She awoke to the sound of a child crying. Jumping out of bed, she sprinted to her daughter's room, gun ready, Clint behind her. They burst in the door and surveyed the area. Seeing nothing, she holstered her pistol and walked over to her baby girl.
"What's the matter, Vik?" She asked the weeping child.
"It was them again, mommy. They poked me with a needle that had funny blue stuff in it, then they locked me in a shed with some other girls and started pouring gas on us." She replied. Natasha, knowing fully what the five-year-old was talking about, motioned for Clint to go back to bed. When he was gone, she comforted the girl by saying that they would never be able to touch her again, that they were gone. Viktoriya, upon hearing this, calmed down a little. "Will you sing for me mommy? Please?" She asked. Agreeing, Natasha began to hum a lullaby that'd been sung to her when she was a small girl. As her daughter drifted back to sleep, the assassin remembered when they'd first found her…
~.~
…..It was two months after they'd gotten married. Still young, still perfectly deadly, and still working for S.H.I.E.L.D, the two master assassins had been on a mission in Russia. The objective was to locate an unknown organization deep in the woods outside of Zaraysk, and all had been going well until Natasha suddenly spotted a familiar tree. Two of its branches had been carefully manipulated, forming two "R" shapes when observed from the correct angle. Her face paled as realization dawned on her.
"Clint…" She said, still staring at the tree.
"Yeah Tash?" he asked, still stalking carefully through the underbrush.
"I know what we're looking for…."
He smirked and said "So do I, we're looking for a group of buildings hidden somewhere in this forest." He turned when he realized Natasha wasn't following him anymore. Walking back to where she was, he stared up at where he thought she was looking.
"Uhm, nice tree." He stated, clearly confused as to why she was observing it so.
Grabbing his hair, she jerked his face up to where the branches were and pointed them out.
"See those? That means we're on Red Room soil. That's what we're looking for, Clint. The Red Room."
His face held a look of bewilderment. "I hate to ask you this Nat, but do you remember how to get to the buildings from here?" He inquired. She smirked and said "With my eyes shut."
A few minutes later, they were staring at three large buildings, all in a row. "The one on the left is the boarding hall, the right is the mess hall, and the center has the training rooms." She told him. Memories were filling her mind, memories she'd worked so hard to suppress.
Seeing the look on her face, Clint sighed. He knew better than anyone what she'd gone through.
"C'mon Tasha. I signaled Fury, they know where it is, we can get out of here."
She still stared at the buildings, or rather, in between them.
"No, that shed. That shed in between the boarding house and training center. That shouldn't be there." Before Clint could stop her, she was creeping off to investigate. At first, he was tempted to run after her, but she knew this place better than he knew his bow, and following her would land them both in hot water, so he stayed put.
She picked her way carefully behind the structures, remembering the security guard positions and mines, (which hadn't changed,) and made it safely behind the small shed. Stalking up to the front, she noticed the code panel. Remembering that all pass codes were changed daily, she began to prepare an encrypting device, until she detected a door opening. Two officials walked up, one carrying a sleeping young girl. Quickly, she hid behind the shack, and listened.
"Is that the last one?" Said the larger of the two, as the smaller man emerged from placing the child in the structure.
"Yeah, that's it. Gas 'em." said the other. Natasha's stomach dropped as she realized what was happening. The larger man smirked, closed the door, and pressed a red button on the keypad. As they left, the shack filled with the sound of children and babies crying.
When she heard the door of the boarding hall close, she ran to the front of the shed. Horrified as the screams died away, she once again tried the device. As it was decoding, the chamber de-pressurized, clearing the gas. Finally she got the door open.
She burst inside, only to quickly avert her eyes. The interior consisted of a few rows of small beds, each with a dead child inside. Knowing that there was nothing she could do, she turned to leave; but a cough got her attention.
She hurriedly searched the rows, looking for the one child that remained alive. In the far right corner, a child yawned. Running over to her, Natasha picked up the kid, who happened to be the girl she saw the officials place in chamber. Remembering where she was, however, she darted out of the small building, huddling the girl in her jacket.
When she made it back to Clint, he was nervously fiddling with his arrows. Seeing her, he sighed in relief, until he saw the sleeping girl. He gave her a skeptical glance, as he'd heard the cries and knew what had happened. But, when she ignored him and started creeping away, he decided reasoning could wait till later.
When they were back on the helicarrier, Natasha took the girl straight to medical. Explaining what had happened as the nurse looked her over, she asked if she could be saved. The young medic stared at Natasha, not really believing her story.
"This kid is perfectly healthy. Are you sure that's what happened?" She asked. Natasha's heart leaped, though she would never admit it.
"Yes, completely sure." she answered. The nurse shrugged, and helped the child to her feet, whos stared at Natasha with beautiful green eyes very closely matched her own.
She gave the child to Maria to watch during their debriefing, but as soon as it was over, she sought her out. Clint was stunned that the girl was so healthy, and quietly asked the question that Natasha had been trying to avoid.
"What do we do with her?"
They were in his room, and she was trying to get the little girl to talk. Not meeting his gaze, she answered as he'd expected.
"We keep her…"
Leaning against the door frame, he watched as the girl held up five fingers, his wife coaxing the age out of her, and made up his mind.
"Glad we agree." He said, as a grin spread over Natasha's face. Then she became puzzled.
"How did she survive the gas?" She murmured to no one in particular.
"That's what I was wondering. Maybe we should go get her blood tested." Answered Clint.
The test results were shocking. She had been infused with a serum, like all Red Room trainees, but it was a different kind. It was, in fact, more similar to the serum used on Steve than the one Natasha had in her blood. However, it was not identical, and this led them to believe that she would be close to invincible, but not immortal, as Steve was.
A few days later, the little girl became Viktoriya Anne Barton…..
~.~
As Natasha continued to sing, she reflected on those nights. When she was sure Viktoria was asleep, she stood and walked back to her bedroom.
"How is she?" Clint asked when Natasha crawled back into bed.
"She's fine. Just fine…"