Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

In the interrogation room, Natasha sat opposite Green Arrow, looking at him and saying, "…That's the situation, someone is trying to frame the President and even shot at me. Among the current office and the Justice League, only you know of my special relationship with the President. Do you have anything to say?"

"Why would you think I would want to assassinate you?" Green Arrow seemed to hear something absurd. He said, "You're not the President's lover; I wouldn't kill you. If you were, I certainly wouldn't."

"But I caused the CEO of the Quin Group to have an accident."

Green Arrow shook his head and said, "Even then, I wouldn't retaliate against you. I know you're just following orders. To hold a weapon accountable for taking a life is the greatest disrespect to the deceased."

"What do you think is going on?"

"They're targeting the President, no doubt about it." Green Arrow placed his arms on the table and said, "The key is why they dragged you into it. They seem to think you can have a significant impact on the President. Like if you died, he would rush back immediately. Only then does it make sense to target you."

Natasha frowned slightly and said, "I'm just his lover, not his wife. I'm not that important."

"Then the issue lies with you. They think as long as you're by the President's side, he has a strong ally. To get to the President, they have to start with you. That's why they want to assassinate you."

"That does make some sense." Natasha said, "But you also know, I'm not irreplaceable…"

"Really? With Batman's level of paranoia, would he allow a foreign agent to parachute into a special team, give her such authority, and even have her contact the core members of the Justice League? This in itself is not normal. Unless you bring him so much value that it cures his paranoia."

Natasha remained silent, not continuing along this line of thought. She certainly held value. After all, she was Black Widow, a powerful genetically modified person. But these things shouldn't be known by people in this universe.

Natasha was truly parachuted in; Batman didn't bother to fabricate an identity for her. Her files in this universe were entirely blank. No matter how capable the mastermind behind her attack was, they couldn't cross universes and figure out who she was.

Given this, how could the adversary be so certain of her strength, seeing her as a thorn in their side that must be removed?

Or there's another possibility, Natasha thought—to which the adversary isn't from this universe either. They might have crossed paths or heard of Black Widow's formidable reputation, which is why they wanted to strike first at this helper Batman brought from the otherworld while he's away.

Who could it be then? Natasha pondered.

"Boss, there's news." An agent came over and knocked on the door. Natasha got up and walked out the door. He handed over two stacks of files and said, "These are the files of the woman who shot at you and the person who attacked you halfway."

"Have the people been caught?"

"Yes, they're both at the police station currently. But both individuals are very ordinary civilians, one is the victim's relative, and the other is an average street thug. The Behavior Analysis Department's conclusion is they're unlikely to be professional assassins."

"Understood." Natasha reviewed the files as she headed to the office.

Indeed, as her subordinate reported, these two were incredibly amateurish. The first woman who fired missed the torso from within two meters; the second one wasn't much better, firing one shot and then fleeing, even running headlong while escaping, incapable of hiding his trail.

If the one instructing them was also from another realm, why would they use such clumsy methods?

Just as she returned to the office, another female subordinate came to report, "There's news from the police, it turns out Fred Abidonis was killed by his wife, the very woman who shot at you."

"The motive?"

"Infidelity. Mrs. Abidonis claimed she discovered her husband's infidelity recently, and killed him in a rage."

"And her motive for attacking me?"

"She said her husband's mistress also has red hair; she mistook you in a moment of panic. According to our investigation, what she said is true. Her husband's mistress bears some resemblance to you in height, weight, and hair color."

"And the second attacker?"

"He was doing a job for money, but it wasn't aimed at you, only that he was told to shoot at a certain car."

Natasha felt a bit of a headache. The testimonies and the case were fraught with contradictions. But unfortunately, she wasn't a detective.

Although Natasha was an agent, she was a field agent, not a tech operative. Even though she often engaged in espionage, she was more adept at infiltration and assassination than desk jobs like deduction.

Natasha decided to take the report and look for Shiller. Although Shiller looked more like a field agent than she did, perhaps together they could come up with some insight.

Natasha arrived at Shiller's office, where he was searching for something on the computer. This time, Natasha didn't peer at his screen; instead, she sat nearby and waited for him to finish his work.

After a while, Shiller turned his head to look at her. Natasha handed him the files and briefly explained what she knew.

"It is a bit odd," Shiller said, "If that woman mistook you for her husband's mistress, at the sight of you, she should have been screaming, not reacting with complacency and then suddenly shooting you when approaching."

"That man is the same. I was driving an FBI vehicle, and the English letters on the side hit by bullets were large enough for anyone to see unless they were blind. Even for money, ordinary people wouldn't dare to attack an FBI car; it doesn't make any sense.

"They must not have told the truth." Shiller turned away to make a phone call. During the brief moment of connection, he said, "We all advocate for civilized law enforcement, but it's normal for the local police to use some less-than-civilized methods for efficiency. After all, this is Gotham, not being violent would be abnormal."

Natasha watched him skillfully apply pressure in his phone conversation with the local police chief. Less than ten minutes after the call, a response came in—the woman confessed first.

Shiller hung up the phone and said to Natasha, "Just as expected. The woman was blackmailed; she was the one having an affair. She said someone sent intimate photos of her and her affair partner through email, then ordered her to kill her husband and a female agent present—which is you."

"That's even stranger. How did they know I would go?"

"Obviously, because they deliberately framed that murder case on your special team. Regardless of the circumstances, you'd go to see for yourself."

"It seems like a conspiracy set up specifically for me."

"That man too. Someone sent him evidence of him smuggling contraband behind his gang's back through email, forcing him to shoot at the car."

"This guy sure is well-connected." Natasha squinted her eyes and said, "Can we trace who he is through the email?"

"The tech department is trying, but I doubt they'll find anything. Since he dared to do this, he's not afraid of the tech people from both departments," Shiller shook his head and said.

"What were you just looking into?" Natasha asked.

"Of course, it's the new policies after Batman took office. Through these policies, we can gauge who he offended and who is most likely to target him. So far, there are many targets, but the most likely is those guys from Diamond Street."

"The finance crowd? That does make sense." Natasha nodded and said, "If you push them to the edge, they'll dare to do anything. But they probably don't have the channels to find out who I am."

"Are you suspecting visitors from anotherworld?"

"It's not impossible. Batman in this cosmos is quite renowned among the Batmen, and if someone wanted to cause trouble, it's not out of the question for them to find their way here.

"I agree that someone is trying to stir things up while Batman is away, but whether it's an otherworld visitor or which one still needs more time to determine."

"You're saying there'll be more victims? Aren't you going to stop it?"

"Do you think Batman would leave without ensuring the safety of those truly important? Those who were killed might not have needed to stay alive in the first place."

"Is there an issue with that department head?"

"A big one." Shiller turned back to the computer screen and said, "Right after Batman took office, Wayne Enterprises experienced a very serious information leak incident. That doesn't seem like a mistake Batman would make."

"It seems becoming president wasn't an easy journey for him," Natasha shook her head and sighed, "Even now, when he's achieved complete victory, there are still people trying to exploit loopholes."

"You sound like you feel sorry for him."

"Ha, I'm just feeling smug," Natasha said, "So many went after him, but the harm they caused wasn't as significant as my stab. Isn't that worth gloating over?"

Shiller curled his lips and turned away without speaking. Natasha continued to look down at the documents, seemingly searching for some clues. As she looked, she suddenly said:

"If the real mastermind is indeed an otherworld visitor, they should know that hiring two such amateurs won't be enough to kill me. Why waste the effort then?"

As she was speaking, the office door was knocked on again. A female agent poked her head in and said, "Sorry for the interruption. Something really serious has happened now."

One minute later, everyone gathered in Natasha's office. The room's lighting was dim, making the photos on the projection appear even brighter—it was a "close-up photo" of Arkham Batman and Natasha.

The president faced the camera, and Natasha had her back to the camera, but her slight side profile could be seen. Maybe due to the shooting angle, they seemed to be close together. Arkham Batman was reaching out, appearing to want to wrap his arms around Natasha's waist.

While it wasn't truly an intimate photo, their posture clearly exceeded normal social boundaries. And unfortunately, this photo had made the front headlines of major social media platforms.

"We tracked the social account that initially posted this photo but couldn't find the real owner of the account. From the shooting angle, it seems this was taken by the monitoring camera No. 14 in the banquet hall on the top floor of the Wayne building. This means someone hacked into the Wayne building's cameras."

Another agent spoke, "Currently, we believe the release of this photo was to solidify the accusation of the president behind the murders. Current public opinion is united in believing that the information security officer of the Wayne Department took this photo through the cameras, and to prevent the photo from spreading, the president organized a cover-up arrest and took the opportunity to hire a hit to murder."

"I have a question." Natasha said, "The president is single, and so am I, so why would this photo lead to a cover-up murder?"

"Uh..." The previously speaking agent looked a bit awkward and said, "The problem is that the account that leaked the photo also revealed your name. Boss, the name 'Natasha Romanoff' has a very strong regional indication."

Natasha slapped her forehead.