Like Walking into an Empty House

"It's there! We've arrived." Leon's voice pulled Natasha from her thoughts.

Her gaze shifted, and countless clouds and mists streamed past them.

The dark clouds of the night layered over one another, wrapping up everything around them.

Natasha looked around and saw nothing but black clouds crashing toward her.

Leon was moving too fast, yet making too little noise, as though he had blended into the clouds.

But soon, the clouds suddenly began to thin.

Natasha had a premonition and focused her gaze ahead.

First, a steel runway several hundred meters long tore through the sea of clouds.

Then, the colossal structure connected to the runway emerged from the clouds.

The pitch-black clouds were suddenly illuminated.

It was a towering aerial fortress.

An aircraft carrier shaped like a high-rise tower, with three levels from top to bottom, four fighter takeoff and landing runways on each level, twelve runways in total!

The fortress's lights shone through more than half the surrounding clouds.

Hidden here, it was like a pearl forgotten by the world.

"So this is the Red Room. It's here." Natasha stared blankly, the fortress's brilliant lights reflected in her eyes.

Leon could not help stopping to examine it as well. "It's truly spectacular, but its anti-gravity system looks like it's just a few giant fans?"

"What kind of primitive-futuristic hybrid is this? The designer must have been a real genius."

"And an aerial unit that clearly has no energy defense system—isn't that just a living target?" he added mockingly.

He even remembered to mention his brother. "Still, Tony would probably like this thing. It looks very metallic and has this flashy-but-useless kind of beauty. Tony loves that style."

The emotions Natasha had been building up were instantly interrupted by that string of complaints.

She looked at Leon speechlessly. "You really do understand your brother."

"Of course. That's why I need to change my strategy."

Leon climbed higher and took the entire fortress into view.

"This fortress can't be destroyed. With a few modifications, it can serve as Tony's fortieth birthday present."

"Wow, do you people give presents this expensive for birthdays?" Natasha felt as though something was lodged in her chest and had to be said.

Leon spoke as he used X-Ray Vision to memorize everyone's location within the fortress. "Not always. It's just that he gave me a spaceship for my eighteenth birthday, so my return gift can't be too shabby."

Natasha could not help leaning her upper body back. It felt as if countless mountains of dollar bills had slammed into her face.

"You brothers... really are quite modern," she said dryly.

Other rich second-generation kids were still giving away luxury cars and yachts.

These brothers, on the other hand, were giving away aerial fortresses and spaceships. Were they planning to leave Earth and head for space?

"Okay, that's enough." Leon took just a few seconds to memorize everyone's positions.

He descended silently with Natasha and landed as lightly as raindrops on the highest runway.

"Take these and follow behind me." Leon handed Natasha the case containing the inhibitors.

"I'll knock everyone out. Follow behind me and inject anyone you think is suitable with an inhibitor. If they're not suitable, finish them off."

"Any problems?"

Natasha shook her head. "None."

She knew she was just an accessory. Being able to provide support and pick up some rewards was enough.

"Good. I'll wait for you in the central control room."

Leon took flight, and the neon lights along the runway dyed half his body crimson.

He flew higher and higher, quickly drawing attention.

A piercing alarm sounded inside the fortress.

The soldiers patrolling the deck swiftly gathered and prepared to fire.

Natasha looked around for a suitable opportunity, intending to help Leon relieve some pressure.

But before she could act, Leon, whose body was covered in the red targeting lights of gun sights, moved first.

Natasha felt her vision blur. The scene before her seemed to suddenly gain several rings of lines circling the fortress.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

When she opened them again, those lines had vanished.

Leon was still in the same place, but all the red lights on his body had gone out.

"I'm going in first. Hurry up, don't keep me waiting too long." Leon waved to her, then shot into the fortress like an arrow.

Natasha was still stunned when a continuous series of bodies hitting the ground reached her ears.

Her eyes widened as she followed the sound. The deck before the fortress entrance was already piled high with unconscious combat personnel.

"God..."

So those lines just now had been Leon's figure moving at extreme speed.

In the blink of an eye, he had knocked out dozens of people and thrown every one of them in front of her.

"So this is Superman... It's simply unbelievable."

Natasha could not hide her shock, but she still moved quickly.

Since the fighting required absolutely no involvement from her.

What she had to do was actually very simple.

—Inject every Widow she recognized or did not recognize with an inhibitor.

As for the other soldiers, she put a bullet through each of their foreheads.

Natasha knew very clearly.

Within the twisted intelligence agency that was the Red Room, there were only controllers and the controlled.

Those who were not Widows required no distinction. They stood in positions of privilege, oppressing others and maintaining order. Not a single one of them was a good person.

After injecting all the Widows with inhibitors, Natasha rushed into the fortress in pursuit of Leon.

Leon had not held back. The Widows would probably remain unconscious for quite some time, and she could not wait here.

To Natasha, the interior of the Red Room fortress was completely different from its magnificent exterior.

Inside, she was like someone returning home, intimately familiar with every place.

The only difference was that all along her path, in front of room doors, on corridors and decks, everyone she encountered lay unconscious on the ground.

Their expressions were calm, their bodies bore not the slightest injury, and even the way they had fallen looked as if they had drifted into peaceful sleep.

Natasha could fully imagine how Leon had stormed into this heavily guarded fortress as though no one were there.

Without the slightest hesitation, she finished people off with her left hand and administered inhibitors with her right, swiftly chasing after him toward the command room.

But there were simply too many people who had been knocked unconscious.

Even moving swiftly, it took her nearly ten minutes to finish the injections and reach the central command room.

Before she even opened the door, she heard a familiar voice from inside.

"I apologize to you, honored Superman. Please forgive my offense. I swear I never knew about your relationship with Mr. Tony Stark!" It was Dreykov's voice.

"Forget begging for mercy. I listened to you preach for several minutes about Widows controlling the world and creating peace, and now you're saying this to me?" Leon said.

"Then... then what would you like me to say? I can say anything! How about we talk about Gorbachev's embarrassing stories?"

"Enough. Whatever you want to say, I'll send you to tell God. You know about my relationship with Tony, and you still think you can leave alive?"

The room fell silent for a while.

Then the first voice suddenly broke into sharp laughter.

"...Hehehe, Superman, you've fallen for it!

Why do you think I kept stalling for time?

The pheromones I emit can control the people around me, making them unable to attack me!

You've already inhaled a large amount of pheromones. Go ahead and try attacking me again!"

When Natasha pushed open the door.

She saw her former boss, General Dreykov, with his neatly combed hair and black-rimmed glasses, his short, fat body in a suit sprawled across the desk.

He was glaring wide-eyed at Leon standing on the other side of the desk, his mouth twisted to one side as he shrieked mockingly.