amaotonovel Chapter 3838 The Nameless Bat (8)
Chapter 3838 The Nameless Bat (8)
Chapter 3838 The Nameless Bat (Part 8)
Schiller succeeded. Natasha knew something was wrong when she received Batman's call, but she went anyway.
When they entered the office again, Arkham Batman was standing behind the desk, while Green Arrow was sitting at the desk, legs crossed, leisurely drinking coffee.
“I’m sorry about the CEO,” Natasha had to say. “It was a botched highway interception, and the special task force can take responsibility for it. We will send someone to visit him.”
"That's all?" Green Arrow stared at Natasha's face and said, "He almost lost his life."
"But he's still alive and well."
“Fine, I shouldn’t have expected you agents to have any humanity.” Green Arrow looked at Arkham Batman, seemingly waiting for an explanation.
“You don’t need to look at him.” Natasha walked over and stood next to Batman Arkham. “He’s protecting me, not because he’s as inhuman as I am, or because he has a problem with you, but because you can’t sleep with him while I can. Or rather, you can?”
Green Arrow's expression cracked slightly. He looked at Arkham Batman, his face clearly saying, "Are you serious?"
Seeing that Arkham Batman didn't respond, Green Arrow stood up, slammed his hands heavily on the table, and said, "No way, Batman. You would never sleep with a Slavic woman named Natasha Romanov! Aren't you afraid she's KGB?!"
Batman from Arkham remained silent. Green Arrow could only grit his teeth and say, "If you're only president to sell your body more widely, then you win."
“Don’t rush me.” Natasha was practically throwing caution to the wind. “How do you want the CIA to take responsibility? I guess you want them to fire me, but I’m sorry, that won’t work. If you really feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick, we can both get you involved next time.”
Green Arrow couldn't take it anymore. He roared at Arkham Batman, "You're blinded by this damn Russian Black Widow! You'll never see who's truly good to you. Batman, you're destined to die alone!"
Natasha picked at her ear and waved towards the door. Several agents walked in and took Green Arrow away.
"'Invite him along'?" Arkham Batman turned to look at Natasha.
"Is this the time to talk about this?" Natasha seemed very agitated.
He said, "A week is too long. Can you hurry up and get this mess over with?!"
"So you're confident you can take down the agent in a shorter amount of time." Arkham Batman maintained his unhurried tone. "From the beginning until now, how many words have you spoken to him?"
“Stop joking. I won’t actually have any physical contact with any Schiller except to kill him,” Natasha said, leaning against the window. “It’s not surprising that we don’t exchange more than a few words, but it’s strange that the few words we do exchange have absolutely nothing to do with philosophy, sociology, or psychology. It’s like the sun has risen in the west.”
Batman Arkham seemed to have thought of something funny. He sat back down behind his desk and said, "You have to help me appease Wonder Woman. I mean, at least make her think that I had my reasons for doing this."
“You’re a terrible person,” Natasha retorted without hesitation.
"No, I'm telling the truth. I just can't tell her this in person because she wouldn't believe me."
"how do you know?"
"Because I have already exhausted all her trust through my previous actions against Amazon. Now she will no longer believe that I would do anything good for her."
Why did you do that?
"I believe you can tell that she has some feelings for me, but it's not love. I also don't think there will be any love between us. I hope her stance on humanity isn't based on feelings for me, because that's too superficial. It's a serious destabilizing factor for what I'm going to do later."
"Then why should I try to win you back?"
"That wasn't trying to salvage my situation. On the contrary, it was just creating an expectation that would be shattered sooner or later."
“You’re worse than I thought,” Natasha said. “You got the whole world to believe her, and then gave her the worst possible outcome. Not only will that wipe out all the goodwill she has, it will make her hate you. You want to know if she’ll hate humanity because of it. Green Arrow was right, you’re absolutely evil.”
“What I’m even more curious about is, where do you get the right to criticize me?” Arkham Batman asked, looking at her.
“Of course I have a position,” Natasha said. “I can say with absolute certainty that I do not play with anyone’s feelings.”
"Including Bucky Barnes?"
“Yes,” Natasha said firmly. “I can guarantee that I have never tested, manipulated, or deceived the feelings of any of my lovers, including Tony Stark.”
“Schiller is right,” Batman Arkham suddenly said. “You’re really not a good agent, ma’am. You’re too idealistic.”
“Since you know the country I was born in and the era I grew up in, you should know why I became the way I am. I’m starting to feel more and more grateful for my origins.” With that, Natasha turned and left.
Batman from Arkham stared at her back, not at the beautiful and dangerous Black Widow, but at a reckless Russian girl rushing headlong into the Siberian snowfield.
"It's almost time to leave work, boss. Got any plans tonight?" In the office, the agents gathered in small groups. One of the young men, who looked quite cheerful, smiled at Natasha and asked.
"No, I have plans to drink with someone," Natasha said as she packed her things. "You guys better not stay up until dawn, you have to go to work tomorrow."
“I’ll pass that on to you, boss.” A freckled girl deliberately walked up behind her, leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Agent Rodriguez, wanna go out?”
Natasha hit her on the head with a folder, making her scream and run away. Then she swept her hawk-like eyes across the entire office: "If you don't want to leave work, stay and work overtime. I guarantee I'll keep you busy until dawn."
Everyone dispersed in a hurry.
When Natasha entered the next office, Schiller was sitting in front of a computer screen, looking at something. She silently walked over and discovered it was the Amazon national website. Schiller was browsing through promotional images of vast forests and rivers in the distance.
The deep green was reflected in Schiller's pupils. Natasha realized for the first time that Schiller would look even more like a demon if he had green eyes.
"You didn't go to their party?" Schiller asked without turning around. He rested his chin on his thumb, put his index finger to his lips, and stared intently at the computer screen.
"I told you I had a drinking date with you, and then I declined."
"I have to work overtime, thank you."
Why are you looking at this?
“I’m looking for information about Paradise Island,” Schiller said, flipping through pictures. “But they seem to avoid the name; it’s not mentioned at all on the Amazon’s national website. Why do you think that is?”
"What does this have to do with our work?"
“We need to stall them for a week, the key is to stall Wonder Woman. Force alone won’t work, I want to get something on her.”
Natasha stood behind him, rubbing her forehead. Schiller turned and glanced at her, saying, "If you don't want to go to the party, go back and rest. I'll probably be here until dawn."
“No,” Natasha said. “I just want to know how you managed to talk to me for so long, and it was all about business.”
Schiller looked back at her again, puzzled.
“The psychologist is next door,” Schiller said, pointing to the wall next to him with his thumb.
Natasha stood with her hands on her hips, saying nothing, just looking at him. Schiller remained focused on the computer screen, and after about ten minutes, he suddenly asked, "What do you think of this hypothesis?"
Natasha leaned closer to look; it was a blog analyzing international relations. It mentioned that in the summer of 2004, all 69 women on a tourist boat that sank in the Amazon rainforest survived, while all 46 men perished. Even so, this was hailed as a miracle in search and rescue history, because based on the condition of the wreckage and the river's water level, it seemed there should have been no survivors.
The blogger stated that the gender ratio of the survivors in this case was highly unusual. He interpreted it as a conspiracy against a biologist on board, but ultimately no conclusion was reached.
“It’s possible that Wonder Woman saved them,” Natasha said. “With normal search and rescue efforts, these people couldn’t possibly have survived. But if it was Wonder Woman, then it makes sense.”
"But Wonder Woman wouldn't only save women. And the timeline of this case is very clear; Wonder Woman wasn't in the Amazon at that time. I think it might have been the people from Themyscira. Do you know they're a matriarchal society there?"
Schiller paused for a moment before saying, "To be precise, Paradise Island is only inhabited by women."
"Then how will they reproduce? Even if they can create embryos out of thin air, what if a male is born?"
“It will be sent to another place,” Schiller said. “That’s not important. What’s important is, what do you think would happen if the international community knew that there was a serious gender bias in the Amazon search and rescue operation?”
"Are you planning to use this to threaten Wonder Woman?"
"That should keep her quiet for two days, right?"
Natasha remembered what Batman Arkham had asked of her, and she decided to let Schiller play the villain, saying, "Then you give it a try. If she gets too upset, I can comfort her."
“No rush.” Schiller suddenly changed his tone again. “Didn’t we say we were going for a drink? Let’s go.”
Natasha was startled, looking at Schiller as if he were a giant trap. She even took two steps back, scrutinizing his face carefully, and after confirming that no one had changed, she hesitated and pursed her lips.
"Aren't you working overtime?"
"I can come earlier tomorrow."
"You'd better not be trying to get a Slav drunk."
"I promise I'm not."
After taking the elevator to the underground parking lot, Natasha said, "You know that people in our line of work can't just go to bars, right?"
“Of course, I got introduced by someone I know.” Schiller got into the driver’s seat, and Natasha got into the passenger seat. Schiller skillfully started the car and drove off, quickly arriving at an underground bar.
The music in the dance floor was loud, so no one paid attention to the two newcomers. Natasha saw many people who looked trained, mostly police officers and detectives, and even seemed to spot one of her own men.
Too curious to know why Schiller had come for a drink, Natasha didn't have time to argue with them. The two of them sat down at the bar. The bartender seemed momentarily stunned by Natasha's beauty and immediately called over his companion, pointing at where Natasha and Schiller were sitting and whispering among himself.
The drink was quickly mixed. Natasha held the glass, intending to examine it, but she happened to see the light reflected from the glass illuminating Schiller's profile. The upward light illuminated his eyelashes below his brow.
Natasha took a big gulp of wine. The next second, she felt dizzy.
In her hazy vision, she saw Schiller smile at her, then she saw him take out a lighter and wave the flame in front of her. She heard Schiller ask, "What did Batman say to you?"