Arthur's gaze has never been limited to just Earth, or rather, his gaze had, without even realizing it, already begun to look toward the universe.
It's not because he plans to dominate or rule; he has no need for that sort of thing.
He has money, he has power, he has a beautiful girlfriend, in his eyes, for a man, that's already a pretty complete life. Wanting more would be greed.
And the reason he has thoughts like this now, to put it bluntly, comes down to two words… self-preservation!
A man may not have the heart to harm a tiger, but a tiger still has the intent to harm a man.
Thanos is the biggest tiger in this universe. If he cannot be dealt with, then all that completeness is just an illusion.
So, at a time like this, he expands his power as much as possible. Anything that can be fought for must be fought for.
Only by doing so can he gather effective combat strength and guard against future crises.
"Do you think I'm being a bit paranoid?"
Arthur took a sip of wine and gently exhaled: "Expanding my power at all costs, just to guard against some potential future threat. This kind of all-in mentality is a form of madness too, isn't it?"
Natasha looked deeply at Arthur, then shook her head: "You're not mad. You're just becoming even more irresistible."
"…We're talking about serious business here, aren't we?"
Arthur rubbed his forehead. Being liked this much by a woman was, indeed, a secretly satisfying thing.
But sometimes, it also brought some troubles.
Arthur asked himself if he could stay composed, but often he couldn't ignore the tangled emotions in his heart.
Every time he coldly rejected her, it was a wound to this woman who liked him.
"Your look is begging for a punch."
Natasha stared at Arthur, then suddenly bit her lip and said, "I enjoy it. You don't need to feel guilty toward me."
"..."
Arthur sighed, then said, "Anyway, think about this matter."
"No need to think about it," Natasha said. "Your orders are my mission to carry out. Since you think it's necessary, then I'll go do it."
Natasha composed her emotions, then smiled and said: "Actually, I don't need any reason. You're right. No matter when, wherever you are, I'll be there too."
"..." Arthur looked at Natasha. A long while later, he finally smiled: "Without you guys, I wouldn't be able to do anything."
"That I believe."
Natasha said, "At the very least, you're not an expert in everything. But there's still a problem, we need to figure out how to negotiate with Xandar. To be honest, I don't think one crisis is enough to make the people of Xandar so grateful that they'd accept all our conditions."
"Then we can only rely on… fate."
Arthur smiled.
"I thought you'd resort to some unorthodox methods."
Natasha shrugged: "For example, secretly helping that guy Ronan, so Xandar suffers even greater losses. Or even standing by for a few hours, waiting until Xandar is completely helpless before showing up like a savior. That would definitely make everyone on Xandar go crazy for you! No matter what conditions you propose, they'd probably accept them."
Arthur chuckled, then shook his head: "Using unscrupulous means is unacceptable. Chasing quick success might end up backfiring. I don't hide my goals and ambition, but I'll still do what I should when necessary. If it doesn't work out in the end, then that's just fate!"
"Whose fate?"
Natasha didn't quite understand the meaning of this word.
"Everyone's."
Arthur's words were vague and obscure, and Natasha didn't understand them.
In fact, this kind of thing wasn't something Arthur could explain anyway. If Xandar ultimately rejected his proposal, then when Thanos started moving, they would most likely become cannon fodder in the universe.
Although back then, the reason Thanos went to Xandar was because of the Power Stone, but who can guarantee that when the Power Stone is no longer on Xandar, Thanos won't suddenly have a moment of madness, or that he won't, for some other reason, go sweep through Xandar?
After all, no one knows where the Power Stone is now. This matter is somewhat related to Xandar, and that might lead Thanos to misunderstand something.
And once there's even the slightest disturbance, Xandar might end up as scorched earth!
Natasha shrugged: "Alright."
The conversation ended there. The two didn't continue speaking, just sat drinking separately.
Natasha occasionally glanced at Arthur, extremely quiet.
But very soon, that silence was broken. Spider-Man jumped and bounced his way over to the two of them.
To be honest, his liveliness made Arthur a bit envious.
And this guy's personality was also admirable.
It's not that he hadn't experienced major trauma; the death of his uncle was a wound that would never heal.
But he was able to come out of that pain, stand back up, and go do the things he ought to do; this isn't a quality that everyone has.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Spiderman paused when he saw Arthur and Natasha, then blinked: "Or is this… not safe for kids time?"
Arthur's mouth twitched. This kid is good in every way… except for his mouth.
Natasha looked at Arthur with a half-smile: "Is what we're doing right now something that can't be seen by others? Or… is it what we're going to do next that should be only between the two of us?"
This woman… sometimes she's understanding, but once she gets an opening, she'll tease him to death.
At that moment, he glared at Spider-Man with a dark expression.
Spiderman looked embarrassed: "Uh, I didn't know you were going to do something I shouldn't see, but Iron Man seems to have something he wants to talk to you about…
Oh! I get it now, they tricked me! That's why they sent me over instead of coming themselves, because they knew what you two were doing!"
"Damn it!"
Arthur's face had been dark just now, but now it turned red: "I'm telling you, this kind of thing isn't something you can say so casually!"
Natasha's shoulders trembled, laughing so hard she nearly burst into flowers: "I'm starting to really like this kid more and more."
Arthur stood up with a black face: "Parker, I think you and I need to have a serious talk!"
"Yeah, right! Every time you say you want to talk to me, it's your fists doing the talking. I'm not falling for that again!"
After saying that, a spider web shot out, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone without a trace.
Arthur naturally wouldn't let him off. His figure flickered, and he disappeared from the spaceship in an instant.
Only Natasha remained. After laughing, her eyes inevitably revealed a hint of sorrow and loneliness...
(End of Chapter)
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