Marvel - An old Friend

[Kian Romanov]

He smirked at the prospect of going on a mission with Romanoff, not exactly finding the need to hide how pleasant the idea was to him. "I wouldn't mind taking out some of your best in combat." he remarked, then chuckling when she suggested that he shouldn't kill someone during his stay in SHIELD, "That's no fun at all. In Russia our form of "high fiving" was breaking each other's necks." he said sarcastically.


He tapped his fingers on his knee, the room now dimly lit by the rising sun that tinged the room into a light shade of orange. "They already take me seriously." He corrected, "They wouldn't have sent you to get me if they didn't take me seriously- well if they didn't take me as a serious threat." He looked around the tiny room, curious how long he'd last before he'd completely lose his mind. "I just need them to trust me, I suppose."


"What about Fury? Did you have the chance to talk yet?" he asked curiously, his eyes set on her facial expressions in hope of catching anything he could. Chances were, he thought, she would keep SHIELDs decisions confidential, he was still a dangerous assassin after all.

 

[Jessy753]

"Do you want to go on a mission with me?", she asked him curious and hid the fact well that she had noticed the pleased smile on his lips as soon as she had mentioned that possibility. Natasha laughed over as he mentioned that form of high five and gently nudged his arm with her elbow. "I'm just trying to help. But I haven't said that I'd be a good help, Kian.", she retorted amused over his sarcastic comment. She watched him a little before gazing over to the window to watch the sunrise for a bit.


"There's a difference to be considered as a serious threat or being taken seriously, Korav. You don't want to be a threat anymore after all. So, I'm correct after all.", she reminded him before joking a little "Show them your charming side. Chicks dig that after all. Moreover, see this as high school and you try hard to get into the popular clique."


Natasha frowned shortly as soon as he managed Fury but she was quick to cover her frown up. "I haven't talked much with him yet. He simply told me to get to my report and that we would talk after turning that thing in.", she answered. She took extra care of her body language and her facial expression to make sure nothing was slipping through. It was understandable that he'd like to know some things about his case but it was better to keep things low file until now. "I will tell you the news as soon as I have some", she reassured him and gave him one of her most charming smiles to make him forget about his actual question.

 

[Kian Romanov]

"Are you kidding?" he asked rhetorically, a light smile playing on his lips, "Just imagine what you and I would be like on the field together. I'm sure you've slowly evolved your fighting style into something, well, less deadly, but I'm positive our fighting styles are still somewhat compatible. We did learn our basic skills together, after all, right? I mean there would be absolutely nothing that can get in our way, you and I are practically fucking telepathic, just imagine the-"


He paused, realizing he'd been rambling like an excited child- he knew he had gotten way ahead of himself, getting far too comfortable with the red head sitting beside him. If anything, he was embarrassed, seeming to latch onto any hope of being in the company and working with Romanoff. "I can do charming." he said simply in reply as she mentioned he had to climb the ranks in order to succeed. He was trained to be a chameleon anyways, there was nowhere he couldn't blend in.


He didn't like how short her reply was, nor the prior frown but he was quick to drop suspicion as soon as she smiled and reassured him. He wasn't sure how to trust, but Natasha was the closest thing to trustworthy in his head. He hated to admit it but he was very much latching onto her for dear life and he wasn't sure if he regretted this decision.

 

[Jessy753]

Natasha watched him amused as he went on about the possibility of a mission together. "I actually would love to go on a mission with you as well...", she admitted as he finally fell silent for a moment and continued "In fact it's always nice to fight alongside someone, who'll react similar to how I react to threats. In fact my fighting skills haven't changed that much - the only difference is that I prefer to knock my opponent out instead of killing them right away. We'd be an amazing team."


Natasha moved a bit closer to him before leaning onto his side, resting her head on his shoulder. Being with him, was more relaxing than the bit of sleep she had gotten since following his steps. "I know you can do charming. Your charming is actually quite dangerous.", she mentioned, a small smile on her lips.


"I will tell you thing as soon as I know something knew about your situation.", she continued to talk as he seemed to stay quiet. "But use your brain. Do you really think that you'd end up in this room, if Fury wouldn't want you as part of SHIELD? No secret agency grants their prisoners such 'luxury' - not even SHIELD.", she told him, wanting to give him an idea about how things looked like right now. "I'm going to tell you if things are standing on your side or against you. After all we're in one team now."

 

[Kian Romanov]

Her telling him her fighting style was still very similar gave him a sense of relief- he was glad there was at least some part of her still the same. Anything similar to what he knew gave him unspeakable comfort, maybe that was why he felt like they clicked like a puzzle when her head was on his shoulder and his jaw on the top of her head. It felt abnormally relaxing, almost like his life was fully aligned and nothing was wrong- however deep inside he knew that there was a huge possibility she knew fully well what she was doing.


"Definitely deadly." he agreed with a smirk before it dropped when she began discussing SHIELD and how he was practically promised a chance. His feelings towards it were most definitely mixed. He wondered if things were going according to his plan, but mostly he wondered if there was a plan at all. He wasn't sure whether he wanted out of this SHIELD business, he wasn't even sure if there was a way out of it at all. This civil war inside his mind was quickly pushed aside by the warmth emitted by Natasha- he could never have his mind clear wither her in the room.

 

[Jessy753]

"Do you think we can go back to how we were before?", she asked and closed her eyes for a moment. Her body still felt tired and but her mind was as active as ever. She yawned a little and told herself it was okay to rest her eyes while leaning against him. It felt a little like home and the normality of that made her feel good. "I do hope you realize that I'm not your enemy one day. ", she said before even realizing that the words rolled over her lips.


Natasha knew that it would be time to leave this room soon and get to business. So, she opened her eyes again and looked at him. "One last question. How did you think things would turn out after you agreed on coming with me?", she asked and looked at him but refused to sit up straight. To her sitting like this was way to comfortable.

 

[Kian Romanov]

"No, I don't think so." he paused trying to find the right words, "It can't possibly be the same as it was before. We...or maybe just you have changed too much for that. That...that doesn't mean that it'll be bad. Just different- maybe different in a good way." he sighed at her next comment, restraining himself from saying he had never seen her as an enemy at all. Perhaps not always an ally, but most definitely not an enemy in any way.


He idly ran his finger across her sprawled forearm, his attention on what she was saying, latching onto every word coming out of her mouth. He weighed the question in his mind, quickly deciding to answer honestly. "I thought I'd be on the first maximum security flight to Guantanamo. I thought this was all a hoax of some sorts. I had no idea what you were capable of doing so I assumed the worst."

 

[Jessy753]

"Hopefully it's going to be in a good way. I'd hate us to slide into a bad relationship - I'd prefer an ally or friends", she said and allowed his answer to sink in. Subconsciously Natasha was weighing out his answer if he actually was telling the truth.


Natasha didn't show any reaction to what he was saying as she hadn't expected anything else. But since changing sides, Natasha had to fight for every bit of trust people had in her. She knew that at least three quarters of crew wouldn't trust her with their lives no matter how hard she would try. So, hearing something like that from someone, who was still some sort of friend to her, was like a kick in the guts to her. She crinkled slightly her lips at the thought. "I would never send you there... And I think my superiors are aware of that. Hence, they took the easier way. Moreover, SHIELD's not an agency to send their prisoners to Guantanamo. We have other - more effective - prisons. Maybe you'll see those buildings one day - as a friend of course. Not to be put on ice there.", she said more quietly.

 

[Kian Romanov]

He was quick to detect the very subtle change of her tone, and he was genuinely surprised that his answer seemed to...disappoint her. Of course he didn't trust her when she had a gun pointed to his chest- hell, he thought she had a sniper positioned on top of the nearest building to wipe him out as soon as he was in close range. However he hid his surprise well as she went on to describe that they had much more personalized prisons that belong to SHIELD.


"Do SHIELD know everything I've done? Absolutely everyone I've killed? They're not going to figure out something new and send me to one of your special prisons, are they?" he asked, the sun now completely out and shining through the small window.

 

[Jessy753]

"You were my mission and I didn't ask much questions. I've been told to search for you and received files about you.", she answered and continued choosing her words wisely "This is a secret agency and think about it they won't tell their agents only the things that they need to know about their targets. It depends on how well you were or are able to keep them secretly. Therefore, I cannot tell you if they know everything by now. I don't think they're going to send you to one of those prisons. It'll be something you need to find out yourself."


Natasha looked out of the window as the room slowly lit up completely. "I'm pretty sure either Fury or Hill will want to talk to you at some point during the day and that's when you have to convince them. You can be a man of SHIELD. Believe me both of them have recruited enough people to know the difference between someone, who actually wants to join this agency and someone, who wants to join to safe their ass.", she advised him and slowly added "You can't manipulate them and I'm pretty sure that they avoid me to be neutral about this whole situation. Clint must have told them enough for them to figure out that I want you to be part of this. Like I said just be your charming self and let's hope it'll be enough."

 

[Kian Romanov]

He pursed his lips- a bit upset that there was no guarantee that he wouldn't be sent to the ever-so slightly intimidating prisons. He could also tell her guard was up and alert, seeming to be censoring her words due to his presence. It made him wary of what he was saying as well; inevitability rising his own guard in defense. "I'm glad you don't think their going to send me to prison." he replied sarcastically, not liking how casually she was discussing his entire future. He did, however, keep in mind the current indefinite answer would have most definitely been him going to prison if it weren't for Natasha, so he bit back any other snide remark he was tempted to say as he stared ahead.


"I'll convince them." he said simply, not exactly buying the whole "they can tell what your true intentions for joining" are. At this point even he didn't know what his intentions for joining were, so he doubted they'd be capable of deciphering it. But needless to say, he knew how to convince them. "Shouldn't you be writing that report?" he asked out of curiosity.

 

[Jessy753]

"Oh, I'm glad that risking my own life and everything I know is not enough for you", she told him sounding just as sarcastic as him. Her guard was completely up now and she sat upright, making sure there was some space between them. "Next time I simply send an agent, if you don't mind we will transfer you to an actual cell. Perhaps Mr. High-Born will be a bit more thankful for the strings I have been pulling for you!", she told him casual even though her words were giving away that she was upset with him.


Natasha rose to her feet as he mentioned the report, which was still needed to be finished. Without another word, she walked to the door and knocked at it. "Let me out!", she ordered with a loud voice, making clear that she didn't need any joke right now. Natasha was able to clicks as they unlocked the door. "Perhaps you should be careful on how you talk to certain people. Because I have absolutely nothing from you joining SHIELD. Maybe I have already asked in too many favors for someone.", she said looking over her shoulder at him before walking out of his room. The door was closed and locked behind her while she made her way back to her quarters to continue her report and finally hand that thing in to Fury.

 

[Kian Romanov]

He chose not to reply to her first comment, feeling her shift away was enough to tell him he'd pushed a little too far. He watched her stand up, far too proud to take back what he said. He knew Romanoff was already extremely stressed about him messing up- he shouldn't have pushed her to her edge but it's not like he'd admit that out loud. And yet even with that little outburst, he knew she wouldn't throw him under the bus, Natasha was anything but impulsive.


He clenched his jaw as he heard the door click and lock behind her, the loneliness and silence setting in around him making him regret saying anything at all. So instead, he stood up, brushed his teeth with the plain white tooth brush and toothpaste provided, washed his face with freezing water, then sat back down on the bed since he had nowhere else to go anyways.

 

[Jessy753]

Once inside her own spacious room, she sat down at her desk to switch on the Notebook she had used earlier. to write her report. To her there wasn't even the possibility to go to Fury and tell him that it might be better to send Korav straight to prison. Despite the fact what kind of ungrateful piece of sh*t he currently was. Natasha wasn't sure what she had expected him to say as she knew better than to hear a thank you for this. But it hadn't been what he had said to her. Especially the tone in which he had spoken.


Perhaps a day alone in incommunicado detention would do him good and get him off his high horse and actually make him realize he can't walk around at SHIELD like the whole world was his. His cell might be comfortable but that wouldn't change a thing about him sitting alone in a small room - nothing else to do than to think. Sometimes the right train of thoughts was more deadly than anything she or someone else could say.


It was early afternoon when she finally was finished with her report. Natasha felt exhausted and drained from the lack of sleep and trying to find the right words. She didn't want her recommendation sound like her past and feelings had influenced her in her decision. So, it had taken her more than 3 tries before she felt like the text was phrased correctly. Moreover, the lack of sleep from the last few nights were having their tribute on her. Before she would do anything about the report, Natasha wanted to take a nice, warm shower. The warm water were doing wonders to her muscles while she was slowly able to relax. She carried on with her morning routine - not feeling the need to rush on with Kian's case anymore.


As soon as she was dressed in her usual SHIELD suit, she made her way to Fury to discuss the report. She carried a small USB stick along on which she had saved the official report about her latest mission.

 

[Kian Romanov]

Time passed as he idly stared at the door, his pride not yet wounded enough to allow him to admit that he was waiting for Natasha to come back. After what he assumed was about 2.5 hours he stood up and began pacing around the room. By now he understood at least one of SHIELD's strategies- making the murderer regret what he's done by giving him no opportunity but to think of his victims.


Instead he opted to workout since the small space was beginning to cramp his body- he hoped it would be distracting enough. Taking account of the fact he had no other clean shirt, he peeled off the simple black T-shirt and threw it on the bed, then he began his first set of sit-ups. He occupied his mind with counting, starting to work up a bit of sweat on his 200th count, his eyes still occasionally shifting to the door before exerting even more effort into what he was doing. When the sit-ups stopped feeling effective, he turned around and began his first set of push ups, also resigning to counting out loud to make sure no unwelcome thoughts made their way into his already incredibly distressed mind.

 

[Jessy753]

Natasha went to the main deck to talk to Fury but the director was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Fury?", she barked at a random agent, who simply shrugged at her. "Fantastic.", she mumbled sarcastic and decided to leave the stick with a note on Fury's desk. It was most likely that Fury went out of her way after she had tried to talk the him, the day before. Unfortunately, he wasn't inside his office. For a short moment Natasha wondered where the director of SHIELD had gone. But she didn't waste anymore time in finding her superior and simply left a note with the stick.


She was finished with asking in favors for Kian after how he had reacted to her earlier. It would be good for him to be for himself a bit and finally be able to think about what he had done. She knew that there wasn't much to do for him inside the small room. So, sooner or later he would need to deal with what he had done and what he would want from SHIELd. Natasha was done with telling him what to do and what not to do. By now, she had managed to convince herself that she wouldn't care what'll happen with Kian - might it be the truth or not. But what he said had been enough to emotionally distance herself from him and to see him as her mission again, at least for now.


Out of boredom and to catch up with her daily training, Natasha went to the gym inside the Helicarrier. Her reputation was enough to scare most agents away from training with her. So, she mostly trained for herself with one of the punchbags and one of those dolls, with which she trained her martial arts fighting. At one point Rogers came by and trained with her. At this time she had lost her sense of time completely and they first finished training as soon as both were out of breath and panting. "Thanks, Cap...", Natasha said and got ready to leave again. Rogers simply nodded in reply and asked her before she was able to leave the room "You're okay..?" Natasha hesitated before replying. After all Rogers was part of her team, now and he might be able to understand what was happening right now. But all what left her lips was: "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little exhausted from my latest mission. See you around."


Once she left the gym, Natasha took a quick shower washing away the sweat. She redressed in casual clothing before she left her room again. Her feet were walking on its own as she made her way to the kitchen and prepared two sandwiches - one for herself and the other one for Kian. It felt like there was still unfinished business between them and she wanted to solve things. The sun slowly dawned again as she arrived at Korav's room. Natasha entered the room after the door was unlocked. She carried both sandwiches on plates not sure what to expect to happen next.

 

[Kian Romanov]

The idle time passed excruciatingly slowly as he continued a vigorous workout that he definitely needed out of his system. Only when he was completely out of breath did he finally halt, then his thirst convincing him to take a sip from the tap water that he assumed would be purified. He felt like a hamster but without the luxury of a spinning wheel. After collecting his breath and stretching his muscles out- he tried to stretch out the duration of his shower but eventually he simply got bored and dried himself off.


The only question haunting his mind was, "what would Fury say?" and "did I fuck up too much with Barton?", he concluded that he had absolutely no regrets regarding Barton, in fact, if he could go back a bit in time, he would have made sure that punch to the jaw had enough momentum to at least knock out a tooth or two, give the bastard a souvenir to remember him with. He put on another pair of uncomfortable boxers and the same loose grey sweatpants, the small room combined with the humidity of the shower inclining him to ditch the shirt as he sunk back into the bed.


The door unlocking made him spring up from his bed into sitting position, a few moments later Natasha appearing. "You're back," he breathed out, internally kicking himself for sounding so relieved that she actually came back. His eyes dropped to what was in her hand, and only then did he notice he hadn't had a solid meal in at 38 hours. He stared at her, not exactly sure what to say.

 

[Jessy753]

"We can't have you starved out, can we?", she replied sounding casually but the way she behaved herself was slightly different than how she had behaved earlier. During the day she had managed to distance herself from him. "It's not much but it's probably even more than what SHIELD has offered you until now - if they have offered you something else than water.", she said and showed him the plate.


Natasha walked over to the wall and stood opposite to him to sink down to the floor. She noticed the relieve in his voice to which she raised her eyebrow slightly. Apparently SHIELD had left him alone all day and the isolation was doing him good. No matter how good they were trained, they still needed at least a company and he saw her as some kind of friend or at least someone to talk to. Such a movement surprised her. Especially after how he had basically "complimented" her to leave.

 

[Kian Romanov]

"Well, they didn't offer me water. I drank water from the sink. Which- by the way, I hope is purified." he said, accepting the plate as he curiously watched Natasha. He wondered if this was some kind of odd form of conditioning; would she walk out the next time he was out of line and disappear for an entire day? He didn't like walking on eggshells around her but deep inside he knew he had to accommodate to her rules- that however, didn't mean he couldn't at least bend them.


He watched her slide down to the floor, taking a bite into his sandwich before turning his head to the door, hearing some sort of rustling. "The guards are always there, but they haven't interacted at all. I accidentally slammed the bed frame into the wall earlier, both of them came rushing in with their guns. Neither said a single word, but they did look far too afraid for grown men with AK47s." he paused, realizing he lost his train of thought, "What I meant to ask was, are they under orders not to talk to me? They don't even make eye contact." It made it difficult to get them riled up when weren't even talking to him.

 

[Jessy753]

"Use your brain.", she commented on his guard problem. For a moment she thought about what to tell him as she had no clue about how things were going and the fact that she had seen neither Fury nor Hill nor Barton was talking for itself. They didn't want to include her into this whole business and perhaps they were testing her loyalty as well.


Natasha took a bit of her own sandwich before adding: "I mean SHIELD is obviously interrogating you. What's the easiest way to break a person? Not pain but isolation. We all need someone to talk to. Even if it's just for 5 minutes." She looked at him and sighed a little. Sooner or later she would be in troubles for visiting him. "those guards are only doing their jobs. It seems like everyone's involved in interrogating you but me.", she said as looking out of his small window - only giving a small glimpse into what was going on.

 

[Kian Romanov]

"They shouldn't be striving to break me," he replied dully. "They don't seem to want me just willing. They want me broken and willing." he chuckled, taking another bite before saying, "And you call yourself the good guys." He listened intently to what she was saying about SHIELD's special method of interrogation but then stilling when she mentioned everyone being involved but her. "So you know nothing." he meant to ask it as a question, but it came out much more like a statement.


"Romanoff, this uncertainty is killing me." he said distantly, finishing up his sandwich and patting his hands. "It's been two days. Fury has got to confront me sooner or later. He's taunting me with his freedom."

 

[Jessy753]

"We're good enough to convince them of wanting to join SHIELD without even intending to do so. It's easier to see one's intentions if someone is broken. So, why not doing so?", Natasha said as she decided to ignore his comment. She was following her own traces of thoughts instead of reacting to what Kian had said. "At least we're not brainwashing people and torturing the people we actually capture in missions. Instead we help them!", Natasha replied and looked serious at Kian because she knew very well what Russia did with their opponents. "If you want to do it the Russian way, be my guests. There's a window, which you should be able to open and climb out.", she told him calm and nodded to his window.


For a moment, she remained silent and gave him the opportunity to stand up and walk to the window while she finished her own sandwich. "He will confront you sooner or later but perhaps he also gives you time to realize what you actually want. Be happy you have this, things could be much worse. We both know that.", Natasha told him with a slight shrug.

 

[Kian Romanov]

He knew it could be worse, but never in a million years would he admit to that. An incredible life without freedom is no life at all was what he believed. His eyes drifted to the window, he knew to some extent it could be opened, but he assumed it was a test of sorts. So instead he just used the little window to peak outdoors.


This time she came into the room different. She was distancing herself, and he figured this out from her lack of prolonged eye contact and the fact that she was standing as physically far away from hm as she could. He understood why sh was doing it, but he didn't necessarily like it. He was losing the connection between the only one on this flying hell-hole he knew. But instead of dwelling on it, he chose to break the silence by asking, "Think there's a chance they might get me a comb? Perhaps a razor?" he asked, wracking his hand through his damp hair.

 

[Jessy753]

Natasha looked to him as he raised his voice to ask her a question. "I think the comb shouldn't be a problem at all. But I'm not sure about the razor though.", she replied and added "I will bring you a comb along on my next visit but cannot promise you about the razor. The guards might take it from me because the blade could be used as a weapon to harm yourself or someone else." She looked at him longer than necessary. It seemed like she was trying to figure something out as she simply tried to estimate if he would harm himself to get away from the carrier.


"What would you think about a small round in the gym tomorrow?", she suddenly asked out of the blue. "You know to show off your incredible team spirit and some of the potential", she continued to speak. For a moment she wondered if he still had none existing quality to be in a team of more than 2 people. Both Kian and she had always been a good team. But she had also heard dreadful stories about him after he had been teamed up with anyone else than her back during her days for the KGB. "Perhaps I could convince someone that it'd be good for everyone if you were allowed to burn off energy for at least an hour.", she spoke a bit mindlessly as she followed that trail of thought for bit. The suggestion wasn't as selfless as it seemed at first. It would give her a small glimpse on how much Kian would've changed since the last time she saw him.

 

[Kian Romanov]

"Ah, yes. Of course the guard will see through my plan to slit the throats of millions with that razor. That very razor will be the only tool I need to get off the Helicarrier. It'll shield my fall when I jump off and I'll use it to gut the fish I catch once I land on an island below." he said sarcastically with an amused expression. Her gaze was fixated on him, he caught her eye, reading her suspicions almost instantly. "It's just for shaving." he reassured, amused that she'd even consider that he was suicidal.


His entire face lit-up at the mentioning of the gym, "You think they'd allow that?" he smirked at the team spirit comment, he wasn't a team player unless that team consisted of Romanoff and Romanoff alone. He was paired with others after her departure but his and their failure to be in-sync was what ultimately led to him going solo. "Just give me a try. I've learned quite a few things since you've been gone." he remarked, feeling as though his solo endeavors had enhanced his combat capabilities.