Chapter 2
natasha tugged on her restraints that had strapped her to a chair in several places. yelena's regular chair sat next to her.
they had been alone in the room for what felt like hours. yelena had eventually climbed into natasha's lap and promptly fell asleep.
only then did the door to the interrogation room open. three men stepped inside, one sat in front of natasha and brought out several files. the other held the door open as the third one grabbed yelena and removed her from the room despite natasha screams.
"DONT TOUCH HER, Я УБЬЮ ВАС ВСЕХ, ВЕРНИ ЕЕ ВЕРНУТЬСЯ, DONT HURT HER!"
the door closed behind the agent who carried her away. natasha turned to the other man.
"she is a child, she has done nothing wrong do not hurt her because of this. i beg you, i'll do anything you want as long as she is safe."
"then start talking and we will bring your daughter back to you."
daughter. the idea wasn't all that far fetched, natasha was the one who looked after yelena, who fed her and bathed her and loved her.
natasha lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. there was no way they were only going to interrogate her.
"what do you want to know."
"everyone on your mission's name, age, background and purpose on this mission."
"i wasn't informed of the others mission, that isn't how the red room works."
"then give us names and ages ."
"melina vostokoff 30, alexei shostakov 36, natalia romanova 22, yelena romanova 6." she says, purposefully switching yelena's last name.
"and you natalia and elaina is your daughter?"
"yelena but yes."
then men continued to ask natasha questions over the next hour. another man entered the room natasha immediately recognized him as the one that spoke to her trying to give her an out.
"i'll take it from here agent."
the two men exchanged nods and took each others place.
"my name is charles barton. but you can call me barney."
"where is my daughter?" she struggled to not say sister, however if they believed yelena was truly her daughter it would work in her favor. With both of their birth certificates destroyed and no history in yelena it would be her word against theirs, unless they decided to test them.
"your daughter? yelena is it?"
"yes. where is she."
"she's in daycare. shield has a daycare unit for agents children, my younger brother is there currently. your daughter is young enough that she will enjoy it. clint, my brother, he's 17. he usually just helps with the younger kids. since he isn't an adult he doesn't have clearance anywhere unless with me."
"i want to see her."
"you will, how old is she?"
"she just turned six a month ago."
"so you had her at, age 16?"
natasha nodded.
"now you may have some of the other agents fooled, however i don't believe you are 22 and i don't believe you are yelenas biological mother. if you tell me the truth it will stay between us."
natasha had no doubt the room had cameras.
"i have already told you the truth."
"okay, let's get your daughter then."
natasha's many restraints were exchanged for a pair of cuffs. barney cuffed natasha's hands in front of her.
as they walked barney talked, "you will not be a prisoner here, however, you must pass several physiological exams before you will be granted basic access. you will not be allowed in the daycare room so i will have someone bring yelena out. you will be staying in a standard shield room except this one will lock from the outside. that is only until you pass the physiological exams. once you pass the exams we will discuss you options here at shield."
"and if i don't pass."
"you will."
they reached the door to the daycare, barney pulled out his phone and made a call.
"clint, i'm outside the daycare, can you bring yelena romanova out, yes.... yes you can come too... okay well then have her bring her out with you." barney hung up the phone.
"clint and another older kid with bring her out." as the doors open barney lets go of his hold on natashas upper arm.
she heard her cries before she could even see her. the second she did see her she saw the young girl fighting to get out of another's arms. the girl holding her could have only been about natasha's true age.
"put her down."
the girl complied and natasha wrapped her cuffed arms around yelena, maneuvering to hoist her up. yelena's arm wrapped around her neck and her legs around her waist.
"зови меня мама, детка, а не Таша, им нужно думать, что я твоя мама."
"ты моя мама."
"shh, darling, don't cry, did they hurt you?"
"нет, i'm sorry!"
"don't be sorry, i'm sorry."
yelena's sobs stopped but her body still trembled.
"natalia this is my brother, clint, and this is his friend maria."
"maria, clint, this is natalia, she will likely be training with you two when spring session begins."
"why is she in cuffs?"
"it's... complicated, they are temporary for now." barney explained to his brother.
barney then clapped his hands together, "i completely forgot we need to take you both to medical before we do anything else."
natasha, who had been murmuring to yelena snapped her head up.
"what did you just say?"
"um, we need to go to medical? you haven't had an evaluation yet and we need to get that done as soon as possible."
"no."
"what do you mean?"
"you said- you didn't. блин, нет, я не вернусь." natasha looked at barney, "я не вернусь. я не вернусь."
"i don't speak russian natalia."
yelena turned, "the doctors did bad things, bad bad things."
"okay why don't you both sit down for a second and we will figure something out. maria i heard your brother will be down soon to get you so why don't you head back inside."
maria nods and heads back. clint hangs near the furthest wall and barney aproaches natasha.
"natalia, i can assure you our doctor are nothing but doctors, they are only hear to help."
"i've heard that before."
"have i lied to you? i am not lying now. there is no need to be frightened."
"i am not frightened."
barney smiled, "great, let's head on over."