Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1095 (First Update)

Clint Barton drove off Ulf Road and stopped in an open area near a chemical plant called BioGene Corporation. He surveyed the abandoned warehouse in the distance, trying to determine the location of his target beforehand. He asked his friend in the back seat if she needed help, but Natasha Romanoff shook her head. "He's still our friend, at least for now." She carefully checked the stun gun on her wrist in the back seat before getting out of the car. "I need to find out what he's really thinking. He's definitely not just trying to split the Avengers. He never does anything simple; all his plans will come in handy many years later."

"Sounds like a villain from a comic book. I actually quite like him, though we don't talk much, but I always felt he was easy to get along with," Clint Barton said, shaking his head half-jokingly. "If you need help, call me. I'll take over a sniping position; even if I can't hurt him, I can buy you time to escape."

"You're no match for him," Natasha Romanoff chuckled, rolling her eyes. Clint Barton's intelligence network was completely out of touch; he had no idea what kind of person Salomon was now, and Natasha Romanoff hadn't told him that the Latvian emperor on television was Salomon. No one dared reveal his true identity; everyone who knew him knew it was a red line, and besides, the identity of Salomon might not even be real; all documents related to his true identity had long been destroyed. "Don't forget, he's a magician."

"I almost forgot!" Clint Barton said with a smile, trying his best to lighten the mood of the meeting, at least for Natasha Romanoff. "As long as his magic isn't as difficult to deal with as Loki's."

"The aircraft you requested is ready. It must be said that, given the tense international situation, bypassing German air defenses to send an unregistered armed aircraft into the airport is no easy task for the Immortal City. Even when targeting NATO air defenses, Germany was not affected. Doing this is very risky, so please be sure to keep your promise."

The speaker stood in the shadows, like a deeper, more profound black shadow lingering between the eaves and the shadows of reality. At first, Natasha Romanoff did not find him at the agreed location, not even Clint Barton with his "eagle eyes," until he stepped out of the shadows and spoke, as if this figure in the black cloak was an extension of darkness rather than a living person.

“I will send Steve and Sam to Latveria for asylum. I promised you.” Natasha Romanoff stepped forward, closing in on the black-armored giant before her. The heavy hum of the mechanical respirator continued incessantly, and the thick black cloak and jet-black armor absorbed heat relentlessly. Natasha Romanoff could feel the heatwave in the air the moment she approached. “This was probably all your doing, wasn’t it? Including that imposter psychiatrist who manipulated the Winter Soldier, and Sharon Carter who stole the shield and wingsuit in the chaos? I already know the fate of the Combined Command Task Force. Only you had the ability to slaughter such a fully armed force in such a short time. Everything that happened today is related to you.”

"Few people can find clues in such a short time, so I deduce that you do not have any evidence."

The black-armored giant removed his hood and helmet, and his bound black hair cascaded down like a waterfall. His eyes were as dark and deep as his hair, drawing people in and making them want to gaze into them for a long time.

He didn't point out the error in Natasha Romanov's words because the command center's investigation hadn't even begun yet, and no one would ever discover the discrepancy between the number of bodies and the number of the task force—he hadn't killed all the task force members; only those who resisted survived, and the bodies all belonged to surrendered soldiers. This might seem quite unbelievable to ordinary people, but he only needed brave individuals to join his ranks of genetically modified warriors, just as he had done when selecting soldiers on the Middle Eastern battlefield.

"And you didn't bring any recording equipment. If you wanted to find something on me, why didn't you bring a small recording device? I know you've always wanted to do that."

“Because Steve Rogers had no choice. There aren’t many places in the world that can offer him refuge, and Latvinia is one of them. I don’t know Wakanda, so I can’t make the decision to send them there. I only know that Latvinia has the capability to stand up to the United States.” Natasha Romanoff’s expression was complex, showing that she was very concerned for the Avengers. “All your past predictions have come true, including the attitudes of the White House and the Pentagon,” she said. “Is there anything else you don’t want me to know, Salomon? I’ve turned off my communicator. Don’t worry, no one else will hear our conversation.”

The black-armored giant shrugged noncommittally, but the gesture looked somewhat comical given his heavy power armor.

“Like Vision?” Natasha Romanoff moved closer again, until Salomon could see the top of her head just by looking down. She looked up, staring intently into his eyes. “Where is Vision, Salomon? Tony Stark told me Vision was missing, but I know how obedient that robot is. Tony Stark's instructions to him were to stay at Avengers headquarters, but Maria Hill couldn't find him. There aren't many people capable of going against Vision, and you're one of them. Where is he now? Is he still alive?”

"Dead, utterly dead." Upon hearing this answer, Natasha Romanoff was filled with disbelief. "It shouldn't have possessed that gem and then been unable to protect it; that's its original sin. The universe is a cruel place. Vision's existence is like constantly flaunting its treasure to the universe. I know it's innocent, but I don't care if it lives or dies, nor do I care if it flaunts itself. However, if that gem, which it couldn't protect, falls into enemy hands, it will seriously endanger the safety of the human race. Moreover, it is the most powerful artificial intelligence that humanity created using that gem. If it wanted to, no machine in the world would be safe. Science and machinery are humanity's only hope. Even without that gem, it cannot continue to live for that reason alone, because it is merely a weapon manipulated by the gem."

"You're so heartless, Salomon. What are you thinking?!"

"This is the inevitable path. One day, we will all sacrifice ourselves for humanity's adventure to the stars. All I've done is ensure that humanity has the ability to take that step and successfully overcome all the disasters we will encounter, and may encounter." He seemed to have completely lost interest in the conversation, and put his iron-black skull helmet back on. The crimson lenses shone like a boiling pool of blood, and the iron-black, ferocious skull lowered its head. "Remember our agreement. Steve Rogers must reach Latvinia. This is of strategic importance to me."

The atmosphere in the command center, where power had been restored, was extremely tense. German officers and diplomats, along with American administrators and representatives of US forces stationed in Europe, were all gathered together. The task force's ordeal had been reported to them, and medical personnel in protective suits were methodically clearing the slaughterhouse-like corridor. Although the deaths of the task force members were a very serious matter, soldiers' lives were cheap; the political significance of the task force far outweighed their lives. Those sitting there were more concerned about the whereabouts of the Winter Soldier and Steve Rogers.

"We didn't recover his body from the river, and the Winter Soldier's body is nowhere to be found either." Secretary of State Ross sat coldly in his seat, his fingers tapping erratically on a briefing prepared by the German police. Even now, the German police were still searching the Spree River in small boats and with divers. "Where is Steve Rogers? Where is Sam Wilson? Only James Barnes and Steve Rogers fell into the water; Sam Wilson is gone. He and all the confiscated equipment simply vanished from this facility. Stark, do you know anything about this?"

“I don’t know, Ross. You can repeat yourself as many times as you need,” Tony Stark retorted without backing down. “I was on the tarmac watching them crash! If it weren’t for that damn hearing, I could have put on my suit and stopped it! What could I have done? I even shut down the helicopter’s engines!”

“Listen, I don’t want to go through another heart bypass surgery.” Secretary of State Ross ignored the German military and police representative’s urge to explain the search report, shifting his body to face Tony Stark. His nostrils flared, and he was breathing heavily, seemingly struggling to control his anger. “I don’t know if you’re an accomplice, but I know you have the ability to find them,” he said. “You will have surveillance access to Berlin, to view any camera in Berlin, to listen to every phone call, every text message sent by Berliners, to browse every mobile phone and every computer in Berlin. If necessary, you even have the right to listen to Angela Merkel’s calls.”

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)