The woman, dressed in a tight black outfit, had a refined yet stern expression and held a gun pointed directly at the back of Arthur's head.
"If I were you…"
But before she could finish her sentence, Arthur suddenly disappeared.
Caught off guard, she didn't hesitate a moment before launching a high kick!
Her leg arced to an astonishing height, followed by a thud.
*Bang!
Arthur's arm caught her leg mid-kick, and before the woman could turn around, Arthur's figure flashed into view again!
No words were exchanged as they immediately began to fight!
When this woman appeared, Arthur's only goal was to defeat her as quickly as possible!
However, the woman's reflexes were even faster than Arthur had expected. Almost instantly, she had zeroed in on Arthur's position, and as soon as he reappeared, her weapon was already aimed at him.
A combat knife appeared in Arthur's hand, the blade sweeping upwards.
The woman raised her arm and quickly took two steps back, denying Arthur the chance to finish his attack.
But just as she stepped back, her back slammed into someone's chest.
Without a hint of panic, she clenched her fist and threw her elbow back, simultaneously lifting her left foot in search of Arthur's.
Arthur caught her elbow with his right hand as he noted her next move.
It was a critical moment— his right hand was blocking her elbow, but his left hand held the combat knife.
The distance and angle made it impossible to strike effectively at her back. Even if he could, Arthur wasn't inclined to.
If he killed her accidentally, he would surely make a mortal enemy of the Avengers!
The moment she appeared, Arthur had already guessed her identity.
The legendary Black Widow!
In a split second, to avoid getting his left foot trampled, Arthur quickly lifted his left leg and kneed her with considerable force, sending a powerful impact into her rear!
Black Widow's body flew forward without a word, with her limbs splayed wide, about to hit the ground.
But at the last second, she regained her balance and quickly turned around, supporting herself on the ground with one hand and looking sharply up at Arthur.
But Arthur was nowhere in sight. She glanced quickly at the Tesseract.
There, she saw the man in black already placing the Tesseract in its designated container.
"Drop it!"
Black Widow aimed her gun, but Arthur, holding the box, had already flashed towards the lab door. After what seemed like a moment's hesitation, he said, "You've got a lot of meat on you."
Not just the physical blow, but that single comment delivered an unimaginable mental blow!
For a moment, the Black Widow's eyes turned red with rage, but Arthur was already gone.
"This is Natasha!"
The woman stood up and immediately connected to the radio: "An unknown target has taken the Tesseract, he is male, approximately six feet tall, dressed in black, masked, and able to move in a strange way! I suggest we seal off the base and do a full search!"
She finished and limped out, rubbing her bottom as she went. "Who's he calling 'meaty'?"
…
The entire research facility was now on high alert, as if celebrating the New Year in full swing.
In the midst of this tight security, Arthur ran into unexpected trouble.
His original plan had been simple: infiltrate the underground, but discovery and exposure were inevitable.
However, the plan to escape afterwards should only have required a uniform and a car.
In his original plan, he wouldn't be carrying the box at this stage.
But to Arthur's surprise, the box couldn't be stored in the Disassembler's Space.
This completely ruined his plan to steal a uniform. Now he was stuck with an Asian face, carrying a silver metal box and driving a car in a mad dash to escape.
Apart from revealing his face, it seemed completely useless.
"Am I really going to have to play hide and seek with them here?"
Arthur was currently hiding in a car in the underground car park, where a passageway led directly to the outside.
He was conflicted – getting out wasn't difficult, but how would he lose his pursuers afterwards?
And if he stayed hidden here…
He didn't lack for food, but what about going to the toilet?
Not that he couldn't relieve himself here, but the smell would definitely give him away.
While he was still thinking, a car suddenly sped past him, speeding down the passage.
"What the hell?"
Arthur stared in disbelief as the car disappeared down the tunnel, its taillights leaving a red trail in its wake.
"Who is this brave soul acting so decisively?"
The situation left him completely at a loss. Just as he was lost in thought, he heard footsteps approaching.
The footsteps were accompanied by urgent voices.
"The target has broken through the first layer of defence…"
"He's changed his clothes, he's no longer in black, he's wearing a scientist's uniform!"
"He's carrying a weapon developed by the facility – we can't let him leave with it!"
"The Tesseract has not been found, begin an immediate search for its whereabouts within the facility…"
"…The target has breached all defences, pursuit teams, accelerate!"
"Huh?"
Arthur opened his mouth, feeling like they had completely misunderstood something very subtle.
At that moment, the footsteps came even closer. Arthur quickly darted to the back seat, placing the box at his feet and hiding as best he could.
Thanks to his black outfit, if they didn't look closely, they wouldn't notice him even if they walked right by.
Still, Arthur wasn't satisfied. "Tony's gadgets can't even turn invisible… such a bad design! Poor design!"
But even if he left a bad review, Tony probably wouldn't care. After muttering to himself for a moment, Arthur couldn't help but smile.
He had been at a loss, but now, out of nowhere, some 'brave soul' had taken the lead and broken through the facility's defenses.
Now, unless something went wrong, all he had to do was hitch a ride and he could easily escape from the facility.
"As expected, infiltration is full of surprises!"
Arthur chuckled to himself.
He even planned that if four people got into the car, he could instantly teleport to the trunk, avoiding detection entirely.
But as it turned out, Arthur was overthinking things.
Only one person got into the car, and without a word, started the engine. The car shot forward, instantly accelerating to over 100 mph. If Arthur hadn't held on tightly, the force might have flung him through the rear window!
"What the hell?"
Arthur cursed internally, looking toward the driver's seat, only to feel a chill run down his spine.
There in the driver's seat, dressed in a tight black outfit, with a refined yet stern expression, staring straight ahead…
It was none other than Black Widow.
She was haunting him like a ghost!