Alright, a few things before I start the story. First, Gokova is an actual place in Russia, but I picked it randomly off a list of names of Russian cities. I have no idea what its like there. In my story, it is a run-down, abandoned town. Second, I don't speak Russian. All Russian parts are translated from Google which I know means its probably not right but oh well. Their translations directly follow. When the Russian guys talk, I purposely messed with the grammar for their accents. Lastly, this first chapter will take place 8 years in the past, but the rest of the story will directly follow the movie. All characters will most likely be involved by the end. Enjoy!
Gukovo, Russia 2004
The warehouse was dark. Only the light from outside that passed through the broken windows gave the area any form of light. There was an upper level walkway, but besides that, the place was completely empty. In other words, a perfect place for an exchange. The five men entered straight through the front doors. The Russian mob was not known for showing any fear and therefore felt no need to take precaution in their entrance. Each man was strapped with a gun. The man in front carried a suitcase, no doubt filled with money for the exchange.
"Так что теперь босс? Она не здесь" So what now boss? She ain't here.
"Мы ждем. Она будет здесь. Хороший бизнес никогда не выходит отменить." We wait. She will be here. Good business never goes undone.
"Wait? She is supposed to wait for us! Not other way around."
"Trust me. We will wait for this woman. She is unlike our other associates. She comes highly recommended and is not to be messed with," the man warned his comrades. "Besides, this package will be well worth the wait. This Black Widow is bringing us a gold mine."
"And if she gets greedy with this gold?" Another man asks in an angry tone.
"We tear pretty little limb from pretty little limb." The boss replies with a laugh. All the men began to laugh when one previously unheard voice stuck out as its sarcastic, loud laugh mocked the others.
"Ahahaha! Ahahaha! Ahaha! Ha!" Clint leaned against the upper railing of the lift turned away from the Russians. His laughing stopped abruptly. "Really? I've wanted to learn Russian for years to find out what the hell it is you all laugh at so much and it's not even funny." The Russian men, who had all drawn their guns, looked to one another with confused expressions. Hawkeye swung himself around and looked down at them. "In the future please continue to joke in Russian. It keeps the fantasy intact," he explained.
"Who are you?" The main Russian asked.
He paused a moment before answering. "I'm the guy you came to talk to."
"I came to talk to woman. Not some coward spy who hides in a nest."
Hawkeye's face made the words seem so harmless and conversational. "What's wrong? I'm not pretty enough? I realize her chest is bigger than mine but I've been told many times my ass is fantastic. Just ask your man that's creeping up behind me." As he said so, a man with his gun held out walked up behind Clint and looked him up and down.
"I pictured her as being less of a man."
"And I pictured some funnier Russians so I guess we're all disappointed."
"You have 5 seconds to tell us who you are and what you want." The main Russian proclaimed.
Clint smiled a mischievous smile. "I'm the man with the bird's eye view. I see everything and everyone. You, him," Clint pointed his thumb to the man behind him without looking, "the men you have waiting outside. Well... had." Clint made a gun gesture with his hand and fake fired it while making a 'bop' sound with his lips. "You know I never realized before but the Russian mob is a bunch of pussies."
"You son of a bit-!" The Russian behind Clint did not have time to finish his sentence before Clint whirled around and landed an elbow to his jaw, causing him to drop his gun. The man retaliated by thrusting a fist at him, but Clint ducked before sending a blow into the man's abdomen. He then stood up and thrust an elbow down into the man's back, dropping him. Three of the Russian men had their guns drawn, but the man with the briefcase held an arm up, signaling for them to wait.
Clint let out a laugh at seeing this. "They know any other tricks?" He looked at the man attempting to slowly get up in front of him. "Roll over" he said flatly before sending a powerful punt to the man's face, flipping him over and knocking him out cold.
The Russian boss did not seem bothered. "Cute display. Now we know you are a professional. You say you are here instead of Black Widow?"
"On behalf of Black Widow."
"Whatever. So you want to do business or not?"
Clint seemed to think about it for a second before responding, "Sure. Since I have what you want you make me an offer."
"The Black Widow agreed to a price of 1,500,000 rubles for the files."
"Okay. Counter offer; you forget the Black Widow and her package, and I let you walk out of here alive and with your money." His face never changed from its stern look.
The Russian men all stared in disbelief at his words. The very angry Russian boss broke the silence. "Is this some kind of joke? You think this is funny? We far outnumber you and we need that file."
Clint began looking around him. "Well damn I think you're right. I'm alone aren't I?" His tone was very sarcastic, as he acted frightened. But then he began tapping a finger on his chin and began to think out loud, "unless... Unless I was really just stalling so my team could get into position to swing in through the windows and make a couple of bloody Russians."
The five men looked between each other in sudden panic. They all looked up to the windows surrounding the area.
Clint continued, "Well if that was the case then I'd expect they'd be here in 5...4...3...2...1...Now!"
Without thinking, all five Russians began firing their weapons wildly at the windows, breaking glass, and screaming at their targets. Only there were no targets. Nobody swung in the windows. Each man stopped after a few moments and once again looked to their also confused comrades. They then turned their attention back to where Clint had stood, only he was now gone. "Find that man!" screamed the Russian boss. Each man took off in different directions, guns at the ready.
They had only taken two steps when something whizzed between them. They turned to see one of their comrades with an arrow sticking out of his chest. There was a flag on the arrow which read "Look up!" The men did as it said and looked up to see Clint on an even higher perch just as he fired an arrow into the face of another of the Russians. The remaining men returned fire, causing Clint to jump to a nearby window and climb out of it and upwards.
"He is headed for the roof!" screamed one of the Russians.
Two of the Russians began climbing ladders to the roof while the boss Russian found a set of stairs headed upwards.
On the roof, the first of the three Russians to climb to the top was just in time to look onto the roof and see Clint send an arrow straight into the air. He turned and called to the others, "He sent up a flare!" Clint quickly turned and sent an arrow into the chest of the man, sending him falling off his ladder and to his death.
Suddenly the boss Russian slammed through the roof door, tackling Clint. Both men got to their feet quickly. The Russian attempted to point his gun at Clint, but Clint grabbed his arm and twisted it before bringing an elbow down on it and then sending a hard kick to the Russian's stomach, which knocked him to the ground. The Russian looked up as Clint pulled out and mounted his arrow, but before he could strike there was a clicking sound, indicating a gun had been cocked, behind Clint. The last Russian henchman kept his gun readily fixed on Clint.
Clint slowly lowered his bow. The boss Russian, although clearly in pain as he stood, laughed at the site of the defeated archer. "Well now look who has the upper hand. Huh?" he mocked. "I'll give you one last chance to give me what I came here for," the Russian warned.
"Somehow I think you'll still kill me if I give you the file," Clint answered in a flatly.
"Well then, any last words?" Asked the Russian boss.
Clint smiled. "Yeah. That wasn't a flare." Just as he said the words the Russian who stood behind him looked up just in time for the arrow to drop directly into his forehead.
Before the Russian's dead body could hit the ground Clint loaded an arrow into his bow and fired it directly into the leg of the remaining Russian.
As the man dropped in agonizing pain Clint walked up to him and squatted so the Russian could hear his voice. "Listen to me." The Russian stared directly at Clint. "See that arrow in your leg there? That's not a normal arrow. It has an explosive device built into the arrowhead. Now if I push this red button here on my handle your leg will explode and you will die."
The Russian's face was full of nothing but dread. "Why are you not killing me?"
"Because you're going to deliver a message to your superiors for me. The files are gone. You will never re-attempt to acquire these files or my superiors will send one hundred men like me to destroy your whole organization."
"Who are you?" the scared Russian inquired.
Clint smirked and answered, "The man that took out all your backup before you walked the ten steps to the warehouse. The man who just made your men look like complete morons just in time for them to die painful deaths." He stood and took a few steps away from the man before halting. "And the man who killed the Black Widow." Clint spun around and delivered a near knockout blow by kicking the man in the face. He grabbed the dazed man and pulled him close to his face. "Did you hear me? I... Killed... the Black Widow." Clint threw the man back on the ground before walking through the door of the roof to return downstairs.
The van was parked in a garage relatively near the warehouse. Clint opened the back door and looked inside to the figure sitting in the back. The figure was cuffed behind their back and had a bag over their head. Clint pulled the bag off the figure's head to reveal the face of Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow.
His tone was casual. "Okay. We're done here. Time to head back to the states."
"Was all this necessary? You couldn't just let me help you kill them?" she seemed agitated.
He looked at her with the same unreadable face she shot back. "The point wasn't to kill them. The point was to make sure they knew you were dead and that this file here, "he said gesturing to a file lying beside Natasha," is gone forever. Now let's go," he said as he walked up to the front of the car without closing the back doors.
"Uh? Agent Barton? What are you doing? You left the doors open."
"That's because you're riding up here with me," he said getting into the driver's seat.
It took her a moment to respond. "Fantastic but you still need to uncuff me."
"You were out of your handcuffs before I left you here." he called dryly.
She pulled her hands from behind her back since he knew she was faking being cuffed before she got out of the back of the van, closed the doors, and walked up along the other side of the van. She peered through the outside of the passenger's side window and looked at him with in a confused manner. "You left me here with the file even though you knew I wasn't cuffed to the van?"
"Call it a test. I wanted to see if you'd run. Don't worry. I'd catch you again," he said with a slight smirk.
Although it seemed as though she wanted to smile, she never did. "So now I get to ride in the front because I didn't run."
"That and I get lonely. What's the harm? You're not running and you're not gonna try to kill me."
"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"
All the questions were agitating him. "Because if you weren't cuffed here then there is no way you didn't sneak over to see the show. You could've brought the file and killed me there to get your money. You want this. Whether or not you admit it you want this second chance and I'm the man who's giving it to you instead of an arrow through the heart."
After a few moments she opened the passenger side door and got in the van. He looked at her and held out the file and a lighter. "Before we go, final exam. You do this and you can leave this life behind forever."
She looked at the file for a few seconds before taking the lighter and setting fire to the papers. They waited for every page to burn before Clint gave her a slight nod of approval and started the van. Both stared directly ahead as the van drove off.
"So what's next Agent Barton?" she inquired.
"First things first. When it's just the two of us, you call me Clint."
She turned her head slightly and stared at him for a few moments before returning her gaze to the road ahead of them. While she may have not smiled at the unexpected gesture, her expression could help but show the satisfaction it had given her.
Hope you enjoyed Chapter one. I'm through chapter five but I'm not gonna update until I either finish another chapter to stay ahead, or get so many reviews. Please review!