Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 1: Serbia

2009

The whole square had turned into a warzone. The once quiet, isolated town now the center of a battle between one of the biggest crime-organizations on the planet and one lonely runaway. 

Bullets deflected off the walls of the worn-down buildings surrounding the plaza. Small fires randomly covered the ground, caused by grenades and other explosions. Dust and smoke hung before everyone's eyes, making it hard to see across the space. Civilians had run away when the first shot was fired, so the only people occupying it were fighters, killers.

One of them was Katya, the one they were all after. One lonely, but definitely not innocent, woman fighting for her life. 

No, it was more than that. Freedom, that's what she was fighting for. The freedom she had finally found after twenty-three years being everyone's little slave. The freedom she had a little taste of in the past two years. And she was not ready to give that up.

The brunette spy was crouched behind a low stone wall on the north side of the square. It was just high enough that her whole body was covered when she sat up straight. It gave her perfect cover from the shooting coming from the south. 

Small pieces of stone broke off the wall as bullets hit it, but nothing came through, luckily. 

How they had found her, she had no idea. She was always careful to never leave any tracks or evidence behind, moving in the shadows like she had learned when she was still a child.

But no use dwelling on the past, they were here now, they had found her, time to kill them. Bullet after bullet got fired at heads and hearts, a lot of them finding their target. But the protective armor the soldiers were wearing was hard to pierce and soon, Katya ran low on ammo. 

Deciding to save the last few bullets she had in case she would need them before being able to refill the clips, she took out her grenades and knives. The blades were hidden everywhere. Shoes, pants, belt, bra, even her tight braid held one. It was trickier to throw them than use her guns. Not because her aim was bad, not at all, but because she had to get up a little more from behind her shelter to aim and move her arm.

It left more parts of her body vulnerable and a bullet in her arm would suck right now.

What she didn't realize, is that also on the south side of the square, two people had their own mission to kill her. 

After gaining it, Katya used her newfound freedom to build a name for herself in the only business she knew: killing. It didn't matter who she worked for and who she killed. It was the only thing she knew how to do, the only way to live. She knew it was wrong, but what do you do when you're all alone in an unknown new world where you don't know how everything works? You turn to what you do know, out of hope or fear or desperation.

This was how she had gotten on SHIELD's radar. Apparently, the US Secretary of Defense was not free to kill. It was the one action that got everyone in the world looking for her, especially the Americans. Katya had killed the man while he was on vacation to France. So the French were also after her. Great.

''You see her?'' Agent Barton asked his best friend who lay next to him on the roof. This particular mission was important to him. The whole government wanted to see the woman, who killed one of them, in a body bag. 

The redhead next to him answered sarcastically. ''I thought your name was Hawkeye.''

These little remarks between them were not uncommon. Natasha had a dry sense of humor he could appreciate. ''Very funny. You see her or not?''

''I know where she is.'' The woman peered through the scope on the top of her sniper gun. She preferred to come closer to her target, but the situation didn't make that possible right now. ''The smoke doesn't let me find her though.''