The Soldier knew well enough about SHIELD to understand how well her life had gone when it came to trusting the organization. It made them closer to allies because they were technically working for the same organization in a sense, but that had all gone up in smoke and left them all high and dry, scrambling to evade and avoid notice from the masters that would no doubt be eager to gather up all the pieces that had strayed from them. It was why he was sneaking around in Brooklyn and she was clearly pretending to be a street rat with no prospects.

And, for some reason, the idea that Natasha was possibly keeping an eye out was like a warning. She had a keen eye, but with her came bigger problems that he wasn't yet ready to face. Somehow, he thought that knowing her was grasping a part of his past that blurred together in many lives where he had established some kind of cold freedom. He simply had to gather information about her from a distance enough to not personally draw her. Right now, he had spent far too long and too much effort side-stepping Steve's attempts to hunt him down. So really, it seemed maybe he and this young woman were avoiding certain aspects of themselves.

"I know I trained her," he remarked softly. "But I can't recall how long, when or even at times where. I know it had to be the Soviet Union because all the information on the web shows when she defected." He wanted to know who the hell Yasha was and all those other names that clamored for his attention, seeming both personal and foreign at the same time.

"Where were you trained? And when?"