The Soulmate Initiative: Book 1

3. I don't judge people by their worst mistakes

LOCATION: RUSSIA

In a warehouse, a young man in a suit is tied to a chair, he gets hit in the face by one of his captors. He groans and looks back up, as their leader, a female Military officer talks, in Russian "This is not how I wanted this evening to go." The man in the suit, replies "I know how you wanted this evening to go. Believe me, this is better." "Who are you working for? Lermentov, yes?" The one who hit him before, grabs the back of his chair and leans him backwards over a large opening in the floor and holds him there. The man starts to panic a bit, trying to act innocent, as the officer continues "Does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo?" "I thought General Solohob is in charge of the export business." The captor puts the man's chair back on all four feet and the officer laughs "Solohob, a bagman, a front. Your outdated information betrays you…" She leans closer to the man tied to the chair "The famous Black Widow. And he turns out to be simply another handsome face." He smirks "You really think I'm handsome?" The officer looks to one of the captors, who walks closer to the Black Widow, opening his mouth "Tell Lermentov we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he's out." The officer approaches a table of tools and picks up a pair of pliers, grinning over her shoulder and speaks in English "...you may have to write it down." 

Suddenly one of the captor's phone rings, he picks up and turns to the officer "It's for him." The other captor let's go of the Black Widow and steps away, as the officer takes the phone "You listen carefully." On the other end of the line is Agent Penelope Coulson "You're at 1-14 Silensky Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the man on the phone, or I will blow up the block before you can make it to the lobby." She nervously approaches the Black Widow and puts the phone on his shoulder, he puts his ear to it and listens, immediately recognising the voice "We need you to come in." "Are you kidding? I'm working." "This takes precedence." "I'm in the middle of an interrogation. This moron is giving me everything." The officer looks to the other two "I don't… give everything." The Black Widow gives her a look of disbelief "Look, you can't pull me out of this right now." "Nian." Agent Coulson takes a breath, realising she has to tell him "Barton's been compromised." The Black Widow tenses up and clenches his jaw…

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FLASHBACK
There are two people sneaking through a forest, the first is a woman in her early 30's in a black catsuit with purple detailing, a quiver of arrows on her back and a bow in her hand. The other is a boy in his late teenage years, in a black leather outfit. The first had been sent to kill the second, but the second is just as willing to switch roles. The boy stalks through the woods on high alert, drawing his gun as the woman watches him from behind a tree. There's something about the boy, something that tells her he can be saved, that killing him isn't the only option. As she watches him more, sneaking silently from one hiding spot to the next, she realises that though he has been trained to kill, he is still just a boy. 

She steps out from behind a bush, her bow raised and loaded, the boy quickly whips round, gun pointed to meet her. They are silent for a moment as they stare each other down, until the woman speaks "Do you know who I am?" She is clearly American, but the boy isn't, he replies in English, but with a heavy Russian accent "An assassin." She corrects him "An Agent. Killing people isn't all I do. But it is all you do, isn't it, Black Widow?" He narrows his eyes at her, but doesn't say anything "Do you like killing, or is it just all you know?" He falters a little and tightens the grip on his gun "You don't know anything." "I know that you were trained in the Red Room, an all boys spy training facility. You start off so young that you aren't supposed to feel the need to question what they're teaching you. But you did, didn't you?" She hasn't been told this, but can tell that the boy in front of her is very curious, otherwise he would've already shot her by now, he wouldn't have listened to what she had to say. The boy's voice is a little less harsh than before "They don't like questions." "No, I don't suppose they do. But, personally, I think questions are very important." 

She lowers her bow, but doesn't let go of it and the boy watches cautiously "At SHIELD, where I work, they want us to ask questions, they want us to fully understand what we're doing and why we're doing it. The people you kill, do you know who they are, who they're families are, why the KGB wants them dead?" The boy shifts his weight a little and shakes his head, the older Agent feels more and more sympathy for the boy every second "If you would ask questions, would they answer them?" The boy takes a shaky breath and gives a quiet "No." "Then what?" Their eyes lock and the Agent can see how broken the boy is "They didn't like questions." "They'd hurt you." She doesn't even need the nod that she sees, to know she's correct. She takes a slow step towards the boy and he doesn't seem to notice "At SHIELD, we don't punish questions. We don't force people to kill others, we can say no. They tell us everything they know about a person before asking if we'll go after them." She takes another step towards the boy, but this time he notices and tightens the grip on his gun, but this doesn't scare the Agent "We don't enlist children and everyone we do train, it was their choice to join in the first place and they are free to leave anytime they want." She takes another step, now being only about a metre away from the boy, who flinches a little. 

She puts her loaded arrow away and puts her bow on her back "My name is Candice Barton, nickname Hawkeye. And I'm not going to kill you, you don't deserve that." The boy lets out a little breath he didn't realise he was holding "I don't judge people by their worst mistakes. None of this is your fault." The boy lowers his gun, but doesn't let go of it "Of course it's my fault." "No. You were forced into living your life like this. But you don't have to continue to do so. You can come with me and make a change." "You're trying to trick me." Candice shakes her head "No. I'm trying to help you." She holds out a hand and the boy stares at it a moment "I can't undo what I've done…" "No, but you can control what you do from now on. From what I hear, you're the best in the KGB, leaving them and helping the people who you instead would've killed, will make a huge difference." He thinks about it and after a while drops his gun on the leaves at his feet and reaches for the woman's hand. As their hands touch, Candice's tingles and it travels up her arm to her heart, where she feels warmth. They are soulmates. The boy, however, doesn't feel it. He looks into Candice's face to see her beaming "We're soulmates." The boy's eyes widen "We are?" Candice nods "What do I call you?" The boy hesitates "They'll find me." "Then pick a new name, we'll make you an American citizen." "...Nian. Nian Romanoff."
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"Let me put you on hold." Agent Romanoff looks up to the officer, who takes the phone from him, as she does this he kicks her in the shin, bringing her down, and to knock her unconscious, he headbutts her. The other two charge over and Romanoff stands up, arms still tied to the chair, to fight them. He uses the chair to his advantage as he fights and as soon as both are on the ground for a second he quickly flips over, landing on his back, breaking the chair, freeing himself. One of the men grabs him from behind and he bends his fingers backwards, then kicks him. He grabs a chain hanging from the ceiling and wraps it around the officer's legs, sending her down the hole in the floor, just hanging there. He then picks up the phone "Where's Candice now?" "We don't know." "But she's alive?" "We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to Doctor Banner." "Coulson, how do you expect me to get through to Banner? It's not like she trusts anyone." "I'm sure you'll find a way."