To Be an Agent of SHIELD (October 2000)

Fury had held up his end of the deal. Natalya had been removed from the cell and given her own apartment at SHIELD. She was allowed to use the training room and exercise and even go outside in the sunshine, but there were still rules she had to follow. She had to check in with Phil everyday and every other day she was given just enough antibodies to keep the virus at bay. For Natalya, her life at SHIELD was lonely, although she never would have admitted it out loud. None of the other agents trusted her or wanted anything to do with her. If she wasn't training or on a mission, she kept to herself in her apartment. However, agents would come to watch her train. Several had believed they could beat her in hand to hand combat, but she made them regret their over abundance of confidence rather quickly. Natalya didn't trust Fury, Dr. Morrill, or the other agents...except for Phil Coulson. Natalya hadn't been sure she could trust him either, but over time he had managed the impossible...gaining her trust. They didn't talk exactly, but Coulson treated her humanely and with dignity. As a result, Natalya didn't cause him any trouble. 

Natalya had been sent out on a few missions over the last few months and she had not failed at any of them. She proved that she was just as good as they believed and she was able to complete missions in half the time that it would have taken other agents. However, there was one problem that Coulson had started to notice. The anitbodies that he was giving her were proving to be less and less effective over time and this was a major problem.

It was 4 am when Coulson would hear a banging on his apartment door. When he opened the door he would find Natalya barely able to stand and dripping in sweat. She was as pale as a ghost and was having difficulty breathing. He had just given her the antibodies less than 8 hours earlier.

Tony was the only one that was awake and he had gotten an alert from Richard who was working a double shift down in tower security. He liked Richard, he could make more money somewhere else but Tony did things that made working for him more than just a paycheck. Richard told him Phil Coulson was was there with a very sick woman.

"Well, does he know if she's contagious?" Tony asked. "He says she's not sir," Richard said. Tony had stepped out of the lab and paused to think about this. "Whose the woman?" Tony asked finally. "Is that Mr. Stark?" Phil asked and Richard nodded.

"I'll explain everything Mr. Stark," Phil said. Tony just gestured. "Alright, send em up Richard," Tony said.

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The moment he saw her in the elevator Tony lost his cool. "God Damnit Phil, you bring 'HER' here? HER?" He said. Richard held her in his arms and he could feel how warm she was. "She's very sick Mr. Stark," Richard said.

"Mr. Stark I can explain," Phil said. "Well you better!" Tony said obviously irritated. "Just about everyone in this tower would feel better if she were dead," He said. "I'm asking for a favor Tony. She'll die without your help," Phil said. Natalya moaned and shifted but was otherwise out of it. Tony winced. "Fine, you have 5 minutes to explain," he said.

"SHIELD captured her and Fury is using her. He controls her with this," Phil said and handed Tony the hypo. "He introduced a virus into her body and that hypo delivers the antibodies. The problem is her body is metabolizing the antibodies to fast. The hypo is coded. The only way...I think, to save her life is to unlock the code and give her enough to destroy the virus completely," Phil said.

Tony looked at the Hypo and then at Natalya. "And what if it works, what then?" Tony asked. "Mr. Stark...we can think about that after, can't we?" Phil said. "Please...I need your help," Phil said. Tony looked at him then sighed. "FINE! Richard, take her to the infirmary and put her into the biobed," Tony said then moved into his lab.

Natalya had begun to slip into a coma and became non-responsive. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably as her temperature skyrocketed. If something wasn't done, she would be dead within the hour. 

Isabella had been asleep in her and Tony's bedroom when she suddenly was awoken by a commotion happening out in the common area. She got up and put on her robe and then stepped out just in time to see Phil Coulson and Richard heading down to the infirmary with a woman. She didn't get a good look at her, but her scent would have drifted to Logan's nose as he slept. 

Isabella walked to Tony's lab and looked at him. "Tony, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

Tony knew that if this was a SHIELD device there was likely alot of anti tampering security measures. The trick then wasn't to defeat the security but change the programming. To change the dose. Jarvis had already managed to connect to it but the dose logic was encrypted. It would take some time to decrypt. He nearly jumped when he heard Isabella's voice.

"Jesus! You should warn a guy if you're just gunna sneak up on him!" Tony said quickly. He had his micro tool going and he had his special micro goggles on so he could see the micro circuitry. "Mr. Stark, the patient's temperature is at dangerous levels," Jarvis said.

Logan was up in an instant. He didn't even bother to get dressed. He jumped out of his room in his small clothes expecting some kind of attack. He knew that scent. He dreamed about it enough to know it well. "Where is she!" He growled from the hall. Tony and Isabella certainly heard that. Isabella looked at Tony. "I don't have time to discuss this with everyone...a woman is dying right now, in our infirmary," Tony said. "I think I have it sir," Jarvis said. "A few more seconds then I got it," Tony said.

Isabella jumped at Tony's reaction and she could tell from the lines in his forehead that he was working on something difficult and important. She heard Logan out in the hallway and he woke up both Kate and Steve who emerged from their rooms. Isabella knew that there was only one woman who could elicit that kind of reaction from Logan...Natalya Sokolova. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew she needed to calm Logan down.

"Logan, calm down. Take a few deep breaths. She's sick. That's why she's here."

"Who? Whose here?" Steve asked. Kate rubbed her eyes as she came out of her room in her black, silk robe. It left her legs bare though and Steve noticed that right away.

"Sick!? SICKKK!? I'll show her SICK! I can smell her!" Logan growled. Steve just shook his head but he unconsciously checked the back of his head. Nope, nothing 'odd' had happened. He knew if Natalya Sokolova was here that she likely wanted a DNA sample from him. "Isabella? Is she really here?" He asked.

Isabella was used to Logan's angry outbursts and she barely even flinched. She looked at Steve to answer his question. "Yes. I saw Phil and Richard taking her down to the infirmary. Tony said she's dying, but I think there's something more going on here." 

Kate and Isabella both went to go put on some more clothes and then headed down to the infirmary. Kate approached Phil. "What's going on?"

Phil went through the whole spiel once more for Isabella and Kate as they watched Natalya struggle to breathe. Finally Tony had come down but Logan and Steve watched from the stairs. TOny handed the hypo to Phil and Phil didn't waste any time and pressed it up against Natalya's neck.

"Now, we just wait and see," Tony said. "But...we do need to talk Phil," Tony said. "I Know," Phil answered and they all went upstairs save for Richard and oddly enough, Logan, who thought she might be faking.

Isabella handed Phil a coffee and everyone else had already gotten one. It was 2:30am. "Ok, so say this works? I doubt Nick is going to just let her go. He'll just require her and perfect the antibody. He'll put her right back into proverbial slavery," He said. "Does anyone have any ideas? I'm all ears?" Tony said.

Seeing Natalya up close in her current state and hearing Phil's story sickened Isabella. Natalya may have killed people, but that didn't mean she should be experimented on and turned into a slave. The worst part was was that Isabella knew that the SSB had used Natalya in a similar way. SHIELD was now no better than them in her opinion...expect for Coulson. He still had a conscious and she hoped it would always be so.

Isabella sighed as she considered the tight spot they were in. They may have saved her life, but Fury would just come back and take her back. She looked over at Phil. "Is there anything you know that we could use against Fury?" She hated asking him to betray his boss, but he was already doing that in a way.

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Natalya's breathing slowly began to return to normal, but her body remained covered in sweat. Her hair was damp and her skin was pale. She remained unresponsive, but moaned in her unconscious state.

Phil thought about Isabella's question. They did have a conundrum in that Fury would just want her back and modify the antibody. For Phil's sake...for Natalya's, they needed some way out of this perpetual loop. What they would do with Natalya would come after. if they could do anything with her. If Logan didn't just kill her the moment she became conscious.

"Well, He is having an affair with Dr. Christine Morrell. She is the wife of Congressman Donald Morrell. It would be extremely embarrassing if their relationship came to light. I think that might have some legs," Phil said.

Isabella's eyebrows shot up when Phil informed them that Fury was having an affair with a married woman who worked at SHIELD. She glanced over at Tony who clearly thought that might work. "I think that is something we could try. I swear we won't inform him that you were the one who gave us this information."

She was quiet a moment and then looked at Phil again. "So, you've been working with her. I know she's been forced into working for SHIELD, but what has she been like?"

Phil rubbed his cheek and wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. "Well, to be honest she's been...focused. Dedicated to the missions. She keeps to herself. She's obviously unhappy. But she has alot to answer for. She told me about some of her life at the SSB and how they created her.

It was then that Phil related to them how the SSB created her and what they had done to her. Logan sat at the top of the stairs and listened to his tale. What he told them was a story of horror. Rape, Torture and terror to build the emotionless fighting machine that the SSB wanted. Logan knew that Natalya was more than that. There were moments when he knew she really let herself go. She had really hurt him and he doubted he could open himself up to her or anyone again. But what they were doing to her wasn't right, plain and simple.

Isabella had known some about what the SSB had done to Natalya, but Phil revealed so much more and by the end Isabella had tears in her eyes. This woman had been created...forced to become the heartless killing machine that the world knew her as. She had never been given a chance. Isabella didn't know how they were going to do it, but she wanted to give Natalya a second chance. She felt that everyone deserved one. There was an opportunity here for her to change her life and for her to be in control of that change. 

Natalya's life signs stabilized and she was no longer in danger of dying. However, she remained unconscious through the rest of the night. It was about 7 am when she slowly began to stir. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked around to try and figure out where she was. It was when she saw Logan there looking at her that she knew she was in the Tower.

"Yeah, that's right, Once again, you your life has been spared," Logan growled. "I hope you 'try' to get past me," He threatened. ""I think I'd enjoy killing you," He said.

"Don't taunt her Logan, she's sick," Steve said. he felt bad for Natalya. Her story was just horrible though now they had to deal with who the SSB had made. The whole world did and despite that, he wasn't certain she could belong anywhere.

Natalya looked at Logan but didn’t say anything. She felt horribly ill and didn’t want to deal with him just then. She was too weak to even try to escape, not that she had anywhere to go. She belonged nowhere and she knew Fury was just going to get her back and give her the virus again.

“Go away or just go ahead and kill me,” she told Logan and rolled over so her back was to him.

Logan's brow furled and his mouth shifted into a snarl. Steve caught his arm before he pounced on her. "Logan...c'mon," Steve said softly in that way he did that people seemed to hear more than when he talked more loudly. Logan shrugged out of his grasp but did step away and left her alone. They came back upstairs but Logan remained at the top of the stairs. To get out she'd have to go by him. He sat down and Isabella would see that same troubled look she had seen a couple years ago. Logan was conflicted about the woman. He loved and hated her at the same time.

Steve rejoined the others at the table Idly he touched Kate's arm and gave it a little squeeze before he settled into the chair beside her. He took his own coffee cup and hers as well to refill. "I think revealing the affair is below the belt for us but I don't see another way at the moment. And then there is what we're going to do with her? We can't keep her prisoner here indefinitely. And if we abuse her like Nick or the SSB, we'd be no better than they,' Steve said.

Isabella sighed and nodded, but she could tell they were all exhausted and needed to sleep. Phil also needed to get back to SHIELD. "I think these are all very important things to consider, but I don't think we need to decide them right now. Tony hasn't been to bed at all yet and we all could use a little more sleep. Let's discuss this later on today when we've gotten some rest. Jarvis is monitoring Natalya and will alert us if she tries anything. However, I doubt she's strong enough at the moment."

Everyone went their separate ways, but Kate slipped into Steve's room. They hadn't had sex yet, but they would often just lay together so they could be close to one another. She curled up in his arms in his bed and within minutes she was asleep. Isabella had to coax Tony to bed, but he finally fell asleep. She doubted Logan was going to sleep, but she hoped he would at least remain in his room.