Hawkeye: Agony

The Black Widow (Part 2)

So... There I was. Surrounded by all of these little children with knives, and the Black Widow, this teenager, aiming a gun at my heart.
"Shoot"

She moved her fingers around the trigger but they didn't pull; the look in her eyes told me that she didn't want to. Madame B grew impatient and looked over at the blonde haired girl, who was now slightly behind her.
"Yelena. Kill the traitor."

The girls stared at each other but the blonde wasn't very hesitant, and soon the pair of them were on the ground with the gun stretched out past their bodies - Yelena trying to aim it down at Nat.

"Stop it. I can get you out of here, both of you, ALL of you. Stop fighting!" I watched for a moment, not sure whether to risk getting close.
I pulled an arrow off of my back, but the girls clearly didn't want to listen as they all withdrew their knives from their pockets.
An arrow. I had an arrow. No going back now. I threw the arrow so perfectly between the two girls that they jumped back away from each other, with the gun being discarded across the room and the arrow lodging deep in to the hard dance floor.

I moved over to Natasha, "She didn't do anything wrong. Don't kill her. Look, I'll leave, you keep your Black Widow and_."

Movement. I felt it, just like I could feel a fly on the window across the room. Subtle but it was my job to notice. These girls weren't good enough.
Yelena had grabbed the gun.

It was like one of those cool slow motion action replays. My hand fisted in to Nat's hair.
The gun loaded.
I grabbed her shirt hem and pulled, guiding her down and around my body.
A shot. A rib shatters as it enters through the back of me, just missing my heart but I felt it skim and my heart skipped a beat. I felt a sharp pull as the bullet exited on the other side - my eyes locking on to it crumpled on the floor in its splatter of blood. Natasha had some in her hair.

I tried to say something to her, but all that came out was a splutter of my insides, which continued to pool in my mouth and drizzle out from between my lips as I collapsed to the floor.
I could hear Fury, telling me to 'Play dead, boy.' So that's what I did. I held my breath and tried not to die. Maybe they'd throw me in a dumpster or something.
In SHIELD, I was trained to lower my pulse, so when Natasha leant over me, she believed I was really dead.

I'd left her stood in the middle of the room with all of them.

"Now Natalia, what will you do?"
She lifted her head to look at Madame B and said calmly, "The next mission," She sounded blank, like any hope she had a moment ago completely left with me when I 'died'. It would have been a comforting thought that she believed in me so quickly, but I couldn't hear her.
"Dispose of his body. You should be grateful for Yelena's interjection."

I felt two arms wrap themself around my torso and drag me off down the corridor. I was bleeding a lot, but I still tried to map out the building in my haze. Left, right, another right. She wasn't heading outside.
We stopped.
"Please breathe..." She allowed her voice to show a little fear, her hand felt under my neck again for a pulse.
I stayed still for a moment and then cracked open an eye to see her staring down at me, and she looked... relieved. And then she punched my arm.
"You idiot...!" Harsh whispering, her face turned in to a glare, "Why would you leave me like that?"
I chuckled weakly, "That make us a team all of a sudden?" I suddenly coughed hard and blood splattered out in chunks, which made us both aware of the gravity of the situation yet again.
She put an arm under my head and tried to keep me sat up slightly.

"What's your name?" I mumbled, looking up at her.
"Does that matter right no_?"
"Your name, kid... I want to trust_," I coughed a little, trying hard to keep my eyes open and on her lips.
"Natalia Romanova," She smiled weakly.
I smiled back and carefully reached up to grab my comm, wincing at the pull it caused on my chest.
"Well... How about I call you Natasha? Natashaaa... Roman.....off," Closing the comm inside her fingers and holding my hand there for a moment before lying back in a daze. "We've got to hide your identity Black Widow..."

My eyes closed and I felt her hand patting my face, probably telling me to stay awake.
I kept mumbling, "My team, they're a mile west... You can make it. Just...press the button and_... Natasha. That's your name now..."

**

"Hello? My name is Natasha. I'm here with Clint... He's dying, I can't move him very far. I need you to meet him..."
I remember being dragged along for a short while. Long enough for her to hit me in to about ten large rocks along the way. Once we got close, and I felt the downdraft of the landing jet, I knew it was safe enough to let my consciousness slip. As a few more larger hands came to help hoist me up, I passed out against the gravity.

**

When I came to again, the first thing I noticed was the pressure on my chest. Layers of bandages and a few sets of straps holding me to a table. We must still be on the jet. That or I'd been captured and this was an experiment.

Someone grabbed my hand and that's when I realised it was safe to at least open my eyes. It was Natasha, and we were on the S.H.I.E.L.D jet. She must have caught my breathing changing pattern.
I glanced around and took note of the mask around my mouth and all of the wires connecting me to various fluids and machines. I must have been close to the light, I definitely felt it.

Phil, Fury, Ward and Ms.Carter were all waiting around.
"You had them scared, kid. I knew you'd wake up," Ward smirked slightly, but his eyes looked slightly more worried. I couldn't tell right then but he kept glancing at Natasha. He wasn't worried about me, he was afraid of her.
"She didn't leave your side. You make a friend?" Phil smiled and patted my shoulder weakly.
"You could say that..."
"She's under arrest," Fury said flatly, as I noticed her wrists were cuffed together.
"What?" I coughed and tried to sit up but the straps snapped me back down again, "You can't."
"I can do what I want, boy. I'm the Director," He growled and everyone paused for a moment.
"Then I quit," I glared.
"You don't get to quit. You're serving time. This was instead of arresting you."
"Then give her the same chance or I'll walk to the police station myself!"

Natasha stared at me, "What...?" She was confused, more about my past history than the way I was standing up for her, "What are you doing?"
I smiled at her, "Paying you back, kid," I held her hand tighter.
"I'll train her. You don't need to know her. She can stay in my room and I'll teach her my lessons after I've had mine. We can be a team."
Fury glared more at the idea of me using up my time, "You have studies."
"I'll do them too," I didn't know how. Maybe I'd have to start drinking coffee. (We all know how that turned out.)

"... Fine. Two months. Then she'll be trialed in court just like you. If she makes good progress, they should decide if the public want you two working together."

I realised then, he's never really trusted me either. Not fully. I mean, they sent me on a mission alone, but they were all just sat there waiting for me to go rogue or screw up.
I needed to prove myself just as much as Nat did.
We were going to change the game, and be the best agents to ever come out of S.H.I.E.L.D
...
.... Just after my months of recovery.