Red Widow

18. Everything goes according to plan - Part 1

[I'm extremely sorry for the long hiatus, last week was... intense. I don't want to bore you with my personal problems, so just know that I'm deeply sorry for missing not one, but two posting dates. Thank you for your patience, I really appreciate it. As always I hope you enjoy this chapter, and see you next time! (That it will be very soon!)]

She didn't know if the meeting was a figment of her own imagination or if it was real, but when she woke up Red looked around her and nothing was different in her eyes. It was impossible for her to determine how much time had passed in the barely lit cell, but for the first time in days she felt rested: even her stomach hurt less. Suspicious, she moved aside her bandages and saw that her wounds were almost completely healed, only small amounts of blood came out of it; she was astonished by the view, last time she checked they weren't in such good conditions and she realized that she had probably slept all day; the most surprising thing, though, was that she hadn't be awaken even once by the nightmares that constantly tormented her. That's why she wasn't surprised when she saw Pietro's sister earlier, she was after all the protagonist in all of the worst dreams of her last guilt ridden weeks. Red didn't know which ones were worse, the ones where she was being tortured by her or the ones where it was the other way around. Nervous, she covered herself again, silently praying that her guards would notice that she was fine as late as possible.

Red really hoped that her conversation with the other woman was real and that the Avengers were near: they were the only hope that she had left; not to survive, she really didn't care if she came out alive or not. But if she had to die, the thought that the Red Room would perish soon after her warmed her heart. The other small comfort, if the dream was real, would have been to have asked for forgiveness; she did not need to receive it, but it was essential for her that the other knew how terribly sorry she was.

Suddenly she heard an explosion; it came from somewhere above her and another one followed soon after; dust and rubbles fell from the ceiling, and the alarm started blaring all over the place: the facility was under attack and she was almost ready to scream from joy. She heard heavy steps coming from the aisle outside her cell, and the voice of two men speaking.

"Are you sure? We didn't receive the green light for Madame G." Said the first.

"We have to." Answered the other, opening the door of her cell.

Red had barely the time to prepare herself before the two jumped on her, injecting a substance straight into her neck. She felt her abnormal strength abandon her, her body felt heavy and she started to lose her senses.

"If she dies on the chair, the Red Room and Hydra will not be happy with us!" Spoke again the first man.

"If we don't put her on the chair, we might die tonight, and I have no intentions to peg out in this lair of bitches!"

The last thing she heard before everything went black was a roar that riverbed through the whole base, scary and menacing.

*****

Wanda knew that the moments before a battle were always tense, but this time the team was a nervous wreck. They spent the whole morning trying to develop a decent plan, but there were so many unknowns that it felt like going in blind. Everyone was currently in the Quinjet, Clint at the cockpit while Tony was in the center of the cabin, wearing his suit and whispering to Friday.

"We know the plan, we will try to stick to it as much as we can." Said Steve. "We don't know how many of them we will find once inside, so stay close to your group, be careful and look out for each other. I want every single one of us to walk away on our own legs today. I'm aware that some of us have a bad history with them" He looked at Natasha sorfully. "But this goes beyond our personal reasons; remain focused on the mission, we're here to rescue those girls and shut this down once and for all. They believe they're undefeatable, we will prove them how wrong they are." He looked at them before nodding to Tony.