"Do you know what your doing, Barton?"

I froze for a fraction of a second before continuing my work with the numerous wires poking in all directions from the tiny but powerful explosive device. Flashes of my past crept into my mind and I had to push them out.

"It's not the first time." Was all I said in return. She didn't say anything else, just continued typing furiously on the laptop. Soon the bomb was set and the security systems were hacked, and they had one more thing to do.

"Coulson, I have visual." I said, activating my comm link.

"Send me the codes, I'll gain access to all the main rooms and you can blow the place up."

"How far is extraction?" Natasha said, coming to kneel beside me and glance over the dangerous explosive sitting in front of us.

"Three miles north. Once I give them the go they'll be at the location you gave them to pick you up." Coulson replied, the sound of distant tapping coming through the comm as he typed on his own laptop.

"When your in position, strap this beauty to a secure surface, press the red button and type in the activation code. We'll have half an hour to get the hell out of here and get out of range, so as soon as it's activated, get out."

"And what about you?" she said, glancing at me. "How will you get out?"

"I'll be hot on your heels, darlin'" I winked, and she narrowed her eyes slightly before turning away. Was that a blush I saw?

"Okay, I'm in. Are the two of you ready?"

Natasha was already up and double checking all her endless amount of weapons, gently picking up the bomb and strapping it into her utility belt. I set my bow and arrows and two hand guns beside me, just in case, before getting comfortable and sitting with the laptop on my lap.

"Ready." She murmured, more to herself then anyone else. I could see she was nervous behind the blank look she wore on her face. I sighed and set the laptop aside.

"Hey, you alright?" I stood up and came to stand in front of her.

"Of course I am, you idiot." She spat back, a smirk on her face. It didn't reach her eyes.

"We'll make it out of this." I nodded reassuringly, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. Her hand reached up to snatch it away, but she fought her instincts and instead wrapped her small fingers around my wrist and slid her hand over my own.

"I hope so." It was nothing more then a whisper, and her unexpected bone-crushing hug knocked the breath out of me. Her arms wound around my neck and her breath tickled my skin. I smiled and hugged her back, burying my face in her red hair, breathing in its rare scent.

She pulled back when Coulson cleared his throat in our ears, smiling up at me with a nod. She grabbed her gun out of her holster, winked and took the small set of stairs two at a time and closing the door silently behind her. I sighed and took my former position, ignoring Coulson's breathing in my ear as I watched her through the security footage, walking down the halls.

"I've disabled all of their visual, frozen the screens so they don't realize in a rush. She should be alright."

"Thanks, Coulson." I murmured, watching her walk down the halls that held too many nightmares for one person to bear. She was quick and quiet, the perfect weapon.

"Widow, passerby on your left, take 'em down."

.

I'd killed about twelve guards by now and I hadn't even been walking for more then twenty minutes. I didn't recognize any of them, but by the look of surprise on their faces before death came by, they remembered me.

I tried to kill them clean and quietly, snapping their necks and dumping their bodies in the closest closet or behind a pillar. It was eerie to be walking down these halls, memories of being dragged by my hair or walking through them, bloody and naked after punishment, but knowing that these halls will soon be blown to ash was as much comfort as I was going to get.

And his voice. The way it dripped in concern every time he warned me of a guard that was to turn the corner. He tried to hide it with a joke or a sarcastic comment, but it was more then noticeable. Coulson used his access to the systems to unlock the heavy doors, and the higher and further I travelled, the more uneasy I began to feel.

Then I stopped outside of a particularly large door, which had blood smears all over it. The handle was rusty and I could remember all the times I'd opened this entryway, the comfort I had found in the room beyond. Clint noticed my hesitation.

"Something wrong?" he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and shook my head, well aware that he'd seen it. Coulson muttered something and I heard the lock latch open, and I quickly opened up the door before I changed my mind.

The thirteen plain beds were all spread out through the room just like they'd been the last time I'd been here. The beds were like hospital cots, the metal rusty and scratched and splattered with blood. The white, rough sheets were tucked into the sides with one hard white pillow on top, a plain bedside table beside each bed. I walked over to the one in the right corner on the opposite side of the cold room.

Opening the draw on the bedside table, I pulled out the ugly brown chest that smelt of mothballs and dirt. I'd lost the key long ago, and made quick word to pick the small padlock and let it fall to the floor with a soft clang.

The four contents in the chest were enough to send a wave of emotions coursing through my body. My fingers, for the first time in years, trembled as I reached into the box and picked out each of the items.

The first, a hair pin that I'd worn on my first mission. It was silver, the fine metal dulled from years of sitting in this box. The green emeralds were all placed in the shape of a flower, and I rubbed my thumb over the jewels that sparkled in the light. I'd kept this in memory of my first mission, which had gone completely as planned. Throw away the evidence, we'd been taught, but for some strange reason, I'd felt the urge to keep this. I placed it in my hair.

The second, was a bright blue feather. I blew the dust from it, brushing my fingers over the soft edges. I'd been training outside by the forest, thrown to the ground by my teacher after a poor fight and left to find my own way home. The weather was warmer then, and as I followed the footprints in the snow and wiped the blood from my nose, I crossed paths with a lone blue jay.

It was injured and helplessly fluttering in the snow, letting out a strangled cry as it tried to make flight. My first thought was to put it out of its misery and kill the pathetic creature with a stone or even my boot, but the look in its beady eyes pulled at my heart. I scooped it in my arms and hid it in one of the sheds back at base, bringing it food and water everyday as it slowly began to heal.

It was my own little secret, and it was so different to be helping something live rather then making it die. By the time it was fully healed, it had shed some feathers and left a beautiful blue one the size of my hand. I put it in my pocket and cradled the bird in my hands, sneaking back to where I'd first found it and throwing it into the air. It flailed at first, but soon was gliding through the air and diving in and out of the trees. I watched it fly out of sight and longed for someone to help put me back together and set me free.

The third, a seashell the size of my palm. It was my first time out of Europe when I'd found it, somewhere in the Mediterranean islands. The sea was a fantastic place to be by, the dark blue water and the soft sand between my toes. The warm weather had definitely become something I was fond of, and throughout the entire beach, there were only a few seashells. Most of them were broken or ugly, but I came across one that looked like a snail shell. It was white and had brown stripes across it, like a tiger, and it's smooth surface glinted in the sunlight. I stuffed it into my pockets and killed my mark like I hadn't felt free at all.

The fourth was something that stirred me the most, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't exactly remember how I had gotten a hold of it. But this particular item pulled at my heartstrings the most. It was nothing more then the stem of a rose. No petals, no leaves, just a withered, thorned stem about the size of my forefinger. It still smelt like roses, and when I concentrated really hard on how I had claimed this item, I saw the figure of a man. Not clear enough to distinguish who he was, but enough to see his dark brown hair and silver arm.

"Widow, there's someone headed straight for the room your in. She's walking fast, too."

I frowned. Which 'she' would it be?

I quickly placed the four small items in a pocket on my utility belt, clenching my fists at the sting that the thorns had caused by stabbing into my palm. I placed the chest back in the draw and closed it, drawing my body behind a pillar a peaking around the corner.

The door creaked open, and I sighed when I saw who it was. Her blond hair had been cropped shorter then last time, and her brown eyes looked duller then usual. She glanced around the room, always aware, and I knew that she knew she wasn't alone.

She acted indifferent, though, and quickly composed herself to innocent. She walked to the bed two rows away from my own, her eyes flickering momentarily to the small broken padlock lying on the floor. Shit.

I glanced over at the second door, not too far away from me, and bit my lip in concentration as I tried to figure a way out. I could hear Clint's deep breathing in my ear and Coulson's never ending typing, but concentrated on her.

"Whoever you are, you may as well come out. I know you're in here." She murmured in Russian, never taking her eyes away from the wall she was staring at. I rolled my eyes and took a step out. She froze.

"Natalia?" she breathed, my old name hitting me hard. I remained blank as she stood up from the bed, frowning slightly and looking very uncomfortable.

"Veronika." I replied in my mother tongue. She gaped like a fish out of water.

"Your supposed to be dead."

Now it was my turn to frown. "How so?"

"He told us you failed to come back from your mission, he said you were burnt to ashes along with the building."

I smirked now. So my plan had worked after all when I made my escape.

"Where are the others?" I changed the subject, motioning to the twelve other beds. She swallowed and suddenly her eyes turned cold and stony. My fingers twitched for my gun.

"Dead."

I sighed. Of course, the arena. They would have had plenty of time to put their words into actions since I'd left.

"You won?"

She narrowed her eyes. "There's only one Black Widow."

I sighed. "Well, at the moment, there are two."

She bared her teeth and took a threatening step forward. "Why are you here? How are you alive?" she demanded, looking me up and down. Her eyes froze on my shoulder.

I stiffened as her intense gaze flashed with anger and she glared up at me. Suddenly the S.H.I.E.L.D emblem felt like it was burning through my shoulder. Stupid thing.

"You changed sides…" she whispered to herself, and I nodded, staring back blankly.

"There's more to life then you think, Veronika." I said, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"No, don't do that! I know how you work, Natalia," she spat my name like it was vile. "You'll manipulate me, you'll try to persuade me that there is a way out, and when I turn my back for just a second, you'll strike! That's how you did it, that's how you always came out of missions unscathed. Your silvertongue and strange technique in fighting is what always made him favour you! But all these years, I was right! I always said that you were going to do wrong by our country, and here's my proof. Natalia Romanova has betrayed Mother Russia!"

I took a deep breath, but she continued.

"You would have one, you know, if you weren't such a coward. We all knew it. But you left, and now I am condemned with this life while you are off working for an American organization. Traitor!"

"You know, you always talked too much."

I lashed out, running forward and throwing her into the wall. She gasped and yanked at my hair, but thankfully it was tied up and remained out of her blind reach. I slammed her arms against the wall, her elbow smacking against the cement and causing her to scream. She made a move to knee me in the stomach, but I pushed her leg down before she made contact and punched her in the face.

She slumped down and I took a step back, watching as she regained herself. She gripped her gun in her holster but I kicked it out of her hand and yanked her into a standing position.

"Come on, you said it yourself, there's only one Black Widow. Who's it going to be? You killed all the other girls, so why not me, huh?" I teased, stepping towards her. She glared at me and spat blood onto the floor.

"You are an evil girl, Natalia." She murmured, and I suddenly felt a burning pain in my left abdomen. Looking down, I saw the small dagger protruding from my body.

"Cheating bitch," I breathed, yanking out the dagger and whipping it towards her. It scratched past her face and left a satisfying slice on her cheek.

"Is that all you got? Oh, I thought you were smarter then that." She taunted, the blood trickling down her face.

"How'd you find it in yourself to kill them? Wasn't Anastasia your best friend?" I changed the subject, and we began circling around each other.

Her eyes flashed with guilt. "Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to live."

"So you kill the girls you grew up with?"

"What would you have done?!" she shrieked, throwing a punch that I dodged easily. "You have eleven other deadly girls coming your way in an unfamiliar arena and you have no idea what's going on until you find yourself snapping necks and splitting skulls like we were taught to do?!"

"I would have let them kill me because living with that kind of guilt is not something I would be willing to go through!" I pounced forward, ducking under her swing and side stepping so I was behind her. She gasped and I grabbed both of her arms, twisting them behind her and listening to the satisfying crack and pop they made as they snapped out of their sockets. She screamed.

"But if it means taking down this organization to stop their sick games, then so be it," I breathed in her ear, pushing her to the floor and pulling out my gun.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

She lay lifeless on the floor, blood spilling out of her body and her arms tangled in a sickening way. Her brown eyes were wide open and slowly rolling into the back of her head. I turned away and retched on the floor.

It was only then that I remembered my small audience listening into the whole fight. I stiffened and placed my gun back into the holster.

"Clint?"

There was a long pause.

"I'm here."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. I knew he didn't see me the same way anymore just by the tone in his voice.

"We have a change in plan, Natasha." Coulson said, his voice edgy. "They know your in there. They've known all along."

I froze. I could here shuffling from Clint's end of the line.

"I'm coming up there now."

"What do we do?" I breathed, panic rising up in me. This cannot be happening!

"I'm feeding them the same false screens as before, and I've disabled all locks. Only the guards and a few passerby's will meet you. Finish it off early, we're on the clock."

"How long do we have?" Clint asked the question that I was about to ask.

"Probably half an hour, maximum, until they realise the security breach, and another twenty minutes until they can gain access to their systems again and take control over the footage and locks. So less then an hour."

I spun around when I heard the door open, gun at the ready, but lowered it when I realized who it was.

Clint walked in, without really looking at anything. He threw me one of the bags and unhooked his arrow from his shoulder, holding it at the ready. He was in his vest-suit and looked about as pissed as he could get. Stepping over Veronika's lifeless body, he grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the room. I followed obediently.

"So, there's only one Black Widow."

It wasn't a question, more of a statement, but I nodded anyway.

When he noticed me favouring my left side, his eyes washed over with concern and he suddenly stopping in his tracks, causing me to bump into him. He knelt in front of me and pressed his hand to my wound, my blood smearing his skin.

"Shit, I didn't know you got stabbed." He breathed, glancing at his hand and then looking up at me. "We need to fix this up."

I shook my head. "No, there's no time for that."

"Natasha-"

"Seriously, Clint. I'm fine! I'm already healing." I lied, pulling him to his feet. He shook his head and made to reach for the bag.

"Clint." He looked up at me as I grab his arm and stopped him from proceeding.

"I'm fine."

.

The mission will be broken down into 2 or 3 chapters, I'm not sure yet, I'm kinda just going along with it.

School has started again (cries) and it was my birthday on the first day. Sucks, right?

Anyway, updates will be even more less frequent then they have already been, I'm so sorry. But the more reviews I get, the more I will ditch homework and work on this!

Hansel and Gretel has FINALLY come out in Australia, and I'm seeing it Saturday, yay :D Jeremy Renner was in Sydney for the premier, and even though I live in WA I was screaming with joy because WE WERE IN THE SAME COUNTRY HOLY CRAP!

Okay, I'm fine, honestly.

Well, you know the drill, review review review!

P.S who's the mystery rose-stem man? Take a guess ;)