Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Stan Lee! I am simply borrowing them for my non-profit story.
A/N: Ah, hi, lovely readers. Okay, so her memory is a different one than before because I realized that the flashbacks are in a confusing order. So the memory (the italacized part) that used to be here, is going to be in another chapter instead.
Anyways, thank you for reading!
15:23 25-AUG-09, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
As they climbed down the fire escape, shouts could be heard from the room they had just left. Natasha heard men's' voices hollering to one another in German and Russian and she understood that they were Bogrov's men. Natasha gestured for Clint and Barnes to hurry down the stairs, quietly so that the men above wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, a man above noticed them, called a few more men over and they began pursuing the trio.
"Shoot them," Barnes said, pulling out his own gun. With no hesitation, he fired several bullets; two men went down but there were still three left.
Clint pulled out his own gun, which he never liked using, but he wanted to save his arrows, and began to shoot at the men as well. The men were ready for it that time, and they pressed themselves against the wall of the building. Natasha readied her gun, but the men were nowhere to be seen.
"What the hell? Where did they go?" Natasha scanned the stairs above, but didn't even see a shoe from a fallen man.
"Come on, Nat," Clint said, tugging her boot. "Hurry before they come back."
Barnes suddenly went still, looking at the roof of the building. Cocking his gun again, he pushed Natasha and Clint back against the wall.
"They're on the roof," he told them. "They each have an AK-47 and one of them also has a machine gun. They'll kill us the moment they see us."
"Well, we can't just stand here," Clint hissed.
"If you want to die, be my guest."
Natasha sighed, putting her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "You two are acting childish." The men turned to her after giving each other a glare. "Now," she said, "we can just break open a window and get back into the building."
They broke through the glass of the nearest window and after checking the hallways, they set off down the staircase. As they reached the lobby, an explosion shook the entire building. The broken light fixtures above them swayed precariously and Natasha had to sidestep quickly as a light fell to the ground. Barnes and Clint were staying close by her with their guns ready.
"When can there not be explosions?" Clint said tightly.
Just as he said that, another explosion caused Natasha to stumble. Barnes held her steady as she tilted his way. Nodding her thanks, Natasha glanced up at the ceiling again, noticing the debris showering them lightly with white powder. They hurried to the front door with Natasha bringing up the rear. As Barnes and Clint made it out the door, Natasha found herself trapped inside the building. The door had slammed shut.
She was about to pummel at the door when someone grabbed her from behind. Her instincts made her strike out behind her, but there was nothing to make contact with. Confused, she spun around and was face to face with a masked man.
"You think you can just walk out of here?" the man hissed. The stench of his breath made Natasha gag. He had her by the waist now, gripping her suit tightly. She wrenched herself out of his grip and he laughed mockingly. "You're surrounded, woman. If you take one step out of this building, we blow the building up."
He pulled out a remote which had only two buttons on it: red, for detonation, and blue, for defusing the bomb. Natasha had to get the trigger from him because she knew that he would eventually blow up the block, even if she stayed in the building.
"Who are you?" she said, inching closer to him.
"It does not matter who I am. But you murdered Bogrov. He deserves vengeance." He smiled, but there was no humor in it. "It is only right to kill the person who killed him."
Natasha's eyes flickered to the front door which was bolted shut and had a large metal container placed in front of it. She knew a bazooka could easily blow the door open, but she didn't think that Clint or Barnes had one.
Suddenly remembering that she had an earpiece, Natasha breathed a small sigh of relief. She could take out the guys around her easily, but it was the man with the detonator that she was worried about. As a plan formed in her head, she was once again seized from behind by three others. She threw her head back, making contact with the person's forehead behind her. That person went down and the two others restrained her even tighter. Natasha smiled to herself; this was a situation she was familiar with.
She relaxed for a moment and the grips loosened ever so slightly. Natasha took advantage of that by twisting one of her arms away and then punching the person on that side. She then kicked out at the other person in the stomach, causing him to keel over. The first man charged at her again, a bump forming on his forehead. Natasha grabbed his outstretched arm and flung him over her shoulder, causing him to land on his back.
Whenever she fought, she got into a sort of zone where she couldn't see anything except for her opponents. She couldn't hear anything except for a dull buzz; even the shouts and grunts of her attackers were muted. As she threw the men around, Natasha felt as if she were possessed by some force that made her fight. Ever since she was in the Red Room, she had learned to fight like that.
Red Room. Red Room...
"Straighten your back, Tarasova! Keep your feet pointed, Fedorov. Very good, Romanova."
Natalia had her arms above her head, her back ramrod straight, and her toes were impossibly pointed. She was in the middle of the room, her solo for Лебединое озеро, the Swan Lake ballet, was coming up in a month. After the many years of hardcore practicing, she got the part of Odette, the Swan Queen.
The other girls were jealous of Natalia as some of them have been doing ballet for longer than she has. At 17 years old, she was one of the eldest in the class with some students being as young as eight. One of the girls, Svetlana, was the only girl who befriended Natalia. Some of the others thought that Natalia was cold and distant and thought that she was above everyone else. After classes, sometimes girls would glare at her and spit out insults and some of the boys would jeer at her; Natalia wasn't fazed. She knew that she could easily snap their necks.
Little the girls knew about her true identity.
The instructor, Akilina Ivanova, was a strict teacher who didn't take crap from anyone. If you spoke out, or did something out of turn, then she wouldn't hesitate to bring down her cane on your hands. Everyone respected her, and after a week with her, they learned exactly what and what not to do.
Being her favourite student, Natalia was always being put into the spotlight and being praised for her perfect jetés. She was never chastised after a couple months because Ivanova thought that she did everything perfectly. Natalia wasn't surprised though; her physical enhancements allowed her to perform much better than an average person.
Ivanova clapped her hands together. "Back in line." Everyone scrambled back into their position. "Now, one month from now, you will be performing the Swan Lake on stage in front of hundreds of people. I do not want any of you to embarrass our ballet studio by slipping up. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," the class chanted in unison.
"Tomorrow, you will get your costumes. Class is finished for today."
The change rooms slowly filled as the students changed from their leotards and back into their street clothes. Natalia was quick to slip into her trousers and loose shirt then pulled her jacket over top.
She heard a few girls snicker. "Aren't those boys' clothes, Romanova?" one girl said loudly, causing the rest of the room to turn to Natalia.
Putting her ballet bag over her shoulder Natalia turned to look at the girl.
"Yes," she snapped, losing her patience. "They are much comfier than that hideous green dress that you are wearing, Volkova. It looks like something from the twenties."
Volkova's pale face turned pink but she quickly regained her composure.
"I couldn't care less about what you think," Volkova sneered, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
Natalia shrugged. "Then why should anyone care what you have to say? Cow," she added as she turned on her heel.
She exited the building, wrapping her jacket tighter around her as the cold got to her. Hearing someone jog up next to her, Natalia turned her head slightly and saw Svetlana. The little girl still had her light-coloured hair in a tight bun and was smiling toothily at Natalia.
"Volkova's face after you left was priceless," Svetlana said, hopping up and down. "She didn't expect anyone to speak up to her like that."
"Yeah, well, she deserved it."
Svetlana bobbed her head in agreement. "I hate her. She said you were soulless because you were a redhead. Do you want to know what I told her?" Natasha nodded. "I said, 'Your leotard is looking a little tight; Why don't you slip into something more comfortable… like a coma?' She stood there like she was slapped."
Natalia laughed. "Good one, Svetlana."
"I got to go. My mommy is waiting at home with cookies." Svetlana ran off to meet a dark-haired woman who looked almost identical to her.
Sighing, Natalia continued down the snow-covered sidewalk alone.
She felt stiff. Natasha's whole body was sore. Opening her eyes, she saw herself dressed in a hospital gown. Bandages were wrapped around her arms and one of her calves.
The smell of sterility was what alerted Natasha that she was in a hospital. She turned her head, to find that that movement hurt, but she still looked around, searching for a familiar face. She saw Clint to her right, watching the news on the television set at the foot of her bed.
"Clint?" she croaked, her throat dry. "What the hell happened to me?"
"Burned." He handed her a glass of water. "You were inside that building, fighting those guys when you passed out. Barnes and I blew up a wall so that we could get in right away. We fought those guys, and we killed them all. Barnes went back to retrieve you- you were lying in the building, still unconscious, but unharmed- then the masked guy, who was just dying, pulled the trigger.
"Barnes had just exited the building, clutching you tightly. You were just within range of the blast zone so both of you were bleeding pretty badly. Since all of those guys were down, I just had to call an ambulance."
Natasha stared at him. "You called an ambulance? What the- how did you explain all of that to them?"
Clint furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't exactly remember… but whatever I said convinced them to take you and Barnes here."
"How's James?" Natasha asked, suddenly remembering her friend.
"He's fine. He has injuries like you, but not critical. He has a broken leg, though."
A nurse entered Natasha's room, holding a clipboard. "How are you feeling, Mrs. Berkley?"
Remembering that was her name for this mission, Natasha smiled. "I'm fine."
"You have only minor injuries. No broken bones."
"How long will I have to stay here?"
"Only for a couple days."
Natasha nodded. They couldn't stay in one place for too long. The nurse left, as Natasha didn't say anything more.
"Clint," Natasha said, "what are we going to do now? Barnes has a broken bone, so I don't think he'll be able to fight for at least a month."
"We'll think of something, Nat." He laid a hand over hers. "We should be fine for tonight. I don't think you should worry too much. I know you hate being vulnerable and out in the open like this, but we can't move yet."
Sighing, Natasha agreed. She turned her attention to the news where they were broadcasting images from the building that they had just been in. All that was left were ashes. Firemen and police officers were at the site, trying to figure out what caused the explosion. At that moment, they hadn't figured out if it was a bomb, or some gas explosion.
They had found remnants of bodies inside the building. It was being determined that they had died from the explosion.
Then, a few black cars pulled up to the scene. Only a dozen men in suits and ties with sunglasses on could be seen. Then, the news station's camera's image was going grainy and the screen went dark.
The station quickly changed back to the desk reporter who said, "Oh, I guess the camera went out. Well, we'll be right back with the weather."
Natasha and Clint glanced at each other. She knew that he was thinking the same thing as her.
SHIELD had found them.
A/N: Please R&R!