Black Widow: Forever Red Read online

Come on, Tony. Get her out of my head.

  I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

  It was slow going. Tony had started the evening off with his improvised Stark Quantum Detangler—quickly followed by a Stark Quantum Retangler—soon detouring into a little Stark Quantum Hypnotic Regulator, a Stark Quantum Rapid Eye Movement Stimulator, and a Stark Quantum Ultrasound Scanner. Basically, if Tony could put the words Stark or Quantum in front of it, he was game.

  He was now holding two sparking electrical wires in front of Ava and Natasha—along with a handful of electrodes. “Round sixteen. New idea. The Stark Hypothalamus Buffer.” He attached a new electrode to each of Ava’s temples. “Or, if you think it’s catchier, the Stark Hypothalami Sandwich. Just put it on—”

  Ava yanked the electrodes off. “And subject myself to more Stark Quantum Electrical Shock? Forget it. This isn’t helping anything.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, no offense or anything, but you might as well just tell them to each stick a fork in an electrical socket.”

  “Well actually…” Tony said, staring up at the ceiling. But then he shook his head. “No, never mind. That was basically what we did on number seven. Let’s try this instead.” He held out the sparking wires again.

  Ava looked at him like he was crazy—which at this point was a pretty fair assessment, Natasha had to admit. “Pass. How about you call me after you build the Stark Quantum Burn Unit. Until then, I can’t take any more of this crap.”

  “My tech,” Tony said, “is never crap. Almost never.”

  Alex looked at the fourteen abandoned prototypes around them and raised an eyebrow.

  Tony shrugged. “Well, it’s rare. Let’s leave it at that.”

  “Ava, if there were any other way, we wouldn’t be here,” Natasha said. “Trust me.”

  “Why? Why should I?” Ava slid off the stool and backed away, knocking over half a lab table full of circuit diagrams, wire coils, electrical switches, even soldering irons—as well as tools of all sizes. Ava didn’t look like she was about to let any of it near her head again.

  “Why? How about national security? Or even international peacekeeping?” Natasha stood up. She had no idea how to talk to the girl—to someone who was so like her in so many ways, yet so different.

  At only seventeen.

  Natasha watched her now, surveying her options. Another scared rabbit in a winter trap, she thought. It was a familiar sight.

  How much I was like her, at that age.

  And yet, how much she hates me now.

  Ava kept backing up until she’d made it nearly all the way to the airtight laboratory doors, when two armed MPs stepped in front of her. She folded her arms. “Really? You’re going to force me to stay? And here I thought the point of all those locks was to keep people out.”

  The room was silent, until a stray spark ignited a nearby trash can.

  It exploded, toppling a rolling lab cart into two technicians.

  “Don’t touch that!” Tony shouted at the more terrified-looking of the two techs. “What do you think that is, a toaster?” He paused. “Well, okay. I see your point. You could use it toast bread. French bread. Or, say, the entirety of France. But don’t touch that. Just get out of here. Now.”

  The techs fled to the door, and an MP pressed a security code into the keypad next to the steel panels, sliding the doors open.

  “Oh, so they can go? Just not me? I thought America was supposed to be a free country.” Ava glared at him.

  “Maybe we should take break,” Alex suggested. “Like, a big one.”

  Natasha looked at Tony, who just shrugged.

  Thanks for the help, Stark.

  She followed Ava to the door, reaching awkwardly to put her hand on the teen’s shoulder.

  “Ava…” Natasha began. “I know this is hard.”

  “Oh please.” Ava whirled around to face her.

  “What?”

  “Don’t. Just don’t. Don’t act like you want to be my friend. You’re nobody’s sestra. I don’t have a sister and I don’t even know what became of my parents, thanks to Ivan Somodorov.” Ava sounded annoyed. Alex looked at her sympathetically.

  Natasha nodded. “I know how it feels to lose your parents,” she said. “If you’d just let me—”

  “No. I’m not falling for that again. I’m not afraid of you. Not anymore.”

  Natasha was struck by the defiant look on Ava’s face. The faith and the innocence of her own anger.

  But you should be afraid, little one. You should be afraid of so many things.

  The world is a cruel place for Ivan’s girls.

  Natasha paused for a long moment, considering her options. Finally she tried again. “Look, Ava. It might not seem like it, but I’m here to help. I’m trying to keep you from getting fried by Ivan the Strange for the second time. I know what that’s like. I was there, remember?”

  And I was just like you, once.

  “You were there?” Ava scoffed. “You were never there when it mattered. You don’t get to pop back into my life when you feel like it, to play the hero again. I’ve been doing fine on my own, just the way you left me.”

  “Fine?” Natasha raised an eyebrow. “You’re a runaway. You live in a basement and eat at shelters and soup kitchens. You’re basically a homeless person.”

  Alex looked startled.

  Ava’s cheeks turned bright red. “At least I’m not skulking around fencing tournaments scaring people with my fake face.”

  Tony smiled. “See, this is communication. Now we’re getting somewhere. Now we’re sharing.”

  Natasha glared. I give up.

  “Did someone say break? I agree. Great idea.” Alex reached for Ava’s hand, but she pulled it away. She wasn’t done.

  Now her eyes were blazing. “Glad to know you’ve been watching, sestra. Glad to know you care.” She yanked an old, scratched iPod out of her pocket and hurled it across the room. Natasha winced, but Ava wasn’t finished.

  “You can keep your iPod. In fact, you can keep all your crappy birthday presents, with no card and no name. I never wanted them,” Ava said. “What I wanted was a friend. One familiar face in an entire country of strangers. I guess that was too much to ask.”

  “Let’s go, Ava.” Alex put his hand gently on her shoulder.

  Natasha tried again. “Just hear me out. I have an idea. And I won’t let Ivan Somodorov near you. I give you my word.”

  Take it.

  Let me help you.

  We need each other, whether you can admit it or not.

  “Your word?” Ava scoffed. “Where was your word for the last eight years? Where were any of you? All S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever done is lock me in a room for my own good, which I can tell you was no good at all. It was no good to spend eight years alone in 7B—and alone in an unmarked van—and alone with a tutor in a S.H.I.E.L.D. field office, memorizing the constitution of a country I began to hate.”

  Now it was Natasha who was livid. “Hate? Because they beat you? Brainwashed you? Chained you up? Forced you to steal and lie and kill?” Natasha spat the words out before she could stop herself. “No? I’m sorry you didn’t have enough playtimes. I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to the big dance. I’m sorry you had people feeding you and clothing you and trying to keep you alive.”

  She shook away the memories as they rose to the surface of her mind again and again. The beatings and the bruisings. The failures and the threats. The scars Ivan had cut into her skin, and into her psyche.

  “Keep me alive? Maybe my life would have been better if you hadn’t.”

  Natasha’s eyes were fierce and dark. “Don’t say that. You have no idea what you’re talking about. It wouldn’t have been better; it would have been shorter—”

  “Playdates.” Alex interrupted.

  The room went silent. Nobody seemed to know what to say.

  Alex sat up. “The word is playdates, not playtimes. That’s what kids have. I mean, regular kids. Not like, you know, you
guys.”

  Natasha shot him a withering look. Ava seemed disgusted.

  Alex didn’t seem to care. He just shrugged. “And the big dance is called the prom. I’m guessing that wasn’t on your calendars.”

  “What’s your point?” Natasha stared.

  “Only that you guys might have more in common than you think.”

  Natasha took a breath and turned to face Ava. “Was it the radiator or the headboard?”

  You know what I’m talking about.

  Ava stared.

  Natasha leaned in. “Where did the handcuffs go?”

  When he beat you.

  When he kept you captive, like an animal.

  Ava’s eyes were shining.

  Natasha shrugged. “When you cried or said you were hungry or asked to go to the bathroom. Or if you didn’t thank him enough for choosing you to be one of his girls.”

  Or all of the above, Natasha thought. Like he did for me.

  Nobody said a word.

  Natasha turned to Tony. “I was wrong to come here. Let’s drop Alex off at home and send Ava back to protective custody.”

  Your decision, ptenets.

  Natasha wanted to say the words out loud to Ava, but she couldn’t. She’d said too much already.

  I can’t help you. Not like this.

  Whatever happens, Ava, you’ll have to live with it now.

  Just like I do.

  Natasha wondered if Ava could hear what she was thinking. She suspected not, at least not yet. And anyways, you didn’t need a mind reader to know how Ivan Somodorov ran his Red Room.

  “Fine,” Tony said. “I’ll have a car sent over.” He put down his screwdriver with a shrug. “Done.”

  “The sink,” Ava said suddenly. “It was a pipe beneath the sink.”

  Of course it was, Natasha thought, closing her eyes.

  Better acoustics.

  He wanted the others to hear you scream.

  The room was silent.

  “I can’t remember very much, but I remember that. I think I got used to what he did. We all did. What he said—I never got used to that.” Ava’s voice was quiet, but not weak. If anything, talking about it only seemed to make her stronger.

  And angrier.

  Natasha could see it in her face.

  Good.

  You should be.

  It will make you stronger.

  All eyes were on Ava now, but she just shrugged. If she had something more to say, she wasn’t saying it. Not here.

  “Let’s go,” Natasha said. She was resolute, even more so than before. Because Natasha now understood the truth; Ava was as vulnerable and broken as Natasha herself was. It was up to Natasha to keep her safe, to keep them all safe. Ava was a vulnerability, and Natasha had to make sure she wasn’t exploited.

  By Ivan, or by anyone.

  “You’ve got to take cover,” Natasha said, finally.

  “What?” Ava looked as hurt as if she’d struck her.

  “S.H.I.E.L.D. is the safest place for you. You’ll be off the grid in an hour. Nobody will be able to get to you. That’s why they call it a safe house.” Natasha shrugged.

  Not safe. Just as safe as I can keep you.

  At least until Tony can figure out how to sever the link.

  “So your secrets will be safe? Isn’t that all you care about? Because if they can get to me, they can get to you? Because I know which drawer is your underwear drawer and which closets have all the skeletons?” Ava was bitter.

  “Ava. Don’t,” Natasha said.

  “Or do,” Tony said. He was riveted. “About the drawers.”

  Ava went on. “Because I know about how broken your heart is? About how afraid you are—not of dying, but of living?”

  “Stop it,” Natasha said, her voice rising.

  “Why? Because I know more about you than you do? I hate to break it to you, Agent Romanov, but that’s not saying much.”

  “This is over.” Natasha was seething. “You. Me. All of it.”

  Ava laughed. “This? This never started. Your whole life never started, because you don’t have one. No real friends, no real family. Is that your big secret? That those aren’t memories in your head—that’s a case file? That your problem isn’t being a superhero, it’s being a human?”

  “Yes,” Natasha said, suddenly, startling Ava.

  Ava took a step back. “What?”

  Tony’s eyes flickered from Ava to Natasha.

  Even Alex was staring now.

  “Nailed it. You got me. Happy? Great. Now get your bags. We’re leaving.”

  Ava’s eyes were still blazing. She shook her head. “I can’t go back there. Not to 7B.”

  “Ivan Somodorov is coming for you and me both, Ava. I can’t do anything about that. Not as long as he’s out there,” Natasha said. “But if you really can read my mind, then you already know that. So if your little monologue is over, let’s go.”

  “Let him come. I’m not being locked up again.”

  Ava looked at Tony. He shrugged. “Sorry, kid.”

  Ava looked at Alex desperately.

  He reached out his hand, looking at the others.

  “Just give Ava tonight, okay? Just give her until tomorrow—enough time to get her head around it. “

  “Excuse me?” Ava gave Alex a scathing look.

  He didn’t let that stop him.

  “After that, she’ll do whatever she has to do to stay safe. I’ll go with her to the safe house myself. We all want the same thing. Right, Ava?” Alex nodded at her encouragingly.

  She looked at him like he was crazy. “We do?”

  He squeezed her hand tight.

  She shook her head, giving him a strange look. Then she turned back to Natasha. “Fine,” Ava said. “Tomorrow. Then I’ll go back to 7B.”

  Natasha nodded at the MP, and he tapped the keypad, allowing the doors to slide open. “Tomorrow.”

  But you’re still going, ptenets.

  One way or another.

  “All I ask is one thing.” Ava took a last hard look at Natasha. “After tomorrow, you leave me alone. I’ll never see your face again. Promise me.”

  Natasha’s expression was even harder. “Believe me, sestra, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  S.H.I.E.L.D. EYES ONLY

  CLEARANCE LEVEL X

  LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH [LODD] INVESTIGATION

  REF: S.H.I.E.L.D. CASE 121A415

  AGENT IN COMMAND [AIC]: PHILLIP COULSON

  RE: AGENT NATASHA ROMANOFF A.K.A. BLACK WIDOW, A.K.A. NATASHA ROMANOVA

  TRANSCRIPT: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, LODD INQUIRY HEARINGS.

  DOD: Was that distressing? To discover that a stranger would have access to your mind and your memories?

  ROMANOFF: It wasn’t the first time. As you’ve noted.

  DOD: Of course not. Did that make it harder or easier to accept, Agent?

  ROMANOFF: There’s nothing easy about having your brain on display, sir.

  DOD: For some of us more than others, Agent.

  ROMANOFF: If you’re asking if I had a problem with Ava being entangled with me, of course I did. If you’re asking if I intentionally put her in harm’s way, you don’t know me at all, sir.

  DOD: I only know what you tell me, Agent. As I keep trying to explain.

  ROMANOFF: Did it ever occur to you that there might be other people worried about my memories becoming public knowledge?

  DOD: For example?

  ROMANOFF: You tell me. I’m not interrogating myself here. Who asked you to investigate me?

  DOD: That’s classified.

  ROMANOFF: It’s not a hearing if you don’t give me something to hear, sir.

  S.H.I.E.L.D. TRISKELEON BASE

  THE GREAT CITY OF NEW YORK—

  EAST RIVER

  Some S.H.I.E.L.D. bunkrooms were their own method of torture, Alex guessed.

  The one that had been given to visiting civilian asset Ava Orlova—right next door to visiting civilian asset Alex Manor, which
was itself next to unassigned operative Natasha Romanoff—was small and stuffy and windowless, with barely room for a single compact iron bunk bed.

  It was even a miserable place to be miserable.

  Ava lay curled sideways on the lower mattress, staring at the wall in front of her. Alex lay next to her, his arm flung protectively around her back. She had been so exhausted she’d passed out as soon as she’d arrived at the room; Alex had watched her toss and turn until her nightmares had finally gotten the better of her fitful sleep. Within an hour, Ava had woken up screaming the name Ivan Somodorov.

  Alex rubbed her shoulder now. Her t-shirt was thin and soft, and her skin was warm beneath it. Lying here with her now, he almost forgot they were at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base at all. “We’ll find him, Ava. And we’ll find out what happened to your mother and your father. I promise. We won’t stop until we do.”

  The room was quiet.

  Slowly Ava turned to stare at him with her tear-streaked face. “What did you just say?”

  He looked at her. What had he said? “Won’t we?”

  Ava frowned. “Ty ser’yezno?” She was still staring. “Are you serious?” She sat up suddenly, almost hitting her head on the bunk above her.

  “What?” Alex pushed himself up on one elbow.

  “What you said.” Ava said the words slowly. “My naydem yevo, Ava. I my uznayem, chto shluchilos’ s tvoimi mamoy y papoy. Ya obeshchayu. My ne ostanovimsya, poka my eto ne delayem.”

  Because those had been Alex’s exact words. He only thought he had said them in English.

  In fact, he hadn’t.

  What Alex had spoken was perfect Russian.

  A language he didn’t know he knew.

  Der’mo, Alex thought.

  Ava was incredulous. “You speak Russian? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I don’t. I swear I don’t. This is crazy!” Tak s uma. So crazy.

  She laughed in spite of everything, and it echoed through the tiny space. “And yet you just answered another Russian question in Russian.”

  “Der’mo,” Alex said, aloud this time.

  “That’s so strange.” She rolled toward him. “Do you think this is the O.P.U.S.? Maybe you’re somehow picking up on Natasha Romanoff too?”

  “You mean I’m catching whatever it is the two of you have? Quantum Russian? No.” He shook his head. “The Black Widow? How could I have a connection to her? I couldn’t. She’s a—mystery isn’t even the right word for it. She might as well be from outer space. I don’t understand her at all.” He thought about it. “Except the combat part. That I get. She has some great counterattacks.”