She split off two streams of water to form two dog leashes, looping them around the necks of Crossbones and the Winter Soldier.
Felicia dragged the two of them back into the house like dead dogs and began a rather unpracticed interrogation process:
"Spill it. Who sent you?"
Crossbones was choking so hard his eyes were rolling back; he couldn't say a single word at the moment.
Bucky, on the other hand, kept his mouth tightly shut, his eyes hollow—clearly, a silence protocol had been activated.
This was a bit awkward... Just as Felicia was feeling a bit helpless and even considering taking out her phone to search "how to interrogate a prisoner" online, tide, inside her, couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey, as my host, you know far too little about me!"
tide complained, and in an instant, two "data cables" branched off from its body, piercing the foreheads of the Winter Soldier and Crossbones.
"Can you blame me?" Felicia spread her hands helplessly like a little bear.
"I've only known you for less than half an hour!"
tide's mouth twitched. A moment later, it retracted its tentacles and shifted the topic somewhat unnaturally:
"You'll never guess what I read from their brains!"
"For real? You have a function to read other people's memories?" Felicia marveled.
"We Symbiotes have plenty of functions!" tide said, launching into a relentless narration of Crossbones' and Bucky's memories.
"You mean to say they're all Nazi remnants parasitic within S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"This long-haired guy is even Captain America's best friend, yet now he's been brainwashed by HYDRA into a secret weapon used against him?"
After hearing tide's explanation, Felicia's expression couldn't help but turn strange, as if she were imagining several scenarios that Fujoshi would delight in.
After a long while, she couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Wow, what a pair of ill-fated lovers."
"Compared to that, I think you'll be more interested in their plan," tide said, even its voice carrying a hint of strangeness at this point.
"What plan? Oh right, speaking of which, I haven't offended HYDRA, so why would they kidnap me? Is it to deal with Peter?"
Realizing this, Felicia's expression turned ugly. She, who originally hadn't known how to handle these two, was now considering whether to bury them directly in the garden or chop them up to feed the dogs.
tide remained silent as it replayed the memories it had read in Felicia's mind.
After reading the memories regarding that secret HYDRA meeting, even Felicia was stunned:
"Are these guys idiots? They actually think I can kill Peter? How did such fools stay undercover in this country for so long and climb all the way to the top?"
She thought about those members of Congress who, relying on skin color and gender correctness, jumped from being streetwalkers or fried chicken vendors to becoming various department heads.
Then she looked at these fools who could easily play the government's top brass like fiddles.
Felicia only felt that the country she lived in was beyond saving.
"They lack an understanding of Peter and don't know how powerful he is, so it's normal for them to make a wrong judgment."
tide first offered a defense for the HYDRA group before changing its tone:
"However, none of that is the point. The point is... Felicia, don't you think this is a great opportunity!
These fools are practically here specifically to help you!"
Felicia, who was in the same study group as Peter and Gwen, was no brainless bimbo socialite.
After a brief moment of thought, her eyes soon lit up:
"You mean... we beat them at their own game? Just follow their plan and directly bring about my happy ending with Peter?"
"Exactly!" tide nodded excitedly. Perhaps influenced by Gwen, it had a near-obsessive desire to see Felicia and Peter together.
"This way, your status changes from Gwen's competitor to an innocent victim... Given Gwen's personality, she definitely won't make things difficult for you because of it!"
"This idea is simply fantastic!" Felicia couldn't help but clap in approval.
If Gwen had heard this plan, no matter how tempted she was, she would have certainly refused for the sake of her principles.
But Felicia was different after all.
As the daughter of the master thief Black Cat, her upbringing had taught her that her own interests were the highest priority.
Previously, out of consideration for her friendship with Gwen and Peter, she had been trying hard to suppress her 'Demon Seed' nature.
But now, with a little devil like tide brainwashing her every day, and having finally found such a way to have the best of both worlds, she felt she had to seriously consider if this was the chance of a lifetime.
"So what should we do now? If we're going to beat them at their own game, we at least need an insider within HYDRA.
I don't want to mess things up and actually have to go through those perverted brainwashing tests!"
"That's easy!" tide said with an air of confidence:
"We can win over this guy named Bucky first, and then I'll control that ugly bastard over there... That should do it!
Even if something unexpected happens, I can possess you immediately and escape from their secret Base."
"The plan is pretty good, but are you really sure you can wake him up?" Felicia was a bit unsure.
"Just watch!" As tide spoke, it once again extended a Symbiote tentacle to tap Bucky's forehead.
This time, it didn't read his memories. Instead, it used the Symbiote's healing abilities to go deep into Bucky's brain, blocking HYDRA's brainwashing commands and removing that secret chip.
The hollowness and vacancy in Bucky's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a trace of clarity and confusion.
He looked at the woman in front of him, then at his body bound by water, as past memories began to flood back rapidly.
"Where is this? Why am I suddenly here?"
Felicia gave him a sly smile and began to explain his experience and current situation in detail.
After a long while, she finally summarized:
"Bucky Barnes, this is your only chance to leave the darkness for the light. Become a double agent with me and destroy HYDRA completely.
Only then can you achieve your redemption and return to Captain America's side!"
After Felicia finished her speech, the poor one-armed old popsicle's brain completely stalled.
This tool of a man, who had been repeatedly brainwashed, frozen, and re-brainwashed for the past several decades, simply couldn't process such a complex mission workflow.
Seeing his stupid look, Felicia couldn't help but slap her forehead helplessly, then summarized the mission for him in concise terms:
"You really are quite slow!"
"Simply put—"
"You, pretend to have captured me."
"I, pretend to have been brainwashed by you guys."
"Then, when Peter comes to rescue me and I naturally end up with him, we'll join forces to destroy HYDRA."
"That way, you can completely clear your name! Understand?"
This time, Bucky finally understood. After a brief moment of thought, he nodded with a solemn expression.
To be able to return to the Captain's side and fight alongside him, he would give it his all!