✓ Lost at Home ≪Pietro Maximoff≫

Just One Week

Nadia woke up by her shoulder being violently shaken.

"Nadia, are you okay?" A voice asked.

Nadia blinked and started to pry her eyes open. In front of her Pietro was kneeling down and staring at her with worried eyes.

She stared back at him with surprise, lifting herself from where she was slumped against a wall. Moving her hand to support herself, she felt the poke of crumpled paper. She must have fallen asleep crying at some point.

"Nadia...?"

"...Mmm fine."

She lifted the crumpled note and handed it to Pietro.

"When did you wake up?" She asked as he unfurled the note.

"A few hours ago."

"And your head?"

"It feels fine now," he replied, beginning to read the content of the note.

"There's no point in keeping that hidden from me now," she stated bitterly.

He nodded, concentrating deeply on the note.

Nadia waited for him to read it over, watching as his face shifted into confusion. Finally, he looked up to her.

"When did you find this?"

"I was reading that book you took with you, last night. I... I don't know what to think of it. We thought he betrayed us, but then he lied to us to cover up. We trusted him again and we got burned. Why should we believe this?"

"If there's anything to take away from this, it's that he admitted Vitaliya's name. She's the huge lead I was talking about before I-" he stopped, at the look of complete surprise on Nadia's face. "What?"

"Vitaliya Shvedov?"

"Yes."

"She went to my university! I never saw her because she took different classes than me, but I heard about her all the time on campus."

Pietro put his hand on his head, completely astonished. "How did we all end up in this?" He breathed.

"I don't even want to know what would have happened if I hadn't found you on the street. For all the complaining I do, I don't regret bringing you back to our apartment. Even if... Even if Roman betrayed us."

He nodded at her and smiled, then stood up and held out his hand to help her up.

"Thank you, then. I promise you, we're closer than ever to figuring this out. Once we do, you can go back home," he said.

"What about you?"

"Well, Sokovia is my home too. As for the Avengers, I don't know. For now, we have to go show Steve this note, no one else. He should check for a breach in the network."

"Okay," she replied, then noticed she was wearing a white T-shirt and sweats given to her by SHIELD.

"Just give me a moment to get dressed and we'll go."

"Alright."

-

Roman watched the red head with short hair in front of him slowly start to move. Her eyes began to flutter open and he shifted nervously.

Vitaliya had something planned for  Romanoff. And judging from the way Pietro and Wanda had been treated, it wasn't anything nice. Romanoff would most likely be tortured or experimented on - not that she couldn't handle the torture - but the chemicals were something else. He'd seen it cause men to go insane.

The door to the room opened and in walked Vitaliya, her heels echoing off the plain walls.

"Romanoff, how nice of you to join us," Vitaliya said in a sweet fake voice.

Natasha mumbled something about her not being there by choice  in English and Roman nearly smirked at the redhead's sense of humour.

Vitaliya, who was standing in front of Natasha, turned to Roman.

"Since you were wondering about the experiments, how about you do this one yourself," she said, producing a syringe from her pocket and holding it out to him.

Roman took it from her tentatively, realizing that Vitaliya wanted to test him. He knew if he didn't put the needle in Romanoff, he'd lose all the trust he'd built up. All his work would be for nothing, even the betrayal. He desperately hoped that Pietro had found the notes.

He moved closer to Natasha whose eyes were now fully alert and staring at him with a hint of recognition, perhaps... fear? No. Natasha had to have been trained to resist torture at some point in her life. The expression she wore on her face had to be fake.

Roman stepped towards the redhead, willing his hands not to shake. Not only had he never put a needle in someone, this was Natasha Romanoff, the famed assassin. But he had to do it.

"Do it here," Vitaliya pointed to an exposed point under Natasha's forearm.

Roman put the tip of the needle to her arm. Natasha shifted slightly, but otherwise made no response. She would make no suggestion that she was bothered.

"In the vein."

He nodded and started to press the needle down into her skin. Natasha made no protest aside from gritting her teeth. A brave response for someone who had an unknown substance withing their veins.

"Good," Vitaliya smiled, "check in regularly to see if she's still breathing," Vitaliya commanded, then left the room.

"What have I done?" Roman breathed when Vitaliya left the room.

Natasha strained her neck to get a better look at Roman. "What's going on?" she finally asked.

"You're in Sokovia," Roman said bitterly.

He wished Natasha had never gotten mixed up in any of this, hell, he wished that Pietro and Nadia hadn't either. But Vitaliya had to be stopped. No matter what cost.

"Traitor," Natasha spat, looking at Roman with distaste.

Roman looked at her with a blank face, then stepped close to her face.

"I'll help you in any way I can, but these next few days may be uncomfortable. I'm sorry," He said, then left the room hearing Natasha starting to shift in her chair, probably from the pain starting up.

-

"You're not coming with us," Pietro told Nadia for at least the sixth time that hour.

"I have to go! I belong there!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I care about you and your safety, and you should too. You have no formal training with fighting people."

"And you do?" She shot back.

Pietro laughed. "No, but I do have a superpower and I think that's enough."

Nadia frowned. Did they even know where Vitaliya's stronghold was? What if Roman actually sent them the information they needed and he put his life in danger? There was too many questions floating around in her head and she wanted answers to them all.

They had just one week left until the mission to Sokovia started.

-

An: I kinda just realized that there's the names Roman and Romanoff. Oops.

Anyways, thanks for your comments and votes! I'm really excited to write the next few chapters!