"Just like Budapest all over again." "You and I remember Budapest very differently"

Before SHIELD, Natasha and Clint tried to kill each other. Natasha works for the KGB, hunting down HYDRA traitors in the system. When she's assigned a job at the Russian ballet, she battles memories of her past she never wanted to face again. Clint is a fugitive, framed by his brother for attempted murder. Some guy in a suit shows up, Special Agent Phil Coulson, representing a government division Clint can't pronounce, with the offer of a fresh start and Clint finds himself a brand new recruit of SHIELD. Then there was Budapest where no amount of training could prepare them for the choices they would be forced to make. NOTE: This is largely unedited, so please excuse errors, plot holes, etc.

~ W A T T P A D F E A T U R E D ~ A Natasha Romanoff & Clint Barton origin story. ❝My name is Natalia Alianovna Romanova and I work for the KGB. But my life is something of a lie. I work for no one. I work for myself. And I always work alone. I have a very specific skill set. I have charm. I have wit. I have sex appeal. I play to the common weaknesses of men, pulling them in on an invisible thread, ensnaring them in my inescapable web and striking mercilessly like a poisonous spider. For that reason, they call me the Black Widow. I'm cunning, ruthless and utterly unstoppable. I am a one woman fighting machine. I can do more damaged unarmed than most people could do armed. ❞ ❝My name is Clinton Francis Barton and I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm the deadliest agent they have on a squad of suits and scientists. I'm the masked vigilante with a bow and arrow and I never miss. I have keen eyes. I have perfect aim. I have agility. I can shoot down any adversary from any distance, and they never see me coming. They call me Hawkeye, because I have the vision of a bird of prey and I strike just as precisely. I'm strong, I'm dexterous and utterly remarkable. I'm a one man invasion. I can cause more destruction with a Palaeolithic weapon than most people can do with a gun.❞ Two nomadic souls; one American, one Russian. Completely unlike one another. Or so they think. This is a tale of prejudice, politics and passion in Budapest. #60 in Fanfiction (23/10/2015)