The Black Widow (August 2000)

Natalya paced back and forth in her cell. Guards were posted to watch her 24/7 to ensure that the infamous "Black Widow" didn't escape. So far, the SSB had not tried to get her back, leading Fury to believe that perhaps Tatiana had given up on her star agent, although he remained ever on his guard. Natalya had been held in this cell ever since her capture several months earlier. Upon her arrival at SHIELD, blood was taken to be studied. Natalya had the bare necessities and she was never let out. She began to feel that she was going crazy. She needed to either find a way to break out or to kill herself. She wasn't going to live out the rest of her life like this. 

Dr. Christine Morrill looked up as Fury entered her lab. She knew what he was going to ask before he even opened his mouth. It was what he came in every week to ask her and every week she had told him it wasn't ready. But today...today she smiled at him. "I've done it. It's ready."

Nick Fury wasn't certain what he was going to do with their newest resident, Natalya Sokolova. AKA 'The Black Widow'. She had worked for the SSB, a secret quasi Russian terrorist agency that had no affiliations but their own. An anti-thesis to SHIELD in just about every way. Natalya was like a ferocious tiger. Now that you captured it. What did you do with it besides show it off to the world? And SHIELD had showed her off to the world. For several days her cell had become reality TV until Phil had them remove the cameras. Everyone waited impatiently for her to do something crazy but she just laid there in her bunk.

Nick had come up with a plan on how to use her but using her was not going to be easy. She had killed several members of shield as well as other law enforcement agents and committed acts of terrorism and murder against the general public. His Idea was two fold. One, he would use her skills for SHIELD, taking on some of the their most dangerous missions. And to incite her cooperation? Introduce into her body a deadly virus. It was a win, win. Either she complied or she let herself die. And the virus would not kill her immediately. It would take her days to die where her body would turn on itself. The affects would be extremely painful and debilitating.

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Nick looked at her. "You've found the virus?" Nick asked her with his one eye large in surprise. "And the antibody?" He asked eagerly.

Dr. Morrill smiled at Fury. She was in her mid-thirties with auburn hair and green eyes. She was extremely attractive, but also extremely intelligent. Fury had snatched her up as soon as she was finished with her Ph.D. There was an unspoken attraction between them and Christine was determined not to fail him. 

"Well, I would have found it sooner if I had newer equipment in here, but yes...I found both the virus and the anitbody. What? Did you think I would fail you?"

Nick grinned at Christine. "I have every confidence in you Doctor. But our 'guest' is becoming more and more difficult to deal with. "She's like a caged animal that's been kept too long," He reminded her. He had said that before...thus, his urgency.

"How soon before we can mass produce it?" Nick asked. "We'll need at least a few months of the antibodies. How many days before she's incapacitated?" Nick asked. They'd have to show her the first 2 stages without the antibodies just to prove that it does what it does. It was a cruel thing that they were doing but the alternative was to just execute her and Nick never threw away a tool unless it was absolutely necessary.

Christine smiled at Fury. It was rare to see him happy or excited about something. It was nice to see, even if it was at the expense of someone else. “I can have it mass produced in a week. It appears that it will be four days before she’s incapacitated. I hope this will be acceptable to you.”

"Four days," Fury said as he thought about that. "I think that should be sufficient. I'll have Phil begin to train her," Fury said. "We still on for tomorrow night?" Fury asked Christine. He had tickets for the 'The Man Who Came To Dinner' On broadway and he had asked her to go with him in passing but wanted a hard confirm for tomorrow night.

Christine smiled at Fury when he asked her about going to The Man Who Came to Dinner. “Of course. I bought a new dress just for the occasion.” She was quiet a moment before looking at him. “Do you think that even with what we’re doing that we’ll be able to trust her?”

Fury chuckled. "Absolutely not," He said. "Trust is earned not assumed," He said. "We're going to want to test the virus as soon as its ready. And we'll need an easy delivery system for the Antibody. Easy and complicated so even if she gets a hold of it she cant use it. Like a code-locked hypo," He said. "Pick ya up at 7?" He asked.

Christine smiled at Fury. “I’ve already thought about that and am designing just such a device. I’ll see you at 7. I think you’ll like my dress.”

Natalya didn’t touch the food that was brought to her today. She was agitated and restless and angry. She heard someone approach and looked over to see Fury. She narrowed her gaze at him. “What the hell do you want?”

Fury had a guard bring a chair over and the man set it down in front of the bars to her cell. He turned it around and leaned on the back of the chair. "Its not what I want, its what I can offer you Miss Sokolova," Fury said plainly. "The way you should see it, the way we see it is that you have 2 choices. You can face execution or you can work for us. You can train, exercise, and go on missions as a SHIELD Operative. Now you might wonder how we'd be able to keep you from going off the reservation. Well...we have something in the works for that. I'm not going to keep you from the firing squad if that's what you want. And I doubt you could ever do enough to offset all the bad shit you've done," He said.

Natalya knew she couldn’t trust Fury, but she had little other choice...other than death. The SSB had used her and now SHIELD was going to use her. Her initial reaction was to just choose execution, but she began to think that perhaps she could still find a way to escape if she could just get out of this cell.

“I get to leave this cell?”

"Yes, you get to the leave the building. Go on missions, eat fast food. Go golfing..whatever floats your boat," Fury said. When she looked at him he shook his head. "Well...maybe not golf," He amended. "You'll go on missions with a team and expected to come back," he said.

The thought of freedom, even limited freedom was too enticing for Natalya. She needed to get out of this cell, even if it meant working for SHIELD. Natalya gave Fury a sly look as she thought about something. “What about sleeping with your agents? Can I do that?”

Fury chuckled. "If you can tie them up and rape them, maybe," Nick said. "I...wouldn't recommend doing that," Nick said. "There are...stipulations with this ofcourse. You will need to live by SHIELDs rules and the law," Nick said. "The benefits are this. We will give you an apartment here, your food and living supplies would be provided. But make no mistake, its still a prison. Your life, from here on out, will not be without supervision," he said. "And its more than you deserve," he said.

Natalya listened to Fury and then crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, you really know what to say to turn a girl on Nick.” She sighed a little and then looked back at him. “Alright, fine. I agree. Not like I have much of a choice.”

"Now that is the first right thing you've said," Nick said. "Your training will start tomorrow," Nick said as he stood up. The guard took the chair and set it back where it had been across the hall. "There are no second chances. This is it for you. Fuck it up and you're done," Nick said plainly then stepped away.

The next morning, before dawn, Natalia was awakened by several people coming down the hall. Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Dr. Morrill and 3 guards in assault armor. Phil approached the bars to her cell.

"Miss Sokolova? It's time," Phil said calmly. He had always been respectful and helpful to Natalya. And the disapproval in his face spoke volumes on what they were going to do to her. They waited for her to get up and approach the bars.

Natalya looked over at the group as they approached her cell. She recognized Fury and Agent Coulson, but she didn’t recognize the woman. However, the woman was dressed in a pristine white lab coat so she figured she was a doctor or scientist. She held a needle in her hand. Natalya suddenly began to feel a little nervous about this, but she remained outwardly strong.

“Fine,” was all she said.

Dr. Morrell waited patiently. "You'll need to extend your arm through the bars Miss Sokolova," Phil said. Natalya was wearing a tank top shit and white linen pants. They were designed so they would not hold up if any real weight was hung from it no matter how she weaved the material. Her shoes were white slippers and she had no socks or undergarments. Phil took a step back and one of the assault team handed his weapon to his partner and came forward.

Natalya hesitated a moment as she eyed everyone. She thought for a brief moment on attacking them through the bars, but she was outnumbered and weaponless. She saw Fury watching her and she slowly walked up and stuck her arm through the bars. A couple of the guards grabbed her arm to hold her still so she couldn’t attack Dr. Morrill. Christine waited until Nick gave her a little nod and then stepped forward and prepped her arm with some alcohol. She uncapped the needle and then stuck it into the fleshy part of her upper arm. She made sure it all went into her body and then removed the needle and applied a bandage.

“So, what did you do to me?” Natalya asked as she looked straight at Fury.

"Introduced a virus," He said and then said no more. As Phil looked at Natalya's face he frowned then shifted toward the bars. "The virus is a very deadly one. You will need an antibody every 3 days or so. You will only be given enough to hold the virus at bay. If you go off the reservation...fail to report after a mission, it will quickly debilitate you until you die. With the antibody, it has no harmful effects," He said. "I've elected to be your handler," Phil said.

Natalya eyed Coulson up and down with a little smirk. “You wish you could handle me.”

Natalya looked at Fury and began to think she had entered into a deal with the devil. “Well, I kept up my end of the deal. When do I get what you promised me?”

"After we find out the Virus works," Nick said. Phil frowned but kept a level face at what Natalya said. She was very beautiful but that beauty was practically grown in a lab. She was a beast in the guise of a princess he decided.

"You're going to have alot of fun in the next 3 days Natalya," Nick said sarcastically. The Doctor and Nick pulled away with the assault team. It was only Phil there.

"Miss Sokolova...I want you to know that I did not approve of them doing this. You could have died with dignity, on your own terms," Phil said then stepped away.

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The first 12 hours she felt nothing out of the ordinary. However in the next 12 she began to feel warm and she had a fever. The next 12 hours and she could not keep anything down, not even water.

The next 6 hours her muscles began to cramp and the next 6 she began to have difficulty breathing. The 6 after that and the cramps turned into excruciating pain. The 6 after that she could barely lift herself out of her bunk.

Christine had prepared the antibody and waited for Fury to come and retrieve her in her lab. She and Nick had had a very good time at the show...and then afterward. Fury kept an apartment in an alias name in the city and that was where Christine had spent the last three days when she wasn't working. While at work they kept a professional manner about them. They had decided that it was best to keep their relationship a secret...for now. They both knew it was difficult to keep secrets in an organization of spies. Even so, it was difficult for her not to smile at him when he walked into her lab. Phil joined them and they all walked down to Natalya's cell. Natalya looked...terrible. She was barely functioning and Christine felt a few pangs of guilt about what they were doing. Since Phil was going to be her handler, Christine had showed him how to operate the code-locked Hypo. Since it was only going to be used on Natalya, it could be reused. With Nick and a few other guards standing by, Natalya's cell door was opened and Phil and Christine stepped in. Christine showed him how to use the needle. Natalya was only semi-conscious.

Christine fingered a spot on her neck and Phil pressed the Hypo spray to it and shot her with the antibodies. "With her heightened metabolism, I'd say without a couple of hours, she'll be back on her feet," Christine said. "And it if doesn't work?" Phil asked. "She'll be dead," Nick said. Phil just looked at him.

An hour passed and Natalya woke. Her fever had broken but she was in a lot of body pain and her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She was hacking up yellow and green globs of muck and she was dry heaving profusely. Phil stood up from his chair. "I guess it works," He said. "I'd like to begin tomorrow morning. If you need to call in sick I would certainly understand," He said. Phil didn't like this. He knew who and what Natalya was but if she ever got out from under this. She would make everyone involved suffer. That and he just didn't have it in him to be cruel. It wasn't his way but he felt that she understood it. "I'm...sorry," He murmured as he stepped away from her cell.