I saw Black Widow the day it came out and HOLY HECK IT WAS SO GOOD! If you haven't seen it, go and watch it right now!

Anyways, all the Budapest scenes really had me thinking more about Nat + Barton and how they met and whatnot, and so this fic was born! If Marvel won't give us the whole Budapest story, then by golly I will. I'm going to be gone for a while, but I knew I had to at least get this started before I left, so here it is! (Also things might not be super accurate to the movie because I'm going strictly off memory as I can't go back and watch the movie over and over again. I'll do my best tho!)

Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or Black Widow or anything


Feet pounding, she runs. She sprints down streets, weaving in and out of the crowds. She darts down alleys and hidden passages only she knows about. She's canvased this area, she knows where she's going. Now if only that were enough to escape.

Gasping for breath, Natasha slips into the shadows behind a drug store. Sure, she was trained to be able to run for days, but she needs to be at full strength in order to face them and to do that she needs to take all the breaks she can squeeze in. Natasha wills her heartbeat to slow and forces her breathing to even out. She covers her mouth, trying to stay as silent as possible. Natasha slowly peeks around the corner and exhales as she watches the women continue running past her. Her body relaxes as she realizes she's lost them. She's safe.

BLAM!

BLAM!

BLAM!

Nevermind! Natasha thinks as she jumps, her heart racing and adrenaline coursing through her veins once more. She looks up and is met with the sight of a sniper glaring down at her from the roof of the drugstore.

"Can't we just let bygones be bygones?" Natasha asks, smirking up at the familiar face of the sniper.

"You know the rules as well as I do." Natashas comrade - her partner - says, venom dripping from her voice. Natasha tries not to wince at how fast her friend can turn on her. No, Natasha thinks, not your friend. You have no friends. Drilling this into her mind, Natasha glares up at the sniper. She refuses to think of her with her name, knowing that it will just cause her more pain in the end. Natasha sticks her tongue out at her before taking off down the alley. She ducks under balconies and awnings for cover, and hears bullets rapidly ring off them.

"You can run but you can't hide!" The Widow shouts. Natasha races down the alley as fast as she can, hoping against hope that she can make it to the public square before her follower. If she can lose herself to the crowds, Natasha knows she'll be able to escape.

She keeps telling herself that as she sprints the last stretch of the alley, before bursting out into the open sunlight. Immediately Natasha runs into the street, weaving in and out of traffic. People honk at her but she ignores them, her goal in mind.

"Get back here you traitor!" The sniper shouts a little ways away. Natasha feels tears prick at the edges of her eyes as the word 'traitor' rings through her mind. Sure, the Red Room treated her and all their Widows horribly, but they were the only family Natasha's ever known. And to betray them…it's never been done.

"No," Natasha whispers to herself, shaking these thoughts from her head, "The Red Room betrayed me first when they stole me from my family and broke me down only to rebuild me as one of their killing machines." Natasha's eyebrows furrow dangerously and she uses her anger to fuel her escape. She spots a trolley about a block away, heading deeper into the city. If she can just reach it, she'll have no problem getting out of here!

Unfortunately, her eyes also land on four other Widows that drop down into the crowd. They haven't spotted her yet - thank god - but it's only a matter of time. Taking a final deep breath, Natasha pools all her strength and takes off.

"There she is!"

"Get her!"

For being spies trained by a secret organization, these Widows sure are doing a terrible job at being stealthy, Natasha thinks smirking, At least that works to my advantage. She darts in the opposite direction of the voices, trying to put as much distance between herself and the other Widows as possible. She listens closely and hears their feet pounding against the concrete, quickly catching up to her.

Natasha spares herself a glance behind her and she wishes she didn't. The Widows are steadily closing the distance between them, and Natasha spots the sniper jumping from roof to roof, her gun trained on her. Natasha gasps and ducks just as a bullet whizzes past her head. She jumps behind a parked car as a barrage of bullets follows. She winces and feels something prick into her arm. Natasha looks down and sees red dripping from a wound where a bullet just barely grazed her. She sighs in relief as she realizes it's not deep, but she knows she needs to get it fixed before it can bleed out much more. Sadly, now is not the time to lick her wounds.

Natasha closes her eyes and opens her ears. Every 10 shots, she hears a short break - which Natasha assumes is used to reload the automated sniper gun. If Natasha can time this right, she can get away before the gun is loaded again. Natasha sighs again, knowing her whole escape plan has relied on a series of 'what ifs' that have yet to go her way. But I just have to keep going, she thinks, shaking her head of her doubts. Natasha listens closely, trying to time out her escape. The gun reloads and she starts counting.

10…

9…

8…

7…

6…

5…

Natasha dares a quick peek around the car and instantly regrets it as a bullet pierces the wall, barely missing her face. She ducks back behind the car and continues counting.

4…

3…

2…

1!

Natasha jumps out as she hears the last bullet shoot from the gun's barrel. She runs towards the trolley like her life depends on it - which it does. She hears the Widows take up their chase again, but she pays them no attention. Her vision blurs at the edges of her eyes, and her head spins from the loss of blood. Get to the trolley, get to the trolley, get to the trolley, Natasha repeats over and over in her mind. At this point, her silent mantra is the one thing keeping her going, keeping her from collapsing to the ground and giving up.

Natasha forces her eyes to refocus and she spots the trolley a mere few feet ahead of her. When did it get so close? It doesn't matter, Natasha shakes her head and pushes her aching body to its limits, determined to reach the trolley before it can drive away. She stretches out her arm, reaching for the trolley's railing. Her fingers brush the cool metal but before she can get a proper grip on it, she trips.

As Natasha falls, she knows she won't be able to get back up again. As her body is crashing to the ground, a hand juts out and grabs Natashas. Confused, she looks up to see a young man trying to help pull her up onto the moving vehicle.

"You could put some effort into it too," The man says jokingly.

"Oh," Natasha mutters in response. She struggles for a moment, but manages to get her feet under her once again. She pushes up, and with the help of this stranger, gets aboard the trolley. Natasha stands, leaning heavily on the railing and looks out into the street. She spots the Widows looking frantically around for her, and she smiles, knowing she's done it. Natasha escaped.

"Excuse me miss," The stranger says. Natasha whips her head around to him, having forgotten he was there. Her vision cuts in and out of focus and she struggles to listen to his words. "Are you okay? You're bleeding! What is happening?"

"I-I'm totally fine. I just need to take a short nap." Natasha says before promptly collapsing unconscious to the floor of the trolley.


Coulson marches down the halls of the helicarrier, a thick file held under his arm. His co-workers smile and wave at him but Coulson doesn't pay them any mind. He is on a mission, and he is determined to see it through.

After a few moments he reaches the end of the hall, a thick door standing before him. Coulson swipes his ID card and the door slides open with a whoosh. He steps inside and places the folder on the table sitting in the middle of the room. He opens it and taps the picture of a young redheaded girl repeatedly while looking around the dimly lit room. Finally his eyes land on the figure cloaked in shadows and Coulson smiles.

"I have a new assignment for you Barton,"


I hope you enjoyed that quick intro! I'll work on the next part when I get back and get it out as soon as I can! Bye for now!