Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1056 (Second Update)

Today's events were anything but easy. Upon Salomon's return to the Immortal City, Natasha Romanoff, who had been waiting patiently, immediately approached him. Holding the phone, her face was filled with worry, her condition even worse than before. "Steve intends to personally capture the Winter Soldier. He believes the Winter Soldier will stop because of him, and he's the best candidate to capture Barnes." She seemed drained of all her strength. "Perhaps it's already happened. Recent intelligence indicates the Winter Soldier is in Vienna, Steve went there too, and Tony Stark is also planning to go there by private jet. But I'm not receiving any intelligence here, Salomon. I don't know their location, or what they're planning to do next!"

"You can leave via the elevator." The arcane mage yawned as if he hadn't slept well. He didn't care about the Avengers' messy affairs at all; whether they signed the Sokovia Accords or not made no difference to the Immortal City. He was only dissuading Tony Stark out of mercy. The Sokovia Accords weren't the point; Wakanda was. "You can go wherever you want. At least you've cleared yourself of any suspicion of being connected to the Immortal City, and no one will bother you because of this."

"The level of support?"

"Standard, only standard weapons support." Salomon waved his hand and walked into the corridor leading to the Ministry of Internal Affairs office. This corridor was guarded by veterans and newcomers of the Sisterhood Monastery, serving as the first mission for the girls newly joined. The commander was Ora, who was skilled in heavy weapons. Salomon had specially prepared a different type of combat armor for the girls. Aura had recently participated in the secret testing, and upon hearing that the Lord was returning to the Immortal City, she had rushed back to join the guard duty. Salomon gave her an approving look, then said to Natasha Romanov, "I don't have time to deal with their grudges right now, and I don't think their conflict will have any serious consequences."

"You think a conflict between the Avengers won't have serious consequences?" Natasha shouted from outside the door. "They're superhumans! Don't look at this from your perspective, Salomon, look at it from a normal person's perspective!"

"In my opinion, the Avengers are just ordinary people."

"So why did you let the King of Wakanda die in the explosion? I knew you had the ability to save him!"

Salomon paused in his act of closing the door. "That won't work on me, Natasha, but your approach is very sharp. Using unfounded speculation to guide the entire operation is a mistake. If you want me to intervene, you'd better come up with a more plausible excuse." He closed the door, and after a routine security check, reached for Victoria Hand's encrypted communication. "Give Helmut Zemo one last chance," he said. "We don't need a destabilizing factor."

Natasha Romanoff's intelligence was quite delayed. Steve Rogers did indeed go to Vienna, but he quickly left. The person he met was Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter's niece, and one of the CIA agents sent to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve Rogers recognized her at the funeral; Sharon Carter was the agent who had been monitoring him from the apartment next door. After the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sharon Carter easily escaped and resumed her CIA agent status without facing any consequences. She then disappeared until this time at Peggy Carter's funeral.

The intelligence she gave Steve Rogers contained the Winter Soldier's exact location. This, combined with the conclusions of Immortal City intelligence analysts and Natasha Romanoff's previous assassination attempt on Bucky Barnes, indicated that the CIA had actually been aware of the Winter Soldier's location all along, delaying his capture to lure out a bigger fish. Junior intelligence analysts, unaware of the intelligence network woven between the CIA and the conservative Hydra, were promoted for reaching this conclusion. However, now an explosion had occurred. While its impact paled in comparison to the "diplomat hostage" incident, to provide an explanation to Wakanda and the international community, and to avoid being accused of withholding information, the CIA planned to capture the Winter Soldier before anyone else. This was to prevent other intelligence agencies from contacting Bucky Barnes and uncovering information unsuitable for other organizations; no one knew how many Hydra secrets the Winter Soldier knew.

"This is also to prevent the Winter Soldier from revealing our CIA informant; nobody knows if he really does." Stephanie Malik fought off sleep but couldn't help yawning. "Many of Alexander Pierce's radicals have defected to us. Those informants are in high positions, and we can't find replacements for them anytime soon. I know some of them are disobedient, but they understand their value and work very hard, not giving us a chance to discover their replaceability."

"We'll be monitoring Bucharest, Romania, where Prince T'Challa of Wakanda is about to arrive. Our intelligence on him is accurate; he can find the Winter Soldier," Victoria Hand said on the communications channel. "If possible, having a CIA task force kill the Winter Soldier would solve a lot of problems. If the Wakanda prince resorts to vigilante justice, it could very well trigger an international conflict."

"I hope so." Stephanie yawned again, then gulped down a large cup of strong coffee. "The intelligence analysts gave an arrival time for Steve Rogers that's roughly the same as the CIA task force's. Perhaps we should be more optimistic about Prince T'Challa's actions. Now that Princess Shuri has returned to Wakanda, and my lord is attending the King of Wakanda's funeral, isn't it time to move on to the next phase of the operation? Erik Killmonger is already impatient. He's already got the vibranium dealer Klaue's head and plans to use those armed criminals as sacrifices. If there's any time that's most suitable for launching a coup, it's at the King of Wakanda's funeral."

“No, wait until this is over.” Salomon shook his head. “The dead are perfect. Erik Killmonger can’t condemn King T’Chaka at his funeral. Get him to submit a plan report—I know he did, but that was just a little trick. We all know he has his own ideas. Erik Killmonger is just a tool. I need him to confront T’Chaka directly. Whether his coup succeeds or fails, it won’t be a loss for the Immortal City. The coup will only make Wakanda more reliant on the Immortal City.”

"My lord, are you still reluctant?" Stephanie Malik asked. This question made Victoria Hand on the other end of the communication channel hold her breath. "T'Challa is your classmate, and this plan could very well kill him. If you can't bear to do it, let me carry it out. I'll give you the results directly."

Salomon glanced at Stephanie, his cold gaze instantly invigorating her. Only then did she realize what she had said. Before she could explain, Salomon shook his head. "No, continue," he said. "We must take Wakanda. There are no excuses. Let the producers start recording. I have another war to prepare."

This war involves NATO and Wakanda. The former is highly likely to be initiated by NATO's European member states, instigated by the United States. Even with Latvinia's current state of total mobilization, it cannot withstand this threat. The main solution lies in utilizing local missile launch systems and air defense systems, along with airdropping genetically modified soldiers to destroy manpower. The latter is a precautionary measure; regardless of whether Erik Killmonger or T'Challa wins, a leak could threaten the Immortal City and Latvinia. Wakanda poses a far greater danger than the United States, but its weaknesses are also quite apparent.

"This isn't directed at you," he said to the little black cat that had lifted its head from the bowl. "I treat everyone the same."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)