To Break an Assassin

Natasha and Charlie were down in the gym at Stark Mansion. Both women were clad in sparring gloves and tight workout gear. Their hair was sticking to their foreheads and sweat glistened across both their bodies. 

Natasha currently had Charlie pinned to the mat. She held both of Charlie’s hands above her head and had a knee on either side of the other woman, effectively straddling her.

Charlie could flip their position easily if she wanted to, but who said she wanted to. “You seem to like me in this position,” she teased with a smirk.

Natasha rolled her eyes and she rolled off of Charlie, “for someone who claims to have been taking lessons their whole life, you sure are easy to get into that position,” she fired back.

Charlie scoffed as she returned to her feet. “At least Tony was good for something, or well, his bank account was,” she said as she walked over to the corner of the ring where her water bottle sat. When she bent over to pick up the bottle, she could feel Natasha’s eyes on her. “Like what you see?” she said with a smirk.

Natasha shook her head, “In your dreams Stark,” she said with a smirk of her own.

Charlie laughed as she plopped herself down on the mat floor of the ring and continued to rehydrate herself.

“So, I heard Fury finally got you to agree to a mission,” Natasha said as she leaned against the ring’s ropes.

Charlie nodded slowly, “information is a good bargaining tool,” she vaguely explained, “In exchange, he’s going to tell me why he sent you.”

Natasha tilted her head, “Well, I could have told you that.”

Charlie chuckled, “this is Nicholas Fury we’re talking about here. It’s highly unlikely you even know the entire reason.”

Natasha nodded in agreement. 

Charlie patted the mat beside her.

Natasha raised a questioning eyebrow.

Charlie clicked her tongue in annoyance, “come sit,” she instructed, patting the floor again.

Natasha debated for a moment whether or not to oblige Charlie’s request. Her internal battle was evident on her face. With a raise of Charlie’s slim eyebrow, Natasha’s resolve crumbled, and she joined

Charlie on the floor.

“So, we’ve been hanging out for almost three weeks now,” Charlie pointed out, “And I know next to nothing about you.” Charlie leaned away from Natasha to grab the other woman’s discarded water bottle across the ring. “Here,” she mumbled, handed the redhead her source of hydration.

Natasha accepted the bottle with a small smile, “I don’t know much about you either,” she countered. She took a few long sips from her water bottle before handing it back to Charlie.
Charlie shrugged as she fiddled with Natasha’s water bottle, “It seems like this is a two-way street.”

“I grew up in Russia.”

Charlie slowly moved her gaze to meet Natasha’s eyes.

“My childhood isn’t something I am proud of,” Natasha continued.

Charlie remained quietly, listening patiently.

“There is only one other person alive that I have told anything about my past too,” Natasha continued, “He was sent to kill me at first, but he recruited me to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead.”

“Clint Barton,” Charlie let slip. She closed her lips tightly to stop herself from letting anything else slip.

Natasha raised a questioning eyebrow. “You’ve hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D., haven’t you?”

Charlie nodded slowly, biting her bottom lip.

“And you’ve read my file,” Natasha continued.

Charlie kept nodding.

“I guess there had to have been a reason Fury wanted to recruit you so bad,” Natasha concluded, “Why though?”

Charlie shrugged nonchalantly, “My father was drunk one night and I pissed him off. He ended up saying I would never be as extraordinary compared to him, so I hacked into two government agencies.”

“Two?”

Charlie bit her bottom lip, “Yeah, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the C.I.A..:”

Natasha shook her head in amusement, “Charlotte Stark, you truly are something else.”

Charlie smirked. She flipped Natasha’s water bottle in her hand a few times before putting it on the ground in front of her. “Twenty-one questions. What’s your favourite colour?” She prompted.
Natasha leaned backwards, lounging on her hands, “Favourite colour? Hmm, I never thought of one before.”

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows, “how can you not think of a favourite colour?” she teased.

Natasha lazily tilted her head, staring deeply into Charlie’s eyes, “Green. My favourite colour is green.”

Charlie smiled.

“What about you?” Natasha asked.

Charlie motioned her purple leggings, matching headband, and water bottle; raising an eyebrow as if the answer was obvious.

“Purple, right, that makes sense,” Natasha said with a small laugh, “What’s your favourite book?”

Without a beat, Charlie answered, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

Natasha smirked, “I wouldn’t have taken you for a Harry Potter fan,” she teased.

Charlie shrugged, “I find it comforting. It was the first and last book my father ever bought me,” she explained, “I could probably quote it word-for-word at this point. I use to read it when I couldn’t sleep.” She looked down at her hands sadly.

“What do you mean, use to?”

Looked back up to meet Natasha’s eyes, “I had left it on the mantle the night of my father’s party. All I could find was the front cover.”

Natasha reluctantly reached out a placed a hand over Charlie’s knee, “do you want to talk about that night? You disappeared and I still don’t know where you ended up.”

Charlie stuck a loose curl behind her ear before she tucked her knees to her chest, “I, uh…”

Charlie had wandered off to the unused living area to get a break from the various noisy party-goers only minutes before the screams started. She knew from the moment her father put on the Iron Man suit that the night wasn’t going to end well. Her father and Rhodes were duking it out in mechanical suits, using force that should never be on friends.

Charlie could feel each individual pulse of blood rushing through her veins and she could hear her own heartbeat over the screams and destruction. She could feel Natasha’s eyes on her from the moment she arrived across the room.

“CHARLIE!”

Natasha’s voice barely made it to her ears before she was knocked clean off her feet and into the fireplace mantle with a sickening crunch. Pain erupted through Charlie’s whole body, her head had hit against the hard rock of the fireplace and she could feel warm liquid stream down the back of her neck. Her head fell to her right side, only to see her copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban lying only inches away, as singed as her side.

“Charlie, you need to get up!”

Charlie blinked a few times, trying to focus on Natasha’s face only inches from her own.

Natasha placed a hand on either side of Charlie’s face, “Charlie, are you okay? Charlie, talk to me.”

Charlie opened her mouth to respond, only for a dribble of blood to escape her lips. All she could do was stare into Natasha’s hectic eyes as her own slowly drooped.

“Charlie, stay with me,” Natasha’s voice sounded distant as if she was six feet underwater.

“Nat,” was all she managed to get out.

Natasha looked over her shoulder quickly, she could see Tony and Rhodes still fighting behind her. “I’ve got you любить. I need you to hold on to me,” Natasha wrapped her arms under Charlie’s legs and back to gently pick the girl up bridal style.

“To m-my r-room,” Charle mumbled against Natasha’s chest.
“

I need to get you somewhere safe,” Natasha countered.

“My r-room,” Charlie repeated, “Y-you h-help Ton-ny.”

Charlie’s bedroom wasn’t too far, but far enough away from the destruction that the injured girl would be safe while Natasha sorted out Tony.

Natasha didn’t have enough time to appreciate how much Charlie’s bedroom portrayed the brunette’s personality. There were writing utensils scattered across a large dark oak desk, a bean bag chair in one corner, and a monster-sized computer surrounded by artwork in the other. The bed was well made with a tie-dyed comforter and pillows. Unfortunately, the beautiful colours of the bedding were about to be tainted red with their owner’s blood.

Natasha looked between Charlie's beaten form and the door, reluctant to leave the other woman alone in case she succumbed to her injuries.

"Go," Charlie gritted through the pain, "I-I-I'll be f-fine."

Natasha gave Charlie one last look before she ran out to assist the other party-goers out of harm’s way.

The moment Charlie’s bedroom door closed behind Natasha, Charlie let out a loud grunt and threw herself off her bed. She landed on the floor with a pained hiss and had to blink away the threatening darkness that faded over her vision. 

Less than a foot away, hidden from intruding view was a small metal suitcase, which Charlie struggled to retrieve. The moment her bloodied fingers wrapped around the black handle, she let out a shaky sign of relief. 

Charlie quickly opened the case to reveal a small, glowing purple vial and an injection gun. She grabbed the vial and held it up to her right eye to see microscopic mechanical objects zipping around. With a satisfied smile, Charlie loaded the injection gun with the glowing vial, pressed it into the side of her neck, and released the micro-machines into her bloodstream. In a flash, her eyes became the same colour as the foreign liquid. 

Charlie let out a sigh of relief as her numerous injuries slowly closed and the resulting pain came to a halt.

Charlie was too preoccupied with the sudden relief of her pain, she didn't hear the approaching footsteps, nor the tranquillizer dart heading for her.

Charlie scratched at the back of her neck, "I honestly don't remember much past hitting the fireplace," Charlie somewhat lied, "Then waking up in my bed a few days later."

Natasha tilted her head and observed Charlie's mannerisms. "You went missing for days, and you honestly don't remember?"

Charlie shrugged slowly, "it's not the first time," she said as she rose to her feet, "I have memory blanks throughout most of my childhood." She slowly exited the ring, giving Natasha enough time to stop her.

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows, "And that doesn't bother you?" Natasha question, still sitting in the ring.

"It did at first, then it kept happening, and I just kinda got used to it," Charlie replied.

"Don't you ever wonder where you go?" 

Charlie shrugged once more, "This one time Happy followed me to the basement where I sat and stared at a wall for twelve hours. I honestly doubt I go anywhere interesting."

"That's beyond fucked up."

Charlie laughed softly, "Yeah." Charlie could tell that the situation was bothering Natasha more than she let on. She climbed back into the ring and knelt down in front of Natasha, “Nat, please. I promise whatever happened while I was blacked out, I’m okay.”

Natasha stood up sharply, “Please what Charlotte? How can you be fine with all of this?” She stomped out of the ring.

“Nat…,” Charlie said softly with her head down in shame.

Natasha stopped in her tracks at the sadness in Charlie’s voice, turned her head to look at her, “I will be around to pick you up on Friday for the mission,” she tried to keep her emotions out of her voice. She knew it wasn’t the other woman’s fault, but she couldn’t help but be frustrated at the situation.

Charlie steeled her face and squared her shoulders, “Okay, I will see you then.” She walked over to her discarded sweater and picked it up with unnecessary force.