Black Widow Thinks Outside the Box

Hell’s Kitchen.

Somewhere.

Two black figures darted back and forth without pause.

One was petite yet curvaceous, transformed into a "dual-pistol Black Widow," and claimed more than a dozen lives in the blink of an eye. Luckily, she was not the one from the parallel universe who was only eight years younger than Captain America. Otherwise, she would have been a bona fide "dual-pistol old lady."

The other was tall, strong, and agile. Every arrow he fired from his drawn bow struck true. Then, with a twist of both hands and a hard pull, his curved high-tech compound bow turned into a thick, long black compound staff of strange design. His close-quarters combat skills were no worse than Black Widow’s, making him utterly untouchable.

Black Widow and Hawkeye.

Following Skye’s remote voice guidance, they had taken a shortcut and intercepted Madame Gao’s men—the Triads.

There were at least several hundred Triad members in New York, but they could not all gather in such a hurry. Fewer than fifty had arrived so far. Every one of them carried a gun and had learned Eastern martial arts suited for real combat. They were difficult opponents.

But before the combined efforts of Black Widow and Hawkeye, they had no ability to resist.

Though they were the weakest Super Heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super Heroes were still Super Heroes. Compared to ace agents like Grant Ward and Melinda May, they were far stronger, on an entirely different level.

Each of them could take on several opponents alone.

More importantly, their bond surpassed friendship, and their coordination was flawless. Even their clothes were the same shade of black. A couple’s matching outfits made work less tiring.

For them, as long as they had the right equipment, they could hold off dozens or even hundreds of enemies by themselves, or even wipe them out.

"Natasha, Madame Gao’s men are far inferior to Murakami’s Japanese ninjas." Hawkeye suddenly fired three arrows at once. The high-tech arrows traced different paths before abruptly splitting apart and taking down seven enemies. Beneath his calm expression lay faint disdain.

The Five Fingers were all different.

Madame Gao was shrewd and highly calculating. She was responsible for the China region, and according to analysis, she was likely the most deeply hidden of the five and the strongest in combat.

Alexandra was mysterious and wealthy, responsible for the Americas, and was also the nominal supreme leader of The Hand.

Bokuto was responsible for recruiting, abducting children and runaways, training them, and supplying fresh blood to The Hand.

Sowande was an African warlord with power and influence, commanding a great many subordinates. He was also skilled in pressure-point techniques.

Murakami was responsible for Japan. His subordinates were a group of ruthless, obedient ninjas, while he himself was extremely strong and skilled with Japanese swords.

During one mission, Hawkeye had disguised himself as a Japanese ronin and fought those ninjas.

In his view, Madame Gao’s men were far inferior to them!

"Don’t let your guard down, Barton. Chinese martial arts are more terrifying than you think."

Black Widow recalled the mysterious and powerful Kunlun Iron Fist. Thinking of how K’un-Lun was in China and Madame Gao was Chinese as well, she did not dare underestimate Madame Gao or her people.

As soon as she spoke, two even stronger opponents arrived with more Triad members.

They both had Eastern features, one man and one woman.

The man was lean, and the woman was slender. Both were dressed in black.

At the same time, Skye’s voice came through their earpieces. "Scythe and Nine-Spider Bride, two of Madame Gao’s three most capable subordinates. They’re very strong. Be careful."

It was already too late for ranged attacks.

Hawkeye exchanged a heavy blow with Scythe and discovered that although the man was much thinner than him, his strength was not much weaker. His fighting style was vicious and ruthless, somewhat similar to Brock Rumlow’s, and his combat abilities were about equal as well. With the others assisting him, he was difficult to deal with.

On the other side, Natasha had nearly exhausted her Black Widow Suit during the earlier battle, and both pistols were out of ammunition. She could only fight Nine-Spider Bride at close range.

Like Scythe, Nine-Spider Bride could not use "qi," but she was proficient in combat techniques. She lacked strength but possessed incredible speed, making her troublesome to handle as well.

Troublesome, but not too difficult.

Two minutes later, aside from a very few who escaped, everyone else was dead, including Scythe and Nine-Spider Bride.

"All right, I take back what I said. Madame Gao’s men are no worse than Murakami’s." Hawkeye wiped away his sweat, then cleaned the blood from his face.

He was injured. Scythe had slashed him, but the wound was not serious.

As S.H.I.E.L.D.’s strongest combat agent, if not for the dozen or so Hand members obstructing him, he was confident he could have defeated Scythe completely.

Among all the enemies he had killed, Scythe would not even rank in the top ten.

"Let’s go. Our mission isn’t over yet."

Natasha was injured too. Although Nine-Spider Bride was not her match, she was not someone Natasha could defeat easily. Natasha had paid no small price.

Rubbing her aching abdomen, Natasha applied special ointment to herself and asked, "Skye, where are Madame Gao and Zhou Cheng?"

The Triad members were merely appetizers. Madame Gao was the main course.

"Don’t worry about them."

Skye’s casual reply came through the earpiece. "They’re both dead."

Natasha and Hawkeye exchanged a glance, each seeing the surprise in the other’s eyes.

Zhou Cheng, who ranked alongside Scythe and Nine-Spider Bride, and Madame Gao, who was very likely the strongest member of The Hand, were both dead?

Who had killed them?

Could it have been Master Wang?

No, impossible!

According to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intelligence, Madame Gao was absolutely much stronger than Master Wang.

Master Wang could only barely defeat seven elite Hydra agents and ended up covered in blood. How could he possibly be Madame Gao’s opponent?

Could it be…

"Wang killed Zhou Cheng."

Skye’s voice carried barely restrained delight. "A masked man suddenly appeared, summoned azure lightning to kill Madame Gao, and took her body away."

A masked man?

Azure lightning?

Natasha clenched her fists.

It really was Iron Fist!

Master Wang really was connected to Iron Fist. They had joined forces!

Skye had actually told her such important intelligence.

Was she stupid?

No, she was not stupid. On the contrary, she was very clever.

She had done it deliberately. Master Wang or Iron Fist must have instructed her to.

In an instant, Natasha made countless connections.

"Madame Gao is connected to K’un-Lun. Iron Fist killed Madame Gao. Was it internal competition within K’un-Lun, or the will of K’un-Lun as a whole? Could the rumors be true? Was Madame Gao a traitor to K’un-Lun?"

"Iron Fist took Madame Gao’s body away. Was it because she carried K’un-Lun’s secrets, or for some other reason? For example… to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. from obtaining her body and uncovering K’un-Lun’s secrets through dissection and testing?"

"Skye telling me this is a gesture of goodwill. It represents the sincerity of Iron Fist and K’un-Lun, their sincerity in cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Master Wang and Skye are the intermediaries. S.H.I.E.L.D. and K’un-Lun exchange intelligence and cooperate through them."

"This time, S.H.I.E.L.D. essentially helped K’un-Lun. Perhaps next time, S.H.I.E.L.D. can ask K’un-Lun for help against Hydra!"

"But there will be a price. We need to offer benefits to K’un-Lun and Iron Fist, and to Master Wang and Skye as well."

"It seems necessary to remind the Director to prepare for a major loss!"

Black Widow’s imagination ran wild. She even began thinking from Egghead’s perspective.

Master Wang had once vaguely mentioned that mysterious beings like K’un-Lun and Iron Fist did not want money at all. Offering them money would be an insult.

They wanted things money could not buy.

The high-tech products from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Technology Division, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s highly classified files that could not even be connected to the internet and could only be stored offline or on paper, and…

Natasha’s eyes lit up.

The Item 084 confiscated by the Howling Commandos back then, along with the ones S.H.I.E.L.D. had continually acquired over the past sixty-plus years for research or storage!

Those mysterious items that had been studied for decades without yielding any answers might as well be handed over to K’un-Lun and Iron Fist in exchange for their help!

As for Master Wang and Skye?

They seemed rather poor. They did not even have a house.

Just give them money.

Also, the Director had promised surveillance equipment with a coverage radius of three kilometers. Perhaps it should be increased to five kilometers… no, they might as well cover every street in Chinatown.

And perhaps they should persuade the Director to transfer weapons manufacturing experts from the Technology Division to custom-build equipment for them.

What could two S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy students who had not even enrolled for a year do?

Cause trouble?

"Let’s go back to Triskelion Headquarters. The Director is waiting for our report."

The two black figures rose and fell through the darkness, changed disguises in a hidden corner, and got into Natasha’s car.

I took my wife and child back to her parents’ place yesterday, drove for half the day, and fell asleep while writing, so there was only one chapter… Well, there will be two chapters today. I promise there won’t be fewer chapters in the future!