Natalia woke up the next day pissed. She had gotten so many flashbacks lately that didn't make sense. She started assuming they were being jogged by triggers, and that parts of Red Room were sending them. She started feeling like they were wanting her to leave, and find them again. The team knew she was the Black Widow as well as the rest of the world. She was a legend. She thought that they thought she had destroyed Red Room, hence the locked file. She had to get out of there soon. But first, she wanted to find James. She needed to know what was going on. From the video feeds that she had seen, he still had the red star on his arm, which meant he was still a part of HYDRA. Red Room and HYDRA did a lot of business together, and they were the ones who sent James to them in the first place to see how the super soldier serum affected them.

"How the hell am I going to find him? From what I can tell, no one has seen him in months. SHIELD won't give us anything. They want the focus closer to home and since James hasn't been a threat lately, the focus has been pulled away from finding him. They know he is HYDRA, and since I'm undercover as well, maybe that is why we were fighting him when he tried to take down SHIELD. I'm still pissed that he shot me though."

She laid in bed and tried thinking some more. She had to get to an actual SHIELD base to start her search. They had files that she couldn't look into from Avengers Tower. She didn't know where any bases were. She did remember Darcy though, talking with Jane about a mobile base with a small team who had gained a lot of attention lately. If Darcy knew about it, maybe she could find it with her help. She felt slightly better, but was still pissed off. Loki was getting on her nerves lately, Bruce just wouldn't die already, Clint was getting too clingy, Steve was, well, Steve, the perfect gentleman, and Tony, he was a jackass. She couldn't wait to get out of there.

After getting a shower, she headed to the training room to blow off some steam. She almost wished the Hulk was there, just to give her a challenge. She missed having living beings to beat up. Robots just weren't satisfying enough. She even wished James was there, even though neither of them ever won, it was still nice to give it everything she had and work out her muscles. Targets went out way too quick on missions to have any fun.

When she got to the training room, she saw how clean it was. All the broken equipment was gone and the floor clear from her blood. Even the wall was fixed where the Hulk had thrown the weights at them. She also saw that she wasn't alone. Steve was there cleaning his shield. It looked like he had just finished a workout since he was all sweaty. His white shirt clung to him and she couldn't help but admire his muscles. He noticed her as soon as she entered and called her over to him.

"Hey Nat, how are you feeling?" He asked her this with sincerity, but it just annoyed her. They all treated her like she was weak. If only they knew what she was capable of. They would treat her with more respect then.

"I'm fine Steve," she replied with a sigh in her voice as she walked over to him. She sat next to him on the bench and dropped her bag to the floor. She started twisting her back muscles to stretch them out before she started her work out. Steve kept cleaning is shield, and she notice how uncomfortable the silence was to him.

"So, Bruce..."

"I don't want to talk about Bruce, Steve. I came here to work out to forget about Bruce, and everything else for that matter. I don't need pity from you, the rest of the team have already piled it on. I don't need to be pitied!"

"Whoa, Natasha I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you. I don't pity you, I just, I'm worried I guess." He looked at her and saw that she was barely even paying attention to him. He saw how her knuckles were gripping the bench. She was frustrated.

"How about a spar then, I'll even go easy on you, after everything you have been through." He offered her a smile, she offered him a glare.

She was pissed off again. What had she JUST said? She didn't need to be pitied. And for him to say he would go easy on her? She wanted to deck him right there. So, she stood up and walked to the middle of the room and turned to him still on the bench, waiting for him to join her.

Steve realized his mistake the moment he said it. He was so stupid. He sat there as she popped up from the bench and stalk over to the center of the room to spar. He would still try and go easy on her though. He didn't know how healed she was.

The two circled each other. Natalia and Steve were the only two souls in that room. Steve was there with a friend, and Natalia was there with an enemy. They both had the super soldier serum in their bodies, but only one had the more diluted version.

Steve heard the air conditioning kick on and was momentarily distracted. Natalia used that to her advantage. Steve hadn't moved, but his mind tuned in to the sound. Natalia had been drilled over and over to ignore things like that. In his distraction, Natalia raced towards him. He tensed his body to brace for the impact, having been distracted, but this was what Natalia wanted. Instead of hitting him, she dropped to the floor on her knees and slid passed his left leg, grabbing it as she went, and smiling in satisfaction as he hit the floor. Thinking that she would stand up to help him up, he didn't prepare himself for the next attack. He was used to sparring with Natasha, not Natalia, and Natalia was the total opposite. After he fell, she jumped onto his back, straddling him while she put him in a headlock. This caught Steve by surprise and he fought against it.

"Okay," he thought. "No going easy."

He got out of the headlock and threw her to the ground by her arm. He wrenched her arm behind her back and placed a foot in the middle of her back while she lay on the floor. He didn't anticipate her strength and was surprised as she twisted her body around, and used his arm to pull herself up, and flip over his head. When she landed, she kicked him in his back and he was left sprawled on the ground.

Something isn't right here. She is never this rough. Have I pissed her off that much? He looked at her, and for the first time, he noticed something was off. Her stance was different, and she had a look in her eyes he hadn't noticed before. He didn't think about it for too long since she was running at him again. He popped up and started blocking punches. She was a lot faster than normal. He could usually block a majority of her punches, but these were coming way too fast. He was getting jabbed all over the place. His body was beginning to feel like jelly. He then dropped to the floor. Then he realized what had just happened.

Natalia was having fun. He was a challenge, but she quickly realized she was stronger and that her serum infused body was much stronger than his. She was going to take him out. She started jabbing at his pressure points. He would soon feel weak and be unable to move for a little bit. She wouldn't kill him then, she wanted to have some fun first. It wasn't every day you got to kill Captain America. He blocked some of her jabs, but she eventually hit them all. She smiled as he hit the floor.

"Tash what the hell! We are just sparring! I'm sorry okay?" He couldn't move. His eyes could only follow her as she circled him once. When she was standing before him again, she slowly withdrew a knife that was tucked into her belt behind her. He then started to get feeling back into his body, and he started to get scared. This wasn't like her. As she stood there waiting for him to get feeling back and get up, his mind wandered back to the small things. He remembered how she waited for another team member to do something before following, like she had forgotten how to do something. He remembered watching with amusement as she looked all over the kitchen for a fork shortly after recovering from the memory trip, even though she had been in that kitchen hundreds of times before. He remembered the confusion on her face when the team told stories of their adventures, like she had no idea what they were talking about. He froze when he remembered her seeing Loki for the first time after walking up and her not reacting. Sure, she had known him in her memory, but she showed none of her hate for him that she had when he tried taking over New York during the Chitauri invasion. This wasn't Natasha.

"Come on Steve, get up all ready, I'm getting bored."

"I'm trying Natalia, you did just hit all my pressure points."

"Yeah, not sorry about that." She smirked when he used her name. He finally figured it out. She was testing the tip of her knife with her finger, smiling when it cut her skin.

Steve was still shocked when she didn't flip out for using her old name. He watched as she licked the blood of her finger and then look him in the eyes. Now afraid, he tried standing and found that he could. He got to his feet, though he was still wobbly.

"Natalia?"

"Yes Steve, now get up."

"But..." Before he could finish, she lunged at him and swiped her knife across his chest. He felt the blood soak into his shirt, turning it into a patriotic red over white. Summoning his strength, he dodged the next swipe, and grabbed onto her arm, twisting her into his embrace with her arm holding the knife outstretched. He squeezed her wrist painfully, causing her to drop the knife.

"You knew Bruce was turning back didn't you. You wanted to kill him didn't you?"

He then pushed her away from him, anticipating her to stumble. She caught herself though and took another knife from her belt and threw it at Steve. The blade implanted itself into his right leg.

"Yeah," was all she answered.

He faked holding onto his wounded leg and instead pulled the blade out and threw it at Natalia. She caught it between her hands and threw it back at him, hitting him this time in his arm.

"Damn, no more knives," he thought. He pulled the blade out again and this time tossed it over his shoulder. He ran at her, this time surprising her and he kicked her in the stomach. She fell to the floor and he then grabbed her arms behind her back to restrain her, face down. She kicked her leg back and caught him on the side of his face. He stumbled to the side and she got up, clearly looking pissed at having been caught off guard.

She watched as he frowned. She decided to kick it up a notch. Using all of her speed, she darted around him and wrenched his arm behind his back this time, and twisted it at a painful angle. She then snaked her leg around his and pulled it back, taking him down. Once on the floor, he rolled on top of her, knocking the breath from her lungs. To get free, she pulled harder on his arm, and heard a satisfying crack. She let go and he rolled off and stood. He popped his shoulder back into place and then ran at her. She just wouldn't stop. They both started throwing punches and kicks as they tried hand to hand combat. Steve took the worst of it, and was quickly tiring. She hit him again, hearing a few ribs crack, and then she jumped to gain height, and brought her arm down onto his back as he was doubled over, making him fall to the ground. She saw her knife and rolled over to it. She grabbed it mid roll and landed in a crouch facing Steve, and a gun pointed at her. Steve was barely standing, but he had a gun in his hand.

"You won't pull the trigger. I've heard stories about you."

She was right, but his hands were shaking so badly that his finger squeezed the trigger. He watched in amazement as she darted around the bullet, grabbed his wrist, twisted herself around, and pull him over her body through the air. He hit the ground on his back and didn't have time to react before she jumped on his and started punching his face. She paused for a moment and then he spoke.

"Come on doll face, do it."

She froze. She pictured the doll she used to have, the one she took from the little girl she killed by accident when she was sent to kill that arms dealer many years ago. Regret crept into her heart, but she squashed it by the fear of what Ivan would do if he learned she failed this mission. She grabbed him by the throat and started to choke the life out of him. Instead of trying to get away, Steve just stared into her eyes. That feeling of regret crept back in and when his eyes closed, she forced herself to stop before it killed him. Too many flashbacks had left her with a strange feeling of care for this man. She just couldn't do it. She checked him and found him to still be breathing, but unconscious. She had to get out of there, but first, she needed to go to the lab to get Darcy. Hopefully she would be there.

Natalia left the beaten Captain America lying bleeding on the training room floor and tried as calmly but quickly as possible make her way to the lab. She was careful not to get any blood on her clothes, so she looked pretty good, just a little sweaty. She got to the lab and walked in, but was dismayed when she saw that Darcy was not there, just Loki in his cell. She turned to leave but Loki called out to her.

Annoyed, she turned and walked to him.

"What, make it quick."

"Well it's nice to see you too Natasha. How is your day going?"

Knowing that this conversation was getting nowhere, she rolled on her heels to walk away.

"Wait. I know you are upset about Bruce." This stopped her in her tracks. Again, she walked over to his cell.

"Natasha, I see how concerned you are. The way you keep asking about him, you are afraid he will not make it. I'm just letting you know I'm here for you."

For the hundredth time that day, she was pissed, again. In her fury, she had another flashback.

Before James had joined the team, and before she had received her serum, she was sparring with another girl. Spars in Red Room were always brutal and there was blood already littering the floor from the fights before. Her opponent slipped in a small puddle of it and cracked her head on the ground. Their fight had been going on for 45 minutes now and they had both been exhausted. The other girl didn't even try to catch herself when she fell, and the impact to her head killed her. Natalia bent over to check on her with concern etched across her face, not knowing that she was dead. She was then yanked back by Ivan, who watched all of her fights. He hit her across the face and yelled at her.

"Never show concern for another human being! You never know when it could be a trick and then BAM! They get you. He threw her to the floor and then getting an idea, he grabbed her and drug her outside. She watched as he commanded his men to construct a circle around her with wood and gasoline. She showed no emotion even though she knew what he was doing. She sat in the middle.

"Never show concern for anyone. It will get you killed. I hope you learn your lesson. He then struck a match and she was surrounded by a ring of fire. She stayed in that ring of fire for 8 days straight with no food, water, or relief from the intense burn and fear."

She came out of the flashback even more pissed off. She didn't notice Clint and Tony enter behind her since she was stuck in her flashback. Facing Loki, with her back to the other two men, she went off on him.

"How dare you. I could care less about Bruce. He got what was coming to him. I'm not afraid of losing him, hell, I TRIED to kill him. I'm never afraid. Fear is for the weak, and I am not weak. I'm as strong as ever!"

Knowing Tony and Clint were there listening, Loki decided to test his theory.

When she was about to turn to leave, not fully facing the boys yet, Loki called out to her.

"Natalia?"

Not caring about her cover since she was leaving anyways, answered him.

"What now Loki?" She saw him smirk, and then heard two voices simultaneously.

"Oh Shit," she heard Tony and Clint exclaim.