Chapter 337: Ronin
"No." Contrary to Black Widow's expectations, Batman directly denied her guess. "I'm not Hydra either."
"Then why would you care whether a Hydra agent lives or dies?" Black Widow said, momentarily stunned.
"I don't care." Batman's voice remained low and powerful. "What I care about is that I've now successfully located and rescued you. When will Hawkeye complete the task I gave him?"
"You—" Black Widow's mouth had barely opened, barely expelled a single syllable, when her mind lit up like lightning splitting the sky.
Under that lightning flash, numerous previous mysteries were instantly resolved.
Since Batman was neither Hydra nor a SHIELD agent, yet he knew about the D-4 designation for the Cube Prison and knew about the Hydra agent "Crossbones" imprisoned there—what did that mean?
It meant the scientists at the Cube Prison had discovered the Tesseract data had been tampered with, and the one responsible was Batman himself!
The mysterious figure who'd acted simultaneously with Black Widow when she'd stolen Tesseract data from the Adirondack Mountains base—that had also been Batman!
Ant-Man and the Wasp were secretly maintaining the D-2 Ant Farm "Big House Prison" for SHIELD, yet they'd arrested Black Widow the moment they saw her. Their reason: Nick Fury had personally contacted them, telling them Black Widow was Hydra!
From Nick Fury's perspective, he clearly knew Batman wasn't a SHIELD agent—more likely Hydra.
So he'd used this method of essentially nailing Black Widow to the Hydra camp to make Batman and Black Widow establish contact, planting her as SHIELD's spy beside Batman!
All the previous mysteries were illuminated under these successive lightning strikes.
Black Widow discovered even more flaws she hadn't noticed before:
While imprisoned in the Ant Farm, she'd never once been restrained with handcuffs or shackles.
The Ant Farm had no way to communicate with the outside world, yet Ant-Man would inexplicably bring her coffee, letting her finish it without ever taking the cup away. Because Ant-Man knew Black Widow would eventually use the method of breaking the coffee cup and piercing her own foot to create an opportunity to be restored to normal size.
During the operation to capture the Hulk a month and a half ago, Black Widow had secretly reported to Nick Fury that the World Security Council had ordered the Hulk sent to the Cube Prison.
It was also Nick Fury who'd given the order—using this opportunity to imprison Hawkeye, so that Hawkeye and Black Widow could work together from inside and outside, step by step leading Batman into the trap.
All these pieces—though Batman's two infiltrations of Pym Technologies had exceeded Ant-Man's expectations, everything had the same ultimate purpose: getting Black Widow to genuinely make contact with Batman!
The mysteries in Black Widow's mind grew fewer, but new questions surfaced:
"Wait. You just said Hawkeye told you to rescue me?"
Batman said nothing. Black Widow couldn't locate where he was hiding.
"Where is he now?" Black Widow asked again.
"Japan. Yokohama."
Black Widow's face showed confusion. What was Clint doing in Japan?
But she quickly recalled what Batman had just said—"he'd rescued Black Widow, so when would Hawkeye complete Batman's task?"
Clearly these two had already met without Black Widow's knowledge and had reached some kind of cooperative arrangement.
'Nick Fury's entire chain of operations was just to get me truly in contact with Batman... when did he discover there was such a figure in New York?' Black Widow asked herself mentally.
Several seconds later, she reached a conclusion: definitely before she and Hawkeye Clint Barton had delivered Bruce Banner to the Cube Prison.
Just like how "Daywalker" had barely started hunting vampires in Japan before SHIELD's powerful intelligence network discovered him—perhaps the moment Batman had begun operating in New York, SHIELD had already started investigating him.
'What a cunning old fox. That son of a bitch Nick Fury!' Black Widow cursed internally.
Her thoughts flashed by in an instant. Black Widow had already sorted through her situation.
She was now beside Batman. Hawkeye was in Japan. One inside, one outside—SHIELD's plan was officially activated.
Black Widow Natasha stopped using deep breathing to make her chest rise and fall.
She knew that against truly formidable opponents, seduction often wasn't particularly effective.
What she needed to do was gain Batman's trust as much as possible. Complete, unreserved trust—the kind where even if Batman was injured fighting Hawkeye, he'd still drag his battered body into Black Widow's embrace.
So Black Widow said: "You've already met Hawkeye? Since he didn't oppose you, it seems SHIELD's assessment was mistaken. Perhaps we shouldn't be enemies, but allies."
Yokohama, Japan. Darkwind organization headquarters.
The ronin Clint Barton's katana had severed too many bones. What should have been an unbreakable blade now bore countless nicks and chips.
However, at this moment no corpses lay on the floor around him—only the collapsed form of a man named Koyama Kenji.
"Spare me, spare me! Whatever you want, just say it—I'll give you anything!" Koyama Kenji's legs trembled as he watched this figure in tattered samurai robes wielding a notched, curled katana, pleading uncontrollably.
Even Koyama Kenji himself didn't know how many Darkwind thugs' throats this blade had pierced during this time, how many heads it had severed.
He only knew that however damaged this katana was, its tip currently pressed directly against his heart. The slightest pressure would end his life on the spot.
"I need all of Darkwind's trade records." The ronin said. "I'm only giving you one chance."
"I-I-I'll give them to you!" Koyama Kenji immediately agreed. Forget mere trade records—if the ronin demanded his wife and daughters right now, he'd comply without hesitation. "Just don't kill me!"
"I promise." The ronin glanced at Koyama Kenji.
"The server containing the trade records is located in a wine cellar on Flower Street. The encryption key is here." Koyama Kenji carefully reached up to pull a pendant from around his neck.
"You're lying." The ronin didn't even look at the pendant in Koyama Kenji's hand. His katana pressed harder, already piercing the skin on Koyama Kenji's chest.
"I'm not! I'm not lying!" Koyama Kenji continued struggling desperately, but as stabbing pain spread from his chest, his crotch grew wet and his voice took on a sobbing quality. "The server's in the wine cellar. The encryption key is Darkwind headquarters' exact GPS coordinates..."
"Thank you." The ronin's voice softened slightly.
"No, thank you—thank you for sparing my life. I—"
Koyama Kenji's words ended unfinished. The ronin's blade had already pierced his heart, twisting left and right to transform what had been a frantically beating organ one second ago into a mass of shredded meat.
"I said I'd give you one chance." The ronin said.
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