Chapter 7 – The Black Merchant

Arthur did not forget to rescue Tony Stark's parents. He used one of the controlled necromancy spells to create fake people which Bucky can kill. After taking a copy of the recording, he followed behind and made sure to cast spells on everybody so that the subterfuge will not be broken/discovered. When the bodies were buried, he burned it.

The Stark couple were sent to the tower to live retirement. They were given come of Wakanda's technology obtained through trade of artifacts and potions. Arthur told them he can only free them in 2016 as doing so earlier would mess up the timeline or so Arthur believed at the moment.

When Arthur's identity in the military was old enough to retire, he met a few characters in the movie. He was supposed to retire but meeting them made him stay. He wanted to meet Natasha Romanov. If there is someone who he really, really, wanted to be in the marvel cinematic universe, that is to become Natasha Romanov's love interest. Arthur's son, or his next identity is Chris Black. The famous son of the billionaire, general Arthur Black. Because Arthur spent most of his time in the military, Chris stayed away in the military after finishing his mandatory military service. He wanted to become agent Romanovs lover as a civilian.

As the son of Arthur Black, he is also trained in various forms of combat. To give himself many chances to court black widow, Arthur used his identity as a general to send her to guard Chris. The bodyguards always have a hard time protecting the spoiled brat Chris from the occasional kidnappers and assassins. Natasha Romanov's six months assignment is to guard Chris and make sure that he does not impregnate any spy or foreign women. As the heir to billions, his child would have access to enough money to fund any organization.

Natasha Romanov took it as a vacation. In her mind as long as she uses her charm, she can keep the billionaire playboy hooked into her hands for months. She can just play the jealous card to keep other women away or join in the fun and make sure the other girls drink pills. It can be willingly or through tricks. She usually plans to just inject the dissolved pills or add it to the food. That's the plan she made when she received the order.

When Nick Fury became the director of Shield, Arthur Black finally retired from service. Not before turning over two billion dollars of secret funds to Director Nick Fury so that he can make backup plans in case shield is compromised. Arthur knew that those funds would not be enough so he added tons of gold with a total value of twenty billion dollars at the current market value. As for the source, well, let's just say that he spent several decades raiding various criminal groups and slowly turned all of the ill-gotten wealth into gold.

Natasha played her role well for those six months. She changed her plan upon meeting the billionaire and finished the mission without any problems.

After finishing the mission, she was sent to rescue a VIP and was captured in Singapore. Before she was tortured a masked individual appeared in front of her and introduced himself as the black merchant. He offered food, satellite phone and weapons for the price of a million dollars each.

Black Widow has her pride but to rescue the VIP in time, she needs to escape now. There is also a chance that this is just a trick of a bored criminal. On the off chance that this is not a trick, she went ahead and agree. Although it is a lot of money, she made a deal with the black merchant and promised to pay a total of ten million dollars.

Black merchant left the food, weapon and satellite phone in the table in front of Natasha Romanov and placed a handgun and knife in her hands. Natasha used two seconds to cut the rope, turn around and point the gun. But the black merchant is nowhere to be found. Puzzled, she removed the magazine to confirm if the gun has bullets. Since then the black merchant would often sell information and items to various agents of shield.

Natasha reported everything to Director Fury and even gave the black merchants satellite phone number. Director Fury tested the black merchant by ordering a nuclear bomb. He was told to wait for ten minutes.

Fury looked at Natasha and changed his sitting position to become more comfortable. After a few minutes, a blackout happened in their base. Warning alerts can be heard all over the base and various members of shield are panicking, trying to find the culprit.

Agent Phil Coulson went to Fury's office to report that their power lines and generators were attacked. Behind Agent Coulson is another agent of shield, reporting on the status of the vaults and prisoners in the base. After reporting, he left a bag and turned around to leave the room. Fury threw a knife at the door and Natasha pointed her gun at the agent. Agent Coulson seeing the actions of Director Fury and Agent Romanov, took out a scanner and tried to stealthily scan the bag.

The agent turned around and removed his disguise while donning a mask at the same time. He did it flawlessly that three seasoned agents were unable to see anything.

"I brought the merchandize. All you have to do is inspect it and send the payment." He spoke in a gruff voice and looked at fury and Natasha alternatively. He completely ignores agent Coulson.

"We did make a transaction. But you are trespassing on government property." Fury leaned in and spoke in a deeper voice. "We don't like that here."

"Sublevel 10, supply room 18." The masked man's eyes had a hint of mockery after he said that.

With a nod from fury, agent Phil Coulson took out a phone and issued commands. He then took a few steps towards the wall and pushed a secret button. A wide screen appeared, showing agents carefully inspecting a supply room. What they saw from the cctv footage is a room full of neatly stacked boxes. There is no sign of the men sent to check out the supply room.

But when agent Coulson switched to the camera feed of the agents inside the supply room, they saw a hammock, a water dispenser and a few items of clothing.

Fury was intrigued at the black merchant's audacity to infiltrate a shields base. Agent Coulson was angry at the security problem and agent Romanov's face did not show any trace of emotion. She knew the capabilities of the black merchant.

"Interesting," Fury states as he stands up and assess the black merchant. "I assume you didn't do all this just to inform me of your capabilities."

"No. I came here to make a contract." The black merchant answered fury but he kept his eyes at Natasha.

Fury raised his eyebrow at the man's actions and asked "What do you propose?"

"I want her to be my lover," the black merchant pointed to Natasha, "In exchange, I'll tell you my identity."

Both fury and Natasha kept silent. The black merchants offer is surprising but it's not enough. Everyone knows that, that's why it didn't take long until the black merchant added another condition to his officer.

"…and I will help out from time to time." After saying that, he looked at fury and Natasha alternately. Again, he ignored agent Coulson, it's as if agent Coulson is not in the room the way Fury and black merchant are talking. The air around agent Romanov can be interpreted as "wanting to empty her gun than talk".

In agent Coulson case, it is a good thing that everyone is ignoring him. His jaw dropped so low because this is his first time seeing one spy court another spy right in front of the spy's boss which is the top spy in America.

"Natasha?" Fury did want to agree to the man's offer but he respects Natasha's opinion. That is why he asked. At this time, fury is facing Natasha and his back is facing the black merchant. Even so, no one in the room thinks that Fury is defenseless. In fact, to agent Coulson, it looks like fury is daring the black merchant to attack.

"Your offer is good, but that is not enough to make me kiss you." Natasha spoke in a sweet manner but her hand has not moved since she aimed at the black merchant. If Fury gives the word, she was prepared to empty the magazine of her sidearm and reload her backup magazine as quickly as she can.

"Hmm…" the black merchant placed his hand into his chin and appears to be thinking. "How about this?" he says as he tossed a bracelet to the table.

The bracelet looks like a cheap handmade one that cost 99 cents or less. It looks like three rolls of cheap copper wire with three ugly marbles sized beads.

Natasha eyed the bracelet and asked "what is it?"

"It's better to see its effects first. That would make the explanation easier. Why don't you wear it first?" Even if he knew that Natasha would be apprehensive, she is not a coward. She looked at the bag beside the black merchant. If he really brought a nuclear bomb in fury's office then it's not farfetched to think that he has the means to make it explode. And as for threats goes, that is more than enough for anyone. There would be no need to use a bracelet for any funny business.

Natasha holstered her sidearm and wore the bracelet on her left hand. She then looked at the black merchant and raised her brow as if to ask him to continue speaking.

"Remove one of the beads and tap it into any item in the table." Natasha did as black merchant asked and the pen in Fury's table disappeared. "The pen should be stored inside the bead. To remove the pen from the storage space, simply squeeze it five times."

The pen fell down the table as Natasha followed the black merchants' instructions. They all looked shocked at the abilities of the bracelet.

"How big is the space inside the beads?" Natasha asked while carefully placing the bead back to the bracelet. It may look ugly but she would pay a billion dollars for it if she could.

"Each bead has one cubic meter of space. I have a four more identical bracelets. I am willing to surrender them after you agree to my condition." He raised four fingers to emphasize that he still has four more of the wonderful bracelets. Even Fury is tempted.

Seeing Natasha about to agree but still apprehensive, the black merchant added an information. "If you place a drop of blood in each bead it will be bonded to you. You can then store and release items by simply thinking it. Lastly, you can view the inside of the beads anytime you want after you bound it."

Fury and Natasha both looked at each other and said in unison "We/I agree".

The black merchant was chuckling as he removed his wig and mask. The minute they saw his face, Fury relaxed. He knew Chris because he guarded him twice while Chris is still in school. Plus, as the only son of the legendary Arthur Black, there is no way that Fury would not know him.

Natasha on the other hand took her sidearm and emptied the clip in the direction of Chris.

Chris, who ignored agent Coulson the entire time, made a timely jump and hid behind Coulson. Seeing Natasha took another clip to reload her sidearm, Chris took out four bracelets from his pocket and waived it in the air.

"Don't shoot, you might accidentally destroy these precious artifacts." Chris said with a hint of remorse. He shouldn't have toyed with Natasha too much.

"Why don't you hand it to agent Coulson and let me show you how much I missed you." Natasha was preparing to shoot again when Fury motioned for her to stop.

After Natasha stopped, she holstered her sidearm and looked at Chris with kind eyes. She looked like she could not hurt a fly. Then she walked towards him and took the bracelets. After handing it to agent Coulson, she dragged Chris out of director Fury's room.

"I let you tase me and feed me sleeping pills for six months for your last mission because I knew you didn't like your mission and you are not getting any benefits from that mission. But now that you are getting something in return. Will you be my lover this time Natasha?" Chris, who is Arthur in reality, looked at the hot agent in front of him. He liked her for the longest time and she is the reason why he became a fan of the avengers.

Natasha was a little surprised. Although Chris has a body at the level of professional athlete, she thought that he was just another clueless billionaire, just like that spoiled brat stark. But apparently while she thought that he was at her mercy, he was actually simply toying with her.

"I will only agree if there will be no secrets between us." Natasha looked deep into Chris eyes. She was such a good actress that she even convinced herself that she will never keep a secret if he only agrees. Of course, any fan of avengers would know that the black widow is one of Fury's trusted people. She is not at liberty to disclose any of shields secrets, much less her own secrets.

Chris leaned in for a kiss. He was sure that this time Natasha would not push him away. "That's rich coming from you Natasha. I would agree to share with you a few family secrets but I don't think my father, retired general Arthur Black would allow you to know them. He would change his mind if you will marry me. Do you really want to know my secrets that badly? Enough to tie the knot?"

Although Chris whispered all that after his first kiss with Natasha, he is not in a hurry for her to answer. He leaned in for another kiss and got pushed away.

"I don't know," Natasha turned around and took two steps, "maybe if you give up your inheritance?"

"I could have my lawyers sell everything I own tomorrow morning and donate everything to charity. Then we could get married in the afternoon. Is that enough for you?" Chris moved towards Natasha as he was speaking. By the time he said his question, he was staring into Natasha's eyes.

"What if I am simply tricking you and would not marry you after you gave away your billions?" She may have asked a question that is out of her character as an elite spy. But she is still a girl and to take a chance with Chris she wants to know if he is really willing to abandon everything for her.

"Then you will learn something new." His voice was calm and he said those words without any emotion. Hoping that Natasha would not continue her question of 'what will you do if I betray you?'.

"Which is?" even if she is not an elite agent, anyone would be able to feel the darkness in those words. But, as someone who faces dangers every day, she is not afraid to ask.

"How a member of the black family acts when they are angry?" Chris walked away after saying that line. Before he reached the door, he turned back and said, "I think you prefer sleeping beauty over me. It would be better if you give it to me straight. I'm a big boy. I can take it."

Chris entered the door, headed for the stairs and opened a secret escape route. Which made the director of shields that is watching through the cameras curse.

"M*th*rf*ck*r," director fury cursed at Chris after he used one of the secret escape paths that even Natasha did not know. He wanted to send an army of agents at the exit of that path but calmed down after looking at four of the ugliest looking bracelets he has ever seen.

"If Romanov likes that guy, at least we got this."

Agent Coulson lamented entering the director's room. Everybody ignored him at the start and he learned of the craziness of the son of one of his heroes. Lastly, he could not help but feel bad at a director who would ignore a possibly active nuclear bomb in his room.

Chris knew that Natasha would never settle down like Hawkeye. In the movie, she may express interest to the hulk and captain America but in the end she remained single. That is why Chris was not confident in making Natasha his woman. Though there is a chance that she would become his lover for a few months. That is the best possible scenario that he could hope for.

He knew that Natasha can find him easily. He chuckled as he played with the tracer she placed in his pocket. Even at that situation she kept true to her training. He plans to drink in the bar for a while and give Natasha the opportunity to talk to him. If she does not visit him until midnight, he plans to stay away from the known scenes in the movies while still helping out. If she does, then he can become her lover/superhero for her.

Because he was enjoying playing around as a billionaire or a big bad general, he forgot to set Chris identity as someone that could love and respect. Not that he thought doing that would have made a change to Natasha's answer.

He really enjoyed his time as a general. If he did not keep tabs on fury then he might have forgotten to return the tesseract in time. Now, it is time to search for a little spider. What if he keeps it alive and increases its potential? Could he create a spiderman with stronger abilities?

Chris emptied several bottles of scotch and left at midnight. He placed the tracker along with a sticky note on the table. He wrote "at least I took a chance". Then he ignored the bartender who wants to call him a cap and take his keys. Since the bartender is insistent, he took the darts from three dart boards and shot all of them at the bullseye within a second.

The bartender can only look in amazement and forgot to take Chris's keys. He was not the only one that looked at Chris as he left the bar. Natasha Romanov is watching through her laptop. She hacked the bars cctv cameras and has been watching Chris for hours.

Chris disappeared that night. Shield tried using all their contacts, except former general Arthur Black, but they still failed to find him. Fury knew that Natasha would not agree to become Chris's lover. He thought about the bracelets and felt that it was a pity. This could change the spy world. Maybe he can ask Arthur's help so that he can keep them.