Down The Rabbit Hole [Open]

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All for naught. Everything she'd done, everything she'd worked towards with S.H.I.E.L.D. was for nothing. She had thought she was 'going straight' believed the lies they were telling; thought she was doing it for the greater good. Only it turns out she simply traded in the KGB for something more sinister.

'HYDRA unt S.H.I.E.L.D. Zhey are two sides of zha same coin ...'

An echo of a memory of Zola's voice rang in her head even as she worked to gather the items needed. She needed to work fast, needed to get the bullet out of her before she passed out and bled out. Already her mind was playing tricks on her, moving her back and forth between past and present. Another trembling roar of the thunder outside bellowed angrily as rain pelted against glass fervently. The very sound and feeling was reminiscent of when the walls started coming down around her and debris rained on metal; pulled in beneath Steve's shield with the entire bunker collapsing upon them, the man had thought to try to save her.

There were many times that Rogers surprised her with his honesty and genuineness. How a man like Steve could survive as long as he did being the way he was just boggled Natasha's mind. But that wasn't the only thing, it was his faith in people and earnest to safe people, even people like her, that confounded the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

'I need you to answer me honestly now.' Natasha remembered saying. 'If it the situation was reversed and it was down to you and me, would you trust me to save your life?' she asked and for the first time in a very long time Natasha had shown a vulnerability to someone as she desperately clung to a notion that she wasn't that far past redemption. Because maybe just maybe, if Captain America believed there was something in her worth saving then maybe there was still hope for her yet.

'I would now.' he had said in that genuine boy scout smile of his. 'And I'm always honest.'

Back to the present and Natasha had to squeeze tight her eyes for a moment then open them wide as she fought off the effects of lost blood. She was losing focus and she couldn't afford to zone out, even if it was to relive an instance in her past.

Blood pooled by the sink, seeped and rolled down her arm staining leather, cloth, and counter top. Natasha ground and pressed her teeth together to prevent from screaming out. She was taught to take in pain without sound without expression; not so much as even flinch and even in this solitude she still couldn't bring herself to cry out. Old 'habits' died hard it seemed; or old conditioning rather.

When she was a child in the war the soldiers would say that there were wolves in the night. Her uncles and brothers in arms raising her in the battlefield because that was their duty and there was nowhere else for her to go. There were stories about wolves and girls in red, all alone in the woods and getting torn apart. She was not going to die. She was not going to get taken in by HYDRA...not going to...

Eyes shut tightly as she tried to dig out the bullet once again as pain shot up through her. It was hard enough she had to dig out the bullet on her own, harder still when your hands were shaky and barely the strength to stand. Then she heard it, keen sense of hearing picked up the entrance of another into the clinic. The foot falls were of a single set, so not military and not law enforcement as both those people would not have just sent one person to investigate. There was a certain way in which one in the military or law enforcement moved that was distinct; based on equipment and tactical knowledge Natasha could tell them with ease. But this, the sound of the person's gait was clearly neither military or law enforcement. . Still maybe it was HYDRA.
Leaving the bloodied gauze and medical supplies on the counter Natasha slunk into the shadows and waited as the footsteps got closer pulling out one of her pistols as she aimed it with a deadly readiness should this person prove to be a threat.

"The hell?" came the young woman's confused question at the area where Natasha had been working.

Leaning quietly against the wall hidden by shadow her weapon pointed at the young woman's head; arm out and at the ready though her arm waveredslightly. Unbeknownst to the former Russian spy the woman before her had a unique sensitivity to metal that would make even her strategic hiding spot moot for the sheer reasoning that the woman could sense the metal her gun and ammo. Still even if she was noticed it would not have changed the fact that Natasha had a gun pointed at the back of the woman's head, her pale face determined and had focused to a dangerous edge.

"I am going to ask this only once and for your sake you had better answer it truthfully." Natasha spoke from behind the woman as her Glock clicked in the readiness position should the woman prove to be a danger. "Why are you here?"

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She had to focus to keep her body still, even as she felt it weakening, she needed to keep that gun up; it was the only thing that gave her the edge...or maybe not.

Natasha watched with a neutral repose to mask her surprise as her gun was rendered useless; the bullet pulled out through the barrel was curiously pressed against the other woman's skull as the green haired stranger turned around to face Natasha. That was definitely not Natasha's doing. The Russian blinked a few times to make sure her injuries weren't causing her to hallucinate. Thankfully they weren't and she still had all her mental faculties. Still, it was a strange gesture, Natasha thought because were the tables reversed and she had those abilities, pulling out the bullet and pointing it at herself would not have been Natasha's play. It seemed to her the other woman was trying to show that she was no threat to Natasha and as the bullet hung in the air, pressed against the green haired woman's forehead she started to explain what brought her to this place; following Natasha's trail of blood. And if some civilian was able to find her then it would only be a matter of time before HYDRA's death squad caught up with her and finished the job. She needed to find Steve and Wilson and figure out a way to stop the mass slaughter.

"I'm a curious creature who likes to investigate where she probably shouldn't. Plus, I'm still a little intoxicated, so my judgment is a bit off. Mostly, I was worried you were a mutant or a hero or a somebody who needed help, and I think I might be right about one of those things."

Natasha had nothing to go by but training and pure gut instinct. She had been taught to read a person's body language as they talked; learned to read the tells and the longer a person spoke the easier it was to find traces of deception. Get a person to talk long enough and as the mind concentrates on forming the words concordance occurs and if a lie is told there would be slight discordance with a person's body. So it is that a lie can be more easily discerned. At least from Natasha's stand point. And strangely there was no hint of a lie in what the other woman had said about finding herself here. Everything fit about her story including being slightly intoxicated. Natasha detected that from the way the woman had walked to the way she stood and even talked. Being a tuned to pick up on the subtleties of a person's body language also meant not just telling whether a person was lying but also their unspoken intentions and even their state of being. Then the woman surprised her again by offering to take the bullet out for her.

"I have a knack for bullets and other assorted metallic items."

For the longest time Natasha had said nothing, she hadn't even moved. She didn't even realize that she hadn't moved until the woman started talking again; in away as if to assuage the situation and get Natasha to lower her weapon which really in retrospect was useless against a woman that seemed to have an ability to manipulate the material.

"My name's Lorna. I don't know who shot you, but I can assure you that I'm not working with them. And if you're a mutant, well, I'm obviously one, too, so you have no worries there."

And while Natasha knew the woman to be telling her the truth she also detected with the woman's body language that she was also holding something back. Still the woman's ability would probably make it easier to get the bullet out successfully and it wasn't like Natasha had many options at the moment. She'd already lost a lot of blood and she knew the signs of her weakening state. Still the gun remained uselessly poised reminding her of the time Banner had had to talk her down and lower her gun. It was the same but different situation.

"I'm not going to hurt you. So, please let me help."

It went against every bit of instinct she had, every bit of Red Room training to allow but the slight tremor in her arm holding the gun and the weakening of her body that Natasha felt. It was moot really. She could deny the help and struggle with the bullet herself, but she already knew it was wedged in deep and she wasn't sure she'd have the strength to be able to get it out and stitch herself back up. At least with this woman if she could do what she said she could and quickly than all Natasha would have to do after the bullet was extracted was stitch herself up which was the easier job so with pragmatic yet begrudging acquiescence Natasha nodded and lowered her gun.

"Ok." she said forcing her body to move back out from the shadows to where her injury could be better seen. Natasha wasn't the most forthcoming with words on the best of days, even less so with strangers. It had a lot to do with her training and that old saying, talk too much and your body relaxes to give away your true intentions. It was one of the reasons she was difficult to read because she never gave much in terms of words or body language so hard to get anything substantial out of her. Mind you at this point the paleness of her features and worn look she couldn't hide, especially with the way she was bleeding out.

As she moved to where Lorna could better discern the location of the bullet within her, Natasha watched the woman work and couldn't help her own curiosity, enough to ask.

"Why are you doing this?" she questioned."You don't even know me."

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Natasha noted the audible sigh from the other woman but made no mention of it; she didn't even react, remaining deathly still instead. Not even her expression registered that she even heard the sound. Her blue green eyes caught the sight of the lidocaine and while Natasha remained stoic a small part of her did relax a bit knowing that she would still have all her mental faculties about her since lidocaine acted more like a local anesthetic. It seemed Lorna did know her way around gunshot wounds making Natasha wonder just what it was Lorna did for a living. She listened silently as the woman talked and spoke about needing help and being in situations where she hadn't gotten any. Then came the inevitable question of her name or in the very least a suggestion of what to call her.

"Natasha." She finally answered after a long and drawn out silence. Even with her injury and Lorna moving to look at the wound Natasha never wavered from her stoic stillness. Natasha could have lied out right about her name and picked a pseudo name, but she didn't see a point in lying and there was no harm in giving her the first name.

Even as the lidocaine was injected Natasha didn't flinch, didn't show a thing even if internally it did bother her. the only time was when her eye lids closed just that fraction of a second longer than normal. Thankfully the conversation of introductions was put on hold a moment as Lorna moved to concentrate on the bullet within Natasha.

The conversation was put on pause as Lorna took a deep breath and closed her eyes looking as though she were focusing on getting the bullet out of her. To Natasha who was left to simply watch the woman stare at her gunshot would it felt like eons before the first of the metal slugs fell into a pan with a defining clinking sound; the second came shortly after. Of course as soon as the bullets were removed she started bleeding again and instinctively Natasha started to move to grab some gauze and bandage herself only Lorna was already on it; placing it over the wound and applying pressure.

"Stay still and I'll stitch you up, too."

Natasha was about to protest but thought the better of it. Lorna seemed to know her way around a gun wound making Natasha curious as to the woman's background. She wasn't military that was for sure but the fact that the gun wound neither phased her and she knew what to do with a gun wound to begin with told Natasha she was not your average civilian.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" Natasha asked. "Most people that see a gun shot wound either look like they want to pass out, call 911 in a frantic way or want to leave the room. So why doesn't this bother you?"

Natasha listed to Lorna's explanation and once the wound was properly closed up and Lorna pressed a new gauze pad over the wound as she held it there to sop of the lingering blood the inevitable question was brought up.

"Who did this to you? Who are you running from?" The question was soft and unobtrusive but for the sake of the woman's life Natasha answered in true enigmatic form.

"People who would just as soon kill you for knowing." Natasha answered softly. It was for the woman's own good. The less she knew the better for her; safer. "They are not the type to keep loose ends...and my...teammates, they're in danger too. I need to contact them, but communications are down...any idea why?"

"I need to get back to DC"

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Lorna mentioned groups that didn't register to Natasha; X-force, Xmen. Natasha simply tucked that bit of information and continued to listen to the woman as she worked on completing her ministrations on Natasha's wound. She talked about nor really having been shot herself which considering the woman's unique ability made sense that metal wouldn't be touching her skin unless she wished it to.

"I, myself, have never been shot, but plenty of my teammates have been. And when you can control metal, you're usually looked to for medical clean up." Lorna shrugged, securing a new piece of guaze to the wounded area, followed by some medical tape to keep it in place.

"Makes sense." Natasha said as Lorna taped up the gauze. "Thanks." she said for the woman's help.

Natasha looked at the work on her shoulder and was quite satisfied with the work done only to look up when the woman talked about the amount of death she'd seen in a short span. It seemed they had something in common then. An understanding look came across Natasha's face, a look she allowed to portray. "I know what you mean."

Lorna seemed to find her vague mention of HYDRA amusing and Natasha didn't blame her. Without reference of who she was referring to it did seem kind of ludicrous for a woman who had the control of anything metal to be afraid of being injured let alone killed, but HYDRA had other technology other methods in their arsenal and Natasha really didn't want to take a risk like that. The woman had seen enough death in her life and Natasha was not about to bring death to her door step.

"They wouldn't be the first to try and I'm sure they won't be the last."[/i] She looked at Natasha, deciding to explain herself further. "The 'Friends of Humanity' are my current fave; they hate anything carrying an X-Gene."

"If it isn't one gene it's another. There are always people looking to 'cleanse' the human race of some thing; gene or otherwise. Humanity doesn't seem to be happy if they aren't trying to eradicate something" Natasha replied rather nonchalantly.

Then Lorna said something that was not only disconcerting but downright alarming. They were trapped?! Even if the news riled the former Russian spy Natasha did nothing but remain that neutral repose, her mind was already trying to piece together the possibilities and likelihood of this and someone by the name of Thanos? Locked them here??? How?!

Looking directly at Natasha, Lorna cleared her throat. "We're stuck in here."

Natasha simply returned Lorna's look with her usual stoic expression even if she asked. "Stuck? So we have no connection to the outside world...Who is this Thanos? And how was he able to do this? Has anyone tried to get out?..." So many questions, "And for how long has this been happening?"

~I cannot be stuck here, I need to get back to the others before HYDRA slaughters them all...~ Natasha thought to herself.

It wasn't panic in her voice it was even and matter of fact but a string of questions none the less meant to piece together the holes and build a plan of action. "Lorna I need to get out of here because I need to stop a potential global catastrophe from happening. If I don't and my team fails, millions will die. I cannot be stuck here. it's not an option." Natasha said determinedly. "Can you tell me anything else about this situation? What have people been doing about this? The authorities? SHIELD? What about your group of people the ...X-force or X-men? Have any of you tried to escape?"

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Natasha watched her blood and tap water mix and roll down Lorna's hand as it swirled down the drain. With her injury stitched up and bandaged she put her leather jacket back on after having wiped down and removed the blood stains. There was a nasty hole, so she'd need another jacket but in the meantime it still served a useful purpose. As their conversation moved from humanity's insane desire to eradicate things to the topic of being trapped Natasha's lips pursed lightly; she didn't take to the idea of being trapped and sadly Lorna didn't know much about what was going on and why as it seemed the woman had just arrived herself and from Virginia of all places and the news of people having tried to escape but not succeeded was not hopeful either but then again Natasha never relied on others to get her out of things. She'd have a look around at this barrier and figure something out. She always managed to find a way in the past, she was not going to let this sideline her, not when there were others counting on her to return.

There was a pause in their conversation and Natasha realized it was probably because she'd gone deathly silent. Her mind was racing trying to piece together a logical explanation of how she got messed up in this, what she needed to do next, and a general course of action. Her mind was racing to formulate plans she hadn't realized the silence that fell between them until Lorna spoke again.

"Natasha, I'm sorry, but I don't think you're going to be able to get back to your team. You're just going to have to believe that they can pull through on their own, because we have our own issues in here."

"I know they can do it without me, but they shouldn't have to and it's a disservice to them if I don't try my best to get back. They wouldn't check out on this and neither will I." she was determined and call her a stubborn Russian for it but she wouldn't stop trying to get back. "I will deal with the issues that come, but I will never stop trying to get out of here."

Really it wasn't just stubbornness, but Natasha just didn't do very well with being trapped.

"I don't have connections to SHIELD - I've never been invited to the party - but there might be other people here who can help you. Some Avengers, I don't know, but there has to be someone." Lorna said and Natasha detected the hint of helplessness the other woman felt, and her being all intense about it didn't help so the Russian switched gears. It was her problem to get back to DC anyways not Lorna's.

"Apologies, I don't do well with being trapped. Didn't mean to get all intense." Natasha smiled hopping off the counter top she'd been sitting on while Lorna stitched her up.

"So you mentioned having our own issues here? What issues are they? What's the state of the city?...ugh sorry, force of habit." Natasha said of her probing questions again. This woman saved her life, and just arrived here a little before her, and performing an inquisition was probably a bit out of line.

"Just be glad I didn't actually say 'Sit Rep' and expect a full report." Natasha joked.

"So...Virginia, binge drinking?" Natasha asked changing the topic out of the probing NYC situation to something more about the woman herself, and going into more loose and casual humour. "Sounds like there's a story there, but if it's too personal you don't need to answer, it's just people drink for one of two reasons to drown in good times or drown out the bad."

She was naturally segueing into a persona of hers that was more casual and talkative shedding herself of the SHIELD operative persona for now. It didn't serve her well to be that way anyways and if anything Natasha was adaptable to the company she kept herself around.

"But hey if it's an interestingly fun story, do share. I need a little light sometimes and living vicariously through other people's celebrations is a nice little reprieve from the heavy." Natasha smiled. "We probably should head out of here before the police nail us for a break and enter though."

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