"Are the people intercepting S.H.I.E.L.D. yours? Who are you working for now?" Hawkeye drew a second arrow and aimed it at the man who should not have been here.
"Easy, kid. I just want to confirm something. Two months ago, the kid using a bow and arrows in Budapest—that was you, right?" "No. I've never been to Budapest." Hawkeye denied it flatly.
Red Guardian acted as though he had not heard that obviously fake answer and continued, "I'm looking for the Black Widow you turned. I have some questions for her."
"Are you here to purge a traitor?"
"Ho ho, kid, you know your history. But who would I be carrying out a purge for?" He tapped the emblem at the center of his shield. "My faith and my homeland exist only in my memories. They're gone in reality.
"I'm looking for that Black Widow over a personal matter. Don't deny it or claim no such person exists. I was in Budapest two months ago too. We both know what happened there.
"The reason I showed myself was merely to remind you not to ignore me. No one died today, but that doesn't mean no one will die tomorrow." I'm not killing anyone now not because I can't, but because I don't want to yet. "My request is simple. Let that Black Widow show herself. I only want to ask her a few questions."
Alexei did not merely humble himself and beg. In the intelligence world, lowering one's stance too much was inadvisable. Only those without bargaining chips needed to ask favors. The more chips one had, the more confident one could be.
The essence of the intelligence world was exchange. Only by holding bargaining chips could one trade for someone else's. Sometimes, those chips could be the other party's