Impossible to Be Together

"Am I... interrupting something?" She pointed toward the door as the two men looked at her at the same time.

"Natasha! You! You're the one who brought Superman here! You damned bitch—"

Slap!

The moment Dreykov saw Natasha, rage surged through him and he began cursing wildly.

But before he could finish, Leon slapped the back of his head, smashing his entire head into the table and splattering brain matter everywhere.

"This guy talks so much it's unbearable. And with that hypocritical face of his, you just can't help wanting to slap him."

Leon wiped the blood that had splashed onto him onto Dreykov's clothes.

He tilted his head at Natasha. "You don't mind if I kill him, do you?"

Natasha shrugged indifferently. "I've wanted to do that for a long time."

"But how did you manage it? The pheromones he mentioned just now."

She walked toward Leon. "Those pheromones keep people from attacking him. We've all experienced it. Why weren't you affected?"

Leon grabbed Dreykov by the collar and threw him to the floor. Heat Vision shot from his eyes, instantly burning the mastermind behind it all into ash.

"Abnormal pheromones can't even stay in my body for a second. How could they affect me?" Leon brushed nonexistent dust from his hands. "That guy really was delusional."

Unless it was mental or magical control.

Otherwise, trying to control a Kryptonian who had spent more than half a year under the sun?

This was nowhere near enough.

Natasha stared at the ashes that had once been her superior, her mouth slightly open.

"Heat Vision, huh? Another incredible new power."

"I'm almost used to being shocked by the new things you reveal."

"Treasure boy, how are you planning to surprise me next time?"

She smiled silently. "But before that, you can tell me how you want me to repay you. I'll agree to any condition."

"Natasha, do you realize you sound like a thirty-year-old office worker looking for a handsome male model at a bar after work to relieve her stress?"

There was a massive screen in the room.

A control panel was embedded in the desk before the screen.

Leon walked over to the desk and began trying to operate the panel.

"If you want to repay me, start by having the Widows switch jobs and come work for me."

"But first, we need to remove the control imposed on Widows all over the world."

"Gladly." Natasha came to Leon's side and watched what he was doing.

"Then I'll go check on the Widows aboard the carrier first."

"I'll leave cracking the system and finding the list of Widows around the world to you. Can you do it?"

"That's easy." As Leon spoke, a red interface suddenly appeared on the screen, indicating that palm-print verification was required to unlock it.

"Palm-print verification?"

Leon tried several times, but he still couldn't crack it.

"...I might have acted a little impulsively just now. Dreykov should've died later."

He took out his phone instead. "But I still have JARVIS. He can handle this system."

Leon connected his phone to the control panel with a data cable, and JARVIS's voice soon came through the room's speakers.

"Master Leon, Mr. Stark asked me to inquire whether you will be returning home tonight?" JARVIS's first words were explosive.

Dark lines dropped across Leon's face. "No. Tell him not to fool around while I'm not home, or tomorrow I'll have Pepper nag him into going to work."

"Very well. I will relay your words to Mr. Stark."

JARVIS paused before adding, "He also asked me to tell you that if you do not return home tonight, remember to take proper safety precautions. Be careful not to get tricked by bad people."

Leon slapped his own face. "Tell him to take care of himself first. That childish old man always thinks I'm a kid. Please, I was more mature than him when I was three."

"Pfft—cough, cough..." Natasha couldn't hold back her laughter.

Leon gave her a death glare, and Natasha tucked her red hair behind her ear and looked away.

"I'll introduce you to that childish idiot Tony sometime. You'll definitely find him incredibly boring too." Leon curled his lip.

He turned, about to have JARVIS start cracking the Red Room's system.

But Natasha suddenly poked his cheek with a fingertip, withdrawing it as quickly as she had touched him.

When he looked over, Natasha had backed up to the doorway with her back to him. She waved. "Honestly, knowing one childish Stark is enough for me."

Natasha ran off as soon as she finished speaking, disappearing around the corner outside.

Leon froze for a moment. "Another childish idiot?"

Then JARVIS, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly spoke. "Congratulations, Master Leon."

"Congratulations for what?" Leon asked in confusion.

"Congratulations on finding your fourth girlfriend."

JARVIS said.

"Your previous three girlfriends all broke up with you after dating for only half a month because they received checks offered by Mr. Stark."

"I hope this time, you will have a lasting relationship."

Leon's memories were stirred.

He shut his eyes in anger. "Wasn't that because Tony always thought I'd be tricked out of both love and money? He even said relationships should stay physical!"

"Every time I'd just gotten a girlfriend and the girls had only spent a few nights with me, he'd wave a check in front of them!"

"Fuck, he's strangling my youthful romance!"

"But the facts proved that those girls really were after your money." JARVIS firmly supported Tony this time.

"Mr. Stark merely did what Miss Pepper usually does for him."

Leon curled his lip. "A one-million-dollar check every time. Who wouldn't break up after seeing that?"

"Then do you intend to stop Mr. Stark from paying your breakup fee this time?"

"No. Natasha and I were never going to end up together anyway."

Leon glanced toward the corner of the wall. Natasha was still hiding there, secretly listening.

"But your relationship appears to be progressing very smoothly." JARVIS's code could not understand complicated emotions.

Leon shook his head. "It's different."

He explained, "From the beginning, I knew that what Natasha needed was simply a sense of belonging."

"She had lived in a tragedy-filled environment since childhood."

"Her adoptive parents were undercover agents pretending to be a married couple. That so-called familial love was nothing but a castle in the air."

"And after that fake family was torn apart, she was sent to the Red Room for training and transformation."

"The painful training and agonizing life as an assassin left her unable to find even the slightest sense of identity in who she was."

"She was like duckweed drifting across the ocean, with nowhere to settle."

"What duckweed lacks most is a patch of shore where it can stop and take root."

"And that shore would be best if it had other duckweed too. Everyone might sway unsteadily, but it would still be lively and warm."

"And that shore is belonging. It isn't one person, but a family with brothers and sisters."

"So Natasha doesn't need a lover. She needs a place that can give her a sense of belonging."

"We won't be together."

Leon, who knew everything about Natasha's past and future, understood this clearly.

Natasha would naturally have people she liked and friends she was close to.

But she would also maintain an appropriate distance from everyone.

That sense of detachment was the disguise she used to protect herself.

It was also what she relied on to maintain relationships.

Thud!

Something suddenly hit the ground outside, followed by a stretch of messy, retreating footsteps.

Clearly, Natasha had had her feelings laid bare and fled in flustered panic.

"Master Leon, Miss Natasha was just outside," JARVIS reminded him.

"I know." Leon nodded.

"You understand her very well. Do you like her but not dare to get close?"

"My JARVIS! Only Tony would do something like that. I only admire Natasha."

"So you do not intend to be with her?"

"Our relationship can be simpler. For example, when the night is quiet, we can talk about what's in our hearts together."

"Based on an analysis of Mr. Stark's behavioral patterns, heartfelt talks at night always turn into noise-making exercise."

"That's the logic."