After Blaine finished comforting Gali, he received a call from Nick Fury.
"How about it?"
Although Blaine was asking a question, his tone was clearly laced with schadenfreude.
Nick Fury's voice was stiff, clearly not in a good mood. "Three billion. Once Loki is captured, the funds will be transferred to your account."
Ha ha ha ha!
Blaine wasn't offended at all by Fury's tone. On the contrary, he felt great.
The more sour Nick Fury sounded, the worse he had been played—which meant Blaine's scheme had worked brilliantly.
He was too busy feeling pleased to care about being offended.
"Have Natasha Romanoff pick me up from my place," Blaine said, suppressing the urge to laugh. "I'll help you catch your guy tonight."
Beep. Beep.
Nick Fury sighed as the call ended.
Tonight?
If Blaine could really catch Loki tonight, then the three billion wouldn't feel like a loss.
But still… it stung.
After all, Blaine had basically robbed him at knifepoint.
If he'd known this would happen, Fury wouldn't have tried to be clever in the first place.
"Agent Romanoff, head to…"
—
After hanging up, Blaine noticed a new task had appeared in his system—linked to the three-billion-dollar job.
Truthfully, according to the system's evaluation, capturing Loki was only worth about two billion at most. Anything beyond that wouldn't be counted as part of the task reward.
However, the Bounty Hunter System was surprisingly user-friendly. It detected that Nick Fury had previously tried to cheat Blaine, and therefore didn't penalize Blaine for overcharging.
So, the extra billion? Fully accepted and officially registered as part of the mission.
Smiling, Blaine suited up once more in the Hunter gear he hadn't worn in a while, Bow strapped across his back.
He glanced at his balance and sighed.
By his current standards, his current balance was practically nothing.
He hadn't improved his strength in over ten days. With most of his abilities sitting at Level 3 or Level 4, 4.8 billion was a mere drop in the bucket.
But thinking about the three-billion bounty lifted his spirits quickly.
Tonight, I'll make my wallet burst! I'm going to fatten up!
—
After ending the call, Blaine headed toward his home in Queens.
Since he'd given Natasha Romanoff his location, she'd probably be arriving nearby soon.
Still, Blaine didn't rush. He kept a steady pace.
Even with a fighter jet, Natasha needed time. Based on his estimation, if he walked at his current speed, they'd arrive at about the same time.
Sure enough, just as he expected—
A stealth fighter jet, nearly invisible to the naked eye, was hovering above a forested area near his home.
His mind reached out.
Sitting in the pilot seat was Natasha Romanoff.
As a Level 10 agent, flying a fighter jet was nothing for her.
'Hey, Agent Romanoff,' Blaine said, projecting his voice directly into her mind using telepathy.
The sudden voice startled Natasha, but she quickly calmed down.
"I still don't understand how you have so many terrifying abilities," she muttered, landing the fighter and opening the hatch. "Each one on its own is already powerful—but you have them all."
"Oh?"
Blaine climbed aboard and shrugged. "Maybe I'm just more handsome."
"Is that so?"
She seemed relaxed, but her tone was guarded. "Why are you wearing a hood?"
"Relax. Am I that scary?" Blaine spread his arms with a devilish grin. "Maybe you'll see my face when I'm in the shower."
He'd just wrung billions out of Nick Fury—he was in a great mood, and didn't mind teasing Natasha a little.
She rolled her eyes and dropped the subject. "Alright, I've picked you up. Where to next?"
"Hmm…"
Blaine stroked his chin. "Let's rest for the night. I'll tell you tomorrow."
In reality, he already knew where Loki would show up.
Based on the current timeline, Loki should appear in Stuttgart, Germany, tomorrow. Hawkeye (Barton) would use the distraction to sneak into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lab and steal something important.
He remembered this clearly from watching the movie.
A quick time zone check: there was about a 6-hour difference between the U.S. and Germany. If they left tomorrow afternoon, they'd arrive around 7 or 8 PM, just in time for Loki's appearance.
Of course, he didn't need to use a tracking paper crane… but better safe than sorry.
To be thorough, Blaine still decided to send one out.
"Leave me alone tonight. Don't disturb me," he told Natasha, pulling out a tracking paper crane and focusing his mind on Loki.
Soon—
The paper crane activated and took off to begin tracking Loki.
Its speed wasn't fast, but it was steady.
If Loki was really in Germany, the crane would need about one night to reach him.
From the outside, Blaine looked as though he had simply fallen asleep on the fighter jet.
Natasha Romanoff sighed and switched her comms to Nick Fury's channel.
"Natasha Romanoff, status?" came Fury's voice.
"I've picked him up," she replied, glancing at Blaine's unmoving body. "But he said to give him the night and not disturb him. Then he just fell asleep."
"Return to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Nick Fury was silent for a long time, then finally said, "Leave him alone. Do as he says."
Sleeping?
He seriously doubted that Blaine was just taking a nap.
Judging from his abilities in previous missions, Blaine likely had some kind of tracking power—how else had he found Mjolnir, or that poor guy from the RAND Group?
This "nap" might be the process of locating Loki.
And as for killing Blaine…
Of course Fury had considered it.
But he dismissed the idea just as quickly.
If he had thought of it, so had Blaine.
And it wasn't like conventional weapons could even hurt the guy. RPGs couldn't break through his defenses—how could they possibly kill him?
So in the end, Nick Fury made the only logical choice:
Wait until morning. Wait for Blaine to "wake up."
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