to get out of the chair, then maybe she could get out of here. Natasha looked around the room and she saw no exit except for the metal door. Natasha grunted and she tried pulling her way out of the restraints. She groaned as she used all her strength to get out, but her effort was futile. There was no way she was getting out of the chair with only one hand. She calmed herself down and she hid her emotions like she was trained. Then the door opened. Natasha looked up to see Niko walking in and he was smirking. He paused and the door closed behind him. Natasha noticed the large machine to her right and she had a guess for what is was used for. Niko walked forward and he grabbed a fold up chair from the way and he sat in front of her. He calmly rested his hands on his thighs.

"I often wonder if you can remember me" Niko said

Natasha made the choice to stay quiet and keep her mouth shut and let him talk.

"Hmm sometimes I can see the wood floors and the large room where they danced" Niko said and he looked up at Natasha and he smiled. "Then again, you were there to"

Natasha tried to block him out, but she was dehydrated and she was still affected by whatever he had knocked her out with.

"Do you remember the stairway, ah such a huge stairway. I remember seeing you walking down it one day. You were about fifteen I think" Niko said

Natasha felt her heart slightly increase as he spoke about a memory that long haunted her.

Niko moved his hand to his head and it was shaking slightly. "I can still remember the noise of the music, it come to me in my dreams and then it is in my head for hours" Niko said

Natasha closed her eyes and she though back to then moment when she was a little girl and she was standing in a group of other girls and they were watching ballerinas dance.

"The thing that haunts me is the screams that I heard from the basement, every time they were giving us what we needed the screams would go through the house and they would stay in my dreams" Niko said and he put his fingers to his temple and he groaned as if he was having a headache.

Niko's grimaced face slowly calmed and he closed his eyes and slowly opened them. "Look at you, a former shell of what you used to be" Niko said

Natasha tried to block him out, but the effects of the drug was making it difficult.

"You used to be the best Black Widow, you were Natalia Romanova; the best one" Niko said and he chuckled "If they could see you now, oh what a disgrace they would see" Niko said smiling

Natasha could remember the tall blonde woman and then the training and then graduation. She started to shake as she slowly remembered. Niko looked at her and he sighed.

"It haunts you to, I can make it go away you know" Niko said leaning forward

Natasha focused on not listening to him.

"There was a time when I would have died for them, but I guess fate had a different path for me"

Niko stood up and he pulled out a knife and he dropped it onto the floor.

"Not good enough they said, to volatile and uncontrollable I was, then to be casted aside like some animal" Niko said

Natasha looked up at him and she finally spoke.

"You are an animal" she said huskily

Niko walked toward her and he punched her in the face. "I'm not an animal" Niko snapped and he smacked her again.

Natasha slightly cracked her jaw and she looked up at him.

"Then why did they lock you up in a cage?"

"You remember what they did to me, do you remember what they did to you?" Niko said pointing at her "They broke you, then imprinted memories into your mind and then they gave you the graduation"

Natasha had a sudden flash of memory of the feeling of burning.

"They took away the thing that could make you care about something more than the mission. That's all it ever was with them, the mission" Niko said as if he had an unfavorable flavor in his mouth

"Yet they made you feared and great, and yet you were also broken" Niko said softly and he walked toward her and he put his hand on her face and he could feel the dried blood.

"The idea of feeling making you weak is childish, it's what makes us human, and that's the one thing they wanted to get rid of. They wanted to make us tools of destruction and then not to feel or think about it later. Sadly there is this thing called humanity. Also the mind can repair itself"

Natasha stared at him as he went on.

"I broke the chains and I was deemed a failure because what they did to me made me uncontrollable, I didn't ask for this. I was thrown into this fucked up situation" Niko spat

Niko began to walk back and forth faster.

"That's why when I woke up here, I broke out and hunted them down and I killed every last one of them. I enjoyed every second of it. I knew that Barnes was still around and I knew that he needed to die. He made us and he caused this. I know he didn't have a choice either and that is why I am going to set him free."

Niko walked toward the machine and he grabbed a head guard and he held it in his hands.

"I can take away your pain to, I can get rid of this Natasha Romanoff and I can bring back the famous Black Widow, the great Natalia Romanova. Then I will set you free to, once we kill Barnes. Then the task will be done, then I can finally rest and I can go away. Only then will I be able to be set free, once Red Room is gone forever and it is down to us three. We must die and then we will be at peace" Niko said and he walked toward her.

Natasha inhaled as he put the head guard on her and she felt her heart rate increase. She thought about the moment with Steve on the park bench.

"I have spent years perfecting my technique and I can get her back, and get this thing out of here" Niko said looking at her as if she was a false image.

"I won't take away your beauty or physical ability, but I can break your mind" Niko said and he turned on a few switches and he put his hand on a leaver.

"She will come back and then we will kill Barnes" Niko said

Natasha felt her heart hammering in her chest and he pulled the leaver down and a shock of electricity flowed through her body and she shook violently. Niko stopped it and he chuckled "I forgot the mouth guard" and he shoved a rubber mouth guard into her mouth.

Natasha was leaning to her left and then he pulled the leaver again and she shook violently and she felt herself leaving, her vison grew darker. Natasha kept her thoughts on Steve and soon she couldn't focus and she screamed in pain.

"Yes, scream. Let it out, you have been hiding for too long, come out and finish the job" Niko said

Natasha felt her mind begin to split and she couldn't think and she felt like she was being taken out of her mind and she was being replaced with something else. Niko turned it off and Natasha threw her head forward and she was inhaling deeply and the mouth guard fell out of her mouth her heart was beating loudly in her ears and it slowly faded away. She felt nothing and the pain was gone and her emotions were in check and she felt like she was renewed and she looked at Niko and she smirked.

Niko smiled and he started to laugh.

End of Act 3