Natasha sat across from Asher, her hands chained to the table between them. Natasha looked up to where Jemma was held by two guards, a gun trained on her and her leg bleeding freely. Natasha settled her attention on Asher, who was studying her.
"So, tell me. How are you enjoying your stay?" he asked.
Natasha shrugged indifferently. "I've had worse."
Asher nodded. "You've been quite lucky, haven't you?"
"I don't follow," Natasha said.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you an opportunity that it doesn't give to many," Asher leaned forward. "A second chance."
Natasha nodded. "S.H.I.E.L.D. looks out for everyone."
"Any other organization would have put you in jail, but here you are, free. You say you've changed, but you just found another place who valued your skills. You say S.H.I.E.L.D. looks out for everyone, but they just look out for themselves. And you, you play along. You lie for them, steal for them, kill for them, and everyone just lets it slip. Tell me, why do you do it."
Natasha kept her face emotionless and lifted her eyes to Asher's. She remained silent.
"Ah yes, your ledger, all that red, you're still trying to wipe it out, aren't you? Do you really think you can?" He leaned forward. "Drakov's daughter, São Paulo, the hospital fire, yes I know it all."
"How?" Natasha asked.
Asher smiled. "You told me."
"You hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.."
"Yes, I did, and it's been very helpful, knowing all the things no one was ever supposed to know. Eye opening, really."
"When you've won, what then?"
"Then, there will be a time a peace, we have long awaited." Asher smiled.
"And when the peace is over, who will fight your battles then?" Natasha asked.
"We don't need you as much as you think we do," Asher said.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to admit every awful thing you've done, for the world to hear."
"Why don't you just tell them?"
"That wouldn't be very fun, now would it?" Asher stood up. The door opened and more guards rolled in a camera, setting it across from Natasha. The red light blinked to recording.
"Have fun," Asher said as he left the room.
One of the guards removed his mask. Sandy hair, speckled with gray, unshaven tan face, clear blue eyes, with wrinkles beginning to become permanent.
"Hi." His voice was gruff, like sandpaper. Natasha nodded back.
The man took Asher's seat, and nodded to the guards holding Jemma behind him. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. What's it gonna be?"
"That all depends," Natasha said.
"State your name for the record."
"Natasha Romanoff."
"Code name?"
"Black Widow, don't you know this already?"
"Relation to Agent Clint Barton?"
"Friends,"
"Why?"
"He saved my life."
"Why did it need saving?"
Natasha sighed and glanced back at Jemma. "I made mistakes in my life, I got set on a path from a young age, brainwashed really. Clint gave me another chance to get things right."
"Did you set the hospital fire?" Natasha took a breath, she tried to slow her heart. She looked straight into the camera. "No," she said.
The gun fired and Jemma cried out. Natasha look at her blood flowing from a bullet wound in her thigh as well as the one in her calf of the same leg.
"Did you set the hospital fire?"
"I did," Natasha admitted. "I didn't realize what I was doing, I was under orders from the KGB, they kept me obedient by," she shivered for effect, "Horrible means."
It wasn't a lie, it just took the edge off her words.
She dropped her head, and whispered, "I regret it every day."
The man across from her glared. She looked at the camera with sad eyes.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me a new life," she said. The recording probably wouldn't be used now, or edited to twist her words but if anyone were to see it, she figured she'd beef it up a little. "A chance to rewrite the wrongs of my past. When you grow up the way I did, all you know is how to lie and kill. You see all the worst parts of humanity. I didn't know how to be any other way, but S.H.I.E.L.D. taught me things, how to be a good person. I am forever grateful, for the new life they gave me."
She smiled at the man, over the camera.