Natasha knew she had been careless.
Half an hour ago, she successfully infiltrated the current headquarters of the "Red Room." Compared to when she was in the organization, the Red Room had moved its base, relocating the headquarters to an altitude of 9,000 meters and concealing it with anti-radar coating.
However, obviously, this level of concealment technology was not enough in front of S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't made a move against them until now simply because they didn't want to. In fact, as long as Nick Fury had the idea, he would know clearly even if Dreykov (the boss of the Red Room) forgot to zip his pants after taking a piss.
Natasha's operation had been going smoothly.
With the help of the backdoor left by S.H.I.E.L.D., she disguised herself as an active Black Widow agent and infiltrated the organization's headquarters. She even successfully infiltrated the office of the Red Room's leader, Dreykov, and once again saw with her own eyes this man she hated most in her life.
Dreykov actually had another safety insurance—all Black Widows coming out of the Red Room were forcibly programmed not to harm him within a certain distance.
As long as any Black Widow smelled Dreykov's pheromones, their bodies would defy their brain's commands and be unable to take any harmful measures against Dreykov.
Yes, a setting very common and useful in the famous Japanese "Infiltration Investigator" series.
But fortunately, Natasha had noticed this problem before setting off.
Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s excellent intelligence system, the Red Room files recorded that Dreykov had mastered this technology, and specifically noted that "active S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff may have also been subjected to similar hypnotic treatment."
This kind of thing posed no threat as long as it was known in advance. Natasha had temporarily blocked her olfactory nerves with drugs before setting off. As long as she couldn't smell Dreykov's pheromones, the safety measure would be ineffective against her.
Things had gone smoothly up to this point. She and that damned Dreykov were separated by just a desk, just one damn desk. She even pulled out her gun and pointed it at Dreykov's head. Dreykov, this lucky bastard, should have been dead by now.
If it weren't for a sudden dart that knocked her pistol away before she could pull the trigger.
The dart came from Taskmaster, Dreykov's biological daughter, transformed into the strongest Black Widow, and also Dreykov's ultimate trump card for survival.
Taskmaster had the ability to copy any move, any action, just by seeing it once. And what she could do was not simply copying, but learning the opponent's martial arts style and even personal habits through copying, thereby predicting the opponent's moves to achieve the effect of anticipating the enemy.
This made Taskmaster almost invincible in the field of combat, able to learn and see through any move at the fastest speed. As long as she wasn't crushed by the opponent's physical quality or killed instantly upon encounter, she would be invincible.
Natasha met a formidable enemy for the first time, unprepared, and was naturally caught off guard.
After only three moves, Taskmaster's fist hit her cheek. It was a beautiful right hook. Natasha heard a "buzz" in her head and saw stars. She used almost all her perseverance to keep her body from falling.
Immediately following was a flying knee. Natasha felt that this knee strike probably broke her ribs.
Natasha tried hard to ignore the pain and fight back. However, when she tried to perform a rear naked choke on Taskmaster, her intention was seen through again, and one of her arms was broken at the same time.
The pain almost made her faint. She saw the blood she spat out accumulating into a pool on the floor.
No, can't faint, not yet...
Natasha said to herself in her heart.
She couldn't fall here, not yet. She must complete the mission, even if this was the last mission she completed in her life.
Must think of a way, think about what other equipment, what other means can be used...
However, when Natasha lay on the ground, supporting herself with her hands, trying hard to raise her head again, she saw...
...Despair.
A large number of Black Widows, about twenty or thirty at a glance... maybe more. They all rushed to this office and surrounded Natasha.
Each of them was a top assassin, the elite of the elite. Like Natasha, they had fought their way out of the Red Room's cruel and inhumane training and won the title of "Black Widow" with their own hands.
And that demon who played with their lives, took away their lives, destroyed their bodies, and turned them one by one into puppets who obeyed him, was protected behind these Black Widows, smiling sarcastically at Natasha.
Natasha felt that she was probably finally going to lose consciousness... or maybe she was going to die. Because her life began to flash back in her eyes, as if she had fallen into some kind of hallucination.
For a moment, she felt like she was on a long street.
It was that kind of busy street, like a New York street, with people coming and going, bustling. She stood in the middle of this street, shouting desperately, but no one seemed to hear, and no one cared.
So this was the taste of true loneliness.
It wasn't being alone and seeing no one of your kind, but even surrounded by crowds of people coming and going, you still couldn't find anyone to talk to, anyone who cared.
How ridiculous, she lived her whole life in such a feeling, her whole life was like a joke.
Unlike her sister Yelena, Natasha knew her identity from the beginning as a child, knew that their family was fake.
But even so, as a child, she fell into it, and even fantasized more than once that if time could stop at this moment, it would be great if this fake family could be maintained like this forever.
Later she broke away from the Red Room and met S.H.I.E.L.D. agent "Hawkeye" Clint Barton. Clint gave her a chance and recommended her to join S.H.I.E.L.D.
She had always regarded working at S.H.I.E.L.D. as an opportunity for atonement, as her second life, as if she could get rid of her past as long as she worked hard enough.
How ridiculous, thinking about it now, she was so naive.
Because the past is the past. Every person she killed, that blood still stained her hands to this day, and she could never wash it off in this lifetime.
She was going to die.
Would anyone be sad for her?
Natasha instinctively felt that Director Fury probably wouldn't.
Clint? Maybe, but Natasha felt they were just familiar comrades-in-arms. Clint had his own family, his own work and life. After grieving, he would soon move on.
Then there would be no one else.
They say the first time is when he stops breathing, biologically he is dead. The second time is when he is buried, people come to his funeral to remember his life, socially he is dead. The third time is when the last person who remembers him forgets him, then he is truly dead.
If so, then Natasha felt she would probably die very quickly.
And just when she felt she was almost ready to accept her death, a siren piercing enough to wake the dead suddenly pulled her back to reality.
Natasha opened her eyes.
Then she saw that demon who was originally smiling sarcastically at her, that Dreykov who was originally holding the winning ticket, suddenly became panicked at this moment.
Several Black Widows were loudly reporting to him.
"We are under attack!" a Black Widow said.
Dreykov was shocked and angry: "What? By whom?"
"Don't know, the radar has no response, can't detect the enemy... like an invisible opponent!"
"Impossible!" Dreykov shouted, "We have the most advanced radar, the most advanced detection system! Impossible to be..."
Before he could finish, bad news continued to come: "Our escort fighters have been shot down!"
A moment later, someone else reported: "Anti-aircraft guns destroyed!"
Dreykov opened his mouth wide, fear gradually taking over his mind.
He was targeted, but didn't know by what.
But he felt that it was something like a ghost or god.
That thing approached like a ghost, making his radar blind and useless. Then that thing casually shot down his escort fighters, and then destroyed the entire air defense system of this base in just ten seconds.
As far as Dreykov knew, even the top fighter jets existing in the world couldn't do this.
This simply defied common sense.
Boom!
A heavy booming sound.
The thick alloy door panel was blasted open from the outside. The reinforced door panel, which should have been able to withstand even missile bombardment, flew into this room like a crumpled piece of waste paper.
Dazzling light poured in from outside the door, making Natasha even feel blinded for a moment, unable to open her eyes.
Appearing along with that light was a red and gold figure of steel.
Red and gold steel armor, endless sunlight projected from behind him, casting a very long shadow of that steel body on the floor.
That light was so soft, so warm, simply like the thing called "hope" itself.
As if it was brought by that steel body.