Upon hearing Natasha's words, Charles Xavier's mind raced through about ten seasons of romance drama in just a short second.
Very few students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters know that the now erudite, eloquent, and elegant Professor Xavier was once a wild and indulgent young man.
God is never fair, but he had shown particular favor to this British youth named Xavier by gracing him with an extraordinarily beautiful face and irresistibly blue eyes. The young Professor Xavier could be described as such: if you saw him on any street in New York, you would assume that he either had a sugar daddy or several of them.
In his youthful, vigorous, and energetic days, he had fleeting encounters and impassioned nights with various beauties, indulging himself in carnal pleasures, like a beautiful wreck submerged at the bottom of the lake of desire, a lone orphan in the world, drifting and floating aimlessly, enjoyed and savored, and left nothing behind.
In stark contrast, a youthful Erik always tried to be responsible for his family but failed time and again. Those he chased couldn't understand him, and those who understood him wouldn't follow him, leaving him alone, fraught, and desolate.
These two incredibly similar yet opposite individuals, these old friends, seemed to have been left by the world to stand shoulder to shoulder and have come this far together.
Charles quickly relayed his speculations to Erik and discarding his usual tact and flourish, Erik cut straight to the chase with his response.
"You mean to say that Natasha is pursuing Shiller, and Loki might also be pursuing Shiller, so Natasha doesn't want Loki to find Shiller?"
Charles emphatically nodded, his eyes filled with interest, and Erik pointed out sharply, "But Loki used to be male."
Charles immediately opened his mouth in surprise, and after stared blankly for a moment, made the sign of the cross over his chest, exclaiming, "Good God."
As it turned out, when one of the parties in a love triangle could be both male and female, the complexity of the relationship multiplies by more than two-fold.
Charles rubbed his fingers together uncertainly and said, "But this is also possible. Judging from Shiller's previous behavior, he wouldn't actively pursue heterosexual relationships, while Natasha tends to hunt all sorts of men."
"Male Loki could also potentially be a lesser subject of Natasha, and now that Natasha has shifted her sights onto Shiller, she wouldn't want her former bed partner to be in their presence."
"Alright, that's understandable. It could indeed become pretty awkward," Charles rubbed his chin and said, "However, it's too late; I have already told Loki that we're ice fishing at Long Island."
Meanwhile, at a different ice fishing location, Nick and Steve were also discussing this issue, but their opinions seemed to be completely opposite to Charles's as Nick was far more familiar with Natasha.
"I strongly discourage agents under my command from being promiscuous, because you never know which sexual partner might betray you. The moment you let your guard down, the blade under your pillow could slit your throat."
"But our Mrs. Romanoff is an extremely intelligent woman. Otherwise, she wouldn't have survived until now. She knows what can be taken and what can't be touched. Without such acuteness, she might have lost her life in bed long ago."
"She would never actively invite Shiller." Nick's tone was very certain. He repeatedly tapped his fishing rod with his finger and said, "Because she is clearer than anyone else about the importance of Shiller. Any associated link with him calls for careful consideration, such a person is obviously not a good candidate for a female agent looking to have a night of indulgence. It could potentially bring about enormous trouble, and even affect future work."
"Natasha's devotion to her work is astonishing," Steve noted while turning the reel of his fishing rod, "After the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, Russian intelligence control over her weakened. She could have completely given up her identity as an agent and lived a quiet life under an assumed identity. But she chose not to."
"I heard from Sharon about the legendary exploits of the Black Widow. It's as if any challenging mission becomes a piece of cake in her hands."
"It's particularly impressive for a female spy." Nick swiftly brought up his fishing rod, looking somewhat disappointed at the small squid nibbling at the bait, but he still carefully removed the squid from the hook and said, "The beautiful ladies in the spy organization are usually more prone to doubt. They use their beauty and even their bodies to complete missions, either indulging in materialistic desires without restraint, or falling into self-disgust, exaggerating the degree of their sacrifices, and subsequently becoming hopeless."
"Natasha has never had such troubles, but I don't think this is entirely due to brainwashing by the spy organization. She coexists harmoniously with her evil, ferocity, indulgence, and debauchery, even turning them into weapons or toys. If there were to be someone within S.H.I.E.L.D. who needs to see a psychologist the least, it would definitely be her."
"I think this must be very appealing to a psychologist." Steve slightly nodded as he said, "Every psychologist I've met seems to firmly believe that all people in this world are sick. They can always convince their patients that it's true, and they won't allow any exceptions."
Nick showed a toothy grin, he recast the bait back into the water, saying, "Maybe that's exactly why Shiller is interested in Natasha. You should know, anyone who deals with Shiller inevitably ends up receiving his psychological treatment. Most who don't deal with Shiller regularly are either attracted or tricked by him into seeking psychological treatment."
"But Natasha has been in front of Shiller day after day, even once exclusively acting as the messenger between Shiller and me. Until now, Shiller hasn't been able to trick her into seeking psychological treatment. It seems like our good doctor is going to have to resort to some effort this time."
Steve was shaking with laughter, indulging in someone's misfortune. He coughed lightly and said, "I find it extremely hard to imagine a scenario where Doctor Shiller is pursuing a woman."
"I'm afraid it's more than that. Charles just sent me a message saying Loki is coming. Guess why she's coming?"
Steve hesitated for a moment, then said, "I heard from Thor that Frigga has been urging her to get married lately. Maybe Loki is coming to ask for Shiller's help?"
"Hopefully, it's just for help." Nick simply remarked.
As they were talking, a flash of lightning cut through the air, hitting the dark reeds, battered by the cold wind, not far from where they were fishing. Loki was the first to emerge, followed by Thor.
Loki's face was filled with anger, while Thor's was full of helplessness. The two of them seemed to have had a big fight, but had now reached a ceasefire agreement. In front of others, they showed nothing of their argument, as if they were just passing by and joined this get-together.
"Long time no see, Captain." Loki hugged Steve.
After Steve let go of her, he took a look at her and Thor's clothes. The Gods of Asgard weren't affected by the cold, and Loki, being a Frost Giant, wasn't either. She was wearing a purple woolen coat, a brown scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, black leather gloves, and a pair of high-heel ankle boots.
The muscular Thor was dressed in a black motorcycle jacket and a pair of Martin boots. Steve patted his arm playfully, joking, "If I didn't know you just came from Asgard, I would have thought you had raided Nick's wardrobe."
Nick snorted at this, took a step back, shook his right foot like a delinquent, and scrutinized Thor, saying, "Forget it, Steve, you don't know anything about jackets. If you had seen my wardrobe, you'd know that what this big guy is wearing is the complete opposite of fashionable."
With gloved hands tucked into her sleeves, Loki stomped on the icy ground with her boot heels, her long hair dancing in the cold wind. She squinted her eyes and repeatedly flicked her head back, trying to keep her hair away from her eyelashes and mouth. Then she asked, "How many people are here? How's the catch?"
"Actually, not bad." Steve showed her the box of fish. After just two short hours post-lunch, the box was almost full. In a chivalrous manner, he stepped aside and crouched down so as not to obstruct Loki's view, and explained,
"There are many different types and numbers of fish here. Probably because of this, they fiercely compete for food. There aren't many big fish."
"I feel like this lake has all the squid in the world." Nick pulled up his fishing rod, and a small squid was hooked on it. He grumbled irritably and impatiently, yanked the squid off, and tossed it into the box.
"You're the one catching all the world's squid," Steve chuckled deeply. "You're the main culprit in filling our box."
"Would you invite us to join?" Loki turned to look at Nick and asked, "If we're still welcome, we might go back to New York for a bit to get some fishing gear, or anything else you might need."
"Just to have the Asgard Royals run an errand for me, I have to say, yes, you're welcome to join this fishing activity," Nick laughed and opened his arms. Loki hugged him again.
"Why did you suddenly decide to come here?" Steve stood next to the water box, chatting with Thor. Thor put his hands on his hips, lifted his gaze to look at Loki, wanted to say something, but seemed to remember their ceasefire agreement. He grumbled before saying, "Frigga has been pressuring Loki to get married so much that she's annoyed. So, I came with her to get some fresh air. Will it be alright if I go back and bring Sif too? She's also a bit frustrated."
"I'm actually curious, there are less than ten of you left in the royal family. How come it seems like there are a thousand things causing you trouble every day?" Steve joked.
"That's just how it is," Thor shook his head and said, "It wasn't like this before because the numerous wars occupied all our attention. Once we had some free time, we started noticing everything was going wrong."
"Recently, there have been rumors in Fairy Palace comparing Sif with Frigga. They say Sif, being a Valkyrie, focuses too much on fighting on the front lines, so she's not managing domestic affairs as meticulously as Frigga."
"What does one have to do with the other?" Steve asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Absolutely nothing," Thor sighed deeply and continued, "They are only saying this because they want the Queen of the Gods to focus solely on internal affairs. In other words, 'you should carefully manage your own territory in the Palace. If you can't even do this well, don't dream of doing anything else.'"
"But why didn't this happen when Frigga was Queen? She must have had a lot more to handle compared to Sif, right?"
"Because Frigga was very smooth," Thor said with a tight-lipped smile, "On the surface, she was a dutiful wife and loving mother, never questioned the Divine King's decisions. In reality, she simply didn't need to question him openly. She had other ways of controlling Odin without anyone finding fault. Sif, on the other hand, is a bit too blunt and impulsive."
Just then, Thor shivered a bit. He paused as if he was checking something telepathically and then suddenly said, "I must hurry up and bring Sif over. She has beaten up the Assistant Governor of Internal Affairs in Fairy Palace again!"