Chapter 77: A Painfully Annoying Mission
"I’m just joking. Aren’t you going to invite me in to sit down?"
Natasha pressed her lips into a smile and asked. Right now, she had no idea how Orion Cross knew her identity. At the very least, when Nick Fury sent her here, he had clearly told her that Orion Cross did not know her. There had only been one occasion when he coincidentally made Mystique transform into her appearance. As for whether that incident had truly been a coincidence or intentional, that would depend on her own on-the-spot analysis.
"State your... cough, cough. State your purpose first. Only then can I judge whether you’re an unwelcome guest."
"Hm?"
Natasha stared at Orion Cross’s manner of speaking, a trace of doubt appearing in the corner of her eyes. When he said the first half, Orion Cross had clearly maintained a cold aura, but halfway through, he suddenly changed. That expression seemed like... embarrassment? Speechlessness? Awkwardness? In short, for some reason, several strange emotions had suddenly appeared. What exactly was there about her that could make Orion Cross produce so many emotions in such a short time? Thinking of this, Natasha subconsciously lowered her head and glanced down, only to find that she had not exposed anything.
"It’s Tony Stark. Last night, he asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to return his father’s inheritance. When Nick Fury asked how he knew about it, he said you told him. Then he also told us about his cooperation with you."
Natasha paused, then came back to herself and narrated seriously.
"Not bad. What a fine move, shifting the trouble elsewhere. Looks like he’s prepared to take another beating."
Orion Cross clapped his hands, stepped aside, and signaled that Natasha could enter. Once he understood why Black Widow had come, there was no need to keep guarding against her. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s thoughts were nothing more than those few possibilities. Even a child could guess them.
"Thank you."
Natasha smiled slightly, took off her shoes, and walked through the door. As she walked down the corridor toward the living room, Natasha suddenly turned her head back. "When you were speaking just now, you showed a strange expression halfway through. Is there something wrong with me?"
Based on her brief analysis using her experience as a Level Ten agent, she concluded that Orion Cross did not like concealment and that being direct would make it easier to gain his favor. So she directly asked the question she had been holding in her heart.
"I have an armor blueprint from another world. I discovered that your compatibility with it is quite high, so I was a little surprised."
Orion Cross took out the blueprint card, gestured with it, and spoke.
However, the truth was not actually like that. When he encountered Natasha, a Black Widow series mission had naturally triggered immediately. If it had only been an ordinary mission, even if he could not complete it, Orion Cross would not have shown such an expression. But this mission... was truly bizarre.
Black Widow Series Mission: It’s Just a Codename.
Mission Description: When I was little, I was very afraid of spiders. Adults told me that was a line from Widowmaker, and this is Black Widow.
Mission Details: Have Natasha become a mother. Restriction: childbirth. This mission can be triggered repeatedly before the age of thirty.
It really could not be blamed on Orion Cross for showing such a strange expression after seeing the mission. It was genuinely poisonous. After seeing this mission, Orion Cross’s first reaction was exactly that. The movie version of Natasha was different from the comic version. She was born in 1984, so right now she should be exactly twenty-four years old. There was also a high chance she had not been injected with any physical enhancement serum.
But the problem was that regardless of which version it was, Natasha Romanoff had undergone sterilization surgery. What kind of divine nonsense was this, asking a woman who had undergone sterilization surgery to become a mother, while also restricting godmother status, adoption, embryo cultivation, and cloning, insisting that she had to personally give birth? How was this any different from making a eunuch spread his branches and leaves?
Fortunately, any mission would refresh after one month. But after seeing the line "This mission can be triggered repeatedly before the age of thirty" behind the mission, Orion Cross felt his head ache. Lunacy! If he did not complete the newly refreshed Black Widow series mission next month, would this eye-stinging mission pop up again in the future?
"Let me introduce her. This is Natasha, a Level Ten agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., codename Black Widow."
Orion Cross walked into the living room and introduced her to everyone.
"Hello, everyone."
Natasha smiled and nodded to everyone one by one, but another trace of doubt rose in her heart. It seemed that Orion Cross really did know of her existence. Before she came in, she had not introduced herself at all, let alone mentioned her agent level.
"Those are technology blueprints from another world?"
Natasha glanced at the blueprints in Susan and Raven’s hands, then immediately withdrew her gaze and looked at Orion Cross. "I think we can discuss cooperation, like the cooperation between you and Stark."
"With you, or with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Orion Cross sat down on the living room sofa and asked.
"Naturally with S.H.I.E.L.D. What would I have to cooperate with you on?"
Natasha smiled and spoke.
"Then I refuse."
"Why?"
Natasha still kept a smile on her face.
"What can you offer that would make cooperation worthwhile for me?"
Orion Cross crossed his hands and asked.
"We have a group of highly intelligent researchers."
Natasha looked at Orion Cross seriously and answered.
"I don’t need research. Those blueprints, to be honest, are something any college graduate with hands could handle."
Orion Cross shook his head.
"We can provide you with protection to prevent certain blind people from targeting you."
After thinking briefly, Natasha spoke again. "You know this too. Once your products hit the market, they will definitely monopolize the market. There will absolutely be people who try every method to seize them by trickery or force. Among them, there won’t be any shortage of countries..."
"Right?"
Orion Cross directly finished Natasha’s sentence and smiled. "If you could really solve this kind of problem, Tony Stark wouldn’t have thrown the trouble onto me."
"What do you mean?"
When Natasha heard Orion Cross’s words, she froze slightly.
"You can’t really have failed to guess it, right? Aren’t you a top agent?"
Orion Cross smiled and shook his head. "It should happen within the next few days. The military should start demanding that Iron Man hand over his Iron Man suit."
Tony wanted to use Orion Cross’s otherworld technology to divert other people’s attention, but he was destined to draw water with a bamboo basket. First, Orion Cross’s products would still need some time from manufacturing to going public. Second, most of those things were civilian products. In terms of strategic value, they could not compare to Tony’s Iron Man suit at all. As for S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury intended to recruit Tony into the Avengers, so he had no intention of forcefully taking the Iron Man suit. That was why they had come to Orion Cross.
"You’re right. We really can’t provide anything."
Natasha was somewhat discouraged by Orion Cross’s words. She picked up a can of drink from the table and poured it into her mouth. This was the first time she felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. was this weak and could not do anything.
IF YOU WANT TO READ 60+ ADVANCED ChapterS HEAD OVER TO PATREON https://patreon.com/AniForge058