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Alexander looked down, unable to stymie his sorrow and worry any longer. When he lifted his eyes to the video again, they were glassy, sad. "Thank you, Nikolai. I know you will do all you can. But I must allow Federal Security into this investigation, regardless of my opinion on the matter. They will be arriving early tomorrow morning. And will expect full cooperation."

The Tsar took a deep, shaky breath. "In the meanwhile, I will of course keep you informed if I receive any word, any contact. We must have her back, my friend. We simply must." He couldn't swallow a small sob. "--she is...my child." Alexander passed a hand across his face, endeavoring to smooth it to blankness once again. "I have not told her mother. Honestly...I don't know if I can."

Nikolai doesn't like working with anyone but even he has to admit that the FSB has to be involved in this. The Tsar is heartbroken and he wants to ease it. He wants to bring his daughter back to him not only for his sake but for Nikolai's own. If he'd only been paying more attention, she might not have been taken.

"Tell her. You have to tell her. I'll bring her back. This is what I was made for, your Excellency. I was created for this. If I cannot bring her back, I've failed her."

When he disconnects the call, he starts working on finding them. He thinks they would have gone to a close HYDRA base and stayed out of Russia, considering the FSB. There's a base in the Alps, Italian, and he thinks that's where he'll head.

Federal Security arrived earlier than expected, and confined everyone in the Princess's entourage to the compound. Including her personal bodyguard. Chief Officer Leonid Petrov knew Nikolai was furious, but he still had his job to do, and everyone was a suspect, just now.

"...and you noticed nothing out of the ordinary during service or at the cafe, just prior to the incident?" he queried, blowing smoke from his own cigarette as he gazed at the man in the other chair. "No incidentals that might have slipped your mind, or your attention?"

"Are you honestly going to question me? I'm the Winter Soldier," Nikolai spits, looking at Petrov. This is ridiculous. He should be out looking for Natalia and not sitting in a chair staring at a man he could bend in half.

"No, nothing out of order. I was there with the Greek kid's security too. They saw nothing. Nothing happened until after we were already in the car and the glass in the windows is tinted. I couldn't have seen anything if I wanted to. It's the point of that car - people can't see in either."

A knock, then an underling peered around the door frame, face ashen and pale. "Pardon the interruption," he said, "but there's been...a development."

A 'development" in the form of a highly encrypted video transfer, real-time, of Grand Duchess Natalya Alexandrova Romanova strapped to a medical table, head lolling but clearly alive, along with a disembodied voice somewhere off-camera, stating that the video was 'proof of life', and that the princess wouldn't be harmed in any way as long as demands were met.

First and foremost - funds to be transferred to a secure account within twelve hours; second - all research and materials seized from a particular base in Siberia be brought to an as yet unspecified location; and third - the cessation of all efforts to track, find, locate, and or uncover the Grand Duchess's location, as any attempt to 'rescue' the princess would render all agreements null and void, therefore forfeiting Natalia's life entirely.

"You have two hours," the deep voice instructed. "I will call again to hear your answer." Then the connection severed, the screen going black.

Nikolai recognizes the set up of the room. It's similar to the ones they used to put him under while he was still the Winter Soldier and he knows there's only a few places where those bases even existed. He knows there's one in the Alps, which would be closest to Malta, but the demand had asked for materials from the Siberian base.

"They are trying to trick us," he says, looking at Petrov. "There's two bases and she's at one and they want something at the other. I don't think it's likely that they'd have her in Siberia with the paperwork but...they could. They could think we'd think just like this. It's best to go to both bases. You'll need big firepower without me so you go to Siberia since you have to get the materials they want. I'll sneak into the Italian base alone. We'll be in communication, da?"

Naturally, the Tsar had been frantic. Alexander had been ready to board a plane and fly south the instant the communication ended, but wiser heads prevailed and encouraged him to remain at the Winter Palace, while his investigators and finest hands handled everything. Despite having a successful career in espionage and intelligence while his father had ruled, Natlia's father knew his counselors spoke the truth, and reluctantly agreed, but once more begged Nikolai over a private line to find his little girl and bring her home safely.

After the analysts had finished with the transmission, scrubbing everything they could from it, Petrov read over the notes and agreed with Nikolai's reasoning. "Says there that the signal was sent from somewhere in Western Europe, could be Italy, but the boffins couldn't get any closer than that. But if you're certain this is HYDRA, well...let's just say that I hope you're wrong, comrade."

"I am certain it is HYDRA. I recognized who took her," Nikolai says. "And I know how to fight them better than anyone else. I was in their keeping for half a century. The Tsar destroyed the book so I don't think it's the risk it could have been in the past - I don't think they can control me. I still think the bigger group of us should go to Siberia. That base had others like me. I could go to the other base alone."

Nikolai doesn't want to let them slip through his fingers, not when they have his Natalia. He taps out a cigarette and lights it, not caring that Petrov is in front of him.

"I can do this. I swear I can."

The Chief Officer, grudgingly, agreed, but he had to admit that Nikolai was probably right. They'd been blind, to have missed this, but at least the Tsar's daughter was still alive - for now - and hindsight was better than no sight at all. He gave the Winter Soldier leave to go, and gathered the rest of his men to make for Siberia, as soon as possible.

HYDRA's former base in Kreischberg, Austria resembled little more than a ruined shell. The entrance was blocked by fallen columns and ice, but the core generator still worked; emergency lights still gleamed, here and there. The interior was dark, cold, but very little dust had settled, and the patina over the metal surfaces had been disturbed here and there.

One of the chambers deep in the facility still hummed with electrical life, and papers scattered the desk. Used 'instruments' lay on steel trays, copper wire and tubing coiled discarded in a corner. Every now and again, a ghostly moan echoed through the hallways, but it might have also been the wind, signing forlorn at the memories of the horrors practiced here.

This place holds awful memories for Nikolai, twisted memories that are the only ones he ever tries to forget. He starts on a systematic search of the base, gridding it out, and it takes him nearly a day to get to where Natalia is actually being held.

There's a cruel irony that they're holding her in the very place he'd been tortured so often and that her tiny body has undergone things that he'd been able to withstand because of his enhancements and he knows had affected her more. He goes to her side and tenderly touches her face, not wanting to press against any hurts.

"Natalia? Will you wake for me? For Nikolai?"

They'd left her strapped to a familiar medical table, kept alive by intravenous IV's providing hydration as well as a powerful sedative, which kept her on the the cusp of consciousness, and her lashes only fluttered when she dimly heard a voice echoing in the steel room. Her head lolled, tangled curls flattened against her forehead, and when her eyes finally opened, they were dulled, unfocused.

She tried to move, but couldn't; tried to scream, but wasn't able. All she could do was moan in never-ending pain, not even recognizing the achingly familiar face that swam in her hazy vision, the icy chemicals freezing her from the inside out. The temperature in the facility was the same indoors as it was outside, and she'd been stripped of her former clothing; only a paper-thin surgical gown covered her bare skin.

"I'm going to take you with me, all right? I'll keep you warm." Nikolai strips off the heavy sweater he'd worn to infiltrate the base and tenderly tugs it over Natalia, mindful of the IVs and where her skin is torn. He unhooks her (but leaves the ports in for now) and pulls her close to him into his arms where he can keep her warmer still. He has a Humvee not far from this base but there's a matter of getting to it.

"We're going to move, da? Just hold onto me if you can," he murmurs. He's almost afraid to touch her, weak as she is, but the thready pulse at her wrist tells him that he's not too late. He's not too late.

Once he gets her into the Humvee, he lays her gently in the back, making sure she won't pitch and roll as he drives and that she's firmly covered by blankets.

"I've got something better for you," he says, hanging a bag of fluids that'll bring her awake instead of keeping her drugged. "Bumpy ride but you're with me. Nothing will happen with me."

She couldn't stop shivering. And had little to no control over her limbs; once unstrapped from the table, Natalia sagged, and would have collapsed entirely if not for strong arms catching her and holding her close. She dimly felt warmth nearby, and tried to turn to it, curling in as much of a ball as she could, heedless of the pinches in her flesh from the needle ports.

Then she was moving, carried...somewhere, but the stench of the facility was no longer prominent in her nose. A familiar smell soothed her, and she tried to grope for it, but had not the energy to clutch tight. But she did cry out in pain when she was deposited on a different surface, the vehicle's seat nearly as hard as the table. She felt another rush of something in her veins, and it made her moan, weak and shallow.

She felt so tired...; it would be too easy just to slip away and sleep, forever.

Nikolai wants to crawl into the backseat with her but he can't, not until he's in relative safety. There's a room in a hostel he's rented down off the mountain and he manages to sneak her into the backdoor without much incident. He needs her in a hospital, yes, but he wants to stay off the radar until he knows it's safe to be in the open.

Once he has Natalia ensconced in the bed, he strips the sweater from her and strips his own clothes so he can press up against her. He still has her hooked up to saline and electrolytes to try and perk her up but holding her back to front isn't going to pull at anything, he doesn't think.

"I have you, printsessa. I'm going to get you warm, all right?"

Still shivering, Natalia instinctively wrapped her feeble arms around the arm that materialized around her waist, clutching as tight as she possibly could. There was a heavy warmth now at her back, and she burrowed backwards into it, soothed by that achingly familiar scent. The voice, too, was familiar, like a dream she could see but not yet reach.

It hit her half an hour later, when she suddenly gasped a quick breath and blinked her eyes open, seeing not bare steel walls, but faded wallpaper and a closed wooden door. "...Nikolai...?" Yes, had to be. No one else in all the world carried that distinctive scent; pine, snow, cinnamon.

Tears began to fill her eyes, and she sniffled back a choked sob. But tightened her grip on his arm, snug around her, holding her close. "...moya zvezda...Nikki..." Relief so great washed through her, leaving her limp once again. He had come for her. She was finally safe.

"Thank God, I thought I lost you," Nikolai says, holding her as tight as he dares. He doesn't want to hurt her but hearing her say his name and seem lucid makes him happier than anything has ever made him. She's going to make it. She's alive. He kisses the crown of her head and just holds her close for warmth.

"We're in Austria, printsessa, but I have you now. You're safe with me and no one can hurt you. As soon as I'm sure we're safe to be in the open, I'll let you speak to your father and we'll go home, all right? I just need to keep you with me right now until I'm sure we're safe."

Natalia clutched him back in turn, silently sobbing in relief this time, not fear. She was safe. Although her body hurt, and she knew she needed medical attention - she had no idea what they'd done to her while she'd been unconscious - the little princess didn't want to move from this very spot for a thousand and thousand years.

She also knew her parents had to be frantic, but she was with her Nikolai now; it was all over but for the reporting. And apparently he didn't think it was safe to travel just yet, else she knew they'd be heading north. Back home. Back to Russia. Natalia didn't think she'd ever missed St. Petersburg this much in her entire life.

"...I love you," she whispered against the back of his hand, caught up close to her pale cheek. Heavy lashes lowered again over tired eyes. "...I'm so glad that you came for me. Moya zvedza..."

"When have I not come for you, sweet printsessa? Rest for a little while. I'll get you to a doctor when it's safer and then we'll go back to St. Petersburg. You'll be safe and at home again, all right? Nothing to fear."

Nikolai holds her close to keep her warm and to keep her from going into shock and he whispers against her hair. "Rest for me, all right? I'll be taking you home soon and then I won't let you go. You know that. I'll never let you go."

"Da," she whispered, feeling lethargy pull at her yet again, "I want to go home." To the land of her birth, to familiar halls and familiar faces. A safe place, with safe people around her. But the little princess absolutely knew, she knew, that as long as Nikolai held her, she'd never be in danger again. They'd been blindsided once; never more.

"Tomorrow?" It was a small query, almost unheard in the deafening silence. "No matter what, tomorrow, Nikki?"

"Tomorrow. We'll have a doctor on the plane. I just have to make sure you're safe to bring out, all right? That's all. I won't let you be away from me for a moment, though, and nothing is going to happen to you. You're with me no matter what."

Nikolai wants to hug her fiercely but she's so fragile that he doesn't dare to do it. Instead, he kisses along soft skin and tries to reassure her that nothing is going to happen to her. What if it's a lie, though? They'd gotten through this time. He'd failed her. What if he failed her again?

"I won't let anyone into your room. It'll be just me when we get back, just us. You'll be safe."

Curled in the arms of her beloved, Natalia eventually slept. Her sleep was thankfully dreamless, and true, and it was both the gentle knocking on the closed, and barricaded, door and Nikolai's immediate stiffening at her back that woke her. A bolt of instinctive fear ran cold over her and she shied back beneath the layers of blankets, as their room was cool even in early summer.

An aged female voice called out in quavery German; it was the innkeep's housewoman bringing breakfast. The princess could smell delicious gravy and rich yeasty bread even from inside their room, and she didn't protest when she felt Nikolai shift enough to slip out of the bed to verify it.

"...if it is breakfast," she said quietly, hugging his pillow tight to her chest, "I could eat some. I'm absolutely starving."

"It's breakfast. I have to get it and test it first," Nikolai says, pulling on his clothes. No one knows who he is here or that Natalia is here but he doesn't trust anyone. He can't let his guard down for a moment because even if he is the Winter Soldier, they'd neutralized him.

He brings in two trays with fresh bread, gravy, preserves, ham, fruit - a real spread for just a hostel - and sets them out on the small table in their room.

"Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you. There's juice, too, and you need plenty of that."

Natalia gingerly sat up, grimacing as all of her muscles protested, but she managed to scoot up against the head of the old bed and burrow back underneath the covers. "The juice, definitely," she agreed, sniffing eagerly. Her stomach growled in response, but then rolled, reminding her she'd been nearly starved for almost a fortnight.

"...maybe some of the fruit, too? But the bread smells wonderful, maybe I can have a few bites of it, too." She longed to simply dive in and eat her fill, but the princess knew doing so wasn't the wisest course; she'd probably heave it right back up. Disgusting thought, that one.

"Yes, the fruit," Nikolai agrees. "I want you to eat as much as you can because you need it to get healthy but don't do it too quickly. It...can be hard when you haven't had any in a while. I unfortunately know from experience."

He hates that his printsessa has had to learn this but he will help get her back into the real world and help put the nightmares of this firmly in the past. It's part of his mission now, just as much as it's his mission to keep her physically safe.

"But you need the nutrients to get healthy again. We'll be flying home today. I'm contacting the FSB now."

Natalia picked at the tidbits Nikolai brought for her, half-listening as he pulled out his cell and made contact with their external security. The juice tasted heavenly, and she drank it all without hesitation, then nibbled on a bit of the still-warm bread. She also managed a few slices of peach, and two sweet strawberries before curling back beneath the warm covers to rest while she waited for her guardian to rejoin her.

She really wanted a good hot bath, with jasmine oil and soothing cream, but surely that would have to wait until she made it home, and after her medical examination. Maybe they would pronounce her cleared and she could take a sponge bath on the plane. She felt grimy, yucky, and emotionally dirty; everything was just completely out of form.

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