Avengers, Spider-Man 1. The Gunshot

Spidey Meets the Black Widow

**The Gunshot**

**A/N: This first chapter was greatly inspired from the rooftop fight scene from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, where Batman and Catwoman take on a group of thugs. The soundtrack "Rooftop Fight, Back To Batcave" is used during the actual scene. You can find the song on youtube and listen to follow along with certain parts of the story with it to enhance to experience. To make sure it's the right one, the song is 4:09 minutes long, and the artist is Hans Zimmer.**

**Also make sure not to play the track at the beginning of the story. As you read along, you'll know when and where to play the track at specific points throughout the story. Sorry if this is confusing as you read, for the track isn't as long as it takes to read the whole paragraph. But other than that, enjoy!**

**By the way, this is the new Amazing Spider-Man film version of Peter Parker portrayed by actor Andrew Garfield.**

Teenage Peter Parker was swinging his way around the nighttime skyline of New York City, searching for more criminals and thugs to beat mercilessly before they could attempt to commit any more dangerous crimes against the innocent. It was about 10:30 p.m. Most teenage boys would be up at that time anyway, so it really didn't matter for Peter. He was always up in the night and daytime like an actual spider would be, and would later be exhausted during the day in school. There were only about 10 or so minutes left until he would finally wrap up his Spidey game and finally go back home, wake up the next morning, and see Gwen at school that day.

As Peter continued swinging his way over the Big Apple, a sudden heart-stopping sound caught his attention from the other side. It was the sound of a gunshot. Peter quickly turned and swung the other way where the gunshot was heard and shot one web after the other and swung as each one shot out from his wrists frantically. He hoped it wasn't too late to stop a crime from happening. However, he didn't hear a scream, nor did he hear a huge uproar of people. That was strange. You would think that in a city like New York a bunch of people would know when someone's been shot and cause a big tumult, but not in this case for some reason. But whatever the case, Peter was going to find out.

When Peter swung over to where the gunshot was heard, he only found an empty rooftop in the middle of a bunch of other skyscrapers with no one to be seen. He searched around to see if he could sense anything else near, but he could find nothing. Not even a clue. Peter never was a forensic expert anyway.

As Peter anxiously scratched his head, a sudden voice (a feminine voice) caught him off guard.

"You're not that hard to find as they say," said the voice.

Peter quickly turned to see a redheaded female in a black catsuit. She had a utility belt full of gadgets, two guns on her hip holsters, strange looking bracelets on her wrists, and a red symbol in the center of her belt that seemed to resemble a black widow spider's hourglass. Of course to Peter, the woman appeared pretty attractive. He always had a thing for redheads. But what was he doing! He has Gwen, a blonde! That's _his _girl! No one else's!

"Who are you?" Peter asked a common and predictable question.

"Someone with a thousand names," the woman spoke.

"Well, you wanna tell me one of 'em?" Peter asked with his unusual dry humor.

"I don't believe it's any of your business either."

"Oh, so it's going to be like that, huh?" Peter said, trying to play it off.

"Yes, and it's about to get worse if you don't leave now."

"Sheesh, I was just trying to get to know you better, no need to get all threatening."

"No, I don't mean from me, I mean from them."

"Who?"

Suddenly, a huge group of thugs-about 15 or so-came from inside the building and onto the rooftop and began surrounding both Peter and the mystery woman. They were about hundreds of stories high, so there was no way anyone could hear them getting mugged from above. Though really, the word "mugged" probably won't even fit in this case, given the fact that it's The Amazing Spider-Man putting up with a bunch of thugs. Spidey beats the crap out of thugs all the time on a daily basis. He could manage.

"These are the guys you're telling me to run from?" Peter asked with a slight laugh.

"Don't be fooled, these guys aren't exactly your average thugs," said the redhead.

"Please, I've fought a giant lizard once. What could go wrong with this?"

-**Track starts here now-**

As Peter said that, one of the thugs pulled out a gun and shot multiple bullets at Peter. Peter easily dodged all of the bullets thanks to his quick reflexes. Suddenly more thugs began to pull out their guns. But as they did so, the redhead quickly pulled out her own two pistols from her hip holsters and shot down two thugs instantly in cold blood before they could shoot first. This was gonna be a brawl.

Peter shot his webs at a thug's face and pulled him onto the ground face-first with great force, keeping the thug on the ground for quite a while. Peter then quickly approached another thug and threw in some quick jabs and kicks and took that one out, and then he quickly moved on to the next one. At the same time, the redhead was also beating the crap out of some thugs with the use of her guns (even though that's not considered "beating the crap out of someone") and her amazing martial arts skills. They seemed to be better than Peter's, which was reasonable since Peter never actually took martial arts classes, he only got them from the help of the radioactive spider bite. The redhead delivered some kicks and flips on the thugs and used them to her advantage, as Peter was doing the same thing.

More and more thugs kept closing in, and more and more of them were getting their butts kicked hard. The redheaded woman then ran out of ammo and instead pistol-whipped the dangerous thugs across their faces, leaving a painful _WHOOSH!_ sound after every blow. The thugs easily fell unconscious after every whip of the light but blunt pistol clashing against their faces.

Peter continued to easily take out multiple thugs with the help of his spider senses and his great hand-to-hand combat skills, with the additional help of his web shooters. He threw one thug into the other, and webbed both of them to where they were stuck to each other.

"Looks like you boys better stick together," Peter joked.

Suddenly, a thug was about to club Peter from behind with a crowbar, but the thug was suddenly stopped by electrocution going all throughout his body and fell to the ground while his body still jerked uncontrollably from the electric volts. Peter then turned to see that the redhead had her fist pointed up to where the thug once stood and revealed that the bracelets she wore around her wrists actually shot electric volts. The redhead wore them inconspicuously like it was jewelry. Peter was completely flabbergasted by the woman completely. _Who was she?_, he still wondered. But there was no time to think about that. They were still in the middle of something.

There were then only five more thugs remaining, and the redhead was taking on three of them fairy well on her own. She grabbed one of the thugs by the collar and spun around him elegantly like a ballerina and kicked the other two thugs across the face. After she kicked the two thugs, to end her spin, she then planted her legs firmly onto the ground, wrapped her arms around the thug's neck, and used enough momentum to completely flip him onto his back against the cold, hard ground. Flips normally aren't painful enough to keep somebody down for long, since Peter's tried this many times, but this one looked so effective to where if you looked at it in action you could feel the thug's pain course through his spine as it roughly impacted against the stiff concrete. Peter was just utterly baffled by the redhead's skills of combat. They almost seemed better than his. Her fighting was so graceful and elegant as if she was a ballerina, and an arena full of thugs was like a ballroom to her.

They still weren't quite finished yet. Two more thugs remained. One of them was armed with a rifle. The one with the rifle aimed for the redhead. Before he could shoot though, Peter quickly shot a web at the thug's rifle, and pulled it back towards his direction. Peter, while still holding the web stuck to the gun, swung the web and gun in a single circular motion as if it were a lasso and swung the gun straight into the other thug's face, knocking him out cold. The other guard was then distracted by the loss of his rifle, and when he wasn't looking, the redhead quickly rushed towards him and jump-kicked him straight in the face, sending him on the ground unconscious as well.

-**Track stops at 0:47-**

They won. Their job was over with finally. There didn't seem to be anymore thugs remaining or coming back out. Peter finally had the chance to ask the woman her name, her true name.

-**Track begins again at 1:11-**

"Good work," said Peter heavily breathing from exhaustion.

"Same to you," said the redhead, still standing in the same place where the she took out the last thug with a kick.

After she said that, the redhead turned towards the edge of the roof and began to walk its way.

"Wait!" Peter called.

The woman continued to walk towards the edge of the roof, but stopped once she planted her right foot directly onto the edge and turned her face back to Peter.

"I never did catch your name," said Peter. He was dying to know.

"Mr. Parker, knowing my name is really not as important as you may think," spoke the woman. "It'll lead you nowhere. This is probably the only time I'll ever be around New York like this again in the nighttime jumping across rooftops. But this city isn't my fishbowl. My fishbowl is all the way on the other side of the world. This is your fishbowl, and you are the filter to clean it, not me."

"How did you know my name?" Peter asked in suspicion.

"I have my ways," said the woman.

"Your ways?" said Peter.

"Yes. That's one of many things I'm known for."

"Like your combat skills?"

"Yes, that too."

"That was impressive. I don't think I could ever learn to fight like that."

"You can with the correct discipline, courage, and perseverance. But I think that a teenager of your stature can easily meet those standards."

Peter thought for a second. One, he still didn't know how the woman knew his identity, and two, those words that the woman had just spoken were extraordinary_._ They were three strong words to becoming not only a leader, but a hero. Was Peter truly a hero, or was that just something that everyone else called Spider-Man because he saves people all the time? Was he a true hero in the heart?

"I have to go now," said the redhead.

She then turned her head again back towards the brightly lit skyline where she was standing hundreds of feet above.

"Wait!" Peter said once again. "I'm sorry, but please tell me your name so that I can remember you."

The redhead then turned back to Peter again with an honest complexion on her face.

"You can remember me as The Black Widow," she finally said.

Suddenly, she jumped down hundreds of feet from the building into elsewhere. Peter quickly ran over to the edge of the roof to where the redhead had jumped and looked down to see nothing but a street full of cars passing pedestrians. She was gone.

"Well, that's enough for tonight," Peter said to himself in bewilderment.

-**Track ends at 2:27-**


	2. You Again

**You Again**

_The weekend after_

It was Friday, and Peter was just getting home from school. He came in through the front door and quickly ran up the stairs to his room. He said hi to Aunt May as he passed by, who was making dinner in the kitchen, and told her that his day was good. She was making her 'famous' meatloaf, which Uncle Ben claimed nobody liked. But it was food, so, might as well eat it so they don't starve themselves.

When Peter got to this dimly lit room, he threw his backpack to the side of his bed, removed his jacket and tossed it to the side, and carelessly threw himself onto his bed in exhaustion, lying on his back while facing the ceiling.

"I am so looking forward to the weekend," he said to himself.

Peter had been working hard all week during school. This was probably the only time he wasn't making straight A's throughout the year because of calculus, the class in which he has a B average in, but other than that, everything was going swell. His relationship with Gwen was managing well, and his side job as The Amazing Spider-Man was as the same as ever.

It was a striking 90 degrees outside in New York, and Peter was sweating uncontrollably. So he got up from the bed and opened the window so that some air could come in. It hasn't been this hot in New York in ages. Still feeling overheated and exhausted, Peter went downstairs to the kitchen to get himself a glass of cold water. When he went down, Aunt May was there still making meatloaf.

"Another tiring day at school?" Aunt May asked with concern.

"Yes," Peter answered as if he just walked the Sahara desert. He took a glass from the cabinet and filled the glass with ice and water.

"Then you should get some rest. Dinner should be ready by the time you wake back up."

"Meatloaf again?"

"There was nothing else to make but meatloaf today. I know my meatloaf isn't the best thing in town, but it's better than air, I suppose."

Peter smiled. "I think your meatloaf is great, Aunt May."

"Really? Are you just saying that?" Aunt May smirked.

Peter laughed this time. "No, really, I do."

"Oh, alright. I guess I wouldn't be too surprised since that one night you came home and ate up all the meatloaf in the fridge."

"Oh yeah, that night," Peter looked away embarrassed. "That was definitely one of the strangest nights I've had." Peter then took a nice, cool, relieving sip of fresh water from his glass.

"I can only hope it wasn't because you were doing something you had no business doing," Aunt May looked back at him with slight suspicion. She was using a common reverse psychology method used by many parents.

"Of course not, Aunt May! You know I'd never do such a thing. Besides, I hate taking pills anyways."

"I never said anything about pills."

Peter turned his eyes to the side out of confusion. He knew he didn't do drugs, and for sure Aunt May did as well. He knew she was just joking, but she seemed so serious about it.

"I, uh… didn't say I _did_ do drugs either," Peter said trying to come up with something to say.

After a few moments of Aunt May giving Peter an extreme gaze into his eyes, they both broke into immediate laughter.

"You really fell for it, didn't you?" Aunt May teased.

"No, I was just playing along," Peter lied.

"I guess those years of drama classes paid off for me," said Aunt May.

"Lucky for you, I'm a terrible liar."

Aunt May laughed again. "Alright, Peter, have a good rest."

"Will do," Peter called as he walked halfway up the stairs back to his room with his glass of cold water.

When he got back to his room, he placed the glass on his computer desk. He sat in his computer chair and buried his head in his hands. He really didn't feel like doing his homework, but it was better to get it over with now so he didn't have to worry about it later. He thought that he could sleep afterwards and then wake up at probably 8:00 p.m., where then he could go out for the night and swing into action. But, schoolwork comes first.

After several minutes passed by with him still not doing anything, Peter finally decided to turn on his desk lamp, pull out his homework assignment, and open his textbook to the chapters that it was over. Calculus. How exciting.

Suddenly, a voice heard from the corner of his room caused Peter to stop what he was doing, and he jerked his head towards the direction of the voice.

"You know, for a guy with preeminent spider-senses, you aren't that hard to sneak by," said the voice.

Peter was frozen and didn't take his eyes off the dark corner for a second. He couldn't exactly see who it was because the room was so dimly lit and the only thing illuminated was his desk lamp. He had curtains now that would cover up the windows so no light could shine through. It was a sunny day outside and normally it would fill up the whole room, but with the curtains put up in his room, he could never tell how it looked outside unless he looked out the window himself. But who could've broken in so easily at this time of the day? It wasn't even nighttime yet. From one thing Peter could tell, the voice was that of a female, and it sounded familiar for some reason. It sounded like a woman; a young woman about in her mid-20's or 30's. Where had he heard a voice like that from before? Peter's heard many fine women's voices before, but this one was a rather particular one. It wasn't too harsh, but it wasn't too flattering. It wasn't too seductive, but it wasn't too unpleasing. Who was it?

After what felt like minutes had passed by, Peter finally snapped out of his state of shock and bravely responded.

"Who's there?" Peter asked the anonymous voice in his room.

"Oh, you already forgot the sound of my voice?" said the voice in a less mysterious tone and a much friendlier one. The person then came from out the dark corner of the room and showed themself. Peter then saw and remembered who it was. It was The Black Widow.

"You again," said Peter in surprise.

"Has it been that long?" said Black Widow standing there with her arms crossed and dressed in her signature black catsuit. She looked exactly the same as she did last time.

"How did you get in here?" Peter asked suspiciously.

"You left the window open."

Peter then looked over to see that he did indeed leave the window open because it was hot as hell.

"And no one saw you?" Peter asked again.

"I have my methods," Black Widow responded. "But that's the least of your problems."

"How did you even know where I lived?"

"You think that a mysterious woman wearing a skintight black suit with red hair, that only gave you her codename, who also knows _your_ name, and that you're just a teenager in high school wouldn't also know where you lived?"

"Point," Peter agreed.

"Mr. Parker, I've been sent here to talk to you about something urgent."

"You've been _sent_ here?"

"Yes, on behalf of SHIELD."

"SHIELD?" Peter asked confused.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division-or for short, SHIELD. We're a secret intelligence agency that protects the planet from extraterrestrial and terrorist threats. We do our best to deal with the situations in the best possible manner, and cover it up the best way we can to pretend none of it had ever happened in the first place. There are many agents who work behind the scenes of the organization, and I'm in fact one of them."

"You've got to be joking," said Peter not trying to believe what he's hearing.

"I'm afraid I'm not, Mr. Parker."

"So, why has "SHIELD" sent you to come to me?"

"Because our director, Nick Fury, would like to meet with you to talk about his initiative."

"His initiative? You mean like a team?"

"Exactly."

"Exactly what kind of initiative would this be?"

Black Widow pulled out a flat, wide, black touchscreen phone from her utility belt, placed it on Peter's desk, and slid it toward him slowly. Peter looked at the phone's screen and on the screen displayed pictures of what looked like superheroes. They were pictures that dated from last year. They were in Manhattan. Peter then remembered. The attack on Manhattan that occurred last year. It was an extraterrestrial attack. It was something you would see in a Hollywood film, but it was all too real. Him, his Aunt May, and Uncle Ben were watching the news when it happened and they all thought that it was a joke. It had to be. There was no way. But when they stepped outside, they saw the truth. It was very real. Buildings were destroyed, streets were covered in ashes, and firemen were out still trying to put out fires that were burning for hours. And now that the pictures were shown on the phone, it reminded Peter again how real the whole incident was in the first place.

"Look familiar?" asked Black Widow.

"Yeah. I remember." Peter quietly replied.

"We tried covering up the whole incident from the media as much as possible, but there was no hiding it," Black Widow continued. "The people who were there at that very moment saw what happened with their own eyes. Other people who weren't in New York at the time and were watching it on the news thought it was a blockbuster film being displayed, which in a sense it probably was like that, except for real."

Peter then thought back to 9/11. Everyone who wasn't living in New York did think it was real at that moment either when they saw it on the news, but Peter knew, and so did other New Yorkers. Peter continued to slide his finger across the screen to go to one image to the next and found that one of the photos had Black Widow herself in them.

"You were there?" Peter asked in astonishment.

"Yes." Black Widow responded. "I fought alongside Director Fury's initiative in hopes of bettering myself and others. It wasn't exactly something I would do, but that's what I felt at that moment."

"I thought you said New York wasn't your fishbowl," Peter teased.

"It still isn't. I go wherever I'm tasked to in the world. At that moment, it just happened to be Manhattan. However, that time, I tasked myself."

Peter kept searching through the pictures and then one in particular caught his eye.

"Hey, isn't that billionaire Tony Stark?" he asked in amusement. "The one who's got that Stark Tower building in Manhattan?"

"Indeed it is," Black Widow replied sounding annoyed. Since she knew Tony Stark well enough, just saying his name was more than enough to give her bad memories of working in his old beach house in Malibu.

"I remember," Peter spoke. "I remember seeing them all on the news. They saved the day. _You all_ saved the day."

"Apparently," Black Widow simply spoke.

"Don't you feel honored?" said Peter.

"Fame and glory isn't my thing, Mr. Parker. I don't wish for people to look up to me. I'm not as good of a role model compared to someone like Captain America. In fact, I'd rather not be living the life that I am now."

"Why's that?"

"You have no idea."

After all the photos in the photo album had been seen, Peter slowly gave back the phone to Black Widow and she placed it back in her belt.

"So, that's the initiative?" asked Peter, still not fully convinced.

"Correct. But it's ultimately up to you to decide if you want to meet with Director Fury himself to discuss it. You just give me the word now, and I'll report directly back to him and tell him your final answer."

Peter stared at his desk and thought for a moment. This was a much bigger opportunity than it sounded like (if it was an 'opportunity' at all).

"If you can't make up your mind today, then we can always give you several days or maybe even a week or so," said Black Widow. "But if you surpass your deadline, then we'll have to call off the recruitment, and it'll be as if none of this ever happened."

"What, are you gonna do the same thing to me like the Men in Black?" Peter joked.

"No, Mr. Parker. Hollywood has no absolute knowledge of the world they think they know."

"I guess I can say that too now."

Black Widow then walked back towards the window and gracefully and smoothly raised herself up and placed both feet on the window sill with her upper body bent down so that she wouldn't hit her head on the sash. She was incredibly flexible to be able to bend down and stay balanced on the thin window sill without feeling uncomfortable. Peter wondered how she wasn't burning up in that tight suit in this weather condition outside. She then held onto the halfway open sash and turned back to face Peter.

"Remember, you have two weeks to make up your mind," she said again. "I'll be waiting on your roof at approximately 10:00 p.m. the day you're ready."

"And that exact date would be uh-

"You do the math, Mr. Parker."

Black Widow then impressively climbed out of the window and up to the roof where she apparently would disappear. But Peter had to be certain. He quickly raced to the window, jumped outside, and quickly lunged onto the roof in less than 5 seconds. When he made it up to the roof, there was no one in sight.

"Man, how does she do it?" Peter said to himself in wonder.


	3. The Decision

**The Decision**

_Two weeks later_

_10:00 p.m._

It was late, and Aunt May had already went off to sleep for the night. Peter on the other hand, was still up at this time of night. He usually always was up at this time so that he could swing into action, but tonight was the night he had made up his mind for Director Fury's initiative. He was waiting directly on top of his roof, not wearing his Spider-Man suit, but casual clothes for now. Jeans and his signature brown collared jacket was all he needed to keep warm and look as casual as possible. After this, he was planning on getting into his suit later and then would go about for the night to see what trouble he would find in the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan tonight.

Peter looked at his phone and saw that the time was 9:59 p.m. Black Widow said she would be there at approximately 10:00. He was kind of hoping she would get there later than he hoped. He didn't really know what to tell her. Peter had been thinking about it all past week, but he never found an answer for himself. How was he just going to make just a big decision to join some big superhero team organization that protects the world from huge threats such as extraterrestrial beings? How is any teenager still in high school supposed to put up with a task like that on a daily basis? And most importantly, how is it going to affect the ones he love, such as Aunt May and Gwen? Peter remembers hearing what Black Widow had said before that Hollywood has no absolute knowledge of the world they think they know, but from the fictional films and TV shows that he's seen that's based around behind-the-scenes work and conspiracy, such as FBI and CIA genres, it seems that whenever one of the main characters' loved ones or friends finds out that the main character turns out to be working for some secret intelligence agency that no one else was supposed to know about, they end up being killed somehow later. Of course this is just for entertainment purposes in movies and shows, but Peter was seriously taking Aunt May and Gwen's lives into perspective. He didn't want to risk theirs just for some super fan boy club (at least that's what Peter joked about it as).

As all of these crazy thoughts rushed into Peter's mind, he quickly checked his phone to then see that it was now 10:00. He looked around to see no signs of anyone showing up yet. People are never 'exactly' on time _ever. _You either have to be there a little early or be constantly checking your watch 24/7 as each second passes by. But as it turns out, the person Peter was expecting to meet wasn't late after all.

"Did I keep you waiting?" said a familiar voice. Peter already knew who it was.

He turned around to see Black Widow leaning against the generator with her arms and legs crossed in a relaxed manner.

"You really have a talent for sneaking by me, don't you?" said Peter in a friendly manner.

"It's a talent I learned to pick up at a young age," Black Widow replied.

"That figures."

"So, have you made up your mind, Mr. Parker?"

Oh shoot, it was time already. Peter didn't think long and hard about the decision like he should've, and he didn't know what message to come up with to deliver to Black Widow.

"Uh… well, you see, I still really haven't made up my mind quite yet and, uh…"

Peter was completely terrible at making things up on the spot.

"I figured you wouldn't have a final decision tonight," said Black Widow. "But it's understandable. In fact, honestly in my opinion, I don't even know why you were given only two weeks to make such a decision. It's not the amount of time _I_ would give to a teenager still in school if they were about to make a decision that would change their life."

Peter then felt a somewhat relieved after what Black Widow just said. He was beginning to gain so much more respect for her. It was like she understood exactly how he was feeling and why he still didn't have a reason for an answer. She probably already knew that reason.

"We aren't as different as you may think, Mr. Parker," she continued. "We have probably a little more in common than you may think, or more than I had thought the first time before I had read your report over your background."

"Besides having similar codenames?" Peter asked, still being a little humorous.

"Besides that," Black Widow replied. "Your life may not be as gritty as mine was, but we definitely have a somewhat better understanding of each other."

"Well, I still don't know about yours."

Black Widow paused for a second and then looked into Peter's eyes. Her eyes were so gentle and blue. How could an assassin's eyes be subtle? Peter no longer looked at her as some sort of sex symbol, but now as a beautiful, angelic woman.

"True," Black Widow said after a brief pause. "But I don't know if you can handle my past. And it doesn't exactly end with 'happily ever after'".

"It's _that_ grim?" asked Peter in disbelief.

"Yes. More than you can imagine ever happening to someone like me, or at least someone like me at a young age."

"What happened?"

Black Widow paused again. She had urges to not tell and to hold back from her past. The only other person she's shared her terrible past with is her longtime SHIELD partner Agent Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye. And technically, Hawkeye was a part of her past that led her to where she is now.

"That'll have to wait for another day," Black Widow finally spoke. "For now, I can report back to SHIELD and inform Director Fury that you haven't made a final decision yet?"

"Well, you did say it's now or never, right?"

"Correct."

"Well…"

Peter had a long pause before picking up his sentence again because he still wasn't sure whether to take the chance now or to just throw the opportunity away completely.

"… I'll… meet with him myself," Peter finally answered.

"Are you certain?" Black Widow attentively asked.

"Yes. I'm certain."

"Well, I shall report back to SHIELD headquarters and fill the Director in on your decision to meet with him. He shall have made up his mind for when to schedule a meeting by another 2 weeks. And once again, you do the math, and I'll send you a text to your phone of the address to where you are to meet me next time."

"Will anything we do involve swinging?" Peter just had to ask.

"That's your decision, Mr. Parker."

Black Widow then turned away from Peter and began walking off to the opposite side of the roof. Peter could already tell that she was about to do her astonishing vanishing act. She then stood on the edge of the roof and turned back around to face Peter.

"I shall be off for the night, until next time. Remember, two weeks," said the Black Widow.

As she said that, she back flipped off of the roof and landed elsewhere. Peter didn't hear a thud, or any sort of sound that indicated that she had even landed. The roof wasn't that tall from the ground, so she should've landed on the ground within a matter of about two seconds. But Peter didn't even bother to check this time because he already knew that he would only find nothing.


	4. Spider Vs Spider

**Spider Vs. Spider**

_SHIELD Helicarrier_

_One week later_

Agent Natasha Romanoff, or the Black Widow, was in virtual training mode. It was required of all the agents to take the tests so that they know how to take action in case of certain situations that involve a crisis. The agent would simply be put in a specific environment that's specially designed to fit their mission, and the actual agent would be "asleep" throughout the entire session with the help of a helmet hooked to their heads and transfers all the data to their brain, causing them to "dream" about the mission. Everyone else could watch what goes on in the mission through a monitor that has numerous high definition camera angles. Virtual training sessions can include combat, mind games, stealth, obstacle courses, and team sessions such as capture the flag. They could be quite exhilarating at times, but for Natasha, it wasn't a game. It was almost too real for her. She was the best in all of the virtual training exercises. No one could top her record, not even her partner Hawkeye, which was also one of the top agents of SHIELD.

Right now, Natasha was doing a session where she was in New York City once again. It was started to bug her that she kept on ending up in the Big Apple because she keeps remembering that it's not her fishbowl. But, duty calls.

Natasha was leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper with the additional help of her grapple lines. Her objective right now was to be on the lookout for her target. She wasn't informed what her target was or even looked like. She was told that she would know when she saw them. The reason it was so cryptic was because SHIELD agents need to be prepared for anything that could come their way, without even knowing their enemy. That's unfortunately the case sometimes, and that's exactly why they have that particular training exercise. Natasha, however, was generally the best at this kind of exercise. Once again, she was the best at all of the training exercises.

As Natasha made her way on top of a skyscraper roof hundreds of feet in the air, she heard a sound coming from around the generator area. She quickly turned to face the area and pulled out her pistol while firmly holding it with two hands. She took slow steps over to the area. She was planning on sneaking up on the target and taking them out from behind. But at the same time, she had no idea who her target was. She didn't know how big or how small.

As she approached closer and closer towards the generator, Natasha's heart began to beat faster and faster. She wasn't technically afraid, but she was cautious. Once Natasha was getting ready to haul herself up onto the generator, her target suddenly leaped right over the generator and kicked her gun out of her hand. The gun slid about 15 feet away from Natasha and was right at the edge of the skyscraper. It was such a sudden surprise that Natasha didn't even have time to shoot or aim when the target came out. When Natasha turned around to see who the target was, she was surprised. It was Spider-Man in full costume this time. Natasha obviously couldn't see through his mask, but she could tell that from his stance, he was ready to attack. She didn't know how she was going to defeat him easily, but The Black Widow was prepared for anything.

Spider-Man made the first attack by lunging forward and attempting to kick Natasha directly in her face. Easily, Natasha slid forward and ducked down backwards while dodging the kick at the same time. She then turned and slid back in place with her legs planted spaced out firmly on the ground, her upper body bent down, and her right hand placed on the ground in front of her. It was a pretty spider-like position of her. Spider-Man then turned his head quickly to see Natasha pull out her second pistol. Without hesitation, Natasha quickly pulled the trigger without any trouble and a bullet was sent racing towards Spidey at 870 feet per second. With ease, Spider-Man back flipped over the bullet, and as he landed, continued to perform a series of quick multiple backflips towards Natasha. As he landed a few feet away from Natasha with his final backflip, this time he leaped upwards and attempted to kick Natasha across the face, which he almost got away with, but Natasha was too fast to allow for that. As Natasha ducked down, she aimed to deliver a blow in his abdomen, but Spider-Man somehow was quick enough to block her attack with his arm after he just got finished performing a difficult kick. As he blocked her fist, Natasha tried kicking him in his calf where it would cause his leg to bend, bringing him down, and giving Natasha an opportunity to deliver another blow in a weak area.

As Natasha swept her leg for his calf area, Spider-Man impressively flipped completely over her and kicked Natasha directly into her back, causing her to grunt in pain. The force of the kick caused Natasha to fall forward, but as she was about to fall, she quickly caught herself by rolling forward about five feet away from Spider-Man. As she got back up to face him, Spider-Man shot several webs at her as if they were bullets. Natasha fortunately had the astounding ability to evade projectiles coming her way at high speeds such as bullets, and swiftly cartwheeled herself out of the path of the web bullets. After landing, she quickly threw down instant knockout gas pellets towards Spider-Man. Once the pellets landed right in front of him, they instantly exploded with gas, which would hopefully instantly knock out Spidey. However, within only a few seconds of the smoke being released, Natasha looked up in surprise to see Spider-Man coming down right on her with his foot extended out towards her face. With quick reflexes, Natasha bent backwards completely and planted her hands firmly onto the ground , as Spider-Man zoomed right over her with his kick, and landed behind her. She then had her legs off of the ground as well, and could've easily done a backflip, but quickly pushed her feet back down, and brought herself back up. Natasha tried to turn back in time to face Spider-Man once again, but was too late, and was turned to see a fist slam straight into her face, causing her to fall on her back violently with another grunt of pain. With the aid of his super strength, Spider-Man's attacks were pretty painful, especially a fist to the jaw. Luckily though, Natasha didn't break hers, but it still hurt like hell.

While Natasha still lied on the ground, she looked up to see Spider-Man walking slowly towards her. She knew this was all just a virtual training session, which was why she wasn't so hesitant to pull the trigger at him before, but for some reason this was all too shocking to her because this Peter Parker was nothing like the Peter Parker she knew in reality.

"Black Widows are so overrated," said Spider-Man in his same exact voice. "All it takes is a little squish."

As he said that, Spider-Man quickly raced to Natasha in an attempt to stomp her in the gut, but Natasha rolled out of the way just in time as Spider-Man's foot slammed into the ground, creating spider web-shaped cracks in the concrete. Natasha then got herself up and was ready this time as she never took her eye off him. She needed to come up with some sort of strategy, and fast too. She didn't really have time to come up with anything because he always attacked so suddenly. And the other thing was that he could detect all of her moves with the help of his spider-sense. She had the capability to avoid his attacks just as well as he did with hers, but Natasha needed to land something on him, and she needs to do it hard. She knows all the weak spots of every human being, even the really big muscular ones, which explains how she can take down pretty much anybody. But Spider-Man was a completely different 'anybody'. He could take hits like a breeze, and could deliver much more painful blows. But there had to be some way to take him down. There's always a weak point in everyone. Spider-Man may be a superhuman, but he definitely wasn't the Hulk either.

Natasha then steadied herself and waited for Spider-Man to make his next move. She had something special in store for him.

"True, they can be squished," said Natasha, trying to taunt.

Spider-Man then turned to her direction again. His move was going to be quick, so her plan couldn't fail, or else that'll be the end of her. As Spider-Man positioned himself to rush forward, Natasha inconspicuously activated her bracelets, and they powered on with electricity charging through them. With Spider-Man rushing directly towards her, Natasha studied him enough to know that he would trust his spider-senses to lead him where to dodge if she attacked, so she let him come close enough aim for the right moment. Right when Spider-Man was about to deliver the final blow, Natasha moved fast enough to dodge his attack and was close enough to jab him right in his spine with her electric bracelets, sending 30,000 volts of electricity through his body. Spider-Man let out a scream of pain dropped to the ground with a thud, and his body continued to shake violently from the electrical currents still traveling through.

"But they always leave a nasty sting," Natasha finished. "And you never forget one when you see it."

After she said that, the environment began to disappear, and the session was coming to an end. When the session was over, Natasha awoke back in the helicarrier, where she was lying in a reclined seat, and removed her virtual training helmet that was hooked to her. She was breathing rapidly because she could still feel some of the exhaustion and exhilaration that she just had experienced in the session. That was always one of the minor side effects included in the virtual training. Her partner Agent Clint Barton, or Hawkeye, then came over next to her in case she needed any help getting up, which she never did.

"Boy, was that some shit?" said Clint.

"Tell me about it," Natasha agreed.

"Man, you were putting a real fight back there. I've never seen you sweat that much before during any brawl."

"Gee, you don't even know the half of it."

"Oh, I saw everything."

"You did?"

"Yeah, so did Director Fury."

"I figured he had something to do with this."

"What do you mean?"

"Since I've been sent several times to deliver Peter Parker, a.k.a. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" a message, he figured I should know how to deal with him if he ever turned hostile, which I doubt he ever would."

"How can you be certain though, Natasha?"

"Because I just am."

"You can't always assume things though, Nat."

"Look, that boy has no intention to harm anybody! I know his personality enough to see the innocence in his eyes. I know what he's been through, and it does not make any sense for him to want to cause any hostility towards anyone!"

Clint was silent. It's been quite a while since he's seen Natasha this mad. He always noted how proper Natasha could manage to speak while still being totally pissed off. He's seen the ugly side of her before, and things could really get out of hand sometimes if she doesn't cool off. So he tried not to backfire anything out of his defense, even though he always has to get the last word.

"He's a teenage kid who doesn't need to be bothered with anything that has to do with SHIELD," she continued. "He already has enough troubles trying to be a teenager in high school, being on the lookout for the people he cares about, being a good nephew, trying to manage a relationship that's bound to be doomed at this point, and trying to live a double life as some 'superhero' that just wants to help others so no one else has to feel the pain of the loss he's experienced. Nothing more to it! Director Fury needs to just leave him the hell alone so he and the rest of us can get on with our lives!"

Natasha was breathing heavily and steaming red with anger.

"Nat, I understand that he may be going through some of the things that are similar to what you went through, but this is his decision, not yours," Clint responded calmly.

"I don't care! I don't care whose decision it is. All I know is that he does not deserve to have to go through the same shit that I did when I was a teenage girl. No kid deserves that. Especially him! I and nor does he want his life to be centered around this mess forever! He was raised by a well, happy, middle-class family, and SHIELD does NOT have the right to take that from him!"

Natasha's voice at this point was beginning to break. All Clint could do was listen at this point. He understood all of what Natasha was talking about. She told him everything that happened to her, and he was technically part of her past as well. The hopes of a happy childhood were taken away from Natasha a long time ago, and so she's able to empathize with what Peter's going through now.

"He deserves to be left alone, and for him to make the decisions that he wants to in life, not for them to be handed to him by SHIELD," said Natasha a little quieter this time. "And yeah, you're right. There is nothing I can do about it. But I'm gonna make sure that he knows what's coming for him, and I'm sure he'll understand. He's a pretty sharp kid; I'll think he'll know."

Natasha paused again for a brief moment. Clint was still silent.

"All those times I had to go to him and put on my best acting skills to fool him into thinking I was on his side, when you know that I'm not. None of us are. Some of us may want to be, but the sad truth is that we can't. I've seen how he makes references about SHIELD to Hollywood films. I kept telling him that we're completely different, but are we that different Clint, are we?"

Natasha then paused again. At this point she had let all of her anger out and Clint could see the shift in her facial expressions. He knew all of her emotions, and he knew which one she was feeling at whatever given time just by looking. All of the red had drained out from her cheeks. She was calmer now and started to get herself out of the seat. After a few moments passed, Clint finally found the courage to speak again. He wasn't really afraid of Natasha because he knew she wouldn't kill him by any means necessary.

"Fury said he needs to talk with you after you get yourself fixed up," said Clint, still in his calm voice.

"What do you mean when I get fixed up, I'm already fixed up," Natasha said with an attitude.

Clint wasn't surprised. Her hair was a mess and she was sweating a ton. She quickly got up and walked towards the door in a hurry without any care for what people thought of her appearance.


	5. The Final Decision

**The Final Decision**

**So sorry it took forever to upload. Stuff came up. But after about 4 months, here's chapter 5.**

_Another week later_

_9:30 p.m._

Peter was secretly swinging to the address that Black Widow has texted to his phone. He didn't wear his costume this time because he didn't feel it was necessary. Instead he wore casual jeans with a navy blue hoodie. The address he was sent to be was a dark alley that was hidden behind buildings, and had only one lamppost illuminated in the area. It wasn't the best place to be alone unless you had some serious self-defense combat skills, and fortunately Peter did, but it really didn't matter because Black Widow was going to be there as well, and the last time they got ganged up on, it didn't end well for the attackers.

When Peter got to the area, he landed on the building that the alley way was behind. He stood at the edge of the building and looked down to see that Black Widow was already there waiting for him. She just stood there as she usually looked, and stood against the lamppost with her legs and arms crossed. Peter decided to see if he could try to sneak up on _her_ this time, and not always the other way around. So he ran along the other side of the building and jumped across as silently as he could over behind a garbage bin, where he hoped she wouldn't see him. He was about 20 feet away from her, and she didn't appear to show any signs that she knew he was there. So Peter then jumped around the bins that were in the alley way, and silently crawled behind them. When he finally got behind the bin that Black Widow was standing in front of, while still leaning against the lamppost, Peter then quietly flipped over the box, and slowly approached her from behind.

Suddenly, her voice caught him by surprise.

"It took you long enough," Black Widow said unamused.

"Man, I thought I really got you this time," Peter said embarrassingly. Black Widow then turned around to face him.

"Better luck next time then," she said as she slowly approached him.

"So, are you gonna take me to Director Fury?" Peter asked.

"That was part of the deal wasn't it?"

"Yeah, just making sure."

"Well, I need to make sure you're truly considering this?"

"Yeah, I said I would."

"Actually, you never gave me a straight answer. All you said was that you would talk to Fury and that's it. You never said you would want to partake in his initiative."

"Well, you see, I was hoping that maybe things could be straightened out more if I met with Director Fury in person, and maybe he could further explain it more."

"What do you mean? Didn't I explain it enough?"

"No, it's not that, it's…

Black Widow's face then began to shift from friendly to more grim. It wasn't that she was mad that she didn't explain the initiative to Peter thoroughly enough, but because she was still feeling some of her anger that she had felt last week about his life being manipulated by SHIELD. Peter also began to notice the look on her face, and was starting to feel a little uncomfortable on the inside. She wasn't that same beautiful and angelic woman he remembered from before. She looked cold. She looked as deadly as a black widow could be. He wasn't sure if it was something he had said or not, which it was, but he surely wasn't going to risk his ass at this point.

"I'm sorry if I offended you or anything," said Peter trying to sound as apologetic and merciful as possible.

"It's not that," said Black Widow trying to assure him that she wasn't angry towards him, "it's just that I need for you to absolutely positive that this is what you want for yourself. Because if once you dive into this lifestyle there's no coming back."

"My decision is yes."

"Have you seriously thought about it _that_ much these past two weeks since I last met with you?"

"Of course. It's a huge life-changing decision to make. Why wouldn't I be thinking about it?"

"Because maybe you don't realize how serious this is."

"What are you saying?"

Black Widow paused, and took in a deep breath. She then closed her eyes and exhaled nice and slow and then opened her eyes again.

"Joining SHIELD isn't going to make your life any easier," she spoke. "It's not a big stress reliever of any sort. If anything, it only gives even more stress than it has to offer. I can already tell that you're struggling right now, and from that I'm not sure if you're ready to take this next big step in your life."

For the first time, Peter was starting to understand and get a clear view of what he was about to step into. He never thought about such things as stress and how it would make his life even harder than it is now. He still never stopped thinking about his loved ones though. That was most important.

Black Widow was then talking in a calmer and gentler voice.

"I'm not saying that you can't _ever_ join, but I'm not sure that you're ready _now_. I understand why Fury had the idea of recruiting you for the Avengers Initiative, but maybe he didn't realize that now isn't the time. I know that if it were you out there fighting with us the day of the attack on Manhattan, you could take out as many of those Chitauri forces as the rest of us could, and probably even more than me. You have potential, Peter, I know that."

That was the first time she ever called him Peter. After hearing her say that, Peter knew that she was telling the truth and was speaking from her heart, which was something Black Widow normally didn't do. Black Widow was a good actress in reality and was trained to use her acting skills on various occasions including on missions, but now she seemed to be most honest. He was a teenage kid, what purpose did she have to lie to him? It wasn't going to do him or her any good either way.

"I understand, and I appreciate that you care about my future… but if it's okay with you, I would still like to speak with Director Fury face to face," Peter spoke ever so gentle.

When Peter said that he appreciated her for caring about his future, Black Widow almost didn't want to admit it, but it was true deep down inside that she did care. She wanted to deny the fact that she cared about someone as simple as a teenage boy, but she could never fool herself no matter how hard she faked it.

While still disagreeing with the fact that Peter wanted to still meet with Director Fury, Black Widow went ahead and took him there anyway.

"Very well," she said in a neutral tone.

She then walked off deeper into the alleyway, and led the way to whatever path that would take them to SHIELD headquarters. Peter still didn't have any idea that SHIELD's headquarters was a giant floating helicarrier base in the sky. That was just going to have to be a surprise.

After minutes of walking, the two of them had reached a shore by the Hudson River. It was still dark outside, and all that could be seen in the distance was dark blue water.

"What are we doing here?" asked Peter out of curiosity. "Is this where the headquarters are?"

"Good guess, but this is where we're going to be taken to the headquarters," Black Widow replied.

Suddenly, a small Quinjet rose from out of the river and solidly floated above the water like a boat. The cockpit then opened and inside was a SHIELD pilot who was awaiting their arrival. Black Widow then turned to Peter.

"You getting in?" she said as she climbed over the rail along the river's shore and into the co-pilot's seat.

Peter then snapped out of his state of astonishment and climbed inside.

"This is new," said Peter.

"It's called a Quinjet," said Black Widow. "It's a specially designed vehicle for SHIELD purposes only. No one else in the world has any technology like this."

The pilot then closed the cockpit and brought the Quinjet back down into the water. The pilot then took them through the undersea view of the Hudson River at a very high speed.


End file.

Avengers, Spider-Man, Adventure, Suspense