Manhandling
She stopped pacing her cell for a moment to adjust the waist of the too big sweatpants she was given to wear. She and the others had been in the raft jail cells for a little over a week now, and if she could use one word to describe how she felt this whole last week would be angry.
It infuriated her the way that they treated Wanda, like she was some sort of dangerous monster. And yes she was dangerous, but she wasn’t a monster. She hated the way the guards talked to her and Wanda. Always making crude comments about them, especially her. It wasn’t anything she wasn’t used too, but that didn’t change the fact that she would kill every single one of them if she had the chance.
She knew after her first night here that she could escape. It wouldn’t be easy but she could do it. The problem was getting everyone else out. It would be selfish to leave them all here while she escaped. So she had to be patient and learn the ever changing routine of life down in the Raft.
So that’s what she did. Pacing her cell, not speaking to anyone. It was all part of her plan. She learned the guards routines and what weapons they had on them. Who had the keys to the cell and how many of them were on the Raft.
And now she had a plan. And it was a good one, pretty much guaranteed to get them all out of their cells in the Raft. That is if she didn’t die trying. But it would mean tricking not only the guards, but her friends as well. It is what she has to do to get them all out and away from this mess that Steve and Tony created.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by Clint’s voice calling across to her from his cell.
“Tasha, come on. Talk to me. Say something so that I know your okay.” His voice sounded desperate.
She felt bad. She had been ignoring him and the others all week. But she had too if she wanted this plan to work. She didn’t look up from the floor as she went to go sit on the sad excuse of a bed nailed to the wall. She was mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. It was almost time to put her plan into action. All she had to do was wait for the night shift to start.
Her plan sounded simple really. She was going to convince the guards that she was sick, leading them to open her cell. Once they did she would attack and purposely lose. She would most certainly be put in a different room for interrogation. Then she would strike for real. The only thing she was worried about was being shot and killed the moment she attacked. The guards were getting trigger happy from the time they spent down here. Taking such risks was something she had been trained to do. It didn’t matter what happened to her as long as the others got out.
She lay back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was time to act. She closed her eyes and didn’t move. She had to lie like this until the night guards came to give them their dinner. That was about 2 hours away. She decided to pass the time by listening to the conversations of others. It wasn’t hard since they were basically yelling across cells to each other.
What bothered her was that the topic of their conversation was her. She felt herself bristle with anger. They were talking about her like she wasn’t right there. No matter how angry she felt she kept lying absolutely still. She could not mess up her plan.
“Clint, what is she doing now?” Sam called across to Clint. He was in the cell to her right so he couldn’t see her.
“She’s just laying on her bed.” Clint called back, she could hear the concern and frustration in his voice.
“Is she okay?” Sam asked. He sounded worried too. Something she was surprised by. Even though they worked together during the fall of SHIELD, they weren’t close.
“Natasha, tell us your alright.” Wanda called out from the cell beside Clint.
She almost jumped up from the bed at that moment. The young woman had been almost as silent as she has the past few days. The hurtful remarks from the guards obviously affecting her. She wasn’t used to being talked about like that, like she was an object. But she stayed laying on the bed. This plan had to work.
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The 2 hours seemed to fly by much too quickly. She felt her heartbeat start to quicken as the slot opened to slide her tray of food in.
“Eat up pretty girl.” One of the guards said with a laugh as he slid her tray through the slot.
She stayed exactly where she was and didn’t move. The guard didn’t like that.
“Come on babe, come get your food I want to see that body of yours.” The guard teased. She decided she was going to kill him first.
She sat up on her bed and swung her legs over the side, making sure to sway a little and look as sick and frail as she could. She knew her acting was working as her friends in the other cells walked up to the bars to get a closer look at her. She felt a pang of guilt. But this was for their own good.
She shakenly got to her feet and took one step before dramatically falling to the floor. She heard Clint and Wanda call out her name as she hit the cement floor of her cell.
“Shit. Terry, John come over here, little red passed out.!” The guard at her cell called to the others.
She smiled internally as she heard the jingle of his keys as he took them out of his pocket. Even as he opened her cell and the three guards walked in she stayed where she was sprawled out on the floor. That is until they got close enough.
She knew that there were three guards in her cell, leaving nine more active on the Raft. Even though she was planning to pretend to get caught, she still had to make it look somewhat believable. She was the Black Widow after all.
Without any warning she sprang up off the ground, swinger her legs around the guard who first brought her food neck. She spun around and swung him into the other two guards, breaking his neck and killing him.
A fourth guard came running into her cell pointing a gun at her, he let off a shot but she easily dodged out of the way. She made sure to break his arm and disarm him seconds after. She shot him in the head before turning around and shooting the two other guards she knocked over as they got to their feet. In a span of 30 seconds, she had left four people dead. Just more red in her ledger.
Even though the gun she had still had bullets she threw it to the cell floor before sprinting out of the cell into the center of the Raft. She was instantly surrounded by the other eight guards pointing guns at her. It was now time for the dreaded part two of the plan.
She launched herself at the guards and managed to get in a few good hits before she heard a shot ring out. The sound of the bullet being fired seemed to hit her ears long before the bullet lodged itself in her right knee.
She fell to the ground without a sound. Aware of the shouts from Clint, Sam, Wanda and Scott screaming out not to hurt her. But it was too late. As she lay on the ground pretending to be much more hurt than she was, she couldn’t help but be concerned about where she was shot.
She hoped she would be shot in the shoulder, or side or something like that, but she didn’t need to look at her knee to know that the bullet had shattered her kneecap. Sure she could fight through the pain and get the job done, but it would be 10x harder than originally planned.
She lay still on the ground with her eyes closed. She could easily fool the guards into thinking she was unconscious. Even in pain it was easy not to make any noise as the guards put handcuffs on her and left her lying on the ground, trying to decide what to do with her.
She choose to retreat into her head. Giving herself the excuse that she did this to further convince those around her that she was unconscious. But deep down she knew it was to protect herself from the screams of her friends probably thinking she was dead.
She focused on the feeling of the warm blood sweeping through her sweatpants. Turning the light grey fabric into a dark red. She could feel the shards of bone poking in to her skin where they shouldn’t be. She wondered for a moment if she would be able to stand at all. But the whisper of Madame B’s voice that had taken a home in the back of her mind quickly reminded her that pain is temporary. She would get through it. She always did.
She felt arms around her and realized that the guards had decided what they were going to do. Took them long enough. She braced herself as the arms of the men lifted her up. Obviously not caring about the pain that would cause her. She stifled a gasp and let her head loll onto on of the guards shoulder.
They walked for a few minutes. Taking two lefts and then a right. She heard a door open and assumed that the men walked through. Suddenly without any warning the guard carrying her tossed her on to the ground in the middle of the room.
She still needed to make them believe that she was knocked out so she let herself tumble painfully onto the concrete. Even after she heard the door close and the voices of the guards disappear she didn’t move. Not even to open her eyes. There could be cameras watching her. All she could do was wait until the guards came back to make her move.