[1] 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 | 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

➘ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝

➸ 2010
📍WASHINGTON, DC
The Triskelion
╚════▣◎▣════╝

SO MANY voices.

Galina's head lolled to the side as she tried her best to regain consciousness — vision blurry. She soon noticed that she was strapped to a chair and realized that there was a metal square in her neck, restricting her powers.

She is not gonna lie, she's terrified fucking shitless.

She's not only terrified of the new environment and strangers, but of what she'll be after HYDRA's done with her once they track her down.

"Barton, you had one job!" Fury scolded for the second time.

"She's a child! No one seemed to have told me that she's a kid!" Clint argued back. "I'm not a child killer."

She lifted her head up and squinted as she saw the familiar man from earlier arguing outside the interrogation room with her target beside some redhead.

Fury inhaled sharply, shaking his head. "You wouldn't have done it if you knew."

"Damn right I wouldn't have! Is SHIELD killing children now? Is that what we're becoming?"

"Agent Barton—"

"No! Respectfully, sir, don't Agent Barton me. Agent Romanoff was the shot that I didn't take and look at where we are now. She's on our team, our side. Kuznetsov is clearly a victim just as much as Romanoff was. So no, I don't regret a damn thing." Barton yelled one last time before walking away in a angry demeanor.

The redhead pinched her nose bridge and shook her head. "Fury, we usually see eye to eye...but this was not okay at all."

"Kuznetsov has been on our radar for three years now. We needed her eliminated."

"Yeah...so was I. I needed to be eliminated too but here I am. Alive, living, breathing. I just thought that you would've learned from your past predicaments."

"Kuznetsov is far more dangerous than you were. She's enhanced."

"Yeah clearly but that doesn't mean that we should kill her."

And deep down, Fury knew that she was right. He knew that he was somewhat in the wrong but he wasn't gonna admit that.

Nick breathed heavily through his nostrils before speaking once more. "We aren't sure where she came from or why. Within all of our digging, we couldn't find a source for any of it just a name, age, and date of birth." he explained.

"What do you want me to do?"

"See if you can get answers."

Natasha sighed before nodding as she watched Fury walk away. She took a deep breath and opened up the interrogation room to find the curly haired brunette sitting there still trying to regain her bearings.

"Hello i'm—"

"Natalia Romanova." she finished the sentence for her in a drowsy state. "You were a Widow who betrayed the KGB and the Red Room. I've heard alllll about you."

The woman's eyes narrowed at her as she sat down across from the girl. "How did you know—"

"I read your mind, Natalia Romanova." her true accent thickened as her head still hung low with her eyes cutting up at her.

"I don't go by that anymore."

"You might not go by that anymore but trust me, Natalia is always gonna be apart of you no matter how hard you try to hide from her with this bullshit Natasha Romanoff facade." she said with disgruntled disgust on her curled up lips.

A small almost annoyed grin spread across her mouth. "What was your mission?"

"I'm pretty sure you know what my mission was considering you're in here interrogating me." she decided to finally lift her head up fully, leaning her head down to her shoulder to rub at her eye.

"How's it going in there?" Coulson, who just came by, questioned Fury.

"I don't even know." Nick admitted all while giving Hill a look of concern.

Natasha ran her tongue over her teeth in mild annoyance. "Fine. Who sent you?"

"Ah, the breadcrumbs that you wish for, Natalia." she chastised with a smirk. "And here I thought that the great Black Widow was smart enough to know that you never reveal background..."

"You're scared." Natasha declares surely. "Your knee is bouncing, there's a small bead of sweat running down your arm and your eyes betray you — even though your voice is strong. You're scared."

Galina's eyes widened momentarily but she remained quiet, chewing the inside of her cheek.

"You're not scared of us entirely, though. You know that you can take all of us out just by the flick of your wrist, no, you're scared of whoever sent you here. You're scared of what they would do to you once they find you. Aren't you?"

Silence.

"Listen, i'm gonna make a deal with you."

"Ah, great." she scoffed out the sarcasm laced response. "Already bargaining."

"You have two options here." she leant forward towards her. "You either A, tell me everything you know and help SHIELD find who you work for, or B, get thrown in the Raft for the rest of your life and trust me, that is not a place for a young girl like yourself."

"Oh, Natalia, how naive are you?" she chuckled out condescendingly. "Thinking that i'd help you, that's rich."

"Make your choice." she replied simply.

"I already have."