Gideon Malik wasn't meant to be a target for Michael to deal with personally. It is true that he is in a high position of power and power, but the power he really has in Hydra is actually limited. As a member of the special oversight committee, his role is more akin to being an advisor to the leaders who are actually in power than to be in charge of the overall situation.

After Hydra lost power, and as all the leaders were eliminated one after another, most of the members of this oversight committee were also invisible to Shirley's ubiquitous vision. There was an old guy who refused to compromise and was summarily executed, and the rest of the people wisely chose to take refuge in Heavenly Sword. Only Gideon Malik, the most cunning old fellow, who had guessed that the old Hydra's network might have fallen into the hands of the enemy, had been carefully evading tracking for so long, and had been hiding in the shadows of the only one with his remaining stubs, undetected by the Celestial Sword to this day.

After even Daniel Whitehall was exposed and executed by the Heavenly Sword some time ago, the only remnants of Hydra in the world who still blindly clinged to their faith had no other choice. Gideon Malik is the most powerful leader of their defunct organization, so many people have chosen to join him.

But that's still not why Michael decided to take matters into his own hands. Gideon Malik caught his attention because of the fact that the mission briefing from the Tennessee branch mentioned about the "relics" that had been passed down from Hydra in ancient times.

This part of the content is so old that there is not even any electronic information left in the entire Hydra. Michael sent someone down to search for files related to the "holy relics" from the pile of Hydra archives that were confiscated, and finally found something.

A pile of old paper, almost moldy in the corner of the warehouse, records that Hydra was originally born thousands of years ago to rescue the first Inhumans on Earth from the Ancients, someone they believed to be the god of Hydra. The so-called "holy relic" is a stone with the ability to open interstellar portals, and every once in a while Hydra sends a team of people through the portal to the unknown world, trying to bring back their leader.

According to the Tennessee branch report, there are signs that Gideon Malik may have found a way to bring the god back, and may even have succeeded.

There is not much detail in the documents about this "god", but Michael just needs that.

He remembered who the so-called "god" was. Hive, the final villain of the third season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", also has some key accounts of this character in the log documents established in the early years after Michael's time travel.

A hive is basically a collection of parasites that can parasitize and manipulate human bodies, and can jump from one host to another. He can brainwash Inhumans into becoming his most loyal subordinates through infection, and he can also project parasites to devour enemies, turning targets into his own nourishment.

The more enemies you devour, the more powerful the hive itself becomes. In the TV series, the hive that has devoured enough individuals is able to fight the powerful Hunters of the Kree head-on, and is physically strong enough to withstand the shockwaves unleashed by Shockwave Girl head-on (and how powerful she is). And he can hardly be killed by conventional means, because his body is essentially a parasite, so even if his flesh and bone marrow are crushed, he can heal himself.

But to be cautious, that may still not be the upper limit of the hive's power. The play does not explain in detail how many people he devours, and the more individuals he devours, the stronger he becomes, the faster he can gain, the stronger he can become, and theoretically he can become stronger.

Judging from the performance of the TV series alone, it is difficult to say how strong the Hive is, because he does not seem to have encountered an evenly matched opponent as a benchmark in the whole show. However, Michael is a cautious man, and he will not take any enemy who has the potential to become a threat. Now that this matter has attracted his attention, he will take matters into his own hands to ensure that there are no future troubles.

Gideon Malik's hideout is in a forest in Tennessee, and he's been hiding for so long using all sorts of tricks and techniques to strengthen anti-tracking.

Until today.

But things went a little way out of Michael's expectations. From the time he parachuted into the dense forest base until he broke through all the defenses and rushed inside, he met little decent resistance along the way. Malik's last fortress was a little poorly manned, and the armed forces felt like a bunch of bandits in the mountains.

They don't have energy weapons, they don't have heavy firepower, they don't even have a self-attacking turret. The defenders were killed with only a symbolic spark on the vibranium armor, and in less than a minute, Michael had punched into the heart of the base and walked into Malik's office.

Gideon Malik didn't look flustered at all. He sat in his office chair, his expression like that of an enlightened sinner, quietly waiting for his own judgment.

"I'm still wondering when you'll find you." Malik said calmly, "I know there will always be a moment, it will always be inevitable, all I do is keep postponing what is bound to happen." ”

"I'm glad you're a sensible person, so let's save as much time as possible." Michael walked in the door, "Now I'm going to ask you some questions." I think you already know that I have some special tricks to get people to speak, but if you are sensible and choose to be honest, then we can save yourself a lot of trouble. ”

Malik leaned back in his chair naturally: "I didn't mean to hide anything in the first place, because it was no longer necessary. ”

"The original Inhuman, the one you believe to be a god." Michael asked, "You brought him back?" ”

Malik nodded mechanically. He said slowly, "You can't imagine it, Dr. Norton. You don't know what kind of thing he is. I thought I was bringing back God, but it was actually the exact opposite. I brought back a demon, a devil that was impossible to defeat. I thought the person who brought him back would be rewarded, but not at all. He didn't care about Hydra at all, and he didn't care about me. I'm just a worthless outcast to him......"

"I know exactly what a hive is, maybe better than you know. And this thing is not a god or a devil, but an alien with some difficult abilities. Michael interrupted.

Malik opened his mouth, and swallowed back the second half of his words.

"And what else do you want to know?" He asked.

"The state of the hive, the whereabouts." "I want to know how many people he devoured and what his strength and endurance were." And how many Inhumans he has under his command to command, including information about the abilities of those Inhumans. ”

"I'm afraid I can't answer it all, because I don't know much." "I don't know where he is, it's me who reports to him, not him." I don't know any about the number of Inhumans or abilities he can command, but I can tell you that there are absolutely a lot of them.

By chance, my people discovered a large gathering place of Inhumans. I told him the message, and twelve hours earlier he had boarded the plane with some of my best men. I don't know where they are, but what I do know is that they won't be coming back. ”

"'The Afterlife.'" Michael frowned. It was clear that the hive was heading towards the isolated alien settlement, and on the bad side, all the aliens in that place might have been infected and subjugated by him.

In that way, the Hive will instantly master an invincible army, all made up of Inhumans with extraordinary abilities.

"What did you say?" Malik wondered.

"Nothing, you continue." Michael said, "What about the hive? How is he doing? ”

"It doesn't make sense for me to tell you this, Dr. Norton. As I told you, he is a powerful devil, and even a man like you is no match for him. Malik shook his head, "After he came back from the door, I sent him a lot of people to feed him one after another. There were men, there were women, there were whites and blacks, there were physically strong people from all kinds of ethnic groups. Added up, I think he may have devoured hundreds of people. He's more powerful than you can imagine, in fact...... I don't think there's anyone left to stop him. ”

Hundreds of people...... Michael was thoughtful.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Malik. But it's up to me to stop him. ”

He raised his hand, and the pulsed light cannon in his palm had finished concentrating.

Malik's face was calm, as if he had seen through life and death: "Whatever you want, I don't care anymore." ”

The cannon rang out, and Malik and his seat fell to the ground, and there was no movement.