Chapter 1

The File

Natasha Romanoff was tired. She was so tired- no scratch that, she was exhausted. She was exhausted and in pain. She was in so much pain. The gunshot wound in her shoulder was throbbing and burning with pain. However, she would need to change the dressing very soon to prevent it from getting infected. Her right ankle was swollen. She didn't think it was broken, probably a sprain. She'll ice it later when she gets the chance. Her ribs- g-d they felt like they were on fire, with every move she made. Natasha carefully lifted her shirt and saw that her left side was littered with red and dark purple splotches. Starting from under her breast down to her hip. She winced at the sight. She carefully pulled off her dirty and torn shirt and sports bra and threw it off to the side of her room.

Natasha limped over to her bed, pulled out the first aid kit that she had stashed under her bed, and headed towards the bathroom to start patching up her wounds. Cuts, scrapes, and bruises littered across her body and face. She grabbed a clean washcloth, wet it, and started to wipe away the sweat, dirt, and blood from her skin. Once her skin was sweat, dirt, and blood-free, Natasha grabbed some alcohol wipes and started cleaning the cuts and scrapes as best as she could. She put ointment on her superficial wounds and then bandaged them up. The deeper cuts would require stitches, which she didn't have on her. She would have to wait until she got home to take care of them. After cleaning and changing the dressings of her gunshot wound, she picked up her mess and put everything back into the first aid kit, making a mental note to restock her kit the next time she uses this safe house.

Natasha turned on the shower and stripped out of the rest of her clothes. She carefully stepped into the shower and let out a sigh of relief as warm water poured down on her. She leaned against the tiled wall and let the warm water ease her sore muscles. She was exhausted and in pain. All she wanted to do was go home to her loving wife and kid. She wanted to hug them close to her and never let them go. She was hungry. She wanted a home-cooked meal, and while eating she wanted to hear all about her wife and kid's day. And after dinner, Natasha wanted a very hot bath filled with lavender-scented bubbles. She wanted to sink into the bubbly hot water, with her wife holding her from behind. After her bath, she would let her wife help her re-patch her wounds, and then get changed into some comfy pj's- one of her wife's old baggy sleep shirts and a pair of men's boxers. Then she would lay down in their queen-sized bed, curled up between her wife and kid, and sleep. She wanted to forget about what had happened at least for the night. She would worry about everything later, but tonight she just wanted to pretend that everything was okay. But all of that would have to wait. She had things to do first before heading back home.

Natasha stayed in the shower for a couple more minutes. She would worry about washing her body and hair later. She turned off the water and carefully stepped out of the shower. She grabbed her fluffy blue bathrobe and put it on. She grabbed the first aid kit and headed back towards her room. She stashed the first aid kit back under her bed and headed towards her closet to get some clean clothes. As she limped over to her closet, she noticed that something was off- the window was open. "Fuck…" Natasha said as she started to scan her room. She had been so distracted that she had forgotten to do a security check in the safehouse. She walked over to her couch, pulled out a handgun from between the cushions, and clicked off the safety. She moved around the whole room, her eyes darting everywhere, when she got to the window, she peeked her head out but saw no one. There was no one inside her apartment and she saw no sign of anyone who could have potently broken into her apartment. She cursed again and closed the window. She made sure that it was locked and then walked back to the couch. She sat down and tucked the gun back in the cushions. She leaned back against the cushions and let out a tired sigh. G-d she was so done for the day.

Natasha opened up her eyes and did another scan. Her eyes stopped at her messy desk. There was a thick package wrapped in brown paper on her desk. She got up and walked over to her desk. She looked at the package for a couple of minutes and then picked it up. Normal people wouldn't dare open a mysterious package that appeared out of nowhere. Normal people would have either disposed of it right away or even called the police to get it checked out, but she wasn't normal. Besides it's not like she could die anyway- the Red Room made sure of that. Natasha chuckled darkly at that thought. With the package in her hand, she walked back over to the couch and sat back down. She peeled off the tape and carefully opened up the package. What she saw surprised her. It was a thick file with the SHIELD logo stamped on the bottom left corner. The word CLASSIFIED was stamped in big letters across the whole file. The file was old and had coffee-ringed stains all over it. "What the…" Said Natasha "Who the hell would break into my apartment just to give me a file?"

Natasha stared at the file. She wanted to open it and read it, but at the same time, she was just too fucking exhausted and in pain. She wanted to get some things done before going home. Curiosity won though and she opened the file. Her eyes widened with shock when she read the name on the file- Judah L. Sachs AKA The Shadow Soldier. Paperclipped underneath the name was a small grainy black and white photo of a familiar-looking kid with buzzed-cut hair and cold hard eyes. Natasha closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes slowly. Maybe she misread it. She's sleep-deprived and in pain. There's no way- but she looked down at the file that sat in her lap and read the name again. There was no mistake. This was Judah's file, but why the hell would SHIELD have a file on Judah- that's when she noticed that besides Judah's name were the words The Shadow Soldier. It took a couple of minutes for it all to click and when she realized that Judah was The Shadow Soldier, she let out a scream and threw down the file.

Memories flashed in Natasha's mind as she screwed her eyes shut. Memories of a shy, timid small kid- g-d the kid was so tiny, being led by Red Room guards to the basements. Memories of a kid in a water-filled tub, restrained and screaming in pain. Memories of being left to die in a dark alleyway and a small black-clad figure standing over her with a look of unsureness in their eyes as if they were trying to figure out if they should finish her off once and for all… It was Judah all along. Judah was The Shadow Soldier. Natasha curled into herself and let out a broken sob. She sobbed and sobbed. She sobbed over the kid that she thought was dead. Dead by her hands when she destroyed the Red Room. She sobbed over the kid who was turned into the Red Room's favorite experimental toy. She sobbed over the kid who was forced to become a killer. Judah wasn't dead like they all thought, they were still alive, and they all failed them.

Authors Note

This is my first huge cross over fanfic! So please don't be afraid to send me any suggestions!

The Shadow Soldier is the first book of The Rouge Avengers Chronicles.