At 3:30 AM, Nick Fury had arrived at the Stark mansion and was sitting face-to-face with Tony Stark on the living room sofa.
Two agents were moving boxes of research materials and other items from outside into the living room.
"Careful, don't touch that flower pot." Tony sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, waving to the two agents acting as porters. "That pot of flowers is quite expensive... Oh, and that painting on the wall behind you. That painting is also worth ten million dollars..."
Opposite him, Fury looked at him expressionlessly. Tony smiled at him.
"Since when did you know?" Nick Fury asked.
Tony: "Know what?"
"About the legacy Howard Stark left with S.H.I.E.L.D.," Fury said. "Who told you?"
Tony tilted his head, pretending to think seriously.
"Let me think... One day my dad appeared in my dream and told me to find a black man with only one eye..."
Fury crossed his arms and leaned back into the leather sofa.
"Agent Romanoff's judgment was correct," he said.
Tony asked: "How so?"
"I underestimated you, we all underestimated you," Nick Fury said. "A playboy with no shrewdness, cynical... that's all just a façade, right? You think far more than you show, Stark. I'll remember that."
He actually didn't like the rhythm of today's conversation.
He was Nick Fury, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, probably the person who knew the most secrets in the world (except for the fact that he was managing a bunch of Hydra agents).
When talking to anyone, he usually held the initiative. Because he always possessed more information and was more confident than the other party, he could easily guide the direction of the topic.
But today was different.
Today, in front of this Tony Stark, he felt a long-lost sense of passivity. Because for a moment, he couldn't see through how much intelligence the other party actually possessed, and where that intelligence came from.
He didn't like this feeling.
"One more thing." Tony sat up straight. "The Red Room. My bodyguard already told me about your conversation with Little Red."
"Little Red?" Fury was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized that was the nickname Tony gave the redhead Natasha.
"Little Red said you know about the existence of the Red Room and also have its address." Tony tilted his head. "Is that true?"
"That's classified," Fury said.
Tony looked at him for a few seconds and sighed lightly: "Fine. Actually, it's not that I can't understand. I believe in a position like yours, you must have a lot to consider.
You have to consider alliances, checks and balances between various forces, the impact on the overall situation, blah blah blah. It must not be easy..."
Tony paused for a moment, and then his gaze seemed to sharpen a bit: "But unfortunately. I am not you, nor am I in your position. So you see, Nick, from my standpoint, things aren't that complicated at all."
Nick Fury's expression twitched imperceptibly when he heard this.
What did this guy just call me? Nick?
Tony continued: "The situation now is that a group of people want to kill me, but they haven't succeeded yet. So, with a gun pointed at me, I have no choice but to take some necessary measures for self-defense, it's that simple.
Either you do me this small favor, and I owe you one. Or you don't help, and I'll have to figure it out myself. But either way, I will solve the problem, what do you say, Nick?"
Fury's eyebrow twitched again.
Then he took a deep breath and stood up from the sofa.
"Within half an hour, Jarvis will receive the 'Red Room' data." Fury put his hands in his trench coat pockets and said coldly, "But don't misunderstand. S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't deliberately leave the Red Room alone; it's called playing the long game to catch the big fish.
We believe the Red Room is colluding with other more dangerous and secretive organizations. S.H.I.E.L.D. is just watching and waiting for an opportunity, that's all. Also, one more thing..."
He turned around, and before leaving the living room, he emphasized his tone for the last sentence.
"If you call me Nick one more time, trust me... next time we might not be able to sit down and talk nicely like this."
Tony smiled, revealing a sunny and friendly smile.
"Got it. Thanks a lot, Nick."
Fury: "..."
Leaving the Stark mansion, Agent Coulson, who had been waiting outside, came up to meet him. Walking side by side with the dark-faced Director Fury, he asked: "Director Fury, telling him this classified information, won't it...?"
"It's fine." Fury kept his hands in his pockets and said, "Although the Red Room is still under surveillance, it has been designated as a secondary value target, and it has reached the point where it can be eliminated. If Stark is willing to do it for us, it saves us the trouble.
Besides, don't you want to see it?"
Coulson was startled: "See what?"
Fury revealed a rare smile: "Just take this opportunity to see how capable Stark's flashy new armor technology really is."
...
...
Even today, Natasha Romanoff would occasionally think of her childhood.
In her memory, it was a kitchen seemingly always bathed in twilight. She still remembered her mother deliberately cutting the pickles crookedly, her father lifting her chin with a palm smelling of vodka, and her crybaby sister sometimes smearing stolen jam on the tip of her nose.
Those laughter were like melted toffee, stuck in her memory for twenty years without dissolving.
Yeah, thinking about it now, it was all just an illusion. She never really had a family.
An unreliable super-soldier dad with a brain full of missions, a spy mom, plus herself and her sister who existed only to increase the credibility of the undercover family—it was just a patchwork group like that.
But even if it was patchwork, even if it was just something of that level, it was already the memory closest to the concept of "home" in her life.
In S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow was a legendary existence. In the eyes of rookie agents, her image was almost mythologized. Everyone knew she had top-tier abilities, top-tier skills, could disguise herself as anyone to adapt to any identity, and beautifully complete seemingly impossible missions given to her by the Director.
The rookies worshipped her and longed to be her. They constantly imagined what the legendary agent Black Widow was like outside of work.
Maybe living in a mansion, driving a yacht, lazily basking in the sun on a blue beach, waiting for the next phone call to save the world to notify her that her vacation was over—just like how agents were portrayed in movies.
But in fact, none of these were her life.
Outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. work, she was actually an extremely boring person. Practicing boxing in the gym, practicing shooting in the range, basically constituted all of her free time.
The rest of the time, she basically stayed in her empty residence, dazing at a family photo of four that had long turned yellow but was always cherished by her.
When the mission required it, she could be socially adept, navigate any situation, and be the rising star at a banquet attracting the gaze of all men.
But the most ironic thing was, when all the identity masks and all disguises were removed, this super agent who mastered all social skills and was good at integrating into any circle quickly, was always alone in her real life.
In that fake family of the past, there was only one person she cared about most, and who was also the most real.
That was her sister Yelena.
Yelena was the only real sister to Natasha in that game of house back then. Because among the family of four, only Yelena innocently believed they were really a family until the truth was revealed.
Over the years, Natasha had firmly believed that the Red Room had been destroyed. She always thought Yelena had probably gotten rid of the shadows of childhood, stepped onto the right track of life, and was living a normal life.
But Natasha never dared to try to find her, because Natasha always had an ominous premonition.
It was as if if she really went to find Yelena, even just to inquire or take a look from afar, it would drag the other party back into her world of blood and storms.
But today, she knew the Red Room had not been destroyed.
Then Yelena... wouldn't she still be...
Thinking of this, Natasha's fists clenched involuntarily.
In this world, only Yelena... only this former sister, she didn't want to see her get hurt anymore.
If Yelena was still imprisoned now, still trapped in that hell of the Red Room, then even if she risked her life, she must save her no matter what.
Even if this was the last mission of her life.
S.H.I.E.L.D. did not reveal information related to the Red Room to Natasha. However, in fact, with Natasha's clearance level within S.H.I.E.L.D., plus her understanding of the S.H.I.E.L.D. system and her skills, there were very few things she couldn't find out, except for the top-secret information with the highest clearance that only Director Fury could access.
It was just that she never actively asked about things she shouldn't know before.
With almost no effort, Natasha quickly got the information she wanted from S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. The operating status of the Red Room over the years, the specific location, and even several backup plans for infiltrating the Red Room headquarters had already been prepared—this was indeed very much Director Fury's style.
Planning ahead. Although Fury hadn't wanted to move against the Red Room until now, the infiltration methods and attack methods had long been considered. This way, even if he suddenly decided to ban them one day, he would have the strength to take them down instantly with thunderous means.
For Natasha, this saved her the trouble of formulating an action plan.
Director Fury told her to withdraw from this mission and not interfere anymore. Since joining S.H.I.E.L.D. until now, she had never violated Director Fury's orders even once.
But this time alone, she would make an exception.
Because she had decided.
Right here and now, she would make a complete break with the Red Room, and also with her own past.