Long Time No See • Natasha Romanoff

Part 3: People change

The room was a dark grey, which was lit by large white lights that were embedded into her ceiling. There was a table that was bolted to the floor with a whole in the table where a set of handcuffs were waiting for the brunette. Once inside the straightjacket as removed along with the collar and was cuffed to the table. Anya was then left alone for, she estimated to be 20 minutes before Director Fury entered the room with a file and a large stack of pictures.

He sat at the table, hesitant to speak not knowing much about the woman sat across from him, only the fact that she was one of the most wanted criminals in the world right now. All they needed was a face to match the name.

"Singapore." He threw the picture of a flaming building in front of the assassin, hoping to break down her defences. Anya didn't even acknowledge the picture, looking into his eyes. In Singapore she was ordered to burn down the building in order to kill a specific target, what or who he was didn't matter. Anya got a picture and was told to terminate him.

"France." He again placed a picture of a French senator in front of her, her eyes not once leaving the directors.

"Italy." The picture of the popes dead body lay cold in the road, where she had exploded the transport he was taking to the parade in the village of Vatican City.

He threw the picture the same as he did the other times. He always took a brief moment before showing the next photo to try and make her reflect on what she had done.

"England" Upon seeing the photo her head sank to her chest and she stared at her feet, overtaken by emotion. Fury sat back with a stone cold expression. Secretly he was proud of himself for breaking such a powerful woman.

She was deeply traumatised by that last photo and wanted to erase it for the longest time. When she was still involved with those monsters, she was forced to kill the son of a very powerful man. However she had to burn down an orphanage to do so, taking the lives of innocent children. It was the only job that she really regretted, the others where acceptable to her, but when she had to kill children that was where she drew the line. So after that job she vanished, leaving not trace of her existence.
They should have know that she would disappear at the first chance she felt any sort of remorse.

A knock at the door interrupted her reflection and she brought her head back up to look at the man sat across from her. He had a look of anger in his eyes as he heard the knock, not wanting to be interrupted.

He stepped out the room to be greeted by Natasha who sent him a glare that meant she was really unhappy.

"Really? How low of you, to bring up something so horrifying!" She stated with a face full of rage.

"Whoa.... calm down Banner, she's a murderer." He replied slightly annoyed by her tone of voice.

"No she's not. She's human just like you and I, she is a good person, just let her talk and try to reason with her, please." The redhead begged, asking him to simply give Anya the same opportunity that he had given her.

"People change Nat, and it's been a a long time since you two met"

"Just let me talk to her. Let me see what kind of person she is."

Fury was hesitant to accept her proposal and was sceptical about the brunette, but Natasha was right. He had sent Clint to terminate Nat, but Clint made a different call and decided that she could be valuable to SHIELD and they could use her skill set.

"Fine" He said, still not confident in the process that was being taken.

Fury walked away and into the second room that was attached to the interrogation room, separated by only a one sided glass so that they could see her but she couldn't see them. Nat prepared herself to enter the room, but as she step through and opened the door, she realised that no amount of time could prepare her for this conversation.

At this point Anya had escaped the handcuffs and had began to inspect the pictures that the director had left on the table. The agent had noticed, but hadn't cared much for it, knowing that if she wanted to escape she would have done it long before now.

"Hey." Natasha said softly, with a bit to much sorrow than she meant.

"Hello Natalia." Anya replied without a trace of empathy in her voice.

"What happened to you?" Natasha asked confused as to what had happened since the last time that the two females were in contact.

"I could ask you the same thing.....after they found out you and I liked each other....." She stopped herself before deciding whether or not to carry on. Anya seemed more emotional now, looking into those beautiful green eyes.

"They took me and they sterilised me, once that was over they caged me up like an animal and shipped me off to the highest bidder. Which unfortunately for me happened to be HYDRA."

They both went silent letting the information sink in. "I thought they killed you." Nat said. Anya could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke.

"Nah.... they couldn't kill me, I was too valuable." The brunette retorted, wanting to brush it off as if it was nothing. Natasha however saw right through this. Anya was her her home, her comfort. When she saw Anya she made the pain and horror that was her childhood more bearable.

"Why are you here?" The redhead inquired.

"I'm done running, I want to live, not to survive." The brunette responded. Anya was done hurting people, and if it meant she was imprisoned then that was what was going to happen.

"What do you gain by giving yourself in."

"The comfort knowing that I can't hurt any more people." Natasha's heart sunk at the thought she was willing to imprison herself so that she could know she wasn't a danger to other people.

"So what do you want us to do?" She asked, still confused as to why all of this was happening.

"I don't know, throw me in a ditch, put me in a straight jacket, lock me up." She lowered her head not wanting the outcomes she listed, but was willing to endure.

There was a brief moment of silence between the girls before Natasha broke it proposing: "How does becoming a SHIELD agent sound?"

Anya's head snapped up, shocked at what had just been spoken. She looked into the other woman's eyes, searching for any sign of a lie. She didn't find any. She was being deadly serious and wanted to work beside her old girlfriend.

Wether they had feelings for one another was anybody's guess.

A knock at the door broke the eye contact between the two of them and they both looked at the director, with a look of frustration on his face.

"Romanoff, with me now." His tone of voice matched his facial expressions. They promptly left the room and closed the door behind them. Anya couldn't hear the two of them talk but it didn't take a genius to work out they were arguing over the redheads question.
Anya was still in shock from this bombshell that Natasha had dropped.
A SHIELD agent? Was she cut out for this? Will Fury even allow this? It was questions like these that raced her mind, constantly questioning her place in this world.

Those questioned were soon to be answered as Fury entered the room. He didn't close the door he just stood there with his hand on the door, guarding whatever was behind him. Her eyes were trained on his to see if she could make sense of her situation. She couldn't see past his eyes and was shut out of his mind completely.

This is when he took a step to the side, revealing the guards that stood behind him. It was clear that they were not here to reason with her. They were here to take her to a cell.