Hydro-Man and Sandman intended to surrender. It sounded somewhat bizarre, but it was actually perfectly logical—Hydra's attitude toward Molten Man and Cyclone was by no means focused on an active rescue, but rather active elimination. The moment they were at risk of being captured by Spider-Man or S.H.I.E.L.D., they would be liquidated immediately.
Conversely, they could only stay alive as long as they could guarantee they would survive to execute the next mission—which, of course, was a redundant point.
In short, these two intended to defect, but only on the condition that S.H.I.E.L.D. could guarantee their survival against Hydra's damned curse. That was the most fundamental requirement.
"I'm basically certain that scumbags like these never have good intentions. They'll definitely demand extradition to the United States or a trial in a Western or Northern European country, using what little non-core intelligence they have to bargain for a plea deal and immunity."
Silver Sable spoke to Spider-Man and the others inside her small base. Her Wild Pack had captured plenty of such lowlife criminals; often, to maintain the "objective neutrality" of the Wild Pack, they would hand particularly vicious supervillains over to local governments.
Essentially, in Europe where the anti-death penalty movement was rampant, these guys wouldn't even face an execution. They'd just find a place to continue living in leisure.
The Elementals were even more of a headache. They were spiritual lifeforms, which meant that once captured, if they managed to escape even once, the police would find it nearly impossible to catch them again. Furthermore, they were extremely dangerous; each one could easily cause massive destruction in a city of hundreds of thousands.
Hearing this, Felicia asked with a hint of curiosity and a touch of defiance, "Then what do you think should be done?"
"Interrogate them as they should be interrogated, question them as they should be questioned, and once you're done, find a spot to shoot them, dig a hole, and bury them—though these guys don't even have bodies, so you wouldn't even need to bury them." Silver Sable immediately voiced her radical opinion: "If you think that's not enough procedural justice, you can find a group of victims or their families and hold a public trial. Let everyone cast a vote for the death penalty."
"That logic... probably wouldn't fly in a society ruled by law."
"Yeah, that's why my top recommendation is still to shoot them during the enforcement process—unless they have intelligence we need, like these guys."
Silver Sable pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. She still didn't understand how Black Cat knew what Spider-Man was up to the moment he opened a portal, but Black Cat had indeed introduced her to a lot of things. Although those things were about Black Cat's father, the Walter Hardy, for some reason Silver Sable felt that the culprit who killed Felicia's father and the one who killed her own mother undoubtedly came from the same organization.
Namely, Hydra.
The mere thought of facing an evil organization that had penetrated the administrative agencies of various countries and was present everywhere sent a shiver down Silver Sable's spine. More terrifyingly, she couldn't actually guarantee that the Wild Pack was pure enough to be free of Hydra plants.
After all, most members of the Wild Pack didn't share the deep-seated hatred for terrorist organizations that Silver Sable and her father did. Most were retired special forces from various countries who came here just to earn a living, purely attracted by the high pay.
Therefore, the probability of Hydra infiltration was high.
All clues now pointed in one direction.
"Regardless, this isn't a problem we need to consider. We just need to hand it over to Fury..."
Before Peter could finish, Silver Sable's expression shifted. She looked at Spider-Man with a strange look. Peter froze for a moment before realizing: "Nick Fury isn't here, is he?"
"You guessed right, Spider-Man. Fury is indeed here. If I'm not mistaken, it's regarding the surrender of the Elementals."
Since Nick Fury had anticipated that Hydro-Man would surrender, he undoubtedly should have been prepared to negotiate. The group waited for Nick Fury's arrival. When he entered, they all stared at him. The "Old Salted Egg" lit a cigarette for himself, then stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at this group of young heroes, the oldest of whom was not yet twenty. "What? Looking at me like I'm going to give you the answers to your final exams."
"Wait, can you tell us?"
"If you wanted to, you could skip grades and go straight to university, Spider-Man. You could apply for grad school within two years. Don't tell me you still need exam answers."
After rolling his eyes at Peter, Fury first told them some good news: "First of all, your travel plans will be adjusted slightly. You'll soon receive news that something happened in Athens. Then, your tour group will cancel the trip to Athens and take you directly to Budapest."
Peter was stunned for a moment, then realized Nick Fury was starting to mess with Hydra. This sudden arrangement would certainly disrupt Hydra's plans and allow Fury to discover more of their outposts. Of course, that still wasn't the main point; the point was to catch Hydra off guard.
In Hydra's view, since Spider-Man was the smokescreen for the entire plan, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s movements would certainly follow this smokescreen. Even if the timing was intentionally offset, the itinerary would serve as a reference.
But Fury decided to go with a surprise attack. Regardless of how effective it would be, it was better than nothing.
"And let me tell you, we've secured some leads now. We can basically guarantee they'll stay alive, but we still need some time. Of course, we need to know roughly how much intel they possess. You don't need to tell us the details, just give us a general scope."
Nick Fury finished his cigarette quickly and blew out a smoke ring that made everyone feel uncomfortable. "By the way, Spider-Man, you're going to do the negotiating."
"Me? Why?"
"Because of trust. The Elementals' target is you, so if you negotiate, you're the most likely to gain their trust. Tell them that limited immunity, plea deals, and turning state's witness are all on the table. As long as they're willing to tell us something of sufficient value. We need to make them feel that they are valuable enough for us to negotiate."
Peter looked at Nick Fury and seemed to understand something. The Elementals, or at least Hydro-Man, believed they had enough leverage for S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect them. Meanwhile, what S.H.I.E.L.D.—specifically Nick Fury—needed to do was make Hydro-Man believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. believed he had those conditions.
Only if S.H.I.E.L.D. offered Hydro-Man enough leverage would he consider surrendering.
But judging from Nick Fury's attitude, it seemed S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't actually care about the leverage Hydro-Man held.
"The negotiation with Hydro-Man is also a smokescreen? You don't believe his surrender will be successful?"
"Don't make everything so obvious, Spider-Man." Nick Fury smiled. "You have to maintain some sense of mystery."
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