Present time

Not too long after the Winter Soldier showed up to help them find Natalia, the team consisting of Steve, Clint, Tony, Thor, and Bucky set out into the freezing snow together to try and find her.

The team had no idea where they were going. All tracks were for sure covered up by now and it was starting to get dark. They were relying on the Winter Soldier and his tracking skills to get them to their destination, wherever that may be. Trying to find Natalia out here was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

They were surrounded by nothing but white. All conversation had ceased, even Steve's constant pleas to get Bucky to talk to him. It was clear he only wanted to find the Black Widow, but the team did not know that he had other plans in mind for her. He was sure that she would kill them the first chance she got. He was just like her, at least back when they trained together. James had never fought another person that could match her stamina and agility. He only hoped the team would come to their senses and help him, he couldn't do this alone.

You see, James did not know Natasha, he only knew Natalia. He just can't seem to understand why Steve and Tony are so hell bent on rescuing her. Anything he may have heard about Natasha Romanoff was not present in his mind; it had been taken from him. The only reason he was there was to protect Steve from getting killed. He owed him this favor and then he would disappear again, his debt repaid. Red Room and HYDRA had stolen his life from him, and he believed that Natalia willingly stayed with them to continue its mission. He had been dragged away and kept on a short leash. There was no forgiving her.

It seemed like hours had passed the team by, but they finally found where they thought Natalia was. Up ahead, they saw a green glow coming from a snowbank beneath a massive waterfall.

"They have got to be in there," Steve said worriedly as he looked to Tony. The hopeful look on his face as well as the groups made him push on.

The only problem was that they couldn't find a way in; the entrance was completely iced over. It only took a few pounds from Thor's hammer though, and they were in. The green glow illuminated the dimly lit space and what they saw before them was terrifying. Loki and Natalia were kneeling in the center of the cave. Loki had his hands over each side of her temples, and whatever energy Loki was using was causing the bright green glow that they had seen. Each of their heads was thrown back with an expression of pain written on them. It was taking everything Loki had to keep his hands still, but Natalia's arms were stretched out from her sides as the strange energy coursed through her body. The blue jewel from her wristband was flickering angrily and causing burns to appear on her wrist.

"Loki!" Thor yelled worriedly to his brother.

Loki's eyes opened and instead of meeting his green gaze, it was replaced with blue.

"The crystal has a hold of him! He cannot let go!" Thor was about to pull his brother away but was stopped by Steve grabbing onto his arm.

Steve didn't know what would happen if Thor touched them, so he stopped him. The team didn't have a chance to figure out a plan before blue lightning exploded from Natalia's wrist with a deafening crack.

The stone had had enough, and finally died. The memories Loki was giving back to her were fighting against the stones energy. It was changing and reshaping her mind, and the stone couldn't fight back. It layed shattered in its metal casing still on Natalia's arm. Natalia was knocked unconscious but Loki remained alert, but obviously tired from the battle he had endured in her mind. Tony, Steve, and Clint, rushed over to the red head and Tony picked her up into his lap, inspecting her for injuries. Thor helped Loki to his feet and gave him a strong pat on the back and offered him one of his big goofy smiles. Loki just looked at him with sadness in his now green eyes and then left the cave without another word. Tony looked up in time to see Loki leave and Thor rush after him. He was then left in the cave with Steve, Clint, and a very angry looking Bucky.

Tony focused back on the woman in his arms. "Her wrist is broken and she has some severe burns, but other than that I think she is okay...physically at least. We still don't know what kind of damage that damn stone may have done to her. Be careful and don't touch the pieces, I don't want to be the cause of another accident."

Clint rolled his eyes at his teammate and kneeled down beside him. "Tony, stop beating yourself up about this. Just focus on helping us gets her home."

Steve was unsure of what to do, but he knelt down as well. The red head had almost killed him not to long ago after all. "Natasha, are you in there? Look, we aren't mad at you, it was Natalia who did all of this, not you. Stay strong and come back to us."

Clint was now at a loss for words, but he helped Tony pick her up. As they turned to leave, Bucky was blocking their exit.

"Bucky, we couldn't have found her without you. Thank you for your help, but I think we have it from here." Those words were hard for him to say, he was basically saying goodbye to his childhood friend, forever. He had been searching for him for months and then he just shows up. There was no way he could convince him to come back with them.

"I'll help you get her to the jet," he offered. Steve was happy at his offer, maybe he would stay with them after all?

"Thanks Bucky," he said as he offered him a smile.

"I'll carry her though," Bucky continued. "The snow is getting deep so it's going be a hard walk."

The now empty expression on Bucky's face unnerved Tony as he held the red head protectively in his arms.

Elated at Bucky's offer to help, Steve nodded approvingly at Tony to hand her over. Reluctantly, Tony did, trusting Steve's judgement.

As soon as Bucky had Natalia in his arms, he lowered her to the ground and then attacked the team. No one saw it coming. He started by punching Tony in the stomach, causing him to fly backwards from the force of the metal arm, and slammed into the wall behind him. The force of the impact knocked him out cold. Steve stayed frozen from shock so Clint drew an arrow and let it fly. Bucky's metal arm deflected the shot and in the same move, grabbed Clint by the throat and raised him into the air only to slam him back into the earth, knocking him out as well. Steve finally came to his senses but the few hits he did manage at his old friend were easily dodged. He felt the metal fist hit him in the back of the neck and before he knew it, he hit the ground with his two fallen teammates, stunned.

"I could have easily killed you all, but I owe you. I will dispose of the infamous Black Widow before she kills you and my debt to you will be repaid. Goodbye Steve."

Those were the last words Steve heard before the darkness took over.

Bucky picked up Natalia again and intended to make it back to the jet the Avengers had flown in on and fly it away from this place. It brought back too many bad feelings being so close to the Red Room. He wanted to make Natalia suffer for all that she had done, and he knew just how to do it. He only hoped there was some strong rope or wire stored on the jet so that he could restrain her in case she woke up on the long journey back.

He made it to the jet with Natalia without running into Thor, but it made him uneasy that he didn't know where the god was. He layed the woman on the floor and hurried over to the controls to start the giant machine up. He got the jet off the ground with no problems and set the autopilot to his specified coordinates.

Searching a few overhead compartments, he found some rope to tie Natalia up with. He looped it over a bar from the roof and then attached it to her tied hands, stringing her unconscious form up against the wall. With her arms now raised above her head, he could see how badly the stone thing had burned her. With the ropes supporting her entire weight, her wrists started to bleed from the thin rope digging into them. Her feet reached the floor, but only barely; she was going to have a long ride ahead of her.

XXXXXX

After a few minutes in the air with Bucky piloting the jet, a bit of turbulence jostled awake a hidden stow away passenger.

Fuck, why did she keep passing out? Oh yea, now she remembered. Opening her eyes, the passenger saw nothing but dimly lit darkness. Slowly raising herself up, she lifted the grate above her and peered out into the dimly lit space of the jet.

"Holy shitballs," she whispered to herself. Seated in the pilot's seat was none other than the Winter Soldier, and to her left, the Black Widow tied from the ceiling and unconscious.

"You really did it this time Darcy, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, idiot."

She let the grate back down to figure out a plan. Darcy had snuck onto the plane shortly before the Avengers boarded it. In her room at the tower, she played it old-school and stuffed pillows under her covers to make Jane think she was sleeping. She boarded the jet without anyone seeing her, except for Loki, and remained hidden in the under compartment of the jet. Loki saw her almost as soon as he apparated aboard, but chose not to give her location away. A few times along the flight, she kept passing out. Apparently it wasn't safe to fly when you had a concussion or two, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was help save her friend, and she couldn't do that from the tower.

She knew she couldn't make the walk out in the snow, so she remained hidden in case they needed backup or something. Darcy ended up passing out again and only woke up just now due to the turbulence.

"Okay, plan. Make a plan Darcy... nope, I got nothing. I'm by myself on this one, where the hell is everyone!"

Footsteps sounded above her so she froze. She had heard stories about Steve's ex best friend, and she knew she would be no match against him. His boots hovered above her head and as long as she didn't make a sound and he didn't look down, she was safe...she hoped.

Darcy watched him go over to Natalia and brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay, maybe he isn't so bad after all."

She then watched as he delivered a sturdy punch to her stomach. "Okay, he's bad, very bad." Natalia was defenseless as she remained unconscious and tied up. Bucky sent a few more punches to her face, stomach, and ribcage before he let out a frustrated scream and sat down next to her.

"Why did you stay with them!" he screamed. He drew out a knife and studied it as he continued his rant. "They came for me in the middle of the night and drugged me. They threw me onto a plane and the next thing I knew I was waking up years in the future." He then accidently nicked his finger with the knife and drew blood. Licking the drop of blood off, he continued his rant. "Oh, but then I learned I wasn't asleep though all of that time. They had control of my mind and made me do so many terrible things."

Darcy watched as he stood up and grabbed a hold of her bloodied face with his metal arm. "You were his favorite; I guess they didn't need me anymore." As he spoke, he drew the knife down her arm. He released her face and then made a similar cut on her other arm.

The pain from the torture must have started to wake Natalia up, as she began to try and move away from whatever was causing her pain. Her eyes remained closed, but she let out a faint cry of pain when Bucky suddenly stabbed the blade into her thigh and left it there.

"Wake up little spider," Bucky called to her. Only then did Natalia wake up enough to try and focus on what was going on.

"That's what he always said to you, Ivan, such a sweet man," he said with disgust as he twisted the knife that was embedded in her thigh. Natalia let out a small scream before she forced her lips shut.

"Oh come on Natalia, were old friends, you can still talk to me," Bucky teased. No matter what he said though, she kept her mouth shut as tears trickled down her face. The Black Widow didn't cry from pain, this was something else, but Bucky was thinking that he had finally broken her and he was taking pleasure in it.

There was absolutely nothing Darcy could do from her hiding spot under the floor. She silently cried along with Natalia as the torture went on. She still didn't know whether that was Natalia, or Natasha but whomever she was, they had a connection. Bucky knew just where to make it hurt where it wouldn't kill her yet. Natalia wouldn't talk, she would only cry out or whimper when the pain became too much.

"What makes you so special? You are just like me, yet Steve trusts you with his life! You are a murderer, brutal in your killings, and he still cares for you. Why?"

It started to make Bucky especially angry at her silence. "Answer me Natalia!" he screamed at her. She just turned her head away, ignoring his question.

Not being able to control his anger any longer, he stabbed the dagger into Natalia's stomach and twisted it as much as he could. Natalia let out a deafening scream and before she went silent and passed out once more, she smiled and said, "My name..." But before she could finish, she broke out into a coughing fit, and then started over, determined to finish. "My name is Natasha, and you just gave me what I wanted; death. Now I can join my daughter."

Blood ran down from the side of her mouth as her head drooped into unconsciousness.

Darcy couldn't believe what she had just heard; daughter? And she wanted to die to join her? It lit a fire within her. Darcy had wanted to die once, and someone had rescued her. Since then, she had so much to live for and was extremely grateful for her second chance. To just hear that it was Natasha again, and that she had wanted to die, she couldn't let that happen. It was her turn to save a life, even if it cost her, her life in return.

She busted the grate open and exploded from the floor with such fierceness, that Bucky froze as he had no idea what was going on. The girl tackled him and sent him to the ground in surprise. She let a few punches fly as she straddled the man and managed to hit the Winter Soldier a few time before he grabbed her hand.

Darcy's gaze never wavered as anger built up in her chest. Bucky narrowed his eyes at the realization that this was a just a puny normal girl and then threw her off of him and into the wall next to Natasha.

The impact hurt, a lot. Darcy cradled her ribs as she expected a few to be cracked and her vision became hazy again. Don't you dare pass out again Darcy, don't you dare! She yelled internally.

She shakily stood up and took up a position in front of Natasha, as if to protect her from any more harm. Bucky slowly walked towards her and she took a step back. She could feel the knife still sticking in Natasha's stomach and she was terrified it would hurt the red head more.

Bucky stopped his advance when he was right in front of the brave girl. There was a fire in her eyes and it amused him. Before he could finish her off, an alarm sounded from the control panel of the plane. The autopilot was being overridden and was changing the jets direction.

As soon as Darcy heard the alarm and watched Bucky's gaze shift away from her, she wrapped a hand around the knife in Natalia's stomach and pulled it out, only to ram it into the side Bucky's neck.

This totally caught the soldier off guard, but he still managed to hit Darcy hard enough that she flew across the jet and hit the pilot's seat. The impact had cut her forehead and knocked the breath out of her. Before Bucky could recover, she knew she had to do something. Through the pain, she crawled into the seat and saw one of her favorite things, a big red button. She buckled herself in and then hit the button. She turned and watched as the back of the jet opened, and sucked Bucky out into the night sky. She turned and hit it again, closing the door and restoring air pressure.

He was gone, she had done it! She sighed in relief and then realized the gravity of the situation; Natasha could be dying. Darcy ripped the seatbelt off and ran to Natasha. She had to get her down, but there was no knife she could use. She then grabbed a handhold on the wall and hoisted herself up, untying Natasha's bleeding wrists. Before the rope let go, she grabbed onto Natasha and helped her frail body to the floor.

"Natasha, don't you dare die on me, you hear me!" she yelled at the woman. Putting her head on Natasha's chest, she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her heart still beating. Looking over her though, she became scared again. She had multiple cuts along her body, as well as several stab wounds and bruising all over. She ripped Natasha's tattered t-shirt open to reveal the stab wound and quickly found deepening bruises all over her chest, stomach, and ribs. The shaky breathing Darcy was hearing was probably due to multiple broken ribs.

Darcy hurriedly put her hands over the stab wound on Natasha's stomach. It was still bleeding at a steady rate and the red head couldn't afford to lose any more blood than she already had in the last hour. Darcy then noticed her thigh wound was still bleeding also so she ripped off her own over shirt and quickly tore it into. She tied it around Natasha's leg and then used the other half to press into her stomach. She was bleeding all over; Bucky was scary skillful with his knife.

Darcy was starting to get even more lightheaded. She was covered in her own blood as well as a mass amount of Natasha's. She tried to chalk it up just to that but she knew she was about to pass out due to her own injuries she had sustained by Natalia's hand, as well as Bucky's.

She couldn't pass out, Natasha needed her, and so she tried to blink the sleepiness away that was overtaking her. Just in case, she placed Natasha's arms on top of her shivering body and then Darcy layed her own body over them. She hoped that would warm the red head up and stop some of the cuts from bleeding as well as keep pressure on the stab wound in case she passed out. Darcy was glad she did, because as soon as she layed over Natasha's body, she slipped into unconsciousness.

XXXXXX

Tony was the first to wake up by Thor's booming voice. "My friends! What has happened?"

"Keep it down Thor, I'm trying to..." Tony then realized that he wasn't just sleeping; he had been knocked out by the Winter Soldier. He jumped as soon as he came to this realization and then helped Thor try and wake Clint and Steve.

Once the team had quickly assessed their injuries, they realized that Bucky had taken Natalia.

"We need to find them! They can't be too far ahead of us!" Steve exclaimed, still in denial about what had just happened.

"I am afraid they are my friends, I have been trying to find Loki for the past twenty minutes, and it took me half an hour getting back. They have to be far away from here by now."

"Damn," Clint said. "What about Loki? Can he find her?"

Thor looked sad. "He has gone away somewhere and I fear he will not return."

"Stop standing around!" Tony yelled from the mouth of the cave. "We need to get back to the ship!"

The immense fear in his voice sparked an adrenaline rush in them and they all ran from the cave and trudged through the snow in the direction of their jet.

"This would be so much easier if I had my suit," Tony exclaimed when they reached the location where they landed the jet. They quickly found it to be gone, knowing Bucky had taken it.

"What the hell do we do now!" he yelled.

"I got it!" Clint said as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

"Fury! Don't hang up, I'm sorry I'm contacting you directly but we need help."

Steve could hear the yelling coming from the other line as Clint hurriedly explained what was going on as Tony tried to pull the phone away from Clint's ear. Thor grabbed ahold of Tony and held him still as he slung curses at Clint. As soon as Clint hung up he gave them all a nod. "Fury is sending help."

Thor then released Tony and Tony took a swing at Clint's face. Clint easily dodged it and sent Tony sprawling to the ground. He got back up and then got in Clint's face.

"What the hell did you do that for Clint?! Now Fury knows that Nat has been compromised!"

"I had to Tony! We had no other choice and seeing as we don't have a jet to go after them, we were screwed!"

Tony was still seething. "Then what about the jets Nat and Bucky took to get here!? We could have taken one of those!"

"And how would we have located them Tony, how! Is it a SHIELD jet? Is it one of your jets? I don't think so. All they do is fly, they don't have the tracking capability like ours."

Tony was starting to see his point and started to calm down, but he was still upset. "How long until extraction buzzardbrain?"

Clint rolled his eyes, "about an hour."

The team had to wait exactly that. As soon as a massive jet landed not too far from them and opened its doors, the team hurried aboard.

They were met with a black haired female agent who urged them to follow. She introduced herself as they made their way to the control room.

"I'm agent Melinda May. Fury contacted us and ordered us to locate you. The control room is right this way and you have access our resources to aid in your mission."

Clint became excited, he knew who she was but he remained composed. "Did Fury explain to you what was going on?"

"No, he said it was classified unless you wished to explain yourselves. Here we are."

She opened a door and they entered a room full of state of the art computer technology, and people.

"Out," agent May ordered the overly curious and excited people when the team entered.

"Wait," Tony said. "They might be able to help."