Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 367 Rumors at the Tri-Wing Headquarters (Second Update! Please vote!)

Salomon once again praised Nick Fury's pervasive intelligence network.

This special intelligence team was comprised of elites personally selected by Nick Fury from within the intelligence services. Each member signed numerous confidentiality agreements and "slave contracts" to ensure they wouldn't leak information. This team was specifically tasked with collecting and analyzing intelligence on Salomon. Nick Fury had stated more than once that he had more than one eye on Salomon. He also said this was just one eye—and in return, Salomon made his stance clear to Nick Fury.

If he finds any Skrull around him, he'll kill them instantly. He'll kill them on the street, in a restaurant, and he doesn't care if he's caught on camera killing someone in the street or chopping off a green alien's head. If Nick Fury lets Skrulls onto Earth, he'll ruthlessly wipe out all those disgusting, shape-shifting parasites and green-skinned, hairless spies.

So the conversation veered off course from "Why did Salomon go looking for Laura Crawford?" all the way to "You stupid idiot who believes in the Skrulls" and "If you let the Skrulls into Earth again, believe me, I'll kill you right now!" As cakes and tea flew everywhere and went off on a tangent, the reason why the arcane mage was interested in Laura Crawford became less important.

"Whatever," Nick Fury thought, "maybe Salomon just wants to meet new girls. He's still young!" It's normal for young men to want to meet attractive women; it's hormones at play, and he figured Salomon was no exception. In fact, Nick Fury was pleased to see Salomon exhibiting normal human desires.

Of course, the matter was eventually resolved. Nick Fury assured that Agent Coulson had investigated all possible cameras at Greenwich University that might have captured Salomon's face, and all surveillance footage had been sealed. Before submitting the footage to the World Security Council, Nick Fury had instructed Agent Coulson to unilaterally delete the portion of Salomon's face that appeared—it wasn't a secret that Salomon, wearing armor and a helmet, was there; many people had filmed him, but Salomon was careful, and not everyone saw his face.

Finally, Salomon left the office humming "The Bear and the Maiden." An eyewitness saw a young man in a black suit so pressed it could cut his fingers, a black leather belt with brass buckles slung over his hip, and a silver-white rapier walk into a toilet stall. Then, accompanied by a flash of orange-red light and the sound of flushing, no one ever came out of that stall again.

"Good heavens, the S.H.I.E.L.D. toilets lead to the Ministry of Magic?"

Thus, a strange rumor began to circulate among the lower-ranking agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially among the junior clerical staff, particularly concerning the alleged deal between the director and the Ministry of Magic. Of course, the slightly higher-ranking agents believed that the toilet stall led to a secret base within the Tri-Wing Tower, and perhaps the director's little secret was hidden in that stall.

Then, while taking a paid break, a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent noticed members of a certain task force repeatedly entering and exiting that toilet stall, seemingly wanting to investigate. This rumor was then refuted by a statement from Alexander Pierce, the Minister of the World Security Council, who declared it utter nonsense and that no one in the world would want the entrance to a secret base located under a toilet.

"I didn't know you had a sense of humor," Nick Fury said with a laugh to his old friend.

"I've always had a great sense of humor, it's just that you're unwilling to move your ass to listen to my jokes." Alexander Pierce poured himself and Nick Fury a glass of light liquor. It was work time, and being drunk wouldn't be good for the work ahead. "The World Security Council wants an explanation," Pierce said. "Those bureaucrats think we invited the aliens... well, last time it was indeed a S.H.I.E.L.D. experiment that attracted Loki. They're demanding that S.H.I.E.L.D. assure us that they haven't used Loki's scepter for any experiments, and they want to send agents to investigate the scepter's whereabouts."

"Of course not. Wasn't Loki's scepter sealed away? It's preserved on the other side of the world, along with the remains of the Chitauri army." Nick Fury didn't drink; he put his glass aside and curled up in his chair with his arms crossed like a bear.

“This can’t happen, Pierce,” he said with unusual sincerity. “The World Security Council won’t stop at the Scepter’s investigation. They’ll go down the line and question everything they see, even the stationery we use. They’ll investigate whether there’s some kind of corruption involved… Okay, I do think $10 for a Mitsubishi UMN207 ballpoint pen is a bit expensive, but that doesn’t mean S.H.I.E.L.D. is wasting money.”

"You mean the liquor cabinet on the Airbus?" Pierce countered, striking at Nick Fury's weakness, but he didn't delve deeper, since Nick Fury's goals were temporarily aligned with his.

"I'm not going to let a World Security Council commissioner into S.H.I.E.L.D.," Pierce said with a laugh. "Not just because of Coulson's liquor cabinet, but more because we can't let those annoying bureaucrats stop us from protecting the world and digging up our secrets. If they launch an inquiry every day, we simply can't do our job, and there's even the possibility that some idiots will think S.H.I.E.L.D. is some kind of secret organization manipulating the world from behind the scenes."

Pierce scoffed dismissively. "Only when S.H.I.E.L.D. is lost will the World Security Council realize its importance. Without S.H.I.E.L.D., the world's security will be in grave danger. But right now, they're comfortably enjoying our services and then pointing fingers at us. That won't do, Nicholas, that absolutely cannot happen." He said, "I'll deal with the World Security Council, but you'll have to do me a favor."

"What?"

“About Salomon Damonette,” Pierce said. “The World Security Council wants his name, his existence. This secret won’t last long; I can deduce it from your snippets (“No wonder Salomon wants to kill the Skrulls!” Nick Fury thought). The World Security Council sees Salomon Damonette’s power, and they want me to talk to him—he’s on Earth, right? Thor and Hulk are two humanoid nuclear bombs; Salomon Damonette isn’t much different. We need to make a deal with him. If he wants to show his face and gain fame, I don’t mind at all, but it has to be the way we do it. Not to mention his connection to this alien invasion; the World Security Council is in an uproar.”

"In fact, it was he who sounded the alarm about the alien invasion." Nick Fury had to say a few words in defense of Salomon. "He also killed the alien leader. Although he wouldn't explain what happened, I think I can trust him."

Why?

"Because his teachers have been fighting enemies we can't even imagine for many years. But they disdain cooperating with us, believing that ordinary people should handle their own problems."

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. We can only hope they don't suddenly decide to conquer the world."

"That's hard to say, Pierce. Salomon likes the saying 'VENI VIDI VICI,' so we can only hope he keeps his eyes on aliens and devils."

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(End of this chapter)