Charles had barely finished nodding when the door opened.
Natasha Romanoff stood framed in the doorway like trouble in black leather. Ryuuto's jaw tightened—he'd known she'd come for him. He stepped out into the corridor and led her to a quieter stretch.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"I came to ask you one thing," Natasha said bluntly, eyes like flint. "Did you kill those people?"
"It was the snake that ate them," Ryuuto replied coolly.
"I know the victims were swallowed by a serpent," Natasha said. "But you changed that snake. Now the military thinks you and Magneto are allied. The Avengers want to detain you. I don't want that scene. Ryuuto—tell me you were under Loki's scepter. Say it was control, or it's going to get ugly."
"Control?" Ryuuto laughed, the sound cold. "Natasha—no court in this world is qualified to try me. Tell the Avengers to try, and I'll return the favor. If the Avengers become my enemy, I'll fight them. If you stand with them, I won't spare you either."
Natasha searched his face, looking for a joke. There was none. Ryuuto's expression had the flat, dangerous calm of someone who'd decided a boundary. Natasha had come hoping to defuse things; she didn't expect to be met with a line like that.
After a pause she said, softer, "Then give me an order."
Ryuuto blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You saved my life," Natasha said. "You once told me you'd one day give me a single order I couldn't refuse. I want it now. Tell me to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers and stand with the X-Men. Tell me to follow you."
Ryuuto shrugged. "I won't force you. Your life is yours. If you choose to switch sides, that's your choice. But once you pick, you can't change your mind and crawl back. If you say you'll join the X-Men and later run back to S.H.I.E.L.D., I won't accept it."
Natasha gripped his hand for a second—more plea than command. Ryuuto pulled back and said, "Choose by your own will. Don't let others master your destiny."
Those words landed harder than she expected. Natasha had been forged out of orders—Soviet extraction, black ops training, a life of missions. She'd never had a clean choice. The idea that she could—no, should—decide for herself hit a nerve.
"Will they welcome me?" she asked.
"Have you decided?" Ryuuto countered.
She hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."
"And if you end up opposing Banner or Steve someday?" he asked, eyebrow raised.
"Banner? Please. Once he's the Hulk, I'd lose anyway," she smirked. "Steve… I could handle Steve."
Ryuuto snorted. "Fine. Once you decide, don't change your mind. If you meet them on the battlefield, don't chat. You do your job."
"I'm ninety years old, apparently," Natasha scoffed. "And you—what, eighteen? You lecture me?"
"Body age matters more than biological age," Ryuuto said dryly. "If we count actual age, Wonder Woman would be the granny of the Justice League."
They traded barbs—the kind that hide the serious things beneath. Natasha asked, half-joking, half-curious, "Are you not afraid of the Justice League? Superman, Flash, Green Lantern—those guys are a handful."
"Call them," Ryuuto shot back. "Let's see which is bigger—me or their legends."
"Are you insane?" Natasha whispered.
"Just curious," he said with a lazy grin.
Natasha's hand found her comms but she didn't open the channel. She flicked a silent signal instead—no voice, just a coded ping between them.
After a long breath she said, "We should leave—now."