For as long as she can remember The Asset has followed orders. Having been trained in the Red Room since she was a baby, brought up without an inch of compassion, speaking fluently in five languages before the age of four. The Asset never knew why she didn't have parents or how she came into the possession of the Russians, all she knows is that they reared her to be a deadly machine, routine cognitive recalibration to ensure her loyalty, injections to enhance her. The same procedure the potential Black Widows were put through at the same time, she and the Black Widow class were kept at separate sides of the facility, but the young girl did hear that only one other survived the slew of injections.

The Red Room never gave her a name, they thought it was the best way to remind her that she was but a tool in their armoury, not worthy of a name. Her field designation was 'Asset' but she often had covers, quaint little girl's names that you would never expect to belong to a five year old assassin. Her first kill happened when she was around five years old, though no one had ever actually told her her age, she disposed of the body quickly and efficiently and reported back to her handler, any remorse she should have felt was brainwashed out of her long ago.

She proved her worth again and again, desperately seeking even a single word or murmur of approval from her handlers, but none ever came. She quickly learnt not to be disappointed. As the years went on though the Asset did hear more and more about the astounding Black Widow, a precision machine, yes, but a precision machine with a name: Natalia Romonova. The Asset decided that Natalia must have been really amazing to earn a real name, far out of the little brunette's league.

The Asset's face probably would have shown surprise, if she hadn't have been trained never to show emotion (emotion is weakness puny girl), when her handler told her she was being partnered with the Black Widow for a long undercover during the middle of what would be called the Second World War, but like always she followed her orders. She didn't have clothes to pack, but she bought a small, tattered duffel bag filled with knives, guns, ammunition and a small amount of money.

The Asset was dropped fifteen miles from the location where she would meet the Black Widow, it only took her two hours to get to the location, her rigorous training making up for her short stride. The first thing the Asset noticed of the other assassin was her bright red hair, next she realised that the girl was a few years older than her so had quite a height advantage, so the closer she got the most she had to crane her neck to see the teenager. The red head gave her an assessing stare and looked a bit perturbed but stuck her hand out to the Asset, palm flat and facing the side.

Natalia Romanova She introduced herself in Russian. The Asset, however, cocked her head to the side and stared at the proffered hand in confusion, she didn't have a clue what the older girl was doing, her missions had never involved her needing to study the intricacies of social behaviour.

What are you doing? She pointed to Natalia's hand and the other girl already looked exasperated, she wasn't as good at controlling her expressions it seemed.

You're meant to shake hands when you introduce yourself to someone new. Well now the Asset could add that to her limited knowledge of normal behaviour.

Oh. Natalia rolled her eyes but lowered her hand back to her side.

What's your name?

My field designation is Asset.

You're The Asset?! The younger girl frowned at Natalia, she sure didn't seem to be much better than her, she definitely wasn't as good at controlling her emotions, they played clearly across her face.

They told me you were the best Mother Russia had ever created, you seem far too sloppy to me. She chose to ignore the indignant question, Romanova was probably upset at being stuck with someone so bad they didn't even earn a name.

You are a legend. Almost every assassin or mercenary has heard of you, I just expected you to be a bit older. Natalia actually looked a bit apologetic for guessing wrong.

I believe I am ten years old, no one has ever told me so I had to guess. Did they tell you how old you are?

I remember my birthday from before the Red Room. Again the Asset scowled and tilted her head in confusion.

Before? Natalia suddenly looked very shocked and slightly appalled.

Yes, with my parents. When they died a man took me to the red room and they trained me with the others.

Huh, The Asset mumbled flippantly, I have always been there, since I can remember I trained and lived in the grey cell.

Natalia chose to say no more, up until then she never really thought twice about what her handlers told her, but she suddenly started questioning it all, here was a small girl who acted more like an automated machine than person, whose only displayed emotion was confusion (admittedly it was adorable, but sad), who didn't even get a name. Despite Natalia's training and the lessons drilled into her about weakness, she decided to show the smaller girl some compassion because it sure as hell seemed like no one else was going to.

Over the months they spend together on the mission Natalia quickly discovered that the younger girl was a far more proficient fighter for her size and was also a whole lot better at playing a different person. When they were in Germany, Natalia had to take the lead more due to the disgusted looks and general racist attitude that The Asset's slightly Asian appearance garnered, but as they travelled through slightly more tolerant countries Natalia observed the brunette effortlessly slip into different personalities and nationalities, the girl was amazing and didn't even realise it.

They were temporarily staying in a barn in Italy, after almost a year of their covert manipulation of the war effort (strategic assassinations and inciting arguments could have very large impacts), when The Asset finally showed any real emotion around Natalia.

I always wondered what it would be like to have a name, to be a normal girl, to have birthdays and a family. They said that only real people deserved them, not programmed killers.

Natalia observed the smaller girl; she was laying on her back staring up at the night sky, watching in awe at the bright stars shining down on them. She felt a sudden pang of sadness and decided to remedy part of the situation.

How about I give you a name? The suddenness with which the younger girl moved into a cross legged position startled Natalia into letting out a little breath.

Really? She looked so eager that a small smile actually crossed the fifteen year old's face.

How about Skye? The sky has no limits and neither do you. For the first time since they met, and probably the first time in The Asset's life, the girl grinned, full of teeth and her eyes crinkled around the edges. Natalia thought it was one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

Skye. The small girl breathed and, even though it seemed impossible, her smile widened, It's perfect.

I'm glad. Goodnight, Skye. Natalia rolled over and closed her eyes, the vision of The Ass- no, Skye's gleeful smile flitting across her closed lids. She heard Skye sigh a happy breath and lie down as well,

Goodnight, Natalia. It didn't go unnoticed by the red head that it was the first time Skye had used her first name. Natalia fell asleep smiling.

Their mission continued on for another two years, until the end of the war, and in that time the two girls grew to become friends. It was easier than Natalia thought it would be to get along with someone four years her junior, mainly because Skye was very mature for her age. Not only did they become friends but they also learnt from each other; Skye how to behave correctly in society and Natalia how to better portray fake or no emotion.

As they reported back to their handlers properly for the first time in three years they realised that they couldn't show that they had grown attached to each other, they were trained to be the deadliest and most efficient assassins in the world. Natalia mourned the loss of a friend who understood her situation and Skye mourned both, the loss of the only person who had ever treated her with any kindness, and a name.

Natalia and Skye were never partnered again by the Red Room or the KGB because only a year after the end of the war, 1946, Skye started manifesting weird powers, she could make earthquakes, bring down buildings and repel bullets away from her in mid-air. Outside parties soon found out and whilst the Russians were perfectly amiable to injecting possibly lethal substances into children to make them live longer and heal quicker, they out rightly rejected supernatural abilities, so when HYDRA took Skye from a KGB base no one objected.

HYDRA's version of brainwashing was a lot more abrasive, it included electrostatic shocks directly into the brain, the pain was a strong incentive if the actual brainwashing was not enough. It did not take long for Skye to gain full control of her powers, due to the fact that she already had every other aspect of herself in completely control already.

HYDRA gave Skye a new field designation: Quake. It wasn't much but in Skye's opinion it was better than The Asset, plus HYDRA already had an Asset; an American soldier who they had experimented on fell out of a train and into a valley, they replaced his arm with a metal one and started on his electrostatic therapy. He tried to resist it a lot, which Skye knew would only cause him more pain and she wondered why he did it, until he finally gave in.

Skye was given a lot more freedom in the tasks she was given, was allowed to use her instinct a lot more with HYDRA and gradually she helped then insinuate themselves into the newly founded SHIELD and build themselves up again, but underground. It take a few years, occasionally being partnered with the new asset, or the Winter Soldier as his field designation was, but eventually HYDRA are running smoothly behind the scenes of most major intelligence agencies.

When they no longer needed the Winter Soldier, they cryogenically freeze him, but because she doesn't age nearly as fast as normal humans, due to her Red Room enhancements, they just keep Skye locked up and let her out for regular training and to 'deal' with a target.

It is 1952, Skye thinks she is around twenty years old, when she gets sent out on a mission and meets Natalia again. They were both tasked to get rid of one of two business men who happened to be very good friends so they saw each other in their reconnaissance of their target. Skye spotted Natalia first and waited for the red head to come over to her, it took a few minutes and at first Romanova did not recognize the woman but Skye saw the moment it clicked in her head.

The read head stalked over to Skye in her secretary clothes and primly sat down on the bench next to the younger woman and pretended to casually admire the scenery in central park, Skye knew she was searching for possible threats and studying her target.

"Hello, Skye." Natalia greeted in a perfect Manhattan accent, Skye grinned.

"Long time no see, Natalia. How have you been?" Natalia finally turned to properly take Skye in.

Natalia's breath caught in her throat as she looked at Skye, the pretty girl had grown into an absolutely breath taking woman, the casual smile she was sporting made Romanova's stomach do funny things, she had always loved the brunette's smile but it had never before had that particular effect on her

Skye was thinking a similar way to Natasha, she had always known the spy was beautiful but after not seeing her for so many years, then seeing her again when she had fully matured seemed to only amplify gorgeousness. Skye was far from complaining.

After that they teamed up to get to their targets, strategizing the best way to pick off their security and get them relatively isolated so there wouldn't be any witnesses. It was as they were still riding the adrenaline rush from their success that the women retired to Natalia's hotel room and spent the night together like they never had before, exploring each other's bodies with precision and reverence. Spelling out their affection for the other on their skin until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning they separated again, reporting to their individual organisations. It carried on like that for many years. Sometimes, if one of the heads thought it necessary, the Winter Soldier would be unfrozen to accompany her on a mission, it was after a few of these instances that Skye realised that the man's memory was wiped after every mission, just enough so that he would know who she was but not actually remember any of the mission. Skye assumed it was the only way the brainwashing would work, he had had a life before; friends and family, he needed to not have something to fight for.

Every time Natalia and Skye saw each other they would spend time together, either talking or getting lost in each other's body or both. Steadily, the affection each woman held for the other grew, in spite of one of the most basic lessons taught at the Red Room: love is for children. The Winter Soldier was even loaned out to the Russians for a few years and partnered with Romanova, but still the spy was oblivious to who exactly Skye actually worked for.

By the time the eighties came around Natalia and Skye knew they were in love but neither admitted it nor did they try and distance themselves from the other, even knowing how stupid it was to form attachments in the business they worked. Gradually, as same sex relationships became more accepted they went on covert dates of sorts, to bars, clubs or diners whilst carefully disguising themselves.

Skye thought no one knew, not their employers, not the people after them, no one, but she was quickly proven wrong when Natalia defected to SHIELD in the early 2000s and the brainwashing became more frequent, ordering Skye to kill Natalia if she saw the other women. They would have erased all memory of the defector had Natalia not been so interwoven into Skye's history and being. HYDRA did not know how much they would compromise the efficiency of their best weapon if they were to remove Romanova and they were not too keen to find out.

It wasn't long into Natalia's, or Natasha as she was going by now, SHIELD career that they stumbled across each other again. Natasha's partner on the op was an archer, Clint Barton, Quake had researched him, before Natasha's arrival he held the position of SHIELD's and Fury's top assassin. He was keeping an eye on the situation from the sky, perched on the edge of a tall-ish building with a relatively unobstructed view while Natasha was doing the ground work.

Skye spotted him first, but he wasn't her mission, so she carried on to the abandoned warehouse where her target's deal was supposedly taking place. The Asset stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Natasha standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the dead bodies around her, however, she must have made a sound because Romanoff's gaze shot up to hers. That's when her programming kicked in.

Skye flung her arm out in Natasha's direction, the following air wave flung the other assassin into a wall ten feet away. Skye stalked towards her friend, her lover, with cold eyes even though she was internally screaming at herself to stop, to turn around and leave before she killed the only person she had ever loved. The programming was winning though, Skye pulled her handgun from the holster at her right thigh and aimed it at Natasha's head, just as she was about to pull the trigger Natasha's teary and confused eyes looked up at her.

"Skye?" Natasha whispered desperately, wanting this to be some sort of horrible joke, but the other woman's emotionless gaze wasn't promising, "What are you doing?"

Just like that, the use of her name, the only thing that knew one else knew about, not the Red Room, not HYDRA, made the programming crack a little bit. Skye's eyes softened into a loving look that Natasha was more than familiar with but her jaw was clenched as if she were fighting off pain.

"You need to leave." Natasha didn't move from her place on the ground, "Please."

"Why? Why are you trying to kill me?" Then Natasha did stand up, she walked to Skye so that they were toe to toe, their noses were almost touching, Natasha had to tilt her head back to look into Skye's eyes, "I thought you cared about me."

It took all of Skye effort to not move a muscle, she did not know if she could control her actions if she did, but at Natasha's devastated, pleading expression a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I love you, Natalia. But they knew about us. They… they messed with my head, if I ever saw you my orders were to kill you." The taller woman laughed mirthlessly, "They really don't like SHIELD." At that point both women had tear tracks running down their cheeks, Natasha gave Skye a wain smile, a little desperate, a lot sad.

"Come with me, with us. They helped deprogram me, they can help you too, please." Natasha begged.

"I can't, дорогой. The method, it's different to the one the Red Room used." Skye could feel her control start to slip, her orders overpowering her mind, "You need to leave! Now! I can't control it anymore."

Natasha quickly studied the woman who held her heart, Skye's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, her every muscle was tensed, Natasha realised she really was losing control. With that in mind she decided to make the most of what could be their last friendly encounter, she pushed herself up and brushed her lips across Skye's.

Skye was surprised at first but quickly sunk into the kiss, trying to convey all of her remorse and love in the movement of her lips. The kiss was calm and frantic, loving and loathing and it seemed to last forever until Natasha felt Skye become slightly too aggressive. The red head pulled away, locking eyes with Skye.

I love you too, Skye. Never forget that. She replied in Russian, then turned on her heel and sprinted out of the building.

The brunette let a few minutes pass, waiting for the sound of a jet departing, before she let go. All of the tension in her body exploded out of her in the form of her powers. The ground around her cracked open, dead bodies falling into the gaps, and the building crumbled down around her. She fell to her knees surrounded by broken brick and metal work, her head in her hands, and screamed.

Above her, Natasha watched from a SHIELD aircraft as the building she occupied only a couple of minutes ago, collapsed to the ground and her heart ached at the sound of complete anguish that emanated from the small figure in the middle of the destruction.

"I'm guessing there's a story there?" Natasha sighed and turned back to the man who was slowly becoming her friend, one of the only people in her life, apart from Skye, who did not inherently fear her

"Yeah."

"She loves you and I believe you love her, if my Russian is correct."

"It is."

"I'm sorry, Nat. I can't even begin to imagine how that would feel." Natasha knew his heart was in the right place but she suddenly felt very angry, at the universe, at Skye's handlers, so she snapped her head to look at Barton.

"You mean the only person I've ever loved being brainwashed to kill me, or the fact that that they, whoever they are, have messed with her mind in the first place?" Barton managed to look both flustered and pitying.

"I, uh, both I guess. Also from the display I just saw, I'm pretty sure she's number one on SHIELD's most wanted list and Fury has a personal vendetta against her, rumour has it Quake had something to do with his non-functioning eye." Natasha growled at the archer.

"Her name is Skye. And this never happened, okay?" Barton was quick to hold his palms up in a surrendering motion.

"Never happened, just a routine mission."

Natasha nodded at him in approval and turned back to stare out of the cockpit window. Clint didn't comment as the, notoriously stoic, Black Widow silently cried for most of the journey back to base. He just told her when they were ten minutes out so she could collect herself, he knew she wouldn't want anyone else seeing her emotionally compromised.

The Asset took a couple of days to report back to her seniors, no one mentioned Natasha when she arrived so she did not bring it up. She did, however, start thinking of ways to become less susceptible to mental conditioning they put her through, she never wanted to come that close to killing Natasha ever again. Her methods worked to a certain extent, she would still follow orders, she had no control over that, but she could find ways to deviate from said orders or stretch the parameters of them.

Meanwhile, Natasha dedicated herself to collecting as much information on Quake as she could, many people thought she was just a myth, along with the Winter Soldier. No one had any clue who she worked for and the few people who did know about her or had come face to face with her did not know the extent of the assassin's powers. Though the people who had encountered her on missions where very surprised to note that she never actually came close to harming any of them, she strictly went in, took care of the target and left, barely even sparing a glance at the trained agents.

That meant that Skye did not enjoy killing, only went in completed her mission and tried to get out with as minimal causalities as possible, Skye had always been like that and it made Natasha happy that even though she was being physiologically controlled, she was still Skye.

In 2006 Skye was taken out of the field and sent to a HYDRA base in Sokovia at the request of Von Strucker, one of the newest heads of HYDRA. He was interested in what made people have powers, he was intrigued by both Skye's powers and her Red Room enhancements and ultimately he started experimenting on her, deciding that her improved healing would make her the perfect candidate.

She did not go on missions when she was stationed with Von Strucker, but she did have regular training and cognitive recalibration sessions when she became a little unruly. Not many years after her arrival, Von Strucker acquired two new subjects, they had their training in the same room and after a while she was tasked with teaching them the basics of being a weapon: fighting, undercover and manipulation, the girl took to the last one the most.

As the twins were in their early teens Skye got away with only teaching them the very basics in a leisurely manner, she spent most of her time in their presence trying to figure them out. After a few conversations she knew that they volunteered, she kept silent when they asked her why she was there and they got the message, and she knew that they were orphans and wanted revenge on Tony Stark for making the bomb that killed their parents.

Skye thought it was a stupid reason to want revenge because Stark did not actually control what his bombs were used for, only sold them. Ironically, at the emergence of Iron Man, the superhero alter ego of Mr. Stark himself, Von Strucker became more invested in invoking powers into people, he mostly experimented on Skye, due to her enhanced healing. It took years, Captain America was discovered and defrosted, there was an alien invasion in New York, which showcased the true extent of all of the Avengers powers for Skye to learn and know how to combat if needed (that was what Pierce told her in his visit anyway), but finally Skye exhibited new powers.

They discovered them in her sleep, they came to wake her one morning and she was floating above her bed. She had training without the twins after that, while they were being treated with the same things that had given her new powers, and she was honing her ability to fly in a very large high ceilinged room. It took Skye a lot longer to master her flight skills than it did her quaking power, Von Strucker theorised it was because she was born to have the latter set of powers but had to acclimatise to the new ones.

She was still in training for her new powers when HYDRA tried to rise from the shadows. She had heard about Natasha's exploits and she felt a rush of pride, maybe I won't have to be under anyone's control much longer, was her first thought. Despite this she still put a greater effort into resisting the brainwashing, she made them think it was still as potent as ever, when in actuality ever since her transfer to Sokovia, the treatments affected her less and less, she was becoming immune.

Natasha knew, the moment Arnim Zola's consciousness started explaining HYDRA's survival, who had been controlling Skye and it only made her more motivated to destroying the organisation once and for all. She was not surprised when the Winter Soldier did not recognise her, Skye explained that his memory was wiped after every mission to keep him compliant because he had not always been a weapon, he had had a life. Though, she was surprised that the Winter Soldier was James Buchanan Barnes, Captain America's child hood friend and WWII hero.

Natasha did not tell Steve the real reason she knew of the Winter Soldier, nor that she knew someone else controlled by HYDRA but she was quick to join the other Avengers in locating Loki's sceptre, the more HYDRA bases they raided, the closer they got to finding Skye. The only person who knew her deeper motivations was Clint but he wisely stayed quiet on the matter.

She holds out hope that Von Strucker's base is going to be the one that contains both Loki's sceptre and Skye, it is with that motivation that Natasha suits up for what will, hopefully, be the last HYDRA raid and gets in the jet to Sokovia.