Chapter 1
A thick fog lay heavily upon the city as the morning commuters made their way to work. Amongst the crowd of people was a red-haired woman, moving stealthily between figures and watching her surroundings. Before she had time to react a sharp arrow flew past her scalp.
She hit the floor and bolted towards the edge of the bustling square. She knew she had little time to get undercover. Trained assassins were on her trail, most likely sent from SHEILD. Another arrow went whizzing past. She ran up the closest street and found refuge below a staircase. She had encountered hundreds of bullets in her line of work but never an arrow.
There was no doubt that her likely pursuer would be a special sharpshooter, fluent in the language of archery. There was nothing their chosen weapons couldn't hit. She decided perhaps pondering wasn't the greatest thing to do whilst being chased so made a run for it.
Standing on a grey building he had the perfect view of the city, and his target. The job was clear. Take her down before she does any more damage. His research had been thorough, going over all her paperwork, studying every one of her false names and identities. She was an extremely talented spy.
Nevertheless, he was still able to corner her in a small square in the centre of Budapest. Her red hair made her easy to spot. He traced her path with the tip of his arrow until she came to rest. Seizing his chance he took a deep breath in and drew back his bows string. Suddenly his palm opened sending the arrow straight at her head, but that's what he thought. The arrow skimmed past sending her into a frenzy, shuffling through the crowd towards the street. He grew angry. He never misses.
"One in a million" he mumbled to himself as he grabbed a new arrow out of his quiver.
Launching himself onto the next building he once again took aim upon her head, another breath and another miss. He cursed his bow as he saw her disappear further down the street.
Sitting in a safe house had never felt so dangerous. She could be ambushed at any time. She began to trawl through records grabbing papers to help her get out of the country. She came across her real passport.
"Natalia Romanova" she murmured as she reminisced about the time she had spent living under her true identity.
She once again began to claw through the papers, tracing the information with her finger. She still couldn't find what she needed. Finally it appeared beneath a birth certificate, a pilot's license and ID for Natasha Romanoff. Shoving them into a rucksack she moved towards the door, picking up a detonator on the way out. A pre-cautious move she had learnt in training. Always clean up after yourself. Taking one last look she flipped the switch and turned her back to the fiery explosion.
He had been running through the streets for at least half an hour before he came to the conclusion that she was gone. He was exhausted. Physically and mentally, but he couldn't give up. Darting into a small alley he pressed a finger to his ear and relayed his current location and status to the SHIELD base.
At the end of his broadcast he added, rather grudgingly, "Target is still active".
A deep voice startled him, "When SHIELD allowed you to carry out this mission we expected results, Barton."
Noting the anger in Fury's voice he replied with great caution "She is a very experienced spy, tracking her has not been easy" A long sigh of frustration carried through the earpiece. Fury was not happy.
"I am running out of patience, Barton, Just get the job done and get back here." And with a small click he was gone.