o6.| PERSON OF INTEREST.

A GRUNT LEFT HIS LIPS AS HE SLAMMED HIS FIST AGAINST A PUNCHING BAG. James slammed his fist repeatedly against the punching bag, sweat dripping from his brow as he worked out. He kicked up his leg a few times, just to change things up. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants as he used the punching bag to keep himself busy, but his chest was bare. As the agent punched his frustrations, Natalia appeared in the doorway. Her eyes landed on the soldier, watching as he repeatedly punched the bag, the skin on his knuckles splitting open as he did. She furrowed her brows together as she watched him train.

The Russian narrowed her eyes at him as she watched him hold the punching bag, inhaling deeply. She didn't know what was going through the agent's mind at the time. He was kind enough to let her roam free through the large estate, but she didn't know what his true intentions were And that was something that she couldn't accept. There was something else that was in his head that he was hiding.

"If you're going to stand there, you shouldn't just be staring at me," James spoke up, turning around to face her. Natalia raised an eyebrow at him and she shook her head at him.

"I wasn't staring at you," Natalia snapped at him. " I was only observing."

"Observing can be known to translate into staring, which could sooner or later turn into stalking," James replied to her cockily, and she shook her head at him.

"You Starks are all the same," Natalia pieced as she stepped forward into the room, approaching the archer as he stood there. "Cocky, arrogant, --"

"Attractive?" James cut her off.

Natalia answered by throwing a punch at him, but James caught her fist in his hand. The redhead stared at him, her eyes narrowed at him as he held her fist. James looked down at her hand, before throwing it back at her. The assassin took a step back, before kicking her leg up, hitting James on the side. The Stark took a step back as he held onto his side, before straightening up. He glanced up at Natalia, a smirk on his lips as he stared at her.

That was when he threw a punch at her, a set of them and she was quick to block them all. But as he initiated each attack, she became overwhelmed, and soon enough, Natalia found herself on the floor. James's foot pressed against her wrist and his forearm pressed against her throat. He noticed how her red hair fell around her head in a halo, even if she did not deserve one.

But that was the thing about all assassins.

They were once good people, twisted into darker beings. And that was Natalia to him. He had read her file, knowing everything that she had done. All of them were horrible, but he believed that there was good in her. Not just the horrible things that the Red Room had done to her. She probably wouldn't agree with his theories about how she was a good person amongst all of the bad plaguing her soul.

Natalia was the one to bring him out of his inner thoughts, kicking him, knocking him to the ground beside him. A groan left James's throat as he hit the wooden floor. This time, Natalia was hovering over him, straddling him with her legs. Her red hair fell on his face as she stared at him, her fingers enclosed around his throat.

The two of them stayed in that position for a few minutes, until James's phone began to ring. He snapped his head over toward the table against the wall. Natalia climbed off of him, folding her arms over her chest as James stood up from the floor. The man walked over to the table and picked up his phone. A groan left his lips at the sight of the caller ID.

"Your boss?" Natalia questioned.

"Unfortunately," James replied to her, before answering the phone, "Director. How can I help you?"

"Agent Stark, you know the point behind this phone call," Director Fury snapped at him and the Stark rolled his eyes. Knowing that he was about to be scolded for disposing of his tracker. "You have gone stealth mode on us, and you know we don't like it when you decide to take matters into your own hands. Where the hell are you and is the job done?"

"Director, I know what my mission is, but no, it is not done," James replied to him, and he could hear Fury swear under his breath. "I'm seeing if I can get any more intel out of the person of interest. You're going to have to trust me on this, sir."

"You Starks are a pain in my ass," Fury replied to him, before hanging up.

James let out a sigh as he placed the phone back on the table. He turned to face Natalia, who had her arms folded over her chest as she stared at him. Her eyebrow was raised, wondering what kind of intel he was going to get out of her.

"Person of interest?" Natalia questioned.

"I had to say something to keep you alive, now didn't I?"

Author's Note

As you can see, James is trying to keep Natalia alive. Fury isn't going to be happy later in this part, especially when he finds out that James has no interest in killing Natalia. He wants to find her redeeming qualities and such. I have a lot of stuff planned for this story! It's going to be great :) So expect a lot of James and Natalia/Natasha bonding in chapters to come :)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

( Please refrain from commenting "Update" or anything along the lines of that. I find it incredibly annoying and rude. I do have a lot of other stories to write, so please be patient with updates, thank you. )