I DON'T OWN ANYTHING

Vienna, Austria – 20:04

Johann Chaknesov had many enemies. He was a man whose world revolved around money and secrets, who had slipped Interpol so many times it was like second nature to him.

He walked through the street with more confidence than one would expect in a wanted man, wearing a casual collared shirt and pressed khakis, with a pressed jacket slung over his shoulders, a plain beret casting a shadow over his eyes and a small messenger bag in hand. Johann had the type of face that was just average enough that no one could ever seem to focus one him – rounded cheeks, dark eyes, with a placid expression upon his face Average, average, average.

Walking up to a tall, fancy hotel with glass doors and gilded windows, he entered through the front and then continued towards the restaurant on his left. A polite hostess sat him down in the back, as per his request, with a solid wall behind him, the windows to his right, and a full view of the restaurant in front of him.

He noted that there were few figures loitering in the restaurant this early in the afternoon, most of them at the bar. Two men talking quietly, three more drinking by themselves, and one woman. He studied each of them, noting height and distinguishable features, who looked fit enough to be a fed and who might be hiding any weapons. More specifically, he focused on the woman, who was as mediocre as they came – just like him.

She was not dressed too fancy or too shabby, just a nice pair of jeans and what he guessed was a blouse, although it was hard to tell with the way her jacket draped over her petite frame. Her outfit lacked any color, just black and dark blue, the clothing loose for easy movement. Johann squinted as he tried to make out her features in the dim lighting of the bar, but she was seated in such a way that the lights were casting her face into shadow, and her bushy brown hair was an added obstacle. She was hunched over her drink, making it difficult to guess her height or body shape. Johann glanced at her hands, noting that her skin tone was dark… or maybe just tanned?

The woman picked up her tumbler and took another sip of amber liquid, lazily motioning the bar tender over. As the woman and the man conversed, Johann noted that his guest had finally arrived.

Another average-looking man walked into the restaurant, speaking to the hostess. This one was dressed smartly in a suit and tie, a pair of sunglasses glued to his face despite that they were inside a dim room. He had close-cropped hair, muscles slightly visible underneath the jacket and filling out his frame to make him seem taller than he really was.

The waitress led the man towards the back, where Johann was sitting. However, Johann's eyes were glued to the mysterious woman at the bar, and noted – with some disappointment – that she did not so much as twitch or turn her head as his guest crossed the restaurant behind her.

Were his instincts wrong?

Johann hid his displeasure and smiled politely as his guest arrived at the table, sitting down wordlessly across from him. They both waited patiently as the waitress hurried over and listed the proffered specialties for the day as she sat down two glasses of water and asked if they would like any drinks.

Johann politely declined, while his partner softly asked for a glass of cabernet, deep voice rumbling in his chest. The waitress scurried back into the kitchens, and with one last glance around, Johann got down to business.

"Mister Stevenson," He began, speaking lowly. "How nice of you to come."

"How nice of you to have me." The man replied without missing a beat, both of them smiling with saturated sweetness that it was nearly sickening. "Shall we begin?"

Johann hesitated before he answered, glancing over to the bar, and noting – again with some confusion – that the woman he had been eyeing earlier was in the process of paying for her drink, handing cash over to the bar tender as she laughed softly at something he said. Again, much to Johann's frustration, he was unable to glimpse her face due to her wild hair and the glare of the lights, only watching with irritation as she walked towards the exit, head down as she fiddled with the buttons on her coat.

Perhaps he was wrong…

Johann's gaze turned to the other patrons of the bar, but none of them triggered his instincts quite like the first woman had. But she hadn't stuck around to listen to the deal… so if she was a spy, what was she after?

"Mister Chaknesov." Mr. Stevenson snapped in annoyance, leaning back as the waitress returned with his glass of wine. "Your attention please."

Johann quickly cleared such thoughts from his mind and focused on the negotiations at hand. "My apologies, Mister Stevenson. I was just checking for bugs."

The man across from him hummed, but whether it was in acceptance or ire, Johann did not know. He merely stared at Johann from behind his sunglasses as he began to sip on the cabernet.

"I assume your presence here means that you are willing to pay the price that I am asking." Mr. Stevenson clasped his hands together, fingers intertwined, and rested them on the table, straightening up and squaring his shoulders. He gave Johann the look, which he did to all of his customers, letting them know that his prices were non-negotiable. Any attempt to haggle the price would result in an immediate cancellation of the deal.

"Indeed." Johann nodded, retrieving a device from the inner pocket of his jacket and handing it over to Johann.

It was a small tablet, one specifically designed by international banking firms for their larger clients to personally transfer money from the palm of their hands. Stevenson hid his satisfaction behind a stern look, accepting the tablet from Johann and noting that the amount of money that he had asked for was already filled in and ready to transfer.

Me. Stevenson entered the number to one of his off-shore accounts and signed the signature – with one of his other names of course. As he clicked 'ENTER', he used his foot to push the briefcase across the floor underneath the table and towards his client.

"The down-payment, please." Stevenson murmured softly.

"Right after I make sure that your product is the real deal." Johann replied smoothly as he swiped the briefcase up off the floor and set it in his lap. He clicked open the sides and lifted the lid, his eyes quickly scanning and verifying that everything he had asked for was contained there. He flipped through the pages, lips curling at their edges.

Then he snapped the case shut and looked back up to his partner. "Everything is accounted for."

Johann used his feet to push the briefcase further under his own seat as he leaned sideways and retrieved the messenger bag. He handed it off to Stevenson, the man unzipping it quickly, a smirk curling on his lips at the wads of cash that lay within.

"Very good, Mr. Chaknesov." Stevenson's face was unreadable behind his sunglasses. "The rest of the money will be transferred in the next 24 hours, I assume?"

Johann dipped his head.

"Then we are done here."

They shook hands over the table, and then Johann left first, knowing that Stevenson would wait for a few more moments before leaving himself.

Johann walked out into the hotel lobby, leather shoes tapping on the marble tiles, weaving his way through the neatly dressed guests as they meandered through the room, dodging designer luggage and rushing bell-boys. Towards the elevator, briefcase clasped firmly in his hand. The doors dinged open, and Johann stepped forward, quickly pressing one of the numbers.

"Oh! Hold it, s'il vous plait!"

A worried female voice called out, and before Johann could press the button to close the doors, and small body slipped through the doors just as they shut. His lips pressed into a tight line in displeasure at the unwanted company.

He glanced over at the woman next to him and paused. Something was familiar about her…

"Monsieur Chaknesov." She murmured softly in greeting with a perfect French accent.

His hand flew to his waist, flipping up his jacket and reaching for his holster – but his arm was caught in a death grip as she grabbed his forearm and slammed her chest against his, pushing him against the wall of the elevator as it began to move. His left hand was still stubbornly holding onto the briefcase, but the way her body pressed against his in a mockery of intimacy kept him still. Her fingers dug harshly into his forearm with such strength that he knew that he would get bruises, her nails pricking the skin.

"I would not, if I were you." She murmured calmly, and Johann felt his holster suddenly relieved of his gun, which then seemed to disappear into her jacket.

"Believe it or not," The woman murmured, "I am here to help you."

Johann scoffed. "That's bullshit."

"My employers would rather the information you now hold not fall into the wrong hands." Johann felt her free hand tap his which clutched the briefcase. "And considering the fact that Mr. Stevenson went missing two days ago, they were quite concerned."

Johann froze.

"Strange, then, that he managed to show up to your meeting today, no?" The woman continued with a smug look that aggravated Johann.

"Then we are on the same side?" Johann questioned cautiously.

She hummed. "For now." She replied off-handedly. "Those that hired you to get the information are the same ones that hired me to protect it. So, yes. We are allied… at the moment."

Johann dipped his head and glared at her as he went nose-to-nose with the irritating woman. "Then let. Me. Go."

"Only if you promise to behave." She tutted teasingly.

He scowled and grunted some kind of affirmative noise that she took to mean 'yes'. The woman stepped back and Johann removed himself from the wall of the elevator, glancing down to make sure that the woman had not touched the briefcase.

"The man that you met was actually a federal agent of SHIELD." The woman began, all flirtatious attitude wiped form her expression as it schooled itself, her voice flat and serious. "My guess is that they killed or kidnapped the real Stevenson and sent an agent in to make contact with you, and then use you to track our employers."

Johann choked. "SHIELD?! The SHIELD? Like from the alien invasion?"

She sent him an annoyed glance. "Yes. As I've already said." She said flatly.

The elevator dinged as they reached the top level, the box slowing and the doors sliding open. The woman reached over towards the briefcase. Johann drew back for a moment, staring at her suspiciously. She glared at him, making him freeze long enough for her to grab the briefcase and, with a flick of her wrist, and tiny little button was pulled off.

It was flashing with a dull red light. Johann gulped at the sight of the locator. Oh, his bosses would have been pissed if she had not caught that thing.

"Here's the plan," She said as she practically dragged him out of the elevator and towards the room that he was staying in. "I'm going to be decoy and lead these goons on a wild chase across the rooftops. Meanwhile, you will take the real information and run it to a secured location using the alleys in the city."

"Why I should I trust you?" Johann growled.

"One, because you fell for their little trick." She snapped as she unlocked the door to his hotel room – wait, when did she get his key?!

"And two," She continued as she led him inside and grabbed an identical briefcase sitting on the coffee table, "Can you jump over rooftops and fight off ten guys at once?"

Johann opened his mouth to protest –

"Didn't think so." She interrupted before he could speak. "Go retrieve whatever you might need of your belongings. You won't be able to come back to your room."

Johann hurried to the bedroom and grabbed his go-bag: several fake passports, IDs, credit cards, and an exorbitant amount of cash in several different currencies. Plus a few necessities such as a toothbrush and extra ammo.

"Wait, how do we know the information within the case is not compromised, now that the feds know?" Johann questioned as he re-entered the main room, eyeing her with increased suspicion.

She gave him a slow, Cheshire grin.

"Because, my dear," She chuckled as she stripped off her coat, revealing a black armored suit and two guns holstered at her side, with two more holstered at her back. "They knew that you would double-check the information. They risked giving us the real data in order to make sure you fell for their trap. Which you did."

Johann glared at her for that.

Beep beep! Beep beep!

Her head snapped down as her hand pulled out some sort of device.

"They're here." She stated, straightening as she grabbed one of the briefcases and shoved it into his hands. She handed him the gun that she had lifted off of him in the elevator, and Johann took it back eagerly.

She then pushed him towards the window. "Take the fire escape. Run until you get to the edge of Sacher Wien district. Men will be waiting to take you to safety. Don't get caught."

He turned to snap at her for ordering him around, but paused when he noticed that she was already climbing onto the railing of the fire escape and leaping across the alley towards the rooftop of the building next to them.

Then she was gone.

Johann didn't let himself dwell for long, and tore off down the fire escape. He reached the bottom of the stairs and ran out of the alley, glancing around for any agents before darting across the street into another alleyway. He was a few streets down from the hotel when he heard the tell-tale sounds of screeching tires on pavement and cursed.

The agents were on his tail. Weren't they supposed to be trailing the girl? He tossed his briefcase over a fence that split the alley, and grunted as he climbed over and jumped down. He paused when he saw another iron stairwell attached to the side of a building. He took a running start, leaping onto a dumpster and then jumping from the top of it to catch the bottom rung of the half-raised ladder.

Shit!

The ladder creaked and slid a few inches at his sudden weight. Not willing to wait and see if it would hold him, Johann began to climb, crawling over the ledge and darting for the stairs.

The sound of military-grade engines were growing closer.

He was panting when he reached the rooftop, glancing around to see if he could catch sight of any other figures leaping from roof to roof. But the mysterious woman was nowhere in sight.

But there was no time to think, he needed to escape. Johann ran for the nearest roof, praying in his head as he leapt across and landed clumsily on the other side, cursing as his ankles throbbed with the impact.

"Halt!"

He whirled around with his gun out. How did they find him so fast?

Looking up, he noticed a dark figure emerge from the shadows holding… a bow?! Johann almost laughed out loud.

Who does this guy think he is, Robin Hood?

"Put the gun down and hand over the briefcase." The man ordered, his grip on the bow remaining steady, his body armor telling Johann that this man was a professional. Somehow, Johann knew that he would not be able to shoot this man before he was killed by some stupid arrow.

Gritting his teeth, Johann reluctantly tossed the gun down and held up the briefcase towards the man. And that's when he saw it.

The locator.

That bitch! He snarled inwardly as he realized that he had been duped. He would bet all of his money that it was the decoy briefcase too, not the real one.

Johann looked back up at the archer with a snarl on his face, but the man was already swiping the case from his hands.

"Don't move." The archer ordered as he touched his earpiece and told the rest of his team where they were. The door to the building opened and two more agents spilled out, one confiscating the gun, the other coming up behind Johann.

"That bitch!" Johann hissed, still glaring at the briefcase and the flashing light of the locator, while the third agent came behind him and began to handcuff him.

The archer chuckled. "Actually, this would be mine." He plucked off the locator.

Johan looked up and sneered at the man. "Not you." He hissed. "The woman that took the real case with the real information! You've caught the wrong man!"

The archer looked disturbed by this, and deftly knelt down to snap open the case.

The papers inside were blank.

"Fuck!" The archer exclaimed as his hand flew to his earpiece. "This is Hawkeye! We've got the wrong one! This was a decoy!"

Hand dropping from his ear, the man – Hawkeye – turned back to Johann and grabbed the front of his shirt, dragging him close to glower down at him.

"Who has the real data?" Hawkeye demanded. "Described her!"

Johann opened his mouth to respond –

Crack!

A bullet ripped through the side of his head, brain matter spraying out the other side.

"Sniper!" Hawkeye cried out as the agents fell to the floor, pulling out their weapons. He glanced down at the body.

"Dammit!" He hissed. There goes their witness. He looked back up, squinting his eyes to peer through the darkness, the city lights useless above roof-level.

There!

Movement, just barely noticeable, but it was there. Someone was slithering across the rooftop about half a mile away. Hawkeye took off in a run, ignoring the cries of the other agents to wait for them, nearly flying across the rooftops in his haste to catch the small figure that was darting away with a briefcase in hand.

Hawkeye made a mental note of the trajectory of the bullet to the building where the team would be able to find the rifle that took the shot, but did not dare slow down to investigate now. He was catching up to the thief.

He unhooked his bow and, still running, began to fire shots at the figure, small little explosive bolts that would hopefully surprise her and slow them down just enough to give him the upper hand.

The arrows went off like fireworks in the night as they ignited just in front of the running figure. To the thief's credit, she did not flinch, although she did abruptly change direction. But Hawkeye was anticipating this, and shot a larger explosive bolt to cut off her escape.

"Barton, what the hell are you doing?" Coulson's voice relayed from his earpiece. "You can't use explosive bolts in civilian areas!"

"I'm catching the thief!" Hawkeye snapped back between pants, catapulting over another rooftops and firing arrows around the thief, making a perimeter on the building's edges.

Just as the woman went to make their escape in a different direction, Hawkeye clicked a button on his bow, and an electric field leapt up. A female shriek cut through the air as she came into contact.

The figure leapt back and turned to face Hawkeye, dark eyes glaring at him over the cloth mask that hid the lower half of her face, the wind blowing her bangs across her face, while the rest of it appeared to be swept back into a French braid. She was shorter than he was expecting, but her bodysuit did nothing to hide the lean muscles on her frame.

The woman tossed the briefcase behind her and drew a pair of guns, falling into a fighting stance and aiming at his chest.

"I am obliged to ask you to surrender peacefully." Hawkeye spoke loud enough for her to hear him from across the rooftop. "But somehow I don't think that'll happen."

He heard her snort, but she did not answer in any other way.

"If you hand over the briefcase we can work something –whoa!"

Blam! Blam! Blam!

She opened fire without preamble, and Hawkeye was forced to leap to the side and roll forward to hide behind an air duct.

"Men." He heard her scoff under her breath in a low voice. "Always wanna talk."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that as he loaded an arrow. Popping out from behind the air duct, he fired and managed to knock one of the guns out of her hands, but she was already firing at him with the other pistol.

He flung himself forward with his usual recklessness, narrowly dodging bullets as he rushed towards her. When he went to kick the gun out of her hand, she was anticipating him, and she quickly dropped the pistol and grabbed his ankle in the same move. Hawkeye had a moment to feel surprise just before she used his momentum against him, jerking his leg forward and ducking underneath, sending the archer flying over her head.

He managed to land on his feet, but she was already coming at him with a hammer kick, Hawkeye rolling out of the way and feeling the air rush past his face with how close her foot came. They both leapt to their feet and went at each other again. A glint of steel was Hawkeye's only warning before he felt something catch on his armor.

Dammit. She has a knife.

He threw up his bow just in time to catch her downward swing, the steel clashing and screeching as the blade grated on his poor baby. Swing-swing, stab-stab, dodge!, swing-block, dodge!

Hawkeye knew that he was going to start running out of energy soon, and need to end this. He caught her knife with his bow and attempted to maneuver it out of her hand, but she seemed to realize his technique and twisted her wrist. They both ended up losing their weapons, the knife flying out of her hand while she reached over with her other hand and somehow managed to yank his bow from his grip and throw it away from them.

He heard the woman huff at the loss of her blade, and then she pulled out two more knives!

"Oh come on!" Hawkeye huffed as he began to dodge her, pulling a knife from his boot and attempting to survive her onslaught.

The battle seemed to go on forever. Every time Hawkeye managed to disarm her, she pulled out yet another weapon that was somehow concealed on her small frame and came at him without any indication of slowing down.

Finally, after some minutes, the thief managed to run out of weapons, as Hawkeye had disarmed her of all of them, and the roof was littered with various knives, blades, hell even shuriken. But she wouldn't give up yet, and them they were fighting hand to hand combat.

"Are you almost done?" Coulson's voice sounded in his ears, sounding bored and near exasperated.

Hawkeye dodged a combined punch and sidekick.

"I'm a little busy here!" He yelled back into the comms.

"You're wasting time." Coulson sighed. "Bring her in already."

"I'm trying!" Hawkeye snapped, flipping backwards and then springing forward and tackling the girl. But she rolled them over and kicked him off, leaping back to her feet and kicking him in the gut, sending the agent flying into another air duct.

"This isn't easy, y'know!" Hawkeye used the air duct to push away from her. "She's really good!"

Almost as good as… wait.

Hawkeye felt his eyes widen as if clicked. He knew her fighting style seemed familiar! Narrowing his eyes in disbelief, Hawkeye ran at the woman again, this time setting up an attack that only Natasha would know how to outmaneuver.

And the girl did.

He had always called it the 'roundabout', much to Natasha's annoyance. He set up the attack as he would for Natasha –punch high, low, round house – setting the girl off-balance. Then Hawkeye grabbed her, intending to fling her over his back, and just like Natasha –her shin slammed into the right side of Hawkeye's face, and then she twisted in the opposite direction, hanging upside down for barely a second as she brought her right leg up to snap both legs around his neck and, hands on the ground in a handstand, haul him forwards and slam him head-first into the ground.

All in the span of seconds.

Owww… Yeah, that's definitely a Black Widow move.

"Had enough?" He heard her asked from above, standing over him, panting through the mask around her face.

Now it was his turn to cheat.

"Stoj!" He cried in Russian. Stop!

She hesitated, just for a moment, and it was enough. Hawkeye slammed a taser into her thigh, and she gave a shout of anger before she collapsed forward, nearly landing on top of him.

Before she could get up, Hawkeye jumped onto her, straddling her back and yanking her arms behind her and handcuffing them. The whole time, she was spewing curses at him in several different languages, most of which he understood, the majority of them in Russian (to which he was very familiar with due to Natasha and her cranky temper). He helped her into a sitting position, dodging her biting and kicking the whole time, and then retrieved the many weapons that had been scattered around the roof during their fight.

He then retrieved the briefcase and went to stand next to her, placing a hand on his earpiece. "Alright Coulson," He panted, "I got her."

"Took you long enough."

"Hey, don't get snippy with me!" Hawkeye growled. "You'll never guess what I just caught."

"A thief?" Coulson drawled. "Just get the goods and get back to the van, Barton."

"No, Coulson." Hawkeye chuckled. Oh he wished that he could see Phil's face as he said this. "I just caught us another Black Widow."

The woman – well, girl really, now that he got a good look at her – on the ground jerked and turned her face upwards to stare at him. He could see the question in her eyes.

Another Black Widow? Another?

Phil was quiet on the other side of the comm for a long time, before he finally heard a heavy sigh.

"Shit."

There it is folks. Our nameless heroine meets the SHIELD initiative for the first time.

Please leave a review!