Rapid Love | P. MAXIMOFF

[18] turning tables

Beatrix's head was throbbing as she tried to figure out what was going on. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the lighting.

It was dark and musty, the room clearly being used rarely seeing as the dust had invaded her senses the moment she woke up. She tried to scan the room but to no avail, it hadn't worked. Whatever they had done when they had taken her was still in effect.

"Hello?" she tried, squinting her eyes to see if anyone was hiding. Her night vision would have come in handy right about now. "Okay, you may as well just beat around the bush," she suggested with a huff. "What do you want from me?"

"She's awake," one of them announced and her head shot up. She looked around for where the voice came from but came up empty.

"Prep her," another ordered and Beatrix squirmed. She didn't know what she was being prepped for but certainly it couldn't be good.

Two men grabbed her by her arms and she fought against their grip but failed tremendously. "What are you doing to me?"

"Shut up," one of them replied as they placed her in a chair. They strapped her arms down and she tried to fight. Her powers had somehow been suppressed and anything that would have normally worked on the cyborg end was dormant. They must have wiped her chip.

They moved parts of the machine to either side of her head and her eyes widened as it pressed against her skull. "What are you doing to me?" she demanded.

"Ready?" one of the men asked.

"She's ready," another agreed.

Suddenly, her head was pulsating, filling with a pain she couldn't have even imagined. She would never have wished this in her worst enemy. She squeezed her eyes shut as she screamed despite herself.

Pietro was smiling at her. She remembered this. It was from after the fight with Ultron while they were training at the facility. He had her pinned down on the mat, "You make it too easy, Princessa."

"Do I?" she asked, a smirk making its way onto her face. She teleported a few feet away causing him to fall face first on the ground. She hopped up and walked over to him. She grinned at him, "Wanna go again?"

He turned over with a groan. "No," he answered, shaking his head, "You've bruised both my ego and my spine enough for one day."

She reached her hand down to help him up and he grabbed it only to pull her down on top of him. He smirked slightly before he swiftly flipped them over so he was towering over her. He leaned down to kiss her and-

The pain intensified and it felt as though her brain was turning to mush. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Again," someone ordered and the pain filled her head again as another memory surfaced.

"Beatrix," someone said and she looked up to find Tony approaching her. "How's the room holding up?"

She was startled by how young he appeared. It had been six years ago and that truly wasn't a long time. Then again, he had gone through quite a bit since then.

"It's holding," she muttered in response.

She remembered this now. She had been, for lack of a better word, moody. Her father had been shot a week ago and Tony had taken her to Stark Industries and set her up with a paid internship. He hadn't expected her to jump right in and he was being surprisingly patient with her. If the roles were reversed, she would have lost it on him already.

"I know this situation isn't ideal," he frowned, "But it's better than the alternative."

Her eyes shot open as the pain dulled. She was panting as she looked around the room. Where was she again? Her eyes darted from the man who was a few feet away from her to the outskirts of the room, "Who - who are you?"

"Again."

"Not all of us have super strength," she grunted as she barely blocked another hit. "Or an indestructible shield."

Steve rolled his eyes, "You're literally part robot and have been genetically altered to have actual superpowers." He moved the shield quickly as she had gone to punch him with her cyborg arm. "Sorry."

Tony had developed a technology that helped disguise her cyborg parts to appear normal. It made walking around outside a lot easier. "What's your point, Star-Spangled Banner?"

"My point-" he said as he rolled away from her. She merely teleported to his side. "-is that I'm hardly the one with the advantage."

He made a valid point. On the other hand, the only other times she had ever fought someone outside of training with the Avengers for fun was when one of her missions went wrong.

He stopped his attack on her and lowered his arm that had the shield attached to it, "What's wrong?"

She let out a breath and shook her head. "Nothing," she answered, "Just tired is all. Maybe we should stop."

"Hey," Steve said, following her, "You can talk to me."

"I know," she replied. "I know, I do," she nodded, "But there's nothing to talk about."

"Bea," he tried, "It's not good to keep it all in. You should talk to someone."

"What exactly am I supposed to say?"

"Whatever it is that you're thinking," he suggested.

She raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure that you really want to know what I'm thinking."

"Try me."

"Okay, fine," she huffed, placing her hands on her hips. "You want to know what I'm thinking? What I'm thinking is that if I was still with my father, I'd probably have killed you already. What I'm thinking is that I'm really tired of being used to hurt other people. What I'm thinking is-"

"Then don't," he interrupted.

"Don't think?" she asked in confusion.

"No," he laughed, "Don't hurt other people."

"That seems rather difficult given our field of work."

"Then don't be in our field of work," he suggested. He grabbed her hand and led her to a bench. "You don't have to do this. I'm sure Tony has plenty of non-field work that you can do."

She looked down at her hands, "You think so?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I do."

Before she could talk herself out of it, she threw her hands around his neck, "Thank you."

He placed his hands around her and hugged her back, "Anytime."

Beatrix let out a gasp as the pain subsided. She shook her head quickly. "No more," she pleaded. "Please, no more."

"Again."