Marvel Magic Event Book

Chapter 1761

Should we tell Nick Fury?

As a World War II veteran, Steve Rogers always thinks of available resources when faced with danger. He wouldn't mind contacting Tony Stark, and naturally, he wouldn't mind contacting Nick Fury, even though he's never liked the latter's secretive style of doing things.

Salomon agreed, and he wanted Natasha Romanoff to contact the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he knew Nick Fury wouldn't answer his calls—Salomon's first step in building his power was to seize most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bases and assets outside of North America, so Nick Fury couldn't stand him.

Contacting Nick Fury isn't so easy these days.

Ever since he discovered that Salomon possessed ample resources, technology, and manpower to expand the Skysword space station, he knew that his long-standing plan to deliberately limit Salomon had failed. This king of agents deliberately went into hiding, his whereabouts known only to those he trusted.

Unfortunately, Natasha Romanoff wasn't on this trust list because Salomon had given her too much—so much that Nick Fury could no longer trust her. However, she could still contact Nick Fury indirectly to avoid any terrible misunderstandings due to poor communication—Nick Fury worried that Salomon might suddenly chop off his head one day, a concern that was perfectly reasonable given what Salomon had done to the US Secretary of State when he was transformed into the Red Hulk.

Natasha Romanoff knew that Salomon no longer cared about Nick Fury; the former King of Agents was worrying unnecessarily. The current Nick Fury had lost most of his power, and the rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D. in the United States had lost the support of the UN Security Council. Its manpower and resources were far inferior to the newly established paranormal threat response agency, forcing it to operate like a vigilante, constantly on the move, even fearing conflict with local law enforcement during missions.

Salomon certainly hadn't forgotten the guy Nick Fury used as a secret weapon.

Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, a woman recruited by the CIA, whose mind was filled with anti-communist ideology broadcast on Cold War-era capitalist television. Given the level of education and media indoctrination in the United States, such a person is destined to be uncommunicative.

If Carol Danvers is willing to follow orders, she can be assigned to the combat unit; if that stupid woman with the Cold War mentality wants to attack her, then kill her.

All the Infinity Stones possess their own consciousness, a fact Salomon only learned after he came into contact with them. While not every stone possesses the same strong self-awareness as the Soul Stone, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, the consciousness of the Infinity Stones themselves does indeed exist.

The Mind Stone chose the Maximov siblings and Ultron, while the Space Stone chose Carol Danvers.

Carol Danvers did not inherently possess the potential for a second vision; it was a hole forcibly drilled into the physical universe by the Euclid Jewel, the Tesseract. In some ways, Carol Danvers is more dangerous. Perhaps the Kree who captured her taught her how to use this power, but she remains untrustworthy; the Sorcerer Supreme's decision to spare her does not mean the Emperor will.

The Sorcerer Supreme has never encountered a large-scale invasion problem, nor does he intend to lead humanity to the stars; old policies don't always work.

“I plan to establish a solar system surveillance facility and a space minefield, and Stark needs to lead this project,” Salomon said. “It’s a collaboration. I have spacecraft capable of short-distance travel to the Kuiper Belt, but I don’t have the capacity to manage it all, so it’s a collaboration between Stark Industries and the Mars Foundry. The condition is that they adhere to the strategy I’ve set.”

“That’s difficult.” Natasha’s face was full of disapproval. She could guess with her eyes closed that if Tony Stark took over the new project, he would definitely change it beyond recognition. “He always has his own ideas.”

"The Dark Order's record of invading Asgard should bring him to his senses. This is not a business transaction, but a military one; his business logic is meaningless in outer space."

Salomon doesn't expect Stark Industries' production capacity to complete this project.

Stark Industries once boasted the most advanced automated production facilities in the United States, but everything, from rare alloys to specific screw models, had to be imported; a few darkened factories couldn't accomplish anything. Salomon needed Stark's intellect; he himself didn't have the time to push this project forward.

No one knows what Natasha Romanoff said on the phone, but Tony Stark quickly agreed to meet. Salomon opened a portal to the top floor of the Stark Industries building in New York, and a gold and red metal figure jumped in and slammed onto the wooden floor with a thud.

"Where am I now? In the North Pole?" he shouted as he stepped out, looking around before spotting Steve Rogers. "No surprise, this place is full of people I hate. Where's your little boyfriend, Rogers?"

Steve Rogers took a deep breath. "Bucky's in a nursing home."

Tony Stark didn't bother to pursue the matter further, after all, he knew Hydra was the real culprit, and James Buchanan Barnes was merely a tool. He simply couldn't resist making sarcastic remarks, and Steve Rogers, knowing he was in the wrong, didn't want to argue.

“And then there’s you.” Tony Stark folded his helmet and looked at Salomon on the sofa. He noticed Natasha Romanov sitting sideways, her body pressed against Salomon, occasionally stroking his arm. Stark asked with a strange expression, “What’s going on between you two?”

Natasha tossed her red hair. "It's none of your business, Stark."

Salomon didn't bother with any more words and simply tossed Tony Stark a memory card, saying, "Take a look."

“I’ll see.” Tony Stark scoffed. “You guys didn’t invite me to throw a party, did you?”

"What did you say to him?" Salomon turned to look at Natasha.

“I said Nick Fury wants to meet with him now.”

"So he still dared to jump over after seeing the portal?" Salomon shook his head, wondering what Tony Stark was thinking, that he could be so reckless. "You should check the information on the hard drive, Stark, it's very important."

Tony Stark watched it quickly, and he even checked the video himself to make sure it wasn't some fake news fabricated by a special effects company.

"So, the Dark Order's fleet really exists?" He raised an eyebrow, recalling the rumors circulating in the international community. "Does Nick Fury know about this?"

“I believe he knows. I’ve already sent the video through secret communication lines, and I believe Nick Fury was prepared for the Black Order’s intrusion,” Natasha said.

Salomon immediately added, "But we believe that Nick Fury's plan is unacceptable to everyone. He lacks a cooperative spirit."

Tony Stark asked, "Where is Thor?"

"Sky Sword Space Station. I will settle the Asgardians on Earth in batches. As you know, many people want to figure out why the Asgardians have been able to live for so long, and Thor can't outmaneuver them."

Stark nodded.

“I have a plan: to lay minefields in outer space to strike the vanguard of the Dark Order’s fleet. That’s why I called you here.” Salomon then repeated his strategy, including a limited war with the Dark Titan Thanos. Tony Stark looked on incredulously; clearly, he strongly disagreed with Salomon’s idea.

"Unless you can preserve all the satellites at the beginning of the war, follow my strategy."

Salomon dismissed Tony Stark's idea of ​​rebutting with a single sentence.

Without satellites, they can't even locate the enemy in space. While not all missiles require satellite guidance, satellites are essential for precision strikes, and the world's economic activities cannot function without them.

They cannot lose the satellite.

Neither of them mentioned sending the Infinity Stones away. Everyone knew that if the Infinity Stones fell into the hands of the Dark Titans, their situation would be even worse—and even if they had the idea, they couldn't do it—Salomon had already sent the Mind Stone and the Aether Stone to the Immortal City, where the equipment needed those two stones. Now the Emperor also had the Eye of Agamotto, the Time Stone, and the Tesseract that Loki had given him.

Although the latter was not very happy when he handed over the Tesseract.

"You have four Infinity Stones. The Dark Titan Thanos has one, and the whereabouts of the other one are unknown."

Tony Stark stroked his neatly trimmed beard. He quickly accepted the concept of the Infinity Stones; after all, in this era, humanity was aware of the existence of enemies in outer space, and therefore had a better capacity for acceptance—classic alien figures like the Greys and Green Men had been phased out—Tony Stark could guess that Salomon had concealed the true power of the Infinity Stones from them.

"Why don't we just go and take down the Dark Titan? Can't we use your portal for a surprise attack?"

"Then we'll be facing pirates scattered throughout the solar system. Where do you think they'll go—Venus, Mercury, or Earth? All cities will be attacked. Can humanity's current anti-satellite missiles or intercontinental ballistic missiles destroy the alien fleet?"

Tony Stark remained silent.

"Compared to unrefined ore, ready-made human slaves are a more valuable commodity, as they can be used and eaten. Humans have always been a high-priced commodity, and you don't need to know why—you only need to know that if the Dark Order doesn't want the Infinity Stones, they will demand anything, whether it's resources or slaves—it would be better to give the Infinity Stones to the Dark Titans, at least the casualties caused by wiping out half of life on Earth would be less than that."

"Fine." Tony Stark was forced to admit to the plan to wage a ground war against the Black Order.

In this era, many Americans held an almost superstitious belief that dropping a few precision-guided bombs to kill the enemy's command would automatically cause the enemy command to collapse. Tony Stark automatically applied this idea to space warfare, and as a businessman without formal military training, his thinking was entirely understandable.

He even began to hope that the space minefield project could completely destroy the Dark Order's fleet, but Salomon ruthlessly shattered his illusions. Salomon told him to watch less Hollywood action movies; real alien fleets weren't building blocks that could be destroyed by F-15 air-to-air missiles, nor were they space debris with unprotected engines.

To get Tony Stark to cooperate, Salomon also revealed some plans for the ground war.

"Do you really think Australia is a suitable battlefield?"

“There are plains and no-man’s lands there, and it’s also an isolated island, which would make it difficult for human troops to deploy. If the Dark Titan agrees to limit the scale of the war, he will definitely choose that place as a landing point,” Salomon said. “On the condition that we demonstrate the ability to attack the Dark Order’s fleet, otherwise the Dark Titan will have no reason to agree to limit the scale of the war. He will destroy humanity, slaughter half of all life, until we are forced to hand over the Infinity Stones.”

Stark stood up. "I'm going to join your raid plan, or don't expect me to help you plan your space minefield."

Salomon ignored him.

“When do you plan to notify the Australian government?” Natasha asked. “This will cause a huge panic.”

“Once the decapitation strike is over,” Salomon said. At that point, regardless of whether the Australian government agrees or not, if the Dark Titan Thanos is smart enough, that place will be the battlefield.

Salomon was confident in the plan because the Dark Titan knew that if he refused to limit the scale of the war, Salomon would kill him on his flagship and destroy his dreams forever, even if it meant facing space pirates roaming the solar system.

Now that the Infinity Stones have become the stakes of war, the Dark Titan Thanos has no reason to refuse. After all, Salomon promised the Dark Titan that he would take the Infinity Stones to the battlefield and pledged never to use their power. If the Dark Titan wants the Infinity Stones, he can take them from his corpse; then no one can stop him.

This is a prisoner's dilemma meticulously designed by Salomon, where the Dark Titan Thanos must sit at the gambling table if he wants to achieve his goals.

It is a game that puts Earth, humanity, and the Dark Order on the table, with both sides confident of ultimate victory.

Tony Stark possessed a hard drive containing detailed information about hundreds of heavy rocket launches, including communications satellites, spy satellites, and space missile launchers. Part of Tony Stark's intention in accepting the project was to spy on Yugoslavia's space defense system.

The Emperor's arrival at the United Nations headquarters in New York aboard a heavy space transport aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing had a major impact not only on showing the world the complete failure of the United States' homeland air defense system, but also on demonstrating the terror of space-based missile mobile launch pods, space-based lasers, and high-kinetic interception systems.

If the emperor agrees, any corner of the earth can be attacked by missiles.

This is a sword of Damocles, the sword the emperor relied on to protect Yugoslavia. Tony Stark wanted to figure out the system, after all, he was an American—or, in Salomon's words, no different from an idiot—he returned to his mansion, and after taking the best isolation measures, he opened the hard drive to browse the contents. Then he discovered that the system did not involve Yugoslavia's existing air defense system, and even the Skysword space station was excluded.

Tony Stark angrily closed the document.

The document also contained another task that didn't require launching rockets or any advanced technology; all it needed was strong government connections and a large sum of money. Stark Industries happened to possess these, so the Emperor assigned the task to Stark.

“Happy!” Tony Stark started making the call. “Tell Pepper I’m going to build an Australian safari in California, and I want emus and koalas alike!”

“Boss, there are giant spiders in Australia,” Happy told his boss with a pained expression. “They’re really huge, and there are snakes that can jump out of the toilet. I’ve seen them on YouTube.” “I want those too! I want a lot of them, males and females. It would be so tragic if humanity were to perish tomorrow without being able to kiss a cute, hairy, long-legged creature before bed.”

"But, BOSS..."

"Go do it now, or I'll stuff the spider into your room." Tony Stark maintained his nonchalant tone. "And by the way, ask our Spider-Boy how he's doing. I remember he has a charming aunt; remember to give her a visit for me."

The last time the Emperor visited New York, Peter Parker attempted to attack a Hawk transport plane, only to be completely destroyed by the air defense system. After that, Tony Stark dared not send Peter Parker on any more dangerous missions, only letting him be a good neighbor to New York. He also dared not let Spider-Man know about the Black Order, lest the teenage boy act impulsively and get himself killed.

Tony Stark felt the tension again.

He knew he had to go to that battlefield; it was his own will.

Although the space minefield was only a small part of the raid plan, he still wanted to do his best, preferably exceeding expectations, and inflicting as much damage as possible on the Dark Order fleet. The Emperor had been very generous in sharing known information about the Dark Order fleet, including its defensive and offensive modes, ship structures, and so on—Stark felt he had fallen into the Emperor's trap again. Had that guy initially brought him in to lead the space minefield project simply to use him to tamper with the plan?

He then looked at the space mine algorithm compiled by the emperor...

“Outsider!” Tony Stark scoffed, waving his hand to summon a virtual keyboard, intending to optimize the space mine's local area network algorithm. The space mines didn't utilize much high-end equipment; communication between them relied entirely on repeaters hidden within the asteroid belt. Besides inflicting damage on the Dark Order fleet, their most important function was to provide feedback to the Skysword space station, informing them which mines had been triggered.

The Emperor intended to reduce the cost per landmine, but this was unacceptable to Tony Stark. However, he could optimize the software and then fund the replacement of the communication module himself, resulting in a faster response time.

Wait, is he trying to make me think this way on purpose so he can shift the cost onto me?
Tony Stark thought for a long time and decided not to think so much. Every time he thought he had guessed correctly, he found out it was actually a trap, so he decided to absorb ancient wisdom and wait to see Salomon make his move.

"So, there were no traps?"

“No.” Salomon answered calmly to Steve Rogers’ question. “There are no traps. The space minefield is just one of the means of interference. I never thought that the space minefield could cause too much damage to the Dark Order’s fleet.”

"Then why..."

“He needs to be kept occupied, otherwise Tony Stark might create a huge problem that none of us can solve.”

Steve Rogers nodded in agreement with an air of seriousness.

Stark has this past record. Although the Ultron incident wasn't entirely his fault for causing such a huge uproar, his violation of all security protocols, which led to the activation, reconstruction, and creation of an artificial intelligence that Stark could not understand at all, was an extremely serious mistake in itself.

If Salomon hadn't used magic to transport Sokovia to a non-material dimension, Eastern Europe would have experienced a terrible earthquake, and the death toll would have been far higher—the Sokovia incident alone attracted a large number of families seeking revenge after losing loved ones, and it was the catalyst for the Avengers' disbandment. Steve Rogers couldn't even imagine what would have happened if Sokovia had actually crashed down.

"Tell me, do you have a contingency plan?"

“The resources of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra must be fully utilized.” Salomon opened a portal, retrieved a document, and placed it on the table. Steve Rogers opened the folder and saw an eagle emblem on the cover. “This is a reorganization of all mortal armed forces. I originally wanted you to be the commander, but Natasha thought you weren’t suitable.”

Natasha Romanov rolled her eyes and put her legs on Salomon's legs.

“You’re definitely not suitable, Steve. This isn’t a personal matter; you can see that from the documents.”

He quickly flipped to the "Main Tasks" page according to the table of contents.

First priority: survival. Ensuring the continuation of humanity as a species with independent will is of paramount importance.
The second task: secrecy. The existence of the supernatural threat must not be disclosed to the public;

The third task: Protection. To protect the lives of individual humans as much as possible, but no individual life can be more important than the survival of humanity as a whole;

Fourth mission: Destruction. All supernatural threats must be destroyed;
The Supreme Council, comprised of the Emperor's former secret society that once formed Hydra, Kamar-Taj which operates behind the scenes to combat extradimensional threats, multiple intelligence organizations that are collectively accepted—S.H.I.E.L.D., S.W.O.R.D., and ATCU (Advanced Threat Control Unit), which was ostensibly affiliated with the United States to handle supernatural events but was actually Hydra's intelligence arm—and the multinational corporations established by Kamar-Taj, forms the unifying body of this alliance.

After the emperor's consolidation, many departments were practically indistinguishable from one another; each department could be seen as a regional branch of the same organization. This was the emperor's first step in dealing with the threat posed by the Dark Cult.

Steve Rogers flipped directly to the page on handling the highest threat.

The page contained very little information, yet it bore several bright red stamps.

"This method will only be activated at the beginning of humanity's ultimate extinction event, when external dimensional anomalies completely spiral out of control, a large number of external dimensional entities appear globally, and macroscopic physical laws fail. It must be approved by both the Supreme Council and the Emperor."

Immediately activate all units lurking within hostile organizations.

A warning to all government agencies and officials of human nations with independent sovereignty.

Mobilize all operators and work units.

The existence of external dimensions is made public.

Apply for global military control (and take over by force if necessary).

Request a global curfew (and take over by force if necessary).

Perform the final destruction procedure (information-level destruction).

The restrictions on the use of force have been lifted.

The rules of engagement have been lifted.

All restrictions on the use of chemical, biological, nuclear energy, and all other extradimensional supernatural weapons have been lifted.

The maximum additional damage is 90%, which cannot be exceeded.

"We cannot be certain whether the Dark Titan Thanos will resort to even more dangerous methods if he fails."

“Even more dangerous?” Steve Rogers pursed his lips. “Aren’t the Infinity Stones dangerous enough?”

“The Infinity Stones are just different types of batteries. You can underestimate the battery, but you can’t underestimate the power plant,” Salomon said. “That’s what Kamar-Taj has always been doing. It’s just that in this new era, the efforts of sorcerers alone are not enough. Sometimes bullets are more effective than spells.”

"What does 90% mean?" Steve had already sensed something was wrong, and he pressed on relentlessly. Salomon wasn't angry, because he admired Steve Rogers' character; a person who upholds justice can be trusted.

"If the laws of macroscopic physics fail, it proves that Earth has been completely swallowed by outer dimensions. We must eradicate the source of pollution at the information level and rebuild human civilization." Steve Rogers noticed that Salomon's expression remained calm as he spoke these words, and now he finally understood why Natasha thought he was unsuitable to be a commander.

"10% of the current population is the last line of defense for humanity as a race to reproduce again. I have established a global gene bank through the United Nations Vaccine Alliance—although it was originally just an organization used by a wealthy person to find organ replacements, it has become the world's largest and most comprehensive human gene bank in my hands, capable of reproducing humans through artificial steel uteruses."

Steve Rogers still didn't understand.

Human research on paranormal events is currently limited to the idea that "Asgardians are aliens, not gods," a result of the Emperor's deliberate control. Steve Rogers, who once worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., knows more, but he still can't understand what kind of crisis would require sacrificing most of the Earth's population, even though the most bizarre paranormal events he's encountered could be resolved with bullets and explosives.

Within S.H.I.E.L.D., only Phil Coulson and Natasha Romanoff have actually encountered incomprehensible horrific events. The incident left the individuals involved with immense psychological trauma, and the Emperor had to make them forget a portion of it to ensure their mental sanity—Nick Fury was extremely dissatisfied with this, hoping that the agents would bring back enough information, rather than incoherent ramblings.

Faced with Steve Rogers's confusion, Salomon gave him a very simple demonstration.

“Some numbers are cursed. People simply cannot notice these numbers, cannot understand their meaning, but these numbers and these coincidences cannot be ignored during the investigation.”

I still don't understand.

“This is a calculator.” Salomon pulled out something that looked like a math toy for an American middle school student, then wrote a note and handed it to Steve Rogers. The latter checked the calculator first, then opened the note and entered the meaningless number into it. Nothing happened, and he looked away from the calculator.

Do you remember what those numbers were?

“Of course, I…” Like acid rising from his stomach burning his throat, Steve Rogers couldn’t utter the numbers. He couldn’t remember, even though his fingers had been typing those repetitive numbers onto the keys just seconds before; he couldn’t recall them. “What’s going on? How can I not remember?”

“Try again,” Salomon said. Steve Rogers did so, then forgot again, a growing unease making the brave WWII veteran somewhat panicked. Yes, it was so conspicuous, how could he have never noticed it before?

A calculator made in China, with a black plastic casing and incomprehensible Chinese labels—something you could buy at any American supermarket. Why does it feel so soft and warm to the touch, like Peggy's skin?

At the ball, colorful lights swirled before his eyes. He spun around, and the woman placed her hand on his arm. The champagne smelled sweet, as did the woman's tongue, which carried the unique taste of lipstick. "Steve, you're late," the woman said. "Come with me, let's go now."

"Peggy?"

“Don’t take this back.” Salomon pressed down on his hand, and only then did Steve realize he was gripping the calculator tightly. His fingers seemed glued to it, then sank deep into it. He ignored the numbers the calculator was calling out, that repetitive string of numbers, the emotionless buzzer becoming softer and sweeter.

He saw Salomon forcefully stab the plastic casing with a dagger; the industrially manufactured standard component cracked beneath the steel, blood seeping out. Steve Rogers blinked in disbelief, finding nothing had changed. There was no blood, only the sound of the plastic casing shattering, and the buzzer's shrill blast gave him a headache.

"What kind of trick is this?" He was angrier than ever before. He found his voice hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken in a hundred years. "What have you done?"

"A simple invocation ritual, Steve, that's what we're facing. A number, a belief, a soul, repeated over and over, and then they appear like maggots attracted to rotting flesh in summer. Just gibberish on a single page, which, if interpreted correctly, can drag a star into an abyss of darkness."

“Why can’t I remember?” Steve Rogers gasped. He couldn’t recall the time; the living room clock seemed to show 4 p.m., but he remembered arriving here at 5 p.m. It was an illusion, yes, an illusion, like bile rising on his tongue. Bitter, burning.

“You’ve got it, Steve,” Salomon said. “I made you forget, that’s all.”

Steve Rogers walked away in a daze, without saying a word. He felt the war he was about to face was becoming more difficult, because he didn't even know what he was fighting against. Salomon promised him a peaceful retirement someday, but Steve Rogers believed that the world was facing more and more enemies, and he might never live to see that day.

He received too many messages today.

Steve Rogers vaguely remembered Salomon mentioning that he had taken over Hydra's assets. He didn't want to hear any more; he just wanted to go home and get a good night's sleep. He hadn't felt this tired since receiving the Super Soldier Serum, and this fatigue was mental.

"The super soldier serum is based on your serum?" Natasha felt that the man in front of her was full of secrets; she had learned too many secrets today.

“It’s not science that’s really at work, it’s the mysticism,” Salomon said. “Fortunately, those guys from the Immortal City are all dead; they were out of control. Howard Stark almost dabbled in mysticism, and I had to tighten the doors to the Immortal City’s underground prison, or he would have definitely tried to open them with an acetylene torch—since I’ve been secretly guiding the development of the Immortal City, no one has ever been able to give me any trouble, except Howard Stark.”