Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1654, the 1650th chapter of the Kamar-Taj Pegasus Project

The information technology project was not completed overnight. The previous Sorcerer Supreme had planned to build an information channel between Kamar-Taj and the Temple before humanity entered the information age, but this vision only began to materialize after the Emperor took over the Immortal City and began producing the necessary equipment. This information technology project included subsystems connected to the military intelligence system, such as Temple terminals, ethereal radar, countless satellites, and orbital missile silos. The physical result was a cascading waterfall of fluorescent green data projected onto the Emperor's holographic projection screen in his royal castle office.

The occultists observing the ether warned that the outer-dimensional etheric tides were growing increasingly turbulent, and supernatural phenomena would become more frequent. Compared to the Yugoslav Federation occupying the Balkans and the immortal city of Kamar-Taj, Kamar-Taj possessed a deeply entrenched network of informants worldwide. While some informants had never met an occultist or experienced any supernatural events in their lives, their parents or even grandparents would pass down the secrets to their wealth as family legends, until one day an occultist would come knocking—a large number of occult apprentices, accompanied by well-trained armed personnel, would be dispatched to collect debts owed by these informants. Today, the vast majority of these informants were ordinary people with a certain social standing; generations of wealth accumulation had given them abundant intelligence sources, social connections, and operational funds.

When Kamar-Taj demanded the return of a certain percentage of its wealth or resources, these informants, who had never met the Kamar-Taj sorcerers, might refuse, or they might believe that the legendary organization appearing before them was merely a hoax. But none of that mattered. The Emperor granted Kamar-Taj's sorcerer apprentices and armed personnel the authority to use force and psychic powers. He ordered the apprentices to quickly collect the debt and transform it into reliable intelligence, providing leads for the operations department's intelligence work. This was merely a side story in the larger operation; the Emperor and Regent spent half a minute reading the relevant report and then set it aside. However, the report provided by Stephanie Malik kept the Emperor and Regent discussing it for over five minutes.

The Immortal City had destroyed a Skrull settlement in the past. Although the impact of that operation did not attract any attention worldwide, the Immortal City's hostility towards the Skrulls was transmitted to the entire community through the Skrull conservatives who cooperated with Nick Fury. Even though it was publicly claimed that the Skrull crisis had been resolved, the Immortal City and the Yugoslav Federation did not stop their covert screening of the Skrulls. All targeted operations went underground, and surveillance and counter-surveillance, infiltration and counter-infiltration will remain the form of war between humans and Skrull aliens for a long time to come.

Regent Victor von Doom's intelligence agency has identified several high-ranking Skrulls and uncovered their plot to instigate a war between humanity and the rest of the world. However, they have yet to pinpoint the mastermind behind it all—the Skrull Queen. Unlike other Xenomorphs, the Skrulls do not have a so-called "moderate" faction. If all Skrulls are not eradicated at once, the Xenomorphs' plot to destroy humanity will continue like cockroaches in a sewer—let one go today, and another will spring up tomorrow. Even if these Skrulls side with Nick Fury, the Emperor has never shown any mercy to the moderate Skrulls on Skywarp Station; the Skrulls who have infiltrated the upper echelons of major human governments are the most direct evidence of this.

"Do not inform the rulers of major regimes. Apart from those you used mind-reading to probe during state visits, we know of no one else in this world we can trust." The Regent paused. "I suggest we arrange for interrogators to enter dreams and use dream divination and remote mind probing on the officials on the list. Once we have a list of trustworthy individuals, we can then use psychic abilities for indirect contact. I propose organizing a transnational and inter-organizational order dedicated to combating the Skrulls. This organization will leave no physical traces; all information will be transmitted only through dreams, and the identities of all members must be kept secret. The only means of communication will be through dreams. I will be fully responsible for the establishment and communication of this order. I believe this order will play a crucial role in the future war against the Skrulls. Stephanie Malik can join."

"I hope you still remember the arcane spell forcing entry into dreams, which requires a massive psionic matrix," the Emperor said, nodding. "Of course you do, so you'll know that this magic is a tremendous burden on your and your interrogator's minds."

"I'm willing to take some risks. The work of these psionicists is extremely demanding, but professionally trained psionicists like the Black Armor Interrogators are far too scarce. Kamar-Taj and your newly established psionic academy system can't currently replenish the available personnel. I can only do my best to ensure their safety when facing risks and provide them with adequate compensation. This is already the safest working environment they can get; it's much better than ending up in some cult, at least in terms of hygiene." Victor von Doom blinked and smiled as he said, "Let me ask, are the missile launch sites and air defense positions on that South Pacific island ready? If the situation requires us to destroy Washington, the first nuclear missile can only be launched from that island. Do the two witches know that the nuclear launch button they hold will destroy the world?"

The emperor did not answer, but Victor von Dum knew the answer.

The witch knew nothing. The emperor would never tell her that those split-type nuclear warheads were already programmed with their targets, capable of destroying vital facilities like Cheyenne Mountain, Langley, and the Pentagon after launch, rendering advanced human-made interceptor missiles completely ineffective. He wouldn't tell the witch how many lives these warheads would cause. A lie might be a form of betrayal, but there was no need for the witch to bear any psychological burden after pressing the button. He only needed the witch to be one of his last bargaining chips after all his systems collapsed; they didn't need to know the remaining crucial information.

Neither Victor von Doom nor Commander Constantine of the Royal Guard objected to this approach. Most importantly, Bayonetta and Joan of Arc had anticipated the Emperor's decision and readily accepted it. They knew that even the most paranoid person on Earth wouldn't build anti-aircraft fortifications, bomber and fighter hangars, and missile silos in their place of residence; his actions implied necessity. Therefore, even if the witches were dissatisfied with how their work affected their family lives, they had to admit that without these measures, their most basic safety wouldn't be guaranteed. They knew the world wouldn't allow them to live carefree lives; whether as Shadow Witches or in any other capacity, they would face challenges.

"Another piece of news, perhaps related to this crisis," Victor von Doom said. "After the Battle of New York, the U.S. military commissioned NASA to analyze the data left behind by the Zitauri technology and the Tesseract, with the aim of creating a hyperspace engine. Stark Industries' R&D department was deeply involved in this project. This is detailed in the USA-K-1255 report. But what's puzzling is that the relevant plans and projects began in 1995. After tracing back to the source, we discovered that the original purpose of this project was called Project Pegasus, and its core was the research of the Tesseract."

"I've seen that document. The Guardians submitted relevant information to me, and Hydra and its subsidiary, MIA, were also involved in the project," the Emperor said. "I also know that NASA and the Pentagon secretly launched several rockets under Project Pegasus to build an experimental hyperspace engine spacecraft. The maintenance plan after the Battle of New York was just a cover."

"The New Territory, a product of Project Pegasus, was also supported by conservative Hydra factions like the Malik family. Documents show that the New Territory went missing during its voyage. Before that, the New Territory's hyperspace engine experiments always failed, until that day in 1995, when the hyperspace engine experiment succeeded." Victor von Doom stood up, his tone suggestive. Clearly, on that day, the Emperor not only gained a body deeply integrated with the material universe, but special natural phenomena also affected the hyperspace engine in the experiment. "That day, Kamar-Taj observed the psionic waveform characteristics of an opening dimensional gap, and since then, the New Territory has been missing. Now, NASA reports that it has received signals from the New Territory and plans to send a rescue ship to carry out a search and rescue mission. Stark Industries and Vanguard Technologies are responsible for building that rescue ship, and its destination is Neptune."

The emperor remained silent for a while.

"Because the New Territory's hyperspace engine was a top-secret experiment, the rescue operation was not widely publicized. The relevant engineering details were classified as top secret, and even within Congress, only a few people knew about it, not including the bankers and military-industrial complex spokespeople on the Council on Foreign Relations," Victor von Doom said. "If you'd like, you can look at the personnel list on that ship."

"That rescue spacecraft has been launched for a long time."

"As planned, that spaceship has already reached the vicinity of Neptune. Voyager 2 is not the first scum object to visit Neptune; the New Territory is. Your hunt for Quetzalcoatl did not affect the rescue spaceship's trajectory. Now, the hibernating astronauts on that spaceship are about to awaken and board the New Territory."

"What's the name of that spaceship?"

"The Couple," Victor von Doom said, "The entity behind the veil has indicated the location of the final battle, a condition you cannot refuse."

"Yes, I cannot refuse." The Emperor took a deep breath, then opened his eyes and looked at Constantine, the commander of the Royal Guard. "Order the Sky Carriers to prepare for battle, and order all Royal Guards to prepare for boarding operations in outer space. The entity behind the curtain has prepared the stage for the decisive battle, so we have no reason to fail."

(End of this chapter)