It was over... everything was over!
The instant Howard was controlled, their plan was already on the verge of failure.
Peggy Carter closed her eyes in pain. They had worked hard for so many years, but she had not expected that in the end, they would still fail. A sense of powerless frustration soon surged into her heart.
She had calculated everything, but she had not calculated that Howard would soften his heart, and at the most critical moment, abandon the most important Yvette, being deceived by Hive's tactic of luring the tiger away from the mountain.
But... could she blame Howard?
She could not. Howard's intentions were good. He only wanted to save her, but unfortunately, he was never a combat member to begin with, and his reaction speed was more than a step slower. That was why Hive seized the opportunity to control him.
"Run... hurry and run..."
Peggy's mouth was full of blood foam. Her throat had nearly been snapped, and she could only make a hoarse sound. Her bloodshot eyes glared like a malicious ghost as she looked toward Yvette. "Don't worry about us... hurry up and run!!!"
"Tsk, annoying bug."
Hive's eyes darkened, and he kicked Peggy in the chest, sending her entire body flying several meters away. "A useless thing about to die should just shut up and wait for death. Don't disturb my conversation with Mother."
"Pfft..."
Peggy raised her head and spat out a large amount of blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, and could no longer hold on, her vision going black as she approached the edge of unconsciousness.
"Seeing your companions fall one after another, yet you can still remain calm and composed. As expected of my mother." Hive tilted his head and looked at Yvette, greed and attachment surging in the depths of his sinister eyes.
Yvette still remained silent.
On that exquisite silver pocket watch, after the hands completed one circle, they stopped at the origin, but she did not press the round button at the top to let the hands begin turning again.
Or perhaps it should be said... she could not press it.
The conditions of the technique had not been met. Pressing the round button at the top of the pocket watch would only make all their efforts go to waste, so she was still waiting for a variable.
"My dear mother, let me guess. The reason you don't act is because you are preparing some powerful move, right?" Hive looked at Yvette teasingly, as if he were looking at a clown's trick.
Yvette did not answer his question. Only the pocket watch secretly clenched in her hand, and the slightly nervous expression, allowed Hive to confirm his guess.
"Hehe, is it that pocket watch?" The teasing look on Hive's face became thicker. He was not worried at all that he would fall for it, but instead had the ease of a cat playing with a mouse as he said playfully, "I am rather curious. What kind of move is it that can make you, Mother, prepare for so long?"
"What do you think?"
Yvette finally spoke, cold and clear as always, holding the thought of delaying time.
"It should be related to time."
Hive had long known Mother's ability. After thinking briefly, he grinned and said, "But I want to tell Mother something. Perhaps after hearing it, you will feel despair."
"What is it?"
Yvette asked.
"Do you know? Mother."
Hive spoke unhurriedly, like a child trying to obtain praise from an elder through showing off. "What happened seventy years ago taught me one principle, and that is to never let myself be in a dangerous state. Even if the possibility is low, I must leave behind a chance of survival."
"So?"
Yvette frowned, not quite understanding Hive's meaning.
"So, I have always been very careful."
The arc of Hive's lips grew wider and wider, until it finally reached near his ears, and the sawtooth spiral mouthparts let out a chilling sneer. "Long before coming to New York, I had already scattered several hundred parasites across the world, parasitizing the brains of Hydra agents."
"Did you really think you could kill me?"
"Hahahahahahaha... I appreciate your stupidity, but unfortunately, you will never succeed."
"Even if you truly kill me here, it will merely make me spend a few more decades. My several hundred parasites are spread across the entire world. You can neither find them, nor truly kill me!"
"So... you lost, Mother."
Hive felt that his heart had never been as joyful as it was now, and he could not help narrowing his eyes in satisfaction.
Even those vertical pupils, so numerous they were exaggerated and spread all over his body, revealed a look as if his ambition had been fulfilled, silently mocking their overestimation of themselves.
"Luka once told me something."
When Yvette mentioned that man, a rare trace of gentleness appeared in her eyes, and the corners of her lips could not help curling upward slightly, revealing a beautiful smile like a hundred flowers blooming. "As long as you don't give up, there will always be hope. Even the faintest glimmer will eventually dispel the haze, so... I will not give up."
"That man again..."
Hive's eyes darkened, stimulated by that stunning smile. Jealousy and resentment surged from the depths of his heart, and he sneered. "If that man truly cared about you, how could he have abandoned you for a full seventy years?"
"Luka has never abandoned me."
Yvette said firmly, "He personally told me that he would definitely come find me."
"Is that so?"
Hive gnashed his teeth so hard they cracked, the flames of jealousy burning in his heart.
He was so attached to his mother, yet had never received even the slightest care, and was even treated as an ugly monster, while that man who abandoned Mother was still always tied to Mother's heart.
This was unfair!
Why could others enjoy with peace of mind what he could not obtain?
"What a pity, my mother."
Hive slowly walked toward Yvette, and ugly jealousy and possessiveness made him completely lose his reason. His blood-red eyes emitted a beast-like aura as he growled excitedly, "But it doesn't matter, Mother. I will accompany you. Inside my body, merge with us..... forever!!!"
Bang——!
He suddenly raised his foot and stomped. Violent spiritual power exploded like gunpowder, bursting out with tons of propulsion beneath his foot. The terrifying power ravaged the earth, raising several-zhang waves of soil like surging tides.
With the help of that powerful propulsion, Hive was like a heavy cannonball, his figure pulling out waves of air in the sky as he charged toward Yvette!
No...
Could she only give up?
A trace of reluctance flashed through Yvette's eyes. Her silver teeth bit tightly into her lips, the hand holding the pocket watch slowly loosened, and an invisible fluctuation brewed around her body.
Now that things had come to this.
There was only one choice before her, and that was to give up that technique and instead use Fullbring against the enemy.
But once she gave up the technique, the spiritual power backlash caused would make her lose more than a hundred years of lifespan, and after her body endured the backlash, she would also fall into a heavily injured state.
At that time...
Forget killing Hive, even wanting to take everyone and escape would probably be an impossible fantasy.
"There is no time to hesitate!"
Countless thoughts flashed through Yvette's mind, but in the end, she still made up her mind to forcibly end the technique, endure the backlash, and use her Fullbring to save as many people as possible.
However.
At this critical moment!
Yvette, who was just about to endure the technique's backlash, suddenly froze in place, and a trace of disbelief appeared in her eyes.
A familiar feeling branded deep in her soul appeared nearby along with a Reiatsu.
Joy and excitement unlike anything before emerged vividly in those lake-like eyes, and moisture quickly filled her eye sockets.
It was him!
It really was him!
That was his... Reiatsu!
"You still dare to get distracted in front of me?" Hive laughed endlessly, his sharp claw reaching toward Yvette's face, a cruel look surging violently in his eyes. "I finally obtained you... Mother!!!"
But unfortunately.
Hive suddenly stopped in place, his finger less than one centimeter away from Yvette's face.
But this one centimeter of distance was like a heavenly chasm lying there, making it so that no matter how hard he tried, he could never touch her.