Internal affairs' closed-door meeting, a bargain for a political alliance

Internal Affairs Inspection Office.

The newly allocated office still carried a chilly smell of disinfectant mixed with fresh paint. Everything here was brand new: standard desks and chairs, spotless terminals, and even the air itself exuded an inhuman coldness.

Natasha Romanoff sat in her seat, with only a tiny, constantly pulsating red dot on the terminal screen in front of her.

Below the spot of light is a line of simple text:

[Audit Probe S-009 has been triggered. Target: Liaison Office Core Server. Behavior: Attempt to unauthorized edit of S-rank files and physical destruction of underlying logs.]

She stared at the words, her face expressionless.

No immediate action was taken.

She simply sat quietly, like a Black Panther lurking in the shadows, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She knew very well that directly releasing this evidence would at most only embroil Gwen Stacy Stacy in a minor Discipline crisis. Given the Liaison Office Chief's deeply entrenched position on the Management Committee and the Director's high regard for her, this level of accusation would most likely be raised high but then gently dismissed.

That's not what she wanted.

What she needed was leverage. Leverage that could tip the scales of power, allowing her to stand more firmly in this pyramid of power composed of monsters, Deity, and Witch.

Natasha turned off the light screen, stood up, walked to the coat rack, took down a perfectly pressed black uniform jacket, and slowly put it on. She straightened her collar, and gave a formulaic, impeccable smile to the reflection of the gleaming wall.

Then, she sent a meeting request to the Liaison Office Chief's office via internal line.

Subject: To discuss interdepartmental coordination matters related to the "Preventive Dimension Exploration" plan.

Location: Room 3, Confidential Meeting Room, Floor C-7.

* * *

Room No. 3, a confidential meeting room, is a special place within the Management Committee.

It has no windows, and the walls are made of a composite material mixed with lead and Vibranium, which can block all known physical and energy detection. There is only an empty table and two chairs in the room, nothing else. It is usually used only for the highest level of internal review or for the most shady political transactions.

When Gwen Stacy Stacy walked into the room, Natasha was already sitting inside.

"Director Gwen Stacy." Natasha stood up, a perfectly professional smile on her face.

"Director Romanoff." Gwen Stacy nodded, sat down opposite Natasha, and placed her Data Pad on the table. "The way you summoned me here in such a hurry, I thought there was some problem with the exploration plan's process."

Her tone was calm and businesslike, revealing nothing unusual.

Natasha did not answer immediately.

She took out a thin, encrypted file wrapped in a black hard case from her bosom and gently placed it on the table between the two of them.

The file had no markings whatsoever; it was just pure, light-absorbing black.

Gwen Stacy's gaze fell on the dossier, her pupils contracting almost imperceptibly.

"What is this?" she asked.

"An attachment to a routine Audit Report." Natasha's fingers tapped lightly on the smooth cover of the file, producing a dull thud. "Last night, the Inspection Office conducted a stress test on the servers of all core departments. Most departments reported normal results, except..."

She paused for a moment, then looked calmly at Gwen Stacy.

"... Apart from the Liaison Office, there's been some... interesting fluctuation in your server's underlying logs. It's like something is desperately trying to erase its traces before the system completely crashes."

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Gwen Stacy's hands, resting on her knees, clenched unconsciously. She could feel her heart racing, but she maintained a calm expression.

"The intensity of the TVA attack exceeded expectations. When the firewall crashes, any data anomaly can occur. I will have the technical team submit a detailed fault analysis report," she said, resorting to standard bureaucratic language.

"Of course," Natasha smiled. "I trust the technical team's expertise. However, the fluctuation pattern recorded in this report doesn't point to an external attack, but rather... an overstepping of internal privileges. You know, Director Gwen Stacy, these things can be a big deal or a small deal. On a small scale, it's Technician's mistake. On a larger scale..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the unspoken meaning weighed heavily on Gwen Stacy's heart like a mountain.

Betrayal, espionage, and undermining the foundation of the Management Committee.

Any one of these accusations could be enough to ruin her. More importantly, it would inevitably implicate Lynn.

Gwen Stacy remained silent. She knew that any explanation would be futile in the face of irrefutable evidence. Since Natasha dared to put this file here, it meant she had enough to prove.

"What do you want?" Gwen Stacy raised her head, looked directly into the other person's eyes, and gave up on pointless negotiation.

Upon hearing this, Natasha's smile became somewhat more genuine.

"I appreciate your directness, Gwen Stacy." She pushed the black file forward, towards Gwen Stacy. "I don't want anything. I just wanted to remind you that the waters of the Management Committee run deeper than we think."

She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice.

"Director Hela's Stability Maintenance Office is well-equipped and powerful, wielding considerable influence within the Management Committee. Minister Wanda's Department of Technology is technologically advanced, controlling the future. Even the newly arrived Special Envoy Qin holds a trump card that no one can fathom. And what about us, Gwen Stacy? The newly established Internal Affairs Inspection Office is like an infant, lacking manpower, equipment, and even a decent set of field equipment requires a report and layers of approval."

Her fingers traced lightly across the table, as if sketching an invisible map of power.

"The exploration plan that's about to begin is a huge undertaking. Resource allocation, logistical support, personnel deployment... every single aspect requires your signature Liaison Office Chief. I heard that the Stability Maintenance Office and the Ministry of Science and Department of Technology have already submitted a resource request list that's over a hundred pages long."

Gwen Stacy instantly understood her intention.

This is not a trial, but a transaction.

Natasha is using her transgressions to gain preferential treatment in the upcoming distribution of political resources. She wants to carve out her own niche between Hela and Wanda, establishing a political alliance that can protect herself and even check the others.

"The Liaison Office will naturally prioritize meeting the reasonable needs of the Inspection Office," Gwen Stacy said, her voice slightly hoarse. "It's my duty."

"Very good." Natasha nodded in satisfaction. She stood up, but didn't take back the black file on the table. "This draft of the report seems to need many revisions. Before formally submitting it to the Director, I think it requires more rigorous argumentation."

She turned and walked towards the door.

"After all, we can't bother a hardworking department head over some trivial system error, can we?"

The door opened, then closed again.

Gwen Stacy was left alone in the room.

She stared at the black file on the table as if it were Pandora's Box. She knew that from the moment she nodded, she and Natasha had formed the most dangerous and fragile alliance.

* * *

The White Bone Hall, the Director's Office.

Lynn is reviewing the final implementation plan for the "Preventive Dimension Exploration" project that Gwen Stacy submitted.

He didn't look quickly; his fingers slowly swept across the Data Pad, his gaze lingering on each budget figure and staffing level.

Just then, a barely perceptible beep came from an inconspicuous black terminal in the corner of his desk.

That's not a communication device of any type used by the Management Committee.

Lynn put down the Data Pad and picked up the palm-sized terminal.

He pressed the answer button.

There was no sound from the terminal; only a line of triple-encrypted text silently appeared on the screen.

"Target has been met. Location: C-7, Confidential Meeting Room No. 3. Duration: 17 minutes and 42 seconds. Ended."

Lynn's face remained expressionless.

He simply extended his finger and tapped the screen lightly; the line of text transformed into Data Stream and vanished completely.

He put the black terminal back in its place and picked up the exploration plan again.

This time, however, his gaze lingered on the list of the "Joint Exploration Supervisory Group" for a longer period of time.

Natasha Romanoff.

Gwen Stacy Stacy.

His fingers tapped lightly between the two names.