What did he mean by "don't worry about the Hellfire Club anymore"?
From the way Raymond spoke, they all came to the same conclusion—Raymond had already dealt with the Hellfire Club!
Only then could he say something like that with confidence.
If someone else had said it, they might have thought it was just bragging, but Raymond was Clarice's brother—he wouldn't lie to his own sister about something .
In other words, Raymond had somehow managed to settle things with the Hellfire Club during the short time he was away, and got them to agree not to bother Clarice anymore—even after they'd lost some people.
How powerful must he be to pull something like that off?
They couldn't even imagine.
"Clarice, be honest—what exactly does your brother do?" As soon as Raymond left, Lorna jumped in to question Clarice, her curiosity exploding.
Lorna usually kept her distance from strangers, but once she was among friends, she turned into a completely different person—just like now.
"Believe me, I'm just as shocked as you are."
Seeing how Lorna and John were staring at her, Clarice knew she had to say something, or they wouldn't let it go:
"I only knew that my brother worked for some big organization that cooperated with various governments, and that he mostly taught classes. I had no idea he was this powerful…"
"A big organization that works with many governments… could it be S.H.I.E.L.D.?" John guessed.
"Uh—" Clarice hesitated.
She hadn't planned to say anything about S.H.I.E.L.D.
It wasn't that she didn't trust her friends, but this was about her brother. Just like she hadn't told Raymond about her teammates, she didn't want to bring any extra risk to anyone by saying too much.
But now that John had guessed it, she didn't want to lie either.
Besides, Sonya was standing right there. With her around—basically a human lie detector—lying would be pointless.
So she nodded and said, "I just found out about it myself."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.? What's that? Is it stronger than the Sentinel Services?" Lorna asked, comparing it to the group that had hunted them for so long.
"They're not even on the same level."
John shook his head. "The Sentinel Services is just a secret branch under the North American military, and they mostly work within North America… But S.H.I.E.L.D. is a global organization. Even the North American government doesn't have full control over them."
"They're not connected by rank or anything like that—but they're on a completely different scale."
"That scary, huh?" Lorna stuck out her tongue, clearly surprised.
Just the Sentinel Services alone had forced them to live like rats in the shadows—and now she learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. was even bigger and more powerful.
"No wonder… If Clarice's brother holds a high position in S.H.I.E.L.D., it makes sense that the Hellfire Club might be willing to show him some respect…" John thought he had figured it out.
He didn't really know the full details about either the Hellfire Club or S.H.I.E.L.D.
It was like an ant trying to judge the strength of a husky and a tiger—both were massive and dangerous from the ant's perspective, but it had no way of knowing which one was stronger.
Right now, the Mutant Underground was that ant.
As for who was the husky and who was the tiger between the Hellfire Club and S.H.I.E.L.D., that wasn't something John could figure out.
"Anyway, we really owe Clarice's brother for this one. If it weren't for him, things would've gotten messy… Clarice, be sure to thank him for us when you get home," John said sincerely.
He could tell that Raymond wasn't very fond of them, so he didn't mention visiting to thank him in person. He just asked Clarice to pass along their gratitude.
"I will," Clarice nodded.
[Abilities: Kuro's Fighting Style]
[Exploration Points: 240]
[Sub-Personality: Kuro of a Hundred Plans, 'Deadshot' Floyd Lawton, "World's No. 1 Assassin" Tao Pai Pai]
"Gains really are everywhere."
Back at home, Raymond was in a good mood seeing his exploration points go back over 200.
Previously, after using "Immersive Mode" several times and manifesting Deadshot's gear during Clarice's rescue, his exploration points had dropped to just over 100.
Meeting those kids from the Mutant Underground, plus the Absorbing Man 'Carl', earned him 120 more points. A nice surprise.
But he didn't regret the points he'd spent—he had fully mastered Kuro's Fighting Style now.
It was hard to measure exactly how much his fighting ability had improved, but his overall physical abilities had clearly gotten a boost.
Even without switching to any sub-personality, his base body was already stronger than the average agent. In unarmed combat, he could beat over 90% of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents now.
That was the benefit of using "Immersive Mode" a few times—and it had only been two or three days since he discovered its effect.
Even saying "two or three days" was a stretch.
He had confirmed that as long as his mind could handle it, no matter how long he stayed inside Immersive Mode, only an instant passed in the real world.
If not for that, there's no way he could've mastered Kuro's Fighting Style so fast.
When he first talked to the Kuro sub-personality, he learned that it took Kuro himself over a year just to get the basics.
"My body now isn't far behind Deadshot's sub-personality. I still have a way to go before I match Kuro, and Tao Pai Pai is even further ahead."
"But I've improved a lot. I should be able to switch to Tao Pai Pai for short fights now."
"As for Kuro and Deadshot, I can now stay in those modes with no problem—even during extended battles."
Raymond gently rubbed his chin, thinking to himself: "Kuro's decision to help Clarice wasn't just about solving her problem—it could also be a big opportunity…"
"If I can infiltrate the Hellfire Club, even if nothing else, I'll earn a lot of exploration points. For me, that sounds like a win-win."