Chapter Text
Life on the raft was hard on Wanda, she was as alone as ever. Maybe even more so than when a small redhead had knocked on her door with some soup in the tower. But reality usually was harsher than a sappy romantic movie.
She didn’t want to close her eyes, every time she did, she saw Natasha, the woman who had promised to help her get out of here. If she opened them, she saw the coldness of the prison she was in.
Her love would come soon, she thought. But every day the hoped fleeted, especially when Thaddeus Ross came in to say that this fortress was impenetrable. But if anyone, could it be her Malysh.
She was across from Clint, who spent most of his time trying to get Wanda to talk. He cared for the brunette and had felt responsible for her. But she hadn’t said anything, all thanks to her collar.
The piece of metal hurt around her throat and gave her shocks if she about as much as moved. It was clear that Ross was scared of her, but to do this was beyond cruel. She had tried to speak with Clint, but it hadn’t worked as that was enough to shock her. Wanda had screamed in agony only making it worse until she passed out. Ever since she came to, she hadn’t used her voice and her movements had been to and from the bathroom.
Still, she waited, slowly losing hope that her love would save her.
---
Natasha was distraught, it had been three weeks since the airport and two days since she had joined Steve and Bucky. She had spent most of her time either curled up on her bed, refusing to sleep or planning a breakout from the raft with the other men.
Tomorrow should have been a wonderful day, it had been a year since her first kiss with Wanda on the beach and they had planned to go back to that beach and redo that moment. Natasha had felt excited for a month, planning that day, but then came Laos and the Accords. She scolded herself for writing her name before discussing it with Wanda. The Accords had made her fear herself again, and at that moment her own fear, self-hatred and guilt had made her sign before thinking. As soon as she signed, she regretted it, especially when her main task had been getting Wanda to stay in the compound.
Everything that happened afterwards had been Natasha’s fault, she felt. The kiss at the compound before Wanda left with Clint, the fight at the airport and everything else. After she had stopped T’Challa, she had gone to the brunette who had been waiting for her arrest. Natasha had kissed her girlfriend and told her that she would get them out of there, but for now, she needed to make sure they have a place. Wanda had told Natasha to go and that she would wait for her return.
And Natasha hadn’t saved her yet, she blamed herself.
‘Nat,’ Steve said gently as he put a sandwich in front of her. ‘Eat something and go to bed.’
‘No.’
‘Nat, I know how hard it is,’ He patted her shoulder. ‘We’ll get her out, we first need to wait for the right moment.’
‘You don’t know how it is!’ Natasha yelled. ‘She’s in there because I failed her. It is my fault. Mine!’ She broke down and cried.
‘I know exactly how it feels when you can’t be with the one you love.’ Steve told her. ‘But there is a difference. Wanda is locked away, mine is dead as I missed 70 years of my life. We are going to get her out of there.’
‘I know,’ She snickered. ‘But I can’t bear the thought of her locked away. Ross hates her, and he’ll hurt her. I want my Wands back.’
‘I know.’ He wrapped Natasha in a hug. ‘We’ll get her soon.’
‘Tomorrow.’ Natasha stated her face growing stern, she stood up and Wanda’s Metallica hoodie she was wearing since the airport became more visible. When Natasha had gone to the compound for the last time, she’d manage to steal a quinjet after loading it with the essentials of her and Wanda’s life. Mainly clothes, pictures together, she had yanked their memory board from the wall, leaving behind an uneven wall and some screws. She had left Tony a note which told him to go fuck himself and leave Wanda and her alone and to send lucky to Laura.
‘We should wait, do more recon.’ Steve said. ‘We are not ready.
‘We’ll do it tomorrow.’ Natasha commanded. ‘I can’t be apart any longer. Not when she’s locked up.’
‘I can do tomorrow,’ Bucky said, having stood in the doorway for a while. ‘They came to my rescue without hesitation, they don’t deserve to be out.’
‘Buck, you’re a liability.’ Steve tried to explain.
‘These are all America Soldiers, no one has the book.’ Bucky explained. ‘After they are free, we
‘What about Lang and Barton?’ Steve asked. ‘They have families.’
‘We’ll try making a deal with the government,’ Natasha explained as she grabbed blueprints from the raft. ‘If they retire, they might be allowed back in the States, but they’ll need to be with us to have any leverage.
‘So, three of us, fifty guards, star-crossed lovers and an impenetrable fortress,’ Bucky summed up. ‘What can possibly go wrong?’
---
The ride in the quinjet wasn’t that long, Steve had chosen the hideout to be as close to the raft as possible. Natasha was nervous, of course, she was. She sat next to Steve as he flew it, watching the rainy, grey clouds as they came closer to the raft, closer to Wanda.
‘It will all be okay, Natasha.’ Steve assured her. Bucky behind them was checking their guns. They were going to fire with rubber bullets and try to remain as stealthy as possible, all of the guards were Americans with nothing done against them, so Steve had told them not to kill or seriously injure anyone. He had done that, not focusing on the ex-Winter Soldier, but on the grieving girlfriend. The redhead had been unable to promise anything.
‘It has to be.’ Natasha stated. ‘I know it will.’
‘What if we don’t get them, do we have a plan of escape?’ Bucky asked.
‘Yes, we regroup at the quinjet, hope that Stark doesn’t come too quickly, and we fly away.’ He explained.
‘I won’t.’ Natasha told him. ‘I’m not leaving without Wanda, at least if they catch me, we can be together. We’ll plan our escape from there.’
‘Nat-.’ He tried to say
‘Don’t, Rogers.’ Natasha told her. ‘If you had to chance to go back and be with Peggy, you’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m not letting go of the best thing that ever happened to me.’
‘I feel like there’s still something you’re not telling me.’ Steve said to her.
‘Why today?’ Bucky asked from behind them. ‘Why the importance of today, is it just an anniversary or is something more happening?’
‘I was planning on proposing to Wanda today,’ Natasha hung her head and got a little box from her jacket pocket and handed it to Steve. ‘I had it custom made, the emeralds match her eyes.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Steve told her. ‘Why is it hanging from a chain?’
‘I’ve been sleeping with it since her absence,’ Natasha shrugged, not wanting her anxiety over not being with Wanda show too much, for it could become a liability. ‘I want to keep it safe.’
‘If you want it safe, give it to Steve,’ Bucky said. ‘He’ll guard these things with his life. Never lost a single item.’
‘Do it,’ Natasha said. ‘Keep it safe for me, you’re chances of getting out are bigger than mine. Give it back when I ask.’
‘I will.’ Steve smiled softly. ‘Thank you for trusting me, Romanov.’
‘What did you plan?’
‘She talked about wanting to propose herself in Venice,’ Natasha explained, choking up a little bit at the happy memory after her nightmare, so many moons ago. ‘So, I wanted to show her that I was ready for the next step, that I wanted it, that I can be romantic too, or I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to show her how much I love her.’
‘Wow.’ Steve said. ‘Of course, you love her.’
‘I know, so I helped fund this Italian place in the city revamped with my, Tony’s, money and it now has waiters in gondolas and a whole water system. They’re doing very well and I’m getting my, Tony’s, investment back from it. It is beautiful and the food is amazing, I was planning on asking her there to marry me, but I missed the primi already.’ She told them between sobs, she hadn’t noticed she started crying she only did when droplets of tears hit her watch.
‘We’ll get your girl,’ Bucky told Natasha. ‘We’re getting them all.’
‘Coming up to the raft.’ Steve announced. ‘Starting stealth mode, turn off all electrical devices.’
---
‘Inmate!’ The short guard yelled for her to get up. ‘Lunch is here!’
Three weeks and a day, 22 days if you were counting, and Wanda was, it had been 22 days since she had been locked up. She had seen many guards pass by but this short, fat guard was her least favourite.
‘I’ll come back in fifteen, you better eat your meal, you ungrateful bitch!’ He said before walking away. She hadn’t eaten properly in weeks, eating mainly out of necessity, but every time she ate something her throat hurt from her power dampener. She enough water just to appease Clint who was in the cell next to her.
‘Please eat something, Wanda,’ Clint said through the bars. ‘This is not worth starving yourself for.’
She glared at him, trying to tell him to bugger off with her eyes.
‘Wanda, please,’ Clint begged. ‘You need your strength for when we get out.’
‘If we get out.’ she thought. Her stomach grumbled but she could still feel the last sting from three days ago when she had tried to talk with Clint. She stood up and fell, her legs too weak to carry her own weight. She started crawling towards
‘Wanda!’ Clint yelled.
‘Barton!’ Officer Fatty yelled. ‘Keep your mouth shut or I’ll shut it.’
‘Can’t you see she’s hurting, you bastard!’ Clint yelled back. ‘Get her help, she’s not a fucking criminal.’
‘Quiet Barton, or do you need another beating?’ He waved his weapon in front of the archer’s face.
‘She is just the same as us, why are you treating her like she’s a nuke?’ Clint asked.
‘You’re going into solitary.’ He told the blonde, then he mouthed into his walkie. ‘I’m going to need three people to take Barton back to his happy place.’
Four men came for him, dragging him out as he looked apologetically at Wanda. Fatty stepped into her cell and walked up to her. ‘Inmate, you have to eat, I will not have you little freak die at my hands.’
Wanda flinched away as the guard came up to her, he stroked his baton as he strode closer towards the weakened woman.
‘Don’t be scared, little child.’ He said in a sickening fake-sweet tone. ‘Do you want to eat something?’
Wanda shook her head, afraid of the man. The guard became angry and ran up to her, he grabbed Wanda by her hair and dragged her towards the metal tray of prison food.
‘You fucking bitch, what did you plan, starving before the government decided that witch trials should be brought back?’ He snarled. ‘I hate your kind, you should all be fucking killed. Murdered one for one, but you don’t deserve starvation, a good hard dagger through your heart should do the trick.’
Wanda started crying, as he dragged her face through the grey blubber that had been her food. ‘Eat, Bitch! Don’t you know how good you have it here? You’re safe and America is safe as well, from you. You will destroy us if you get out, you don’t deserve to get out. Ever!’
‘Stop, please.’ She rasped as she started struggling against her, but a painful shock ran through her neck.
‘For what, little bitch!’ He spat. ‘Who is going to save you, no-one will come, no-one will love you ever. All because you’re a fucking freak. Such a shame, with a face, that pretty you could have made a man very happy.’
‘I don’t want any man,’ She gurgled, before being shocked again. ‘I just want my ‘Talia.’
‘No-one will come for you, maybe for them but not for you, unlovable cunt.’ He told her, the guard threw her against the wall and towered above her. ‘You need to be a better inmate because if you ever need something, a good meal or a proper fuck I’m your guy.’
Wanda shook her head as he started walking towards her again, throwing his weapon against her bed and grabbing her belt. ‘I can give you a little preview and we’ll see about the collar.’
‘Don’t you fucking dare touching my girlfriend.’ A voice came from behind the guard, who turned around only to be hit by a fist against his face. Wanda saw a redheaded figure standing next to the guard she seemed to be encased by light like an angel descended from heaven. Before his limp body hit the floor the figure was already at Wanda’s side.
Soft hands grabbed the collar she had and took them from her long slender neck. Wanda was in shock as she gazed upon her saviour. A white tissue wiped her face clean of food and tears.
‘Milaya,’ Her saviour whispered.