S.H.I.E.L.D. had brazenly planted a watcher by his side. If it had been anyone else, Henry might have made things difficult for them in every possible way—deadly pranks, subtle traps, anything to make them retreat in the face of hardship.
Just thinking about the more than twenty pending matters he had sent the Siberian Alien Research Institute's way showed how skilled he was at this sort of subtle, imperceptible game.
Arranging an accident and letting the other person die an unfortunate death would not have been much of a problem, either. It was just that doing something like that under the old lady's nose made Henry somewhat uncomfortable.
But Natasha Romanoff was different. Although Alexei had caused him plenty of trouble, he had also genuinely helped him quite a bit.
Sending his adopted daughter to her death would mean disregarding that friendship altogether. Henry could not be so selfish and cold-blooded, especially when she had not caused him any actual losses—only inconvenience at most.
He could not exactly call that old man over and have him take his person away. She was waiting right here, determined to nail down the connection between "Henry Brown" and "Black Super."
On the surface, "Henry Brown" had no connection whatsoever with "Alexei Shostakov." Or rather, at this point in time, anyone associated with the Red Guardian could get dragged into a whole host of problems.
Black Widow had said all of that openly in the guest room where she was staying. She had practically run up to Henry, grabbed him by the ears, and spelled it out for this Kryptonian.
Henry was grinding his teeth in anger at her tiger-whisker-tugging behavior, but he could only hold it in.
Even setting aside the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. and Snake Shield were practically one family, spies were