42: The Red Room

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The strong wind at high altitude blew through Natasha's red hair, but she didn't feel cold.

She tightly grasped Lyon's hand, looking down at the lights below, which appeared as tiny as grains of rice.

"It's amazing, you just took me flying like this!" She reached out to touch the clouds surrounding them, the mist slipping through her fingers.

At Stark's mansion, after Lyon confirmed that Natasha was ready, he grabbed her hand and shot into the sky, flying into the clouds.

The acceleration that broke the sound barrier in a second was so intense that even someone as composed as Natasha couldn't help but gasp in shock.

In the past twenty-four years, she had undergone the most grueling training, flown the fastest jets, and disguised herself as the most luxurious aristocrats. She could say she had seen most of the world's scenery.

But experiencing supersonic flight firsthand without any protection was a first for her.

"We're at least a thousand meters above the ground. Why can I still breathe normally, speak normally, and not get hurt by the high-speed wind?" She looked around, everything was so new and fascinating.

"Because I've released a bio-field," Lyon explained briefly.

He glanced upward, "This altitude is too low. If we go faster, it might affect the environment. We need to fly higher!"

"How high are we going?" Natasha was startled.

"Heh~ You'll find out in a moment!" Lyon said as he accelerated again, shooting into the sky with Natasha.

"Oh!!!!!!!!!!!" Natasha had quickly adapted.

As they soared through the clouds and encountered the fierce wind, she let out a loud shout, like someone riding a roller coaster at an amusement park.

The two continued to ascend until they reached the stratosphere.

By this time, the moon had risen.

Below them was a vast, layered blanket of clouds.

The moonlight reflected and danced on the cloud's surface, casting a pale blue-white glow on the dark stratosphere below.

Natasha looked down at the clouds beneath the moon.

The endless expanse of blue-white clouds stretched to the horizon, with no end in sight and no reference points to determine direction.

Suddenly, she remembered.

When she used to pilot fighter jets in the stratosphere, she could use satellite navigation to determine direction and location.

But flying with just her body, there was no navigation!

"Lyon! Do you know where you're flying?" Natasha turned her head and loudly asked Lyon.

Lyon paused, looking at her with a puzzled expression, "Of course I know, just tell me which city or place we have to go. Why, aren't you going to guide me and tell me where the Red Room is?"

"..." Natasha looked at Lyon, remaining silent for a few seconds before realizing another issue. "What if I told you I don't know the location of the Red Room, could you still find it?"

"You were trained there, controlled, and then sent on missions, yet you don't know where it is?" Lyon's expression grew even more puzzled.

Natasha looked innocent, "The Red Room, as a covert intelligence organization left over from the 90s, must remain unknown."

"Its ability to operate relies on girls who were controlled and trained from a young age."

"To ensure secrecy and safety."

"Each time we completed a mission and returned, we were injected with sedatives."

"So... I really don't know where it is."

"But maybe someone else knows."

Natasha fell into thought, "I once had a foster father, the second-generation Red Guardian, similar to the Soviet version of Captain America. He definitely knows something. We could find him..."

"No need," Lyon interrupted Natasha.

"Reuniting with your foster family is something you should do on your own after you gain your freedom."

"Otherwise, with me as an outsider in the mix, how are you supposed to have a heart-to-heart with them?"

Finding the Red Room wasn't difficult for him; there was no need to go asking around for directions.

Besides, Natasha's foster father, Alexei, was nothing more than comic relief in the movie.

Other than providing a family home for Natasha and her sister Yelena, this foster father had no other purpose. He knew nothing about the Red Room's operations.

"So how do you plan to find the Red Room? Are you going to use your AI butler to help, um... Jarvis?" Natasha asked.

"No, I'm going to use my eyes and ears to find it." Lyon's gaze had already locked onto the Red Room, even from halfway across the globe.

After a brief moment of confusion, Natasha's eyes widened, "Super hearing and super vision? You have those abilities too!?"

"Didn't you guys ever suspect that my abilities might be similar to Superman's when you saw me in my Superman suit?" Lyon responded.

"Many people would guess that, but it's too incredible. No one wanted to believe it!"

Natasha began to scrutinize Lyon more closely.

"So you're really like Superman... or are you a Kryptonian? Or maybe you're a Superman fan who used experiments to gain those powers?"

She started analyzing, "The previous Stark generation was involved in researching the Super Soldier Serum, so it seems reasonable that the current Stark might have developed a Superman serum."

"The difference between those is like night and day," Lyon retorted.

"So how exactly did you become Superman?" Natasha's eyes were filled with intense curiosity, "Your blood tests in the records show nothing unusual."

"You'll have the chance to find out someday," Lyon said with a mysterious smile.

Suddenly, his ears twitched, and his eyes sharpened.

"Hold on tight, I just heard your boss in the Red Room throwing a fit because he can't reach you. We need to pick up the pace!"

"Are you planning to get me back before he finishes his rant?" Natasha smirked. "He'll probably thank you."

"That would be perfect. I'm already looking forward to seeing his reaction."

Boom!

Lyon suddenly accelerated, the immense pressure tearing through the sky and scattering the clouds.

Natasha was amazed by it all.

Under the cover of the bio-field, the wind pressure, which was strong enough to cut through steel, blew against her face, yet felt as gentle as a spring breeze.

She felt as if she was wearing VR gear, experiencing the flight of an intercontinental missile.

The visual and tactile sensations were completely disconnected.

"Oh my God, this is REALLY incredible!" she marveled once more.

Their speed quickly exceeded Mach 50, crossing tens of kilometers of the high-altitude sky every second.

In the stratosphere, there were only clouds and thin air, with no reference points.

But Natasha quickly noticed that the North Star in the night sky was getting closer directly above her.

"Are we heading to the North Pole? Is the Red Room in the Arctic Circle?" she suddenly asked.

The closer they got to the North Pole, the nearer the North Star approached the position directly overhead.

"To be precise, it's over the Arctic Ocean... We're almost there!"

Lyon began to decelerate and dive down with Natasha.

'..Almost there!'

Upon hearing this, Natasha looked at the rapidly approaching clouds, and a sense of nervousness welled up inside her.

All these years, she had never seen the entirety of the Red Room. To her, this building was always shrouded in mystery.

It was like a towering wall, separating her from the rest of the world, representing death and cold indifference.

Now, she was finally about to see it, with a heavenly warrior descending by her side—Lyon was her greatest ally.

She knew that against Superman's strength, the Red Room stood no chance. Today was destined to be the day that would mark the end of her past life.

But the more she understood this, the more nervous she became.

What occupied her mind wasn't the thrill of destroying the Red Room and avenging her past.

In her heart, it was merely a mission—a duty she had decided to fulfill, even if it meant dying for it.

But now that this mission was about to be completed, it seemed that her life, aside from the heavy blood debts, would no longer hold any other meaning.

At this moment, Natasha felt like a small puppy about to be sent out of a pet store.

She no longer had to be locked in a cage all day, watching the passing travelers with hopeful eyes.

She was about to gain her freedom, but she would also face a world she had never seen before.

The afternoon sunlight, the green fields of summer—she would finally be able to experience and touch them.

But her eyes, long accustomed to darkness, couldn't handle the brightness of the day, and her muddy hands dared not touch the greenery.

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