Hydro-Man returned to the base. Nominally, he had completed an escape, successfully slipping away from Spider-Man and gathering more intel. In reality, however, Hydro-Man knew that Spider-Man had seen his subtle hint, and they would soon have their next contact.
He secretly found his only remaining teammate, Sandman Flint Marko. The two had previously discussed the idea of surrendering, and Marko agreed with Hydro-Man's plan. After all, Cyclone's death had been far too decisive, leaving no room for maneuver; he had been discarded just like that.
Anyone witnessing that would feel a chill in their heart.
"But can this really work?" Marko couldn't help but ask. "You have to know, since you and I both know we aren't that loyal to Hydra, the Hydra people must know it too. They'll definitely be on guard against us."
"I know that, of course. That's why we absolutely won't defect until S.H.I.E.L.D. proactively offers us asylum and helps us resist the curse. We have to put our own lives first."
Hydro-Man spoke without reservation. "We have to protect ourselves. What are we out here for? To conquer the world for Hydra? What a joke. We're here to make money. Even accepting the modification was just to make more money, bigger money!"
Sandman didn't think money was life's only ideal, but he was close enough. He just wanted to make a fortune to do bigger things. The only reason he joined Hydra was because only an organization as utterly devoid of morality as Hydra would be willing to conduct human experimentation on them and transform them into superhumans.
Without superpowers, they were nothing.
But now, if they were expected to risk their lives—sorry, they couldn't do it.
Sandman's worry was that Hydra had surely detected these little thoughts. If they actually went through with it, Hydra might just physically eliminate them both. Their core demand was not to die, so they were politely declining any form of death if they could help it.
After further secret deliberations, the two made a decision. They would quietly leave a message for Spider-Man the next day to see if he could find it, and then arrange a meeting to negotiate.
"Is it true? When that giant water golem appeared, you ran out of someone's bedroom?"
Jessica was quietly teasing Felicia about a topic that made Felicia want to bury her head in the table. Felicia was currently drowning in regret—immense regret. Why had she taken the front door just for convenience? Why hadn't she just jumped out of the window?
"That was a misunderstanding. I went into the wrong room. Why is everyone always so interested in this kind of news?"
Felicia, on the verge of a breakdown, fabricated an excuse. Jessica clearly didn't believe it: "How did you get in without that room's key card?"
"His door was unlocked!"
Fine, then.
Seeing that Felicia clearly had no intention of dwelling on the subject, Jessica simply pursed her lips and dropped the investigation. Felicia, helpless, brushed her hair back. "I heard you were saved by Spider-Man yesterday?"
"Yes, that's right. And I've roughly figured out his height. If I'm given enough time, I'll be able to find him. But I've thought about it, and what my father said makes sense. I've already said thank you to him; maybe there's no need to find out who Spider-Man really is."
Felicia sighed and looked out the window, noticing some shimmering... air?
No, the air wasn't shimmering; rather, tiny water droplets were floating in the air, distorting the refraction of light. This was the signal from Hydro-Man, delivered with extreme caution.
I wonder if that kid can find it?
Peter had, of course, noticed. Wearing his stealth suit, he appeared on the rooftop, having arrived while invisible. After waiting a moment, he used dew to write on the floor of the terrace. As he finished a line, the water on the ground quickly began to move, forming a new line of text. Hydro-Man had begun to communicate with him.
Essentially, Hydro-Man was asking one question: could S.H.I.E.L.D. guarantee the safety of the two of them, and when could they guarantee it?
Peter, naturally, couldn't give a definitive answer. He could only say they were working on it and told them to wait, stay calm at the Hydra base, avoid causing serious damage, and wait for further notice. Then, Peter began to ask what kind of intel Hydro-Man had. It didn't need to be too detailed; just a general scope would do.
Hydro-Man understood. This was the bargaining stage. He needed to prove to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers that he was valuable. Thus, the two began a sharp negotiation.
Hydro-Man's bottom line was to guarantee his and Sandman's lives and exchange limited guilt for limited immunity. Of course, he initially made various demands, including things like becoming a star witness in exchange for a full pardon.
As for Spider-Man's side, Peter had no bottom line at all, because Fury didn't believe Hydro-Man would actually surrender.
He was entirely focused on preventing Hydro-Man from realizing S.H.I.E.L.D. was playing him. Therefore, the bargaining was purely to project an attitude of "we are indeed considering your proposal."
So, two people who weren't particularly good at negotiating had an awkward chat on the rooftop—one invisible, and one who wasn't even there physically—conducting an extremely inefficient exchange.
Hydro-Man felt like a master negotiator. Many of Spider-Man's originally harsh conditions were struck down bit by bit using the intel he held. This made him realize one thing: S.H.I.E.L.D. actually knew very little about their enemy. They didn't even know Hydra was behind it; they only knew a transnational criminal organization was pushing illegal human experiments for weapons expansion.
That meant he had plenty of chips on his side. By revealing just a tiny bit of inside info—without even leaking the name of Hydra—Hydro-Man gained massive concessions and finally finalized the agreement.
Both sides were very satisfied and headed home.
Hydro-Man's consciousness left after receiving confirmed news near the Hydra stronghold. Upon returning to the base, however, he unexpectedly received a peculiar piece of news.
"Spider-Man and the others suddenly adjusted their itinerary? They aren't going to Athens; they're going straight to Budapest?"
Hydro-Man was surprised. He looked toward Dr. Arnim Zola. "Then are we going to Budapest?"
"No, there is no need. Budapest is not a place for Hydra agents of your level to access." Arnim Zola chuckled. "Besides, we have some other matters to attend to, Mr. Morris Bench."