Nick Fury had far more experience than Natasha. Her little trick didn't fool him for a second.
"...Your friend? Which friend? Give me a social security number." His voice hardened. "Miss Natasha Romanoff, next time you try something like this, could you at least think it through? Do you have any idea how big this incident is?"
When his subordinates had first reported it, he hadn't taken it seriously. Several hundred dead in Paris? What did that have to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.?
But Natasha's "I have a friend" phone call hit like a punch to the gut.
"Why is it that wherever you go, something happens? For God's sake—can you be a little more low-key?"
"This has nothing to do with me. Bella caused all the trouble!" Natasha shoved the blame onto her bargain-bin older sister without hesitation. "You have no idea—when those men saw her, their eyes practically popped out of their heads!"
Nick Fury thought for a moment. Natasha was an agent prospect he valued highly. When it was time to help, he had to step in.
"Here's what you do: distance yourself from the entire incident immediately. Don't let media or police see you. I'll send Coulson to Paris to handle the follow-up."
"Okay."
Although he received the news relatively late, Coulson was still the first to arrive in Paris.
His hairline was admittedly a bit high, but this elite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent still had hair—for now.
Bella didn't harbor any ill will toward this S.H.I.E.L.D. good guy, but considering her relationship with Victoria Hand, she deliberately avoided him.
She went to the airport to pick up Jeri Hogarth instead. As for the female lawyer's overt and covert flirting—she rejected it.
Hogarth simply wasn't her type. Bella refused very directly.
Since personal feelings were off the table, they talked business. The female lawyer brought her own legal team to the scene. Even with some mental preparation, seeing the condition of so many girls shook her badly.
Sitting in a bright office, wearing a designer suit, sipping coffee while flipping through files—reading written records was one thing. Coming to the scene in person and witnessing the misery with her own eyes was something else entirely.
People weren't numbers. They shouldn't be measured and calculated with cold figures.
The female lawyer was willing to step forward and seek justice for these suffering girls.
Stark Industries was also willing to provide funding and manpower. The two sides that had once faced each other in court over the pension case were now allies.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson, who came to help, would provide armed support while also protecting the broker, Patrice Saint-Clair.
How long could they protect this witness? No one could say. Gunshots, poison, traffic accidents—there were too many ways to kill a man.
All they could do now was make the broker cough up more names. The more attention the case drew, the safer he'd be. Of course, "safer" was relative. Those powerful figures didn't play by the rules. Hiring gunmen to assassinate witnesses during court appearances had happened before. At this point, only God could save him.
The next day, Bryan Mills used the CIA's smuggling channels to take his daughter back to the United States.
Kim had wanted to stay and testify, but her father refused sternly. You're going home. That's final.
The old man didn't want his daughter's reputation damaged by this incident. No one could blame him for that.
Some people cared about that kind of reputation. Others didn't—for example, Kim's best friend Amanda, who stayed behind.
Over in California, people even pretended to be the Zodiac Killer just to become famous. Some would stop at nothing for attention. What did this incident count as? Just treat it like being bitten by a dog.
A large number of girls stayed to testify. According to the broker's confession, plenty of French political figures were implicated—and even more wealthy individuals.
A solidly massive case.
Americans had big hearts, it had to be said. By the time they said goodbye, Kim had already returned to normal.
In front of others, they maintained their disguises. But in front of Bryan and Kim, Bella and Natasha reverted to their original appearances.
Kim raised her palm toward Bella, gesturing the number sixty-five. Obviously still holding a grudge about only being worth that little. Being bought by a pretty girl while in such an awkward predicament—truly too embarrassing.
"Once I've settled my daughter, I'll go to Albania. We'll contact each other then," Bryan whispered at the end.
His round trip would take a while. The French authorities were already close to placing central Paris under martial law. After Bella and Natasha got involved, the situation had spiraled far beyond the original incident.
Whether those Albanian gang members would still come to Paris to collect the bodies remained unknown. If they didn't, finding such a gang in a country that wasn't huge but wasn't exactly small either would be difficult.
The old agent wanted to prepare for both scenarios.
"Bring more weapons!" Bella had no love for pistols. She preferred large-caliber firepower. But always borrowing 006's arsenal felt inappropriate.
Bryan nodded. The CIA wasn't a charity. They usually didn't advocate large-caliber weapons—but that didn't mean they didn't have them.
After seeing off Bryan and entrusting justice for the girls entirely to Hogarth and Coulson, Bella and Natasha had nothing left to do.
They continued their travel itinerary. The police and agents couldn't find them anyway—what was there to fear?
Place de la Concorde. Notre-Dame de Paris. Every location that would eventually appear in her novel got a visit. Natasha cooperated by snapping a huge pile of photos for her.
They played while waiting for news.
In the end, they never made it to Albania.
More than four hundred people—nearly five hundred—lay dead in the streets. The incident shocked news media around the world. This wasn't a war zone. It was a world-famous metropolis, a tourist destination. So many dead in a single day. Streets lined with corpses. Truly horrifying.
Charlie and Samantha anxiously urged them to return home over the phone. According to Mom and Dad, Paris was simply too dangerous—even more dangerous than California! Two frail girls out there alone—what if you run into bad people?
The human trafficking case later exposed by the media scared both parents badly. Stop wandering around. Come home!
They had no idea that the "frail girls" they were worried about were the ones who had bathed Paris in blood.
There was also no news from the Albanian gang. Let alone sending people to Paris—they'd even abandoned territories back home.
Bryan had already arrived in Albania, but his investigation hit wall after wall. Language barriers combined with the gang deliberately hiding meant no traces could be found.
After a brief discussion among the three, Bella and Natasha decided to return to the United States first.