Anton's taxi did not stop. He drove at a constant speed, observing everything through the rearview mirror, and continued straight ahead.
A few minutes later, he found a parking lot and parked.
By this time, the sky had darkened, and the neon signs of New York City began to flicker once more. Anton transformed into a Batman and rushed into the darkness, moving from shadow to the roof of the house where Natasha was.
Using the bat suit's tech, he pinpointed the location of Natasha and the others inside the house. His body flashed again, quietly leaning against the window edge, intending to listen to their conversation.
"I can't determine whether Anton is Batman's spokesperson or if he is Batman, but I think he's pushing us away..." Natasha's voice sounded. "His attitude at least reflects part of Batman's thoughts."
At that moment, another voice interrupted. "Every time Batman appears, it's often for a very strong purpose—whether it's the Life Foundation, the Kingpin incident, the Lizard, or the Green Goblin incident. The Foot Clan has also been destroyed... In the past six months, he's dismantled quite a lot of power!"
Anton recognized the speaker as Hawkeye.
"Sounds like a good thing."
It was now Coulson speaking. "We have the same goal as Batman: to protect the peace."
"But that doesn't mean he wants to do this with us," Hawkeye replied. "We all know he's stubborn. If you want him to join the team, you either have to acknowledge him as the leader or find someone stronger than him who can overpower him."
"That's the real issue," Coulson said, thinking for a moment. "Natasha, continue monitoring Anton. Whether he's Batman or not, we can communicate with Batman through him. Even if we can't persuade Batman, we should at least keep in touch with him."
After speaking, Coulson looked at Hawkeye. "Barton, your hostility toward Batman seems a little stronger than the situation warrants."
"Maybe it's because Batman beat him up," Natasha smiled.
"I won't let that affect my judgment," Hawkeye responded calmly. "Though I don't like him myself."
As an agent, Hawkeye controlled his emotions fairly well, but compared to others, he had obvious shortcomings in emotional control.
Once angered, he tended to act rashly. In the original timeline, after his wife and daughter were lost to Thanos' snap, Hawkeye had gone on a murderous rampage in Japan, becoming a ruthless killer.
It was clear that while Hawkeye did his job as a special agent well, he didn't quite match the professionalism of Coulson or Black Widow.
"What's the situation with Obadiah?" Coulson suddenly asked, turning to Hawkeye.
"With Tony's ability, if he wanted to investigate Obadiah, he wouldn't be slower than us," Hawkeye replied. "After Tony came back, we found out that Obadiah secretly went to Afghanistan. He must have brought something back... it might be related to Tony Stark."
He shook his head. "But we don't have any evidence to arrest Obadiah."
"Take it slow, don't rush," Coulson nodded. "This time, we have enough time to deal with him."
"The artificial sun experiment!" Hawkeye interjected. "I can confirm that Obadiah's involvement in the artificial solar experiment wasn't just about entering the energy industry. He has his own agenda."
"Do what you need to," Coulson said, not questioning Hawkeye's assessment.
His main job now was to sit in New York, inviting Batman on one hand, and keeping an eye on Obadiah on the other.
Black Widow and Hawkeye, as the top agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury's right-hand people, were now his right-hand team.
Generally speaking, with the three of them, there were no uncertain tasks.
Under the window edge of the house, Anton overheard the conversation between the three of them and thought to himself that they were focused on the wrong person.
Whether it was Anton himself or Obadiah, they were both the people they were looking for. The action was correct, but the result was often separated from the action by an impenetrable barrier.
From this perspective, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ability was indeed significant, but it was too arrogant, and their constant "pointing at you in the name of your good" was inevitable discomfort.
"So be it," Anton thought.
After the conversation, Coulson and Hawkeye were preparing to leave. Hearing this, Anton moved his position.
The two inside said goodbye to Natasha, walked to the gate, and were about to leave.
Crunch—
The moment they opened the door, Hawkeye's pupils shrank. He saw a black figure standing at the door, and his face changed wildly.
Batman even smiled leisurely and waved at him, "Meet again, Hawkeye!"
"Batman!"
Hawkeye clenched his fists instinctively.
Coulson and Natasha, who had been sending them out, were also taken aback. The three thought that Batman would come to them, but they didn't expect it to be now.
Speaking of which, the three of them had still been discussing Batman, which was a bit embarrassing!
"Shit!" Hawkeye was annoyed inside.
He guessed that Batman had likely been there for a while, maybe even overhearing their entire conversation.
New grudges plus old grudges—Hawkeye rushed forward without hesitation, his fist ready.
"Barton!" Seeing this, Coulson tried to stop him, but failed.
"Let them fight," Natasha remained calm, immediately stepping in. "Don't forget, Hawkeye just said that if you want Batman to join us, you must either take him as the leader or find someone who can overwhelm him..."
"Do you think he'll be that person?" Coulson asked with a wry smile.
"Who knows!" Natasha shrugged. "Even if Clint gets beaten again, there's no loss for us! Batman won't kill him, anyway!"
Standard agent thinking. It was clear that Black Widow and Hawkeye's comradeship was also quite strong.
On the other side, seeing Hawkeye rushing toward him, Anton didn't change his expression. He simply tilted his head slightly.
Whoosh!
A fierce arrow sliced through the night, grazing Anton's ear and heading straight for Hawkeye.
"What?" Hawkeye was shocked and performed a somersault to dodge the arrow.
Duh!
The arrow plunged into the ground, its tail swaying violently.
"Who?" Hawkeye looked behind Batman.
A man in a green suit, carrying a quiver, and holding a bow and arrow, stepped out from the shadows.
"If you want to fight..."
The man in the green suit spoke in a calm tone, his eyes revealing no emotion. He seemed more like an agent than Hawkeye.
"Your opponent is me."
When Natasha and Coulson saw this, they exchanged a glance, both displaying a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.
Who was this person?
Why had a green "Hawkeye" suddenly appeared?
…
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