Budapest

Chapter 22

Natasha Romanoff

"Did you call me Natasha?"
I keep fiddling with my fork as it scrapes against my plate. I'm currently sitting in a café booth, with Agent Barton opposite to me, his hand drumming on the table. After my initial panic, Barton suggested we got some food and figured out a plan. I was hesitant at first, I mean he could have set up some kind of ambush. But then I remembered what's the point of capturing me after giving away the opportunity to kill me? You capture me, I'll escape. You kill me, well no one has ever gotten as close as Barton, so I don't know what would happen.
"You...uh..heard that?" He finally answers.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that women can multitask Barton?"
"Haha." He answers sarcastically.
"I don't know, it just seemed natural to call you by your first name. I mean, surely we are on a first-name basis?"
I say nothing back. As the waitress comes back to collect our plates, I drop my fork down on the plate.
"I guess if you don't want me to call you Natasha I can always call you Romanoff." He sighs.
"No, no Natasha's fine. Better in fact. It's been so long since someone has addressed me like a...."
"Friend?" He asks.
"Acquaintance." I answer back.
I'm a murderer. I don't have friends.
"So...about that uh episode in the building. What was it exactly that they stole from you? Has it got something to do with the..." He looks around cautiously before gesturing for us to leave. Cli-Barton places a note on the table before we exit, his bag strung over his shoulder.
We walk until we are out of public congestion. I decide to break the silence. It can't hurt if he knows about my enhancers, he's probably already suspicious about my quick healing and I'm dead without them anyway.
"Yes. It's to do with the Red Room." I look to my left and right before moving to cross one of the side roads. Barton follows and listens.
"It was only experimental, what they did to me. I was, as you could say, the guinea pig for all of their research. I recall a couple times they would poison me just to test an antidote. This new..experiment was to help enhance all the girls in the program's healing rate, fitness and overall mental health. What they did to me was...accidental you could say. Meaning I'm unstable. But once they had discovered what they had managed to do with me, they wanted to explore it more. As they did this, I slowly lost my ability to process and function. What Ivan stole were my enhancers, the pills that keep me sane, and able to function. My enhancers are what allow me to heal so quickly. Without them...." I stop.
"Without them you're easy to kill." He finishes.
I hang my head in shame.
"The infamous Black Widow, brought down by her dependence on a drug." I mimic one of my instructors old sayings.
"Have you ever had a withdrawal from them before?"
"Yes, but not very often. It's not a very nice thing to see."
"How many days ago did you take one?" He asks.
I pause.
"About 14."
"When are you going to..."
"Soon. Very soon."
I watch as Barton shifts his bag to his other shoulder.
"Well then Nat, I guess we should go track down this asshole."
I scrunch up my nose at the nickname.
"Too soon?" Clint smirks.