Written in Blood - Reader x Wanda / Reader x Natasha

Chapter One

"So, we meet again."

Your words echo through the glass chamber that holds you, reinforced a thousand times over into an impenetrable prison. It's the sort of cage one might reserve for some sort of monstrous beast... The sort of cage reserved for someone exactly like you. The woman peering in from the other side tilts her head. She observes you with a familiar intensity, her eyes as keen and sly as you've ever seen them.

"I was hoping you'd be here," you continue.

The beginnings of a smirk tug at her lips in response. "Were you?"

"Of course. We've always had fun, haven't we?"

You think back to every fight. The exhilaration of battle that coursed through your veins as surely as you know it did through hers.

She shrugs casually. "I suppose I enjoyed kicking your ass."

"Hmm. That's not how I remember it." You step closer, standing as near to her as the glass of your prison will allow. "As I seem to recall, I always ended up on top."

An amused raised brow is the only response she gives you, such overt flirtation all part of a familiar dance between you. Even as an enemy, every encounter was laced with innuendo.

Her smirk doesn't waver, even as a new figure enters the room. A man, clad in black and sporting an eyepatch, with an overbearingly serious countenance that somewhat amuses you.

"Enjoying your new accommodations?" His voice is rich and deep, with a tone of authority you're sure few would question.

You glance around at the transparent walls and sturdy metal flooring. The whole chamber seems to be suspended in the air, as if it might drop from the ceiling and plummet into the abyss should you misbehave. "This is nice. Much comfier than my last cell."

"Only five star accommodation for our most wanted fugitive."

"Wanted? Well now I'm feeling all sentimental."

If he's bothered by your flippant demeanor, he doesn't show it. "Then perhaps you're in the mood to share just who it is I'm talking to?"

A heavy question. With a million answers. When someone has lived as long as you have, it's easy to lose all sense of self. It feels like you've been a thousand different people, in as many different places. "A girl lost in time. Adrift in a sea of modernity."

"Cute," he replies, humourlessly.

"On a less philosophical level, I'm a lab rat." You sigh. Even saying the words makes that old bitterness and hatred rise up to the surface. "One Hydra seems rather fond of."

"Is that why they kept you locked up?"

It was true, what you'd said before. The cell Hydra kept you in made your current prison look like a pleasant spa. A dark, windowless dungeon of a room was all you'd had to call home for over half a century. Metal restraints always chafing at your ankles and wrists. The cruel eyes of scientists, always poking and prodding for their 'tests'. There came a point when every mission was a blissful reprieve, no matter how depraved your task.

"Naturally. I wasn't exactly a willing employee."

"I see." Disbelief drips from each word. "I believe you've met Agent Romanoff?"

You smirk, glancing her way once more. "Oh, we're well acquainted."

"She tells me you have certain... abilities. Wanna tell me how Hydra could force someone with your talents to do anything they didn't want to?"

You tap the side of your head.

"They called it a control chip. It keeps me in check, should I decide to misbehave." An understatement, perhaps. Its capabilities expand far beyond even your understanding. All you know is that when someone flips a switch somewhere
else, someone inevitably dies before you. Usually with your hands gripped around their throat, you standing over them as the light slowly fades from their eyes.

You don't get a choice. There's no fighting it. They give you your instructions, and the chip makes sure they are carried out.

Romanoff raises a single brow. "The man you killed when we found you? Was that you misbehaving?"

It's impossible to stop the smile that forms at her words.

"Did I kill him?" You query, all playful faux innocence. Talbott's death is hardly something you would forget; you've been fantasising about it for decades, after all. "Well that's embarrassing. His blood was divine but I only meant to take a sip, I promise."

You grin, letting sharp fangs tease at your bottom lip. The stunned looks you receive in response are almost more satisfying than Talbott's death.

Almost. But not quite.

"What? You've never seen a bloodsucking fiend before?"

Romanoff blinks. "Are those... fangs?"

You laugh. "I'll take that as a no then shall I?"

It's a thrill, to have caught them both so off-guard. Their cool demeanours shattered by surprise.

"There's one thing you should know about my kind: We don't take kindly to being made into anyone's puppet."

The man with the eyepatch shakes his head, recovering a small amount of composure. "Your kind?"

"A vampire. Obviously."

"Right. Of course." He's incredulous. "And let me guess, you'd like us to cut the strings?"

"Help me get this thing out of my brain and I'll help you cut off every damn head that Hydra can grow."

Romanoff shakes her head. "What's to stop you running the second the chip is removed? Or worse."

"They kept me in a cage and leashed me like an animal," you spit out, fists clenched tightly as if you could wring the neck of every Hydra agent right then and there. "You saw that for yourselves. I want them dead. And as the enemy of my enemy..."

The two of them share a glance, contemplating your proposal dubiously.

"If that isn't enough incentive, the second Hydra locate me they'll activate the chip and have me kill everyone I can get my hands on."

"And how exactly would you pose any kind of threat from in there?"

A smug chuckle erupts from your lips. "I was hoping you would ask that."

The two of them watch as your form dissipates into a swirling cloud of smoke, re-materialising outside of the cell with an innocent smile. Teleportation – always a crowd pleaser.

They're both stunned once more. "You could do that the whole time?"

You shrug. "You were doing your whole interrogation thing. It would have been rude to interrupt."