This life underwent a dramatic change when she was targeted for assassination herself, and the agent sent to kill her was the similarly gifted soldier, Clinton Barton. Instead of killing her, Barton spared her life and the pair developed a lasting partnership from that moment on. Following Barton, the Black Widow was drawn into a new life as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Her past, however, would remain a touchy subject for her, and Widow tried to start a new life going by the name "Natasha Romanoff."[2