Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1357 Lighthouse Base (First Update)

In the past, Victoria Hand and Maria Hill did not have a good relationship.

One was a spiest graduate of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, a highly qualified and politically reliable head of S.H.I.E.L.D.; the other was transferred from another department by Congress to S.H.I.E.L.D. to monitor and cooperate with the agency. Victoria Hand always believed Maria Hill would betray them, while Maria Hill always thought Victoria Hand was too ruthless and efficient, completely disregarding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal culture, focusing solely on work. Although she admired this work ethic, she was unwilling to develop a deeper relationship with her, and she believed that Victoria Hand was better suited to the CIA or the Department of Homeland Security than S.H.I.E.L.D.

However, most of these rifts disappeared after the Hydra rebellion, as the disaster proved the loyalty and innocence of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Victoria Hand, in particular, experienced a complete betrayal; if the Emperor hadn't held her tightly to his soul, she would have died long ago from Grant Ward's shooting. Although their contact was later limited to collaborations between the Defense Intelligence Service and the Guardians of the Order's intelligence services, and their relationship wasn't as tense as before, it wasn't particularly warm either.

"Our opponents are very likely Coulson's team," Victoria Hand said over the comms. "I know you have the key to the Cold Storage, Agent Hill. I want to confirm if there's anything in the Cold Storage that I don't know about? Is Nick Fury hiding anything from me?"

"All the contents of Project Slingshot are included."

Maria Hill was referring to a S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to deal with unknown dangerous objects. Simply put, it involved using chemical-fueled rockets to send warheads carrying dangerous materials into the sun, hence the name "Project Slingshot" because the satellites would use Earth's gravitational pull. However, the so-called "Slingshot Project" was a complete hoax, deceiving many agents. Many 0-84 items that appeared to have been launched were actually moved from the "Slingshot Base" and hidden in a secret base called the "Cold Storage."

It was used to store large quantities of unknown and dangerous materials and to detain dangerous individuals, with a secrecy level one level higher than the [Sandbox Base] located in the African desert. After the Hydra rebellion, Hydra agent John Gatler, codenamed "Clairvoyant," easily activated and launched a 0-84 item unearthed in South America by Coulson's team. The resulting plasma blasted open the walls of the [Cold Storage] prison, releasing almost all the dangerous and hardened criminals and taking away many 0-84 items.

Although these items were later recovered, Victoria Hand still saw things on the recovery list that she hadn't seen before with her Level 8 agent clearance. These included: a prototype force field weapon invented by Howard Stark for S.H.I.E.L.D., which could only move an egg; a mature design for a car vector engine, used by Agent Coulson to modify his car; a strange device storing the energy of the Cosmic Cube, recovered from John Garrett's body, which also turned the last Hydra agent undercover at S.H.I.E.L.D. to ashes; the Life-Model Decoy project, early research results of the android project; and a special filamentous virus brought from the Sandbox Base, with a transmissibility dozens of times greater than samples preserved in all Level 4 biological research institutes worldwide, yet still possessing the same lethality.

"I have the list of [cold storage facilities], but you know I'm not asking about weapons," Victoria Hand said. "What do you know about the Life-Model Decoy program?"

"I know this plan was once initiated to save the lives of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but it was temporarily shelved due to technical problems, which even Tony Stark couldn't solve." Although Victoria Hand remained expressionless on the other end of the video call, Agent Maria Hill sensed something was wrong. "Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"If a controlled superhuman scientist could use his abilities and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research data to completely recreate the Life-Model Decoy project, then S.H.I.E.L.D., with its past strong research capabilities, couldn't possibly have failed," Victoria Hand said in a low voice, adjusting her glasses. "Dr. Horton Radcliffe created the Life-Model Decoy; he must have obtained chips manufactured by S.H.I.E.L.D. As far as I know, the chip factory at the Sandbox Base has long been shut down. Agent Coulson and other departments are completely short-handed to start production equipment, obtain raw materials, and lack the expertise to produce chips that meet the architecture required for the Life-Model Decoy project."

"You mean Nick Fury already knew the Life-Model Decoy project was successful and had begun production?" Maria Hill asked, somewhat surprised. However, this surprise quickly faded, because Nick Fury had kept things from her more than once. The only time he could be considered honest was when he shared the existence of Skrull Stands, which served the same purpose as the Life-Model Decoy but saved on significant research and development costs. Now it seemed that honesty was also a deception; the Life-Model Decoy project, used to create androids for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, had already begun and was very likely already ready for use. If it weren't for the Hydra rebellion leading to the information leak, she might never have known this in her life.

However, this could also be interpreted as Nick Fury not trusting the Skrulls enough and wanting to reduce the risk of leaks.

“I truly know nothing about it.” Maria Hill glanced at the flight countdown timer. Five hours remained. If Victoria Hand insisted on getting an answer aboard the Quinjet, she would have to endure this lengthy interrogation, “if you're willing to believe me.”

“I’m willing to believe it. Our former boss has lost power, but he’s still a dangerous person.” Victoria Hand nodded. “I investigated a place called ‘Lighthouse Base.’ It was originally a base used as a refuge for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents during the Cold War, nothing special. But I found some information that shows that even during the Hydra rebellion, supplies were still being continuously sent to ‘Lighthouse Base’ on Lake Ontario, and there seemed to be people there systematically receiving the supplies.”

"What supplies?"

"have no idea."

"So who is receiving the supplies?"

“I don’t know.” Victoria Hand sighed. “On the surface, Lighthouse Base is an unmanned automated facility. Someone saw members of Agent Coulson’s team near that small town on Lake Ontario; perhaps they’ve already moved into that facility. Agent Maria Hill, I formally appoint you to go to Lighthouse Base to make contact with Agent Coulson’s team while investigating the research findings of Project Life-Model Decoy.”

"They won't trust me, V."

“They’re not agents now, they’re vigilantes. If they were still agents, they would have locked you up and interrogated you; now they’ll greet you with cake and champagne.” Victoria Hand glanced at her watch instinctively, seemingly in a hurry. “This Quinjet will take you to the vicinity of Lighthouse Base and give you the supplies you need. I hope you can persuade Agent Coulson’s team not to get involved in this mess, not to participate in our arrest, search, and interrogation of Dr. Horton Radcliffe. The Emperor needs Agent Coulson alive—though I don’t know why, he has his reasons, and he’s always right—but if Agent Coulson insists on getting involved, then we will not be responsible for any potential casualties.”

"Are you planning a surprise attack within the United States?"

Victoria Hand didn't answer, but instead gave Maria Hill a look before closing the communication. Agent Hill could only look at the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent sitting opposite her, who shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

"It's not the first time they've done this," he said. "As far as I know, the Emperor was responsible for the previous two 'exercise accidents' at military bases within the country."

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(End of this chapter)