"Taking me with you isn't an option, is it?" She laughed self-deprecatingly. "I belong here. S.H.I.E.L.D., those troublemakers on the Avengers team—they all need me. And I still have... debts to repay."
"But," her voice suddenly hardened with absolute conviction, "Cloud, I can become your 'eyes' in this world."
"I'll watch over this world for you. Watch over the Council we built together. Watch over everyone and everything you find interesting—or despise. No matter where you are, whenever you want to 'see'... I'll always be your beacon."
She didn't say love. She didn't say like. But this bet—wagering an entire world, the ultimate loyalty of a top-tier spy—was heavier, more moving than any "I love you."
Cloud turned around and looked into those green eyes, still bright as stars even in the darkness. His heart stirred slightly.
He reached out and gently caressed her cheek.
"Silly woman."
...
The second to find him was Wanda.
It was an afternoon. Cloud was teaching her how to use chaos magic to bake Portuguese egg tarts—crispy on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth on the inside.
She said nothing. She simply handed Cloud a freshly baked, still-steaming tart, then fixed him with those deer-like pure eyes—now filled with determination and longing.
"Cloud..." She finally mustered her courage and spoke softly. "I want... to go with you."
"Oh?" Cloud raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"I want to see your world." Wanda's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried strength. "You told me my power can create stars, create moons, even create a perfect world. But I don't want to live in illusions of the past anymore."
"I want to see with my own eyes this world full of 'qi' and 'martial arts' that you've described. I want to meet all those interesting, powerful friends you've told me about. I want to become stronger—strong enough that one day, I won't just be your 'student' anymore, but a 'partner' who can truly stand beside you and fight at your side..."
She looked at Cloud, her eyes shining with unprecedented light—the most brilliant radiance of a young woman who had finally found her new direction in life. This pure devotion, untainted by any ulterior motive, touched Cloud's heart.
He took the egg tart and took a bite.
Very sweet.
...
The third to "intercept" him was Diana.
When Cloud was about to visit Batman to "borrow" the Batwing for research, she blocked him on Stark Tower's rooftop helipad. The Amazon princess remained as heroic and elegant as ever, but her eyes were filled with conflict and struggle she'd never shown before.
"You're... really leaving?" Her tone was complicated.
"Yep." Cloud spread his hands. "What, can't bear to let me go, Your Highness?"
"Who—who can't bear to let you go! You scoundrel!" Diana's face flushed slightly, but she quickly recovered her composure. "I've come on behalf of the Justice League and the Multiversal Guardian Council to express our most sincere gratitude."
"Oh, is that all?" Cloud's smile was full of mischief.
"...Not entirely." Diana's gaze began to waver. "I just wanted to ask... that philosophical discussion about the 'New Gods' you mentioned before... does that still count?"
By the time she asked this, her voice had shrunk to barely a whisper.
Cloud smiled. He knew this proud, pure goddess—who bore the mission of protecting humanity—had been moved.
But her sense of responsibility and divine pride prevented her from confessing her feelings like an ordinary girl.
She was caught between her duty to protect humanity and her pursuit of love—hesitating, conflicted. This interweaving of divinity and humanity made her uniquely adorable.
...
And the last one, the most difficult to deal with, was Harley Quinn.
She didn't come for late-night heart-to-hearts or philosophical discussions. The moment Cloud finished packing his meager belongings (mainly a case of unfinished cola) and prepared to tear open a spatial rift to go home, she launched herself at him from behind like a koala, wrapping around him and clinging like a remora refusing to let go.
"You can't leave! I won't let you leave!" Her voice was tearful, filled with the unreasonable stubbornness of a child.
"You big meanie! You liar!" She wailed. "You said you'd turn all of Gotham into a disco with me! You said you'd give me a real Mjolnir that could beat Bat-brain into the ground! Now you've had your fun and want to run? Not happening!"
She clung to Cloud's leg and started rolling around on the floor, her cries neurotic and ear-splitting—exactly like a kid whose favorite toy was about to be confiscated.
"...I don't care! I don't care! You're mine! My new Puddin'! My big toy! If you dare leave, I'll—I'll use my 'Devotion Hammer' to smash this whole world to pieces so you can't come back even if you wanted to!"
Faced with this epic-tier, extinction-level tantrum, everyone present—Natasha, Wanda, Diana, even Tony and Steve who had come running after hearing the commotion—was completely dumbfounded.
Nobody had expected the solution to this ancient dilemma would come down to such primitive yet effective methods.
Cloud was utterly defeated. He looked at this crazy girl clinging to his leg—crying and snotty, makeup completely ruined, yet with eyes full of that "if you leave I'll die in front of you" manic obsession—and heaved a sigh even more exhausted than when he'd been fighting the Celestials.
"What kind of sins did I commit in my past life..."
He raised his head and met the gazes of three other stunning beauties, all looking at him with expressions that clearly said "you need to give us an answer today." A top-tier spy willing to become his eyes and watch over an entire world in silence. A growing young witch willing to abandon everything and follow in his footsteps. A demigod princess torn agonizingly between duty and love. And a crime princess currently throwing a tantrum while clinging to his leg.
This was an impossible, unsolvable question.
But Cloud was Cloud precisely because he never played by the rules.
Just when everyone thought he would make some agonizing choice, he suddenly laughed.
In that laughter was the relief of having solved a cosmic-scale crisis, but also the excitement of someone about to embark on a "grand project"—the kind of excitement that came from being ridiculously, obscenely overpowered.
"Who said I have to choose?"
He looked at the four goddesses before him—each utterly different in style, yet each capable of making his heart race—and announced with the matter-of-fact, unquestionable authority of a sovereign:
"Only children make choices."
"I, Cloud..."
"...want it ALL!"