He does the last thing she expects.

He lowers the bow, relaxing his grip on the taut string, pointing the arrow shaft at the floor instead of the jugular of Kahlid. But she does not bask in saving another life (perhaps two), because she can see the muscles in his neck are still tense, and his precision gaze still remains fixed upon

the Foreign Minister. He is giving her the opening she wanted, willing to listen, but he is not necessarily open minded; he is still willing to kill his target. And she knows he never misses.

She will need to be incredibly convincing to get him to ruin that record.

"Come work with me." She says bluntly, figuring that when dealing with a man of his precision, a man whose reputation for deception is so heavily embedded in an supernatural ability to root out lies, that it is best to get quickly and efficiently to the brunt of her argument.

She watches his eyes flicker, following the movements of the man throughout his wife's bedroom. A lesser agent than her might think it was her opportunity to gain the upper hand, to raise her gun and fire, while he is distracted, but she knows he is not; if she were to ever illustrate 'hyper vigilant', she would draw the intensity of his gaze, the line of his mouth. "Why should I?" He asks.

His question stumps her. At that moment, she cannot think of a reason so convincing that she will get him on her side. She wishes Phil were here with her, someone who can weave words into any fabric they need to suit their purpose.

Purpose is why she is here. She needs motivation in her life, something to strive towards. Would that appeal to him?

Responsibility is why she's here. She likes being held accountable. She likes that she is given the power to hold others to her own standard. It was why the military held such appeal to her.

Choice is why she is here. Every order she receives comes with its own little choice to obey or not, and at least this organisation lets her have the courage of her convictions when she makes a choice that doesn't align with her mission brief,

But in the heat of the moment, even she can see that they are not the reasons she should be drawing on. This is a man who clearly has purpose, who is weighed down by his perceived responsibilities, and has clearly made tough decisions in his life.

What she sees here in front of her is a man who is weary and tired and determined and passionate but she cannot help but see the uncanny similarities. She remembers that feeling, the burnt out exhaustion that burdened her as she spent day after day fighting a pointless war in a desert, watching innocent women and children killed by emotionless, rational superiors with drones, scrubbing the last of her friends from her uniform before Phil plucked her from her unit, gave her a different badge and pointed her and her gun at the real bad guys.

"I've been you." She says, and to her surprise her voice doesn't waver.

"Then you should just kill me, already." He replies bitterly, and aims the bow again. He is aiming at the foreign minister, and she can see movement in the room for the first time. It is one of the wives- this one is probably no older than fourteen. She moves slowly and awkwardly, and Natasha can tell, even from this far away, that she is favouring her ankle.

"No." She says.

"I know you have orders."

"There are things more important than orders."

If he wasn't so intent on keeping his eyes on his target, she is pretty sure he would've rolled them. "You're naive if you really think that."

"Then I'll make you a deal. Come with me. Give it a month, two... If you aren't convinced, I'll come back here and help you kill this man. I'll help you get away and hide you from S.H.I.E.L.D. long enough for you to bury yourself somewhere we won't be able to find you." And as she made her promises, she found that she wasn't even remotely lying. She would be willing to help this man finish his mission, if S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't work out.

"You want me to blindly trust you'll betray everyone you know for the sake of… what? me?"

"I've been you." She says, and Phil's first few words to her bubble back up in her memory. She weaves them into her mediocre pitch. "I needed a second chance, and I got it here. I had red in my ledger and they helped me wipe it out. I think... Whatever you're trying to make right... I want to help you do it. I promise I will get that for you."

"And what makes you so sure they won't just isay/i that then kill me anyway."

"Well you were quite happy to let me kill you five minutes ago. What's another few days?"

And then, in the longest of his silences so far, he lowers his bow.