Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, nor do I have anything to do with Marvel.
These will be short chapters of around 1000 words. This makes is easier for me to update.
I will write this to the best of my ability and apologise if it is not always of the same standard. I write this for fun!
The title for this story was given to me by my friend Krista, who also encouraged me to write and share this. Thank you, Widow-Sister!
On the final day of the month that Director Fury had given Clint, he took Natasha in to S.H.I.E.L.D. He knew it was Maria Hill's job to grade new recruits, and he knew how harsh she could be. Natasha had made incredible progress with trusting him over their last week at the farm and Clint was proud of her.
They sat on the ground outside the training area, leaning against the wall and waiting for Hill to call them in. As he glanced at her, he noticed she wasn't blinking. It had been Laura who pointed out that Natasha didn't blink when she was nervous and Clint had made a mental note of it.
"Hey," he said softly, nudging her and trying to get her to look at him. There was no answer, but the corner of her mouth twitched and Clint knew she could hear him. "You know everything that you're going to be asked to do in there and you're good at it. You'll do great."
The door opened and Maria Hill's voice rang out, "Romanoff, Natalia."
"Natasha," Clint corrected immediately, meeting Hill's eyes as they stood, "Her name is Natasha." He was almost surprised at the steely tone of his own voice. He had always liked Agent Hill. She was skilled and straightforward but had an excellent sense of humour with a willingness to turn a blind eye to any minor prank Clint played.
Maria Hill looked from Clint to the redhead standing next to him. "Alright, Natasha. Inside. Barton you can stay here." She closed the door in his indignant face. The brunette faced the other woman, looking her up and down with slightly narrowed eyes. Romanoff was petite, but muscular. Her green eyes stared straight ahead, not meeting her assessor's. "You have five minutes to stretch," Maria stated.
"No thank you, I'd like to begin," Natasha responded immediately, her features set in determination. Her voice was low and husky, almost hypnotising. Hill knew she was dangerous.
"Makes no difference to me. Marksmanship first." She led the way across to the shooting gallery and handed the redhead two pistols. Maria pointed to the earmuffs on the bench, "Put them on and when the light at the back goes green, you will shoot the targets as they come up." Natasha did as she was told and watched as the brunette put her own pair of earmuffs on.
Maria Hill observed that Natasha did not stand poised to shoot, but rather with her hands holding the pistols by her side, a calm look on her face. When the light turned green, the first target sprang up from its position. BANG. BANG. BANG. The woman had not only shot the first target, but the second and third before they had even finished popping up from their positions. Hill watched as the redhead shot targets four through ten, each bullet piercing the centre of the mark. Ten perfect shots. The light at the back of the room went red, and Natasha laid the pistols down before she looked toward the brunette. "Alright," Maria said, "Let's move on."
The next tasks were simple enough for Natasha. There was an obstacle course that the participant was required to complete in less than seven minutes, which she completed in four. Hill made her do it twice. Next, an assessment of the foreign language skills the applicant claimed to have. This took the longest – Natasha had declared 10 languages before Agent Hill stopped her "– Latin? You speak Latin? Nobody speaks Latin."
Natasha's eyebrow raised and she smirked a little as she responded, "Et ego operor." "I do."
Hill looked blankly at Natasha for a moment then inclined her head slightly and murmured, "I stand corrected." She marked it off on her paperwork.
The second to last task was the lie detector. It was common knowledge that if you work with an intelligence agency, you risk being kidnapped and tortured for information. Therefore, it was imperative that any prospective agent be able to give false information without the polygraph picking up on it. Agent Hill was almost sure that Natasha would give something away, but she did not. Her reactions were steady and each reading was perfect – even when Hill had asked her what name she was born with and the redhead had responded "Natasha Romanoff." There was no sign in the reading that this had been untrue, yet Maria knew it was. She couldn't help feeling impressed as she called for the beginning of the final task.
"Sparring," Hill announced and Natasha looked towards the door she had come through, expectantly. The brunette smiled, "No, not with Barton. I requested alternate assistance."
This made Natasha nervous. Clint had worked hard with her, pushing her to trust him until she did. He hadn't given any indication that it would not be him she was assessed with.
A door near Agent Hill opened and three men in S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms walked in. One of them stepped forwards and offered a smile that she did not return. He was tall and blonde; she thought he might have been one of the men who forced her into the holding cell when Clint had first brought her here.
"Begin," Maria ordered.
The blonde man lunged towards her and she darted out of the way, landing a kick to the middle of his back and watching him stumble forward. When he turned and ran at her, she ran towards him too, dropping and sliding on her knees when he made to hit her. She threw a punch and connected with his groin. He crumpled in front of her.
WHACK! She had hesitated a moment too long. Another agent had joined the fray and hit her in the jaw. She tasted metal – her lip was bleeding.
"Agents!" Maria Hill's voice sounded tense, but Natasha barely even registered it as a sound.
Her vivid hair swished as she whirled around, kicking her attacker hard in the side of the head and grabbing his gun as he fell, unconscious to the floor. She fired the gun at the next man running towards her before realising it only contained rubber bullets.
Unbeknownst to Natasha, Clint had commandeered the nearest computer to view a live feed from the surveillance cameras of her entire assessment. Cursing Maria Hill, he ran back to the door. Two agents stood there, blocking his entry. Clint struggled with them, trying to force the door open. If he didn't get in there, he couldn't be sure that Natasha wouldn't lose control. They all froze at the sound of a gunshot. There wasn't supposed to be anymore shooting in the assessment. Clint took the opportunity of the other agents' distraction to push through them to the door.
Cursing, Natasha tossed the gun aside and ran towards the man, her face set. She blocked his punches with expert precision and grabbed his arm, twisting it and using her grip as leverage to boost herself onto his shoulders.
The entryway burst open and a voice rang throughout the room, "NAT, STOP!"
Natasha froze; her attention turning immediately to the owner of the voice with her right leg clamped around the agent's neck as she perched on his shoulders. There was very little that could make the Black Widow stop what she had been trained all her life to do, but the sound of Clint Barton's yell shot through her like lightning. She loosened her grip around the agent's neck and jumped to the floor. As she looked around her at the two unconscious agents and the one kneeling next to her, gasping as he tried to get his breath back, she sighed.
The redhead put her hand out to help the agent to his feet as Clint and Maria approached them.
"I'm sorry," Natasha said, her eyes cast down. She knew she had lost control.
"Don't apologise," Maria Hill insisted.
Clint put a hand on Natasha's shoulder and she looked at him. His face was pale, as he waited for Hill to continue.
She looked from one to the other of them then handed Natasha the paperwork. "Congratulations, you passed."
Nat looked from Clint to Maria for confirmation and was shocked to see a warm smile on the brunette's face. Maria held out her hand for Natasha to shake, "Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Romanoff."