Red in my Ledger

Chapter Sixteen

When the surgery was complete, you were taken to a large open room with a high ceiling. There was a rope hanging down from it. It was used to tie your wrists together above your head, and your body was suspended in the air.
Your feet were about a metre away from touching the ground.
You had been mostly undressed - you were just wearing your bra and underwear, revealing the scars all over your body. The burn marks from the explosion in 2008. Cuts and small bullet holes that were still healing from recent missions.
Dreykov admired them as they signified your accomplishments, and the battles you had won. They showed how you risked your life for missions.
Now, he called some widows into the room. They were armed. He ordered them to hit you with their batons, demanded that they cover you in bruises. It was your punishment.
They beat you like children with a piñata, but instead of candies, the only thing that fell to the floor was the blood that you spat from your mouth.
"Okay that's enough" Dreykov stopped them when he saw you were about to pass out from the pain.
You stared at him blankly, your eyelids felt heavy, about to shut.
"I never wanted to kill you y/n" Dreykov sighed. "I thought you'd learn on your own, about the things that made you weak. I gave you too many chances to prove yourself on your own. And yes, you proved yourself on several occasions. But then you began to lose yourself. You began to lose your worth. So now I control you. You don't get to feel your feelings anymore. You are merely a killer. You are my weapon, y/n."
Dreykov walked to the side of the room.
The rope that held you in the air was attached to a pulley on the ceiling. Dreykov pulled down on a lever that raised you higher into the air, so you were halfway between the floor and the ceiling. You were unreachable from the ground.
You were left on your own, dangling like an object, simply waiting to be used.
———
Yelena flew the jet up to the location of the Red Room.
Natasha, Tony, Bucky and Steve were joined by Clint and Sam to help take down the Red Room.
Bruce stayed at the lab in the Avengers Tower so he could try to duplicate the Red synthetic gas that would free the widows. This meant that the avengers only had very few vials of the gas still with them.
"Is everyone clear on the plan?" Natasha asked. "It's dangerous so we don't want to fuck this up. If we can, only kill Dreykov. Keep as many widows as you can alive."
The plan was to split into teams. Yelena would take Sam and they would free all the widows. Natasha and Clint wanted to finish what they failed in 2008 and kill Dreykov, checking he was actually dead this time. Steve, Tony and Bucky would be primarily focused on finding you. Yelena said it was unlikely that you would be with the rest of the widows.
When the widows were free, Dreykov dead, and you were found, they would destroy the Red Room for good.
Yelena landed the jet on the hovering aircraft, and everyone quickly ran off.
"How do you know where these widows are gonna be?" Sam asked as he ran after Yelena.
"We follow a strict schedule everyday. It never changes unless you have a mission. The widows will be training in the training room. They will be prepared to fight, so we have to be quick" Yelena explained.
They reached the training room. There was a large window through which they watched as every single widow performed the same movements as the others. Perfectly in unison.
Yelena pulled out a small device from her pocket - it would create a tiny explosion, not enough to cause any harm. She attached the vials of gas to the side of it and threw it into the training room. The device exploded, and the gas spread through the air, reaching all the widows. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at Yelena in confusion.
"Come on, we have to get to the jets" Yelena instructed.
She and Sam led the widows back outside to where there were more jets that they could use to escape.
———
Natasha had never been to this new Red Room before, so it took her a while to find Dreykov's office.
She explained a plan to Clint.
Natasha knew that she wouldn't be able to harm Dreykov, so she told Clint to wait outside. If Dreykov didn't know that Clint was there, he had the element of surprise to his advantage.
Natasha stepped into the office.
"Natasha?" Dreykov questioned the second he saw her. Despite being away for many years, he recognised her immediately. He had been following her career, always watching her.
"Dreykov" Natasha said back to him.
"It's good to see you again."
"I wish I could say the same."
"What are you doing here? I assume you haven't come back to join the Red Room."
"No I came back to destroy the Red Room..."
"Is that so?"
"Starting with you."
In that moment, an arrow fired through the door, piercing straight through Dreykov's chest.
Natasha didn't have time for conversation, she wanted it done quickly.
The door pushed open more, and Clint shot two more arrows: another through the chest and one in the head.
Natasha checked his pulse. He had actually died this time. The job was done.
"Let's go help the others" Clint said.
"Wait" Natasha stopped him. She needed to do something first.
She ran over to Dreykov's desk. She was going to download the location of every single widow that Dreykov had control over. She wanted to free them all.
———
Steve and Bucky ran at full speed through the hallways of the Red Room, as Tony flew overhead in his Iron Man suit.
Eventually, they ran into a large open room.
Attached to a rope hanging from the ceiling, you were suspended in the air.
"Oh my god" Steve muttered.
You were still half-naked. There was barely an inch of your skin that didn't have a bruise or a cut or a burn scar. You were covered in all types of marks.
Your eyes were open, and you glared at them as they ran in the door.
Bucky tried to smile comfortingly, holding back his tears at the sight of you.
"Get ready to catch her" Tony called, as he flew up higher. He shot at the rope and it tore in two. You fell to the ground.
Bucky ran forward and caught you in his arms.
As soon as he did, you attacked.
The rope that had been around your wrist was loosened, and you forced the rope around Bucky's neck. You pulled yourself up so you were sitting on his shoulders and could pull the rope tighter.
"Y/n it's me" Bucky gasped, his voice strangled.
Tony flew up behind you and lifted you back up into the air.
You kept punching and kicking at him, but it didn't do much.
But eventually you struggled so much that he lost his grip and you once again fell to the ground.
Bucky caught you again, so you fought him again.
You were winning because he desperately didn't want to hurt you.
Steve was the one to pull you away this time, so you started attacking him.
They all tried to stop you, but it was difficult when they didn't want to cause any harm.
Eventually, you notice a gun in Bucky's holster. He wasn't using it, so you decided that you would. You tackled it off him, and immediately started shooting.
First at Tony, which did no damage. Then at Steve, but he had his shield. Lastly at Bucky. He either dodged them or blocked them with his metal arm.
All but one of them.
The bullet caught his side, not causing serious damage, but Bucky felt enough pain to stumble backwards, falling to the floor as he tripped over his feet.
You turned back to fight the others but as you did, a sharp pain hit you in your stomach.
Steve kicked you at full force, so you flew backwards across the room.
You hit the wall.
Your body collapsed into a heap on the floor.
Tony ran to you as Steve ran to Bucky.
Tony rolled you over to face him. Your eyes were shut. Your head was bleeding slightly.
He sprayed the wound with something from his suit that stopped it bleeding out too much.
Despite Steve's efforts to get him to stay still, Bucky crawled towards your body.
Tony sprayed him with the same stuff to keep him stable until they got back to the lab, and the two of you could be given proper medical attention.
Bucky took off his jacket.
"P-put this on h-her" he groaned.
Tony did as he said. Then he picked you up in his arms.
As Steve was helping Bucky to stand, the other four ran into the room.
"What happened?" Clint asked.
"We've got to get her out of here" Natasha said.
"This place is set to blow very soon" Yelena explained.
They all hurried back to their jet.
It took off, and moments after it did, the Red Room behind them exploded in midair.
The jet was pushed forward slightly from the blast, but Natasha managed to keep it under control.
They flew back to the Avengers Tower where Dr Banner was waiting.