Mila currently had Clint Barton in a headlock. A rather peculiar position she thought, to be able to kill an avenger with one swift movement of her arms. The temptation was there for sure.
The man started to choke and splutter as she held in there, fighting the urge to do what she was born to.
"Stop Ivanov '' Natasha said sternly leaning on the wall of Mila's cell, seeming indifferent to the fact that Clint could've very easily just died. Mila released Barton him falling to the floor gasping for air
"You had to hold on for that long" He said laying on the floor
"I'm trained to kill, not to let men go when they can't take it anymore" She said sternly retreating to a corner of the cell. She hadn't been allowed out in three days and she felt as trapped as ever, never knowing what time it was or even the day at this point. Time was measured in what and when she was fed. Luckily the Avengers were not monsters like the Red Room and did actually feed her regularly. She'd taken to scratching her thoughts on the wall next to her bed with one end of the handcuffs, much to Steve Roger's dismay. He had walked in on her scratching something into the wall once, and had scolded her for it. Mila ignored his lecture and replied "If you're going to lock me up with my own thoughts and nothing to do, you'll have to accept that i've resorted to scratching at the walls" That shut him up almost immediately
Today they were "seeing what she could do" as if she might not be good enough to work with the Avengers. They had seen her record in London right? Barton and Romanoff had dragged a training mat in and were taking turns getting their assess beat. Well mainly Clint getting his ass beat, Natasha having almost the same training as Mila was a tougher fight.
"Right my turn" Nat said walking into the middle of the mat. Mila and Natasha stood across from each other in a fighting stance on the mat waiting for the word from Clint.
"3... 2... 1 go" He said crouching on the ground holding his head.
Natasha immediately went for a punch to the stomach that Mila deflected effortlessly, returning with an attempted headshot. They moved around the mat throwing punches and trying to take the opponent's legs out from under them. Though Mila lasted for 20 minutes of constant fighting, even landing a couple punches to Romanoff's nose and stomach. Mila found herself pinned to the floor under the grip of the Black Widow. Mila hit the floor 3 times as she was certain she wouldn't be able to get out from underneath Natasha and the older women let her go. Mila lay there for a second just catching her breath, she'd bit her lip and could taste the blood that had begun to flow.
"You're pretty good kid" Nat said offering a hand to pull her up
"Of course I am," Mila retorted, spitting blood out of her mouth. "If i wasn't i'd be dead"
Natasha's smirk disappeared. Mila was testing the waters, she'd noticed how Romanoff's features stilled anytime she referenced the Red Room. Almost as if the avenger had built a wall of defence to keep the memories from coming back. Mila stared at her quizzically.
Clint stared at the two from his spot on the floor. He was really getting too old for all of this and decided to put an end to the staring competition the two girls were having. He got up off of the floor and kicked at Nat's foot. She seemed to get the message and the two headed out of the room.
Mila stood a little stunned that they hadn't shut the cell door on her, was this a test? To see if she'd make a run for it?
"You coming? We're going to see how good your aim is?" Clint said, poking his head around the doorway. Mila raised an eyebrow, but followed anyway desperate to get out of the stuffy cell and see daylight. They walked in a single file line down the corridor, Natasha leading the way and Clint bringing up the rear.
No handcuffs? Mila was questioning whether they did in fact trust her or if this was all a facade.The walked through the corridors and up a few flights of stairs before they reached a large shooting range. The room had no windows much to Mila's disappointment and had 4 stations in which. As well as a wall full of weapons. Mila's eyes lit up at the sight of them, the knives especially. They had daggers, throwing knives, swords and other bladed weapons she never thought Avenger's would use. Next her eyes landed on the cabinet of handguns, pistols and rifles.
Natasha steered her by her shoulders into one of the target bays, where the silhouette of a person was set against a white background. Natasha pushed a glock into her hand. Mila stared back at her, did they really want her to do this. Or was the right answer that she'd never kill anyone and would never use a gun. Is that what being an Avenger meant... not killing anyone? But then again they wouldn't have all these weapons if they hadn't bunked off a few people in the couple of years The Avengers had been an official team.
Mila turned back towards the target after a nod from Natasha, lined up her shot and hit the target square in the forehead 5 times consistently. Looking bored she handed the gun back to Natasha.
"She's a better shot than you Tash" Clint murmured slightly open mouthed. Natasha hit him on the arm in mock annoyance. Natasha flipped a switch bringing in a new target and dropping the old one to the ground, this time the target was set back around 6 meters. Natasha refilled the glock and gave it back to Mila and again the girl made 5 clean shots to the head. Natasha took the gun back from Mila and this time handed her 7 throwing knives. Small but agile pieces of metal. The target was yet again changed, bringing it a few meters forward. Mila threw 6 of them into the target 2 hitting the neck, one hitting the heart and the other three hitting the abdomen. She was never that good with throwing knives and was quite impressed with what she managed.
"And the 7th" Natasha said in a deadpan voice. Mila begrudgingly took the knife out from her shirt sleeve and threw it as hard as she could, landing a blow to the head. She glared at Romanoff who seemed indifferent.
"You're good" The Black Widow said, staring back at the target. Mila fangirled a little inside but kept her outward appearance calm and stoic. The two of them then lead her to one of the conference rooms she had seen the Captain and Barton in on the first day she'd been there. Romanoff told her to sit but instead she gravitated towards the window. She could see the entirety of New York city. The skyscrapers, the river and if she looked down she could even make out the people walking in the streets. The whole city was breathtaking.
"Mila, could you come and Sit please," Romanoff repeated. Mila sat down at the conference table, Romanoff, Barton and the captain joined her there. They all looked at her expectantly and Mila was still looking out the window.
"We need you to tell us everything you can about the Red room, including where and how they get their recruits" Barton began. Mila scoffed
"The Red Room has hundreds of different programmes all over the world, you'd have to take down the entire Russian government in order to take down the entire operation. The 'recruitment' is all done through human trafficking circles, i found a few of them. When they came to London, the underground communities talked. They only pick up homeless and wandering children, a lot of them are sold into the programme. Some from parents who made dodgy deals others had been passed around sex trafficking rings. You'll most likely never be able to stop it, the minute we take down one base another will take its place" Mila didn't look at them as she talked and didn't allow them to stop for questions.
"I need you to understand that this will not end the way you think it will. If you go after the Red Room, you'll likely be fighting it forever." Mila looked around the table, at the faces that were now serious and stern. The captain broke the silence
"We understand that. But if we can even take out one small portion of the Red Room, then it's a start" he said, staring at Romanoff who had a far off look in her eye.
"I was trained in Russia, siberia. The middle of a barren wasteland so no one would escape. That's where the main headquarters is and that's where... that's where they do the most dangerous experiments. I'm talking mind control amongst other things, the super soldier serum for instance. They tried to make that many, many times." Mila paused and remembered the screaming that came from the confinement rooms after girls were given the drugs.
"Most experiments they do have succeeded. Mind control is one of them. It's like watching yourself through a TV screen, you can't do anything to control yourself when given orders. When they did that to me, it wore off every few months. They were working on a solution to that problem, and I assume they would have succeeded. Can I have some paper and a pen?"
Barton pushed the stationary over to her. Mila proceeded to draw a plan of the warehouse that the Red Room inhabited. Including mapping of the ventilation systems, hall ways and vague interpretations of the rooms she was always forbidden to go in. She flipped the pad of paper around so the three Avengers could study it.
"I mapped that place so many times. I would write plans on my arms, even scratch them into the floor boards and I still never found an escape route from that building. Every Widow goes in and out unconscious. I've never been to the upper floor" She indicated the blank rectangle that acted as the stand in for the fourth floor.
"And here is where the chair is located. I've been in there hundreds of times, but i couldn't tell you the layout"
"The chair?" Romanoff questioned staring at the black square on the piece of paper
"It's what they put you in to wipe your mind" Mila shook her head, getting the sounds of past screams to leave her alone. She'd not thought about any of this for so long, and had done all she could to suppress the constant flashbacks and nightmares from coming to the surface. All her work seemed to be coming undone as the blocks in her mind unravelled. She shuddered.
"What about Drakov and Sokolov"
"Drakov is still alive and well as far as i know, and Sokolov's dead. I killed him the night before you took me"
"I want to talk to Mila alone," Romanoff declared quickly. The two guys didn't argue and took the plan of the building with them. Mila and Natasha stared at each other for a minute.
"Tell me the rest," Natasha said.
"They've started bringing in younger kids. Sometimes they can't even walk yet, or talk. Most Widow's are kept unconscious while not on mission, they don't even bother to train them anymore. Some just have a chip in their heads that makes them be able to fight on the spot. When I first started it was a 1 in 20 chance of survival, now it's around 1 in 50. One mistake they'll force a girl to commit suicide. I've seen it happen more than once. None of them are considered human just weapons that Drakov can use to control and manipulate the world to do his bidding. When you left, there was less food, more training, more killing and more children dead. They wanted another Romanoff and they pushed to get it, i don't think they ever did" Mila had tears starting to pool in her eyes and quickly blinked them away
"I'm sorry" Natasha whispered, placing a hand over Mila's.
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They didn't take Mila back to the cell that night, instead she was sat in Natasha's spare room. Albeit the door was still locked. The room had a large double bed in the center of the back wall, a chest of draws to its right and a huge window to its left. Natasha had told her that being as Mila hadn't tried to kill them, when she definitely could have. She seemed trustworthy enough to have an upgrade. They didn't know how long it would take to get the exact coordinates for the Red Room, so she was glad they didn't leave her in the cell. She didn't sleep that night, images of needles, screaming children and blood running through her mind. Instead she sat mesmerized by the light of the city and how it truly did never sleep. She still put a handcuff around her wrist even if it wasn't attached to anything, just for the comfort it brought despite the action being intertwined with the red room. At some point in the night Natasha joined her on the floor and the two women stared out at the city together. Neither of them getting a second of sleep.