Novi Grad, Sokovia

Spring 2015

Nina was sure something was wrong.

She hadn't heard from the Twins in over a day. Neither had Ultron passed along any messages like he'd been doing since he and the Twins first left on their missions.

The last she'd heard was that Wanda had woken up and was doing much better after being attacked by one of the Avengers. Nina had barely believed it when Ultron had told her the news that the Avengers had ambushed them during their mission to South Africa and that Wanda had been injured.

Despite everything she'd heard from the Twins and Ultron, Nina still hadn't been able to reconcile the idea that the Avengers were as bad as they seemed to think. It had to be a misunderstanding. Even now, she was sure there was more to it—like what had Ultron and the Twins been doing when Wanda was attacked? The robot had been rather evasive on that score.

Nina knew she was sheltered and naïve—these past few days had made that abundantly clear—but she wasn't that naïve...

But with what little she did know about the Avengers—even Stark, who the Twins blamed for their parents' deaths and for the dark turn their lives had taken in the days following, who they hated with a passion—she simply could not wrap her head around the idea that they could be bad guys.

They'd saved the world from aliens!

...Though, hearing about Wanda had admittedly caused her to waver in that conviction even if only slightly.

The Twins had been her rocks, her support, through everything that had happened since she'd been snatched from outside her front door. They'd looked after her, protected her and helped her as best they could after whatever it was Strucker had done to her. They hadn't had to do any of it. They could've just left her behind when the base was attacked, but they didn't. She was like them now...probably...maybe... Nina just wasn't sure. She didn't think she felt any different or Enhanced or anything. She just felt weak and tired and she hated it! But Enhanced or not, in the Twins' minds, that she'd endured what they had meant they had to stick together. To protect one another.

More than that, they'd become her friends.

And she'd never had many of those. Not real ones. It made that friendship all the more precious to her.

Pietro always managed to make her smile between his brash antics and surprisingly genuine moments of sweetness. Wanda made her feel safe, and the brunette was easy to talk to. She somehow never left Nina feeling like she was being stupid or weak or deficient even when she felt very much so. They had both listened to her fears without judgement, really, and neither had downplayed that seriousness of what had happened to her. Neither had brushed off how hard recovery or simply living with what had happened would be with patronizing platitudes that she would've known were false. Save the knowledge that all of Strucker's other test subjects had died during the Baron's experiments—an omission she understood completely in retrospect, given how terrified she's already been when she'd found out what had happened to her—they hadn't kept anything from her. She may not have known them long, but she had come to trust them implicitly.

After all, she was one of them, now.

Ultron, however? It was hard to tell sometimes with his mechanical features and body language, no matter how human he seemed at times, but Nina was certain he wasn't telling her something. Something big.

Something had happened.

Her gut churned unhappily at the idea. Especially when she kept catching him watching her with unreadable looks...it was so much harder to read the static features of his sentries than the far more animated, human-like features of his main body. She'd felt uneasy about the human-like robot right from the beginning—there was something unnatural and extremely unsettling about him that she just couldn't shake—but she'd figured that was the fever's influence. Or the fact that she'd never met a living robot before. The Twins seemed to trust him, though. So she had convinced herself he would just take some getting used to.

But now? The feeling had only gotten worse the more she recovered.

And she couldn't help the feeling that he was looking at her now with traces of suspicion.

Just for what, she couldn't even begin to guess. She'd been here, in the bowels of Strucker's fortress since he'd brought her and the Twins back to the base in the first place. She'd barely even left the little storage room he'd had made up for her to sleep and keep recuperating in.

Up until a few hours ago, she hadn't been capable of doing much else.

What on earth could he be suspecting her of doing?

Regardless, at least she was starting to feel like herself again. Her fever had finally broken and, though she was still feeling drained and exhausted, the aches that had plagued her every move and the wicked, searing headache that had lingered deep in her skull were finally easing. For the first time in ages she felt like she could actually think straight without her mind and her focus wandering aimlessly away from her.

And didn't that leave her mind free to open the door on her latent panic and worry.

Sure, she was finally, truly worrying about the implications of what had been done to her without the haze of pain and fevered disorientation dulling the feelings, and sure she was beginning to worry about just what the Twins had gotten themselves—and by extension, her—into, but what she was really worrying about for the first time since this had all started was her mom.

She had to be an absolute wreck by now. Oh, she'd probably be hiding it well enough. Her mom was incredibly adept at hiding her real feelings from everyone, after all. Nina wasn't too bad at seeing through it for the most part—an added bonus from growing up around the ballet mistress—but even she couldn't manage to read her mom sometimes.

But this?

Nadine Ryker was a woman who didn't settle for sitting back and waiting when something was wrong. She was wickedly clever, resourceful and always seemed to have the perfect answer or the best solution to any problem.

But what could a ballet mistress do in a situation like this? Had it been a normal kidnapping? The police would've been called and there would've been no way her mom would let them so much as take a coffee break until she was found. Hell, Nadine would probably manage to do the police's job for them in her drive to get them to work harder, Nina considered wryly. It was just the kind of woman she was.

But in this world of Enhancements and Enhanced people? Despite that rather problematic complication, Nina had no doubt her mom would be doing anything and everything she could to find her. But she was going to be so far out of her league. Nadine Ryker was a formidable woman, there was no doubt about that, but what could a ballet mistress do in a world of living robots and Avengers?

She had to be looking for someone to help, someone who was a part of this world, Nina decided. It was the only possible course of action she could come up with. As fiercely independent as she was, Nina knew her mom was far too pragmatic to simply blunder headfirst after her. She would know better than to underestimate whom she'd be up against as soon as she realized the men who had taken Nina hadn't been working for 'normal' people. Nadine would've enlisted someone who could help, who would know how to navigate this world of supervillains and superheroes.

Maybe she'd even track down a superhero to help her. Nina nearly smiled at the thought; her mom had always rolled her eyes at the notions of 'superheroes', regardless of her healthy respect for the Avengers and others like them. 'There's nothing super about building a suit or being a fancy science experiment'—her mom had grumbled on more than one occasion when hearing people raving about superheroes—'you don't have to have special powers to do what's right...to complete the mission. It's not the powers that make the hero.'

Perhaps she'd even manage to enlist the Avengers, Nina thought wryly only to scoff with amusement at the thought. As driven as her mom was, Nina didn't think that idea was entirely plausible. How did one even contact the Avengers? Although...part of Nina wouldn't put it past her mom to try...

Well, super or not, Avengers or not, Nina had begun to wish that someone would show up...even if just for the company; she was beginning to think she was losing her mind with nothing to occupy herself with save her worries, her dread and her fears.

It was all decidedly horrible.

As her strength had begun to return and her mind cleared of its fuzziness, Nina had dared to venture out beyond her little room, looking for distraction from the chaos that was quickly threatening to overtake her thoughts. Naturally, one of Ultron's less sophisticated selves had trailed her the entire time. She had convinced herself at the time that he'd been just looking out for her, making sure she didn't overexert herself. As it had generally left her alone to wander the veritable robot factory the base had become, it had been an almost believable idea. He had even answered her questions when she'd had them...for the most part.

But there had still been something...off. Something about his behaviour she hadn't quite been able to pin to friendly concern. Her mom had raised her to use her head, after all, to pay attention to details. She wasn't quite so naïve not to recognize when he'd been evasive or when he'd deflected her questions outright. Or when he'd begun herding her back to the little room, insisting he was concerned that she'd done too much too soon in her recovery process and had worn herself out.

She'd been perfectly fine.

Though he hadn't forbidden her from venturing out into the base again—hadn't said a word about it, really—she nevertheless got the impression that she was not welcome to do so again. And after the mildly threatening undertone to his insistence that she return to her alcove to rest? She hadn't been able to muster the conviction to attempt it. Not still feeling as poorly she did.

It did not help her sense of unease, that was for sure.

So she was left to stew in her feelings of dread and worry, alone, in her little storeroom.

Only for every one of those feelings to intensify painfully when Ultron abruptly appeared to deposit a limp, unconscious woman at the entrance of Nina's makeshift room.

At first Nina thought the woman might be dead, her breath catching in her throat in panic at the very idea. Thankfully, almost immediately she realized the woman was still breathing, her pulse somewhat strong and regular when Nina darted forward to check as soon as Ultron walked away.

It was only once she had reassured herself that her new companion was indeed still alive that Nina took a good look at her.

She was really pretty, a little younger than her mom—though, Nina had never been the best judge about such things considering that her mom's appearance had never really matched her age—with vibrant, fox-red hair. She was on the petite side, probably shorter than Nina, but she looked strong—physically and otherwise—even when unconscious. In that respect, Nina mused, she seemed rather like Nadine; the ballet mistress was deceptively strong and physically fit despite her slender build. This woman was the same with her soft curves and slight frame.

She also looked vaguely familiar, but Nina couldn't quite seem to place how she recognized her.

What really intrigued Nina, though, was what she was wearing. It was some sort of tactical catsuit, virtually black with red accents and glowing blue piping limning her arms, legs and torso. She looked like some sort of super special agent. She even had a thick utility belt, complete with holsters on her hips that were obviously for sidearms, but they were conspicuously empty.

But it wasn't until Nina spotted the unmistakably familiar red hourglass symbol on her belt that the pieces finally clicked together.

This was Black Widow.

This woman was an Avenger.

Nina was crouching next to the Natasha Romanoff, the lone female Avenger.

What was going on?!

Then another thought hit her, distracting the young blonde from the famous hero next to her: Ultron Prime was back, so where were Pietro and Wanda? Her dread and fear deepened, twisting painfully in her stomach. Now she was getting genuinely scared for her friends...and herself, truth be told.

But even as her fear threatened to overwhelm her, she glanced down at the woman next to her, not even realizing she was looking for a distraction. Well, trying to help the unconscious Romanoff as best she could would certainly do the trick.

She considered trying to move the redheaded woman to the cot a couple metres away, but she'd barely gotten Black Widow rolled onto her side before she was reminded that her strength still hadn't entirely returned; she wasn't up to moving the other woman's deadweight just yet, petite frame or not. In a little while, perhaps, but for now she had to leave her where Ultron had set her down.

So instead she tugged the thin blanket from her cot, pillowing it beneath the unconscious woman's head before settling herself on the ground next to the redhead in unintentional vigil. Hugging her knees tight to her chest, she watched over her new companion almost without seeing, struggling to keep her troubled thoughts in check as she waited as patiently as she could for the Avenger to wake up.

Perhaps then she'd get some answers.

Ultron certainly wasn't supplying any, even when she tried talking to him, and just now Nina was far too anxious and intimidated by the robot to marshal her exhaustion-strained boldness to outright demand answers.

So she sat next to Romanoff, the chill from the rough stone floor seeping into her body while Ultron worked at one of his stations not far away, similarly keeping an eye on Black Widow and similarly not saying a word. Around them his sentries continued on with their work, ceaselessly filling the air with the harsh clanks and groans of machinery and the uncomfortable heat and acrid, stinging scents of molten metal and hot polymers.

She didn't know how long she waited, time seeming to freeze and blur as what must have been hours passed.

But eventually Romanoff began to stir.

"I wasn't sure you'd wake up." Nina jerked in surprise as Ultron's voice purred over to them. "I hoped you would, I wanted to show you something." Slowly the redhead pushed herself halfway to a sitting position as Ultron spoke, her attention wholly on him. A part of Nina was tempted to help the still disoriented woman, but another part of her insisted she stay rooted where she was, an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach making her feel like she'd be safer if she didn't draw Ultron's attention, ridiculous as the instinct seemed.

"I could show Nina," Ultron glanced over to Natasha, his gleaming eyes flicking to Nina briefly before falling back down to his task, "but I have a feeling you'll be more...appreciative." In front of her, Romanoff tensed, turning slightly to glance at Nina. There was something in her green eyes that, oddly enough, comforted the young blonde as she met the Avenger's curious gaze; a softness, a glimmer of recognition. Ultron paid the exchange little mind.

As the robot started speaking again, the redhead was turning her attention back to him, her keen eyes quickly growing wary as a frown appeared on her face. Nina's own brow furrowed even as her eyes widened with bewilderment as Ultron began to wax poetic about the beauty of meteors and how beautiful and new and merciful he had planned on being, utterly confusing Nina.

He sounded like he wanted to be a twisted sort of god...

What did any of that have to do with anything?

What was going on?!

But then he paused, fixing Natasha with an intense look that had Nina nearly shrinking back as he paced slowly toward them both.

"Instead they'll look up in horror because of you. You've wounded me. I give you full marks for that." Nina's skin prickled in apprehension even as Black Widow shifted beside her, easing closer, her green eyes narrowed and wary. Ultron looked down at them both, fixing them in his penetrating glowing glare. "But, like the man said, 'What doesn't kill me—'" Nina shrieked at the red-hot hand that shredded through Ultron's head. In a shower of sparks and molten scraps of metal, another burst through his chest, the pair of glowing hands tearing the robot's body apart to reveal a newer, bigger version of him standing behind, "'—just makes me stronger.'" Instantly Black Widow was scrambling back into the room behind them, shoving Nina along with her, just barely avoiding the metal wreckage raining and crashing down around them both, keeping herself between Nina and the crazy robot slowly advancing on them. Nina's heart jumped to her throat in terror.

Only for his claw-like grip to close around the bars of the little room's door, sliding it shut with a harsh clang...not that it was really a room anymore.

Now it was unmistakably a cell.

Next to her, Black Widow's mind was visibly racing, her green eyes sharpening as they took in the situation, their surroundings, the scraps of metal surrounding them.

"Oh, and if you're thinking of trying to escape, I wouldn't," Ultron droned, sounding nearly bored as he turned back to them, gesturing absently around. "There are only two of you and hundreds of me; just ask Nina." He paused again, his head tilting as an expression frightfully similar to amusement appeared on his face. "I'd thought about asking you to tell your 'Ghost' to stop trying to trace me, but you're here now, cut off from your friends, so I won't bother. She'll get the idea when I...reminder her of just who I have here with me." The words sent an inexplicable chill through Nina.

"Don't touch her," the Avenger snapped, her voice low and threatening as her arm lifted slightly as though to bar him from Nina, the gesture startling the young blonde enough that she jumped. Ultron chuckled.

"You think you could stop me? But very well. I want you to see this, so she might as well see it too. But Ryker better be careful. She's trying my patience, and there are only so many of her secrets I can spill to try and...convince her to leave me alone. If she pushes too far?" He glanced pointedly to Nina, his glowing eyes decidedly menacing. Instinctively Nina shrank back, her heart thrumming almost painfully in dread.

"She'll find you before that happens," Black Widow said softly back with a tone that nearly sounded dismissive...nearly. Ultron hummed, shooting the redhead an almost patronizing look.

"You think your so-called 'sister' will manage to find me? Perhaps. But while she may be the best out there at what she does, she's also a mother, Black Widow, and I have her mini-Ghost right here. With you." Nina couldn't help the tremors that were suddenly shivering through her as he walked away. He couldn't possibly be suggesting...

"What did he mean?" she asked, unable to help how small and uncertain her voice sounded. The redhead looked to her with a sympathetic expression in her green eyes before reaching out to pull Nina securely against her side. Despite having never met the woman—Black Widow! The Black Widow—before in her life, Nina burrowed into her embrace, grateful for the comfort as her mind whirred through and against Ultron's implications. She suddenly felt hollow, the implications pressing down on her like a great weight.

"I'm afraid there's a lot you don't know about your mom, sweetie," Black Widow murmured almost dryly as she gently stroked Nina's hair.

As Nina's trembling began to ease, Romanoff gently patted her arm before pulling away, shifting carefully around the cell. Nina watched her, growing more curious despite herself as moments passed.

Anything to keep her mind from dwelling on the distressing threats Ultron had made.

And the even more distressing insinuations.

But for all her attentive, if distracted, curiosity, Nina was lost as to what Romanoff was doing. At least until the Avenger positioned herself next to the now lifeless head from Ultron's previous body, using her foot to surreptitiously nudge it just out of sight from anyone beyond the cell to sit beside the crate where she had deposited a collection of electronic parts. With a subtle gesture she waved Nina over, indicating for her to sit in such a way that it looked like she was leaning against Black Widow while also shielding the older woman's movements.

Not wasting a moment, the redhead was already beginning to pry apart the robot head, scavenging out parts and wires with skilled, efficient focus. Nina watched in fascination.

She was making a transponder of some sort. The Avenger glanced up, catching sight of the young blonde watching her avidly. With a small smirk, she pushed a hunk of robot circuitry into her hands.

"Do you know what a transceiver module looks like?" she murmured almost too quietly for Nina to hear. Mildly surprised by the question, Nina nodded. Black Widow smiled, a faintly impressed gleam in her eye. "Good. There should be one in there and I'm going to need it," she continued under her breath, covertly fishing out a fine, slender tool—which looked rather like a piece from a lock-picking kit—from the lining of her boot and handing it to Nina. With a small grin of thanks, Nina immediately set to work, the tool and her nimble fingers making short work of the bit of robot brain.

They worked in near silence for a time, each focused on their tasks and keeping a sharp ear out in case Ultron approached again to gloat some more.

As she handed the redhead the third component she'd been asked to harvest from the robot wreckage, Natasha eyed Nina for a moment, her gaze considering and thoughtful.

"So you're Nina," she finally said, turning back to the mass of wires and other components that was slowly beginning to resemble a passable transponder unit. Nina hesitated before nodding, admittedly puzzled by the fondness in the woman's voice. But her boldness was beginning to return the longer Ultron kept his distance, and she wasn't able to keep herself from blurting out the first question that popped into her head right then.

"You really know my mom?" Black Widow hesitated, her lips pursing at her apparent internal debate before she finally answered.

"I grew up with your mom, Nina," she said quietly, as a sad, nostalgic sort of almost-smile tugged at her lips. "I've known her since I was a little girl; she was my sister in all but blood, really. Had...had things been different? Growing up you probably would've known me as your Aunt Nat." Nina felt like she'd been kicked in the chest, she was so stunned. Her mom knew Black Widow? More than knew...had considered her a sister?

"What? Why—why didn't she ever say anything," she burst out plaintively, sounding—certainly feeling— nearly hysterical as bewilderment crashed in on her. "The number of times we've talked about the Avengers? About you? You're my favourite!" Her mouth snapped shut, a dull flush rising to her cheeks. The older woman smirked as she gestured for the tool still in Nina's hand.

"Pass me that," she said sedately, tactfully ignoring Nina's awkward slip. Silently, Nina obliged, hugging her legs close to her body as if the move would help ease the growing, tremoring ache in her chest while Black Widow bent back to her work.

After a moment, a small, hiccupping sigh escaped the young blonde, her chin sinking to rest on her knees.

"Why did she never tell me?" she murmured despondently, unable to help the hurt and growing, angry heat pressing against her ribs, the feelings seeming to throb in time with her anxious pulse. It was far, far more than just disappointment at being denied knowledge that her mom knew her hero...it was that her mom had secrets Nina could never have even dreamed of.

That her mom had lied to her!

Black Widow gave her a sympathetic look.

"That's something you need to talk to her about," the redhead hedged gently, before pointedly meeting Nina's eye, "but I will say that everything she's done was done to protect you." Angry as she might suddenly feel at her mom for keeping this from her, it didn't stop the longing to see her again from rising up in her chest. As hurt and betrayed as she felt thanks to what both Ultron and Natasha had said?

She still just wanted her mom.

Nina sank into silence again, covertly dashing away the moisture trying to make its way down her cheeks as she watched the Avenger work, even if she wasn't really seeing it, anymore. Her mind was racing as it played over everything Ultron had said about her mom.

Her mom was looking for her. That one, simple fact did help ease the ache, even if just a little.

More than that, if what both Ultron and Black Widow—no, Natasha...after all she'd apparently almost been her adoptive aunt—if what they had said meant what she thought it did? Her mom was working with the Avengers!

But then the ache in her chest began to intensify again as the next thought emerged: did that mean her mom had been fighting against the Twins too? Nina's stomach churned at the idea...and the feeling only got worse...

If her mom was working with the Avengers...Ultron had called her 'The Ghost'...if she had a code name?

What other sorts of secrets had her mom been keeping from her?

Her stomach cramped uncomfortably. She was very much beginning to feel like she was going to be sick, the taste of bile beginning to coat her throat.

Especially considering the threatening things the robot had said about her mom too. Nina fought back a shudder of dread. Whatever he'd meant, it had sounded far from good.

Then again, most of what he'd said had sounded far from good.

Very far from it.

"What was he talking about, about meteors?" she asked softly, barely even realizing the question had slipped out until she heard her own voice. Natasha glanced up at her with a trace of surprise at the sudden enquiry before offering a shrug.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she murmured distractedly, her focus returning to the connection she was working on hot-wiring.

That did not make Nina feel any better.

She needed to stop thinking about it.

And one way to do that was to focus on helping Natasha get them out of here.

Next to her Natasha was making one final adjustment and check of her handiwork before starting it up.

It began to hum softly, drawing a satisfied glint to the Avenger's eyes. Glancing to Nina, Natasha subtly nodded over her shoulder.

"Keep an eye out?" Nodding silently in understanding, Nina shifted, angling herself so her could see the entrance to the cell as well as what the redhead was doing.

"This is really going to work?" Nina couldn't help but whisper, unable to keep the almost desperate hope from her voice. Natasha spared her a smirk as she began tapping out her message with the makeshift contact plates between her fingers.

"Your mom is one of the best in the world at finding people, sweetie. Between her and my friend Clint? They'll hear it. And they'll figure out where we are," the Avenger said softly. She reached over to brush a reassuring hand against Nina's arm before turning her full focus back to the task at hand, careful to keep her handiwork discreetly out of sight as she did.

And Nina let her, stubbornly holding back the thousand more questions struggling to break free as she hugged her knees tighter. They could wait.

Besides, if this idea of Black Widow's worked?

She could ask her mom her those questions soon enough.

A/N: Thanks for Reading!

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