Chapter Twenty

Fury walked into the medical wing with the Widow trailing behind him. She glanced warily around her, her body tense as though she expected to be harmed at any moment. Fury noticed her uncertainty and stood next to her before putting a hand on her shoulder,

"No one is going to hurt you here Widow" he told her quietly. The Widow looked up at him and nodded, relief coursing through her as she realised that she actually had someone to protect her this time.

"Director Fury, what can we do for you?" a middle aged woman spoke as she stepped forward.

"Doctor Jones, I need you to help the Widow, you have been working on a machine that specialises in mental barriers correct?" Jones eyes widened as she realised what she was being asked to do.

"Yes Sir, however it is yet to be tested" she stammered. The Widow stepped forward, her back straight and stiff and her face blank,

"Do it" she stated. Fury and Jones looked at her. Fury nodded, he knew that the Widow was desperate to get control over her own actions and resolved to support her the whole way. Jones, after receiving the go ahead from Fury called her team to set up the experimental machine,

We're ready" she told them five minutes later. Without hesitation, the Widow walked forward and laid on the table. The team of doctors got to work, restraining and attaching electrodes to her body.

"What are the restraints for?" Fury demanded dangerously as he saw the Widow tense up.

"She needs to stay still throughout the procedure and this is the only way to make sure she does" Jones hurried to explain. The Widow looked at Fury from where she was strapped down and gave a slight nod. Jones walked over to her and into her vision,

"This may not work Ms Widow" she said.

"At least I can say I tried" she replied.

"It is going to hurt. A lot." Jones warned. The Widow froze for a moment before answering,

"I can handle it. Do it." Jones nodded once more before retreating towards the monitors.

"Starting in five… four… three… two… one!"

The Widow's back arched from where she was restrained and she threw back her head before letting loose a scream of agony. Fury started forwards, an angry/ worried look on his face; he was stopped however by several doctors,

"Don't!" one warned; "You will make it worse" Fury glared at him,

"Shut it down!" he ordered. They shook their heads,

"We can't, the machine will only shut down once the procedure has finished" the second one explained.

"What are her chances of survival?" he asked quietly as the Widow continued to scream and writhe under the pain inside her head.

"At this rate… thirty percent" Jones told him, her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. The completion bar was slowly climbing and was currently at thirty eight percent. Fury watched on powerless to do stop it while the Widow screamed.

"STOP PLEASE! She screamed, slipping back into her memories of the Red Room, it felt all too similar to the days she had to endure the multiple experiments her Masters threw at her. Fury's heart wrenched as he heard her, he knew she believed that she was back in her nightmares and he was furious that he could not help her.

"Just let me die" she pleaded as her screams turned into sobs. It went on for another two hours and by the end everyone was on edge from her screams and cries of pain, she had resorted to begging during the last half an hour of the procedure and Fury was just about to grant her her wish before a sudden beeping emitted from the monitor and the Widow went still as the programme ended.

Doctors from all corners of the room ran over and undid the restraints before checking her vitals,

"She's alive but her pulse is very weak" one told Fury before they transferred her into a waiting portable bed and began to push her towards the doors. Fury began to follow but was stopped by Jones,

"One minute please Director, you may want to have a look at this" she told him, gesturing towards the monitors. Fury walked over quickly and looked at the screens but understood none of what it way saying,

"Explain please Doctor" he asked her impatiently.

"Firstly, the procedure was successful, the mental barriers placed on her mind have now been broken" she informed him,

"Hold up 'barriers' as in more than one?" Fury asked, raising an eyebrow. Jones nodded her head,

"Yes, the Widow had a grand total of nine barriers placed around various aspects of her brain. See these grey areas" she drew up a CAT scan of the Widow's brain and pointed to the numerous grey patches dotted around, Fury nodded,

"They are scar tissue" Fury looked at her in surprise, "This woman's brain was literally used as a play thing by a very careless professional; it is incredible that she is actually alive let alone sane with the amount of damage done to her" Jones explained seriously. Fury continued to stare at the monitor for a few moments, he wanted to find out exactly what the Widow had been through and then find the people responsible and kill them.

"Thank you Doctor Jones, please place a copy of the results in her file before deleting the original and all other information pertaining the Widow" as he strode towards the door.

"Yes Sir" Jones muttered as she studied the information before her with pity for the Widow.

Her eyes shot open and the Widow quickly raised herself into a sitting position as she looked around her. She found herself in a small room, complete with white walls, a couple of chairs and a bedside table. Slipping out of the bed she started for the door, wary and on guard, 'Where am I?' just before she reached it, the door opened and a man in a lab coat walked in; her instincts took over and she grabbed him by the throat and shoved him into the wall,

"Where am I?" she asked hoarsely, her voice having being destroyed by the screaming. The man struggled desperately in her grip as he tried to get air into his lungs,

"Safe" he choked out, she narrowed her eyes and squeezed tighter,

"WHERE. AM. I?" she demanded again, louder this time. The man slowly started to turn purple as his brain was cut off from the oxygen it desperately needed.

"WIDOW, RELEASE HIM!" a voice shouted authoritively at her, she turned her gaze upon the doorway and found a tall, African-American man with an eye patch and long leather coat standing there. She recognized him vaguely from somewhere however her mind was extremely confused.

"WIDOW. NOW" Fury ordered. Frowning at him, the Widow obeyed and released the man, who collapsed onto the ground gasping and coughing.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" she asked warily as she stumbled backwards. Fury walked further into the room,

"Do you not recognize me?" he asked, she shook her head warily.

"I am Director Fury of SHIELD. You are currently in one of our medical recovery rooms at our headquarters" she widened her eyes,

"You're meant to be dead. I shot you" she stammered, her mind getting confused as it tried to differentiate what was real, what was not and where exactly in time it was. Now it was Fury's turn to frown.

"Widow, what are you talking about, you never shot me" he was concerned for her mental wellbeing and was starting to think that maybe she was not right in the head. The Widow shook her head,

"I shot you, it was a clear shot through the window" she informed him before doubling over and grasping her head,

"My head" she gasped before she collapsed onto the ground. Fury rushed over to her and gently picked her up and placed her back onto the bed. Sitting down in one of the chairs next to her, he frowned deeply as he remembered the event that the Widow had just described. He could not believe that she was involved, let alone the one responsible for almost killing him. And anyway she didn't look older than twenty two years old, so unless she shot him when she was seven, which he highly doubted, he put it down as her confusing it with another kill mission she had done in the past.

Fury sat waiting for the Widow to wake up for nearly five hours; during that time, Barton, Coulson and Hill had all made an appearance to check up on him and the Widow's condition. It was incredible he marvelled that although the Widow had given them no reason to trust her thus far, the three top agents in his organisation had already accepted her as one of their own. He shook his head, 'maybe when all this settled down, she could be' he thought. He was snapped out of his thoughts as the Widow stirred and opened her eyes. She blinked several times before her gaze focused on Fury,

"Director?" she asked. Fury sighed with relief,

"Yes, you're not going to attack me are you?" he asked, only half joking. The Widow frowned,

"No, why should I? Do I have a reason to?" she replied and she looked generally concerned about having to do so. Fury quickly shook his head,

"No you don't but I was just checking since the last time you awoke you attacked a medical officer." He responded with a chuckle. She glared at him and muttered,

"I hate doctors, what'd you expect?" he conceded her point since from what she had told him earlier, she had no reason to do so.

"Don't worry no one blames you" he reassured her, "I have a question however, before you collapsed, you said that I should be dead after you apparently shot me through a window" he looked at her and saw that she had gone tense at his words,

"My question is, why did you think that?" he saw her battling furiously with herself before finally coming to a decision.

She looked at him deadly serious,

"Before I tell you, I want you to promise that what I say here never leaves this room" Fury frowned at her and thought about it,

"Will the information compromise or endanger SHIELD in anyway?" he asked her.

"No" she paused before conceding, "At least I don't think it should" he sighed it was better than he had hoped,

"Fine I promise, now what did you mean?" the Widow was silent for a few minutes,

"I was the one responsible for your assassination attempt fifteen years ago" she informed his quietly. Fury looked at her sharply,

"Widow you look barely a day over twenty two years old and I highly doubt that you were assassinating people at that age." The Widow chuckled darkly,

"Looks can be deceiving Director, I am older than I look" she replied, she sobered and turned serious again,

"I was following orders at the time Fury, you were an enemy of Mother Russia and I was ordered to take you out"

"But you failed" he pointed out

"Yes, I failed. Although not for lack of trying" she smiled grimly at him,

"You were lucky, at the exact moment I fired, you moved and therefore got struck in the chest, not the heart" silence followed her words,

"So you are older than you appear?" she nodded,

"Yes, though I still told the truth, I really did not know my age when you first asked me" he leaned forwards,

"And now you do?" he questioned.

"The procedure worked, the barriers have been lifted and my mind is becoming clearer with every passing moment. I am seventy one years old" not many things could surprise Fury; however he felt that this was one of them.

"Seventy one?" he repeated. The Widow nodded,

"Yes, three and a half decades with the Red Room and then two and a half with the KGB before going freelance for eight years" she replied.

"I'm going to need time to process this and figure out where we go next. I will come and see you later" he told her, still slightly stunned as he stood up. She nodded and closed her eyes again, his reaction amused her greatly and it had been a long time since she had laughed. As soon as he did leave the room, she let it out and did not stop until ten minutes later.

He came back as promised three hours later; the Widow was currently occupying herself by staring at the ceiling. She glanced at Fury when he walked in before returning her gaze back onto the ceiling,

"So am I going to be shot?" she asked. Fury retook his seat next to her,

"Why would you ask that?" he responded,

"Because I attempted to kill you, I'm pretty sure that counts at treason not to mention against the law" she replied.

"You were obeying orders, and like you said, it is not like you had any choice in the matter" he told her gruffly. She finally focused her attention onto him,

"Why are you being so kind to me? I already owe you a debt, there is no need to treat me as though I am deserving of it" she said. He half smirked,

"Widow, you really have got to stop being so hard on yourself, you did not have a choice back then however you do now and that is all I'm interested in. So if I want to treat you like a human being and not like a damn expendable asset, I will. And you better except that pretty quickly, because it is not going to change anytime soon."

She stared at him for a moment,

"Thank you" she told him softly. He nodded,

"Now, are you up for giving me more information on the KGB?" she nodded her head eagerly and began the torrent of information again, Fury recorded everything via a portable recorder.

Another four hours later, he held up a hand to stop her,

"That's enough for today; we will pick it up again tomorrow. Get some rest" he told her with a small smile. He left the room and the Widow drifted off to sleep.

For the next several weeks, the Widow's schedule was as followed:

0600 getting up at and doing her own fitness routine

0700 breakfast was delivered to her cell

0800 Fury or Hill would collect her and take her to the interrogation room where she would give them every bit of useful information she knew on the KGB and their allies

1200 she was given lunch and a break

1300 the information giving was resumed

1900 dinner was served and she was taken back to her cell.

The same cycle was repeated over and over for the next fourteen days. She was getting bored of it pretty quickly however did not to complain, she was walking on thin ice and knew that the Council could easily change their minds about the kill order if they wanted to, therefore she did not dare to step out of line and obeyed Fury and Hill's orders without hesitation. Barton visited her most nights and they spent several hours talking about rubbish. Their pasts were never discussed by an unspoken agreement and so they ended up talking about favourite books, films etc. Barton was appalled at her lack of knowledge when it came to those areas and so took it upon himself to educate her in what he considered the classics.

"So the Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the greatest pieces of work ever written and you are telling me that you have never heard of them? He asked in disbelief. She chuckled at his face and responded,

"That is correct Agent Barton" he waved a hand impatiently,

"Lose the 'Agent' business please, we're friends are we not?" he said while grinning. She raised a perfect eyebrow,

"I don't have friends Barton, I lost that ability a long time ago" her eyes glazed over as she remembered her last friend and how it ended. Barton's grin faded as he saw her look, attempting to snap her out of it he spoke again,

"Well Widow, you just hadn't met me before" his tone arrogant. That did it,
"Shut up" she lightly pushed him, he fell off the bed anyway. Looking up at her, he burst out laughing, the Widows mouth twitched but nothing more,,
"Aw come on, I know you want to laugh, just let it out Widow, no one will know" she tilted her head slightly,

"I don't know what you're talking about" she replied coolly. He grinned at her tone,
"Course you don't" he replied, copying her tone.

"You're so childish Barton" she commented as she leaned her back against the wall.

"Yes. Yes I am" he said proudly, earning an eye roll from her.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, suddenly serious

"You just did" she replied dryly, Barton opened his mouth and then closed it as he thought back to what just happened,

"Then can I ask you two questions?" he asked, keeping a straight face she replied in the same tone,

"That was your second question" he mock glared at her,

"Dammit Widow, Do you want to stay here at SHIELD?" she opened her eyes and stared at him, her face serious,

"I have no where else to go Barton, and anyway I owe both you and Fury a debt. I'm not going to leave until those debts are repaid"

"You don't owe me anything" he said, frowning. She shook her head,

"You decided to give me a second chance Barton, for that I am grateful and someday I hope to repay you for that chance" They both fell silent after that,

"Can I please do something physical tomorrow? I feel like I'm going insane just sitting here and answering questions" she suddenly asked. Barton chuckled and stood up,

"I'll see what I can do. Good night Widow"

"Good night Agent Barton" she replied with a smile. He laughed lightly before leaving the room.

The next morning, she found out that Barton had kept his word when Hill took her to a gym and not the normal interrogation room when she came to collect her that morning.

"Barton informed us that you were getting restless" Hill said as she walked onto the mat.

"Yes" the Widow responded cautiously, "I'm not used to be cooped up for long periods of time" Hill flashed a smile her way,
"I can understand that" as she settled into a defence stance. The Widow eyed her cautiously,

"You want to spar?" Hill nodded,

"Barton's busy for a few hours and I was the only one willingly to do so. You have inspired a great amount of fear into our agents even though the majority of them have never met you." She informed the Widow. The Widow smirked at that before copying Hill and settled into her stance,

"I warn you, I will not go easy" Hill said.

"Give it your best shot" the Widow replied. And Hill did, she was an excellent fighter, the Widow had to admit that, however the Widow was better. Not once did Hill manage to land a hit on her and so the fight was over several minutes later with Hill on the ground and the Widow on top of her.

"I yield" Hill told her calmly, the Widow immediately got off her and took a step back. Hill got gingerly back onto her feet,
"Damn you can fight" she complemented the other woman.

"Thank you. You're not bad yourself Agent Hill, if I did not have the serum you would definitely be a formidable opponent" replied the Widow with a slight bow.

"Shall we go again?" Hill asked. In answer, the Widow settled back into her stance before attacking. It went on for several hours and Hill was feeling extremely sore by the end of it. She knew the Widow had been holding back on her strength as to avoid any serious damage and for that she was thankful.

Slow clapping brought their attention towards the rear wall where Fury was currently leaning against it, apparently having been watching for several minutes.

"That was very well done" he told them both as he approached.

"I'm assuming she has passed her physical test?" he asked his second in command, Hill nodded in affirmative. If she was bothered that she was being tested, the Widow did not show it,

"You were testing me" she stated, both Fury and Hill nodded,

"We wanted to see what you could do" Hill explained as she wiped sweat of her brow with a towel.

"I have just spent the morning with the Council concerning you." Fury told her,

"They have been impressed with the amount of Intel you have given us and have agreed to give you a test trial of six months to see whether you can be trusted or not to become a SHIELD agent" the Widow stared at him stunned,
"You.. you want me to join SHIELD?" they both nodded, "so this means you are not going to kill me?" they both smirked at her,

"Not yet" Fury answered, "It's still on the table in case we decide we cannot trust you by the end of your probation period" the Widow nodded her head solemnly,

"What will I be doing during this test trial?" she asked.

"Agent Hill has agreed to be your handler for the next six months, she will be training you and informing you about the guidelines here at SHIELD. Reports on your progress will be sent to me daily. I trust you will behave?" he answered.

"Yes Director" she replied seriously giving him a small bow.

"Good, I will see you in a week's time to check in on you" with that he left the room.

"So… is there any specific titles I need to address you as now that you are my superior officer?" she asked Hill. Hill smirked,

"Agent Hill or Ma'am is fine" the Widow nodded,

"Yes Ma'am" she replied seriously.

"The first thing we need to do is fill in the basic paperwork so that you are actually on record as a probationary SHIELD agent." Hill told her as they sat at the table in one of the conference rooms. The Widow nodded her head.

"I need a name to put on the form, do you have any idea of what you want to go by now?" Hill asked her. The Widow considered it for several minutes before answering,
"Romanoff, Natasha Romanoff" Hill nodded and dutifully wrote it down,

"I like it. It's very… American" she told the newly christened Widow. Romanoff smirked,

"Since I am technically going to be an Agent for America, I thought it would be best if I chose a name that would fit in"

"Technically SHIELD is a global organisation, we don't answer to one single government since we are tasked with the protection of every country around the world" Hill commented. Romanoff pulled a face that said 'whatever'

"What's next?" she asked

"Date of birth and age" Hill said,

"Put down November 19th as the date" Hill gave her a strange look,

"It was the day I defected from the KGB" Romanoff shrugged. Hill nodded and wrote it down.

"Year?"

"1977" she answered

"Nationality: Russian, I assume" Hill said, Romanoff merely nodded. They went back and forth like this for several hours before Hill finally put her pen down,
"Finished!" she exclaimed with relief. Romanoff smiled,

"I assume I will be going back to my cell now?" she asked. Hill gave her a grin,

"Oh no, the Council has agreed that since you are no longer a prisoner as such, you get your own quarters" Romanoff blinked in surprise,

"Really?" Hill nodded.

A knock at the door stopped whatever she was going to say,

"Come in" Hill called. The door opened and Barton strode in with a grin on his face,
"Sup Hill, Widow" he said as he settled down in one of the vacant chairs. Romanoff stared at him in disbelief, if she had addressed a superior officer like that during her years in the Red Room or the KGB, she would have been beaten within an inch of her life. Hill evidently was thinking upon similar lines,
"Agent Barton, what is my rank?" she asked as though she was generally interested in his answer. Barton's grinned slipped slightly,
"Second in command, why?" Hill nodded her head,
"And what's yours?" she further questioned, Barton did not like the direction this conversation was taking,
"I'm a level eight Agent"

"Right, so unless the ranking system has changed during the last hour, I outrank you isn't that correct? She said still in that conversational tone. Barton looked at her uneasily and nodded. Romanoff was watching them with a small smile on her face; it was like watching a very interesting tennis match.

"Therefore, what makes you think you can address me in such a way? She finally got to her point. Barton looked puzzled for a moment before back tracking,
"Ah yes apologizes Agent Hill, Ma'am" he said as he realised his error. Hill nodded satisfied,

"Good. Since you are here however Agent Barton, you can take Romanoff to her new quarters" gesturing to the Widow. The grin was back as he stared at the Widow,
"Finally chosen a name eh? What is it?" he asked. The Widow graced him with a half smile,
"Natasha Romanoff" he nodded,

"Suits you" he said before turning back to Hill, "And of course Ma'am" Hill nodded,

"Very well. Good night to you both. Romanoff, I will see you in the training room at 0730 tomorrow" Romanoff nodded and got to her feet,
"Yes Ma'am" she replied before following Barton out the door.

"Natasha Romanoff huh?"

"Yes" she responded

"Is Hill treating you alright? She has the nick name, 'Hardass Hill' for a reason" Romanoff looked at him,

"I'm sure I can deal with whatever Agent Hill throws my way" Barton nodded as though agreeing with her,

"I'm sure you can. Just good luck though" he told her as he stopped by a doorway,

"Mine's just two doors down, if you need anything, come and find me yeah?" he informed her,

"Thank you Agent Barton" she replied softly before opening her door and slipping inside.

Several days went by without an incident; Romanoff found that if she glared at the other agents, they generally left her alone and she was glad for that since she was not a people person at all. It seemed that everyone except Fury, Hill, Coulson and Barton was afraid of her and she got a lot of amusement from that. Several times she had noticed several agents suddenly change directions as soon as they caught sight of her, it amused her to no end. Of course she never actually showed the amusement on her face rather she kept her features impressively blank.

She obeyed her orders from Hill to the letter and never showed disrespect to a superior officer, the programming compelling her to do so may be gone, however six decades of conditioning with the use of violence was not going to disappear over night.

An alarm started blaring at three am one morning and Romanoff instantly rolled out of bed into a defence stance. Realising the threat was not in her room, she quickly got changed into her SHIELD issued catsuit before running out of her room and down the corridor. Barton caught up with her,
"What's going on?" she asked him as they ran side by side, Barton answered grimly,

"We're under attack"

"Where are we going?" she took the news in her stride and remained professional,

"Fury's office. He's the biggest target therefore we need to protect him" gun shots were heard behind them and they dodged out of the way, Barton handed her a gun before stopping and drawing an arrow from his quiver and placing it on his bow string,

"I've got this. Go" he yelled over his shoulder. She hesitated for a moment before nodding and continuing on her way. Five minutes she reached Fury's office and pressed an ear to the door, hearing voices she cocked her gun before opening it quickly and rolled into the room. Seeing that it was only Fury and Hill, she quickly shut the door,
"Good, you're both alive" she told them. Hill lowered her gun,
"You almost got your self shot there Widow" she said, Romanoff shrugged her shoulders,

"It had to be done" they looked at each other for a moment,

"How goes it out there" Fury asked,

"Barton was holding them off in the East corridor, I don't know about the rest of the facility though" she answered. She suddenly stiffened,

"They're coming." She warned as she stood to face the door, her gun ready to kill. Hill and Fury took cover behind his desk. The door burst open and two men entered, the Widow shot them in the head without hesitation and waiting for the next attacker. More came in, at least twelve men stormed into the room; she killed five of them before the gun was knocked from her hands and she was forced onto her knees. The men stood to attention as a lone pair of footsteps echoed from down the corridor and a figure stepped into the door way. The Widow's eyes widened,
"No" she gasped, the familiar pit of fear once again making itself known in her stomach.

"Hello Widow" the cold voice of Madame Rozalina echoed around the room.

A/N: told you some of the Masters would make an appearance.

Btw I know Coulson was Romanoff's handler during her years at SHIELD so therefore he will be resuming that role after the probationary time is up.

Keep reviewing please, thanks.