Nat took a deep breath before pressing her palm against the scanner, the light switching to green, unlocking the door for her to step through. The underground part of the compound was kept strictly need know and not even all the avengers knew it exist. Tony had insisted on creating a secure unit where if needed the dangerous people they dealt with could be held until the threat was cleared.
It was here that they had transported Lexa on a separate jet after Y/N had left on the first one. Nat had spoken to Tony on a private comms channel when she had found Lexa and neutralised her. It had been agreed that they would keep Y/N in the dark for as long as possible about the situation, they needed time to workout what they were going to do.
Walking along the corridor, Nat came to a stop outside the cell that Lexa was currently occupying. She took a seat in the chair that had been placed outside of it and watched as Lexa walked up and down the length of the cell, they hadn't left the restraints on her as the cells had been designed to be able to withstand worse than her.
"The silent treatment again? This is getting very boring now Lexa" Nat sighed as she crossed her legs, clearly irritated by the other woman.
Lexa stopped her pacing and turned to glare at Nat, she hated that the red head had the upper hand in this situation. Whilst being held by the avengers was probably more preferable to the treatment she'd have received had Hyrda taken her, Lexa would have preferred to not be kept in any kind of cage.
"I don't have anything to say to you" Lexa said bluntly before resuming her pacing on the cell.
"Why don't you start with telling me why you didn't take Y/N straight to Hyrda? What were you planning on doing to her?" Nat persisted, needing to know what it was that had driven Lexa to disobey her orders.
Lexa subconsciously rubbed the back of her neck, her fingers brushing against the small silver disc embedded there. Though she felt somewhat better than she had at the safe house, the constant throbbing headache had not subsided and all Lexa wanted to do was rip the implant out.
"That's none of your business" Lexa snapped, moving to sit down on the small bed that occupied one corner of the cell.
"See it is my business because Y/N is my best friend and you already hurt her more than anyone should ever be hurt. So it'd really be best for you to start talking" Nat would keep pushing until Lexa broke.
Lexa carried on glaring at Nat from where she sat, this was at least the fifth time they'd done this and Lexa was becoming more and more irritated by the attitude that Nat was giving her.
"I can't tell you because I don't know why I did it. I haven't had a day of clear thoughts in the last two years, everything is fragmented and you can believe what you want but I would never hurt Y/N" Lexa finally broke the stale mate, if she wanted out of here then this would be the only way.
"You're right I don't believe you Lexa. You defected to Hyrda and then used Y/N to get into a secure Shield base where you proceeded to lead Hyrda agents in and shoot every scientist there, apart from Y/N" Nat shook her head in disbelief that Lexa would try to make such a claim.
Lexa slammed her hands down on the bed, causing it to shake under the force, her frustration and anger reaching a high as Nat kept pushing her. If she hadn't been stuck in the cell it would have been Nat her fists would have been hitting.
"Exactly, everyone apart from Y/N. The orders were to wipe everyone out that day and take the all the research but I couldn't... I... I made them think that I had done it... and it was all fine until Y/N started working here and they realised I had lied" Lexa said her hands remained clenched in fists as she spoke.
Nat arched a brow at what Lexa said, she still didn't trust her but seeing the emotions that were pulling Lexa apart Nat had to wonder if there was some truth in what she said. It had always nagged at Nat that Y/N had been the only one to survive that attack and now some of the puzzle pieces were starting to come together.
"Why do Hyrda want Y/N?" Nat asked leaning forward on the chair.
"Y/N was working on creating new weapons, ones that were fused with alien materials. Hyrda have been trying to work off her research but there are pieces missing" Lexa explained, "So they sent me to retrieve her, their warped way of punishing me for failing to do what they asked the first time."
"But they didn't want you to kill her this time?" Nat needed Lexa to keep talking, the more they could get out of her the more prepared they could be to deal with the fallout and protect Y/N.
"No, like I said the research wasn't complete, they need her to finish it" Lexa said as she stood back up, walking over to stand opposite where Nat was sat.
Nat processed what Lexa was telling her and knew that if Hydra were set on getting hold of Y/N then they wouldn't stop coming after her until they succeeded. It filled Nat with an overwhelming sense of fear for her best friend.
"The disc on the back of your neck. You put one on Wanda, that's what made her attack us. Is that how they are controlling you?" Nat asked as she watched Lexa move.
Lexa went to answer but a wave of excruciating pain erupted in her head, forcing her down to her knees, her hands grabbing hold of her head as she cried out. The implant was burning and Lexa reached her hand round trying to pull it out but the heat from it burnt the tips of her fingers.
"Let me out!!" Lexa cried looking at Nat who had leapt up from where she'd been sitting.
Nat hesitated, Lexa was a trained assassin and spy, it wouldn't be a far stretch for her to fake something like this in order to get Nat to drop her guard. It would have been something Nat would try if the roles had been reversed, but when she looked Lexa in the eye Nat saw that the pain was genuine.
Nat moved and slammed the alarm button beside the cell and immediately heard the siren go off, it would alert Tony and Steve who were the only other two who knew about Lexa being there.
"I can't do that right now" Nat said as she knelt down to be at Lexa's level.
A few moments passed and the sound of running footsteps alerted Nat to Tony and Steve's arrival. Lexa was now curled up on the floor of the cell, tears streaming down her cheeks from the pain.
"What the hell is going on Nat?" Tony asked as he and Steve came to her side, both of them looking between Nat and Lexa.
"I was just asking her questions and then this happened. I think it's the neuro implant, please tell me you know more about them now" Nat explained as she stood back up and looked to Tony.
"I've studied the one we took out of Wanda but it's different and she only had it in for a short time, I don't know what kind of side effects could be caused by having one in permanently for years. We need to get her to the medical bay" Tony said pointing at Lexa, disliking the fact that they were going to have to help her but knowing they couldn't do nothing.
Steve nodded in agreement and without another word her and Nat entered the cell, taking hold of Lexa together and lifting her up from the floor. Tony was already on the phone to Dr Cho telling her to prepare for their arrival and to keep it to herself so as to not to alert any of the others as to what was going on.
"I think Hyrda have been using it to hold some kind of control over her. The way she was talking about things, I think Lexa was trying to fight against it when it came to Y/N" Nat explained to Steve and Tony as they made their way to the medical bay.
"So if we take this thing out, there is a chance that Lexa just goes back to normal?" Steve asked looking concerned about the whole idea.
"That is quite possible, it worked when we took the one out of Wanda, but like I said we don't know what long term effects it could of had, or if we can even take it out without causing some kind of damage" Tony answered as he pressed his hand to the scanner to give them access to the shortcut to the medical bay from the underground cells.
Nat didn't know how to feel about the idea that by removing the implant Lexa would potentially be the person she was before she had gone missing on her last mission with Shield. Not that Nat had been much of a fan of that version of her either but it would open up a whole load of new problems for them to deal with if that did happen. How would they explain any of this to Y/N?
Dr Cho was ready with her team and they moved quickly to sedate Lexa so that they could carry out tests and assess the best approach.
"I think we are going to need to move ahead with extraction, the implant appears to have some sort of capsule built into it and my guess is that it's a built in kill switch, a bit like a cyanide pill. The electrical pulses are being used to try and trigger it as well as messing with her brain chemistry" Dr Cho explained as she pulled up the scans to show them.
"What are the risks?" Nat was the first to say out loud what they were all thinking.
"The biggest risk is we shatter the capsule whilst trying to extract it" Dr Cho replied as Tony stepped forward studying the scans.
"Well if we leave it in that will happen anyway and soon. Carry on Dr Cho" Tony said after assessing the scans and knowing there was no other options available to them.
Dr Cho nodded and immediately instructed her team to prep and get the room ready to remove the implant.
"Tony we're going to have to tell Y/N soon" Steve broke the silence as the three of them stood watching Dr Cho and her team work.
"Lets just wait and see what happens. I don't want to drag her into all of this before we know for sure what is going on with Lexa" Nat said, knowing that dropping this on Y/N right now would likely push her back to the place Nat was fighting so hard to keep her friend from falling in to. Not to mention what it could do to her relationship with Wanda if the removal of the implant brought back the Lexa that Y/N had been in love with.