Russian Village Warriors

Warner's top-floor suite had no fewer than nine rooms. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls on all sides offered a 360-degree view of New York's nightscape. The walls were hung with cashmere curtains decorated with mother-of-pearl, gold, and platinum.

"Wow!" ×2.

Mike and Skye gaped at everything like a pair of country bumpkins.

Then it was time to get down to business.

Mike asked Black Widow about the three kidnappers.

Black Widow directly tossed Mike a stack of files and interrogation records.

"Alexei Sitsevich."

Seeing the name, along with that bald head and dopey face, Mike remembered—wasn't this the future Rhino?

"You know him?"

"Yeah. A somewhat famous Russian thug. He's got a few screws loose, a violent temper, and no regard for consequences. Add in his heavy firepower, and ordinary gang members don't dare provoke them."

After flipping through the interrogation records, Mike found almost no intelligence related to this incident. Instead, they had dug up a few old cases.

Mike's mouth twitched as he summed it up. "Three Russian village warriors, disabled but strong-willed, an inspirational tale of dedicating themselves to a life of crime."

"That's one way to put it." Black Widow laughed at Mike's amusing description. "Your little sweetheart is jealous."

Mike glanced over and saw Skye touring the room while occasionally shooting wary looks their way. His expression immediately turned serious, making himself look even more businesslike.

"So she really is your little sweetheart." Black Widow said, "Bringing personal feelings into work is very dangerous."

"Don't underestimate her. She isn't dead weight." Mike casually replied, pulling out a schedule. "This is Pepper's itinerary for the next three days?"

"Yes."

"Can't it be canceled?"

"Miss Pepper refuses. She said that if she backed down now, all her previous efforts would have been for nothing. This might even be the attackers' goal."

"Oh."

"Just 'oh'? Aren't you going to persuade her?"

"I'm a bodyguard. I'm only responsible for protecting Pepper, not teaching her how to do things. I have only one requirement: in public, no matter the situation or who she meets, Miss Pepper cannot be more than five meters away from me. You can make the specific arrangements."

After thinking it over, Black Widow found Mike's request perfectly reasonable and agreed. Then she looked him over from head to toe.

"What?" Mike felt as though she had seen straight through him.

He had always been the one looking at others like that. This was the first time someone had looked at him that way.

It was pretty uncomfortable.

"Nice body." Black Widow smiled, then said to the private butler, "Prepare several sets of shirts, suits, shoes, socks, and sunglasses for him. Oh, and for her too."

"As you wish, ma'am." The butler gave a slight bow and turned to carry out the task.

Black Widow explained, "The places Pepper visits generally have certain dress requirements."

"I understand." Mike was dressed very casually right now, but he had no hobby of dressing like a slob at banquets just so he could show off and slap people in the face.

After a while, the butler brought over two female employees to take Mike and Skye's measurements.

Once they were done, one of the employees discreetly slipped a note into Mike's hand.

Mike: "..."

There were too many temptations out there. Boys really had to protect themselves when they went outside.

The female employee's little move fooled Skye, but it could not escape Black Widow's Fiery Eyes.

Black Widow whispered, "You sure have good luck with women."

At a high-end hotel like the Four Seasons Hotel, the female employees might not have been selected to model-team standards, but at the very least, none of them were unattractive. The woman who had slipped Mike the note was comparable to the flight attendant on Stark's private jet.

"Heh." Mike handed the note to Black Widow. He was not the kind of man who lost his mind in the face of beauty. "Look into this woman."

Taking the note, Black Widow gave Mike a deep look, then immediately called and instructed her subordinates to handle it.

A while later, two subordinates returned to report back. One of them had a shallow knife wound on his arm.

"A female assassin." Black Widow revealed the employee's identity. "Nano-disguise technology makes her difficult to identify with the naked eye. How did you spot her?"

The female assassin had taken Mike for an ordinary bodyguard. Seducing him was clearly meant to obtain information.

"I didn't spot her. I heard her."

"Hm?"

"Her heartbeat," Mike explained. "Although she deliberately made herself look like she was blushing, her heartbeat was too steady. It didn't look at all like she was lusting after someone's body."

"What about my heartbeat, right now?" Black Widow stared straight into Mike's eyes.

That heartbeat... Mike swallowed, and then... Black Widow's heartbeat instantly returned to normal.

Mike: "..."

As expected of a veteran spy. As expected of Black Widow. She was acting from the inside out.

Skye was typing code on her laptop.

"How's it going?"

"Done!" Skye pressed Enter for the last time. She had planted "bombs" in the surveillance systems for the surrounding traffic and the hotel. If anyone tried to breach the cameras, it would immediately trigger an alert. Then Skye could detonate the "bombs" at any time.

"Good work."

"It was fine. I haven't had any real fieldwork in a long time, so I've gotten rusty. It took a few extra minutes. By the way, what were you whispering about with that female secretary for so long?"

"You mean her? Her real identity is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." Mike hurriedly redirected Skye's attention. "Be careful when you talk to her. Don't let her figure you out completely after just a few sentences. She's a veteran spy."

"Really?"

"Really. The kind who can take on ten people alone."

"She's that good?"

"Yeah! Incredibly good." She had even gotten her hands on Hulk. How many beings in the universe could pull that off? She was more than incredibly good. This was a woman capable of ranking every male Avenger by length.

Mike took out a black automatic pistol from his storage space: a Glock 17. It was a relatively compact handgun—small, light, with low recoil, yet holding fifteen rounds—making it perfect for women and beginners.

Skye had handled guns before, but she had barely done any live-fire shooting. Mike removed the bullets and had Skye disassemble and reassemble the gun herself, then taught her the basics of shooting.

In another room, Black Widow opened S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal website and searched for Mike's information.

To her surprise, she discovered that authorization to access Mike's file had been raised to Level Ten, while she herself was only a Level Seven agent. Level Ten was only in the comics.

Fine. It was within expectations.

After thinking for a moment, Black Widow searched for Skye instead. To her surprise, S.H.I.E.L.D. actually had a file on Skye. She discovered that Skye was a member of the hacker organization "Rising Tide."

Elsewhere.

Obadiah, who was video-calling Justin Hammer, suppressed his fury. "Why did you hire those three idiots?"

Justin looked aggrieved. "I only gave the money to a middleman. What does it have to do with me who the middleman hired? But don't worry, it can't be traced back to me."

"I don't give a damn whether it can be traced back to you, you useless piece of trash! No wonder Stark has always ground you into the dirt. You fucking deserve it!" Obadiah raged inwardly for a full minute. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was already close to losing his mind. "The plan has changed!"