The killer and the younger sister

The room fell silent.

Natasha's fingers instinctively curled, and the smile froze on her face.

"Did you already know my sister, or did you approach her with some other motive?" John asked without a smile.

He leaned forward slightly, and the light around him seemed to dim.

"Hiss-huff-"

It was nowhere near the cold season, yet Natasha's breath came out white.

The hairs on her arms stood on end, goosebumps rising beneath them.

A chill climbed from her spine to the back of her head.

For an agent, that fleeting prickle of instinct mattered more than hard work.

It could be called a sixth sense.

As a woman, Natasha's sixth sense was even sharper.

She realized that her answer might send her into an abyss from which there was no return.

The man before her was incredibly dangerous.

Despite his youthful face, which looked almost like a high school student's, the danger he radiated was the most immediate and terrifying she had felt in years.

She swallowed, her lips parting slightly.

Beauty was an excellent weapon.

But some people were born unmoved by beauty.

He was a destroyer, a killer.

Natasha understood that clearly.

She had only one sentence to get it right.

Because the madman opposite her would not care about the S.H.I.E.L.D. she represented, much less whether killing someone would land him in court.

He regarded the law with contempt.

All criminals feared the law they broke.

John did not. He was a lucid madman.

His contempt came from indifference and disregard.

Natasha had met many people. Even a playboy like Tony Stark obeyed the law.

An equal, perhaps even a step above.

He stood above the United States.

This man was insane.

The sky over Queens darkened.

The clouds shifted as capriciously as a child's expression.

What had been bright daylight turned into oppressive darkness.

The man sank completely into shadow, his features impossible to make out.

He vanished, yet seemed to be everywhere.

"Tell me, Natasha Romanoff."

His voice rang out, but Natasha could not tell where it came from.

He had become the shadow swallowing the office.

Natasha relaxed her fingers, and her alluring smile disappeared.

She tucked back a strand of hair brushing her earlobe. After a long silence, she said, "She told me about you."

She began recounting the past, her expression complicated.

"I knew her earlier than you realize. I already knew about you thirteen years ago." She raised her head. Lightning flashed outside the window, its white light illuminating the shadow in the seat opposite her.

"Back then, I fled my former organization, and S.H.I.E.L.D. came after me..."

It was a past no one knew about. No one knew that Black Widow, whose very name terrified her enemies, had once encountered the Underworld President's family.

"I fought Clint. Cornered, I fled into the streets of Budapest, hoping to use the crowds to stop the pursuit."

"But I still underestimated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s determination. They had prepared ahead of time and cleared the streets."

"Just as I was about to be caught, a car came to my rescue."

Natasha sighed. "It was your family."

"They were on vacation. That was when I met Ariana."

"You still joined S.H.I.E.L.D. afterward," John said calmly, considering her words. "And got close to my family."

"Yes." As Natasha said it, she distinctly felt a sharp sting.

It was killing intent, like needles piercing her skin.

She endured the discomfort and said, "At the time, I needed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help. After defecting from my organization, I worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. to destroy it."

As she spoke of it, hatred she could not conceal surfaced in her eyes.

As Black Widow, who had emerged from the Red Room, no one hated that place more than she did.

So when S.H.I.E.L.D. offered her terms to join them, she accepted without hesitation.

Only after its destruction did she officially become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

She carried out all kinds of missions for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Until one day, she received a special assignment.

"Approach Ariana Wick. That was my assignment." Natasha's gaze was clear as she looked straight into the eyes beneath the shadows. "Ariana and I were close in age, and we became students at the same school."

"You deceived her," John said.

Unexpectedly, Natasha reacted fiercely. "I didn't!"

"She recognized me, and I told her why I was there." Natasha's heated voice gradually softened. "She was different. She wasn't angry. Instead, she told me..."

"I'll protect you, Natasha."

A smile unconsciously touched Natasha's lips. In her mind, she saw that angelic Blond Hair girl, saying those words with a serious expression, just as she had when Natasha was at her most helpless in Budapest.

From that moment, she had resolved that even if she had to betray S.H.I.E.L.D., she would never hurt Ariana.

The Wick family had always been a priority target for agents from every country, and its daughter was no exception.

"Do you know?" Natasha looked earnestly at John. "About the power Ariana possesses?"

The day after their graduation photos were taken, an attack came. Natasha fought desperately to protect Ariana and keep the attacker from hurting her.

But that man was too powerful, especially his left hand, which could smash through anything.

Natasha had been shot. She had nearly died.

No.

She should have died.

"Natasha, run!" Having been knocked down, Natasha struggled to her feet and lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the killer's waist.

The masked man merely glanced at Natasha. His steel left hand seized her hair and dragged her off him.

Then he hurled her into the wall.

Natasha felt that her ribs had broken. Out of the corner of her eye, she looked toward the Blond Hair girl.

The Blond Hair girl had not left.

She would not abandon her friend. She raised a pink handgun.

She pulled the trigger.

Though she trembled, the bullet flew straight at the attacker.

The attacker took a bullet, but he had an arm that could deflect them.

He shielded his face with his steel arm, deflecting the remaining bullets, and aimed his gun at her.

Natasha lunged at him to stop him. The attacker knocked her away again. Flame flashed from the muzzle, and a shot tore through Natasha's internal organs. The bullet burst inside her body, leaving her unable to fight.

No one could stop the attacker now.

Seeing her friend wounded, the Blond Hair girl ran to Natasha and tried to stop the bleeding.

But with her internal organs damaged, Natasha was close to death.

Her consciousness blurred. Dimly, she felt a force enter her body, pushing out the shattered bullet fragments.

The attacker's gun was already trained on the Blond Hair girl.

He was a killing machine without emotion.

He pulled the trigger. With a flash, the bullet broke free of the barrel.

Spinning, it flew toward the Blond Hair girl.

Natasha thought she saw black wisps spilling from the girl's eyes.

Then she lost consciousness.

"I don't know what happened after that."

Natasha shook her head. "When I woke up, the house had been completely reduced to rubble. Only the corner where we were remained untouched."

"Ariana was curled up in the corner, clutching that bracelet shaped like a diadem. I asked her what had happened, but she only kept murmuring..." Natasha's red lips parted softly. "My brother."

Natasha's eyes reddened. "After that day, she became quiet and withdrawn. Later, she distanced herself from me."

"Before she left, she said she was afraid she would hurt me, because she was..."

"A monster."

A monster.

No.

An obscurus.

A mutated entity that grew within a young wizard.

Ariana was an obscurial, and that caused her terrible suffering.

At that moment, John's heart ached as though pierced by needles.

At some point, his fingernails had dug into his palms.

Drops of red filled the gaps between his fingers.

"I didn't know," John said, his voice full of bitterness, "that my sister had been through all this."

She had been calling for her brother, while he knew nothing.

He looked at Natasha. The reddened eyes on her face were no act.

Legilimency told him those were genuine emotions.

Natasha turned her head aside, steadying herself. "I've spent these years searching for the man who attacked her. Most intelligence agencies don't believe he exists. Those that do call him the Winter Soldier."

"The Winter Soldier..."

John turned the name over and over on his tongue.

It felt familiar, but that did not matter.

He would find him.

"I can trust you." John leaned back in his chair, the killing intent vanishing from his eyes. "Tell me, why did you approach me?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. sent me to monitor you, hoping to get information about your father through you. But personally, I came to protect you."

As expected of a top agent, Natasha had already regained her composure. Looking at John, she said, "I owe the Wick family. I refuse to stand by and watch you die."

"The people behind the attack on your father have very complicated connections."

"They may even involve senior government officials."

"You're everyone's target now. Your high-profile purchases of shares have also drawn more people's attention."

Natasha was not merely observing John. She was also there to protect him.

John laughed at that.

"Protect me?" John shook his head with a helpless smile. "You've changed your mind now, haven't you?"

"Yes." Natasha nodded quietly. "I thought Watson Wick had hidden you away to protect you, but I think I was wrong."

She recalled the killing intent from moments earlier, that madness without a trace of restraint.

She could not help saying, "He hid you away because you're the craziest one."

John had once told Fury that if anything happened to his father, he would destroy this country.

Even Fury had thought those words sounded like a fit of temper.

But after experiencing it firsthand, Natasha could confirm that he had meant it.

Though neither of them knew what gave John such confidence, the fact that he had needed only half a day to make Taran Industries' War Lord willingly step aside spoke volumes about his methods.

Watson Wick had left everything for his son.

The vast Underground Alliance, the companies whose shares he had bought up over the years, and enormous reserves of liquid assets.

The young man before her looked immature.

In truth, he was already a billionaire.

As for John, he could hardly say he had not been hidden away. It was just that he had spent all that time in the magical world.

He had to admit, his dad was always being misunderstood.

"Since you're my sister's friend, I'll give you a special privilege. You may tell Fury." John stood, braced both hands on the desk, and leaned forward, bringing his gaze close to those beautiful, blue-glass eyes. His lips curved. "You can tell him all of this exactly as it happened."

"But on one condition. He must not stop me."

Natasha instinctively wanted to lean back, but held herself still.

Looking into those reddish-brown eyes, she nodded. "I'll tell him. He must not stop you?"

"What are you going to do?"

"You know, I'm crazier than you think." John reached out with his right hand and caught Natasha's assistant ID badge between two fingers. He said casually, "For the harm done to my family, I'll take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

He let go of the ID card and said offhandedly, "You're my personal assistant now. You won't have to follow the company's assignments."

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded at the door, and Natasha instinctively turned.

"General Ross is here, Mr. Wick."

Natasha asked in surprise, "General Ross? Why would he come here?"

"Because I invited him, of course," John said evenly.

He walked out from behind the desk. Passing Natasha, he chuckled. "Playing businessman during my vacation is rather fun, too."