Consequences
When Eddie woke up (again), all he could see was a soft blue painted ceiling. This was not the prison anymore. Wherever he was wasn’t familiar to him in the least, which was probably the point. As he stretched, he heard an odd sound and felt some sort of walls with strategic gaps in them surrounding him. Eddie realized there was something lodged in his mouth as he yawned. It wouldn’t dislodge itself no matter what he tried and when he brought his hands to his face to pull it out, he saw his hands were trapped in what looked like thin blue oven mitts that locked around his wrists. He raised an eyebrow and peered between the bars. It was some sort of nursery that he was in if the colors and furniture were any real indication. As he struggled to sit up, he noticed the absence of commentary from Venom. Why wasn’t Venom questioning things or berating him? Did he get taken out while Eddie was drugged? Were the drugs lethal to him? Or was Venom just giving him the silent treatment?
“‘Eeeey!” Eddie called out as he looked over his attire in concern and panic. What the fuck was he wearing???
“Babe, he’s awake!” Natasha’s voice rang through the nursery as she fast-walked her way in. “Hey, Little Storyteller!”
“Wuh da Fuh???” Eddie attempted to demand.
“Sorry, Little one, we forgot about the whole transition talk,” Natasha apologized, reaching into the crib, as Eddie came to notice, to remove the pacifier gag. “Try that again, but watch your language because Daddy might actually punish you if he hears.”
“What is going on?!” Eddie snapped, glaring at her as she resnapped the gag in her hands. “What am I wearing?”
“You’re wearing what all baby boys wear. A sleeper and a diaper.” Natasha calmly answered, leveling him with warning look. “Watch your tone and your attitude or Daddy won’t be the only one in a punishing mood. You agreed to go through the retraining program. The program utilizes forced age play to break down the participant to their core being so that they can be rebuilt. It’s very helpful in correcting behaviors. Though some who participate in age play here do it for relaxation. Once we’re sure you’re ready to abandon your old ways, we’ll gradually rebuild you back to the average adult standard. From there, you choose which life you’d rather lead.”
“So this whole age play thing is temporary but not optional?” Eddie pressed, grimacing at the new intel.
“For the majority of the participants, yes. I admit that not all abandon it once they’ve graduated from the program.” Natasha qualified. “Some find that it helps them relax or that it’s too difficult to shut off that part of their brains.”
“What about Venom…?” Eddie hesitated, unsure of whether he wanted to know while he was trying to process so much new information.
“What about him, Pumpkin?” Natasha asked, uncertain of whether he was asking how Venom fit into it all or if they had other plans for the symbiote.She unlatched the crib’s side, slid it down and under. before taking a seat, and pulling Eddie into her arms.
“I- I can’t hear him and he’s not making himself known…” Eddie panicked, his breathing starting to pick up as his eyes burned and spilled tears down his face. “I just got him back! I- I c-can’t lose him again!”
“Oh, Sweetheart,” Natasha cooed, rubbing Eddie’s back as she kissed his temple.
“What’s going on, Honey?” Bruce softly inquired as he approached and sat down next to her.
“He found out about Venom…” Natasha stage- whispered.
“Which part?” Bruce grimaced, sighing as he ran a hand down their temporary charge’s back.
“Venom hasn’t said anything yet…” She hinted, attempting to cover Eddie’s ears while he tried to reign in his meltdown.
“I thought we’d have longer before this happened…” Bruce frowned, concern radiating from his eyes as he locked his with hers.
“Apparently not. This could ruin his regression and completely botch the program,” Natasha worried, not paying any attention to the change in Eddie. He was finally calming down but he kept up appearances and faked his mourning to try and get more information. For a spy, she underestimated his ability and desire for knowledge. “If Fury finds out that we botched the sedative and accidentally skipped a few steps, we won’t even get the pleasure of him biting our heads off first before he puts us in front of the firing squad.”
“Assuming he doesn’t hand us over to Hydra to be tortured to death for information and leverage that we don’t have,” Bruce agreed, slouching in his seat. “I mean maybe we can run some tests to see what we can find out… Tony recently added to the infirmary so we have a few more options to see what’s going on and what we can do to save our asses.”
Natasha nodded and turned back to Eddie, uncovering his ears as he continued to feign whimpers and sniffles, “Okay, Sweetheart, we’re gonna go bye-bye from the nursery so Daddy can play doctor with you. He wants to see how your friend’s doing, okay? Can you be my brave little storyteller and let Daddy check on him?”
“Fine,” Eddie submitted, deciding to withhold the fact that he knew they screwed up. “Can I please change out of these awful clothes?”
“Sorry, Little Man, No can do,” Bruce apologized, making Eddie jump as the scientist grabbed at his diapered rear and crotch to see if he needed changed. “We should probably change him before he gets a rash, Nat.”
“I can take care of it while you get set up in the infirmary,” Natasha responded, running her fingers through Eddie’s hair. He hated that he was enjoying his position but who was he to bitch about resting his head on her breasts while she pet his hair? He was sure that Venom would be proud to an extent.
“Alright. Remember to use the stroller and if he gets mouthy, we have to use the gag.” Bruce added before rose and left the nursery. “I’ll see you down there in a bit.”
“Alright, Pumpkin, let’s get you cleaned up,” Natasha narrated as she disturbed his relaxation and laid him down in the crib. She began to undress him before he could gather his bearings- the woman knew what she was doing and clearly her skills were multi purposed.
“What the fuck?!” Eddie freaked out attempting to jerk out of her grasp as she tried to untape the surprisingly used diaper- no way he did that- only to get pinned to the plush mattress with her pinning his hands and her knees carefully cutting off the flow blood through his femoral arteries.
“Never forget that though I am petite and feminine in my home, I am still deadly,” Natasha threatened, not about to put up with any fighting on his part. “I am trying to make this as pleasant for you as I can. Most people aren’t allowed the liberties you have in this program because Fury and all of us are fond of you even after everything that’s happened.”
“Liberties?! You call being drugged, babified, inhibited and violated a luxury?!” Eddie yelled. “What kind of fucked up world do you live in, lady?!”
“Do you want to know how this should go?” Natasha prompted, shifting her weight just the right way to make Eddie cry out in pain.
“Sure, enlighten me!” Eddie panted through gritted teeth.
“According to normal protocol, the program begins as such,” Natasha began. “First, participant- we’ll use your name for the example- Eddie, is knocked out. While out, Eddie is changed into a diaper, sleeper, locking mittens, and pacifier gag. Once settled in the nursery, Eddie is to be thoroughly restrained in his crib, which means ankles and wrists tied to the bars. When Eddie wakes, he will be left to puzzle his situation out on his own. Mama Nat is not to interact with Eddie until he reaches his breaking point and notices the note dangling from a mobile that should read ‘cry for mama.’ Eddie will not be cared for in any way until he cries for Mama, even if it takes a week. Eddie is only allowed the most basic essentials to keep him decently healthy until he does. Once broken, Eddie will be regularly drugged to inhibit his motion and abilities to function on his own. He will be treated as an infant until Mama Nat is completely certain that he is capable of moving forward to toddlerhood without reverting to adult ways. Inhibitors shall be used until Eddie has completed the program. Said inhibitors are catalogued in the handbook with their uses noted. Mama Nat may also utilize punishments such as spanking, time outs or other child friendly inhibitors that follow the appropriate behavior modification guidelines. End of story.”
Eddie stared up at her in horror as it all sank in. All the vivid images that her words conjured up were too much.
“That is your warning. If you try anything that I don’t like, we’re going by the book and this experience will start out very traumatic for you.” Natasha warned, her eyes steely and harsh as they bore into his. “Now, are you going to behave?”
Eddie couldn’t do anything but not. He sighed and moaned in relief as she released his hands and moved off of his legs. She continued on with her task of changing him as he came to terms with the fact that this was the situation he was trapped in- at least until Venom was back in the picture…
“I don’t like having to torture you,” Natasha spoke up as she cleaned off his privates and rear. “I know it’s hard enough to get used to your situation without having someone treating you like a prisoner or a plaything. That’s why I tried a softer approach with you. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about you that makes me want to nurture you more than any of the others I’ve fostered…”
“Thanks, I guess…” Eddie mumbled, trying not to think about the fact that he was being put into another diaper after being clinically touched by a woman. This hadn’t happened since he was first brought into the world.
“It’ll piss Bruce off, but I’ll let you walk if you promise to hold my hand the whole time.” Natasha bargained, resituating the navy sleeper he was encased in. “Deal?”
“Deal.” Eddie begrudgingly accepted as she helped him up. She surprised him by removing the mittens.
“You won’t be able to grab anything with those on.” Natasha explained his silent question as she disposed of the dreaded mitts and took his hand.
Eddie stayed silent and vigilant as she led him out of the nursery and into the hall of what looked like a luxury apartment. Realistically, he knew he was on one of the many floors of the Avengers tower, but which one was hard to say. The only one he knew was that Stark’s floor was the penthouse up top. He made a mental map as they made their way to the elevator just through a door in the living room. The infirmary was on a lower floor based on the elevator’s drop as the floor was input. He waited with a smothered sigh until the doors opened up to show an infirmary that looked like it had been ripped right out of a small town hospital. He heard the quiet words of someone other than Banner, who was waiting at a desk in the center of the floor. Listening closely, Eddie thought he heard something or another about someone looking like Frankenstein’s monster…?
“Nat…” Bruce glared as they approached. “I told you to be more firm and here he is practically stripped of everything we’ve done so far. Not only do I want you to see this through, but I don’t want Fury to think he needs to get involved. If we screw up with Eddie, he’ll send him to one of the other caregivers in the tower. If he ends up with Steve, I’m confident that one or both of them will end up dead. What are we gonna tell Steve’s perfect little baby when Daddy goes six feet under?”
“Look, he needed to be able to trust us before we do all these tests,” Natasha argued, shooting him a spectacular bitch face. “We can kick things into full gear after we do what we have to.”
“You should have listened to your husband, Romanov.” Fury scolded, walking out from behind the partition that originally blocked off the conversation Eddie heard when they first came in. “Looks like I chose the wrong caregiver for his first week. Apparently, you don’t have what it takes to do the job right anymore.”