Avengers 1. Chapter 1

"_Its just like Budapest…"_

"_You and I remember Budapest very differently"_

Budapest had haunted Natasha for quite some time. It was a time in her life when things had just started to turn good for her. She had escaped red room, she now worked for a company that supported the greater good and maybe, just maybe…she had made a friend. Clint Barton had saved her, he had renewed her life. Sure, she still had red in her ledger, but Clint was the beginning of her wiping it out. Budapest was a time when she didn't fully trust Clint, she had been saved and brought to S.H.I.E.L.D only a month before and her guard was still up. Budapest, for her was the real beginning.

**LANDING ZONE: 3:45am, BUDAPEST**

Director Fury paced the hanger waiting for the aircraft to land, this mission was of upmost importance. Failure was not an option. If this mission went according to plan, one on biggest war lords in Budapest's crime world would go down and the stolen military weapons would be returned, a war in Budapest would be avoided and they would all be back at S.H.E.I.D drinking coffee and planing new baddies to kill by the end of the week. Clint Barton, Hawkeye was one of the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D had ever seen, and he was leading the mission, he did not want to get in the way of that man and a target, but he was a little spectacle of his latest choice. About a mouth ago Barton was sent to Russia to kill the notorious black widow…now I don't know if the Russian vodka got to Barton's head or something…but you don't normally welcome the women you were sent to kill back to base and offer her a job. That's exactly what he did. All he said to me was 'I don't kill good people, trust me'. I assumed Barton was mad or something but then I thought it over…if the Black Widow was on S.H.I.E.L.D's side…they might have a chance of bringing down Red Room for good, and this would brighten up director Fury's day. This was Agent Romanoff's first mission for S.H.I.E.L.D, I was interested to see how it would go.

"_Sir, we've got the aircraft ER436 coming into view."_

This was it, Operation Budapest was underway.

**FLIGHT ER436, 3:50am BUDAPEST**

_**'**__ladies and gentlemen prepare for landing, when we touch down operation BUDAPEST begins.__**'**_

Clint Barton looked over at the red head sitting in the chair opposite him; she was securing her hand guns in her belt, preparing to begin the mission. Clint wasn't sure exactly why he had speared Natasha's life, but it was one of the best decisions he had ever made. Natasha reminded him of himself. A person who had lost there way, was caught up in something they didn't want to be apart of to the extent where they just wanted to die. Barton had gotten a chance; he had found a new direction. When he saw Natasha on the top roof of the warehouse back in Moscow, he saw himself, before S.H.I.E.L.D., before Agent Barton. Natasha needed a new start; her past didn't matter to him, only her future because he saw something in her eyes that no one else saw. Fear


	2. Chapter 2

**LANDING ZONE, 3:55am BUDAPEST**

Natasha Romanoff stepped of the aircraft, assessing her surroundings as she went, Her new partner, Clint Barton had gone up to Director fury to discuss the mission and some other agents instructed to help with the mission where unpacking the plane. Not really knowing what to do she approached Clint and Director Fury.

"The other agents have unloaded all the supplies, we should be ready to move out by 0400 hours" she said to director fury.

"Thank you agent Romanoff"

Natasha was scared, scared because she liked S.H.I.E.L.D, it was nothing that Red Room made it out to be. S.H.I.E.L.D is the good guys, simple as that. At Red Room they kill people because they can. They trained me from a young age, taking me and training me to be an assassin from when I was 7 years old, moulding me changing who I was meant to be, that had been my life. Here they kill people who deserved it; I do not know why Clint Barton saved me, because of anything I deserve it. I have killed innocent people, they died helpless and alone. Why Clint saved me might always be a mystery, he might of saved me but I have been trained not to trust anybody. And for now that includes Clint. Red Room was not gone from her life, she knew it, when they hear that the Black Widow has joined S.H.I.E.L.D, well there not going to be happy…It was a cool Hungarian night but she sensed something in the shadows. She heard a noise in the distance and her head snapped up.

**LANDING ZONE, 4:00am BUDAPEST**

The last of the equipment was placed in the truck and the agents prepared to move out. Clint was going over some last minuet checks when out of the corner of his eye he saw Natasha's head snap up and at almost that second, the shooting started. The sound of machine guns ripped through the early Budapest morning, an agent fell to his right.

'GET OUT OF HERE! CLEAR THE AREA!' Fury boomed as he jumped into a jeep with the special equipment, picking up agents as he went and swearing, yelling orders.

The S.H.I.E.L.D agents broke of in different directions all pulling out there guns, Clint snapped his bow open and drew his exploding arrows. They where in a battle, bullets rained down on them, agents fell around him while others took there orders and got out of there, the enemy was emerging from the bushes, machine guns aimed. Clint ducked behind a car, panting, he stood up and shot down three enemy solders. Then one of the enemy bullets hit one of the cars the other agents where trying to get out in, it hit the gas tank and exploded, the shock wave hit Clint and he flew through the air landing on his back 'shit!' he swore, he head throbbed, he sat up he panted. Is legs felt like rocks and his back ached with pain, suddenly a gun was pointed at his head. The man smiled at him, a cruel movement on his scared face "Goodbye Haw-", blood splattered on Clint's face as the man in front of him slumped to the ground, a bullet hole straight through his forehead, he turned around. Natasha. Still with her gun pointed at where the man had been, they made eye-contact briefly, was that relief in her eyes? A slight sigh on her lips? Then the reality came back. There where 10 enemy soldiers left still shooting, Clint grabbed her arm pulling her behind a pile of rubble.

"I got this" Natasha whispered as she brought her two hand guns up and shoot straight at the enemy.

Clint saw her. Her short red hair falling in her face, her eyes filled with rage, sadness, all emotions packed in, her teeth where gritted as she held a firm grip on the guns, her stance was strong and the enemy soldiers just began to drop, Clint grabbed his bow and shot, aiming perfectly so he enemies death was quick and silent. They fought side by side, with anger and desperation it only lasted 2, 3 minuets, out the back of Budapest at a small airfield.

But this is where it all began, The Hawkeye and The Wido


	3. Chapter 3

**LANDING ZONE, 4:15am BUDAPEST**

Natasha Romanoff looked at the destruction around her. The shell of a burnt out car, bullet casings everywhere, damage to the light planes that populated the airport and the enemy, dead. Before her where the bodies that she and Clint had took, and for the first time in her life, she had killed for good, not for the simple reason that her skill set allowed it.

"We have to get out of here, I have a feeling someone probably heard us" Clint said at her side, breaking her train of thought. She heard sirens in the distance.

"Let's go"

**STREETS OF BUDAPEST, 5:00am**

They wounded through the streets of Budapest, Clint was getting tired. They had to get to the S.H.I.E.L.D's Budapest base before anyone saw them. It was now official that someone in Budapest was aware of there arrival. The mission briefing was only held two days ago, somehow information was leaked. There mission in Budapest was to find one of the war lords of Budapest's crime world, someone by the code name of 'Deszo'. Deszo runs an organisation in Budapest named VOLTZ. The organisation stole multiple weapons from the Serbian military about a month ago. New evidence had just been discovered that VOLTZ is planing on using them for terrorism. In short they where going to bomb Budapest. If Budapest was bombed then it was likely that the Hungarian government was going to blame Serbia. This would mean that they would probably go to war and then the Middle East would take sides resulting in a bigger war. That was the worst case scenario. Best case scenario, they found Deszo, assassinated him, returned the weapons to Serbia, VOLTZ would shut down and then everything would be happy days. The mission had barely started and yet it had been put in jeopardy. There could be no more mistakes.

'The suns rising…' Natasha pointed out

Clint swore to himself, it would only be about an hour before Budapest came alive with people heading to work.

'We need cover, fast'

**STREETS OF BUDAPEST, 6:00am**

It took them almost an hour to find a suitable hiding place. They finally settled of a deserted garage in a side street. Budapest was slowly waking up and Clint was wondering how they could get to base, they would get some looks, be noticed, with Natasha in her, well, extremely well fitted suite and with all her hand guns and grenades hanging off her belt, and himself, in his Hawkeye uniform with a bow on his back and blood still splattered on his face, the blood of his enemies and of his. Natasha seemed to have noticed this problem too, then got up and headed for the door.

"What are you doing!?" Hawkeye hissed after her

"Well, unless you want to walk around Budapest all day dressed like that, I'm going to get supplies" she stated simply

"How?" Clint asked

She looked at him for a moment "you trying to tell me you've never been shop lifting" her questioning expression amused Clint a little.

"But we don't want to be seen, they know we're in Budapest! They could be anywhere!"

"Agent Barton, I am an assassinating spy. I can pop down to the local store with out being seen, trust me"

With that she was gone.

All Clint could do was sit there, he felt like an idiot but it gave him time to think. 'Agent Barton' she had called him, He had always thought of her as Natasha, but I guess they didn't really know each other. Agent Romanoff, it sounded so official. Natasha. Clint thought that was a beautiful name. I sounded so happy so free, the life Clint was hoping he could help her live, away from the life she used to lead. Natasha.

He looked up and saw Natasha looking down at him.

"There are not many people who can sneak up on me"

she shrugged "I'm not many"

Was it Clint's imagination or did she smile slightly?

She threw him a bag, "hope if fits"

Clint pulled out a pair of casual light brown pants, a short sleeved white cotton shirt. Simple.

He looked up at Natasha with a puzzled look

"What? Simple is better, less distracting" she stated

He shrugged; she looked at him for a while,

"You going to turn around?" she said

"Oh, right" Clint blushed like a maniac and spun around feeling very embarrassed. They changed in silence, Clint wanted to say something but he was still embarrassed.

"You decent?" He called out questioningly

"You can turn around now Barton"

When he saw Natasha his jaw dropped.

She was wearing a nee length floral dress, with a blue head scarf that tied in a not under her chine, and a pair of cherry red 4 inch heels. She looked beautiful.

"Eyes in your head Barton" she called as she adjusted a gun to he thigh

He mentally cursed for being caught out.

"And how come you get the well planed out outfit?" Clint said trying to make a joke

She shrugged, "you want to wear the heels?"

"Rather you then me" he answered honestly,

she laughed. She Laughed. Clint looked at her and smiled, her laugh was beautiful but he doubted it hardly ever saw the light of day. She seemed taken aback by her laugh and looked confused. Like she had never laughed before. She managed a weak smile and turned away.

"Let's get out of here"

Natasha was confused. A Laugh. She new what a laugh was, a sound that humans made when the found something funny. She racked her brains trying to remember the last time she had laughed. Nothing came to mind. She had giggled flirtatiously when trying to seduce a target, but a pure laugh, she could not recall. She turned away in shock. There was something about Clint that seemed to awaken something inside her, something she hadn't seen since she was seven years old. Herself. For the first time since she was seven years old, Natasha Romanoff had been herself. Not the Master Assassin Red Room had made her. Not the notorious Black Widow, but Natasha Romanoff, Human Being.


	4. Chapter 4

**STREETS OF BUDAPEST, 9:00am**

They lied low in the garage for a couple of hours, the bigger the crowd when they left, the less likely they would be noticed. They sat in silence, double checking there weapons before finally deciding to leave.

"Ok." Said Clint was they walked down a busy street in inner Budapest, "What's our plan?" he felt really stereotypical saying that but, well, it was a fear question

"We have to get to the S.H.I.E.L.D base as quickly as possible so we can get the mission back on track. You know where the base is don't you?" she asked

"Yeah, I have the address but I haven't exactly memorised the street directory for Budapest." He turned to face her, but she was gone.

"Natasha?" he called out, but it was drowned by the noise of the busy Budapest street. He looked round franticly. "NATASHA!"

"I'm here Clint" she hissed beside him

"Where did you go!" his tone full of relief and worry

"Stole you a map" she said simply handing him the map.

He sighed "Tell me next time you sneak off!"

"I was only gone for 2 seconds Barton!" She protested

"Yeah but I was worried sick!" Clint fought back

She looked back at him, staring into Clint's eyes as if trying to understand something. She looked away, shaking her head.

…_I was worried sick…_ The words played through her mind as she looked up into Clint's eyes. Someone at S.H.I.E.L.D was worried about her; hell someone in the world was worried about her. Clint Barton was worried about. So many thoughts where running through her mind. Was he really worried? Or was he just saying that? God she sounded like a 12 year old girl. Or maybe he intended darker things, what if S.H.E.I.L.D just wanted to keep safe to find red room, what if this whole saving thing had been a trick? No. One thing Natasha learnt how to do at Red Room was to read your enemies, she read Clint's eyes, and he was genuinely worried. Natasha new she could not make a mistake, she kept her guard up.

They brought some breakfast, even assassin need to eat, and sat in a park trying to look like tourists.

"Ok…" Clint mumbled as he ran his hand over the map "It look's like S.H.I.E. base is about there" His finger plotted down on _védő_ street

"That's 28km away, we had better get walking and well that's not very discreet…" Natasha noted beside him

"What do you mean?" Clint Questioned

" Vèdȍ" she explained "Means protector in Hungarian, What protects you, a shield" She said as though it was obvious. She had the face on again, like she was saying _'Seriously?'_ But there was one fact he was still focusing on…

"You can speak Hungarian?" he said surprised

"I can speak many languages of nations around the world and languages lost with time, all of them I can speak fluently and I don't feel like giving you a demonstration now, but if you don't believe me then you can _dic ruber locus ad salire! _she practically yelled at him. Clint was surprised he hadn't meant to offend her! He felt so bad and wanted to say something! Apologise! But he was stupid. Then he did something he regretted.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean!" He yelled at her

she looked as though he was going to kill him. "You had better prey to god you never find out." She spat in his face, turned on her heel and walked in the opposite direction.

Clint stood there not knowing what to do, why he had yelled at Natasha? God Damn it why was he stupid! He watched her walk into the distance, he should go after her. She couldn't of memorised the way to S.H.I.E.L.D! what if he had stuffed up her second chance. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice her draw her gun.

Natasha walked away from Clint she felt a tear form in her eye. The Black Widow does not cry. The black widow does not show emotion. Only show artificial emotion to tear down the enemy. This was different, this was an emotion. A pure real emotion. And for the first time in her life, she turned around. She looked back. But when she looked back she saw something, the smallest of details. Clint. Man. Trench coat. Watching. Pocket. Gun.

"BARTON GET DOWN! She screamed and with no delay she wiped out her gun lined it up with record speed and fired. Barton slid on the ground and pulled out his bow but it was to late, the deed was done. A man lay dead on the ground behind him, Natasha still had her gun drawn. He sprinted to her "Lets get out of her!" they sprinted from the scene running down the street, the man in the park might not be the last they had to get to S.H.I.E.L.D. Now.

"Do you think there on to us?" Natasha said looking over her shoulder, gun drawn at her side as they walked briskly through the streets of Budapest.

"I don't think so, I mean the member of VOLZ know were in Budapest but they don't know what we look like. I think that man in the park overheard us…well I mean we where talking about S.H.I.E.L.D, a top secret organisation in a public park, anyone could of herd us." Clint stated

"Anyone did hear us…" said Natasha darkly. Natasha didn't know how she could have been so stupid, she had let her guard down she never let her guard down. Talking over there plans in a park, in a city full of people who didn't know who they were but still wanted to kill them? Stupid. The only word for it, and that spat she had thrown at Clint. What was that? Natasha was different on this mission. She didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she was changing, she wasn't with Red Room anymore, and this was good. But if acting differently to what red room taught her made her drop her guard down, that was bad. Clint affected her, she just didn't know if it was good or bad. She looked at him, a crease in his brow with an anxious expression his mind set on the task at hand, was this task about getting to S.H.I.E.L.D? or was there something bigger at play? She read his expression and it seemed at the moment he was more focused on getting out of there, but she had too be expressionless, not show anyone her suspicions and if they did have bigger planes for her. She would fight back.

Clint thought of it as an almost…awkward silence between them as they walked down the street. "We have to get to S.H.I.E.L.D by tonight, we cant delay the mission any further." He broke the silence

"Your right, any suggestions on how to get to S.H.E.I.D? we cant walk we would never make it by night fall." She replied

"well we will have to steal something right?" he said as though it was obvious

"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D isn't as pure as I originally thought" Clint thought she saw the whisper of a smile on Natasha's lips, this made him smile, it was beautiful.

"Ok, time to chose a car" he smiled

"We are not car shopping Barton" she replied calmly

he held back a laugh, but let escape a broad grin, she looked at him suspiciously but that gave into the glimpse of a smile. As he had told director fury on the day he had made the best decision of his life. _I don't kill good people. _Natasha Romanoff was a good person, he was determined to show her that.


End file.

Avengers, Adventure, Drama