Marvel: I am Iron Man

Natasha Romanov arrived at Stark House at the fastest speed she could.

The Red Room—that's where she was trained to become the Black Widow. It's a concentration camp specifically for training female assassins; all those who complete the graduation course and survive will receive the title of "Black Widow."

They are the elite of the elite, assassination experts proficient in all necessary skills, including stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and firearms. They can silently infiltrate the inner circle of any important figure, strike with deadly precision, and then retreat unscathed, returning to the shadows to overthrow regimes and influence the world's situation from the darkness.

Now, this dangerous group has its sights set on Tony Stark, the subject of her current mission, who is also a powerful figure with the potential to single-handedly change the world order.

Natasha is now certain that the two Black Widow assassins who had just broken into her residence were also there for this reason.

For reasons unknown, the Red Room has set its sights on Tony Stark. While monitoring Stark and devising assassination plans, the organization unexpectedly noticed Natasha, who was also infiltrating Stark's inner circle—a plausible deduction. Since Natasha was a member of the Red Room before becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the Red Room would naturally recognize her face.

Perhaps the Red Room judged Natasha to be an obstacle to their mission to assassinate Stark, or perhaps the Red Room simply decided to eliminate her after recognizing her as a defector.

Regardless, Natasha was certain that Tony Stark was in mortal danger and that she had reported the matter to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

At that very moment, Fury was probably coordinating forces to support Stark, but they were likely not as fast as Natasha. Natasha knew she was the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent closest to Stark's residence.

She parked her car downstairs, nimbly climbed onto the balcony like a monkey, drew her gun, and cautiously peered out from beside the bed.

The floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor were shattered, making it seem as if the assassins had been there, but there was no one in the bedroom.

Natasha's heart sank; she had prepared for the worst. She tiptoed into the room through the window, gun in hand, and cautiously descended the stairs to the living room.

Then she saw this scene.

At a glance, there were a total of four Black Widow assassins.

One of them was pressed face down onto the bar table, and judging from the unnatural position of his arms hanging limply, he was probably dead. Another looked like he had just rolled down the stairs, and judging from the way his neck was bent, he must have landed headfirst.

There was one on the living room floor, and another hanging from the chandelier... Natasha found it hard to imagine how they got up there.

As for the person she was supposed to protect, Mr. Tony Stark, he was sitting casually on the sofa with his legs crossed, fiddling with a floating projection screen in front of him, seemingly busy with something.

And Mr. Stark had clearly noticed her arrival long ago, because he casually waved his hand from his seat on the sofa without even looking up, indicating, "Sit wherever you like."

That moment made Natasha, who was holding the gun, feel like she looked a little silly.

Not long ago, the four Black Widow assassins received the warmest welcome the moment they broke into the house.

While these four are likely all highly skilled assassins, their superb marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat techniques are clearly useless against a cross-generational weapon like Iron Man. It's similar to a group of primitive people wielding pitchforks facing off against heavily armed modern soldiers, highlighting the fact that "times have changed."

Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, holstered her pistol, and pressed her earpiece: "Black Widow calling headquarters. Crisis averted, reinforcements canceled. Codename: Rotten Tomato."

A second later, a voice came back from the other end: "Headquarters received, reinforcements canceled."

Tony didn't seem nervous at all about being the target of an assassination attempt. Instead, he walked over to the bar as if they were old friends, took out two glasses, and placed them on the table.

"It looks like you have pretty good security at your house," Natasha said casually as she walked in.

"What else can I do? I guess the downside of being a celebrity is that there's always someone eyeing your head," Tony replied helplessly, then changed the subject, "Rotten Tomato? Seriously? You guys really don't have a cooler codename to use?"

He poured himself a glass of golden liquid, then gestured to Natasha with another glass.

"Would you like some?"

Natasha was somewhat surprised by the wealthy man's composure, and shook her head, saying, "No, I don't drink during work hours."

"It's alright, as your boss, I'm giving you special permission to have a little." Tony smiled at her. "From the legal department at head office, if I remember correctly?"

Natasha shrugged, not denying it.

In fact, from the moment she appeared in front of Tony, she knew that her mission to infiltrate his side had failed.

The assassination attempt was an unexpected event, and Tony hadn't originally planned to make direct contact with Black Widow so soon. He had other plans to contact Nick Fury directly and speak with him in person.

It's a pity; they could have squeezed out more of the remaining value from this outstanding super agent before he left.

You don't look very well.

Tony returned to the sofa with two glasses of wine.

"Didn't you have a very pleasant day?"

It would have been better if she hadn't mentioned it, because once it was brought up, Natasha was reminded of her entire day working like a slave at the company, and her face immediately darkened.

Do you think I'm in a bad mood because I work for someone?

"Let's not talk about that. You seem to know someone wants to kill me." Tony's expression turned serious. "Who are they?"

Natasha found it strange that he hadn't asked about her identity.

She thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, I'm not in a position to disclose this to you."

Tony didn't seem to care and simply said, "The red house, right?"

Natasha: "!"

Years of training had given her a calm expression, but she was secretly astonished.

How did Tony Stark know about the existence of the "Red Room"?

Before today, even Natasha had always believed that the Red House had been destroyed.

Seeing that the other person remained silent, Tony said nonchalantly, "Don't like talking? Fine. Then how about we arrange to chat with your boss sometime? His name is... Chief Nick Fury, right?"

Natasha: "!!!"

Natasha is professionally trained and would never easily reveal her emotions.

Unless you can't help it.

Even she couldn't help but show a momentary look of surprise on her face this time.

This person even knows Chief Fury's name.

But how is that possible?

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current strategy is to operate in the shadows, with very few people aware of its existence. Even fewer people know Nick Fury's name or identity, despite his high position.

It's not surprising that Tony Stark, given his status and position, knew about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence. In fact, after Tony successfully escaped from the cave in the Middle East, S.H.I.E.L.D. sent Agent Coulson to contact him and investigate the circumstances surrounding Tony's kidnapping.

But the fact that the other party knew about Director Fury is really inappropriate.

In an instant, Natasha almost completely overturned the image of Tony Stark that she had built up in her mind.

Because she suddenly realized that this person's cunning was probably far deeper than he usually appeared.

He knew about the Red Room's existence, seemed to know he was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and even Director Fury knew. This meant that Tony Stark's connections, resources, and influence were probably far greater and stronger than he had imagined.

What's even more terrifying is that, despite SHIELD's ubiquitous surveillance and my own close observation over the past few days, I still couldn't discern the source of his intelligence network.

It seems that the report on Tony Stark may need to be reassessed.