Her first "no" earns a little flinch, and he watches her out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't expect punishment from Yelena (though Yelena is probably the closest to being able to mete it out, of anyone here, should she choose), but he's always wary of angry people, even angry people who are his team.

"There still should have been. Something I could do," he says, cautious but stubborn. "You deserved better. Deserve better now, too." He pauses, then adds, "But it's good. You and the others survived. Some of the others." A lot of his training was in how to kill, sure, but a sizeable chunk was in how not to die, too. Even his training in how to kill focused on survivability in aggression. He remembers concerned feelings about them. Attachment. They were his tiny team, he thinks. They were very cute.