Marvel: Emotion Farming System

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Toodaloo.

...

"What you gave is the reason SHIELD is after me; what about you personally?" And John gave her just enough push to close that door naturally, leading to the second one.

"I already told you at the start." Natasha smiled; the hints were in every action from the moment she had arrived at ESU. "How did your body change so much?"

’I guess I need to recover some of my aura now.’ John had previously tried not to seem too knowledgeable since that could’ve gotten him on SHIELD’s possible Threat list.

For obvious reasons, and how much effort they were putting into searching John Doe, he might already be on it. But why?

’Let’s put a pin in that for now.’ Now that she gave him a way out, he had to push back a little and win some extra ground with this Black Widow.

"Do you believe that I have a power that allows me to alter my body?" His eyes lowered from her amused smile, stopping at her lower abdomen. It wasn’t that she believed this; she wanted that to be his power. "And you think it has the potential to alter others, or in this case, your body?"

’He knew about it.’ She felt like his gaze went through her skin to peek at her insides, more precisely, the area where her uterus should’ve been.

Still, he had figured out her reason for pursuing him at last.

If this wasn’t super soldier serum or cybernetics, the only real reason for his body’s rapid and abnormal change that even affected his bones must be a body-altering power.

Now, she didn’t know if he had this power, or if it was someone he knew. But he had confirmed that for her as well.

However, her mind was stuck on another detail.

’Was this the reason for that look?’ It was the look one would make when finding a puppy that was run over by a car. ’Was it called... pity?’

"So, did I get it right?" He asked.

"Ever considered a career change?" She joked.

As Natasha’s face fell into a neutral expression, John sneakily looked back up. It felt like he might’ve overdone it.

"No thanks." That was an attempt to keep him at an arm’s length. When his supposed body-altering power was upgraded, she’d get to know first. She might even push him into the room full of SHIELD scientists so they could figure out this supposed power.

Now, for the reason he went through with this embarrassing acting.

Natasha surely didn’t buy his illustrator lie, not fully at least. She just allowed him to pass today. The reason for that was simple. She needed something in return for her compliance.

And what she wanted was clear as day in her eyes.

"I’ll help you with it." He said, causing a small twitch on her brow.

"Help with what?" She sought certainty.

"With restoring your body." John was on track to buy RCT anyway; that should help her if he trained it enough. And if that wasn’t enough, he would eventually go for a higher healing power.

The only problem was to make Natasha wait long enough; for that, he’d need to show her RCT’s potential when he got it.

"But you know what to do in return." Still, he had to look confident enough to make her buy this for now.

"Asking me to pull wool over my boss’s eye?" She acted defensive.

"It won’t be the first time, right?"

’There goes one of my cards, I suppose.’ Natasha hadn’t made much of an effort to hide that she hadn’t submitted the video files from Stark Expo.

But his unshakable confidence made her think more highly of him. Because he was sure she wouldn’t do it now that he had confirmed what she wanted.

John didn’t seem that worried about his powers being noticed, so it didn’t have as much leverage as she had expected. Rather, he appeared more sensitive about his connection with John Doe.

Was it fear? Or just unease? Would he get punished for being found out?

’Who exactly is John Doe for him to act this way? Is he the one who gave him his powers?’ Natasha had to admit it had whetted her appetite; she already had an interest when she saw where the request to track this online writer came from.

Now, she wanted to know more since the target of her interest was deeply intertwined with this case. And this John Doe seemed to get much more mysterious with each clue.

Regardless, she only wanted one thing from John; as long as she got that, the rest didn’t matter much.

"I guess this is a deal." She confirmed.

"So, can you stop with the aggressive physical contact?" He looked exhausted.

Was it too much to bounce between excitement and pity?

"I’ll think about it." She smiled, leaving the red lipstick print on his neck. "Think of that as my signature."

Maybe she’d stop doing this once that look went away.

After they agreed on the terms, John had left without another word. He almost seemed to be in a hurry. Meanwhile, Natasha still had her mind on what she learned.

More than that, now that she had concluded her personal work, she could move on to the main task she had spent the entire time working on.

"Ah, Professor Roman." She ran into Gwen in the hallway outside the faculty room. "Do you know where John went?"

"I wouldn’t worry about him right now." Nadine’s sweet words caused her brow to twitch.

’I know it’s rude to think this... But she’s been really weird since she arrived.’ Gwen tried to keep the respectful front, but Nadine had been getting a bit too close to John over the lectures.

And there wasn’t any particular reason she noticed this; all of it was just so in her face. The taps, touches, even the eyes Nadine gave John when asking him to stay for whatever reason she could find. She did all of that in front of Gwen on purpose.

’Does she have a crush on him? No way! She is a professor, Gwen! But it is possible with that guy...’ Even now, this professor had this taunting look in her eyes. However, things changed when Nadine leaned in and whispered in her ears.

"Wouldn’t you rather worry about why Doc Ock and others are gathering, Spiderwoman?"

Gwen’s smile hardened as Nadine stepped back.

"What do you mean, Professor?" She hid the creeping fear under the sweet smile, but her brain went back to the expo. Did someone actually catch her?

’I thought she’d be tougher than this, but maybe that guy raised my standards for Uni students.’ Natasha looked at her real target’s hands gripping the books.

"Acting like that won’t help with me, dear." The hallway had turned deathly quiet as she had already asked some of the janitors to redirect the foot traffic from here.

In the silence, Natasha pulled a photograph from her folder. Shoving it in front of Gwen’s face.

"This..." The photo clearly showed Gwen removing her outer clothing to reveal the black and white suit; she got caught in 4K.

"I have more if you want—!"

Before Natasha could blink, Gwen had her up against the wall; her folder flopped on the ground as Spiderwoman’s forearm pressed against her neck.

"Getting manhandled twice in one week, I must be in heaven." She chuckled.

Both John and Gwen had great power, but the latter’s grip was more emotional while the former was precise with his control. And because of that, this girl didn’t care for her jokes.

"How?" Gwen’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked around.

"Rather than how, shouldn’t you be asking, since when?" Natasha smirked. "Also, as much as I like you focusing on my pretty face, it isn’t the best option."

The Widow’s left hand jerked, and a dozen widow bites shot out from under her loose sleeve, aimed for Gwen’s right.

However, even if the attack happened from point-blank range, this spider managed to twist her body and dodge everything.

The widow bites peppered the opposite wall. In the end, Natasha gave a wry smile.

"I should renegotiate my salary when I get back." She raised her hands with a subtle shake of her head. "I’ll tell you when we find out. If you press me a bit more, I might break."

"Depends on your answer." Even if Gwen said that, her heart kept thumping with nervousness as she adjusted her strength.

If this professor, whoever she was, knew about her, then who else did? Even after she was so careful with the CCTV and witnesses, how did she get caught on camera?

"Do you remember the fake call-ins for terrorist attacks on the day you saved that hospital? That was the day we confirmed your identity. And the small incidents that kept happening over the past few days were my doing to see how you respond to them. We had set up new cameras in alleys we expected you to use." Natasha gestured to the folder on the ground with her chin. "Before that, when following Spiderwoman’s movement, we narrowed down her area of activity and over a month confirmed that Spiderwoman and Gwen Stacy do not appear together."

"Who is we?" Gwen frowned. "And those weren’t small incidents; someone could’ve died."

"They were paid actors, plus we had medical staff and undercover agents nearby in case of an actual emergency." Natasha shrugged. "But don’t worry, as nosy as we are, I am not here to arrest you or anything. In fact, I am here to invite you to a group."

"What type of group?" Gwen still had her suspicions; any group that recruited people like this wasn’t good in the moral sense.

"A group that is made to save the world in its moment of great peril, or so my boss says."

...

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