Alex followed the Avengers to the training room, doing his best to keep his distance from Natasha. Although he had tried to remain calm when he first saw her, his insides were boiling. He thought back when he first met her on Malagosto, shortly after he first arrived.
"Alex, there you are. I would like you Natalia Romanova. One of the best assassins in the world. Trained by HYDRA. Natalia this is Alex Rider, one of our newest recruits," Julia Rothman introduced the two.
"Pleasure to meet you Alex," the redhead replied shaking his hand, a slight Russian accent slipping through her words.
"Nice to meet you too, Miss Romanova," Alex replied.
"Alex is one of our most promising new recruits," Miss Rothman bragged. Alex would train with "Natalia Romonova" throughout his time on the island, eventually becoming one of the only people on the island Alex didn't feel would slit his throat in an instant.
"Hey, Alex. Are you doing okay with Natasha?" Clint asked the teen, coming up next to him.
"I'll be fine. I just need some time. I'm not certain that I wouldn't seriously injure her if I had the chance," Alex replied.
"She's not a bad person. She was trained by HYDRA from a young age. She's changed though," Clint replied, standing up for her.
"My uncle trained me since the time I could walk to become a spy, of course without me ever realizing it," Alex snapped back. Clint stayed silent for a minute. "Don't tell me you didn't know. Nobody did. I'm the best kept secret there is. Only intelligence agencies know of me and what I do."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. So your an archer?"
"Yeah. One of the best."
"That's cool."
The two of them fell into silence until they reached the training room.
"So, I now present to you, kid spy, our training room!" Goatee announced. Alex rolled his eyes at the grandeur. Looking around the room he found a target area, an sparring area, a pool, and various other areas Alex wasn't sure what for.
Alex went over to the target range picking up a gun.
"Hey Kid! Should you really be handling a gun?"
Alex looked at Tony, rolling his eyes, before lifting the gun and shooting six times.
"Alex, they taught you at Malagosto?" Natasha asked.
Alex turned around to face her.
"What do you expect? For them not to teach a student to shoot accurately at a place that farms assassins? You might want to. It'd make you a better spy."
"You were trained by assassins?" Clint asked, trying to gleam some information.
"It was a cover, a very deep cover. If you would excuse me I'd like to get a drink."
With that Alex walked to the opposite side of the room to a small fridge stocked with water bottles and juice. Tony laughed. The kid couldn't be that good could he? Walking up to the targets he looked where Alex's shots hit. All right near the Bulls-eye.
"Damn," he whispered.