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Ch. 230 Let's Go to the Hotel
🕑 Added 2023-12-25 16:03:01 +0000 UTC"Alright, sir!"
Peter nodded seriously in response.
After he answered, Gwen, who was sitting beside Russell, stood up and walked over to Peter. She reached out her right hand and shook hands with Peter, introducing herself briefly.
Peter also gave a brief introduction.
After exchanging greetings with Peter, Gwen returned to sit beside Russell, while Peter and Hulk sat across from Russell.
Russell looked at Hulk and Peter sitting across from him, then said to Peter, "In a few days, I will arrange a press conference for you to officially join the Justice League. Reporters at the scene will ask you some questions."
"I'll have No. 3 prepare a script for you. You don't have to answer any questions that are not on the script."
Although Peter had only gained his superpowers a few days ago, he was making good progress, and dealing with ordinary criminals should not be a problem. As for more challenging super-powered criminals, if there were any, Russell would assign that task to heroes like Hulk and Gwen.
Russell wouldn't let Peter take on too dangerous tasks until he had gained enough experience. Besides, he had to consider his lovely aunt May as well.
"Okay!"
Peter nodded in agreement.
After discussing the press conference in the living room, they engaged in aimless small talk.
Time passed by slowly, and as night fell, the four of them enjoyed a meal prepared by the robot chef in the dining room.
After dinner, Russell called Diana and informed her that he would be coming home later tonight. Although Gwen was staying at the Justice League headquarters tonight, Russell had no intention of staying there. Instead, he planned to deal with Perkins' matter in the meantime.
At the Justice League headquarters:
"No. 3, how is the investigation into the Continental Hotel going?"
Even though Russell appeared to be playing Flight Chess with Gwen in the afternoon, he had actually instructed No. 3 to investigate the matter Perkins had mentioned.
"I accessed the city's public surveillance system and found records of several gunfights involving assassins. Based on the information, all the attacks were carried out by contract killers working for the Continental Hotel. Among them, five were killed on the spot, nine were captured, and only Perkins managed to escape."
"These are the dossiers of the fourteen assassins."
After speaking, No. 3 projected the profiles of the assassins onto the screen. Along with these profiles, there were some videos from the scenes of the shootings and some public reports by the police.
Russell quickly glanced over the profiles of the fourteen assassins. Although No. 3 had done its best to investigate them, Russell couldn't recognize a single one of them.
He didn't know them, nor had he ever seen them before. Most of the assassins he remembered were those who had already made a name for themselves, like his former colleague who had retired from the profession due to marriage, or the assassin couple who had initially belonged to different organizations but had later joined forces to dismantle their respective organizations.
After reviewing the profiles of the fourteen assassins, Russell looked at the videos of the crime scenes and the information released by the police.
Even though the surveillance footage wasn't of the highest quality, and the angles were less than ideal, No. 3 had managed to compile a complete sequence of events from the available footage.
It was clear that these were contract killers directly employed by the Continental Hotel. Although Russell couldn't see their faces, based on their equipment and skills, they were undoubtedly elite assassins recruited by the Continental Hotel.
After watching the videos, Russell furrowed his brow slightly. What exactly was the Continental Hotel, or more precisely, the High Table, planning with such a high-profile attack?
Besides tarnishing the Continental Hotel's reputation, there seemed to be no benefits to such a public operation.
Even if the Continental Hotel had captured these contract killers, they wouldn't be able to recruit them so easily unless they possessed a means to fully control these killers. Otherwise, such a dramatic move would be utterly meaningless.
The word "brainwashing" quickly crossed Russell's mind. If the Continental Hotel had access to brainwashing techniques like Hydra, then their actions made sense.
By brainwashing the captured contract killers, the Continental Hotel could quickly build a formidable army of assassins with extensive experience. Even if these contract killers didn't possess superhuman abilities like Russell, they would be more than sufficient to deal with ordinary targets.
"How's the investigation into Winston's whereabouts?"
Russell asked No. 3.
"Winston was last seen in public three days ago. Surveillance footage captured him entering the Continental Hotel, but there have been no sightings or traces of him since then."
No. 3 quickly replied.
"Alright, I see."
Having reviewed the information, Russell waved his hand casually, ending the holographic projection.
At that moment, he took out his phone and dialed Winston's number.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Time passed slowly. After waiting for a minute, Russell's phone played the unconnected call tone.
"He's not even answering the phone?"
Russell shook his head with a wry smile.
Although Winston and the Continental Hotel had not contacted him since he revealed himself as a superhero, he was still officially registered as a contract killer for the Continental Hotel.
Besides, there were still over ten million dollars in his Continental Hotel account.
"Trace Winston's phone location."
Russell instructed No. 3.
Normally, Winston's phone wouldn't be so easily traceable. Despite having left the assassin profession for many years, Winston hadn't lost his cautiousness.
However, Winston's phone's anti-tracking system couldn't evade No. 3's tracking, especially when it was highly likely that Winston was inside the Continental Hotel.
As expected, Winston's phone signal was detected inside the Continental Hotel.
Seeing the signal location projected by No. 3, Russell stood up and left the office.
Since Winston wasn't answering the phone, he would go to the Continental Hotel himself. However, he had no intention of going alone. He would take Perkins with him.
In the guest room area:
After arriving at Perkins' room, Russell saw her, who had returned to her cold and elegant assassin appearance.
The bruises on Perkins' fair, oval face and the injuries on her body had been healed during the interrogation. Her bloodstained and torn leather jacket had also been replaced.
Although the Justice League headquarters didn't have suitable clothes for Perkins, No. 3 had once again proven why it was Russell's most reliable artificial intelligence assistant. Within an hour of Perkins' arrival at the guest room, a robot had delivered new clothes to her.
"Come with me to the hotel."
Russell looked at Perkins, who had completely returned to her original state, and said silently.
"Alright!"
Although Perkins didn't know why Russell wanted to go to the Continental Hotel, she had no intention of refusing. For other assassins, the Continental Hotel was incredibly dangerous right now, but for Russell, he could go whenever he pleased.
Perkins had confidence in Russell, or rather, she had confidence in Russell's abilities.
