She knows that she will scream and roar. When that happens, she will produce a lot of flames that will contaminate the crime scene. She definitely doesn't want that, so she kept her mouth shut.
What they had found in Stella's apartment was the worst thing that she expected to have happened when Black Widow didn't show up. Be that as it may, it was what she was mostly expecting because there have been many such cases recently.
Many heroes have died because of the secret war between them and villains. So she was expecting it. But she didn't like it.
She thought to herself, "I caused all of these. It is my fault that so many good people are dead. If only I hadn't started the war, so many people would have lived."
She thought she was thinking in her head, but she had actually been muttering audibly for everyone to hear. What she said made the other four look at her. But only one of them came forward to console her.
This was an old man in a sharp black suit with a red tie. His hair was red, and so were his eyes. He said to her, "This is not your fault. You can't blame yourself for the actions of others. That's just silly."
She wanted to protest, but he raised his hand to silence her. She swallowed what she wanted to say, but her eyes continued to be defiant.
He said, "I know what you mean. You think you started the war, so you bear some responsibility for the repercussions of the war. But you're wrong about that because you didn't start this war."
"Let me ask you this. What was the reaction of everyone when they heard that there was going to be war?"
He nodded to her and said, "You may speak."
But she didn't seem eager to speak anymore. She was deep in thought as she tried to remember the faces of everyone around her when they heard about the upcoming war.
Eventually she replied, "They were happy. But that doesn't mean..."
She paused when she saw him raise his hand slightly to shush her.
He continued, "Let me ask you another thing. Who was the one that asked you to declare war? If it was your original intention, you should make it clear now."
She replied, "It was my boss. But they were doing it to protect me."
She began talking in a rush so that she could say everything she wanted to say before he asks her to be quiet.
"The villains blamed me for the death of Black Mantis. I didn't do it, but no one believed me. So the villains got angry, and my boss did what they could to protect me. It was my fault that..."
He raised his hand slightly, and she became silent again.
He said, "From what you have said, it wasn't you that killed Black Mantis. So it was not your fault that the war started. You are innocent in all of these as much as everyone."
"From what I know, it doesn't matter if you had truly killed Black Mantis or not. At that point, no one wanted the truth. What they wanted was an opportunity to fight and kill villains. They wanted to perform feats and gain popularity. They were happy that the war would happen. So you have no blame in this."
Then he shrugged. "You can continue to blame yourself, but it will be a stupid endeavor. All is fair in love and war. There is no use hemming and hawing about right or wrong."
"People will die in a war. Many people will die in a big war. Those are facts. You can either keep feeling sorry for the useless dead or you can get out there and kill the enemy like a good soldier."
"Now what will you do?"
She replied with determination, "I am a good soldier."
He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. Her burning hair didn't hurt him at all. He said to her, "Now go, kiddo. Go and kill more villains."
She shook his hand away and rushed out of the apartment. One of the remaining four approached the old man. It was a young blond boy in a kimono.
Under his kimono was a black and tight leather attire with knives strapped across every inch of the attire. But what people would see first is the kimono flowing around him.
He gave a thumbs up to the old man and said, "Nice going, geezer. You handled that very well."
The old man moved to slap the back of his head, but he was already gone. He had returned to his position before he began approaching the old man, so the slap missed.
It was as if he had never walked over to the old man in the first place. He smiled and began approaching the old man again. It was exactly in the same manner he did the first time. He had that same careless and frivolous attitude of someone with ultimate confidence in themselves.
"Don't be like that geezer-kun. I'm just giving you a compliment. Can't I give you a compliment?"
He sighed and said, "I died and went to hell. That's why I am being punished by a little devil like you."
The boy laughed. It was at that time that many heroes arrived. These heroes greeted the old man and the boy first. They bowed and showed the utmost respect. All it would take to silence anyone of them was a slight raise of the old man's hand.
Then they got to work after getting the pleasantries over. The old man and the boy stood side by side and overlooked their work like two overseas. Eventually the boy got bored. He began playing with his knives by juggling them.
He increased the number of knives he was juggling from 3 all the way to 10. He did so steadily and still had the intention to add more knives to the mix.