Author's Note: Hey guys
Sorry about the long wait, I really didn't know how I wanted this story to progress. Also this story is posted on Archive of our own so if anyone is having trouble reading this on Fanfiction then it is readable elsewhere.
Now on with the story!
Chapter Twenty Six
The last month of the three month probationary period had been hell for Natasha. That was not an exaggeration in the slightest. She was forced to work and train faster and harder and longer than ever before, that is not even mentioning the taunting and 'punishments' she had had to put up with. But she did. It was official; the Black Widow had overcome everything 'Hardass Hill' could throw at her and still was standing tall. That was until the last day.
"Recruit!" barked Hill as she walked into her student's quarters at one o'clock in the morning. Natasha immediately stood to attention as she realized there was no threat to her in the room.
"Ma'am" she stated coldly, acknowledging her superior officer.
"Follow me" Hill instructed sinisterly as she spun on her heels and marched back out the open doorway. Natasha immediately followed suit, ignoring the fact that she was only dressed in a tank top and loose fitting pajamas bottoms. Hill led her recruit down several corridors before instead of heading to the training room as normal but into one of the interrogation rooms. Opening the door, she gestured for the student to enter before walking in herself and shutting the door.
"Sit" Hill commanded coldly, gesturing towards one of the chairs. Natasha complied instantly and took a seat, suddenly nervous. Hill took the chair opposite hers and sat there staring at her student in complete silence for several minutes.
"This is your last day of your probationary period" she stated coldly. Natasha remained still as no answer was needed.
"Do you know why I have asked you in here?" she asked. Natasha shook her head,
"No ma'am"
Hill smirked,
"I thought that this would be a good time to get some honest answers from you Natalia" Natasha tensed slightly but gave no other reaction,
"What would you like to know ma'am?" she asked quietly, inwardly she was hoping that nothing too personal would come up.
"Why don't we start off with something easy? How old are you truly?" Natasha paled slightly at that, only Fury knew that and he promised to never speak of it. Hill watched her reaction and knew at last she was going to get a response, an honest one; well she would have to wait and see. She knew whatever she was told would stay between her and Fury and would never be mentioned in any reports officially or not.
"Seventy one" she replied, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Hill was shocked,
"Seventy one?" she repeated numbly. Natasha nodded,
"Who else knows?" Hill asked,
"Just Fury, you, me and my old masters" she responded automatically, her voice emotionless.
"Alright. Another question then, when did you start training?" she was curious about her students early life, yet she promised herself that since this was an abuse of her power, she was not going to inquire about everything. After all everyone has the right to secrecy.
"I was four I believe." Hill's eyes widened in disbelief,
"What happened to your parents?"
"They died" she replied shortly. Hill wisely chose to move on,
"What was your training like?"
"Brutal"
"I want a proper answer!" Hill snapped, slamming her hand on the table. Natasha stared at her coolly,
"If I made a mistake, disobeyed an order, was late, talked to the others etc etc I was punished"
"How?" Hill asked, leaning in. Natasha gave her a bitter smile,
"It was different each time. My first punishment was one hundred and ninety lashes with a whip" Hill looked horrified,
"What was the crime?" Natasha paused,
"I failed to hide my emotions. I was four years old and I was punished for being tired after training for eight hours straight" Hill went pale.
"How?" Natasha was puzzled,
"How what?" she replied,
"How did you survive?" Natasha smiled coldly; it sent shivers through Hill and answered,
"I learned"
"How many people have you killed?" Natasha frowned,
"Does that mean targets, the other recruits, civilians, witnesses and agents altogether?
"Altogether first" Hill responded cautiously, Natasha shrugged,
"Seven maybe eight thousand? Don't know an actual number" Hill went pale again,
"That many?" she croaked. Natasha nodded,
"It was my job agent Hill, if I was ordered to kill someone, I did it. No questions asked"
"Have you killed any SHIELD agents during this time?" Natasha shifted slightly in her seat,
"Yes" she responded quietly, not liking where the questions were going.
"Number?" Hill asked, morbidly curious,
"Ninety five"
"Shit!" Hill hissed, her eyes narrowed, "when was the last time you killed an agent of SHIELD?" Natasha grimaced,
"Do you remember the man hunt for SHIELD agents roughly eighteen years ago? Twenty four of the best agents were hunted down and killed?"
"It is not something one forgets. You were involved in that?"
"I was the one responsible for ALL their deaths" Natasha informed her calmly
"You what?" Hill spoke aghast
"I killed all twenty four of SHIELD's top agents within six months"
"And do you feel remorse for killing them?" Hill questioned in a cold voice.
"Of course!" Natasha snapped angrily, "you think I would be here if I didn't!?" she demanded her superior officer. Hill narrowed her eyes,
"Be careful Natalia, wouldn't want to lose your temper now would you?" Natasha breathed deeply, inwardly cursing her momentary loss of control,
"Forgive me" Hill studied her for a moment before nodding, apparently satisfied that she was indeed sorry.
"How many were civilians and innocents?"
"At least three thousand" Natasha responded quietly. Hill stared at her in utter shock,
"You have a lot of blood on your hands" Hill stated coldly, Natasha winced visibly,
"I know" she whispered softly. Silence fell in the room for several long moments; Natasha stared at the table, unable to look at her superior in the eye. Memories of her work flashed to the front of her mind, she closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, in an attempt to get rid of them.
"Are you alright?" Hill asked, concerned for the mental state of her agent,
"Fine." Came the instant reply, Natasha's eyes snapped back open and landed on Hill, "Anything else you would like to know ma'am?"
"Yes actually" Hill said, she leaned forwards, "Why are you here Natalia? What do you hope to gain?"
Natasha was quiet for several minutes, 'what did she want?' she thought,
"I want… a chance. I'm not expecting redemption or even forgiveness, yet I want a chance to attempt to make up at least a small percentage of my crimes" Hill stared at her for a minute; privately thinking that if what Natasha was saying true, that there may be hope for her yet.
"Here at SHIELD Natasha" Natasha blinked when she heard herself being addressed by her chosen name for the first time in months, "you will get that chance, but only if you truly want to change. Do I have your promise Natasha? Do I have your word that you will give this chance everything you have and will never ever turn against either SHIELD or go back on your word?" Hill asked, leaning forward. A tense silence filled the room as she waited for Natasha's response. Natasha looked at Hill, her face deadly serious,
"You have my word Agent Hill. I swear that I will not screw up this chance. I swear that I will never turn against SHIELD willingly. And I further swear to you that you can trust me. SHIELD has my loyalty Agent Hill and I don't give it easily"
"So. Has she passed the test?" Fury asked his second in command from where he sat behind his desk. Hill stood straight on the opposite side. She nodded her head,
"Yes sir. Nothing I did to her during the last three months gave any big reaction, if any reaction at all. The closest I got was her snapping briefly this morning when I interrogated her, and even that was brief and she apologized instantly." Fury was silent for several minutes, he considered everything he knew about the last three months as well as the information Natasha had truthfully revealed.
"Do you trust her?" he asked finally. Hill considered the question carefully before nodding,
"Yes I do. At least…" she hesitated, Fury motioned for her to continue, "I think she can be trusted until we give her a reason not to. Like she said, she does not trust nor give her loyalty easily and so the fact that she is willingly giving it to us shows how serious she is." Fury nodded,
"I agree. Let's just hope we never give her a reason not to trust us. I have a feeling we would be in a very dangerous situation if that ever happens" Hill silently prayed that that situation never came to pass, she actually liked living and would not like it to be cut short by a pissed off Black Widow.
"I want you to go and collect our resident assassin, it's time we told her the good news."
"Yes sir" Hill responded before walking to the door,
"Oh and Hill?" Hill stopped and looked back,
"Get Coulson as well, I believe he is going to be taking over as her handler yes?" Hill nodded,
"Yes sir, I've been away from my duties long enough" Fury nodded in agreement before Hill walked out of the room.
"Romanoff!" Hill shouted from the doorway as she watched Natasha take down eighteen SHIELD agents with ease. Immediately Natasha stopped fighting and turned towards the voice,
"Yes ma'am?" she responded with a small bow before standing at attention. Hill opened her mouth to talk but before she got the chance, one of the fallen agents decided to use this distraction as an excellent chance to fell the unbeatable Black Widow.
"Arghhhh!" the agent let out a frustrated cry as he aimed a punch at Natasha's head. Moving with impossible speed, Natasha spun round, caught the punch with one hand before twisting it behind the unfortunate agents back, all the while kicking one of his legs out from under him. She leaned in so her lips were near his ear,
"Unless you don't want to be sent to an early grave, I suggest you don't try that again" the agent paled drastically. Natasha sent a glance over into Hill's direction. Hill just crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. She sighed before reluctantly releasing the agent and stepping over him towards where Hill stood.
"You didn't harm him" Hill stated as they both existed the gym and started to walk. Natasha shrugged,
"I figured like the last three months, I was forbidden from attacking back" Hill chuckled,
"What was it you said to him that made his lose all color?" she asked, Natasha gave her a cold smile,
"I simply informed him that trying that again would result in an early death" Hill glanced at her side ways,
"Romanoff, what have I said about killing SHIELD agents?" Natasha sighed,
"I'm not allowed" Hill smirked,
"Good"
"So where exactly are we going?" Natasha asked
"Fury wants to see you" Hill replied
"Oh. I'm assuming that asking 'why' would not get an answer?"
"Indeed."
They continued walking down numerous corridors in silence before they got to Fury's office. Hill knocked on the door and waited until she was given permission to enter before walking in; Natasha one step behind her. Fury was sitting behind his desk as usual while Coulson stood off to the side.
"Good you're both here" he stated.
"Director" Natasha greeted him with a small bow.
"Sir" Hill simply stated
"Romanoff sit" Fury ordered, Natasha instantly complied and sat on the edge of the chair offered. Hill stood slightly behind her chair.
"Do you know why I have called you here Romanoff?" Natasha shook her head slightly,
"No sir"
"This is your review meeting to determine how well you have done during your probationary period and to determine if you passed or failed." Silence fell in the room whilst Fury studied his newest agent.
"Tell me Romanoff, how do you think you have done?" Natasha blinked in surprise at the question, during her years at the Red Room and the KGB, never once was her opinion asked for,
"I think I did an adequate job sir" she replied cautiously. Fury and Hill both snorted in disbelief,
"You did better than 'adequate' Romanoff" Fury retorted. Natasha nodded uneasily,
"Thank you Sir" she replied uncertainly.
"Romanoff, you exceeded all expectations that either I or the World Security Council had. Congratulations you are being shipped to a secure location at 0700 tomorrow morning, there you will be gathering information from particularly closed mouth prisoners. Do you accept?"
Romanoff looked at him in silence for a few seconds before a small smile made its way on her lips,
"Yes Sir" Fury nodded his head in approval.
"Good. Now do you remember Agent Coulson?"
Natasha nodded again,
"Yes Sir"
"Agent Coulson will be taking over from Agent Hill as your handler" Coulson stepped forward and offered a hand,
"Agent Romanoff, a pleasure" he stated, a small smile on his lips. Natasha took the offered hand,
"Sir."
"Coulson will be coming with you on your mission, therefore he will be your direct superior. The only other people who have more authority than you where you are going are the council members themselves. Yes you will meet them in person, they requested it."
"Yes Sir" she responded, Natasha had no problem with authority figures, unless they were trying to kill her that is.
"Excellent. Well then agent that is it for tonight. I wish you luck. You're dismissed" Fury told her. Natasha stood up,
"Director. Ma'am. Sir" she stated before leaving the office.
"Try not to let her kill anyone Coulson" Fury stated.
"I'll do my best sir" he replied seriously
"Then good luck"
"Thank you, good night Director, Agent Hill" he nodded to both before following his new agent out the door.
AN: ONCE AGAIN SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT, DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT WILL BE BETWEEN UPDATES BUT I PROMISE IT WILL BE QUICKER THAN THIS ONE. LOVING THE REVIEWS- YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME.