Hi guys,

so I got the idea for this from a tumblr post I saw. What if like Bucky, Natasha forgot who she was, she doesn't remember working for SHIELD or the Avengers and she has no idea who Clint is expect for the vague memory of when he was sent to kill her. It's just something I wrote up quickly between exam revision so sorry it's not the highest standard. I've tried to keep as close to canon as possible (with MCU).

It's only going to be about 3 chapters long and the second part should be up soon so don't forget to follow if you want to read more (or leave your tumblr URL in the comments and I'll let you know when I post.)

Hope you enjoy it!

Amber xx

The Black Widow: Chapter One

She kept her eyes closed as she regained consciousness. Most people's first instinct would be to open them, to find out what was going on, to overlook their other senses. She wasn't most people. She had been trained to battle her instincts, until it was a reflex. In her line of work, if you let your body control you, you were as good as dead. You have to be alert, in control.

In those few moments of lucidity she scoped the situation with her other senses.

The ground beneath her was uneven, asphalt she guessed. She could hear traffic, lots of it, and sirens not far away. Voices shouted but they were distant, muffled. American her mind placed the accents, but they were at least in the next street, she was alone. The faint smell of gunpowder lingered in the air, fused with smoke and her muscles tensed. That was when she registered the pain. The dull ache spreading across her shoulder, back and down to her ribs. All of this took a total of three seconds.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She was lying on her back, the sky above blocked almost completely by high rise apartments.

Sitting up she drew a sharp breath through her teeth as pain lanced across her chest, at least 3 broken ribs she guessed and her vision blurred at the movement of her head. Concussion and a possible fracture, she cursed.

What the hell had happened?

She couldn't remember.

Forcing herself to stand, she cringed in discomfort.

"Nat!" A voice shouted from behind, she spun, hand reaching for the gun at her belt, wincing at the movement. Aiming the weapon at the new arrival. A man was jogging towards her, he had a bow in his right hand a quiver of arrows on his back.

"Not another step" she warned, her head swimming but she stood firm. The man stopped, and in one swift motion he had an arrow knocked and aiming behind himself looking for a threat but finding none he turned back around slowly, lowering the bow, to find her still pointing the gun...at him.

"Nat, what are you doing?" He asked his tone concerned. "It's me, Clint."

He took another step closer. "Are you alright?"

"I said not another step!" Her finger twitched on the trigger.

"Whoa okay okay, I'm not moving." He raised his hands so she could see them. "What the hell's going on Natasha?"

"Who are you?" She asked him.

"What?" He looked at her flummoxed.

"Who. Are. You.?" She repeated slowly, her gaze fixed on him in a hard stare, despite the fact that vision kept intermittently blurring.

"Natasha, it's me..."

"And why do you keep calling me that?"

The man frowned in confusion. "?"

She said nothing.

"I'm Clint...Agent Clint Barton, you're Natasha Romanoff. I'm your friend..."

She gave a short humourless laugh. "Yeah right. I don't have friends and my name's not Natasha..."

"Natalia Alianova Romanoff." He said and she froze. "You go by Natasha now though, have done for nearly a decade."

"We work for S.H.I.E.L.D, we both do."

A sudden wave of nausea rolled over her followed by an excruciating pain in her skull...

Images flashed through her mind...the man...Barton. Standing over her, looking down, his voice echoed in her memory

"I'm Agent Barton from S.H.I.E.L.D. They sent me to kill you..."

The words lingered, repeating over and over like a mantra

To kill you...kill you...kill you.

"Jesus Nat, are you alright? Your head...you need medical attention. Please..."

He moved towards her instinctively...she pulled the trigger.

"Shit." He gasped as he fell, clutching his shoulder,

The force of the gunshot made her stumble and her vision blurred she saw something fly towards her but she misjudged the distance and it struck her arm with a sharp sensation, a needle. He'd hit her with some sort of sedative she realised as her body fell forwards, suddenly limp, her eyelids growing heavy.

She heard Barton speak into a com , through gritted teeth.

"We need evac, I've been shot and Romanov's injured, she must have hit her head pretty hard she's confused. I had to tranq her."

The voice faded and as the darkness claimed her again she thought faintly

'I'm not confused. I know exactly who I am. I'm Natalia Romanova, the spider...Chernaya Vdova..The black widow."

The image of his face hovered in her thoughts, the expression of concern...it had seemed genuine but she knew better than to trust an expression and why would he be worried about someone he was ordered to kill, it didn't make sense...

There was something else as well, something nagging at her, it was what had made her aim to injure not kill. Something she couldn't quite remember...

Thanks for reading, let me know if you want to read more :)