"No, it doesn't look like the Red Room's handiwork, but I feel like she just wants to find a corner to stay in quietly."
Natasha shook her head.
"Your recommendation?"
"Just a lost child."
Natasha remembered the girl's eyes; it was a loneliness that only one of her kind could understand.
"I don't recommend a forced capture, Director Fury. For a cornered Beast like this, pushing too hard might not be a good thing."
"Maybe... we could try to give her some time, or even give her a home."
The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds, with no reply.
"Continue surveillance. If there are signs of losing control, you know what to do."
"Understood."
The sound of rain gradually stopped.
Reze returned to the apartment and casually tossed the empty coffee can into the trash, producing a crisp "clang."
At that very moment, an emergency news broadcast on the old television on the wall broke the silence of the rainy night.
"Breaking news! A major armed conflict is occurring near Broadway in Harlem! The Military has cordoned off the scene, and casualties are currently heavy..."
In the violently shaking footage, billowing smoke swallowed the streets.
One green, one yellow—two behemoths were in a frenzy, beating each other up.
Reze walked to the bedside, sat down, and pulled her legs up without even taking off her shoes.
She naturally reached out and hugged Sumire, who was sitting on the bed in her pajamas, leaning intimately against Sumire's shoulder.
The slightly cool moisture from her body seeped through the thin fabric, making Sumire subconsciously shrink her neck.
"You're back?" Sumire still wasn't quite used to such intimate physical contact; her body stiffened for a moment, but she didn't push her away, only asking with forced composure, "How was it? She... should have a lot in common with you, right?"
Reze rested her chin in the crook of Sumire's neck, pondering for a moment before a playful curve hooked the corner of her mouth. "Mm... quite right. She's just as you said: very smart, but also very emotional. Fortunately, she took the bait smoothly."
After becoming Sumire's Incarnation and sharing Marvel-related memories, Reze was surprised to find that this S.H.I.E.L.D. ace Agent's background was actually so strikingly similar to her own.
This was the core of the plan Sumire had come up with on the fly after seeing Natasha.
In most situations, Natasha was a top-tier Agent, maintaining inhuman calm and cunning, but only when facing "sisters" with similarly tragic pasts would the softest part of her heart be exposed.
Reze and Natasha were both victims raised as "human weapons" by cold-blooded Soviet institutions.
This bone-deep resonance was something no acting could replace.
Sumire had specifically told Reze to expose that hint of detachment and loneliness hidden beneath her smile, along with her authentic Russian, precisely to throw Natasha off balance and gain the legendary Agent's sympathy—or even a sort of protective instinct born from transference.
Although Natasha would be one of the weakest Avengers in the future, for them at this stage, this was purely beneficial.
Just then, a loud bang on the television broke their reminiscence.
"Wow."
Reze squinted her eyes, watching a police car being swung like a baseball bat on the TV, her tone carrying a bit of lazy amusement. "That guy's got some serious strength."
"It's Hulk and Abomination." Sumire's eyes shone with excited light.
As a veteran Marvel fan, she naturally knew what plot this was.
However, rather than witnessing a famous scene, she cared more about something else.
Sumire turned her head and looked at Reze, who was close at hand. "Reze, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
"Hmm?" Reze hummed nonchalantly, her fingers idly twirling Sumire's long hair.
"Before, we blackmailed Tony Stark and threw his Mark 5 armor into a scrap yard," Sumire analyzed quickly, the light in her eyes growing brighter. "That single operation directly netted over three hundred villainess value."
She pointed at the screen, which showed a battlefield as chaotic as hell:
"Now, an out-of-control superhero plus a rampaging supervillain."
"If we take this chance to fish in troubled waters, cause those two big guys some trouble, or make the scene even more lively..."
Reze's fingers twirling the hair stopped.
She slowly raised her head, her emerald eyes filled with the excitement of a predator scenting blood.
"You mean, go blow things up?"
"Exactly. Let's have a blast."