Theresa didn't know exactly for how long she has been sitting here, but she knew it had to be a couple of days, judging on how she was getting more fidgety.

She was sure that she sat in a S.H.I.E.L.D facility, since she had been questioned by Agent Romanoff. What she wasn't sure of, was, if her nephew had been here. If he had seen her.

During the last forty-four years she had only been able to watch him grow up from afar. Never had she been able to properly meet him, never been able to talk to him, nor his father, before it had been too late. 

She wondered if her brother had spoken of her, if he had told stories. She wondered if Anthony himself had done some research, had wanted to know more about his aunt. Or if he knew about her at all.

Well, judging by Romanoff's words of her having leaked all of HYDRA's files to the world, she only guessed that he knew about her from now on, at the latest.

Theresa shot a small smile towards the cell door as it opened and the familiar figure of Bruce Banner stepped into the cell.

"What shall I give you? A blood sample? Two?"

After a short pause she added "Why are you here?"

Banner smiled at her, if to be comforting, she could only guess.

"For two reasons. I'm here to give you a new shot. And to take a blood sample."

Theresa tilted her head "How high?"

"0.5 gram."

The Stark laughed sarcastically, as if this was a joke.

"If you have read my files, I suppose you know that that is far from enough for me. It will dissolve in a matter of hours, give it four or five."

"I can also just leave."

"You and I both know that you are too kindhearted to do that. Look, let us make a deal. I will give you 700 milliliters of my blood, that should be enough at first to play with. In return, you give me a 3 gram dose of morphine. That should hold for at least two days, maybe even three if you are lucky. And in that time, you send someone out to get me the good stuff."

The hesitation on his face was obvious, so Theresa decided to give it a little push into the right direction.

"If you are lucky, I might even talk and give you all the information you need."

Banner studied the woman before him. 

For his scientific researches, 700 milliliters of her blood were a lot and a good donation. He could only dream of what he could do with that much blood at his disposal. And he could try to figure out what exactly made her who she was.

On the other hand, he felt like there was a catch. She wanted something in return, other than the Carfentanyl she constantly asked for.

"Where's the catch?" 

"There is no catch. All you need to do is make sure I get the stuff I need and I will talk for days."

This deal seemed too good to be true, but the scientific side of his heart won.

"Okay. It's a deal."

The Stark grinned at him, feeling relief wash over her, though she didn't want to let that one show. She knew he'd stay true to his words.

"Do you have something for my blood to be contained in?"

Bruce nodded slowly and reached for a syringe, while Theresa began rolling up the sleeve of her shirt on her right arm. While Banner was busy preparing his things, she already grabbed for some of the disinfectant and a pad, to clean the spot he would insert the syringe in.

"You don't need to do that."

She smiled softly at his words. Ever the kind Bruce Banner.

"I know. But I thought I should. The faster we have this over with, the sooner I can relax, before things might go downhill way too fast. Believe me, though I cannot compare myself to you, it is as discomforting for me to use my ability like it is for you to turn into the Hulk."

Banner glanced up at her "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I only use my ability if absolutely necessary or if I get triggered into my ruthless state, though I have been learning to control that part of me."

Bruce shot her a sympathetic glance, before he finally got the syringe ready and began pulling out the first milliliters of blood.

To Theresa, it had somewhat of a calming notion to it. It relaxed her to some extent, knowing, that she had less of herself to go up against others with, as weird as it might sound.

The first syringe was filled quickly and Banner was quick to replace it with a second.

They sat in silence, but Theresa could sense he had a question burning in the back of his mind, ready to be released.

"Whatever you want to ask, go ahead. I don't bite."

His tense shoulders seemed to loosen a little.

"You claim that using your ability is for you like it is for me to turn into the Hulk."

"That is correct."

Banner pulled the second syringe out of her vein, pressing a small pad onto it, as he then went to prepare the morphine.

"Then why do you threaten to wreak havoc and even trigger yourself? Why go over corpses if you don't get out of here soon?"

Theresa recalled her last conversation with Natasha, where she had gone into the offensive and had said something along the lines "If you don't let me out, I will let myself out. And I will go over corpses, if that is what it takes."

"This seems quite a lot like some antithesis, doesn't it? Here I am, giving you my blood, more than needed, while on the other hand I threaten to kill everyone if that means I can leave."

"Well, considering, you did claim that you need Carfentanyl to remain sane longer."

The Stark huffed a laugh at his response. Maybe it might work out after all.

"You know, the last time I was sent out to do anything for HYDRA and was actually able to see a bit of the world, was in Afghanistan back in 1978, during the first Soviet invasion. I was supposed to kill an afghan commander. Do you know what I did?"

Bruce looked up at her. His face told her, that he hadn't read all of her file.

"I killed not only that commander, but his entire troop. Thirty-five men. Imagine the sight, thirty-five men just dropping dead, as if a switch had been turned. Just like that."

Theresa snapped her left fingers, so her right arm wouldn't shake while Bruce inserted the syringe with morphine, to accentuate her point.

"I thought I did good with that. I thought I did good, for HYDRA, for the Soviets, under which I actually served at the time."

"I have a feeling you did the complete opposite."

The Stark let out a bitter laugh at his words.

"Yes. They pulled me off the mission in an instant, shipped me back to Moscow. I spent three weeks in a cell, deprived of everything. Light, sound, morphine. Though my senses heighten the closer I get to my edge, I couldn't get through the walls, couldn't get a hold of anyone. They pushed in a meal a day, always when I was asleep. They would take the tray away when I was asleep. I saw nobody for three weeks.

"Start of the fourth week, the doors opened. My supervisor, Vasily Karpov, stepped into the cell. I was ready to kill him, but he wasn't dumb. Despite my hellish state, where I was ready to kill anything and everyone, he used the Winter Soldier as his shield. Because he knew I couldn't harm him."

The Stark enjoyed the feeling of the morphine invading her systems, another sense of calm.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I had no idea what was good or bad. I killed thirty-five people, thinking I did a good deed, only to be proven wrong. My idea of good and bad was twisted even more through that. I have never gotten to know S.H.I.E.L.D as it was. I don't know who is S.H.I.E.L.D or who is HYDRA, so I don't know who to trust with what.

"But I have people out there who I have to protect and if someone from the wrong side catches me here, sitting around, doing nothing, not even trying to do anything, that safety is gone."

"You could just tell us who it is you need to protect, we can do it for you."

Theresa smiled softly at Bruce and shook her head.

"It's not that simple. I need to get out of here, find a remaining base, mix myself underneath the rats until their era is over, so I can be sure that those who I love are safe."

Bruce nodded slowly, finally done with the process. He began packing up his things, obviously letting all these things said run through his head, trying to build his own opinion.

Theresa watched as he finished stashing away his things into his small bag, getting ready to leave. It seemed like he had nothing left to say. But she had.

"Bruce, before you leave, can I ask you one last thing?"

Bruce looked at the woman and nodded. He'd let her ask and depending on what kind of question it was, he would answer, or not.

"How is Anthony doing?"

The scientist was taken aback a little. The woman had been here for about five days and had not once asked about her only relative left alive.

Bruce knew Tony's struggle. He had often stood in the hallway, ready to enter the cell tract, but he had always hesitated. Whenever Natasha was here to try and question Theresa, he would watch. But until now, he had never made the move on his own, to finally see her.

Banner could tell how much it was bugging Theresa to not know of her nephew and his wellbeing, her facial expression being clear as day to her emotions. So he couldn't hold back this truth.

"He's well. Hesitating to come here, but Tony's doing good. I'm sure you understand his situation."

Theresa nodded and then shot him a soft smile.

"Thank you for this."

Bruce nodded a curt 'You're welcome', before he left her cell to head down to his lab.