Chapter 39: Capturing a Black Widow

Luke was pondering the reason why. There wasn’t a soul in sight, so there were no witnesses—the other party had clearly calculated everything. That scene just now hadn’t been observed by anyone.

“What does the Black Widow want? Is she trying to kill me?”

Luke thought that was unlikely. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t an assassination organization. Their stance was clear from the name itself: they protected and contained, not destroyed. Only if containment failed, and the target was judged dangerous and uncontrollable, would S.H.I.E.L.D. resort to elimination.

Their methods were creative, too—they’d pack what needed destroying into a rocket and shoot it into the sun…

“So, this must be a test?”

Just as Luke suspected. The Black Widow was testing him. She’d watched him for days and decided, today, to use a method that seemed simple, even crude, yet direct and effective: to verify her hunch by trying to run him over.

Her motives and reasoning were straightforward. If Luke dodged, it would confirm he wasn’t a normal child.

But if he didn’t react at all, or failed to avoid the car, she’d hit the brakes in time.

The Black Widow wasn’t entirely convinced herself—or perhaps she didn’t fully trust her own intelligence. After all, Luke was still a child. The file said he was only seven. He hardly seemed like the “Apostle” whose name now echoed everywhere.

But now, the truth was clear.

He was that very person.

The Black Widow found it unbelievable.

Luke looked at her, and she looked back. Both of them were far from ordinary, and each knew exactly what to do at such a moment.

As soon as Luke moved, the Black Widow threw her car into reverse, ready to escape.

“Trying to run? See if my staff agrees!”

Luke reached into his storage space and pulled out a slender staff, aiming it at the car’s rear. Battle Mage Skill: Whirling Staff!

A masterpiece in defiance of physics!

The staff stuck to the car’s tail as if glued. The Black Widow, car and all, was swept into the air, spun a hundred and eighty degrees like a windmill, and crashed heavily down on the opposite side behind Luke. The staff was still attached to the rear bumper.

With a resounding crash, every window shattered. The Black Widow was thrown about inside, dizzy and battered. She gritted her teeth and crawled from the overturned window, staggering to her feet, desperate to run.

Suddenly, she felt a rush of air behind her. There wasn’t even time to dodge before pain exploded at the back of her head—and then she lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Luke stood behind her, holding a brick. Street Fighter Skill: Brick Ambush…

He’d hesitated many times but, in the end, had stashed a brick in his storage space—just in case. Never expected it would come in handy.

Looking at the living beauty lying unconscious on the ground, Luke scratched his head, troubled.

He couldn’t just leave her here, not in the middle of the night. Besides, he wanted to know the Black Widow’s motive—how had she discovered him?

Unfortunately, his storage space could only hold objects, not people.

Left with no other option, Luke summoned his aerial combat armor, climbed in, scooped up the Black Widow, and took off toward the secret warehouse.

…

When the Black Widow groggily awoke, she found her hands bound behind her to a chair. She glanced down—her clothes were intact.

She sat calmly. She’d been in such predicaments countless times.

Then she saw Luke sitting opposite.

He stood with his back to her at a mechanical workbench, busy with something.

The Black Widow looked around—this place seemed like an assembly workshop of some kind.

“How did you do it?”

“Oh, you’re awake. Do what?” Luke turned at the sound of her voice.

“How did you catch me?” she asked.

From her perspective, she’d glimpsed through the car’s rearview mirror as Luke inexplicably pulled a staff from beneath him, jabbed it into her car’s rear, then everything spun and the car crashed down.

She’d never encountered anything so bizarre and couldn’t help but ask.

“You mean this?” Luke pulled out the staff in front of her.

She scrutinized it, then nodded seriously.

“How did you do that?” she asked in amazement. Something so long—where had he hidden it?

“That’s classified.”

“…”

“As for your car flipping over, that’s just leverage.”

“…”

The Black Widow was speechless. She thought, do you think I’m uneducated? You call that leverage? Then everything I ever learned was fake leverage?

Luke coughed. He didn’t want to explain—he couldn’t. Who knew how things that defied the laws of nature worked?

He changed the subject. “Do you know how fast you were going just now? At least five hundred miles an hour!”

“One twenty. What you’re describing is Formula One. Besides, I’m an excellent driver,” she replied with a smile.

“I was just expressing my shock. You weren’t really trying to run me over, were you?”

“Of course not. I was only testing you. But clearly, the test worked, didn’t it, ‘Apostle’?” The Black Widow smiled.

Luke snorted. “How did you guess it was me?”

She uttered a single word: “Hamburger.”

“I see…”

“And your voice. You disguised it well, but I’m trained to recognize such things.”

Luke could only admire her.

This woman truly was dangerous. The nickname “Black Widow” was well-deserved.

She smiled and asked, “So, little one, what do you intend to do with me? Kill me to silence me?”

Luke could sense the teasing note in her words and smile.

“Ah, my identity’s exposed.” He scratched his head.

He’d underestimated S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agents. If he let her go, S.H.I.E.L.D. would know who he was—and he wasn’t ready for that. Not mentally.

His plan was to finish building the G-0 War Lord before approaching S.H.I.E.L.D. himself. By then, he’d have the absolute advantage.

But plans never keep up with change. This was certainly premature.

So, what should he do?

He couldn’t really kill the Black Widow, could he?

Kill her and then…? Luke glanced down at himself and sighed.

Another sad story—not worth mentioning.

“All right… I admit it. I am the Apostle.” The words sounded strangely familiar.

He looked at the Black Widow. “But truthfully, I mean you no harm. Not S.H.I.E.L.D., not you, not anyone else. I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m actually a good person.”

“A good person?” Her brows arched slightly. “You mean those gangsters you killed? Hell’s Kitchen, the gang conflict a few weeks ago, and when I was first sent to investigate you, yet another mysterious escalation of gang violence. Now that I think about it, it must have been you. My god… I can hardly believe you’re so young.”

“You know those people were gangsters.” Luke shrugged.