Clint woke up to the feeling that there was something very, very wrong. Sitting up swiftly, he grabbed the revolver hidden in the folds of his bedsheets and directed it to the darkest corner of his room instinctively. There was a soft click, and the lamp at that corner of the room was switched on. Natalia Romanova was sitting on his armchair, unarmed, her hands gripping on to the armrests so tightly her knuckles were white.

'I come here in peace,' Natalia stated.

'Considering your track record, that's a fairly hard thing to believe.'

'It took you five whole minutes to notice my presence. There would have been plenty of time for me to kill you if I had wanted to do so.'

'Fair point.'

'I want to help you complete your mission.'

A flash of surprise crossed his face and he narrowed his eyes, 'My mission is to kill you.'

'I know that. On your bed table you will be able to find a bottle of pills. Destroy them for me after you kill me.'

'And why would I do that?'

'The pills strengthen me mentally by stopping me from thinking certain things- all KGB agents get them. I think you Americans have a word for that- brainwashing, am I right? These are dangerous in the wrong hands. That is why I want you to destroy them.'

'No, I wasn't talking about the pills. Why should I kill you?'

'It's your mission. Now is your chance to complete it.' She stood up, leaning against the wall, her arms tense at her sides. 'I do believe that this will be able to provide you with clear enough a shot?'

'How do I know that this isn't a trap? Why on earth would you want to die?' He was a very meticulous and cautious agent. She approved of that.

'As you know, I have a lot of red in my ledger. And if I continue staying alive, the amount of blood in it will only increase. And I'm tired of it all. I need to clear my ledger. And that is why I would like you to kill me. Not only would you be completing your mission, you'd also be doing me a favour.'

He didn't react in any way or move at all. He just sat there, his gun pointed at her, his face unreadable.

'Go on,' she murmured, fighting every urge within her to duck, to run, to hide, to survive. 'Kill me.' Her patience was running out. She felt a flare of anger run through her. 'Kill me,' she squeezed out through gritted teeth, her voice slightly raised. Yet Clint Barton still did not react. A wave of emotions slammed into her- anger, fear, hatred, irritation, sadness, guilt- and the next thing she knew she was shouting, 'Just kill me, goddamit. The least you could do would be to be quick with it!' Two lines of tears ran down her eyes and she rubbed them away quickly, angry and ashamed at herself.

He finally cocked his gun. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. Even more tears made their way down her face. She heard the sound of a gunshot as something slammed into her chest. Hard. Good shot, she mused as darkness clouded her vision and everything faded into nothingness.