Symbiote 0262: Second Key

"You're turning into a battle junkie," Alex told Natasha as he sat in the cockpit of a Quinjet that was flying to China. It was on autopilot, so he was free to pull Natasha into his lap, which he had promptly done.

"What are you talking about?" She looked into his eyes with a teasing smile on her face. "I was just playing around with the kid. I'm mainly interested in fighting this thousand-year-old warlord. Somehow, he has completely isolated himself from being found out by any governmental agency. Even Shield didn't have any deep information about him."

Alex shook his head and traced his hand up Natasha's back, grasping her nape, "Come here," He pulled her into a deep kiss which she reciprocated enthusiastically.

The journey to China passed by in a blur as the Quinjed slowed down and came to a stop a significant distance away from the compound of the Ten Rings.

"You read the kid's mind, didn't you?" Natasha asked with a slight tone of disapproval.

"Not at all. I don't do that brute-force mind manipulation anymore," Alex told her. "I merely hypnotized him to tell me the location."

"Brute forcing?" Natasha raised a brow. Alex's choice of words made her a little curious.

"You know how I'm a little terrified of telepaths, right?" Alex asked her.

"That's a statement," Natasha said. "You used to be terrified of Wanda when you first bonded with her."

"So you did notice …" Alex said.

Natasha gave him a sultry smile and moved closer to him, pressing her torso against him, "I noticed many things, my love," She whispered as her lips brushed against his ear. "Now tell me. What do you mean by brute forcing?"

Alex shook his head with a smile, "The way I perform tasks that relate to mind manipulation comes from my ‹Biological Manipulation›. When I want to make a person do something against their will, I hijack their body while their mind stays free, unable to control their body. Reading people's minds is an advanced application of that. I don't delve into the psionics of the mind, but instead, I directly pull the stored information from the brain."

"So you're telling me that you read people's minds by extracting the information directly out of the neurons in the hippocampus …" Natasha's tone didn't betray her emotions.

"Pretty much. I start with the Hippocampus if I want the newer information. To go further, I slowly delve deeper into the brain as I try to pull out their core memories," Alex said. "You see what I meant by brute forcing?"

"I do …" Natasha said thoughtfully, "And you don't do that anymore?"

"I don't need to. I instead hypnotize people and it serves a similar function for me."

Natasha hummed thoughtfully before changing the topic, "Are we going to move on him right now?"

"Let's do it at night," Alex said. "We will first take the locket from his daughter and then we'll go after Wenwu."

"What about the girl?" Natasha asked, "What happens to her when you inevitably kill Xu Wenwu?"

"Why would I do that?" Alex asked with a confused expression.

"Because that's the plan … That is the plan, right?" She squinted.

"I don't know what kind of homicidal maniac you take me for, but no I don't plan to do anything to Xu Wenwu," Alex said. "Hell, the optimal thing to do would be to not even meet the guy and directly slip away after taking the locket from Xialing."

Natasha frowned, "You're wary of him," She stated, "Why?"

"He's a thousand-year-old warlord. One can never be sure of the tricks he has up his sleeve," Alex said. "Of course, I'm wary of him."

"It seems that I need to reevaluate this immortal man," Natasha said, "Do we have a plan for infiltration?"

"I'm already scouting the base and mapping its architecture while also infiltrating their surveillance system, we will enter from the east side of the compound …" Alex and Natasha started planning their infiltration into the base of Xu Wenwu.

…

With Alex's abilities with Chaos Magic and Natasha's subterfuge, the duo very quickly found themselves in a secluded wing of the compound which didn't have any presence of the soldiers that patrolled every other area.

"This must be the residential wing," Natasha jumped down from the second story and landed, perfectly silent as her feet made contact with the ground. Looking around, she found herself in a courtyard with large trees, a contained bamboo plantation at the side, some cherry blossoms in one section, and some other trees that she didn't recognize.

Alex materialized beside her, "Yes, but Wenwu hasn't been here in two weeks, so it's more of a personal wing for his daughter."

"Sounds like a prison," Natasha said slightly distastefully.

"Not really," Alex said. "She's allowed to go wherever she wants. It's just that her father doesn't have the time for her."

Natasha's reply was interrupted by the sound of the door opening as a twelve-year-old girl walked out. She had a rope in her hands, a weighted ball on one end and a metal dart on the other. Her eyes widened in recognition as she saw the face of the intruder.

"Please leave," The girl spoke slightly broken English. "I've tripped the alarm. My father and his men will be here."

Natasha smiled at the small kindness of the girl who seemed to know how dangerous of a man her father was. "Do you know me?" She asked.

"Black Widow," The girl spoke without much fear in her eyes. "I don't know him though." She said, pointing at Alex.

"He's Apex," Natasha smiled, "A friend. What's your name?"

"Xialing. Xu Xialing." The girl's soft voice made a small smile appear on Natasha's face.

"Xialing," Natasha repeated, "I'm going to make a trip to your mother's hometown, Ta Lo. And for that, I need something from you."

The girl seemed to instinctively know what Natasha was talking about going by how her hand immediately made its way to her neck and grasped a green pendant.

"Don't worry," Natasha said. "I will return it to you once I find the location of the village."

"No …" The girl seemed to be on the verge of tears, making a helpless expression appear on Natasha's face as she turned to Alex.

"I'm not snatching that locket," She said with finality. "And I'm not letting you do it either."

"Do I look like such a bad person?" Alex scoffed before looking at the trembling girl, "Xialing, right?" He spoke in a soft voice, "You may not know about me, but I know a lot about you." Alex's calming and soft voice seemed to calm the girl down.

"Like what?" The girl asked as her agitation mellowed down.

"Like how you are very mad at your elder brother Shang-Chi for abandoning you," Xialing's eyes lit up at Alex's words before dimming as she showed an angry expression. "We met him before coming here and he told us all about how sorry he is for not keeping his promise to you."

"Did you hurt him?" The girl seemed much too mature for her age and understood that since they were after the locket, they had probably already taken the one that her brother had.

"Not at all. He's perfectly fine," Alex said. "We promised that we would return the locket once we get entry into Ta Lo and he agreed to help us out."

Xialing's eyes darted toward a gate as she sighed, seemingly realizing something, "My alarm didn't work, Mister … Apex?" She asked Alex.

"We don't want to get into conflict with your father since it would be a troublesome situation," Natasha said, "Will you give us the locket, Xialing?"

"No …" The girl shook her head and tightened her grip on the rope that she was holding. "It's my mother's final memento. I won't let you take it away from me."

"Then how about you come with?" Alex asked, "We can all go to Ta Lo together. She won't fight you and neither will I. So I think we can compromise and bring you with us."

"Father won't allow it …" Xialing said.

"I told you, did I not, Xialing?" Alex said. "I know more about you than you realize. I know how you regularly spy on the training that your father's men do. You want to become a warrior too, right?"

"How?" She asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Alex said. "How about we make a deal?"

"What deal?"

"Simple. You let us use your locket and in exchange, you will be able to see your mother's birthplace. At the same time, Natasha will provide you with specialized training for the duration that you accompany us. What do you think?"

Alex's soothing tone mixed in with the allure of being trained by an Avenger made the slightly naive yet also smart Xialing's eyes shine. "I-I want to … But what about father?"

"Don't worry about your father," Alex said with a smile. "He won't even realize that you're gone and by the time he finds out, you will be safe and sound in Ta Lo with your aunt."

"I can get out of this place?" She asked, her eyes hopeful.

"Come with us," Alex said before gesturing to Natasha who all but rolled her eyes at him. She then approached Xialing with a welcoming gesture.

***

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