A/N: I'm just going to keep writing what I want the Black Widow movie to look like until we actually get one. And having Nat go off on her own at the end of CACW seems like a great opportunity for her own story. There will be some references to WinterWidow, but that will be further explored in the next parts of the series. Please read and review!

From in the shadows, she calls

Catriona Liddell was the new secretary for Clifton McLaughlin, the chief partner in McLaughlin & Wilson. The firm had the reputation for getting the minimum penalty for their wealthy clients. There were other, darker rumors surrounding their business dealings, and Catriona had been hired to delve into them. Not by Mr. McLaughlin, of course – though he had hired her. How could he resist the young, pretty redhead when she interviewed? Notwithstanding the fact that her application had been tucked into the pile of prospective new hires without human resources getting their hands on it first.

With an eye for detail and a near-perfect memory of names and faces, Catriona made an excellent secretary for men of influence. She was discreet and anticipated Mr. McLaughlin's needs before he could think of them himself. During important meetings, she was available but never seemed underfoot. In a few short weeks, Mr. McLaughlin had stopped sending her out of the room during more sensitive discussions and had come to rely on her completely.

Natasha Romanoff was growing tired of Catriona Liddell, though she was certainly a useful person to be. The cover had excellent references and was helpful without being overly noticeable, so looking into older cases had been easy enough. Mr. McLaughlin's clients no longer glanced at her dubiously before telling their lawyer whatever it was that they had done, for which they needed his assistance.

A small flat above a shop was Catriona's residence – lodging was hard to find in the area on short notice, but the shopkeeper was glad to rent out the unused space to "such a pretty girl." She'd smiled, blushing, and thanked him. After work, it was a nice place to spend her time, even if most of that time was researching Mr. McLaughlin's clients and keeping a lookout for her next job. She wasn't exactly living hand to mouth, but she was actually cashing Catriona's checks, which hadn't been necessary before.

Of course, if cash flow really became a problem, she owned many properties, under various untraceable aliases, and could sell off a few. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Her skills were generally marketable, so she could pick her clients to some extent. She refused to do assassinations, kidnapping, or anything high-profile. The last thing she needed was for General Ross to hear that she was not only evading his questioning but obviously not retired.

She didn't know how things stood with him and what power he really had, should he choose to hunt her down. Stark had said they were coming for her, and her instincts for self-preservation took her very quickly off the grid. Multiple covers were always available, so she chose one to leave the country. The mess that Tony had gotten them into, worsened by Steve, was far from cleaned up. Captain America and his friends had broken out of custody and gone to ground – the news was less than clear on this point, but she could tell what wasn't being stated. General Ross wouldn't allow for that kind of bad press. How could he be trusted to run the task force if he couldn't even keep tabs on the good guys?

When this all started, her priority had been to keep everyone together. She had feared, and tried to tell Steve, that they would be sent out in the cold for their sometimes fractious team to be broken up entirely. Thus General Ross could take control of a no-longer-united group of people and use it for his own ends, whatever those were. But he hadn't anticipated how far it would go. Neither had she, frankly. Once Barnes got involved… Well, Steve had opposed the Accords from the start, and hearing how many civil liberties were being taken away from Wanda, himself, and of course Barnes, he'd revolted.

Natasha was raised in the Red Room, so personal freedoms were a new thing after she worked for SHIELD. But she'd always considered her rights secondary to serving – and had been a little relieved at the thought of some kind of oversight for the team. They did their best, but having no supervision was a problem. It was practically SHIELD's mission statement that those with higher than usual capabilities should be monitored. Tony Stark had been surveilled and tailed ever since he built his first suit, and the only reason Ultron had come into being was because the organization no longer had the resources to watch him carefully.

A part of her felt personally responsible for Stark going that far off the reservation. He had obviously been affected by the invasion – hadn't they all? – but had shown some real problems with coping when he'd dealt with the Mandarin and AIM. Rhodey had hinted at it when they'd talked, but she had failed to do anything about it. Because she was distracted. So, if she hadn't been the only one with SHIELD's priorities, then it wouldn't have mattered that she was distracted. Tony wouldn't have made Ultron, so the UN wouldn't have drafted the Sokovia Accords. And then she would still be at the facility with the team instead of a tiny apartment in Northern Scotland, hoping to make enough from this job to fund the next one. So, yeah, some kind of government oversight would have definitely been welcomed.

She understood Steve's side – he was Captain America, after all. Inalienable rights and all that. It was clear that all he wanted to do was serve, but he hated the idea of being used, of being a tool for a higher power instead of his own person. Maybe that was a sore spot because of what happened to Barnes, or maybe he'd always been that way. She didn't know. He didn't talk much about the time before he was turned into a superhero to give her insight into the man before the muscles.

After the Chitauri invaded, and she and Clint had followed Steve into a battle they hadn't really had any hope of winning, it had come as quite a shock that she was considered a hero, too. Maybe not quite the same level as Captain America or Iron Man, but no longer was she the agent who worked in the shadows to help people. Now she was interviewed on CSPAN and invited to the UN – not to mention being recognized on the street from time to time. Records of her past were all over the internet and she hated that.

So, when everything went to hell, it was nice to return to what she was good at.

"Catriona?"

"Yes, Mr. McLaughlin," she called politely, rising from her desk to walk to his doorway.

There was a man seated with his back to her, unmoving. Mr. McLaughlin was displaying signs of stress, and she clenched her teeth as she reflected that there were no scheduled appointments this late.

"Sir, you need to come with me," she stated in her own tone – Catriona having outlived her usefulness.

Mr. McLaughlin looked torn, glancing at the man before him for some kind of confirmation before meeting her eye again. "Catriona… He said he just wanted to talk," he began, an attempt to remove the blame from himself for calling her in here.

It was fortunate that he wasn't allowed to finish because she didn't want to hear it. The stranger rose slowly and turned to face her, holding a gun.

"Dmitri."

"Natalia."

She smiled tightly as she ran through options in her head. How he had found her was irrelevant – at least right now. That could be gone over and analyzed at a later date. For now, how was she going to get out of here without hurting anyone? And, ideally, with the information she'd been sent to recover in the first place. Mr. McLaughlin had been willing to give her access to everything, but his partner had not.

"I hate to barge in on you like this, but my employer would like a word," Dmitri continued smoothly.

Only half paying attention, she smirked. "I'm sure I have no interest in what an employer of yours might say."

"I'm sure Mrs. McLaughlin would appreciate if you gave me a chance. I'd hate for her to become a widow for no reason."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You really think that's enough of an incentive to bring me in?"

Mr. McLaughlin looked considerably startled by that, but she couldn't tell if Dmitri was surprised. "I've heard you'd gone soft, Widow, playing with the superheroes," he told her condescendingly. "And it seems like there are lot of rules about any collateral damage you allow."

"Oh, Dmitri. If you know my name, then you know I don't play by anyone's rules," she informed him, and acted quickly. He was a big guy, but too busy pontificating to register her coiling like a spring before it was too late. Swinging around his shoulders, she wrapped a garrote around his neck and brought him down in a few moments. He fought back, of course, but only one person had ever evaded that move, so he was soon unconscious.

"Catriona?" Mr. McLaughlin was mumbling as he watched her, confused.

Standing gracefully, she kicked Dmitri in the head once for good measure before turning her attention to Mr. McLaughlin. "I'm going to have to tender my resignation, effective immediately. It's been a pleasure, sir," she added before striding out of the office.

Without slowing down, she headed into Wilson's office and was pleased to find him present. It took a few moments of negotiation, but she obtained the files she needed while he was tied to his chair. Smiling at him winningly, she related her resignation to him, and finally left the building. A quick stop by her apartment to pick up a few essentials, then it was off to the airport. After shaking off a few tails, Natasha Romanoff was on a plane and contemplating her next job.