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Hello everyone. I'm quite new to writing fanfics, and I don't get too many reviews. I'd love to know what you think, so please R&R. Once I've got at least 2 reviews for this chapter, I'll upload another one. Btw Italics are flashbacks.

Clint Barton was perched precariously on a balcony two stories up. It was a cold evening, and getting late. His keen eyes scanned the ground below. No sign of her yet. He glanced down at the picture Natasha Romanoff had given him earlier that day.

'Who am I looking at?' He queried.

'My sister.' Natasha replied bluntly. 'We haven't been in touch for several years,' she continued, in reply to his I didn't know you had a sister look. 'Recently we met up again. She's a scientist, and I suggested to Fury that she might be able to help us with our…' she nodded at the building behind them, '…problem.' She's arriving later today. I was hoping you could meet her, show her around…keep an eye on her. That sort of thing.'

Clint nodded. He wasn't surprised Natasha hadn't told him about her sister. She never mentioned her childhood. Ever. She never talked about family. Someone who didn't know her might think she was completely uninterested in her sister's well-being, but Clint detected a hint of concern and worry for her baby sister beneath the cold, unmoving exterior. It was nice to see her human side for once. He turned the photo over. There were two names scribbled on the back, Kita Romanoff and Nicky Holmes.

'Which name do I use?' he asked curiously.

'Either. She lived with her father after…she lived with her father. His surname was Holmes, and they used to call her Nicky. Her real name is Nikita. We used to call her Kita. I don't know which one she goes by. I still call her Kita. Anyway, if you could meet her I'd appreciate it.'

'Why, are you going somewhere?'

'Yes. I've got to collect some information. I may be a while.' Natasha smirked. 'I have to go. She should be coming sometime this morning.'

That was at 10:30 am. It was now 6:45 pm, and Clint's legs were starting to ache and cramp again. He stood up, trying to get the circulation going in his legs again. For want of anything better to do, it studied the photograph again. It was crumpled, slightly tatty photo, and he got the impression Natasha carried it around a lot.

'More than a mug shot than anything,' he thought to himself. The girl depicted in the photo was looking straight at the camera, wide eyed, not a hint of a smile on her lips, red hair dishevelled. You wouldn't have thought she and Natasha were sisters if it hadn't been for the hair, the red curly hair. Even then, Natasha's was always perfect and expertly styled. This girl, Nikita, looked like she hadn't bothered to brush it, let alone style it. Clint suspected she'd hastily run her fingers through the hair just prior to having the photo taken. Her hair ended a couple of inches above her shoulders, sticking out every which way over her forehead and falling in her eyes. Her large eyes dominated her rather thin face. That was another way in which she differed from Natasha. She had a thin, childish figure, and Clint guessed she'd be considerably shorter too. Her left eye was the same blue as Natasha's eyes, but the right was a dark brown, giving her an odd, lopsided look.

Clint yawned and looked at his watch, his attention momentarily diverted. He looked back down and jumped. Standing almost directly beneath stood the girl he'd been waiting for. She was just standing, stock still, looking up. Clint didn't like being surprised like that. Where on earth had she come from?

He simply stepped off the balcony, landing flawlessly with a soft thump directly beside the girl. She gave no reaction, merely raised an eyebrow.

'Nikita Romanoff, I presume.' Clint broke what promised to be a long, awkward silence. 'Or do you prefer Nicky Holmes?'

'Either. I'm not fussy.'

'Clint Barton,' Clint extended a hand. ''Tasha asked me to meet you.' The moment he let slip with Natasha's nickname, Clint could have kicked himself. Nikita's eyebrows flickered but she said nothing.

'Anyway,' Clint continued brusquely, 'I'll take you to meet Fury, and then you can get right to work. You're late.'

'I know I missed the train. Twice. Who's Fury?'

Clint turned around in surprise. 'You don't know who Nick Fury is?'

'No. Natasha mentioned him though.'

'You'll learn soon enough. Let's just say he's in charge around here.'

Nikita had been expecting her sister to meet her. Their first meeting after all those years had been awkward to say the least, and even now they were fairly reserved with each other. Natasha had grown into everything Nikita had expected – confident, beautiful, dangerous. 'He's just the sort of person she'd have for a friend,' Nikita thought to herself. 'The strong, silent type, face like a Greek statue. Blooming typical.'

A long pause ensued. Clint led the way along winding corridors, through rooms not unlike hospital rooms, only without all the people.

'What do you do here?' Nikita said eventually.

'Do you mean what do I do here, or what this building is for?'

'Both, really.'

'Nick Fury will explain what's going on here; he'll do it better than I can.'

'Well, I hope so, because I haven't the foggiest idea of what is going on and therefore I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I might not be able to help you.'

'Natasha seemed pretty confident that you could help us.'

'You still haven't said what you do here.'

'Security.'

Nikita waited, but it became clear it wasn't going to elaborate. She toyed with the idea of asking him if he was in the same line of work as Natasha, but decided against it. Another awkward silence descended on them. Nikita determined she wasn't going to be the one to break it this time.

Clint caught sight of a tall man, dressed entirely in black, with an eye patch. A tall, dark haired woman was standing to attention behind him. 'That's Nick Fury.' He told Nikita, heading towards him. 'And that's agent Maria Hill.'

Nick Fury had completely forgotten about the scientist Natasha Romanoff had recommended. He'd been sceptical. He'd agreed to have her here because they were running out of options. There was a good chance she'd end up being like Natasha, a loose cannon, or a liability. He'd expected at least that she'd look a bit like agent Romanoff, so he was very surprised with the small young woman scurrying after Barton, who was walking purposefully towards him.

'Nikita Romanoff, I presume,' he began, unconsciously imitating Clint.

'Yes, that me.' Nikita ran her fingers through her hair, messing it up further. Nick sized her up. She wasn't beautiful like Natasha, nor was she as cool and poised. She still had that same cocky air, and of course the hair. He couldn't imagine her being much good in fist fight either.

As he concluded his mental appraisal, Nick realised with a shock Nikita was sizing him up as blatantly as he was her.

'Well, do you have some work for me to do?' Nikita sharply interrupted his thoughts.

Maria Hill drew in her breath sharply. 'Show some respect!' she snapped.

'Look,' Nikita continued as if Maria had not spoken, 'I've no idea why I'm here. If I can help, I'll get stuck in immediately. If not, then both of us are wasting our time. So the sooner you let me in on what's going on the better for both parties.'

Maria was furious, but Nick laughed quietly, folding his arms. Clint's face was blank as usual. 'Can't argue with you on that one, ma'am.' Nick replied calmly. 'Take a walk with me and we'll discuss it. You can tell she's agent Romanoff's sister.' He addressed the last part to Maria and Clint, the former of which looked highly displeased.

Nick Fury and Nikita walked away, Maria and Clint following slightly behind. 'She won't last five minutes.' Maria muttered. 'Insolent Brit.'

'Technically she's Russian. Nick seems to like her.'

'Mark my words, she won't last long. Once she realises what this is all about, or gets to work on that thing, she'll soon give up.'

'You want to bet?'