Natasha looked at Shiller in surprise, uttering a sound of confusion. "Huh?"
"I just ca here to distract others. You should be able to imagine when I say that I'm going to go causing trouble for other gods again, what asures they would take, don't you?"
"At least they would definitely follow you."
"To prevent them from following , I staged a death show." Shiller turned to look at Natasha, gave a mischievous smile and said.
"All those involved in the 'fishing' activity understand and similarly understand you. They would not believe we perished together because we had a falling out. Knowing , they will surely think that it's just who led you into this."
"That's true."
"Even if these people cannot figure out that I deliberately set a trap to let soone else kill to find 'Death', the bait I left earlier will be enough for two geniuses to figure out my whereabouts."
"There should be Tony Stark, right?"
"Of course, it includes him. I deliberately overlooked the mini life monitoring device he had installed in my watch. I also added a bit of drama to my old residence, which they're most interested in."
"Under my intentional guidance, they would start to speculate why I am interested in death. Even though they might not be so sure, since I'm dead now, they could only proceed according to their original thoughts, guessing that I might repeat my old tricks and seek Death again."
"With this, the attention of all people will be drawn to Death."
"Yes, I am uncertain about others, but Tony would definitely go to find Death for an explanation, and this wouldn't be his first ti."
"But by the ti he finds Death, you will have left the Realm of Death, won't you?"
"We both will leave the Realm of Death. By the ti Tony asks Death for help, Death won't be able to assist him; inevitably, a conflict would arise. Maybe this group of people would have to team up against Death, giving enough ti to go and bother Oblivion."
"It seems like you're spending more energy dealing with your friends." Natasha pointed out, hitting the nail on the head: "The problem with gods is just a pretext, you just love playing hide and seek."
"Also, it's like taking revenge for the Doctor Schiller you know so well. He can't bear to trick his friends, but I'm different. Of course, I'm not a quack, just slightly more unscrupulous than him."
Shiller reached out his hand and made a gesture indicating 'a little bit more'.
In the small cottage by the lake, Nick, scenting the sll of blood, switched instantly from his relaxed vacation deanor to his professional posture as the King of Special Agents and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director. "Everyone get out! Don't contaminate the cri scene!" He roared at everyone who burst in.
With everyone leaving, Nick waved his hand and said, "Steve Rogers, co in and give a hand, Gwen Stacy, get gloves and fishing line to lay out a blood spatter trajectory!"
"Those with the surna Odinson, wait a mont and then co over to conduct a magic inspection. Professor X, could you please contact Tony Stark and Stephen Strange for ? I need to know their whereabouts imdiately!"
Everyone went about their tasks. Steve carefully went into the room. It wasn't that he was being overly dramatic but there was too much blood in the room. The blood on the floor, spattered on the walls, staining the sheets and quilt, left little space to step.
"How many gunshots did you hear?"
"I swear there were three." Steve took a deep breath, the impact of alcohol in his body rapidly receding. Nick stared at the pistol in Natasha's hand, a sight all too familiar.
"No doubt, Shiller instigated Natasha's anger." Nick took a few steps forward, looking at the sizable wound from Natasha's chest to abdon, and drew in a sharp breath: "On so level, Natasha must've also annoyed Shiller. Even if Shiller wanted to exploit Natasha's death, he wouldn't inflict such a severe injury."
"Natasha doesn't feel pain." Steve reminded.
"No, she just doesn't have a pain reflex." Nick shook his head in disagreent: "She can feel pain, but her body won't shrink back from it. That's the result of initial training and experintation, we tested it and the result was astounding."
"I think there must be so misunderstanding." Steve, frowning, glanced at Shiller and said, "Shiller wouldn't hurt Natasha like this, even in anger. He's not that kind of person."
"Shiller himself was seriously injured too." Nick carefully moved over the bloodstains to check Shiller's body. He reached for the gloves given by Gwen Spiderman, gently turned Shiller's head against the wall, and examined the wound on his collarbone and the side of his neck.
Thor stood at the door completely stunned. The look on his face conveyed two things: one was "I don't understand but I'm greatly shocked", the other was "Humans sure are interesting."
After a long pause, a booming voice ca from the door: "Loki Odinson! Listen up! Absolutely no dating humans, or I will lock you up for ten thousand years!!!"
Hela leaned on the door fra, looking at Nick and Steve in the room using fishing line to map out the blood spray direction, and lazily said, "If there's anything I can help with, feel free to ask."
"Wait a minute, madam, you may need to see if there is any scent of death here."
"Yes." Hela's answer was very succinct. Her added point was equally succinct: "There is the sll of death on all the dead."
"Didn't Death do anything unusual? She just took Shiller like this? Can you feel any sadness, anger or unwillingness after being forced?"
"The death lead is an automatic program." Hela's wording was very careful and modern for her age. She continued: "The Goddess of Death would not personally receive people. The majority of human souls from entering the Land of Death to lingering and eventually fading, would not attract her attention."
"Is there any residual magic energy around here?"
"As far as I can sense, no, but we can wait for the Supre Magician to make a more specific judgent."
"Thank you, ma'am. You've been a great help. I've got no issues here now, you can go back and rest."
Hela didn't linger. She took one last look at Shiller's corpse and then retired to her room. Thor continued to chastise Loki, whilst Sif and Gwen Spiderman were busy handing out tools, collecting evidence, running around.
After a while, Professor X pushed his wheelchair over and said, "Tony got back to . They think Shiller has returned to his old tricks and has gone looking for the Goddess of Death again. They're currently in the Holy Sanctuary, preparing to give Death a call, to ask what's going on."
"Then let them not co over here." Nick replied without turning his head: "We can only determine the process of death here; communicating with the Goddess of Death would need the two of them."
"Gwen!" An already busy Nick roared out, "Don't just stand by the door, check the wall over there for hair or fingerprints, any sweat stains, quickly!"
"Do you really think we'll find sothing?" Gwen Spiderman reluctantly complied. Surprisingly, she found a conspicuous piece of red short hair on the wall beside the door.
Nick and Steve simply traced the direction of the blood with fishline. Then Nick gestured Steve over and said, "I think I understand what happened now, Steve, co help out."
"You're Natasha; you're drunk and you knock on Shiller's door. But you're not there to flirt. There is no physical contact within the first two minutes of the door being open, Shiller even wanted to shove you off."
Nick stepped towards the door and grabbed the doorknob, while Steve pretended to be drunk, leaning on the door.
"But for so reason, he lets you in. You lean against the wall, leaving a strand of your hair."
"Then, suddenly!" Nick's elevated tone startled both Gwen Spiderman and Sif: "I grab you by the throat like this, push you against the wall, and you pull out a dagger, slashing my arm."
"We begin to fight fiercely." Skipping over that part, Nick dragged Steve to the bedside, held his throat with his arm, and said: "The most bewildering part is that I, or rather Shiller, slit open her abdon with a knife after strangling Natasha like this."
"What shocks is that even after this, Natasha still escaped his grip, knocked over the bedside table, got her gun, and shot Shiller three tis, one of them hitting the heart."
As he finished speaking, all the onlookers fell silent. The first to speak was Sif:" Two lunatics. Absolute lunatics."
"Can't they feel pain?" Gwen Spiderman exclaid unbelievably: "One nearly had her shoulder impaled, yet could strangle soone and cut them open with that sa arm. The other was gutted like an animal, yet managed to discharge three precise shots into the heart. What are they, monsters?!?!"
"They generally defy conventional judgent." Nick carefully examined stains on the ground, conjecturing: "I think that Shiller used Natasha. Both of them ended up in the Land of Death."
"How's Tony's progress in bringing them back?"
"Bad news," Charles paused before continuing, "Death denies everything and says she hasn't seen Shiller recently. Tony doesn't believe her. You all know how he is; the two of them had a massive fight over the phone. Tony's already on his way to the Land of Death."
Nick frowned, muttering: "This doesn't make sense, Death used to avoid Shiller like the plague. Now that Shiller's in the Land of Death, why won't she let him go? Did they make so sort of deal?"
"Tony won't let Shiller walk all over him," Steve stated, hands on his hips: "Regardless of any deals they might have made, Tony will definitely demand that Death release them. If Death refuses..."
Nick quickly strode out of the room, waving his hands, "Back to S.H.I.E.L.D, prepare for battle! Natasha..."
Nick instinctively wanted to call out to Natasha, but rembering that she's still lying dead on the ground, he clutched his head in exasperation: "Goddamn it! I paid her insurance up till 50 years from now. But she's going to be absent now?! Once Shiller cos back, I'll make him pay for this!"
Gwen Spiderman stood still, watching the others rush out. She turned and looked at the two bodies on the ground, saying in shock, "Wait! Did you guys just leave? Two people are dead! You can't just conclude the investigation like this!"
Gwen Spiderman, often present in this cosmos, wasn't aware of the existence of United Heavens and had little knowledge of Shiller's previous exploits. She dashed out, calling after Nick: "Wait, what about the bodies? Shouldn't we tidy them up?!"
"Agents will co to retrieve the bodies later," Nick's voice echoed down the hallway.
"Wait a minute! Aren't they your friends? They just died!! Hey, Captain Arica! Don't you have any comnt to make?!"
Steve, waiting downstairs, crossed his arms and looked up at Gwen Spiderman saying, "My advice is that you'd better finish revising your thesis soon, miss. Otherwise, Shiller will crawl up from Hell to find you tonight."
"Pfft, who's he trying to scare?"
That night, Gwen Spiderman sat shivering in a corner, clutching her blanket, looking at a silhouette knocking on the window from outside, she whimpered,
"Dean Schiller! Debts should be paid by those who owe them... I didn't kill you, you can't..."
"Go and revise your thesis!"
"...What?"
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