‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ What if S.H.I.E.L.D.
reinforcements arrived, Fury called off the operation, and the system decided the mission had failed?
That was 5,000 EXP and three items on the line.
Worse, this was Calvin’s very first assignment.
How he performed here could determine whether S.H.I.E.L.D.
continued feeding him a steady supply of high-quality missions in the future.
“We don’t need backup,” Calvin said quickly.
“I can finish this mission.” “My dear partner.” Natasha rolled her eyes, putting deliberate emphasis on the last word.
“The Hand is connected to the human experimentation, and we’ve already alerted them to our presence.
Infiltrating the laboratory quietly is going to be almost impossible now.” Her expression grew more serious.
“On top of that, the Hand is notoriously difficult to infiltrate.
Even S.H.I.E.L.D.
doesn’t know nearly enough about their organization.
I had no idea they would be operating out of that abandoned factory, and forcing an operation forward with incomplete intelligence is extremely dangerous.” The factory where they had met was not actually the mission site.
It was merely close to their target.
The place was occasionally used for discreet transactions between local criminal groups, and Natasha had personally swept it several times beforehand without ever discovering ninjas stationed there.
Tonight, that oversight had nearly gotten her killed.
Calvin, however, happened to know exactly why the Hand had been hiding there.
The factory appeared abandoned, but plenty of business that could not survive daylight took place inside it.
The Hand used its ninjas’ exceptional stealth skills to secretly record those meetings.
That was right.
They were basically professional blackmail photographers.
They would capture footage of powerful or influential people making illegal deals, then use the recordings as leverage to quietly expand the Hand’s influence without ever needing to confront their targets openly.
When Calvin learned Natasha had chosen that factory as their rendezvous point, he had assumed S.H.I.E.L.D.
had already cleared out the rats hiding there.
Apparently not.
None of that mattered right now, though.
What mattered was his mission reward.
“I’ve lived around Hell’s Kitchen for a long time,” Calvin said, slipping in a small lie without hesitation.
“I know another way to complete the mission.” “Really?” Natasha clearly did not believe him.
“You know the mission doesn’t have to be completed at all costs, right?
S.H.I.E.L.D.
isn’t going to fire you because your first operation had to be aborted.” She had already read Calvin’s file.
He was a man with unusual hobbies and an almost chronic shortage of money, but even knowing that, his determination to keep working was impressive.
Calvin nodded firmly.
“You already saw what I can do.
I’m completely confident I can handle this.” Then he raised an eyebrow.
“Besides, you still haven’t proved you’re actually Black Widow.” Natasha stared at him in exhausted disbelief.
After several seconds of silence, she finally gave in, pulled out her communicator, and contacted Fury.
“Agent Romanoff,” Fury’s voice came through almost immediately.
“What’s your status?” Natasha hesitated briefly before answering.
“Director, I misjudged the situation.
We no longer require S.H.I.E.L.D.
backup.
We’re proceeding with the mission.” There was a short silence on the other end.
Then Fury’s dry voice came through.
“Romanoff, if he’s threatening you, blink twice.” Natasha turned toward Calvin and gave him an exaggerated, flirtatious blink.
“I’ve evaluated Agent Calvin’s combat capability.
He exceeded expectations.” Her lips curled faintly.
“He’s a…
very good partner.” “…” Another pause.
“All right.
I’m recalling the response team.
Stay alive.” Fury approved her request and canceled the reinforcements.
At the same time, Phil Coulson—who had been abruptly dragged out of bed and was just about to climb into his car to race across New York—stood frozen beside the open driver’s door.
After several seconds, he slowly closed it again.
His expression could only be described as deeply betrayed.
“Damn it.” …
“Can you put me down now?” Natasha rested her chin against one hand as she spoke.
“Oh.
Right.” Calvin immediately released her.
She weighed so little compared to his strength that he had genuinely forgotten he was still carrying her.
Natasha rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms overhead, deliberately drawing out the motion enough to show off every curve the tactical suit did very little to hide.
Apparently, the evaluation was not over yet.
Calvin made no effort to look away.
Black Widow was not exactly his preferred type, but pretending he had suddenly become too pure and innocent to appreciate a beautiful woman standing directly in front of him would have been ridiculously fake.
As he listened to the faint pops from Natasha’s joints while she stretched, Calvin found himself quietly impressed.
Marvel’s street-level heroes might not throw around city-destroying attacks, but physically, every one of them seemed absurdly durable.
Calvin had deliberately controlled the force when he slammed Natasha into the ground.
The attack had not been lethal, but it had certainly not been gentle either.
The fact that she could already move around this freely was ridiculous.
Once she finished stretching, Natasha picked up the syringe the red-clad Hand ninja had attempted to inject and carefully stored it away for later analysis.
Then she gave Calvin a playful wink.
“Come on, partner.
Let’s see this brilliant plan of yours.” …
Ten minutes later, they reached a warehouse district elsewhere in Hell’s Kitchen.
Calvin and Natasha crouched on the roof of an abandoned five-story apartment building several hundred meters away, using the darkness to conceal themselves while observing the warehouses below.
This was the Japanese gang’s territory.
The buildings looked old and neglected from the outside, but what happened inside was another story entirely.
Illegal gambling, narcotics trafficking, prostitution, smuggling, black-market sales—the district was practically a shopping mall for organized crime.
Calvin had even been here before.
Not for anything criminal, naturally.
He had simply bought a few rare metals from one of the dealers so the Golden Desert Eagle could absorb them and expand its available ammunition types.
According to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intelligence, the laboratory was hidden beneath one of the warehouses.
Actually getting inside, however, would be extremely difficult.
Groups of gang members constantly patrolled the perimeter, while armed lookouts occupied several elevated positions.
And those lookouts were not carrying ordinary rifles.
They had fucking RPGs.
That was not even the worst part.
Several homeless-looking men wandered around the outer edges of the warehouse district, digging through trash and occasionally picking discarded food off the ground.
Calvin immediately recognized what they really were.
Hand ninjas in disguise.
‘Okay, I’ll give them this.
That’s commitment.’ Even if someone managed to bypass all of those defenses, there was still the security inside the warehouse complex itself.
Natasha lowered her binoculars after quickly surveying the surrounding area.
The situation was worse than she had expected.
The patrols and armed sentries were manageable.
The real problem was surveillance.
Dozens—possibly more than a hundred—security cameras had been installed throughout the entire district, covering practically every possible approach with almost no blind spots.
The level of paranoia was impressive enough to remind her of Fury.
Quiet infiltration had just become considerably more difficult.
And the situation was already changing.
Customers had begun leaving the warehouse district in small groups, many of them looking irritated that their evening had been cut short.
Apparently, someone inside already knew the Hand ninjas at the factory had been killed.
The Japanese gang seemed to be clearing out regular customers in preparation for possible trouble.
Natasha was becoming genuinely curious about what Calvin intended to do.
Under these conditions, how exactly was he planning to infiltrate the facility?
She turned toward him, ready to ask.
Then she noticed what he was arranging on the rooftop.
Natasha’s expression changed.
Spread across the concrete in front of Calvin were dozens of cylindrical grenades.
‘When the hell did he bring those up here?’ More importantly, how had she not noticed?
And why was a man supposedly preparing for an infiltration mission laying out enough explosives to start a small war?
Natasha stared at the grenades for a moment before finally asking, “I thought we were trying to get into the underground laboratory.
What exactly are those for?” Calvin looked up and gave her a mysterious smile.
“I said I had a way to complete the mission.” His grin widened.
“I never said that way involved sneaking in.” Natasha’s eyes narrowed.
“And what exactly are you planning?” A sudden sense of dread crept over her.
Calvin flashed her a delighted grin.
“Subtlety’s overrated.” He gestured toward the pile of explosives.
“We’re going in loud.”