"Pft! Ah! That's really too much!"
Natasha crawled up from the ground, rubbing her face like a little cat, spitting out dirt from her mouth, and stomped her foot in protest at the figure flying into the sky.
She actually found Romulus's location, but when she and Gin had just arrived at the outskirts of the Tree Sea, their target was sent right in front of them by the familiar figure trailing a streak of red light that flew away.
Gin took out the bottle she had hidden earlier from her bosom, clapped it, and chugged down a mouthful. At the moment the target flew over, she managed to cover the bottle to avoid dirt and even turned around to face the impact with her back.
"Alright, we've found the person. Let's fire a few shots to vent our anger and go home."
"He wanted me to investigate on my own, and he still got involved, humph!" Natasha took out her pistol but couldn't find a place to shoot: "With things like this, what can I shoot?"
Looking at the meteor-like deep pit, with the upper half of the body already gone, Natasha pursed her lips.
Too much force, so it got worn away? So this guy was probably shirtless without armor earlier?
Romulus's pants are made of special fabric, so the wear stopped just above the belt. Looking at the intestines squirming on the sectional area and the growing flesh buds sprouting around the blood and flesh, Natasha knew this was a super healing mutant, exactly the Romulus she was looking for.
But since Deathstroke didn't kill him, it meant that this person would still be useful in the future, so they couldn't kill him either.
Gin, very calmly holding her bottle, jumped into the deep pit and flipped the corpse over with her toe to carefully observe the sectional area at the waist.
"The healing speed is fast. This was meant to exercise your investigative ability. Finding the person counts as success; we don't expect you to fight such a mutant. I'm not surprised if your boss has been secretly following us all along. He's actually been secretly following every graduate assignment. He doesn't care whether the task succeeds or not; he's more interested in your safety."
"Is that so..." Natasha, although she'd known this for a long time, still felt a bit moved hearing Gin say he protects everyone: "Then let's go home, go shopping in Honolulu and buy things, spend his money to make him happy."
Natasha took out a few thin needles from Widow Sting, the toxic needles she picked up when Wolverine was attacked, coated with anti-healing venom. She also jumped into the dirt pit and thrust a handful of those needles into Romulus's internal organs, like incense on an enemy's grave, messy and chaotic.
Seeing the healing speed suddenly slow down, the red-haired girl showed a smile.
The body can heal, but the spirit cannot. The weakness of self-healing mutants is actually in their spiritual aspect, and those from the Red House are experts at torturing others' spirits.
Unfortunately, Romulus's head was gone, so he wouldn't feel any torment for a short time.
"Aren't you going back to Spider Web Headquarters to report?" Gin jumped out of the pit, looked at the snow-covered forest, and sighed. She didn't know why, but as a Valkyrie, she always felt this land was steeped in death, as if there was going to be some large-scale death event in the future.
Natasha also used Widow Sting to shoot out a hook and attach it to a nearby tree, flying out from the pit bottom. She landed next to Gin with a steady gymnastic flip: "I'm the Red Widow, and spiders were never social creatures anyway. Honestly, I don't quite understand why the boss gathered us all together and still used the 'spider' codename."
"Oh? What do you think it should be called?" Gin smiled, pulling Natasha into her arms, and they walked towards the distant town together.
Natasha tilted her head, her little hand clenched into a fist resting on her chin: "I don't know, creatures that dwell in darkness... mice maybe? That doesn't sound good, bats! Why not rename Spider Web Headquarters to... the Bat Cave, and change to some bat-related codenames."
Gin shook her head, her platinum blonde hair cascading over her shoulders: "You go discuss it with him yourself; but I feel he probably doesn't like bats much. Every time the word comes up, he sounds strange."
"Is that the intuition of a Valkyrie?"
Natasha raised her head, Gin was half a head taller than her, and she could see Gin's heroic chin and lips, which were slightly upturned at the moment.
"No, it's the bits and pieces I've observed living with him for decades."
.............
"What's this?" Returning to Caspian Camp, Su Ming hadn't yet listened to Howard's report when Nick Fury brought in a stack of papers to find him.
Faced with Deathstroke's question, he simply made a gesture of invitation, letting Deathstroke open them and see for himself.
No need to open, Su Ming already knew what these files marked with the eagle Shield Grasp emblem were; they were the Strategic Science Corps' agent files. But to play along with Fury's suspense, he casually flipped through them.
Decrypted files, each photo has "deceased" stamped in black ink below it. In the dim yellow light, the faces in these photos, whether cordial or serious, are all gone now.
The Black Man saw Deathstroke had looked through the files, then turned away before speaking, his tone very heavy: "These are the SSR agents lost in this event."
"Hmm, losses are expected, but whether they're SSR agents, I'm doubtful." Su Ming tossed the files back into Fury's arms; he already knew what Heitan was planning.
Fury was speechless; such is the life of a special agent, even in death, not knowing who they died for.
"But that's how it is, the SSR needs to pay a large sum in compensation, which means we're out of money and we truly can't offer your commission." Nick Fury had guessed that Deathstroke had already seen through him, so he spoke directly.
Su Ming nodded and patted Fury's shoulder: "I understand your thoughts, but wanting to make decisions for the SSR now is a bit premature. If things go expectedly, the SSR will soon be dissolved by Congress and the President. You'll detach from the military, regroup underground, and at that time, the best scenario is parachuting in some outsider politician as your director—not necessarily the most capable, but unquestionably the most loyal."
Fury shook his head. He had ambitions, but he could also see the broader situation: "I'm a Black Man, I naturally know these things, but I'm also a patriot. In this situation, I can't let the SSR collapse; as long as Hydra and Leviathan remain standing, the SSR cannot fall."
"Is it necessary? Does my little reward undermine the SSR? Forget it, I'll randomly take some research materials or intelligence as compensation, no need to thank me."
Su Ming shrugged. Quite a bit of sponsorship here came from Wilson Enterprises and Stark Enterprises, along with military funding. Perhaps bearing the compensation this time does leave them short on cash, but Su Ming never thought of asking for money anyway.
"How about considering this our private deal?" Fury lowered his voice.
"Oh? You're indeed sharp." Su Ming gestured at a stack of special agent files, the red monocular on his face armor focusing on Fury: "But considering the sacrifice of Dave Armstrong, I agree."
Finished speaking, and without waiting for Fury to catch on, Deathstroke vanished at the end of the corridor.
"Nick, what do you say?"
A solid figure emerged from the corner behind Fury—it was none other than Dum Dum Bullet Dugan. He pushed the round bowler hat on his head and asked Fury.
Fury expressionlessly took a breath, quickly extracted a file from inside his coat, and tossed it to him:
"Arrange reliable personnel to investigate who this Dave truly is, when he interacted with Deathstroke, his family relationships, social network, account fund movements, notify the morgue to immediately prepare the highest-level comprehensive autopsy— I want to know everything behind this name."
"Why is it always me doing things? Can't you let Gabriel or Little Junnie handle this stuff? Oh, right, where are they right now?" Dugan never had any scruples talking to Fury. This solid fellow always said whatever came to mind.
Right now, they're all overwhelmed, yet half of the Roaring Assault Team's personnel are missing.
Asking such a question means he's less an unqualified special agent, and more that the Roaring Assault Team is purely military, except for Nick and Peggy.
"Before things blew up here, our British Baron James had some Vampire troubles recently, so I sent Gabriel with half the squad to the United Kingdom." Fury trusted Dugan deeply and decided to reveal a little secret.
James Falsworth, nicknamed Montgomery, earned this nickname both because he's British and for his peculiar accent and interesting mustache.
He was rescued from the Hydra base along with Steve and Baki, and later joined the Roaring Assault Team. But after the war, Britain and America had to separate, and James, being British, as well as several other foreigners, returned to their homelands.
James had an old injury on his waist, preventing quick movement. Even back in the squad, he handled logistics and advisory roles.
He also had a secret identity. During WWI, he was Britain's Super Soldier 'Union Jack'. However, in a battle with Blood Baron, while repelling Vampires, he was impaled on a cluster of stalagmites, causing irreversible damage to his back and waist.
So when WWII broke out, he passed the Union Jack uniform to his son who escaped a concentration camp, but continued fighting as a disabled person, until captured, and eventually rescued by Steve.
Thus, the current Union Jack, Brian Flesworth, is his son.
Now with war ending nearly ten years ago, James has retired and lives in a countryside villa with his daughter. Recently, Vampires have constantly harassed his daughter. Although he repelled them multiple times using experience, without eliminating the Vampires, it's a persistent problem.
So he sought help from old comrades, hoping the Roaring Assault Team could help him solve the issue of Blood Race.
It was both to honor the past sentiments with his old man and to maintain a good relationship with his son Union Jack, a Superhero. Fury naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity since, in his view, anyone who can wear a national flag uniform should be strong, right?
If Su Ming knew about this, he would definitely mock Fury for wasting effort again. British Superheroes love wearing national flags, and there are a bunch of Red-White-Blue heroes. Though the future Captain Britain is indeed strong, Union Jack is always an exception.
In reality, the second generation Union Jack is truly not stronger than Captain America. He's merely a slightly sturdier athlete, a half-baked Vampire Hunter.
Have you heard of the Superhero who was hit by a car and killed? That's right, the second generation Union Jack's end in comics was a car accident.
Not dying at the hands of Hydra's enemies, nor killed by Arch-Enemy Blood Race's attack—just overthinking while crossing a street without watching traffic lights, where he was struck dead by a sedan.
Walking carelessly, family lines shed tears.
"Vampires again, this world really is not peaceful." Dugan had no grievances either; helping former comrades was naturally the right thing, so he waved the file in his hand and turned to get busy.
Fury sighed. Right now he's hoping for some Superheroes that can restrain Deathstroke; a very gullible and naïve type would be best.
Unfortunately, all he sees is a pitch-black darkness.