Ch. 250 If You're Unhappy, So Be It

Russell didn't really care about the power of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, not considering the superheroes of the Justice League.

For ordinary people, S.H.I.E.L.D. was indeed a behemoth.

If S.H.I.E.L.D. took serious action, they even had the power to overturn a small country.

But for someone like Russell with superpowers, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strength was just a minor issue.

Whether in the movie universe or in comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. could only handle relatively straightforward problems.

When it came to major global crises, they still needed the Avengers or other superheroes to step in.

"Cooperate? Bakshi is already under your command, and your position within Hydra must be significant!"

Although Russell had revealed a lot of information, Natasha didn't fully trust him.

Especially the fact that he had some cooperation with Hydra.

Due to time constraints, Natasha couldn't thoroughly investigate Bakshi.

For example, finding out what position Bakshi held within Hydra and what tasks he was responsible for.

But just by looking at Bakshi's connections with other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, it was clear that his status within Hydra couldn't be too low.

Even if Bakshi was just a negotiator, he needed to have a substantial identity.

"I currently only have some cooperation with Hydra. I can't be considered one of them."

"At least their internal members wouldn't acknowledge me as one of their own," Russell said seriously.

He wasn't deceiving Natasha; he was telling the truth.

Although he had nominally joined Hydra after being recruited by Bakshi in the past, both Whitehall and Pierce were well aware that their so-called alliance was mainly for the purpose of cooperation. 

Otherwise, when they went to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Norwegian base to steal the Symbiote Dragon, Whitehall and Pierce wouldn't have offered him any compensation. 

It was only natural for subordinates to follow their leader's orders. If you needed compensation to do something, you weren't a subordinate; you were a mercenary.

Natasha remained silent for a long time, frowning at Russell.

Although her intuition told her that Russell's relationship with Hydra wasn't just cooperation, she didn't have any evidence to refute it at the moment.

After thinking for more than ten seconds, she spoke, "Even if you and Hydra really have only a cooperative relationship, are you not afraid that sharing this information with me will affect your cooperation with Hydra?"

"No need to be afraid. After all, you didn't tell Nick Fury about the brainwashing, did you?"

"If you find it hard to understand, you can consider it as my little gift to you."

Russell smiled.

"These things you mentioned, I will verify them."

"As for the brainwashing you did to me, after this matter is over, I will settle the score with you slowly."

Natasha said sternly.

"No problem, anytime."

Although Natasha's tone had a hint of threat, Russell didn't take it to heart.

Even Natasha's threat, let alone S.H.I.E.L.D.'s threat, didn't bother him now.

After giving Russell a resentful look, Natasha got up and left the room.

Watching Natasha's retreating figure, Russell sighed helplessly.

He hadn't expected that Natasha had been able to break the brainwashing effect due to the attack of the Mind Stone.

But this wasn't a serious matter; at most, it could be considered a small accident.

Seeing that Natasha had come to him to discuss this matter privately rather than reporting it to Nick Fury, Russell could roughly guess what Natasha was concerned about.

For Captain America Steve Rogers and Hawkeye Clint Barton, S.H.I.E.L.D. was like any other workplace.

Although they also respected S.H.I.E.L.D., it was still just a job, and they didn't invest too much personal emotion in it.

But Natasha was a bit different.

Although Russell didn't know how Nick Fury had managed to recruit Natasha into S.H.I.E.L.D., from Natasha's behavior, it was clear that she had a different emotional connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. than Rogers and Barton did.

After Natasha left the room, Russell patiently waited for Diana.

A few minutes later, Diana returned to the room.

Once back in the room, Diana came to Russell's side and told him about her conversation with Nick Fury.

After listening to Diana's account, Russell said with a smile, "Don't worry about him. S.H.I.E.L.D. is just paying lip service to maintaining world peace. If a real crisis occurs, they won't be able to handle it."

Nick Fury's conversation with Diana just now was simple, or rather, naive. He was trying to recruit Diana into S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Although he offered some attractive conditions, Diana rejected him without hesitation.

While they were in the room, Russell and Diana left for the deck.

The disguised aircraft carrier, now in its true form, sailed through the sky like an airborne fortress.

The air on the deck was a bit thin, but it wasn't a problem for Russell and Diana, who could rely on their own abilities to fly.

On the vast deck, aside from the securely anchored aircraft, there wasn't a soul in sight.

Just as they arrived on the deck and had taken several laps around, a hovering cloak flew up to Russell.

Just as the Cloak of Levitation was about to drape itself over him, Russell stopped it and draped it over Diana instead.

Although Diana didn't feel cold at all, it wasn't about whether she was cold or not; it was about courtesy. Walking on the deck of the airborne carrier with his girlfriend was a novel experience for Russell.

Of course, to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who saw Russell walking on the deck with his beautiful girlfriend, it seemed a bit like showing off.

While others were busy working and had to work overtime even on weekends, Russell was leisurely strolling with his gorgeous girlfriend.

Russell knew that his actions might not sit well with the agents, especially the single male agents, but he didn't care.

Unhappy? So be it!

Staying at S.H.I.E.L.D. had no future!

If it weren't for the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have the power to take down the three Black Order generals who had stolen the Cosmic Cube, everyone could have had a nice weekend instead of working overtime on a big weekend.

Although walking on the deck of the airborne carrier in flight had its own charm, it would quickly become boring.

The reason was simple: there wasn't much to see around.

After walking around the deck for more than ten minutes, Russell and Diana returned to their room.

Banner and Reed were busy setting up algorithms to track gamma rays, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were using various monitoring methods to locate the three Black Order generals hiding somewhere.

Although Russell could have had Number 3 join the search operation, he had no intention of doing so.

When the time was right, the three Black Order generals would naturally appear; there was no need to rush.

What was more important was that the current situation was completely different from what he remembered, and he had no way of predicting the whereabouts of the three Black Order generals.

If the one who stole the Cosmic Cube was Loki, he could know where to look.

But the Black Order generals were clearly not Loki.

Not only did they not take Barton, but they also didn't take Dr. Selvig, who was in charge of researching the Cosmic Cube.

Just based on these two points, it was clear that they wouldn't use Loki's method to open a stable portal.

But this was also normal; after all, the Black Order generals seemed to be much stronger than Loki, and they didn't seem to enjoy playing tricks like Loki did.

If it were Ebony Maw, there might be a chance that he would arrange something similar to what Loki did.

Time passed slowly.

Because there were no entertainment facilities in the room, Russell had to open a portal to return to New York for a while.

Then he returned to the room with a modified game console.

This game console had been specially modified by No. 3, adding holographic projection capabilities and enhancing the wireless network.

With the game console in hand, Russell and Cloak of Levitation began to play games.

As for Diana, she sat in a chair, reading a thick book on archaeology.

Although Diana had resigned from the museum, archaeology had become a small hobby of hers.

While Russell and Cloak of Levitation were playing games, Tony Stark, who should have come to the airborne carrier before it took off, finally arrived with his Mark VI suit.

After taking off the Mark VI suit and storing it in one of the ship's storage rooms, Tony Stark went to the bridge.

Upon realizing that Russell and the others were not on the bridge, he decisively headed to Russell's resting room.

As the door opened, Tony Stark saw Russell and Cloak of Levitation playing games, as well as Diana, who was sitting quietly reading a thick book exuding an intellectual beauty from head to toe.

Although Tony Stark had seen Diana's picture in some newspapers and news articles before, seeing her in person gave him a sense of pleasant surprise.

"Not knocking on the door isn't a good habit!"

As Tony observed Diana, Russell's voice rang out.

Hearing Russell's words, Tony finally took his gaze away from Diana and said to Russell, "While everyone else is busy looking for the Cosmic Cube, you're here playing games with...with a piece of clothing?"

"A piece of clothing?"

Although the Cloak of Levitation didn't recognize Tony, when it heard Tony describe it as a piece of clothing, it turned around to "look" at him.

Although the Cloak of Levitation was just a magical cloak and couldn't express its thoughts with facial expressions like humans, it conveyed its displeasure the moment it "looked" at Tony.

Um...

What's this new invention again?

Seeing the Cloak of Levitation, Tony's expression turned a bit awkward. He had no knowledge of magic and treated the Cloak of Levitation as a high-tech product similar to the Iron Man suit.

"Leave the professional stuff to the professionals. I'm only good at fighting. Finding people and such, S.H.I.E.L.D. is more professional than I am."

Russell stood up, put down the game controller, and said slowly.

"Come out for a chat!"

After hearing Russell's words, Tony looked at Diana, who was reading, and said to Russell, "Alright!"

After leaving the room, they went to the recreation room of the flying aircraft carrier.

Although it was called a recreation room, there was no one inside the spacious room.

They found a seat at random and sat down. Tony said to Russell, "I just went to the bridge and left something there."

Upon hearing this, Russell raised an eyebrow.

This guy didn't let J.A.R.V.I.S. start hacking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database again, did he?

Although Russell had guessed that Tony's little thing was probably a cracking program, he didn't directly mention it.

"What little thing?"

Russell pretended to know nothing and asked casually.

"Not understanding the truth will lead to incorrect conclusions. Nick Fury brought us here for more than just recovering the Cosmic Cube. He must have more secrets behind him."

"I left a data interface on the bridge to make it easier for J.A.R.V.I.S. to run the cracking program."

"Once J.A.R.V.I.S. completes the decryption of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s confidential files, we will not only know what Nick Fury is hiding, but also all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty secrets."

Tony said confidently.

"That's not necessary. S.H.I.E.L.D. offered me the condition that I can search for the information I need from their database."

Russell said with a shrug and a smile.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't open all their confidential files to him, they would probably grant him access if he asked for it.

After all, he still had value to them, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't want to upset him at this time.

Um...

After hearing Russell's words, Tony's expression turned somewhat ugly, and he asked in confusion, "Why would they offer you such a condition?"

"It's quite normal because they don't have much to attract me with at the moment. Besides, I recently had No. 3 infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. New York branch's database."

Russell shrugged and laughed.

When he said this, Tony fell silent.

Just a moment ago, Tony thought he could discover S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hidden secrets before Russell.

But he didn't expect that S.H.I.E.L.D. would offer Russell access to their database as a reward.

This made Tony feel like a clown, doing useless work.

Seeing Tony's expression darken, Russell continued, "Your actions were just a little late, but they weren't entirely meaningless."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. may have agreed to let me access their database, but they definitely won't open all their information to me, especially the things they don't want us to know. So, your plan to have J.A.R.V.I.S. decrypt the classified data still has its value."