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Ch. 125 Price Increase
🕑 Added 2023-11-03 16:00:10 +0000 UTCRussell didn't retract the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor back into the system space.
On one hand, he didn't want to reveal the existence of the system space in front of Bakshi and Bucky.
On the other hand, having the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor, like an iron bodyguard, accompanying him had a certain level of presence.
Seeing the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor escorting Russell onto the private jet like a bodyguard, Bakshi's expression became somewhat peculiar.
Although Octopus Monster Industries was currently selling Zaku Battle Armors, it was quite evident that the Zaku Armor fell far behind the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor in terms of performance.
After acquiring twenty sets of Zaku Armor from Russell, Bakshi had also tried them on a few times.
How should he put it?
The Zaku Armor was indeed advanced high-tech armor for its time.
However, it still had quite a distance to go before it reached the level of advanced intelligent armor that he imagined.
Bakshi wasn't the only one with this thought. Daniel Whitehall shared a similar view.
Although they weren't particularly satisfied with the performance of the Zaku Armor, they didn't have better options at the moment.
Tony's Mark III Armor was significantly superior to the Zaku Armor Russell sold to the military and Hydra.
The problem was that Tony's armor wasn't available for external purchase.
Once both Russell and the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor boarded the private jet, Bakshi signaled for the surrounding Hydra soldiers to board the plane and get ready for departure.
To ensure the success of the mission, Hydra had made a considerable amount of preparations this time.
Pierce had dispatched their ace warrior, the Winter Soldier Bucky.
Whitehall had Bakshi lead a team, equipped with the five sets of Zaku Armor they had purchased from Russell.
As for the special ops team and transportation, they were equally well-prepared.
Take the plane to the Scandinavian Peninsula as an example; Hydra had prepared two aircraft.
One was the Gulfstream G650, a luxurious executive jet favored by billionaires.
The other was the C-17 Globemaster III, one of the main transport aircraft of the U.S. military.
Although the C-17 Globemaster III was a large transport aircraft developed specifically for the U.S. Air Force, acquiring one was not a problem for Hydra's capabilities.
Not long after Russell boarded the Gulfstream G650, Bakshi and Bucky also boarded the plane.
As soon as they were on board, the cabin doors were sealed.
Even though there were still many empty seats on the Gulfstream G650, only the three of them were traveling to the Scandinavian Peninsula on it.
As for others, they would take the C-17 Globemaster III with the mission equipment.
As the plane ascended and headed towards the Scandinavian Peninsula, Bakshi sat down in front of Russell and handed him a tablet.
"This is the mission briefing. You can take a look at it first."
In terms of position, Bakshi was in charge of this mission.
However, Bakshi was well aware that his authority as the mission leader was only effective for Bucky and the other Hydra soldiers.
If Russell didn't follow his orders, Bakshi had no means to enforce them.
Since Russell had openly revealed that he was a Superhero Serum, Hydra knew they couldn't control him as they had planned.
Although, on paper, Russell was a part of Hydra.
In reality, their relationship with Russell was more of a cooperation.
"Let's not talk about the mission briefing for now. Let's discuss the compensation for this mission first!"
During their phone conversation yesterday, Bakshi hadn't mentioned the compensation for this mission.
However, just because Bakshi hadn't mentioned it didn't mean Russell had forgotten about it.
He was interested in the Symbiote Dragon possessed by Knull's soul, but that didn't affect his desire to be compensated for this operation.
Even close siblings settle accounts; not to mention him and Hydra.
"One-third of the symbiote."
Bakshi replied without hesitation.
One-third of the symbiote?
After hearing Bakshi's response, Russell didn't speak, instead shaking his head with a smile.
On the surface, Hydra's compensation seemed sincere and fair.
One share for Pierce, one for Whitehall, and one for him.
A three-way split was indeed equitable.
However, there was a small issue here.
That is, the symbiote dragon wasn't Hydra's property right now.
If the mission succeeded, Russell believed that Hydra would honor the promise according to this ratio.
But in case of failure, it would mean he would get nothing.
Although Russell didn't think it would be difficult to snatch the frozen symbiote dragon from S.H.I.E.L.D.
However, the critical point of this mission wasn't about snatching the symbiote dragon from S.H.I.E.L.D.; it was about what came after.
Hydra clearly didn't understand the symbiote dragon as well as he did.
The symbiote dragon itself wasn't the problem; the problem was Knull's soul within it.
Despite losing to the Celestials and Thor, Knull wasn't an easy god of darkness to deal with.
He single-handedly challenged the entire Celestials with the All-Black Necrosword and killed several members of the squad. There was a limit to his weakness.
Although Knull losing to Thor was quite perplexing, regardless, Knull was an god of darkness who had lived for countless years.
Such a god, even with some blemishes in his life history, wasn't someone anyone could bully.
Even if this particular god of darkness could only control a symbiote dragon now, his power still exceeded that of the vast majority of creatures in the universe.
Hydra probably had already realized the power of the symbiote, but they were completely unaware of the kind of entity they were facing.
Moreover, the fact that Hydra intended to trade a symbiote dragon that didn't belong to them yet and himself was something Russell didn't appreciate.
"Just one-third of the symbiote isn't enough!"
Russell told Bakshi.
As soon as he said that, Bakshi's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.
A three-way split for the symbiote dragon was a decision made by both Pierce and Whitehall.
Even though Bakshi was a trusted subordinate of Whitehall, his authority didn't extend to the point where he could change a decision made by the two Hydra leaders.
"That's the outcome decided by our leaders. I can't change it." Bakshi shook his head and said.
Russell wasn't surprised by Bakshi's response.
Even though Bakshi had never revealed the existence of Pierce and Whitehall to him, there was no way Bakshi could have known that Russell had known about Pierce and Whitehall's existence for a long time.
From a certain perspective, he even knew more about Pierce and Whitehall than Bakshi did.
"Just one-third of the symbiote is non-negotiable."
"In addition to that, I want something else."
Russell said casually.
"What is it?"
Bakshi asked hastily.
"The brainwashing technique your organization developed!"
"I know that your organization has a highly effective brainwashing technique. I want all the information on this technique."
