Little Assassin

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

Natasha entered the training room of the Enterprise, looking across the room at the young girl currently occupying the bench near the mat. The girl ignored Natasha in favor of lying on her stomach, headphones in her ears as she idly bobbed her head to the loud music with her eyes closed.

"Excuse me," Natasha said simply. "Ruby Hale, right?" Ruby was fourteen years old, with platinum blonde hair, a bit of acne across her nose, and a level of fitness rare in a teenager. Natasha waited for Ruby to say something. When she didn't the redheaded assassin spoke once more. "We're supposed to speak about your accommodations."

The girl ignored her, still bobbing her head. As though Natasha wasn't trained enough in body language to see the way she'd shifted as Natasha entered, or how the girl's body was just barely up off the bench, enough that she could quickly move if attacked.

Natasha eyed the young girl calmly. The two of them may as well have been statues for all the movement they exhibited. "...Well, have a nice day then. I'm gonna go enjoy a movie." Natasha turned and left.

After a bit of walking through the halls of the Enterprise, she heard some fast footsteps behind her. Natasha ignored the person chasing her, continuing to move through the ship with her swaying catwalk.

Someone reached out for her arm. Natasha, sensing the lightning-fast movement, stepped aside from it as subtly as though she'd never moved at all, leaving person reaching towards her to grasp empty air. Natasha turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, did you need something?"

Ruby blinked, looking shocked. Then she pouted, trying to school her face to look intimidating. Which, she did, her face and eyes hard and cruel in a way no teenager should ever understand. But Natasha barely held back the urge to laugh. So cute.

"Where's my mom?" The teenager growled.

"Imprisoned, for working with a terrorist organization," Natasha cocked an eyebrow. "Is that really why you followed me after ignoring me? Because if so, I'm done."

Ruby scowled. "Aren't you supposed to train me?"

A lazy smile rose across Natasha's face. "Why?"

Ruby's scowl became something vicious. "You're supposed to!"

The words of a young girl who had been told all her life that she was special. That she was meant to be a destined leader and warrior. So cute.

"I volunteered my time, Ruby," Natasha said simply. "I was asked if I would help you, and I agreed, but you aren't the only thing I have on my plate. I'm an Avenger, an Agent of BRIDGE, someone who works every day to protect the world from threats. I'm not going to sit and watch you ignore me because you decided you wanted to be spoiled today."

Ruby's eyes widened in rage. She lashed out with a punch aimed to collapse Natasha's larynx.

The redhead grabbed Ruby's wrist in a vicious grip. She twisted her arm behind her back while kicking Ruby's legs, slamming her to the floor.

"Yaaagh!" Ruby screamed, struggling to rise against the iron hold Natasha had on her.

"I'm sorry, did you try to punch me?" Natasha teased, her voice soft against Ruby's ear. "You really are spoiled. So used to people bending over backward for you that you thought you could attack me without even a bruise to show for it."

A female BRIDGE agent with a small afro came around the corner and stopped at the sight of Natasha holding a screaming and cursing Ruby on the floor. Natasha glanced at her. She spun and walked away, leaving Natasha to look down at Ruby.

"We made a promise to your mother- listen to me," Natasha tapped the side of Ruby's head when the teenager wouldn't stop yelling. "We made a promise we'd train you, and I can do that. I can show you things HYDRA never had access to. Skills from the Red Room, all the times I assassinated someone from childhood to adulthood, the things that let me survive an attempt by the Winter Soldier himself."

Ruby stopped struggling.

"But I'm not going to waste time with childish rebellion," Natasha let her go, rising up. Ruby curled up and rolled to her feet, popping up to face Natasha, only to recoil when she realized Natasha had stepped in closer. The older assassin was no longer smiling. "I'm not going to train you if you expect to be able to decide to listen to music when you should be at attention, waiting for me, or if you just skip a lesson because you'd rather do something else. I'm not going to punish you or waste my time even talking to you, we'll just be done. You will not question me, not for one moment. And if you do, you might become an Avenger. You might even become more than that one day. But until then, you will show discipline."

Ruby stared up at her, trying to hide the deep bruises on her wrist. "I..."

"Oh go ahead, think about it if you want," Natasha checked her watch. "I've got some time free. But like I said, I've got things to do. If you decide the time I invest in you isn't worth your attention... why the hell should it be worth mine? Because I'm not wasting anything if you're going to act like a teenager rather than an assassin."

Ruby huffed, crossing her arms. "I am a teenager."

Natasha narrowed her eyes. "We both know better than that."

Any petulance Ruby was showing faded. She looked up at the older woman. After a long stare down between them, she nodded. There was an eager light in her eyes now, the burning of pride. "Okay, how do we start?"

"The woman who showed up just now," Natasha said, indicating the BRIDGE agent that had come upon them. "Track her down, find out what she tells others about what she saw. I'll shadow you, and you tell me what you found out. After that, we'll start with something easy."

As Ruby nodded eagerly and turned to run after the agent, Natasha felt disquiet in her heart. Here she was, doing something she never thought she would. Training a young girl to be an assassin. The Red Room, HYDRA, what did it matter? Here she was, doing the same thing.

She turned around. "What do you think?"

Clint and Bucky walked out of the shadows, both wearing BRIDGE camo gear. They walked forward with the steady and quiet steps Ruby was trying to master. They joined her, Bucky's face neutral while Clint gave her a sad smile.

"...You're going to try and deprogram her?" Clint asked.

"I'm not sure I can... It never worked on me," Natasha admitted. "All I can really do is give her better targets, layer her skills with morals and rules, try to do what worked for me. But she'll always be a killer. You can see it in her. The way she walks, the way she's always about to slice someone's throat out. And she has too much pride. No good assassin is arrogant. It'll destroy her if we let it fester."

Bucky nodded in agreement, while Clint, the only parent in the group, let out a disquieted sigh.

"We'll take care of her though... I'd like her to meet you both if you don't mind?" Natasha said. "She's showed interest in us, in heroes. I think, in her own extremely twisted way, she really does want to be a hero. Even if she doesn't know what that means."

"I'm in," Bucky said immediately. He gave them a smile so fast it might as well have not existed. "Reformed assassins have to stick together."

"Maybe we should start a support group?" Clint joked. He looked after where Ruby had gone, then back at Natasha. "By the way, is it me, or..."

"Cute, right?" Natasha grinned. "She's like a deadly puppy."

Bucky refused to say anything to that, but Natasha's grin widened at the slight twitch of acknowledgment his lips did.

"Wonder what Bobbi and Hartley will think," Clint muttered.

____________________________

_______________\_____________

So, I really like the idea that while for normal people Ruby is a terrifying monster, actual badass assassins see her as an adorably precocious child in need of lessons. At least, Natasha does, and Clint and Bucky kinda see that. But yeah, Ruby. She shows a very spoiled attitude in the show, as well as a desperate need to prove herself worthy of attention. She's a brat taken to the next level, the Chosen One gone wrong, and Natasha trying to defuse her from that is going to take time and some tough love.