Together But Alone

She sat there for hours after it happened. Her wrists tied to the bed post with her own ripped sheets. Her own sheets bloody from the chaffing of her wrists as she pulled and thrashed. But that was during it, she had fought during it, now she just lay there, bleeding and leaking and defeated. The gag in her mouth was drenched in saliva and tears and it was cutting into her lips and pulling at them.

Her tear stained eyes stared at her door where they had been locked during the entire event. She had hoped to see a red and gold suit come through, or a man in a spangley outfit, or the Norse god, or, or her knight in shining armor, even the big green rage monster would have been ok. She would have been ok with any of them coming in and pulling the man off of her.

She thought that her pelvis might be broken, he had been rough and he was the brother of Thor so he had strength. His fingernail marks were embedded into her flesh from where he tried so hard to force her body into submission. Her neck was marked relentlessly from his greedy and disgusting mouth. He had pinned her ankles to the bed after she had managed a good kick on him and sent him flying across the room, why, why hadn't they heard then! Her tears started again but her body didn't shake, she didn't make a move, she just lay there and let the tears fall. She looked at her ankles, he had large knifes keeping them in the bed. Would she be able to walk again? Fight?

"Clinton," it was a hoarse croak around her gag at first. It was just a small noise escaping from a swollen throat. She looked from her ceiling to her window, the bright sun contrasted with her awful mood. She felt broken and used, but suddenly all these new feelings rose inside her chest. It must have been noon, or only a little earlier. Why didn't they come in? Why hadn't they heard her? She was angry at them, she was annoyed and angry. They let this happen to her. They should have heard her, or him, he wasn't that quiet. She nearly vomited remembering the different grunts and disgusting noises that he made while burying himself inside of her.

She felt something bubbling up inside of her, moving from her core to her throat and then her eyes clamped shut and she felt it on the tip of her lips.

"Hey you ok in there," a knock came at the same moment that the scream slipped from her lips. "Woah," Tony jerked the door open, "Oh my God." It was just a whisper and he stared for a long time at her. She locked eyes with him and they just stared at each other.

"Help," she tried to say around the gag.

"Guys!" Tony yelled down the hall rushing in. He ran around the side of the bed and went to her right wrist tie. He was fighting with it trying to get it undone and filing. "Get in here!" he screamed, anger flooding his voice, she flinched at his tone. "Sorry, sorry," he said looking down at her kindly.

"What's going, oh no," Steve said blushing vibrantly and turning in the doorway.

"You summoned," Thor said. "The Lady Natasha!" he said rushing over and examining her ankles and the knifes in them.

"I heard you call, oh my," Banner said walking in and carefully examining the knife Thor wasn't looking at.

"Clint," she mumbled around the gag trying to pull her legs up to cover herself.

"No, no please don't do that," Banner said grabbing her leg to keep her from ripping the skin. "We don't know if it's near a bone or if it can be causing muscle damage. You need to stay still."

"Steve go get Clinton, now!" Tony said to the soldier who refused to look at the naked woman in front of him. He rushed out of the doorway to find the assassin's partner.

Loud footfalls were heard in the hallway and it was only seconds later that Clinton appeared in the doorway. "Ok back off, everyone just back off," he said walking towards her. Tony, Bruce, and Thor all moved away from the bed. "Here, here," Clinton said grabbing a pillow and ripping the case from it, he set it over her and stroked her cheek where her tears had begun anew. "It's ok, you're ok," he said staring into her eyes. She nodded frantically and kept his eye, "ok let's get her unrestrained," he said.

The three returned around her and started at the ties. Bruce was examining the ankle injuries while Thor and Tony worked on untying the wrist restraints.

"Here, here I've got you," Clint reached behind her head and undid the gag. He slowly took it out of her mouth. "Are you ok?" he whispered stroking her hair.

"Ya, I'm ok," she said. "I, I needed you," she said her eyes pooling in tears again. "I needed you and you were gone, you were all gone," she screamed pulling on her wrist restraints again.

"Ok forget this," Tony said pulling his pocketknife from his pocket. "Here," he cut the sheets; it took him several cuts to remove the entire tie. "Your turn," he tossed the knife to Thor and he freed her left hand.

"Tash how could we have known?" Clint said looking at her confused.

"You live here! You are right next-door! Across the hall, you're all here!" she sobbed grabbing the pillowcase to her.

"But Tasha we didn't hear anything, you know we would have come if we had."

"But you are RIGHT NEXT DOOR!" she screamed at him crying.

"I know, I know," he whispered, he climbed onto her bed behind her and pulled her into his arms. "I won't leave you alone to drown in this," he said hugging her around her stomach.

"I, I want to hug you," she sniffed, and cried into her hands. "I need you and my ankles are pinned and I can't hug you!"

"Shush, shush, I'll hug you, ok?" he said hugging her tightly and stroking her hair.

"Ok this is going to hurt but I'm confident that this isn't a serious injury," Banner said. He slowly pulled the knives out and Natasha didn't even flinch.

"Let's get you showered," Clinton lifted her from the bed and carried her into her bathroom. "We'll get through this," he whispered as he ran the hot water.

"I don't know how," she said looking up at him.

He looked down at her, "the same way we do everything, together."

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AN: This may or may not have a sequel, I'll see how the reviews go.