The man Natalia had killed was an important man.
The moment she fled; she was followed.
She fought her way through 10 armed men easily and moved on quickly. She tried to lose the others but they pursued her relentlessly, Clint felt the need to help her out a little and fired off a few shots unbeknownst to her.
He caught up with her several hours later, successfully cornering her; the kill shot was his, but he froze.
Her emerald gaze locked with his as she waited for the end to come.
Clint ripped his com unit out of his ear when all he could hear was his handler yelling at him to take the shot while he had it.
It was certainly the closest anyone had ever come to killing her.
He lowered his bow, only slightly, but enough for her to raise a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. He took in her appearance, ready to shoot any moment if she even flinched.
She was breathing heavily, hours of running and fighting caused her lungs to burn. He was fairly certain she'd been shot at least once, and she was covered in growing bruises. Her catsuit was slashed at the waist where someone had caught her with a blade and there was blood running down her face. She looked both physically and emotionally drained.
Clint realised that she wasn't fighting back, she wasn't trying to escape because she was done. She was ready for death, and she welcomed it.
"It doesn't have to be like this" he told her, slowly and calmly; despite the fact his heart was pounding against his chest
"What do you want from me?" she asked, trying to keep her words steady through her rapid breathing
"I want to help you"
"In exchange for what?"
"Nothing. Just let me help you?" he lowered his bow, slowly, not wanting to startle her
"No one does anything without wanting something in return"
"Maybe you just haven't met the right people yet"
They stared at each other for a moment before simultaneously snapping into action. He raised his bow and loosed an arrow, taking down the guy to his left attempting to sneak up on them, she fired three rapid shots and floored the group of men approaching from the right. She was out of ammo so she threw herself at the next man; taking him down easily with a sharp kick to the jaw, turning gracefully she wrapped her legs round the nearest mans neck and threw him to the ground; snapping his neck on the way. Clint punched the guy that tried to charge at them from round the corner before shoting another arrow at the guy about to throw a punch at Natalia.
Three minutes; that how long it took the two of them to take down 13 armed men. They fought together well, watching each others' backs as well as their own. It was natural and easy, like they'd worked together for years.
Gunfire in the distance told them more men were approaching, she was injured and Clint didn't doubt Coulson would be coming in after him if he didn't make contact soon
"Well?" he asked her, as if there had been no break to their conversation
She glanced around her at the bodies scattering the alleyway, one glance down to see her hands dripping red and she nodded; once and firm, her eyes set with determination.