A Relaxing Brainwashing
Natasha winced from the immense pain she was feeling. She remarked, “the name is Natasha.”
“Your name is Natalia Alianovna Romanova. I would know that face anywhere. What are you doing here?” the woman said.
“That depends. What year is it?” Natasha asked.
“You graduated 2 years ago from the black widow program,” the woman said.
At that moment, Natasha felt like she was being crushed into the floor. She wanted to curl into a ball and die from her wound, but she knew that now that Madame B was there, her life was about to change.
“Who do you work for now?” Madame B asked.
“Not you, not the KGB, not anyone.” she replied.
“Well, if you won’t tell me, I’ll just have to break you.”
“You can’t break me. I’m made of marble.” Natasha suppressed her groans of pain.
Madame B sauntered away, her high heels clicking with every step. After a few minutes, Natasha began slipping away from consciousness. She heard Madame B coming back, followed by something with squeaky wheels. Madame B crouched by her side again, seeing Natasha falling away, “hmm,” she mentioned, “we’ll have to work on pain management.”
Two men grabbed her and placed her on the gurney with squeaky wheels. They rolled her to the medical bay, which was completely empty. As the men picked her up and placed her onto a stationary bed, Natasha passed out, not being able to withstand her pain any longer.
When Natasha awoke, her vision was blurry but she could still see two figures in front of her. One was Madame B, but she couldn’t tell who the other one was. As she looked around, she noticed the arrow was no longer sticking out of her. When she tried to move her hands, she felt cold metal against her wrists - handcuffs.
She apparently drew attention to herself as both of the figures were staring at her. “As you can see,” Madame B addressed the other person, “Natalia is out of sorts. Did you forget your training?” she now addressed Natasha. “Did you forget Mr. Barnes?” James stepped closer, allowing Natasha to see it was him.
Her heart pounded at the sight of him. “You’re right. This is Natalia,” he claimed as he walked away.
“Miss Romanova, or is it Mrs. Romanova?” Madame B asked.
“Miss.” Natasha replied, she hoped the others would somehow show up to save her or Wanda could reverse the teleportation.
“Of course. I should have known. You’re a monster, Natalia. You’re my monster. No man would ever love you.”
This stung Natasha, but she held onto the fact that it wasn’t true. Clint loved her...but he shot her with an arrow. She wasn’t sure what to believe. She had no reply for Madame B.
“As I was saying, miss Romanova, we are going to start your retraining today. You’re not dead yet so we can use an agent like you…at least until you graduate in a few years.”
Natasha’s eyes watered. She worked hard to get away from the Red Room and the KGB the first time, a second time might prove impossible.
“You are weak!” Madame B was angry, “everything we trained you for put to waste. Who did you work for?! Who made you less?”
“Go to hell.”
“Honey, I am hell,” she snapped her fingers and two men walked in and transferred Natasha to another gurney, strapping her arms and legs down. They took her to a small metal room, closed off by a large vault door. The men sat her in a steel chair and locked her wrists down onto the arms of the chair and they locked her ankles to the legs of the chair. She struggled against the restraints, but stopped when the pain in her stomach overcame her. The men pressed a button and two metal clamps latched onto her head. “You can either tell us who you work for, or we will hurt you.”
“Either way you’re going to brainwash me into working for you, so let’s get this over with.”
Madame B grimaced, “do it, boys.”
One of the men flipped a switch, sending electricity through the clamps and into her head. She screamed and screamed until the volts subsided. Madame B started saying a list of trigger words to complete the brainwashing, “fire...quiet...spider…”
Natasha interrupted , “No, stop! Please!” but Madame B had no intention of stopping now.
She continued, “spy...darkness…red.”
And Natasha’s head dropped. When she looked up, Madame B said, "Hello, Natalia."
She replied, “waiting for orders.”
Madame B laughed, seeing how easy it was to play with the spy's mind. She then asked, “Who do you work for?”
“The KGB,” Natasha mindlessly said. In her head she knew the truth but she couldn’t control what she said or did.
“Who did you work for?”
“I started my training in the Red Room which led me to work for the KGB. I then worked for S.H.I.E.L.D and hydra, who were disguised as S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“S.H.I.E.L.D? How did you end up in that pig sty?”
“S.H.I.E.L.D sent agent Barton to kill me. He took me to them and recruited me rather than killing me.” Natasha explained.
“And you let him take you? We will have to make sure it does not happen again.”
Natasha remained silent. “Someone get me a healing element and gauze!” Madame B yelled and the men ran out of the cold, dark room. When they returned, Madame B lifted Natasha’s shirt and undid the old wraps. She spread the healing element over the injury which she then wrapped with new gauze. “There. Get her out of this chair!”
The men set Natasha’s wrists and ankles free. She stood and stretched, stiff from the lack of movement. “Follow,” Madame B commanded. Natasha walked behind Madame B. They arrived in the same large room she first appeared in. “A test, if you will. Don’t worry, it’s not graded,” Madame B laughed.
Natasha stood in the center as James strolled into the room. “Fight him,” Madame B instructed.
Natasha raised her fists, ready for a tough battle. He charged at her, fire in his eyes. She kicked him in the throat, knocking him back. He went to punch her but she blocked the hit, responding by jumping and grabbing his neck with her thighs She hit his head as she sat on his shoulders. He grabbed her and threw her to the ground. She jumped back up, steadying herself from the blow. James grabbed her throat with his metal arm and lifted her off the ground. She punched and kicked, trying to make him let go. He smashed her against the far wall repeatedly. Eventually, she tapped his arm, a signal to let her go. She sank to the floor, gasping for air.
“You can do better. Try again.” Madame B said.
Natasha rose from her knees, ready to fight again. James approached her and she swiped his legs with her leg, dropping him to the floor. She ran and kicked him in the face. He rose to his feet and cracked his neck. Natasha grabbed James’ metal arm and bashed it into his chest a few times. She then flipped him over her shoulder and punched him one more time, rendering him unconscious.
“Messy, but you beat him. I have to give you that.” Madame B clapped lightly. “Let me show you your room.” Natasha and Madame B walked to a small room - more of a jail cell than anything - containing a twin sized bed with handcuffs at the sides. Natasha laid down and Madame B handcuffed her to the bed, “Sweet dreams, Natalia.”