Ch. 268 Pushing Too Far

A manor in the suburbs of Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany.

From the outside, this manor appeared no different from other manors with a certain historical pedigree.

However, in reality, this was one of Gideon Malick's secret bases.

Or rather, it was a secret base of the Hydra.

Russell hadn't opened the exit of the portal inside the manor; instead, he opened it right in front of the manor's entrance.

As he and Skye stepped out of the portal, the guards at the manor's entrance had already drawn their pistols and aimed them at them.

Though they had guns pointed at them, Russell paid no attention to these guards and calmly looked at them.

Unlike the composed Russell, Skye involuntarily placed her hand on her hip where her own pistol was holstered, ready to draw and shoot at any moment.

"This is private property, no visitors allowed!" The guard in the center, who seemed to be the team leader, said sternly to Russell.

If Russell hadn't recognized him as he emerged from the portal, this guard would not have said a word to him but would have signaled with a gunshot instead.

"Tell Gideon Malick I'm waiting here for him for three minutes. If he doesn't come out, don't blame me for barging in," Russell ignored the guard's warning and spoke nonchalantly.

"There's no one here as you mentioned. I'll warn you one last time, leave now, or we won't be polite," the guard team leader said.

"Not polite to me?" Russell chuckled and shook his head upon hearing the guard team leader's words. "Alright, I'd like to see how impolite you can be!"

With that, Russell walked toward the guard as if he hadn't noticed the pistol pointed at his head.

Three meters, two meters, one meter...

Russell had expected the guard to open fire, but reality proved him wrong. Even as he approached the guard, who seemed to be the team leader, the guard did not pull the trigger.

After calmly sizing up the guard, he reached out his right hand and took the communicator from the guard's body.

"Gideon Malick, my patience is limited. You have two minutes and forty-five seconds left," Russell said, then tossed the communicator back to the guard in front of him.

He then turned and returned to Skye's side.

As soon as he came back, Skye whispered to him, "Aren't you afraid they might shoot?"

"Why should I be afraid? Their guns pose no threat to me," Russell said calmly.

"Just because you're not afraid of bullets doesn't mean I'm not. What if they start shooting at me?" Skye was getting annoyed.

"First, if you stand there like a log and get hit, it just means you haven't passed your recent training."

"Second, if you do get hit by a bullet, I can heal you, and there won't even be a scar."

"Lastly, before worrying about them shooting at you, you should check whose barrels they're pointing at."

Perkins could teach Skye close combat in the arena and shooting on the range, but real combat experience was something one had to gain firsthand.

Russell had brought Skye along not to be a bystander but to impart knowledge that couldn't be learned in the arena or on the range.

After saying this, Skye furrowed her brows and looked unhappy. Russell's words were all true, but hearing them still upset her, especially as a woman in her early twenties.

With a resentful glare at Russell, she continued, "If Gideon Malick doesn't come out, are you really going to break in?"

"Of course, I never joke about such matters!" Russell said.

Right after stepping out of the portal, Russell had used his enhanced vision and telescopic sight to assess the interior of the manor. While there were many Hydra soldiers inside, they posed no threat to him. Without advanced combat abilities to contend with, these soldiers were just numbers.

"Aren't you afraid that this might tarnish your reputation with the Justice League?" Skye asked in bewilderment. She didn't know Gideon Malick and had no idea who was inside the manor.

"Why should I be? They're all part of the Hydra. Killing them would be doing a service to the public," Russell replied, glancing at the guards in front of the gate.

Russell didn't lower his voice when he said this, so the guards could clearly hear him.

Hydra?

Skye widened her  eyes in disbelief. She couldn't have imagined that Russell's first mission for her would involve dealing with Hydra.

'I'm just a hacker! I can't handle a terrorist organization like Hydra!'

"It's just Hydra, no need to be so surprised. You'll encounter tougher enemies in the future," Russell said calmly.

For ordinary people, Hydra was indeed a dangerous terrorist organization. However, for superhuman individuals like Russell, Hydra, aside from having more manpower and resources, wasn't particularly noteworthy.

Not to mention Russell and the Justice League, even Daredevil and the Punisher, who he had defeated, had the ability to deal with Hydra.

Of course, it wouldn't be as easy for them as it was for Russell, and there was still the risk of death.

"You..." Skye had intended to call Russell crazy, but as she was about to say it, she remembered Russell's past achievements.

Um...

Compared to some of the enemies Russell had faced before, Hydra didn't seem like much. At least they weren't on the same level as Godzilla and extraterrestrial beings.

Time passed slowly.

Just when Russell thought Gideon Malick might choose to slip away or fight to the death, Gideon Malick arrived at the manor's entrance with his beautiful daughter, Stephanie Malick.

With them were several Hydra soldiers dressed in black suits.

And Gideon Malick's most powerful subordinate, Giyera, who could control non-living objects.

"Mr. Bradley, I apologize for not coming out earlier. Please don't take offense," Gideon Malick said with a smile as he approached Russell.

"Let's go in and talk!"

Russell glanced at Gideon Malick and his daughter Stephanie Malick, and said calmly.

Uh...

After hearing Russell's words, Gideon's expression became somewhat unpleasant.

He came out as Russell requested, but Russell said they should talk inside the mansion.

"All right!"

Gideon was indeed a clever person.

He didn't show any dissatisfaction and smiled.

A few minutes later.

In the mansion's guest room.

Russell and Skye sat on the same sofa, while Gideon and Stephanie sat on the opposite one.

Except for Giyera, one of Gideon's subordinates, Gideon didn't leave any other guards behind.

After serving tea to the four of them, a maid dressed in a maid's outfit left the guest room and gently closed the door.

When there were only a few of them left in the guest room, Gideon slowly said, "I'm not sure why Mr. Bradley has come this time."

Russell first picked up the hot tea on the table and took a sip before saying, "My artificial intelligence assistant contacted you a few days ago, and you know very well why I'm here."

"Your artificial intelligence assistant did contact me, but I'm not quite sure what it meant."

Gideon began to feign ignorance.

"If you're going to say that, then I don't think we need to talk."

Russell put down his tea cup and said to Gideon.

"Mr. Bradley, don't push it too far!"

Gideon's smile disappeared, and he said in a cold tone.

"Push it too far? Gideon, don't you find it a bit ironic for you to say such things?"

"You guys, do you even have the right to accuse me of pushing it too far?"

Russell had no intention of wasting any more words on Gideon.

If Gideon was willing to cooperate, he didn't mind sparing his life; after all, Gideon didn't have many good years left. But if Gideon didn't cooperate at all, he wouldn't care whether Gideon was the legitimate leader of the Hydra or what kind of trouble his death might cause.

The atmosphere in the guest room began to tense up.

Giyera, who stood behind Gideon, prepared to act at any moment.

Just then, Stephanie, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Mr. Bradley, that's not what my father meant."

"You want to talk to us about the Hive. Could you specify what exactly you want to discuss?"

Stephanie's words eased the tense atmosphere in the room to some extent.

"Very simple, I want that monolith you have that's headed for Maveth."

The Monolith?

Upon hearing his words, both Gideon and Stephanie couldn't help but furrow their brows.

They had thought that Russell had only learned about the Hive's information, but they hadn't expected him to know about the monolith in their possession.

If Russell wanted something else, they might have considered giving it. But the monolith was their only hope for retrieving the Hive from Maveth.

If they handed over the monolith to Russell, it would mean they were completely giving up on the hope of reclaiming the Hive, abandoning the tradition they had upheld for thousands of years.

"Mr. Bradley, since you know about the monolith and the Hive, you should understand how important this is to us," Stephanie said with a furrowed brow.

She now understood Gideon's helplessness from earlier.

"I know what you've been up to, and I know what you've done to try to bring back the Hive," Russell said. "But I can tell you very clearly that you have no idea what the Hive truly represents."

"You want to use the power of the Hive to rule Earth, but I can only say that you're overestimating it."

Russell didn't want to waste time explaining these things to them, especially when it came to finding out where Gideon had hidden the monolith.

"I don't quite understand your meaning, Mr. Bradley," Stephanie continued.

Russell didn't immediately respond to Stephanie but turned to Gideon.

Then, in a nonchalant tone, he said, "Since you know that the Hive can parasitize the bodies of others to achieve a different kind of immortality, you should also know that the Hive can fully access the memories of the original body's owner."

"Gideon, do you remember your agreement with Nathan?"

When Russell mentioned Nathan's name, Gideon wore an incredulous expression.

'How could he know about my dealings with Nathan?'

Gideon's reaction caught Stephanie's attention.

Initially, when she heard Nathan's name, Stephanie didn't immediately connect it to her unseen uncle. But seeing Gideon's expression, she quickly realized.

At the same time, she remembered the supreme sacrifice tradition that had been passed down in their family for thousands of years.

"What else do you know?" Gideon asked through gritted teeth.

"What I know doesn't matter," Russell replied calmly. "What matters is that when the Hive returns to Earth, none of you will survive."

"You're not Inhuman; in the eyes of the Hive, you're just food."

"You see the Hive as a god, but unfortunately, in the Hive's eyes, your status is no different from pigs and cattle."

The fact that Gideon and his group worshipped the Hive didn't surprise Russell. However, he believed they were being overly naive.

That's right!

If they could bring the Hive back to Earth, it might indeed help them conquer the planet. But they overlooked a crucial issue: their ideals relied on the assumption that the Hive was a benevolent entity.

However, the reality was that the Hive wasn't benevolent.

More importantly, even the Kree, who had originally created the Inhumans, couldn't fully control the Hive and had no choice but to exile it to Maveth.

Gideon and the others only saw the Hive's power and completely ignored its danger.

The Hive was never a god.

If anything, the Hive was a devil, a devil beyond anyone's control.

After Russell's reminder, Gideon began to contemplate many questions he had never thought about before.

After several seconds of deep thought, he spoke again, "If I give you the monolith, how will you deal with the Hive?"

"Very simple, I'll eliminate it completely!" Russell replied calmly.

Upon hearing this response, Stephanie wore an incredulous expression.

She hadn't expected her father, Gideon, to completely change his mind in just a few seconds.

That was the Hive, the god of the Hydra, the Hive they were willing to sacrifice their people to bring back.

"How will you do it?" Gideon asked again.

"That's none of your concern; all you have to do is give me the monolith!"

"In addition, as a gesture of goodwill, I'll allow you to bring some of your members undercover into my organization, thus avoiding capture and extermination by S.H.I.E.L.D."

The carrot and stick had always been the perfect combination.

After making threats, Russell didn't mind offering Gideon some carrots.