Raven was already standing there, her arms crossed, her blue skin glowing faintly in the dim light, and her golden, slitted eyes, like a snake, stared fixedly at him.
"Your heartbeat is erratic."
She took a step forward, and the air grew several degrees colder.
"Like a rat trapped in a cage. I hate that smell."
"Tell me, what happened?"
Lynt stopped and looked at her.
He had intended to make up some random excuse.
But looking into Raven's eyes, which could see through any lie, he knew that lying to this woman came at too high a cost.
They were now in the same boat.
He tossed the broken burner phone to her.
Raven caught it and scanned it in an instant.
A hint of undisguised sarcasm appeared on her face.
"General Red Square? Black Widow?"
"So, SHIELD's ace agent set a ridiculously childish trap for you, and you're just going to, as you said, hide in the sewers and rot?"
Her tone was as sharp as a needle.
"Is this the empire you boasted about? Scared to leave your home by a woman?"
"Hide?"
Lynt suddenly laughed.
His laughter carried a madness that threatened to overturn the heavens.
"Who the hell said I was going to hide?"
Raven raised an eyebrow, finally showing some interest.
"She gave me two options: either be a greedy fool or a cowardly wimp."
Lynt's eyes gleamed with a frightening intensity.
"But only children make multiple-choice decisions!"
He enunciated each word, his voice not loud, but it struck Raven's heart like a hammer.
"If she doesn't give me a way out, I'll flip her table!"
Raven fell silent.
She was carefully savoring the suicidal madness in Lynt's words.
"She wants to fish?"
Lynt lowered his voice, each word seemingly squeezed through his teeth.
"Then I'll blow up this pond for her!"
"I want to see if she, the fisherman, chokes on a fishbone first, or if I, the fish, drown in the water first!"
"How do we do it?"
Raven finally spoke, a hint of genuine seriousness in her voice.
"Sell the information to Hydra."
Raven's golden pupils suddenly constricted.
Hydra!
Those Nazi fanatics hiding under SHIELD's skin!
This plan… wasn't crazy, it was suicidal!
But the next second, a thrill, mixed with deadly danger, surged through her bones.
She looked at the man in front of her.
For the first time, she felt that he might not just be a smooth-talker, a mere enhanced tool with good luck.
He was a madman.
A madman like her, who dared to dance on the edge of a knife.
"Interesting."
Raven's lips curved into an arc wilder and more lawless than Natasha's.
"Dragging both SHIELD and Hydra into the water… I'm starting to like this game of yours."
She changed the subject.
"But, making those paranoid Hydra types believe you isn't as simple as making a phone call."
"I know."
Lynt picked up his phone again and brought up "Ghost's" chat window.
"So, we need to add money."
He quickly typed on the screen.
[Me: Taking a dirty job. Plant a message in Hydra's ears.]
"Ghost" replied instantly, his words reeking of greed.
[Ghost: Delivering messages to those Nazis? Ha, little brother, are you tired of living? Fifty thousand dollars, one price. After this job, I'm blocking you and not sending any more. I hate being a postman for dead people.]
Fifty thousand dollars!
A full fifty thousand!
Lynt's heart bled.
That was his hard-earned first pot of gold, almost breaking his back for it!
Just gone like that?
He glanced at Raven beside him, who was watching with interest, and saw the gleam in her eyes, as if she wished for chaos.
Damn it!
Let's do it!
No pain, no gain; you can't catch a widow without sacrificing a child!
[Me: Deal.]
[Ghost: Send the information. Remember, I only deliver it. Whether they believe it or not, or if they chop up your whole family to feed the dogs, is none of my business.]
Lynt took a deep breath and started typing.
He thought for a moment, then deleted the character for "square" in "General Red Square" and replaced it with the character for "room."
General Red Room.
A dark joke that only he and a certain red-haired woman far away at the Triskelion could understand.
A perfect, indistinguishable hook.
[To Hydra: Anonymous intelligence from 'Ghost.' Tomorrow night, Pier 19, SHIELD high-value target 'General Red Room' will appear with 'new goods.' Black Widow personally set up the trap for capture. Free hunting. 'Ghost' guarantees credibility.]
Send.
The fifty thousand dollars in his account instantly evaporated.
Lynt tossed his phone aside, slumped back onto the sofa, hands behind his head, feeling utterly drained.
Damn it, back to square one overnight.
Of the sixty thousand he painstakingly earned, only ten thousand in pocket money remained.
Natasha Romanoff!
I'm holding you accountable for this!
Sooner or later, I'll get it all back from you, principal and interest!
Damn it.
But… it felt so damn good!
The thrill of personally stirring up the world's affairs, of dragging SHIELD and Hydra, two giants, into a brawl, made every cell in his body scream.
He turned his head and looked at Raven.
Raven was also looking at him, a light called "kindred spirit" shimmering in her golden pupils.
"Natasha, you want to fish?"
Lynt stared at the mold stains on the ceiling, as if talking to himself, and as if declaring war on the whole world.
"I've helped you spread the word, and I've even invited the biggest shark for you."
He grinned, a silent laugh, his eyes filled with the same madness as Raven's.
"Now, the game has leveled up."
"Your net, better be strong."
"Don't get bitten to death right at the start…"
"The famous… Black Widow."
That night.
"Raven, we're moving."
Lynt shoved the last bite of cold pizza into his mouth, swallowing it almost whole without chewing, like he was gulping down a stick of dynamite.
"Now, immediately, right away."
Raven, fresh from a shower, water droplets slid down her blue skin, hitting the floor with a soft patter.
She didn't move, only her golden, slitted eyes narrowed into a murderous slit.
"Give me a reason."
Her voice was cold and hard, as if laced with ice.
This man was giving orders again.
She hated that feeling, especially after she had just taught him a lesson and thought she had regained control.
Lynt didn't turn around, his peripheral vision fixed on that inconspicuous corner outside the gap in the curtains.
Of course, he couldn't tell the truth.
Confess to Raven that he was being targeted by the Black Widow? And that he had pulled a risky move behind her back? That crazy woman would surely pry open his head to see if there was a Hydra emitter inside.
The best way to deal with such a suspicious beast was to give her the reason she most wanted to hear, and one that best fit his cowardly persona.
"Damn it, that junkie across the hall is a cop."
Lynt spun around abruptly, his face a perfect mix of disgust and irritation.
"Damn it, he goes downstairs to buy beer at the same time every day, like clockwork. I just smelled that cheap bug's electromagnetic scent on him, it was pungent!"
Raven took a step closer, the oppressive feeling pressing in like a wall.
"Smelled it? Lynt, do you take me for a three-year-old?"
Her golden pupils were full of scrutiny.
"How do you know? Did SHIELD put a GPS in your ass too, so you can sense your own kind?"