"Go inside, the mage and I will wait outside for you, we won't go in."
Su Ming and his group walked out of the teleportation gate, right onto the lawn in the government department's back garden. It's open to the public during the day, but at night, security is quite tight.
Steve glanced at the two of them, Monac adjusted his suit, brushing off the sand, indicating he had no objection to the arrangement.
He's a mage; it's not convenient for him to have too much contact with the mundane.
"Peggy, let's go."
With that, he took the lead in pushing open the back door of the white-painted villa, quickly causing some commotion. Su Ming then noticed the lights in the house quickly came on.
Their matters couldn't be explained quickly, so Su Ming simply found a reclining chair in a corner of the garden and lay back.
There were bodyguards patrolling nearby, but before they could make a sound, they were already dealt with by the strangulation spread out on the ground like a spider web.
"Come on, Monac, take a break. The bureaucratic routine is always the biggest waste of time."
Su Ming took out a bottle of wine from his waist pouch and placed it on the small white wooden table beside him. The night grass had a unique chill to it.
The lower half of the face under the Holy Statue Armor Mask slowly retracted into the skin, revealing his mouth. He relaxedly took a sip of wine and also handed a new bottle to Monac.
Monac wasn't as relaxed as him. He had found the Warlock Assault Team's emblem earlier, and now another head of Hydra had popped up, he was under a lot of pressure.
Could he find a button in the snow at night? If the Warlock Assault Team suddenly teleported over, their group of four wouldn't have an issue, but if something happened to the president, they'd be blamed, and that would be uncomfortable.
"Are you sure drinking now is a good idea?" He paced a few steps, eventually sighed long, and sat down on another chair.
"Strangulation is checking the area, don't worry, right now, we are in the open while the enemy is hidden, rushing is useless. Even if we find the enemy spy and kill them, the plan is already underway. Killing the hunter after letting the dogs out of the cage is ineffective."
Su Ming said casually, lighting a cigarette and blowing out a smoke ring, observing how many stars the white ring encircled.
Monac nodded, slowly stroking his beard, "The United States is that person's target for revenge, and this place symbolizes the United States, so we are just waiting here for them to appear?"
"That's pretty much the idea, though... we still don't know in what form Hydra will attack. Magic? Or mass assault? If he directly throws a nuclear bomb here, I suggest you prepare some instant teleportation technique."
Deathstroke placed the wine bottle on his belly, the bottle clinking against the chain armor crisply, while he himself was very leisurely, as if intending to sleep.
"You're not afraid of nuclear weapons, sure, but saying that makes me even more worried..." Monac felt hopeless but still reached for the wine.
"I just mentioned it. Since the opponent intends to spread hate, they wouldn't use something like nuclear weapons, because it can't discern targets within its range... If everyone is dead, who inherits the hatred? She doesn't want others' fear, but hatred."
Su Ming calmly embraced the wine bottle, even the red glow of the goggles dimmed now.
Generally speaking, he doesn't explain his actions, but Monac could know a bit more, the Magic Prince has been doing pretty well lately.
"Sounds pretty perverse." It's Monac's first time encountering someone who pursues hatred and wants everyone to hate him, which seems bizarre in every way.
"It's not surprising Hydra would do such a thing, they've been hating others all along. Since the split from the Holy Shield Brotherhood, they've been like a bullied wife." Su Ming closed his eyes, took a sip of wine, and answered emotionally, "The Hydra leaders all have mental issues. You want to study mental illness? It's just looking for trouble."
"But I still feel something's off. Where does Lady Nine-Heads get her forces from? Even if U Demon is still at large, his undersea people wouldn't be that many, as Namor is the rightful Royal Family."
Monac pondered the question that Deathstroke asked earlier. A rabbit appeared in his hand, and it seemed he was ready to cast magic.
Su Ming shook his head, savoring the rare natural flavor within the city, "Undersea people are not like us. Don't forget, Namor is a mixed blood; his skin color constantly hints to everyone that the temperamental and brutal emperor's rise to power is unjustified..."
"So..."
Monac's eyes lit up, but Deathstroke immediately raised his hand and waved.
"The least likely thing is forming a large army with undersea people. Remember, aside from the mixed bloods, undersea people can't stay away from the ocean for long. Occasionally taking a stroll on the beach and buying a hot dog might be okay, but fighting on land... unless they're wearing sealable armor filled with seawater."
"Then it can't be an army conjured out of thin air, right? Resurrection of the dead? Artificial people? Robot soldiers? Or even..." Monac shared his thoughts, these are tactics Hydra had used before.
Su Ming sipped his wine and smoked leisurely, "That's why there are too many possibilities to predict. There's still the possibility of recruiting from the future using the Space-Time Machine, recruiting from a parallel world's Hydra, or outright being the Skrull Empire's army..."
"The things you mentioned, I somewhat don't understand... Space-Time Machine? Parallel world? Skrull Empire?" Monac wore a bewildered expression, aware that Deathstroke held a lot of intel but was concealing it from everyone.
Too dark! No wonder those who play the secret organization game are this dark, maybe Master Gu Yi appreciates this aspect?
"Don't give attention to those details!" Su Ming waved his hand, as though erasing what he'd just said.
"Damn it, how could you say half and leave half, and expect me not to care?" Monac tossed the dead rabbit toward Deathstroke, crying out as tears streamed down.
To outsiders, it's probably Monac's mental state that's unstable, right? Switching between crying and laughing, and every time after casting magic, the cost made him peculiar.
However, the thrown rabbit was just right. Smoke and wine alone weren't enough; the environment here was good, and there was a ready-made barbecue grill not far away. Just chop down the magnolia tree on the south lawn for firewood...
That tree had a name called Rachel, and it's still the image on the ten US Dollar note.
"Just preparing teleportation magic alone isn't sufficient. Have you prepared any defense spell? In case of pre-set timed bombs, there won't be much reaction time." So Su Ming suggested again to Monac, looking concerned.
Monac thought for a moment; indeed, Deathstroke gave thorough consideration, so he brought out two more rabbits, mercilessly pinched them to death in his hands, and tearfully cast a shield spell on himself.
After wiping away the tears and calming down, he noticed many bottles and jars appeared on the tabletop, filled with various powders, with Chinese labels indicating the names of the spices.