"Listen, Shiller, you can't..." Natasha, propped against the door frame, started to speak, then her eyes screwed up in what seemed to be pain as the alcoholic haze surged towards her brain.
"Ma'am, you're drunk, you should go back and rest." Shiller, his hand on the doorknob, maintained his polite dismissal.
"First of all, I'm not drunk. Secondly, you need to stop whatever you're doing immediately. It's not that it's evil or something, but... you just can't." Natasha's body swayed back and forth as she spoke.
"I have no idea what you're referring to, ma'am. I'm planning to wash up and go to sleep. Do you want me to refrain from doing that?"
"You know what I mean!" Natasha bit her lip and her eyes bore into Shiller. "Stop pretending like you're innocent!"
"I've done nothing." Shiller remained calm. Still donned in his daytime attire, not a single crease on his shirt, his tie perfectly symmetrical. His appearance was impeccable.
His image only served to increase Natasha's anger. It was as if her rage was groundless, irrational. If there were onlookers, they would undoubtedly perceive a drunken intruder disrupting the gentleman's rest.
A cold shiver ran up Natasha's spine. Her eyes vaguely focusing on Shiller, she asked, "How many people have you made disappear like this?"
Just as Shiller was about to usher her out, Natasha pushed the door open with her arm. "I don't know how many there've been, but I won't be one of them. Let me in."
"You have nothing to do here, ma'am, believe me." Shiller, somewhat helplessly, let go of the doorknob and stepped back to let her in.
Natasha only saw an ordinary bed, made with utmost precision. A bed so immaculate even the most discerning would find no fault. It was unnaturally perfect. It didn't resemble a place for rest, it looked more like a stage.
In a blur of drunkenness, Natasha saw a fish flopping on Shiller's bed. Its gutted abdomen spilling out its entrails, staining the bedsheet red, the blood pooling on the floor.
The strongest reflex nerves in the waist and abdomen were under Shiller's knee. The knife split open the chest slowly. The undamaged viscera were mostly squeezed out by the struggling fish itself.
What about the other hand? Where was the other hand?
The moment she thought of this, Natasha was overcome by an irresistible force pinning her to the wall, a pale and strong hand gripping her neck tight. Yes, Natasha thought, the hand was on her neck.
Natasha laughed softly, looking at Shiller across from her. "So the bait you cast out was to reel me in."
"You bit too early, ma'am, breaking the pattern."
Natasha took a deep breath, alcohol gradually metabolizing from her brain. Shiller, looking at Natasha's face, says, "Even though it would be rude to call such a beautiful lady a gullible fish, you've made too many misjudgments, first of all…"
"Swish!"
With a flash of the dagger, the wildness and ferocity underneath Natasha's beautiful facade burst forth. In that instant, a gash appeared on Shiller's arm. Natasha, clinging to the dagger, swings her arm again, the chill blade spanning towards Shiller's throat.
Shiller let go and stepped back as Natasha clutched her neck and breathed deeply. She sneered at Shiller, "What makes you think I'd reason with you?"
She lifted her right arm in front of her and lunged forward again, swinging the dagger down with such force as if she could cleave a man in two.
Shiller sidestepped, evading the trajectory of the dagger. As his breath stirred the strands of Natasha's hair, he gripped her wrist.
In an instant, her world spun. The moment she was flipped over and thrown to the ground, Natasha realized something – this man had an alarming strength, and his combat skills were incredibly refined.
As shadow fell, she swiftly rolled away from the attack. Pushing off the ground, she hustled to her feet. Slightly bent forward, she bore a striking resemblance to a beast about to strike, her eyes fixated on Shiller.
Shiller twisted his arm, glancing at the wound on the outside of his arm. Natasha's breath quickened, her heartbeat becoming more and more distinct.
The foreboding sense of danger descended like an oracle. Driven by instinct, Natasha lunged at Shiller again. The muscles of her arm, wound tight with pent-up energy, lashed out like a catapult, the blade leaving a streak in the air.
What caught Natasha by surprise was that Shiller didn't sidestep her attack. He braced his shoulder against the strike directly, tying his arms around the right half of her body and slamming her onto the ground, promptly breaking two of Natasha's ribs on her left side with his elbow.
Blood, spurting from Shiller's shoulder to collarbone, dripped onto Natasha's neck. Yet the female agent didn't utter a sound, even with her bones shattered. With her right leg kneed on the ground, her hand instinctively swung towards the back.
Shiller reclined, but not completely. There was a splash, and a shallow cut appeared on Shiller's face.
Shiller lowered his eyelids and touched his face with the ring finger of his right hand. Looking at the blood on his finger, the red in his pupils deepened.
Natasha rolled swiftly to the side, supporting herself with the uninjured half of her body, rapidly shifting her weight. She kicked towards Shiller's waist.
Shiller stepped back, avoiding it, again seizing Natasha's wrist as she held the knife. Natasha mustered all her strength to fight him off.
Two pairs of hands were yanked from the body's sides to above their heads, then to the other side. The two individuals slammed against the wall and back from the table. Everything in their path was knocked off, as if a missile recklessly careened throughout the room, leaving debris in its wake.
"Bang!"
"Bang! Crash!"
Shiller threw Natasha onto the bed by her arm. Natasha struggled to turn over, avoiding Shiller's attempt to pin her down.
She knew if she was pinned by Shiller, she'd surely end up gutted like a fish.
She heard Shiller's panting growing louder, his speed accelerating. The drumbeat rising from his chest mimicked a fatal musical note. Natasha knew she only had one more chance to strike back, or Shiller, in his frenzied state, would tear her apart.
Natasha hesitated momentarily. She contracted her abdominal muscles and thrust forcefully with her buttocks and legs, kicking at Shiller beside her. However, this time Shiller nimbly rolled away, repositioning himself at the end of the bed while Natasha's kick only hit the bedside table.
"Bang!"
The bedside table was sent flying, demonstrating the tremendous power in that kick. The table drawers fell out as it slammed against the wall. Natasha's pupils constricted upon seeing an object that fell out of one of the drawers.
In a flash, Shiller had anticipated Natasha's intentions. With a speed she hadn't anticipated - quicker than before - he appeared at her side. He gripped her like an animal in his arms and suffocated her by wrapping his arm tightly around her neck.
Natasha started struggling wildly, disregarding her pain. She tried to stab Shiller's arm with her knife, but as the blade fell, Shiller caught her wrist with his free hand.
When the overwhelmingly heavy panting resounded in Natasha's ears, she started trembling uncontrollably, as if she were prey dragged into the terrifying den of a massive beast.
Crazy desires – lust, sadism, a morbid insatiability – culminated in a piece of heavy metal rock fuelled by Shiller's chest's rising and falling. It roared and bellowed, a terrifying primal force reverberating like an engine.
As Natasha felt her wrist being pulled by Shiller towards her chest, her eyes widened in terror, staring as the blade pierced her chest and slid down her torso slowly.
Blood gushed out, filling the room with a potent metallic scent. Natasha's abdomen was ruptured by the dagger, causing the years of trained, numb calmness to crumble instantly.
Meanwhile, Shiller's breath quickened almost suffocatingly, his grip growing tighter, seemingly in a hurry.
He suffocated a muscular female agent, held her in his arms, forced her to self-inflict using her weapon. The thrill gained from this was far more intense than carving up a fish on the bed. The abyss stirred to the brink intuitively.
At that moment, when Shiller inhaled deeply, his muscles relaxed. Natasha mustered all of her strength to pull his arm away. The moment she broke free, she stumbled towards the wall opposite her.
The prey disappeared from his embrace. Shiller refocused his gaze in a split second. Natasha collapsed, but in her descent, she adjusted her body perfectly, landing in front of the pistol.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Flashes of light exploded dark room. Three 9mm bullets hit Shiller's body, forcing him back. He hit the wall, slowly sliding down.
Natasha had no strength left to move. From the center of her chest to three centimeters above her navel, a gash was cut wide enough to expose her internal organs.
Each strained breath she took caused her internal organs to be squeezed out. The ribs were smashed, causing bone fragments to injure her lungs. Her body's muscles were bruised in dozens of places due to the impact, causing internal bleeding. Even for a super agent enhanced through human modification, the injury was too severe.
Shiller wasn't in much better shape. Albeit in a critically injured state, Natasha's gun skills were precise and brutal, two bullets hitting near the heart, and the last one penetrating the heart.
Natasha started laughing in a low voice, irrespective of her fading life. She rested her face on the floor and watched Shiller in the darkness, her eyes radiant as she listened to his maddened heart gradually losing its rhythm, until it was almost imperceptible.
Shiller also smiled. His sagging face looked particularly gloomy in the darkness. He weakly covered his chest wound, mustering his last breath to say, "Well done, ma'am."
"Same to you. Doctor."
The room fell silent, the sounds of heartbeats and breathing were growing weaker, until they eventually fell silent. By the time the startled onlookers rushed into the room, all they found were two lifeless bodies.
At the same time, in Asgard's Fairy Palace, Stark crossed his arms and asked Strange, "Where has Loki run off to? And not just Loki, where are Thor and Sif?"
"I knew we couldn't count on them in crunch time!" Strange grumbled.
Suddenly, Stark looked stunned as he glanced at his wristwatch. Strange asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
The next second, Stark's furious howl echoed in the Asgardian sky.
"Shiller's dead again! He truly was courting death!!!"