Chapter 1654: Farewell and Partners

The weather in D.C. improved at the end of May.

The masses were in a good mood after days of sunny weather.

There had been three carriers in the sky at the beginning of the month, which was pretty big news.

Many people online even said that these were test carriers developed by the American government to deal with alien enemies.

That had indeed been the American government’s intention.

Unfortunately, Hydra had other ideas. Instead, it wanted to use the carriers to do something similar to what the Chitauri fleet had done.

However, the carriers left very quickly and disappeared from D.C. in ten minutes. Ordinary people in major cities around the world didn’t know that they had almost been annihilated.

A few days later, there was news on the Internet that the three carriers had crashed in neighboring Virginia, which was unbelievable.

A lot of people cursed the American government for being incompetent and corrupt, which was why they were only capable of building such sh*tty carriers.

What these people didn’t know was that the three motherships had almost successfully opened fire above them, and they weren’t any less lethal than the Chitauri ships.

It could only be said that knowing fewer secrets was actually a blessing for ordinary people who couldn’t change the world.

Conversely, the mood of the bigshots in D.C. had nothing to do with the weather.

Congress and the White House were under constant pressure.

In a military cemetery on the outskirts, Steve looked at a tombstone with a strange expression. “A Life of Righteousness. Colonel Nicholas J. Fury, 1951-2006.”

He then looked at a certain middle-aged African-American man next to him, who was wearing a wig, big sunglasses, a big gold chain and a gold watch.

Wearing an unfamiliar and handsome face, Nick Fury turned around and stretched out his hand. “I’m headed to Europe. Hydra there is too comfortable. So, you really don’t want to help me?”

Steve shook his head and shook his hand. “I… have something else to do.”

Nick Fury didn’t dwell on it. He nodded at the tombstone. “If anyone asks you about me, tell them to come here to find me.”

Steve was silent as he watched Nick Fury leave.

“He’s really nice to you. That’s the most polite thing he’s ever said.” A woman’s voice rang out not far away.

Steve turned around and saw an ordinary white woman.

But he had seen that face before. It was the face attached to the nanosuit.

He greeted her with a smile. “Are you sure? He’s not polite to that bigshot?”

Natasha couldn’t say anything. Then, she would probably have to include Batman — of course, they had to call him Dark Knight now.

Steve changed the topic and asked, “You’re not going with him?”

Natasha shook her head. “It’s not safe for a living person to follow a dead person. Also, my cover is blown. I need a new identity. It’ll take some time, and I can take a long break.”

Saying that, she took out a file from her purse. “This is the information you wanted. Case no. 17. I got a few old friends in Kiev to dig it out.”

Steve was quiet as he accepted the file.

“In return, go on one date with that nurse. How about it?”

Steve said, “She’s not a nurse.”

“You’re no longer an agent.”

…

After reminding him to be cautious, Natasha left a moment later.

Walking amidst the green trees and grass of the cemetery, she raised her head slightly. Tranquil light and shadow flowed over her, like the years of an agent fleeting by.

“Wow, beautiful lady, you don’t seem to be in a good mood.” A voice rang out.

She turned around and saw an ordinary-looking young man leaning against a tree and smiling at her.

“You are?”

Luke said, “We didn’t meet ten days ago. I was working in the south.”

He made a shooting gesture.

A slightly awkward and wary smile appeared on her face, the sort that an ordinary person would wear when they ran into a lunatic. “I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken.”

Luke chuckled. “Let’s go. The bigshot is looking for you.”

After a brief hesitation, she left with him.

Very soon, she met the bigshot in an ordinary suburban house.

The appearance of the bigshot who sold everything wasn’t a secret, so there was a high chance that it could be someone impersonating him.

But after the bigshot summoned the “Black Widow suit” with a casual wave of his hand and had her try it on, she was 100% certain that it was the bigshot himself.

This was the bigshot’s signature ability.

Thanks to this ability, the bigshot whisked away a good amount of the Chitauri objects in New York right under everyone’s noses.

Half an hour later, the bigshot on the couch disappeared.

At that moment, the Black Widow was feeling complicated.

Now, she owed the bigshot 1,000 credit points.

This debt could be repaid with technology, resources, and intelligence, or it could be repaid with credit points.

If she was willing, she could even ask Tony to cover for her and “settle” this debt.

She could do whatever she wanted, as long as she didn’t go back on her word.

According to the bigshot, Natasha had become an “important partner.”

In the future, she could issue or accept commissions from the bigshot within reason, and buy a limited variety of ordinary goods from him.

As long as they continued doing business and the relationship deepened, she would be upgraded to a “friendly partner.”

At that time, she could freely issue commissions to the bigshot and freely buy ordinary goods, as well as buy a limited variety of special items.

When she asked, the bigshot explained the partnership levels.

Tony and Batman were “strategic partners” who could issue and accept commissions at will, and buy and sell products without any restrictions.

Of course, the premise was that both parties were willing – the word “partners” explained everything.

Only when they got along could they call each other partners. If they were incompatible, the relationship would fall apart.

This was actually similar to how some websites had a “regular member → VIP member → super VIP member” system.

But the bigshot definitely wasn’t interested in creating some super VVIP or super VVVIP system.

After thinking about it for a moment, however, it was clear that this system wasn’t that good a thing.

That was because the simpler the classification, the bigger the difference between the three levels. It was very hard to level up.

It was possible that most “clients” were “important partners” to the bigshot.

Generally speaking, a prefix like “important” very likely meant that they weren’t important.

The existence of the word “important” was just to appease the other party.

After all, according to this system, “important” wasn’t as good as “friendly.”

So, “important” people didn’t mean friends.

She had also heard about Batman from Tony.

She knew very well that friendship with the bigshot was the most important standard for a “partner.”

As for “strategic partners,” only Iron Man and Batman were in this top tier, and they were clearly the only ones.

It would be very hard for anyone else to reach this level in a short period of time.