Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1402 Capture (Two Chapters Combined)

"Daisy..."

Daisy Jensen shook her head frantically.

"No, this will kill Yoyo, and you too!" She knew what Alfonso Mackenzie was up to. Even Yoyo's speed would be captured; now, the only thing that could fight that genetically modified soldier was her superpower. "Don't shoot." She raised her voice, trying to persuade Alfonso Mackenzie to put down the shotgun, or at least not put his finger on the trigger. "I don't mind hearing what they have to say first." She looked up and shouted at the approaching Imperial Guards, "What exactly do you want? Are our friends still safe?"

When the golden power armor came within half a meter of Alfonso McKenzie, he reluctantly lowered his weapon, as the shotgun muzzle was already pressed against the unconscious Elena Rodriguez. If he fired, the shot would inevitably shatter Elena Rodriguez's fragile body into pieces, rather than penetrating the power armor and harming the person inside.

Constantine stretched out his arm and handed over the unconscious body.

Although somewhat surprised, Alfonso McKenzie held Elena Rodriguez in his arms while checking her injuries. Fortunately, apart from a small cut on her forehead from the ornate embossed surface of her power armor, Elena Rodriguez had no obvious external injuries. Her current unconsciousness was more due to the feedback from the acceleration generated when using her ability. Regardless of the origin of her power, she was still essentially a normal person with the fragile bones and organs of an ordinary person; that ability was essentially a form of torture for her body.

Constantine's actions eased the tension slightly; at least Alfonso McKenzie knew the Imperial Guard didn't want to kill S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, nor were they the genetically modified humans who, according to some propaganda, reveled in killing. Numerous media outlets and prominent figures had written extensive reports about the Emperor's golden-armored Imperial Guard, especially those from congressional investigative teams and think tanks. These reports, describing the Guard's performance in the Balkan unification wars, aimed to discredit the Emperor's policies and demonstrate the transformative power of a genetically modified soldier on the battlefield without the use of missiles or similar equipment.

Following this came numerous test reports from military-industrial complexes and pharmaceutical companies regarding gene-modification projects. Many rational people could see the true purpose of those reports, but the media always seized on a few keywords and began to exaggerate, portraying the Imperial Guard as ruthless, genetically modified humans. This may not be entirely wrong, but the media always adds their own imagination when exaggerating threats, using the same methods as when exaggerating racial threats.

"You have a mission that concerns the future of humanity, and we will ensure its successful completion," Constantine said. "Now you have some people to meet, some knowledge to learn, and a lot of work to do before the mission begins. Come with me; you will spend your final days at the Lighthouse base before the mission."

"Do you think pointing a gun at someone is a substitute for an invitation?" Alfonso McKenzie carried Elena Rodriguez on his back, with Daisy Jensen providing considerable assistance. Despite his tough talk, it was clear to everyone that Alfonso McKenzie was no longer capable of handling a shotgun. "You haven't revealed any information. Where are our friends?"

Constantine disdained to answer the question.

The group retraced their steps, but several Rangers had already reached the elevator door via another route and repaired the control panel that Alfonso McKenzie had damaged. The heavy alloy door slowly rose on an electrical signal, the serrated lower edge of the door loosening its interlocking concrete to reveal a narrow passage leading to the lighthouse base elevator. Air circulated from the air purifier, sweeping away the stale air containing concrete, rust, and mold, bringing in fresh air with a slight chemical scent—unlike the damp, dim passage outside, this passage was not only dry but also well-lit, with red painted numbers marked on the wall not far from the elevator door. The N2 passage, the escape route after nuclear winter, had several gates to defend against intruders and to clean residual radiation from field personnel.

The Rangers and the First Secret Service sandwiched Alfonso McKenzie and Daisy Jensen in the middle of the column, pulling them forward until Constantine at the back of the line entered. Only then did the rising door close again. "The Colcentr Guild will explain all the details to you," the soldiers said, their backs pressed against the wall, making way for the Guards, just big enough for him. Constantine looked down at the disgruntled Alfonso McKenzie and said, "Now you only need to obey orders. Including you, Daisy Jensen. Don't try any futile resistance. We've spent time and money protecting your lives, not for you to waste them now."

"How's Agent Coulson doing now?" Daisy Johns asked.

"He's safe. He knows all the details of the mission and also believes it must be carried out," Constantine said. "Deceiving you and having you land near the base was my idea, not his. Because you can't understand all of this in a short time, you have to return to Lighthouse Base."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Ensure that no one on the task list is in mortal danger."

The riot lasted for thirteen minutes, and only thirteen minutes.

Because the cells holding all the armed personnel were welded shut, Melinda May did not choose to open them. Instead, she led a group of field agents, equally dissatisfied with the Guard's rule, to storm the armory to find weapons. Her plan was to clear the Guard's armed forces out of the base and then find a way to rescue the imprisoned agents. However, in their path, besides soldiers from the First Secret Service and Rangers, stood the Sorority members in power armor.

Although they were only there to serve their incoming master, and Constantine had not made any arrangements for their actions, their deadly firepower still proved useful—the incident stemmed from several rioting field agents who believed that ordinary live ammunition was no threat to the heavily armed First Secret Service Regiment and Rangers, and therefore planned to seize the Sorority's explosive rifles.

They had absolutely no idea what kind of organization the Sorority was, nor what the purpose and capabilities of the bomb guns were. They simply assumed the bomb guns would be useful because of their large caliber, and that they could acquire them quickly. So the group acted. Even Melinda May didn't know their purpose; after all, the riot required someone to create chaos, but how to create chaos wasn't her concern. When the agents stormed into what they thought was the Sorority's armory, they discovered that instead of bomb guns, thermobaric weapons, and plasma weapons, there were hundreds of exquisite glasses and a large pile of rolled-up carpets awaiting sterilization.

The sight of countless exquisite glass cups scattered on the ground infuriated the android in charge of the task.

She grabbed the bullpup rifle hanging from her waist and fired at the agents who stormed into the room. This was the first drop of blood shed in this riot, for an utterly absurd reason. Immediately afterward, all the sorority members received the message, but their communication wasn't based on the fact that "S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rioted," but rather that "S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wanted to sabotage the services their master was about to receive before he arrived." These "bomb girls"—the Emperor's nickname for the sorority—rushed out of the room like an enraged herd of cattle, running rampant throughout the Beacon base in groups of five. Their style of shooting indiscriminately, killing before questioning, caused a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had been incited to block passageways and loudly protest to immediately drop to the ground.

Melinda May herself had no idea that she would have so many supporters after initiating the riots.

At first, she was quite pleased, even issuing orders from a leadership position. But as the sorority's presence caused bloodshed, she began to realize something was wrong. She grabbed an agent and questioned him, only to receive the answer, "XX told him Melinda May is going to start a riot," nothing more—she was certain her little conspiracy group wouldn't leak secrets, which meant she wasn't the only one driving the riot; someone else also wanted to see it happen and had prepared in advance. Otherwise, she couldn't explain why the First Secret Service and the Rangers were able to seal off the passages so quickly, or why the control room hadn't been attacked by the riot agents yet.

"plum."

"Coulson." Melinda May took a deep breath and pressed the call button on her headset. "Did you do this?"

"No." Agent Coulson hesitated for a moment, "but I know about your little group."

"What do you want to do, Agent Coulson?" Melinda May stared at the corridor ahead, now ablaze with Molotov cocktails. Automated fire suppression systems reacted instantly, flooding the entire corridor with a dense spray of water. "Do you intend to submit to that man and go on a suicide mission?"

"Listen to me, May," Agent Coulson's voice was full of frustration, "this is something we have to do, and no one else can do this mission."

Why?

"I can't explain it to you, May," Coulson frowned, "but I need you to stop."

Constantine explained the importance of the mission in detail, and also sent him a picture of a cheap notebook that could be bought on the street, but whose contents were quite sensational. It was a prophecy and its interpretation, written by the Emperor ten years prior. Along with it was a sketch—an extremely realistic one—of Agent Coulson facing a Tahiti beach, death circling overhead like a vulture—his end. All the hardships he had endured were for the sake of completing this mission. On the back of the sketch was a long passage written by the Emperor, mainly concerning how to protect his life and the success rate of the mission. The Emperor's conclusion was pessimistic; he could not find a way to ensure Agent Coulson's safety while simultaneously succeeding in the mission.

But Agent Coulson couldn't say that this mission might cost him his life, because the prophecy clearly showed his end, and he knew that Melinda May and her team would definitely prevent it from happening.

His death was inextricably linked to the success or failure of the mission, and he could not allow the mission to fail.

Why?

"I can't tell you the reason until the mission begins."

Melinda May hung up the communication and then turned to call over several of her most trusted field agents.

She knew Agent Coulson was there, and she planned to find him herself and get to the bottom of things.

When the riot at the Beacon Base subsided, the casualty statistics were delivered to Agent Coulson. He was in a secret room within the base. Like the base itself, it was shrouded in secrets. The immortal Enoch was the only person he could communicate with during this time, besides Constantine of the Royal Guard—though he wasn't sure if Enoch could even be considered human—but the alien robot's erudition piqued his interest, especially regarding the topic of prophecy, where Enoch's revelations particularly intrigued Agent Coulson.

“I experienced the self-fulfilling prophecy,” Enoch said. “I was in Greece, participating in a city-state war called the Trojan War. I knew that behind the material veil of this world existed a spiritually driven world, but that was the first time I witnessed the power of prophecy. Every word spoken by that woman named Cassandra came to pass. After that, I started designing an algorithm, incorporating all the variables on Earth, in an attempt to calculate the accuracy of the prophecy. But I failed, not only because of my own computational abilities, but also because I couldn't statistically analyze all the variables.”

"You also experienced the Trojan War?"

"That's just the first small part of my mission." The immortal Enoch expressionlessly reached out and plugged the data interface in the room into his neck. "I can show you the footage I recorded at the time. But it will take time; the equipment in this base isn't fully compatible with the format of the information I'm storing." After two hours of data transmission, just as Agent Coulson was about to fall asleep, Enoch reminded him that the transmission was complete. Although drowsiness still lingered, curiosity kept Coulson awake, and he even took out a beer from the refrigerator to share with Enoch.

"Am I the first person on Earth to witness the Trojan War firsthand?"

"The Trojan War wasn't like the one depicted in Homer's epics, Agent Coulson," Enoch replied honestly. "You'd be disappointed if you read about it; the romanticism of humanism doesn't suit an era of mere survival and death."

Why do you say that?

“Because the Trojan War was far more brutal than you can imagine,” Enoch said. He began playing historical footage he had witnessed, and through his eyes, Agent Coulson felt as if he were walking the streets of Troy during the war. “I’ve seen many pointless wars in human history, and the Trojan War is one of them. I still don’t understand the nature of the Trojan War, but my logic tells me that there must have been forces I don’t understand at play.”

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(End of this chapter)