Marvel: I am Iron Man

Natasha realized she had been careless.

Half an hour ago, she successfully infiltrated the "Red House" headquarters. Compared to when she was in the organization, the Red House has moved its base, relocating its headquarters to an altitude of nine thousand meters and using anti-radar coatings for concealment.

However, it's clear that such stealth technology is no match for S.H.I.E.L.D. The only reason S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't taken action against them is because they don't want to. But in reality, if Nick Fury had the idea, he would know exactly when Drekoff (the boss of the Red Room) took a diaper break and forgot to pull the zipper.

Natasha's operation was going smoothly.

Using a backdoor left by S.H.I.E.L.D., she disguised herself as an active-duty Black Widow agent of the Red Room and infiltrated the organization's headquarters. She even successfully broke into the office of Red Room Chief of Staff Drekoff, and once again saw the man she hated most in her life.

Drekoff actually had an extra layer of protection—all the Black Widows who came out of the Red Room were forcibly programmed to not harm him from a certain distance.

As soon as any Black Widow smells Drekoff's pheromones, their bodies will defy their brains and become unable to take any harmful actions against Drekoff.

Yes, it's a common and useful setting in the famous Japanese "Infiltrator" series.

Fortunately, Natasha had noticed this problem before setting off.

Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s excellent intelligence system, the Red Room files recorded that Drekoff had mastered this technology, and specifically noted that "active S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff may have also been subjected to similar hypnotic treatment."

This kind of thing doesn't pose a threat if you know it beforehand. Natasha had temporarily blocked her olfactory nerves with medication before departure, so as long as she couldn't smell Drekoff's pheromones, the safety measure would be ineffective against her.

Things had been going smoothly up to this point. She and that damned Drekoff were separated by just one desk, that damned desk. She had even pulled out a gun and pointed it at Drekoff's head. That lucky bastard Drekoff should have been dead already.

If it weren't for a sudden dart that knocked her pistol away before she could pull the trigger...

The dart came from Taskmaster, Drekoff's biological daughter, who was transformed into the strongest Black Widow and Drekoff's ultimate trump card for survival.

The Imitation Master possesses the ability to replicate any move or action after seeing it only once. Furthermore, she can do more than simply copy; she can learn the opponent's martial arts style and even their personal habits through replication, thereby predicting their moves and achieving the effect of anticipating their attacks.

This makes the Imitation Master virtually invincible in the fighting world. She can learn and see through any move at the fastest speed, and as long as she is not overwhelmed by the opponent's physical strength or killed in one move, she can remain undefeated.

Natasha was caught off guard when she first encountered a formidable enemy.

Just three moves later, the Imitation Master's fist struck her cheek. It was a beautiful right hook; Natasha heard a buzzing in her head and saw stars. She used almost all her willpower to keep herself from falling.

A flying knee followed immediately. Natasha thought the knee strike had probably shattered her ribs.

Natasha tried to ignore the pain and continue fighting back. However, when she attempted a rear-naked choke on the Taskmaster, her intentions were exposed again, and she lost an arm in the process.

The pain almost made her faint; she saw the blood she vomit pooling on the floor.

No, I can't faint, not now...

Natasha said to herself.

She can't fall here, not yet. She has to complete the mission, even if it's the last mission she ever completes.

We have to figure out a way, think about what equipment we have, what other means we can use...

However, when Natasha lay on the ground, hands supporting her weight, struggling to lift her head again, she saw...

......despair.

A large number of Black Widows, at a glance, numbered about twenty or thirty... perhaps more. They all rushed into the office and surrounded Natasha.

Each of them is a top-tier assassin, the cream of the crop. Like Natasha, they all fought their way through the brutal and inhumane training in the Red Room, earning the title of "Black Widow" with their own hands.

Meanwhile, the demon who toyed with their lives, robbed them of their livelihoods, ravaged their bodies, and turned them into puppets who obeyed him blindly, was protected behind these Black Widows, who were giving Natasha a mocking smile.

Natasha felt she was probably finally about to lose consciousness... or perhaps she was about to die. Her life was beginning to flash before her eyes, as if she were falling into some kind of hallucination.

For a fleeting moment, she felt as if she had arrived at a long street.

This was a bustling city street, like the streets of New York, with people coming and going, a lively and noisy scene. She stood in the middle of this street, shouting desperately, but it seemed that no one heard her, and no one cared.

So this is what true loneliness feels like.

It's not that you can't see your kind when you're alone, but that even when you're surrounded by crowds, you still can't find anyone to talk to or anyone who cares.

It's ridiculous that she lived her whole life in that feeling; her life was a joke.

Unlike her sister Yelena, Natasha knew her true identity and that their family was a lie from the very beginning.

Even so, she was trapped in it at a young age, and more than once fantasized that if time could stop at this moment, and this fake family could continue like this forever.

Later, after escaping the Red Room, she met Agent Clint Barton, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Clint gave her an opportunity and introduced her to S.H.I.E.L.D.

She has always viewed her job at S.H.I.E.L.D. as an opportunity for redemption, as a second life, as if she could escape her past as long as she worked hard enough.

How ridiculous! Looking back now, I realize how naive I was.

Because the past is the past. Every person she killed, their blood is still stained on her hands, and she'll never be able to wash it off in this lifetime.

She is going to die.

Will anyone feel sorry for me?

Natasha instinctively felt that Director Fury probably wouldn't.

Clint? Maybe, but Natasha felt they were just comrades who knew each other well. Clint had his own family, his own job, and his own life; he would move on quickly after the sadness.

Then there won't be anyone else.

It is said that he died biologically when he breathed his last. He died socially when he was buried, when people came to his funeral to remember his life. He died in society when the last person who remembered him forgot him.

If that's the case, then Natasha feels she'll probably die very soon.

Just as she thought she was about to accept her death, a piercing alarm, loud enough to wake even the dead, abruptly pulled her back to reality.

Natasha opened her eyes.

Then she saw the devil who had been smiling mockingly at her, the one who had been so confident of victory, suddenly become panicked.

Several Black Widows were loudly reporting to him.

"We're under attack!" a Black Widow exclaimed.

Drekoff was shocked and furious: "What? By whom?"

"I don't know, the radar isn't reacting at all, it can't detect the enemy... like an invisible adversary!"

"Impossible!" Drekoff shouted. "We have the most advanced radar, the most advanced detection systems! It's impossible for us to be..."

Before he could finish speaking, more bad news arrived: "Our escort fighters have been shot down!"

A moment later, someone else reported: "The anti-aircraft gun has been destroyed!"

Drekoff opened his mouth wide, fear gradually taking over his mind.

He was being targeted, but he didn't know why.

But he sensed that it was something like a ghost or a god.

The thing approached like a ghost, rendering his radar uselessly blind. Then it casually shot down his escort fighters, and then destroyed the entire air defense system of the base just ten seconds later.

As far as Drekoff knows, even the world's most advanced fighter jets could not do that.

This is completely illogical.

boom!

A heavy, booming sound.

The heavy alloy door panel was blasted open from the outside, and the reinforced door panel, which should have been able to withstand even missile bombardment, flew into the room like a crumpled piece of waste paper.

The dazzling light shone in from outside the door, so bright that Natasha felt as if she couldn't open her eyes for a moment.

Along with the light appeared a red-gold steel body.

His red and gold steel armor was bathed in endless sunlight, casting a long, long shadow of his steel body on the floor.

The light was so gentle, so warm, it was almost like something called "hope" itself.

It was as if I had been brought here by that steel body.