in 2010, natasha romanoff rescued anya avilova from the red room and made the questionable decision to take anya in herself. four years later, anya has left her time at s.h.i.e.l.d. behind and is living as sasha rushman, Normal Teenage Girl™. then n...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
FROM THE moment her parents each took a bullet to the head, Anya Avilova was screwed. Kidnapped by the Red Room at a year old, she spent nine years of her life with a gun in her hands. If she tried to resist, she paid a hefty price. Staying alive meant losing herself, but if the Red Room taught her anything, it was to survive at all costs. Anya Avilova was nothing more than a pawn on a chessboard with no place to go.
THE ONLY agent ever able to successfully escape the Red Room was the infamous Natalia Romanova, a villain in the eyes of every agent and teacher alike. Anya was fascinated by her, by the woman who achieved what Anya could only dream of. The day the Black Widow and her archer friend infiltrated the facility, Anya didn't hesitate before turning on the Red Room and becoming a traitor, just like Natalia Romanova. She had finally found her way out, stumbling right into SHIELD's custody.
NATASHA Romanoff started out as a Red Room agent and found her way to SHIELD. Clint Barton gave her a chance. So did Fury. So did SHIELD. So did the Avengers. Someone looked into her eyes and saw that she didn't want to be what the Red Room made her. On the day they raided the Red Room facility, Natasha looked into the eyes of every one of those girls. All of them were ready to kill her or die trying except for one. A young girl with flaming orange hair ran right for Clint and Nat, no weapons in her hands, eyes desperate. Natasha saw herself in that kid, and she knew that kid didn't belong in another facility. Anya Avilova deserved a chance, not a prison sentence. Natasha had to do something.
IN NATASHA'S head, "something" had not been taking the kid on herself. "She's a trained killer," SHIELD told her. "She can't run free yet." Natasha was presented with two options: leave the kid to be imprisoned for years, or watch the kid herself until Anya was fit to end up in foster care, because Natasha was a trained agent who could handle something like that. Was it what Nat had in mind? No. Was it what she wanted? Not really. But it wasn't long term, and she would be giving the girl a chance to be normal.
FOUR YEARS later, Anya Avilova has a new name and a new life. Sasha Rushman's days with SHIELD are long behind her, but she hasn't gotten all that far. She's become her own enemy. Every thought in her head revolves around the anorexia that's literally ripping her insides apart, and nobody has any idea. The last thing she needs is Nick Fury randomly appearing in her living room telling her that DC is about to go up in flames, and a genius hacker former assassin trainee is exactly what SHIELD needs to stop it. Unfortunately, it's not like she has anywhere better to be.
