September 25th, 2006
She couldn't believe it, her baby was already five years old...
Her little Pyotr, her rock that keeps her grounded in this living nightmare they're both trying to survive in.
Her son was already so smart for his age, he takes all his lessons to heart and learns all the skills taught to him so fast.
It always makes so much pride flow through her when her son learns new things.
Just like at this moment. He's sitting down on the little carpet surrounded by all his little toys. Her Pyotr had his eyebrows furrowed in concentration with a pout on his lips that made Natalia want to scoop him up and tickle his little sides until he was laughing hysterically.
She couldn't help it, even five years later her son was just too damn cute.
"What're you doing baby?" He asked with a soft smile from her position on the couch.
"Thinking." He mumbled while looking between his letter blocks. Natalia's gentle smile turned slightly amused with his one word response. He always did that when he was trying to figure out a problem.
"Wanna tell mommy what you're thinking about?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No!! It's a surprise mommy!!" Pyotr exclaimed as he waved his little hands at her causing her to softly chuckle.
"Ok, ok it's a surprise." She raised her hands in surrender before she turned around and continued to read her book.
It was only a few minutes later when her son was pulling on her pant leg to try and get her attention. She placed her book down and looked down at her son with questioning eyes.
"Look mommy, I made you a message with blocks, look!" He pointed to were the blocks were laid out in a straight line and stacked three high. The message on the blocks made her heart melt with the amount of love that was spreading throughout her body.
The blocks spelt out, 'My Mommy is the best Mom in the world, Love Pyotr.'
"It's beautiful маленький паук, Mommy also thinks your the best son in the world." She smiled down at him which caused her son to beam up at her.
God her son was just too damn adorable...
Little did the famous Black Widow know, that she would only have a few more days with her son, for something bad would happen when she went on her mission, something that had been in motion for five years.
It was like any other day at the academy for her, she'd wake up and check on her son before making his breakfast and placing it on the table for him incase she wasn't in the room when he woke up. She also placed his clothes on the couch before she too got dressed for her mission.
She put on her black catsuit with red accents on the arms and legs, her utility belt with the black widow insignia on the buckle and all her weapons including her widow bites, electric batons and pistols.
She went over to her son's bed once more to check on him and leaned down to kiss his forehead before moving over to the door to wait out in the hallway for someone to pick her up.
Not even five seconds later, a group of soldiers walked down the hallway. Without uttering a single word, she followed after them to where the transport was waiting for her.
She wanted to get this done as fast as possible.
After all, her son was waiting for her...
Madame watched as Natalia boarded the helicopter with a few of their soldiers. She waited until they were well past the horizon until she turned to look at the other man in the room.
"Do you think the boy is ready?" Dreykov asked as he walked out of the shadows, staring at the horizon where the helicopter disappeared behind.
Madame nodded, "He's ready. His mother has done a great job at teaching him the basics. He's also more intelligent then a five years old should be. If it's correctly harnessed, he could one day have genius level intellect."
"And the mother?"
"She will be taken care of, I assure you."
"We can not risk her escaping with the boy. He will be my greatest weapon in the future, I'd rather not have to kill him." He said as he turned to walk out the door.
"Don't worry General, once the boy is up, we'll get him ready for transport. By the end of the day, you'll have your new asset." She said.
"Make sure of it Madame, or an angry mother will be the least of your worries." With that said, the door shut behind him leaving only the woman there.
She had a job to do...
——————
Natalia was walking down an alleyway somewhere in Berlin when the man showed up.
He wasn't one of the normal people that was sent after her, he was carrying a bow and was dressed in a dark black and purple suit.
And he was smiling...
He was leaning up against the opposite wall about twenty feet in front of her so she took out her pistol and got ready to shoot but for some reason, her instincts were telling her not to shoot.
The man raised his hands in surrender, "Woah there, I'm not gonna hurt you."
"You Shield?" She asked while glaring at him.
"Yup, name is Clint, what's yours?"
"Why're you here?" She asked, ignoring his question.
"Well, I was sent to kill you, but...I don't think that's a good idea, for either you or me." He smiled slightly at her, nodding his head.
Her gun slightly lower but it was still trained on his chest, "And why wouldn't you kill me? You know who I am, right? I could kill you before you even blink."
"Which is precisely why I'm not gonna try, instead...I'm gonna give you a counter offer." He said.
"And what...does this offer entail?" She questioned.
"You leave The Red Room, and come work with Shield. We don't treat our workers like mindless slaves either so that's a plus." He said casually.
"You do know my supervisors are watching my every move at the moment. They probably already have a sniper aimed at your head."
"Well I would be worried if my other Shield buddies weren't watching my back. Communication and cameras are down for the next five minutes."
"Wow, I'm impressed, Shield is changing up their tactics for a change."
"Nah, they don't know I'm doing this, I'm pretty sure I went over that. They think I'm gonna kill you, they don't know that I brought the others with me to keep them off my back as long as possible."
"Why would you risk that much?" She asked with her eyes narrowed.
"Well I wanted to talk to you, and my boss doesn't like that idea very much." He said, uncrossing his arms and walking away from the wall. Natalia pointed the gun back at the man's head, silently telling him to stop.
"Hey, I'm just gonna walk over there, yeah? Just wanna give you a slip of paper?" He said, slowly walking over to her with his hands in the air. He made all his movements slow and exaggerated to try and calm the angry woman but she still had her gun trained on him.
"If I so much as think you're gonna grab a weapon, I'm going to put a bullet right between your eyes." She said. He nodded in acceptance while he stuck his right hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper.
He lowered his hand and offered her the slip of paper. She hesitated for a second before she quickly grabbed the paper with one hand while the other was still pointing the gun at his head.
"What's this?" She asked, referring to the numbers on the paper.
"It's my phone number, for you to call when you change your mind about joining us." He said with a smile.
She narrowed her eyes, "I'm not gonna change my mind."
The man, Clint shrugged his shoulders, "Suit yourself. I feel like I'm gonna get a call though. We can give you another chance, you know that right? Give you the opportunity to live outside that hellhole that you probably call a home. No one deserves a life like that." He said.
Natalia's mind instantly traveled to her son, who was still no doubt in her room back at the academy, playing with his toys trying to pass the time until she got back from her mission.
A chance to give her son the life he deserved...
She internally shook her head, I'd do them no good since she didn't actually have her son with her at the moment, and there was no way she was telling this random man about her son.
She'd tell no one of her little Pyotr...
Clint looked down at his wrist for a second before he clicked his tongue, "Alright well I gotta get going if I don't wanna be killed by the people shadowing you that are no doubt lurking around some dark corner...I've said my bit, I'm not gonna keep trying to kill you, so when you change your mind, you know who to call." He said as he started to walk out of the alleyway.
Natalia was about to let him go when she called out to him. She doesn't know why she did so, but it felt kind of wrong to just leave him without anything.
"Natasha." She said. He stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at her.
"My name is Natasha." She said and nodded at him. He offered her a smile before he walked the rest of the way out and into the streets of Berlin.
Only when he was gone, did Natalia lower her gun. She looked at the slip of paper in her hand before she quietly scoffed and shoved it in her pocket.
She didn't need his help, she'd find a way to help her son get the life he wanted, but it wouldn't be because of some Shield agent.
A few miles away where Clint's partners were hiding out, the man walked into the room and nodded once to them.
"Gave her the slip, but who's to tell if she'll actually call me or not." He said as he walked over to the couch and popped down and rested his feet on the coffee table.
"Are you sure about this Clint? We're all taking a big risk in doing this behind Fury's back." Mary Parker said from her place sitting on the table with a worried look behind her eyes.
"No I'm not, but sometimes you have to take a little risk every now and then. I'd be really great if she was an ally instead of an enemy." Clint said.
"He's right Mary, The Black Widow would be a major help with our fight against Hydra. They are starting to resurface and we need all the help we can get, but I am still a little weary." Richard Parker said from his place next to Clint on his computer.
"Gosh, the both of you worry way to much. Let me worry about this alright? It was my call to make so if it completely fails I'll take the blame for it, alright?"
Mary smirked at him, "You always take the blame for things."
"And if we're being honest, most of the times that there's blame to take, it's because of you." Richard added with his own amusement clearly showing on his face.
Clint mocked gasped and placed his hand on his chest, "How dare the two of you? I bring you along for this secret mission and all you do is pick fun at me? Unbelievable."
Richard snorted while Mary laughed at his expense. Clint huffed and rolled his eyes at them but he had a small smile on his face.
——————
The minute she walked into the academy, she knew something was wrong...
Her intuition was flaring and she was getting more and more anxious as the minutes ticked by.
So, she quickly made her way to the armory and dropped off all her gear and changed into simple black leggings and a tee shirt before she started the trek to her and Pyotr's room.
She got her answer when she opened the door and she didn't get her usual greeting which consisted of a hug from her son, instead she saw Madame sitting down at her table.
Her son no where in sight...
"Where is he?" She instantly demanded while glaring at Madame. All the older woman did was gesture to the other seat opposite her which only made her blood boil.
She did what was asked though, still glaring at the head of academy. Madame waited a few seconds before she started to talk.
"As you can tell, your son isn't here. You are officially relieved of your duty as mother, the child will be in our care now." She said which took all of Natalia's mental strength to not strangle the older woman.
"Where.Is.My.Son." She said with gritted teeth.
"...he's been moved to a different facility. You are no longer needed."
When Natalia heard those words, more anger started to bubble up inside her. Like hell she wasn't needed! That was her son, her baby boy who still needed his mother's guidance, his mother's love and support.
Who was still way to young to become exactly like his mother.
A killer trained from too young of an age...
"You took my son." She muttered under her breath.
"For the greater good Natalia. You should be proud, he's gonna be the best soldier to ever exist."
Those words were the mother's breaking point.
She saw red...
Faster than Madame could comprehend, Natalia jumped up and grabbed the butter knife that was still on the table from this morning and launched over the wooden piece of furniture to grab Madame.
She grabbed the older woman by her neck and hauled her off the chair before she stabbed the knife right through her throat, making her gurgle and try and pull the younger girl away from her.
But there was a reason they called her the Black Widow...
"You took my son from me...I'm taking your life." She spat the words in the ear of the dying woman. Natalia took great joy in hearing the struggles coming from her previous teacher.
She deserved it for taking her son...
As the seconds ticked by, Natalia watched as the fight and life drained from Madame's eyes. And after only a total of five seconds, all the energy left the old woman and she crumbled to the ground.
Natalia stood over the dead body of her former leader and panted. He hands were painted with the dark crimson color of blood and she could smell the iron floating around the room and going into her nostrils.
She didn't have time to think about anything else though as the alarm started to blare, signaling an attack.
Natalia sighed, she had a long way to go to make it out of this alive, but she would escape.
Not for herself, but in order to find her son...
Maybe that number would be useful after all...