Russia, 1995

Madame had the children work long and hard to master the fouetté, she spent around ten minutes explaining and demonstrating it to the girls; "An assassin should be strong and graceful. Fouettés will require a lot of balance, a skill you all will need to master if you want to graduate."They all lined up, Madame watched with her sharp soul-piercing eyes, they all started in the seventh position. They began to spin and then plié, relieve, and then passé over and over again. The fouettés would make a normal person dizzy if they did too many of these in a row, but to only the strongest would graduate.

Some didn't move fast enough or were too slow, Madame yelled at them for not trying hard enough to succeed.

"Look at Natalia! Look at Natalia! Do it like Natalia!" She ordered, they all stopped and looked at the petite redhead. Natalia was born gifted. She was, even at such a young age, born to possibly be the greatest assassin. She found ballet easy, or so it seemed. She worked hard to follow the rules and tried to succeed no matter what the cost. She trained, she kept her body from tiring out and getting dizzy. She constantly was the example of correction for the other girls, so she didn't have really have any friends. Which she was okay with. "Now start again! Everyone! With more energy this time."

Natalia Romanova wasn't a teacher's pet, but she was obedient and never tried to rebel against the rules. She had many dreams that she wanted to accomplish, but she couldn't do that while being held in captivity (where escape was impossible), so graduating is the only way she can leave the red room. Only a handful of the girls in the room with her would move on, maybe less. No matter who she had to beat or cross, she was ready for whatever came next.

"Pirouette!" Madame ordered it was another turn they had learned about.

They all went to the fifth position and changed to the fourth position. They began to spin, they had one foot touching the knee from the side, a passé. They skinned three times before going back to the fourth position again and then repeating everything over and over. Everyone was a little better at the pirouettes, Madame still had to correct a few students. One who was doing something very wrong was a blond girl who kept stumbling over and over. Natalia watched the girl in the corner of her eye, she was going to get scolded at again or worse. She could even be beaten for not taking ballet seriously. Madame did eventually notice it and walked to the girl with frustration and anger written all over her face.

"Yelena! You need to take this class seriously! That's the last straw! You come with me right now!" Madame yelled. She yanked Yelena by the hair and dragged out of the class, everyone all continued, however, in fear of stopping and her finding out and punishing them as well. Natalia looked at Yelena, her only friend because she couldn't care less, who was in some much trouble that if she would ever return to be a very long shot. Yelena looked at Natalia, she for once feared what Madame was going to do to her for not listening, Natalia feared the same.

Wakanda, 2016

Natasha rolled her carry on baggage beside her as she entered the terminal. She hadn't flown in a public airline for so long, it was so uncomfortable. Due to her assistance in allowing Captain America and the Winter Soldier to escape from Germany, she was now also wanted by the whole UN in the maximum facility prison. T'Challa promised that he would hide her in the same facility that the rest of the Avengers.

And Barnes, she thought. He was back to normal, they defeated HYDRA and Zemo, but the possibility of others learning the words. She made sure to get the book from Tony on her way out. She understood the words, she always knew them, they were in Russian. Desire, Rusted, Seventeen, Dawn, Stove, Nine, Kind-hearted, Homecoming, One, Freight Car, such odd words she had thought a lot about. She knew the numbers one, nine, and seventeen form his birth date back in 1917. She also knew that he fell off a freight car when he supposedly died. Though the thoughts were pointless, a program like his can never be stopped. She took a deep breath, I'd know.

She made her way past immigration, checking in user the false name of Gwendolyn Pryde. She even disguised herself so no one could recognize her. She went in a blonde wig, no one took a second glance at her, as far as they were concerned she wasn't even there. She continued to move to meet T'Challa in the car.

She always thought friends made a person weak. For instance; in the battle of New York, her worry for Clint caused her to fall right into Loki's hand. In Washington DC, her grief over Nick Fury caused her to be off her guard against the HYDRA when they attacked, and how surprised when she saw Barnes (or more accurately the Winter Soldier), she didn't fight as well as she was trained to. In the battle against Ultron, she allowed herself to be weakened by the memories of her past that still haunt her and she even got captured. And now, in Germany, she allowed her feeling for Barnes to get the best of her and she let him escape. She worked better on her own, she always did. Friends are for weaklings, she didn't always believe this.

T'Challa allowed Natasha a safe haven to hide in, as he did the rest of Cap's team, because he felt he owed them and they proved that he needed to find proof and take actual legal action instead of letting emotion take over his mind and making a big mistake. Plus, he thought she was trustworthy enough. Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Hawkeye trusted her and that was enough for him. She did turn on Tony when she realized that Steve and Bucky were right.

He saw a blonde moving towards him. The closer she got the more he noticed how much her face looked like Widow. She had the classic Widow smirk. She had the same light green eyes, they were a deadly as they were enchanting. She had a petite, slim, and curvy body. Her skin was fair. She was beautiful. He was shocked, she looks good as a blonde. He started to chuckle a little. She laughed as well and walked closer to him.

She gave him a quick hug, "hahaha, tell Rogers and I kill you." He continued to laugh and nodded. He grabbed her bag and put it in the back. He was disguised as well so his people wouldn't crowd around, he didn't even have his posse with him. "Seriously, it's good to see you again T'Challa," she greeted and sat down in the shotgun.

"Good to see you too, Natasha," he said, hopping into the driver's seat, "ready to see everyone again?"

As ready as I'll ever be, she hoped.