*C45 - Luke agrees to help!

Important E/d note: As of C62, there is a CONFIRMED second pairing in this translation series of mine. No, it's not Harem (yet), so the relationship is not about Luke. That's all you get from me :D I hope you stew in suspense as you wait to see who the second pairing belongs to :D (Muahaha, MUAHAHAHAHAHA!)

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word count: 1,336)

~ With Luke and Natasha ~

For the past 10 minutes, Luke had been reading the documents that Natasha had provided. "So, you've decided to reveal yourselves due to last night's attack. I must say you guys' sure work fast and efficiently."

"As I was walking to the cafe this morning, I passed by the location only to see that it's been cleaned up. And it was a pretty thorough one too, almost as if there wasn't any attack to begin with." Luke complimented.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking this, but how did you guys know about the attack? I mean there wasn't anyone else near the location at the time, and I know for certain I didn't call anyone about it, yet you guys somehow seemed to know about it?"

Hearing Luke's words, Natasha knew she needed to come up with a believable excuse due to the true nature of how she and Fury had come to know about the attack. "Someone had called the police about seeing a mummified corpse late into the night."

"Our systems picked up on the call due to the unusual choice of words used, and we sent a team to intercept the scene." Natasha replied confidently.

"And you must have been on that team since you're pretty close by. Meaning that you got a pretty good look yourself at the aftermath. So, I am guessing that you guys want some explanations on what happened or something?" Luke hazarded a guess.

"You would be correct on that." Natasha affirmed. "The corpse we found, it's got our tech guys confused. They've never seen anything like it. From the way it looked, one would think that the body had been dead for over hundreds of years due to how mummified it looked."

"And yet when we had the samples tested, it revealed that the corpse was only a few hours old." Natasha said with a hint of surprise in her tone.

"Okay, so why do you think it was me who did it? And not someone else? I mean I'll admit that it was me. But I've been to that area, there was no surveillance covering it." Luke asked, curious to see just how far Fury was willing to go to get his help.

Natasha thought about her options, and once again decided to go with honesty. "Do you remember a few weeks ago when you had stopped a man from robbing a lady?"

Hearing Natasha speak of the incident where he used his abilities, Luke connected the incidents and was surprised at how much Natasha and Fury were willing to reveal. "Ah, so you've seen me use my abilities."

Seeing that Natasha did not speak further, Luke chose to ease her worries, "Don't worry about it, I wasn't trying to hide it or anything. I just thought I should help and so I did. By the way, if those two were agents of your SHIELD, then whoever made that decision was really stupid. I mean, what if I went for a killing blow instead? You would've lost an agent just like that."

At this, in a split second, Natasha's eyes had widened before she hid it professionally. However, Luke had caught that reaction and had his mouth wide open, "Don't tell me. . . Were they truly your agents and you were the one who set that up?! NAT DO YOU REALIZE THE STUPIDITY IN THAT?! WHAT IF I HAD KILLED THE GUY?!"

Looking abashed and rueful, Natasha could only attempt to shift the conversation back on track, "Ahem, while I am thankful that you chose to be merciful on that day, can we re-focus on the purpose of my asking you to come here?"

Natasha gave Luke a pleading look, which Luke conceded to. "Fine, so what do you want to know? How I made him like that?"

"While it would be nice to know," Natasha began, "but that is not something that we are interested in. We know you have abilities and that's enough for us. What those abilities are, is your secret to tell."

"With that being said, what can you tell us about the attacker?" Natasha queried.

"Hmmm, I'll be honest with you Nat, even I don't know much about the attacker." Luke replied. "The only thing I know is that the creature that attacked me is a part of my past. And that it is also from a cult-like group called the Abyssal Covenant, led by a man who goes by the name Marak Azathraal."

Natasha remained silent for a few seconds longer, seeing if Luke would explain further on the group or the person who led it. "And?"

"What do you mean and? That's it. That's all I know about the creature." Luke said impassively.

"Sigh. . . How about telling me why you are calling it a creature? The corpse looked pretty human to me." Natasha asked, already knowing the answer. The reason why Natasha was going through this debriefing was simply to cover the gaps of how she and Fury knew about the covenant and the creatures.

Of course, Luke knew what Natasha was doing but decided to play along since it would help him in the future. "I don't know how to explain it to you, but you just have to do an autopsy to understand what I mean."

"And I'm guessing that's about all you can tell me about this Abyssal Covenant or the creature?" Natasha asked exasperatedly to which Luke nodded.

'Seems like we'll have to do this play by play. The information we have on Marak Azathraal is pretty useless until the person himself shows up, and Luke doesn't know much about the creature except how to kill it most likely.' Natasha pondered. 'Since he won't tell us how to kill them, we'll have to do the autopsy to find out ourselves.'

"In that case, what do you think about working with SHIELD? As a contractor for hire of sorts for this matter?" Natasha offered.

"I decline." Luke did not hesitate to reject the offer immediately. "No offense to this SHIELD or whatever, but I don't trust them. I trust you, Nat. So, if you want my help, it'll only be through you and not with SHIELD. That's the best you'll get from me."

'At least we have a starting point.' Seeing that it wasn't a direct rejection, Natasha smiled as she replied, "That works for me."

As their official talks had ended, Luke and Natasha spent a couple more minutes catching up with each other before Luke decided it was time for him to head back to the café.

"So, I'll see you later in the café?" Luke asked.

Natasha was surprised when she heard Luke's question. "You're still going to keep me around even after finding out about me?"

Flicking Natasha's forehead with his index, Luke replied cheekily as he walked away, "Didn't I tell you that I could tell that our friendship is real? Besides, if I fire you, who's going to help Adam at the counter? I cannot lose such an experienced barista with part-time salary such as yourself! It will be bad for my business!"

After Luke had left, Natasha went back into the apartment in order to report to Fury about the meeting she just had. Natasha was sure that Fury would be delighted to know that at the very least, Luke would be willing to help them through Natasha.

- End of Chapter 45 –

Next time in C46 - The fifth Entry and Obadiah Stane!

[Of course, I know what happens to Tony. But I can't just tell her that he'll come back and become the greatest superhero there ever lived. So, like April, I can only be a pillar of support for her during this period.]

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Reading the latest passages being written, Wanda had completely forgotten about her internal struggle regarding Luke. Instead, she was currently filled with surprise and shock about the new revelations that Luke had just revealed.

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