Shadow Cadet: Rising Shadows

2 {Against her}

N. Romanoff
S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskellion
Washington D.C.

"What the Hell happened out there?" Fury hissed as he walked into the crowded conference room. "You let the senator of Pennsylvania just walk out with a woman when you were assigned to watch him?"

"We thought she was one of us." Clint explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You thought-" Fury chuckled humorlessly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did any of you manage to I.D her?"

Clint's eyes fell on Natasha as she looked down at the styrofoam cup filled with coffee in front of her. "Romanoff?-"

"I knew her." Natasha mumbled.

"Are you sure it was her?" Clint asked, his brows furrowed.

"I know what I saw and I know it was her!" Natasha hissed, her head snapping in Clint's direction.

"Who?" Agent Coulson piped in, quirking his eyebrow.

"An old friend of mine- We grew up together, she helped me escape and I thought she died... I guess I was mistaken." Natasha explained, looking down at her hands.

"Can you give us a name?" Maria asked, Natasha, took in a breath evaluating her options but ultimately knew she had no other choice. Keeping Anastasiya out of custody was not worth risking her place at S.H.I.E.L.D. No matter how close they used to be.

"Anastasiya Elenovna Fedorova." Natasha replied after a few moments of silence.

Maria typed something into the laptop in front of her. "She's already in our records. Anastasiya Fedorova, AKA Shadow Cadet number 23. This wasn't her first time kidnapping a political figure who did business with the Queen of Shadows. Not to mention her body count of 596, 55 of those being field agents. It appears as though you got lucky Agent Romanoff." She explained and Natasha just shook her head.

"Maybe we could use your prior friendship in our favor?" Coulson asked making Natasha chuckle.

"Yeah, right." Natasha chortled. "She was caught off guard this time, I got lucky. Next time she may just go for my head. The woman kind of hates me." She muttered.

Guilt panged at Natasha's chest as she thought back to that dreadful day. Anastasiya had purposely stayed back to keep Ivan and DreyKov at bay. All to give her enough time to escape. And Natasha had promised that she would come back for her. A promise she never kept.

She genuinely thought Anastasiya had died, nobody went toe to toe with Ivan and DreyKov and lived to tell about it. Which only meant they had kept her alive for a specific reason.

"Not enough to kill you clearly-" Clint tried before Natasha cut him off.

"You don't know her the way I know her- Er knew her. If she misses the first time you can be damn sure she won't miss the second time." Natasha snapped. She hadn't meant to, this was just a rough subject.

"Romanoff she may be our only shot at putting an end to the Shadow Cadets." Fury started, his tone firm.

"I get that I do. But even if I can get through to her, who's to say she'll actually work with us? Fury, she's angry and she's scared. There's no telling what she's capable of doing if we give her a little leeway." Natasha argued.

She thought back to the previous night, when she stared into Anastasiya's eyes she found nothing but pure anger and unbridled fear. Anger towards her and fear because someone she once saw as an ally was now her enemy. Someone who knew how she fought. Someone who made her vulnerable.

"We once had this discussion about you y'know? Only we already had you and you were sitting on the detainment level awaiting your fate." Coulson stated as he stood up. "If we could get through to you, someone we also saw as a lost cause... Maybe we can get through to her. She may not be as far gone as you think she is." He shrugged as Fury nodded dismissing the meeting.