Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1674 (Chapter 1670): The Agent's Tricks

Unsurprisingly, as the beat-up car, which the owner probably couldn't be bothered to insure, slowly approached the checkpoint a hundred meters from the iron gate, several soldiers in desert camouflage surrounded the car from both sides with rifles at their sides, their guns intentionally or unintentionally pointing at the driver's seat and the back seat. Dr. Banner knew then that he didn't need to produce the fake document.

They were recognized. They knew what kind of monster they would become. He could never forget the destruction and casualties he and his hatred had caused in New York. Dr. Banner smiled obsequiously at the soldier, a nauseating sense of inferiority rising in his throat once more. Six PhD degrees couldn't make him ignore his own flaws. He was so nervous he felt like vomiting, his whole body shrinking, almost disappearing. All his personality resonated within the cockpit, gripping the steering wheel like a runaway sailboat, desperately fighting the storm with human strength.

If it weren't for Hulk, he would have remained a gentle man all along. So gentle that he couldn't refuse the sudden invitation to join him on this deadly, completely unsuitable mission, and to form an alliance solely against someone—Dr. Banner found himself unable to recall that person's name or face. The feeling was awful; whenever he tried to remember the person's name and appearance, all he felt was pain, as if a red-hot steel nail had been driven into his brain, and the associated memories were nothing but a blurry, blindingly pure light. He had tried writing the name down or recording a video of himself saying it, but the name written on paper vanished completely within seconds, leaving not even a trace of the pen, and the recorded video would be corrupted, as if it had never existed—Dr. Banner could only remember the person's actions, as if all the figures in his memories had been replaced by a pronoun, leaving no name.

We were recognized.

Dr. Banner thought pessimistically, "Another innocent person is going to die. I should have left this planet long ago."

This is a well-known downside: the soldiers are tense. They know their guns might be the only thing that can protect them, even if they aren't so reliable against the Hulk. They are the only weapons that can save their lives. When the Avengers were first formed, Tony Stark always asked Steve Rogers to go on TV with him and do interviews, even though they both hated dealing with troublesome media people.

Tony Stark believes it's necessary for the public to know what the Avengers are doing, and for the facts to be clarified before politicians and the media distort and smear their actions. Even if the Avengers need an excellent public relations department, the Avengers themselves still need to step forward and explain. To generate buzz, television stations often invite feminists, racial equality activists, LGBTQ+ individuals, environmental enthusiasts, vegetarians, religious conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and so on to participate in interviews. Usually, the interviews they accept aren't too intense, especially when Dr. Banner is present. This is not only because of Dr. Banner's mild-mannered nature, but also because many people know that the Hulk can become uncontrollable when angry. Therefore, when he is present, interview program directors always cut out overly sensitive questions to avoid the extreme leftists who are always keen to label others with various forms of discrimination, and the extreme rightists who say nothing but God, causing trouble and losing their lives on the show.

"Show me your identification."

The sound coming from the back seat sent chills down Dr. Banner's spine and made him break out in a cold sweat.

Dr. Banner could tell the soldiers were nervous; no one could say for sure whether they would shoot if they saw him reach his hand out of their sight. If they hurt themselves, the enraged Hulk would tear open the fragile doors and pillars, then rip these innocent soldiers to shreds.

"Show me your identification, Dr. Banner, and calm down. They won't shoot." Even with a loaded rifle right outside the car window, Nick Fury remained composed. "Get them to enter the fake identity into the system; that's a strict requirement. Whether they need to upload the fake identity, and whether they'll hand us over to the FBI or Homeland Security, depends entirely on the outcome of my negotiations."

Nick Fury manually rolled down the car window.

"Don't worry, there's no ambush, no backup, just him and me." He pointed to his one eye and said to the soldiers, "You know who I am. Be careful, Dr. Banner has a bad temper. Tell your superior that I'm here."

The two soldiers exchanged a glance. One turned and walked away, gesturing for Dr. Banner to take his hands off the steering wheel before leaving. He also ordered the other soldier to point his gun at Nick Fury—the King of Spies was standing right in front of him, and the ordinary soldier was a little nervous. No one knew what high-tech gadgets Nick Fury, this infamous international fugitive, might pull out. This was the impression S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers left on ordinary people. The soldier said something to the other soldier on duty at the checkpoint, gesturing towards the wrecked car. Then the soldier went into the checkpoint, and Dr. Banner could be vaguely seen picking up a phone; he guessed he was probably trying to contact the base's commander.

A short while later, the soldier at the checkpoint returned, looking somewhat gloating, as if he had heard some good news on the phone. He handed the fake document to Dr. Banner in the driver's seat, then leaned out the rear window to look at the passengers inside. The soldier was also curious; how could a fake document pass the inspection? Or was it a genuine document?

"The officer said he could temporarily keep quiet about your visit to the Pentagon."

"It's 3:40 PM. You have one hour to escape, and then the Pentagon will know your location. Here are the officer's exact words: 'Tell that son of a bitch Nick Fury that an Apache helicopter will be sent from base to hunt him down in an hour. I'd love to see him die by my hand.'"

"Does he know Hulk is here?" Nick Fury remained expressionless; he had no time to concern himself with Banner's emotions. Today, he had to enter the base's archives. Only there could he find information about the Lewis and Clark and the Event Horizon. He knew that the prototype designers of those two ships were Dr. Wendy Lawson, and he also knew that Dr. Wendy Lawson was a Kree. The situation wasn't so dire that he needed to call for last-ditch assistance. "If he knew, then he should know that I would definitely go in today, but the one who would pay the price would certainly not be me."

The one-eyed man stared intently at the soldier, whose smile vanished. He involuntarily straightened his back and took a few steps back, glancing with a complex expression at the middle-aged man in the driver's seat—a man with slightly graying hair and an awkward smile. Nick Fury's threat sent a chill down the soldier's spine in the scorching desert. Dr. Banner's previously ingratiating manner had almost made one forget that he was an uncontrollable beast, but the title of "King of Agents" reminded him of that. The soldier had no time to observe the complex expression on Dr. Banner's face; he could only nod and walk back to his post with a grave expression.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Banner, but I have to mention your name."

"It's alright," Dr. Banner shrugged. "I'm used to it."

A moment later, more soldiers poured out of the checkpoint. Dr. Banner keenly noticed that these soldiers, with serious expressions and rushing towards the car, all had their weapon safety off. In the blink of an eye, the soldiers surrounded the vehicle. Dr. Banner nervously raised his hand, his mouth agape, but he couldn't utter a single word. However, Nick Fury calmly opened the car door, got out, and walked straight to the officer in combat uniform not far in front of the car, completely ignoring the guns pointed at him.

"Can we go in now?" Nick Fury said expressionlessly, as if the scorching sun shining on the dusty ground was absorbed by his skin, and his black jacket seemed to offer some relief from the heat. This infuriated the sweating officer standing before him. He said to the officer, "These soldiers have seen me. What are you going to do with them?"

"Save your breath, Nick Fury. Don't try to sow discord here, you viper. Hand over everything you have before you enter the base, but not him." The officer pointed at Dr. Banner in the cockpit. "I won't let such an uncontrollable monster into the base. This is Pentagon property now, and I can't afford to see such a loss under my watch. You're making me look bad, Nick Fury, the world's most dangerous fugitive."

The King of Agents chuckled dismissively, seemingly unconcerned by the officer's weapon at his waist. "This base holds no secrets for me. Project Pegasus has always been S.H.I.E.L.D. property. The Pentagon's presence here doesn't mean you control the base. I suppose you still have many secrets you can't unlock, don't you?"

"You promised me, Nick Fury. I'll give you some information in exchange for opening the secret room." The officer drew his pistol. "I'll watch you open the secret room; it's part of our deal. Be careful. For the sake of our past cooperation, I don't mind bringing back the King of Agents' body; at least that will spare you some suffering."

Dr. Banner watched Nick Fury and the officer arguing loudly in front of the car, then smiled again at the soldiers beside him. However, his smile made the soldiers somewhat nervous.

"I don't know what happened, soldier. I didn't want to be here," Dr. Banner said softly. He didn't know if Nick Fury and the officer could reach an agreement. In the worst-case scenario, he and Nick Fury might die here—he was certain that Nick Fury, that viper, wouldn't have come to the Pentagon's territory without being absolutely certain. However, the King of Spies' methods were so sophisticated that even a highly intelligent person with six PhDs couldn't guess what was going on. Perhaps Nick Fury wasn't confident of a successful negotiation—he wasn't afraid of guns; Dr. Banner was afraid of the Hulk that would appear after he was shot, that monster that fed on anger. "Promise me you won't shoot me, or I won't be able to control that thing."

Diana Lister felt that Regent Victor von Doom had aged rapidly lately. The fate of the entire nation, and even the entire world, rested on this heavy desk, and even occupying only a tiny corner of it was enough to satisfy Diana Lister, who had been educated in Hydra ideology since childhood.

Victor von Doom quickly scanned the documents submitted by the intelligence department, affixed the electronic seal, signed them, and handed them to Diana Lister. The news of Nick Fury's entry into the Pegasus Project base might slip through the factional walls of the Pentagon, but it couldn't escape the Regent's spies planted there. Even if the information was provided by a somewhat disloyal spy who secretly communicated with the Kree, the Emperor's efforts to win over General Hale's daughter Ruby, another hidden spy, could ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the information.

Compared to the whereabouts of agents like Nick Fury and Natasha Romanov, the news that deserves the Regent's attention even more includes not only the genetically modified soldiers sent to the Middle East to participate in the war, oil trade negotiations, and the exploitation of offshore natural resources, but also the Emperor, who has not appeared in public for a long time. The power the Emperor displayed at the United Nations headquarters in New York proved to the world that the Emperor of this country has the ability to directly behead all officials with the authority to launch nuclear missiles before any nuclear-armed nations can launch a nuclear strike. This threat is even greater than the fact that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia possessed orbital missiles and nuclear weapons, because it means that the Emperor has the ability to remove many of the world's nuclear weapons from the control of their owners.

Therefore, many negotiations, including those on oil and food trade, and the Mediterranean maritime security regulations, were predicated on controlling the number of Yugoslav nuclear weapons and the emperor himself. Regent Viktor von Dum, however, used the "exchange" of the USS George H.W. Bush nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from the US Sixth Fleet, and even the "release of information that the carrier had been captured," as leverage to gain more concessions in the negotiations.

The US Navy cannot afford to lose an active nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and its strategic control over the Middle East and North Africa. Wall Street cannot afford the loss of security and capital flight caused by the breakdown of maritime hegemony. Energy giants cannot afford to lose control of Middle Eastern oil-producing countries. If this aircraft carrier is lost, NATO, which still possesses the capability to retaliate, might directly initiate a thermonuclear war.

The inevitable decline following the loss of financial, oil production, and military dominance is unavoidable. Rather than waiting for the body to decay, it's better to launch a counterattack while still strong and regain confidence in the financial markets. This is the threat posed by the Washington representative at the negotiating table; as for the president's life, it's completely unnecessary to discuss it at the negotiating table.

By this time, although the Emperor rarely appeared in the media, the US Sixth Fleet was no longer operating in the Mediterranean. Even the Sigonella Naval Air Base in Sicily, Italy, a NATO military airfield and major logistics base, urgently evacuated some senior officers and secretly withdrew the medium-range missile defense system and drone squadron deployed there to avoid provoking the already tense Federal Government of Yugoslavia. The Regent ordered satellite reconnaissance and stealth aircraft reconnaissance to ensure the complete withdrawal of the missile defense system, lest NATO breach its agreement.

The emperor wasn't forced to retire; it was simply that the secular governments of this world didn't put enough pressure on him. He had more important things to do, and he didn't mind temporarily handing the stage to governments composed of mortals, because power had never been something he valued. As for Greece, it had been completely abandoned. The International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank were already planning to completely abandon Greece's debt problem. After all, expanding southward was better than expanding northward, especially since the Yugoslav Federation had already annexed Romania. At least until physicists around the world figured out that teleportation technology, Greece was just meat in the lion's mouth.

"I need to speak with the Chief Executive of the State Council." Victor von Doom removed his hands from the keyboard, wearily rubbing his eyes. "Call the Malik family. I want Gideon Malik to join the conference call as well. I need you to prepare a summary of the meeting. The matter of General Hale's fate must be on the negotiating table. I cannot allow her little secret to threaten the Emperor's safety."

"His Majesty has already set off?" Diana Lister's eyes widened.

"Not so fast. He has some matters on Earth that require his attention. If he wants to go to the Kuiper Belt or Neptune, he doesn't need to use a human spacecraft." Regent Victor von Doom shook his head. "Schedule a conference call as soon as possible, according to my schedule, not the Malik family's. Also, tell Stephanie that the Emperor appreciates her mediation in Washington."

After finishing my busy schedule, I started getting back into my old habits and began writing longer chapters.

(End of this chapter)