Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1329 Revealing Heavenly Secrets (First Update)

She was already one of the people in the world who saw the Imperial Guard most often, yet even facing a giant a third taller than herself, Victoria Hand couldn't suppress the urge to clutch her belongings for protection. However, as the food was automatically and systematically served onto the heavy marble table, her mood relaxed slightly. Only after the mechanical service ended did the Imperial Guard Commander Constantine remove his extravagantly ornate crimson-gold helmet, and Victoria Hand saw his face for the first time.

She felt her palms sweating. It was a pure sense of humility and tension, a subconscious tension and vigilance deep within her animal genes, arising from the presence of a creature with a higher level of evolution. This shouldn't be the case for a seasoned agent, yet faced with that calm and noble face, all the experience she had honed over the years rendered useless; even looking him in the eye was difficult. Victoria Hand recalled that she could never quite recall the Emperor's face accurately, but her subconscious told her that Constantine seemed to bear some resemblance. The atmosphere eased slightly only when Constantine also picked up his cutlery, but she still couldn't take the initiative in the conversation as she had with others.

"I thought you'd be younger." The head of the defense intelligence department struggled to cut the overly thick steak with a knife. Although the incense emanating from the Guardian's power armor slightly spoiled the aroma of the delicious food, she had learned to ignore the distractions. "You haven't been around him for very long; at least you weren't even born when he recruited me. You should only be a few years old."

Although she wasn't a gourmet, she had experience dining at high-end members-only restaurants, not while on a mission, but during a genuine time to enjoy the food. Even she could tell that the plate in front of her was too big, the steak too thick, and all the dishes were exquisite but the portions were astonishingly large.

Preparing such meat dishes requires a chef with immense patience and a high level of expertise. If it weren't for satisfying diners' demands, there would be no need for the chef to expend such effort. She couldn't help but conclude that the person Constantine was meeting today was actually another member of the Royal Guard, not an ordinary person like her; he simply hadn't had time to notify the kitchen to change the menu—certainly not because he was worried she was too hungry. Victoria Hand had achieved a partial victory with her knife, but she hesitated. Would putting such food into her mouth without further cutting it violate some kind of etiquette she didn't understand?

"Why did he create you? Is there anything he couldn't do that you need to accomplish?" Victoria Hand used a question to try and engage the person across the table, if the Imperial Guard could still be considered human. She barely saw any expression on Constantine's face, not even the micro-expressions of his breathing. The black, flexible metal seal of his power armor clung tightly to the rock-like muscles of his neck, and Victoria could almost imagine the creaking sound of those muscles moving.

The commander of the Imperial Guard looked up at her, his neck muscles making no grinding sound.

"Yes." He closed the communication grille on his neck armor, his voice sounding more natural than before. "I am not young; in fact, I don't know my age. My lord needs servants with unwavering will because he is too powerful. Everything around him is swallowed up by time, but he remains unaffected. This is a feeling that ordinary people cannot imagine."

"Your memories have been erased?"

"Crush, rebuild, sublimate. The body is merely a vessel; what truly sublimates is my soul." His expression remained unchanged. "This is merely a metaphor, not a fact, to help you understand. The human brain cannot comprehend this counterintuitive process. The trials I underwent were long enough for infants to multiply into a family." Victoria Hand instinctively pressed her hand to the badge on her collar. It was a miniature anti-eavesdropping device. Although she was interested in the topic the Guards were discussing, her professional instincts compelled her to do so. "We have such devices here, and even better ones." This gesture only earned Constantine a fleeting glance. "I invited you here to reveal more secrets to you."

“You do need to do this. You're the one who wanted to talk to me, aren't you? About the alien fortress in the Koboy Belt?” Victoria Hand put down her cutlery, not intending to dwell on the food any longer. “Kosovo is still under military blockade. My men find a hundred guns and a hundred people using them in the residential areas every day. Those people are using Stark Industries' satellite communication links. To track down the backers, I've sent out almost a quarter of my available manpower. Compared to that, an alien fortress in the Koboy Belt doesn't seem so important.”

"In comparison, yes," the guard agreed, "but not compared to Kosovo."

"Could it be an alien fleet?" Victoria Hand asked. "We haven't observed any large-scale alien fleets yet; the only things we can find are asteroids and gamma-ray storms."

“That’s the official story,” Constantine said calmly, looking at her. “Do you remember the Battle of New York in 2012, and those invading Chitauri fleets?”

"It's hard not to remember."

"Did you know that when our Lord destroyed the Chitauri fleet through the portal opened by the Cosmic Cube, a small amount of fleet wreckage passed through the portal and crashed into New York?"

"I remember that the task of cleaning up the Chitauri wreckage was handed over to Stark Industries and the Pentagon."

"Yes, we all know about the relationship between Stark Industries and the Pentagon. In reality, Stark Industries doesn't have the research rights to the Chitauri ruins; they're only responsible for digging things out of the rubble. All the alien technology collected is taken by the Pentagon. Before S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed, they were also responsible for researching a portion of it. The Navy and Air Force also obtained a considerable amount of research materials, and many people received benefits from the military-industrial complex." Constantine put down his cutlery, placing his hands gently on his knees. "Do you remember General Fisher?"

"A former four-star air force general? I remember he was arrested for corruption and bribery."

"He is a Hydra agent, a product of Project Paperclip, under Dr. Danny Whitehall. When the Pentagon was purging the remnants of Alexander, General Fisher was not under our protection. Before that, he undertook the research and sorting of the Zitauri remains, and he unearthed an item from it. It was that item that informed us of the existence of the Koboi Belt in the outer star fortress."

"I'm very curious," Victoria Hand said, narrowing her eyes. "Who has that thing now?"

"It was a machine that used transdimensional technology. It wasn't large, but it could travel faster than the speed of light within a galaxy. General Fisher managed to repair the machine, but he didn't have a chance to find its true purpose until a Hydra member who had knelt before our Lord received protection, took over General Fisher's previous plan, and discovered it. Through that machine, he made contact with the aliens inside the Kobo Belt fortress. As you know, Latvinia's most powerful deterrent right now is teleportation strikes. That machine operates on the same principle as our teleportation strikes, but what's surprising is that ordinary people can teleport multiple times without protection."

"Hale!" Victoria Hand uttered the name as if squeezing out venom. "She's Hydra too?"

Constantine ignored her personal emotions. The records showed that Victoria Hand had a relatively harmonious working relationship with General Hale, who was then a one-star admiral. At that time, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s relationship with the United States was still good, and they could frequently use US military bases. "It was an alien trade alliance led by the Kree. A very fragile alliance, a trade alliance composed of insignificant ambitious figures within the Kree Empire and a few other weak races that should have long since disappeared. They promised to save Earth from an impending alien fleet attack, requiring only the sacrifice of Earth's resources and population. It was obviously a scam; they didn't have that capability."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Arrest those members of the Alien Trade Federation and seize that star fortress," Constantine said. "I will grant you specific permissions and equipment, and also provide you with all the information you need. We can obtain intelligence about that alien fleet from those aliens, such as their shipboard weapons, hull armor materials, and the combat capabilities of other alien races besides the Chitauri. All this information will be useful in the final battle."

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(End of this chapter)