Chapter: 12

Natasha didn't even need to look in order to know that he was approaching. She didn't even take her eyes off the spot on the ceiling that she had been staring at for the past two hours. She didn't turn her head towards him when he spoke his way past the guards or when he entered the cell.

"Dinner time." He said but she still didn't look at him. He waited a moment before speaking again. "You scared the hell out of Massey."

"Massey talks about more than he can back up." She replied "he's no better than the rest of the recruits I've met today, and I don't think he'd last more than a year or two." Clint couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. Finally she turned her head and looked at him. "What do you want Barton?"

"It's dinner time." He repeated himself and she didn't respond. "I convinced Fury to let me take you to the cafeteria." She turned away from him then and stared back at the ceiling.

"I have no desire to go to the cafeteria Barton." She replied in a monotone voice. He internally sighed though he should have expected the rejection.

"It'll get you out of this cell," he offered "at least for a little while."

"No," she replied.

"You must be hungry by now."

"I'm trained to go days without food if I have to," she replied.

"The key words being have to," he said "there's a perfectly fine cafeteria just a few hallways away, you don't have to go without if you'd just stop being stubborn."

"Why are you so insistent on this?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Because people are going to have to get used to seeing you around here sometime and because I don't want to have to keep bringing food to you when you could go get it yourself if you'd show Fury you'll behave." She glared at him but got up from where she laid. She didn't say a word as she followed him to the cafeteria. Her new guards followed silently behind them.

Just as she had predicted, the moment they entered the cafeteria all eyes were on them. She saw some trying to avoid looking while others just openly stared. Clint walked on as if he didn't even notice. She followed him and while she did see them all staring, and some starting to whisper among each other, she didn't allow anyone to see that she saw them. Natasha ignored all the looks that the other people gave her as they made their way to the line of food.

"You know," Clint spoke up as he grabbed a tray. "They might feel better about you if you'd try to be less intimidating." She ignored him and picked up a tray herself. "Maybe you could try to talk to one of them." They grabbed their food, both going for the turkey sandwich and an apple, and Clint turned to find a seat. Natasha was annoyed. Not only did he make her come to the cafeteria but he was going to make her stay there? She kept her face blank so that he couldn't see but she was definitely annoyed with him. He led them over to a table in the corner, away from everyone else, of that she was thankful. Clint looked around and saw the heads that immediately turned away when he looked at them. He shook his head slightly at their behavior, not that he could really blame them, and turned back to Natasha. "You could at least try smiling once in a while or something." She looked at him for a second then her eyes snapped to the people sitting behind him. He watched as she flashed them a dark smile that screamed dangerous. He heard the sliding of chairs and some footsteps rushing away. "Really Romanoff?" He asked putting down the sandwich he had just picked up. She stopped the evil smile and shrugged.

"You said smile and I smiled."

"Not what I meant and you know it." He caught a glimpse of the slight satisfied smirk in her eyes before she let her face fall into that blank mask again. After a slight roll of his eyes he picked up his sandwich again and took a bite. "So, pretty interesting day huh?" He asked in an attempt to make small talk. She just shrugged and took a bite out of her own sandwich. "You fight really well." She just nodded so he tried again. "Whoever taught you must have been a great teacher." She looked at him and he swore he saw something dark flash through her eyes but it disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared. She looked back down at her food without any comment. He decided to steer away from that subject. "So, any hobbies?" She gave him another look, like she was searching him for something, but again didn't answer. He sighed and sat back in his chair "you know when someone tries to make small talk it's considered rude not to answer."

"Then why do you keep trying," she almost snapped at him but not quite. He gave her a hard look that was borderline glaring.

"Because that's what people do when they're trying to be your friend. Haven't you ever had a friend before?" Natasha just stared at him as an image starting forming in her head.

"You're my best friend" The girl's big brown eyes looked up at Natalia as she spoke. Natalia nodded and the two girls hugged briefly before breaking apart and going their separate ways. They always took different ways back to the bedroom that they were assigned to. Each room held about five girls each. After about a year and half of being in the red room the two girls had met when Natalia had saved her from another girl's attack in the middle of the night. Sonia had been beaten as a punishment earlier that day and the girl saw an opportunity to kill her while she saw weakened. Natalia happened to be awakened by the incident and, while she didn't know why, she saved her. The two of them had been best friends ever since. They watched each other's backs but where very careful about it because they didn't want their instructors to find out. They were careful not to talk around anyone and to keep those conversations short when they knew there was a risk of being caught. They had really grown close to each other.

It was about two months after they had become friends when Natalia was called up in front of the other girls when the training for the day had begun. It wasn't too unusual. The instructors would always call one of them to the front and either have them demonstrate something and would be punished if they got it wrong, or they would go straight to the punishment as a way of "character building" as they put it. Natalia could sense, however, that there was something wrong. Her fears only became worse at seeing Ivan step up to her and hand her a handgun with a twisted smile on his face. Sonia was then called up and she reluctantly stood as well. She wasn't handed a weapon. They had been found out and Natalia felt her heart sink when they ordered her to shoot her only friend she had ever had. Natalia felt her heart race. If she didn't pull the trigger she knew that she would be harshly punished if not killed herself. She also knew that it was certain they would kill Sonia and they would make her death slow and as painful as they could just out of spite for Natalia not following their orders. One of the instructors said that she had five seconds. He counted down and when he hit one, a tear fell from her eyes as she pulled the trigger. She didn't have another friend after that.

Clint watched as she seemed to be lost in her own world for a moment. He called out to her once but got no response. He cursed that blank stare of hers for the millionth time. He wished that he could tell what was going on in that brain of hers.

"You're not my friend." She said suddenly and he gave her a confused look.

"What?" He asked and she stood from the table with a glare in her eyes.

"You're not my friend Barton nor do I wish to be your friend." She said and headed straight for the door. Her guards quickly got up to follow her. Clint only watched as she stormed out the door.

"Do you think it was wise sir," Coulson asked "testing her the way you did?"

"She could have faked any other test that we would've given her." Fury sat down at his desk and folded his hands on the cool wooden top.

"You don't think she could've been faking that?"

"It's was the best method I could come up with that had the best chance of getting true results." Fury replied simply.

"She stopped herself," Coulson said after a few moments of silence and Fury nodded.

"Yes, she did." Coulson rubbed the back of her neck then looked up at the director.

"Do you trust her sir?" Fury didn't hesitate with his answer.

"Not one bit." Coulson was about to reply to that when Fury continued. "But Barton seems to have some faith in her. The boy is a pain in the ass but he's smart. I'm willing to see where this goes but I don't trust her."

"And if Barton's instincts are wrong about her?"

"Then there is going to be one hell of a storm coming."

Woot! Chapter 12 complete. Hope you guys enjoyed