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Dante took the empty seat across from Natasha, who had been busy "browsing" the menu.
"Any surveillance?"
Natasha didn't bother looking around when she heard his voice. She lazily flipped the menu page, giving a small shake of her head. "Already swept it with a scrubber. We're clean."
Dante dropped the force field. There was no point in burning energy on invisibility when Natasha had already secured the room.
Natasha studied him closely as if analyzing why his form almost resembled her Ghost Rider form. "Where did you get your powers?"
"On my own."
Natasha's mouth pressed into a flat line, clearly unsatisfied with his unwillingness to divulge more. "That wasn't an answer."
"It was. Just not a satisfying one for you." Dante smiled wryly. "Our powers don't have any connection besides appearance."
She gave a nod and her gaze shifted to Laura. "Oh, aren't you a little cutie-pie?"
Even Natasha Romanoff couldn't think of this bundled-up teenage girl in a fur cap as one of the deadliest weapons in SHIELD's arsenal.
Laura looked unamused. "Files?"
Natasha set the menu down and removed her sunglasses, folding them neatly on the table. Her gaze became sharp. "Are you sure about this?"
Laura unconsciously glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. She took a deep breath and gave a firm nod. "I don't want to go back to killing people. I'm not returning to SHIELD."
Dante had expected the answer. But hearing her say it out loud, with that much certainty, still caught him off-guard. Not a single hesitation in her decision.
Natasha's jaw tightened. For a moment, it looked like she wanted to argue and list reasons to not leave.
Instead, she just nodded.
She gestured to the black bag on the seat beside her. "The data is in the bag. On a tablet."
Dante leaned forward, elbows on the table. "So who defeated Logan?"
Natasha caught his meaning immediately. A small, humorless smile tugged at her lips. "Some agents with guns."
"Bullshit."
"Expected."
He glanced at Laura with a flicker of approval. The girl had zero scruples in calling out lies and hypocrisy.
"Whoever did it doesn't want it known," Natasha said, dropping her voice like she was afraid someone would overhear her accusations. "The credentials I accessed this file from—they arrested her in two minutes."
Natasha's caution in using someone else's credentials might have saved her life.
"I'm guessing a powerful telepath is pulling strings from the shadows."
His first guess was Cassandra Nova—Charles Xavier's psychotic twin, a telepath above Xavier's level. She had the power. She had the grudge. Except he didn't think she would draw this out. With Nimrods at her command, Cassandra would've started a full-scale mutant massacre.
'This person wants control. Oppression. They don't want mutant extinction.'
Natasha slowly nodded her head. "Director Fury is compromised. I'm ninety percent sure."
"Fury?" Dante frowned. "That's a hell of an accusation."
"All his decisions have been questionable. He is like a different person when judging mutants."
"What about Sarah?" Laura interjected into their serious conversation. "What's her status?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop at her question.
Natasha's expression went blank. She glanced at Dante instead of answering.
Laura's right hand clenched. Even with her limited experience reading people, she could recognize when people hid something from her.
"Who was it?" Laura's voice was calm, yet it felt like an executioner asking for the name of the person who had to be executed. "Who killed Sarah?"
He mouthed one word: Hide.
Natasha hesitated, clearly torn between protecting Laura from the brutal truth and respecting her right to know. The silent fury radiating from Laura made the decision for her. "The file doesn't list a cause of death. It's redacted."
Snikt.
Laura's claws slid out, gleaming silver, ready to be bathed in red. "Then I'll ask Fury myself. The Director should have clearance."
Natasha opened her mouth—
"Let's not be rash," Dante interrupted and placed a hand on Laura's shoulder. "You charge in alone, you won't get answers. You'll only get a body bag."
Laura trembled with barely restrained rage.
He squeezed her shoulder. "We'll figure this out. Together."
For a long, tense moment, Laura looked like she was going to ignore him entirely and act on her instincts, seconds away from bolting out the door.
Then she exhaled deeply like she was forcing the rage down through sheer willpower. The claws retracted, disappearing back beneath skin that healed instantly. This habit was exactly why he hadn't given her gloves.
"I won't let this go," she whispered in an emotional voice. "Sarah needs justice."
Natasha was in pure disbelief. She hadn't expected Laura to back down. If this conversation had happened yesterday, Laura would've gone full berserker. Only blood and chaos followed when Laura lost control of her emotions. Right now, she was as unstable as a teenager could get, but she was choosing to hold back.
He patted Laura's shoulder one final time, then drew his back. "Will Fury make it hard? Laura leaving, I mean."
"The Director doesn't usually force people," Natasha said, leaning back and crossing her arms. Whatever she was about to say clearly made her uncomfortable. "Under normal circumstances, that is. SHIELD exists to stop superhuman disasters before they happen. We're not an evil organization."
Dante raised an eyebrow. She was either trying to sell him on SHIELD's benevolence or trying to convince herself.
"But Fury won't let Laura walk away easily. She's too powerful and dangerous." A faint, mysterious smile touched Natasha's lips. "He might just show some favoritism to you."
"Why?"
"No fun spoiling the exciting news."
Dante frowned. Why would Nick Fury go out of his way to do him a favor? There was only one logical reason. Fury wanted to recruit him.
'Is he throwing my name on the Avengers list?'
He couldn't think of any other explanation.
"Forget about that. Did you get the locations I asked for?"
Natasha slid the black bag across the table toward him. "All his properties are listed here."
Far more than he had expected.
She pulled back the bag with a sharp look. "Fourteen are research sites all across the country. I'm guessing this is where Norman is creating those alien creatures—whatever they are called."
It wasn't hard for her to connect the dots. Dante had clashed with symbiotes, and he was asking about Norman the day after they had discovered him at Oscorp, wearing a symbiote suit.
"He was creating them," Dante said in a cold voice "Not anymore. I took his golden goose. This will help me clear out the golden eggs he has stashed away."
"Thanks for doing our job for us."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Natasha's face. She reached into the bag and pulled out a small case from one of the compartments, setting it on the table carefully like it would easily break.
Laura's eyes flared with recognition. "Why did you bring that?"
Dante could only speculate about the contents. Thankfully, Natasha didn't make him wait too long. She opened the case with a soft click. Six thick syringes sat nestled in foam compartments, each one carrying an amber fluid.
"Sensory Amplification Drug. SAD for short," Natasha said with a bright smile like she had said something absurdly funny. "Laura was programmed to kill people marked with a certain scent—Fury didn't want that. He neutralized it by blocking some of her nasal nerves."
"Interesting."
That explained why he hadn't found active Trigger Scent pathways when he had scanned her mind. The conditioned nerves had been numbed, left dormant for so long they had practically died.
"When injected, it temporarily reactivates those pathways," Natasha said, gently pushing it toward him. "She can track a target for miles. Rain, crowd—it doesn't matter. Fury used it sparingly for high-priority hunting missions."
She looked deeply uncomfortable, staring at the syringes like they were loaded guns pointed at her chest.
"More like he is afraid someone else will use the Trigger Scent to get him killed." Dante closed the case, shaking his head. "Why give this to me?"
"She's your responsibility now. This'll make handling her easy." Natasha's smile became cruel. "Six shots to get anyone killed."
Dante took the case, which made Laura clench her fists tightly. She didn't act, instead, waited for his decision in tense silence.
"I don't need it."
He held the case in his palm and made it float. An invisible forcefield wrapped around it, then compressed.
The plastic case began to creak like someone applied tremendous pressure. The syringes burst with the sound of breaking glass and amber liquid sprayed out. The case became a compressed ball, completely unrecognizable.
He sent it to the trash bin with a flick of his finger. Then he looked Natasha dead in the eye. "Are you any different from Dreykov?"
Fury might be mind-controlled, but Natasha was immune to telepathy. Having lived through a similar childhood, she should be destroying this serum. She should be the last person to advertise the serum's benefits like it was a bonus feature in Laura's product package.
He knew it was most likely an act to test him; it still pissed him off.
Laura stared at the trash bin, then at him, confused. "Who is Dreykov?"
"Ask Romanoff. She knows him better than both of us," Dante said, keeping his eyes locked on Natasha's expressionless face. The name Dreykov didn't seem to register—or if it did, she refused to show it. "You said you wanted to give Laura a way out. Then you give me this like it's her parting gift. Why, Romanoff?"
Natasha didn't flinch or avoid eye contact. A smile slowly spread across her face. "The case had no serum."
Laura put a hand on his arm. "It was colored water."
He let out a sigh, right in guessing that Natasha brought this out to test him. Showing approval for the serum would result in losing whatever fragile trust they had in him.
'Well, fair.'
He had tested Laura earlier. Now, she tested him.
Still, the irritation didn't fade entirely.
"I'm not taking back my words. Laura shouldn't have been exploited like this. YOU could've done more for her."
"Hands are tied." A flicker of annoyance crossed her face before she covered it up by sliding her sunglasses back on. "Why go so far for Laura?"
Dante turned to look at Laura.
She was staring at him, eyes wide, waiting for his answer. Underneath that curiosity was a fragile glimmer of expectation. Hope, maybe, that he wasn't just using her, that he wouldn't transfer her to a different cage with nicer bars.
His original reason for doing this had been embarrassingly petty, if he was being honest with himself. Taking Laura away from SHIELD was a middle finger to Nick Fury. A way to piss off the man who thought he could control everything and everyone.
Now, looking at Laura's hopeful expression, he had another reason. Simple human kindness or maybe just basic decency to help her.
"Just doing what someone else should've done for you," he said, both hollow sockets burning with a radiant fire. "And all the Other Widows."
Natasha's eyes were unreadable behind the glasses, but the small twitch at the right corner of her mouth betrayed her emotions.
"Whoever told you about my past forgot to mention something pretty important."
"The Red Room is gone. I burned it to ashes myself."
The Lady Ghost Rider had already destroyed the source of her trauma.
He didn't feel anything in particular at the mention of the Red Room being "gone." Maybe Natasha had actually burned it down. Maybe it was fake just like the movies. It would be hard to say without verifying the truth.
And if he was being honest, he had already dropped any trust in his meta knowledge beyond the basic stuff. Expecting anything was almost like playing gacha. He would only use the timeline to see if he could recruit powerful people for the Wild Pack. One of these people was a pair of siblings living a "normal" life in Sokovia. If luck was on his side, he could reach out to them before HYDRA.
"Before I leave," Natasha said as she pulled out her phone from her coat. She swiped a few times and then turned the screen to him, showing the image of her fellow SHIELD Agent, Hawkeye. "Clint Barton. He disappeared while investigating Oscorp Island. Let me know if you come across any info on him."
Dante barely glanced before he answered. "You've helped me so far. I'll help you back. He is already under Norman's control."
Natasha's eyes narrowed slightly. "He got himself caught."
"Well," Dante said, shrugging like it didn't matter. "He walked into a nest of superhuman monsters. Plural. You can't blame him for losing."
"He should've played it safe," Natasha said in a low, calm voice, but anyone could see her anger. "Where did you see him? Oscorp?"
"Yup."
She lowered her gaze, thinking, calculating. She only pretended to know everything. Right now, that facade was close to crumbling.
He avoided telling her about his plans for tonight; bringing Ghost Rider into a den of prisoners would absolutely blow up their cover. He wasn't going to spend too much on this operation. Get in, remove Walter's symbiote, take him, leave. A simple execution for a simple plan.
He wouldn't mind rescuing Clint and Frank Castle as long as they were easy to find. Clint would keep him in good graces with Natasha, a powerhouse as long as her Spirit lent her a hand. Frank Castle's skills would make a great Wild Pack, but his personality—he wasn't suited for mercenary work. The Punisher was a lone wolf. Still, better for Castle to leave than be an annoyance on Norman's side.
'Has Norman realized Venom's gone?'
It would be laughable if the looping footage had kept Norman from figuring out the truth. Or maybe Norman didn't care since he already had so many symbiotes.
'Taking Walter shouldn't bother him much.'
Even if it did and Norman launched an all-out attack on New York, Dante didn't have to worry. SHIELD would send Natasha. He had Emma and Psylocke.
And himself.
With Venom and solar radiation, he was an unstoppable one man army in daylight.
Besides, Norman would only launch such an attack when his back was against the wall. Right now, Norman had no pressure on him beside the Skullfire.
"I'll go there tonight. Laura, I'll need your tracking skills." Natasha gently hit the table and eyed Dante with a decisive look. "And your girlfriend's permission to explore the facility."
"No," Dante rejected before Laura could even open her mouth. "Clint isn't gonna die. Norman needs him alive."
"Laura was also alive. Did it make her life any easier?"
Clint was her friend. Maybe one of the only people in SHIELD who treated Laura like a person instead of a directive. Of course Natasha would make her own plans to rescue Clint from the hellhole, even if it meant defying Fury's orders.
For a few seconds, the two were locked in a tense staredown. There was no sound in the room except the rumble of the heater and the quiet clink of cutlery from the restaurant beyond this private booth.
"Laura," Natasha said in a softer voice, moving her gaze away. "Help Clint one last time. He owes that much for everything we did for you."
When nothing worked, the Black Widow used emotions.
Laura, one of the most emotionally unstable women in the world, immediately showed signs of hesitation. Clint might be one of the few who treated her normally. Not to mention it was Natasha making the request herself.
She was caught in the ugly space between gratitude to the woman who treated her right as a weapon and gratitude to the man who wanted to treat her more than a weapon.
Dante really regretted opening his mouth about Clint in the first place. Then again, who could've expected her to be so determined to rescue Clint?
"Fine, I'll bring you in," he answered, backing down before Widow made it even harder on Laura. "No need to involve Laura. My invisibility is better for scouting."
"I'll come too," Laura said.
Dante stared at her for a beat.
"Bring me along," Laura insisted, drawing claws as though conveying she wouldn't budge. "Three hands are better than two."
"We won't fight anyone."
"Even better," she said, smirking. "It'll be my farewell mission with Natasha."
Natasha couldn't help but chuckle. "Never thought you'd miss me."
Laura looked down at her claws, quiet, probably reminiscing her time with Natasha and how it would come to an end soon.
"Only on one condition." He raised his voice just a little to get the point across. "You follow my orders. Every single one."
One wrong move would undo everything he had done so far. He needed absolute obedience to keep things his way.
Natasha leaned back, crossing her arms. This time, she wasn't uncomfortable—she used it to reestablish dominance. "I don't like threats."
He didn't acknowledge her stance. "Here's the alternative for you. I'll tell Silvija to strengthen the defenses."
She raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"To stop you from accessing the site." He crossed his arms and gave a soft laugh. "I'm crazy enough to sacrifice hundreds for my ego. Are you crazy enough to kill hundreds to rescue one person?"
Just the confidence with which he spoke left Natasha and Laura stunned. Death wasn't the end in his book. It was the beginning.
Natasha's expression shifted subtly. She wasn't in fear or shock. Just sheer awe of his stubbornness. She had finally realized she wasn't talking to a normal man with normal limits.
"Alright, control freak," Natasha relented with a small smile. Then, because Natasha Romanoff couldn't resist twisting the knife back, she added, "I'm all yours for one night."
Dante just stared at her until she tugged at her muffler to cover the lower half of her face, to cover her grin.
Shaking his head, he turned to Laura. "Let's go. I owe you some pancakes."
Laura nodded slowly, still processing everything that had just happened.
Natasha stood and tugged at her coat before adjusting the cap over her red hair. "When do we start?"
"Come to the island at three past midnight," he said. "We'll discuss the rest there."
Natasha gave a short nod and walked toward the door.
***
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