The Road to Redemption | Natasha Romanoff x fem!OC

Chapter one

Aria Artamova never had a childhood. Her parents were killed in a flood when she was four years old. She was in the foster system for a year before being taken in by Hydra. Every home she lived in, Aria was hit, screamed at, or ignored. Most homes had a few other children treated just as badly. They only got one meal a day consisting of expired chicken and some stale bread. You could see their ribs through their clothes and dull eyes.

Aria never stayed in a home for longer than two weeks. In just two months she had lived in six foster homes, each worse than the last. 

A day would never go by when she didn't have a new bruise. Most of the time, it hurt to even move. Not only did the parents hit her, but they drank until they passed out. Combined with the infrequent showers, alcohol, and blood, the house smelled awful. 

After only a year of living in foster home after foster home, Aria had collected numerous scars, both inside and out. This lead to her being able to trust no one. It was on a Sunday that there was a knock on the door of Aria's current foster home. Due to the fact that their caretakers were incapacitated due to the amount of alcohol intake, one of the older foster kids opened the door.

Standing on the other side of the threshold was a tall man around six feet wearing a black leather jacket, black jeans, and dark sunglasses. When a girl of about 11 opened the door, the smell of puke and alcohol burst out of the house causing the man to grimace. "Does Aria Artamova live here?" the man asked the young girl. Silently nodding, she turned and went to fetch her.

Peering cautiously behind the girl from earlier was one of about five or six years old. "Are you Aria Artamova?" nodding, Aria stepped forward and looked up at the intimidating man, not moving the man said, "Go pack your bag, we are here to take you to your new family. At his words, Aria allowed herself to feel the tiniest amount of hope. She had never expected to actually be saved from the horrible homes she was placed in. Still not saying a word, she nodded and went to pack her meager possessions.  

The only thing Aria had from her life before the foster system was a necklace. It was a simple feather necklace with a word she couldn't read engraved on the back. She never wore it or even showed it to anyone for fear it would be broken due to the constant abuse the children endured.

Pulling out two shirts and a pair of pants, Aria stuffed them into a tiny backpack. Taking out the necklace from a loose floorboard, she tucked it into a tiny pocket in said backpack before straightening and walking out of the shared bedroom without a look back. As she walked to the front of the house, she noticed all the kids giving her jealous glares. Not only was she going to be free of this life, but she didn't have to endure it nearly as long as the other kids did. 

As she followed the man into the black SUV outside, she was informed of who her new "family" was going to be. Hydra was going to teach her to be one of the best assassins in the world. She would be able to protect herself from the world and bring peace to the world.

From then on, she was trained and experimented on. Her first night at Hydra, they branded her with their trademark symbol. Hydra's goal was to make a being able to apprehend Captain America with one thought. Aria spent half her lifetime on the lab table with needles sticking out of her and ropes tying her down to the bed. After every experiment, they tossed her in a room to fight with a skilled agent. It was either kill or be killed.

After many agonizing months, Hydra was finally successful with their experiments. After many tests, they discovered that Aria had the power to control any form of water. The final test was to put Aria in a tank filled to the brim with water and no way out. The glass was strong enough that punching it wouldn't work, but when Aria used the water pressure to create cracks in the glass, she was able to punch the rest of her way out. Her use of powers allowed her to escape, but she couldn't totally control them.