She relaxes the moment he apologizes, face falling into quiet contemplation. So, maybe, she over reacted a little, too. He just wanted to know, and if she were in that kind of situation, she couldn't say that she wouldn't do the same. Still, though, she had hoped that they'd learned to at least trust one another somewhat during the battle for Manhattan. Now she's wondering if that's the case at all.
Natasha sighs, and gestures for him to sit with a hand, turning and putting the file away in a nearby drawer. When she turns back to him, she leans against the desk, arms folded, gaze cast anywhere but at him.
"There was... a theory back during the Cold War. That one man, in the right place, at the right time, could be better than an army. The Red Room was part of Department X," she says, not quite frowning. "The Hydra to the KGB's Nazi, if you will. They were especially interested in the concept of the Super Soldier." She raises a brow at him, continuing.
"So they began experimenting. At first, the Winter Soldier was a ghost, a boogeyman, meant to scare us into behaving. I certainly didn't believe in him; a man, programmed only to kill, only to serve the motherland and destroy our enemies? A noble thought, but not one that was likely." She shrugs. "I was wrong. When I was... accepted into the Black Widow program, I was suddenly privy to information that, until that moment, had been classified. And the Winter Soldier was the most classified of them all. He taught me everything I know. Anything more than that, and I can't tell you because I don't know." She raises her hands in a shrug, dropping them to her sides. "Why they chose him, how they found him, how they kept him alive all those years. I'm not even sure he's alive now, back home."
no subject
Natasha sighs, and gestures for him to sit with a hand, turning and putting the file away in a nearby drawer. When she turns back to him, she leans against the desk, arms folded, gaze cast anywhere but at him.
"There was... a theory back during the Cold War. That one man, in the right place, at the right time, could be better than an army. The Red Room was part of Department X," she says, not quite frowning. "The Hydra to the KGB's Nazi, if you will. They were especially interested in the concept of the Super Soldier." She raises a brow at him, continuing.
"So they began experimenting. At first, the Winter Soldier was a ghost, a boogeyman, meant to scare us into behaving. I certainly didn't believe in him; a man, programmed only to kill, only to serve the motherland and destroy our enemies? A noble thought, but not one that was likely." She shrugs. "I was wrong. When I was... accepted into the Black Widow program, I was suddenly privy to information that, until that moment, had been classified. And the Winter Soldier was the most classified of them all. He taught me everything I know. Anything more than that, and I can't tell you because I don't know." She raises her hands in a shrug, dropping them to her sides. "Why they chose him, how they found him, how they kept him alive all those years. I'm not even sure he's alive now, back home."