Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 589 Inhuman Genetic Museum (Second Update)

"Your emotions are very unstable, Skye." Crossing the SHIELD isolation ward wasn't too difficult for Salomon, but he still stood obediently to the side. Agent Coulson sat beside him, arms crossed, looking helpless. He had no choice but to agree to Salomon's conditions, because only Salomon had the authority to cover up Coulson's team's operations. Moreover, this base still housed the agents Salomon had commanded Victoria Hand to rescue, and Coulson wanted to introduce them to their future partners, Agent Hand's new boss.

There was also Agent Hand, who arrived with Salomon in a Quinjet. This cold and ruthless senior agent wandered aimlessly around the base with her arms crossed, and every SHIELD agent who saw her ducked and fled. She and Salomon had already scheduled a visit with Coulson, otherwise he would never have told Agent Hand the address here.

That day, Salomon, carrying Whitehall's head, followed Agent Melinda May down into the shaft beneath the mansion. Because one of Whitehall's men had taken the obelisk down, Skye and Agent Coulson had gone down to stop her. So, after Salomon finished questioning her, a worried Melinda rushed over and, without hesitation, fastened the rope and began her descent. Terrigen wasn't anything particularly unusual to the Kree; it was merely an ancient technology of the Protoss race, used to activate a portion of the Celestials' genetic engineering capabilities.

Earth had already experienced the Second Advent, and humanity possessed powers bestowed upon them by the Celestials. The Kree, as the third generation of genetically engineered beings by the Celestials, followed the Celestials' footsteps throughout the galaxy, attempting to uncover the knowledge behind their technologies. However, the Kree's plan failed. At the height of war between the Kree and Skrull Empires, Kree biochemists decided to activate special genetic fragments within humans, turning those with some of the Celestial-granted powers into cannon fodder on the front lines of interstellar warfare.

Salomon had spoken to Malik and his daughter about this, and the result was predictable: the most loyal (at least ostensibly) conservative Hydra members could hardly believe their ears—not Malik, but his daughter. The shrewd and experienced Malik had no faith in Hydra whatsoever; to him, their faith was merely a tool. Stephanie Malik went through stages of cursing, frustration, denial, and finally, utter loss of will, until Salomon gave her a new mission, which filled the void in her previously held beliefs about the sacred objects and their supernatural divinity.

Of course, none of this concerned Skye, who was now lying in a hospital bed, but Salomon still wanted to prevent her from having any lofty thoughts about her power or its source. Those bastards who saw themselves as superior to humans thought the same way, so they had to die, and once Agent Coulson found their location, the Immortal City could send in its army to wipe them out.

Therefore, Hala (the Kree homeworld) must be destroyed.

As for the Inhuman base on the dark side of the moon, Salomon already has plans.

The Eurasian girl, whose skin was tanned to a wheat color, rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction.

Seeing that Skye wasn't in a good mood after the blood draw, and even when he used invisible magic to take the pineapple and orange juice that Barbara the Mockingbird had given her, Skye didn't react much. Then Salomon said something that made her jump out of bed.

Have you considered getting a sterilization procedure?

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Agent Coulson stared at Salomon, who had just made a shocking statement. Even Skye, who was in the isolation ward, widened her eyes in surprise.

"I'm not some animal in heat, Salomon!" Skye's voice, amplified by the glass, sounded incredibly muffled. She didn't turn on the communicator. The arcane mage was exceptionally talented at provoking people. His previous opponents were all Nick Fury; neither Agent Coulson nor Skye could compare to that one-eyed man, and the high school dropout hacker had her psychological defenses easily breached by him.

No matter how handsome or strong he is, Skye has no intention of forgiving him!

"Relax, I was just joking." Although he said that, Salomon really intended to sterilize everyone who had been contaminated by Kree genes. However, there were also less extreme methods available, and the specific plan to be used would depend on the group's attitude towards humans.

"That's not funny, Salomon!"

"Cheer up, Skye, you're not dead yet!" Salomon offered the mixed-race girl with unwavering optimism. "Actually, you don't need to worry about infecting others, really." He turned to Agent Coulson, "Have you read the documents Agent Hand gave you?"

Agent Coulson shook his head.

He hadn't yet had a chance to look at the massive document Agent Hand had given him; he'd only skimmed the appendix, which roughly explained the obelisk's nature: an alien chemical weapon. Aside from that, the rest of the content required expert comprehension. Although Whitehall had never used the Terrigen Crystal, he had still managed to identify the genetic differences between the Inhumans and humans, and the sample was Skye's mother, the woman Whitehall had dissected alive. It was precisely that woman's organs that had rejuvenated the old Nazi.

Currently, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology can only work on human eggs, sperm, and embryos, and can alter the DNA of unborn babies. However, the Extremis virus can do more—the Inhumans' unique genes are a combination of Kree and human genes. The Kree's genetic engineering technology is far less stable than that of the Celestials, resulting in many Inhumans exhibiting varying degrees of organ mutations. For Inhumans with severe organ mutations, the Extremis virus is like poison, while for those without organ damage, it is 100% effective.

Salomon needs to compare his DNA against a human gene database and use gene-editing technology to restore that portion of the DNA. He might also need some magic and alien technology, but in any case, he can help Inhumans whose organs haven't malfunctioned, or whose malfunctions are minor, to return to human form.

"Agent Hand recently obtained intelligence on Dr. Lister and Bloom," Salomon told Agent Coulson. Agent Coulson took the Hydra intelligence very seriously. "She suggested we cooperate with you on this mission, but I don't mind you doing it alone." The arcane mage raised an eyebrow. "Of course, that's just my personal opinion. Leave a few capable agents for Hand; the State Department is pressing hard because some people want to see those who provided them with political donations disappear, otherwise they wouldn't be in such a hurry."

"Is there Hydra in the White House?"

"This country is Hydra, Coulson." The sorcerer lowered his eyes. Skye listened in astonishment as the two exchanged secret information before her, completely forgetting her predicament. "The term 'political donation' was invented the moment fundamentalist capitalist countries were born. No, perhaps even earlier, when power was born, the behavior represented by this term already existed. I've already told you, Hydra is definitely not just a single organization in Nazi Germany. Hydra's history is far longer than that of S.H.I.E.L.D. The predecessor of Howard Stark's S.H.I.E.L.D., and the predecessor of modern Hydra, can be traced back to a very distant past. If you want to trace Hydra, you'll find that everyone is Hydra."

"Does the magical world also have Hydra? Hydra wizards?" Coulson felt as if a thousand needles were piercing his back. The information Salomon brought was too terrifying; he didn't want to face hundreds of enemies like Salomon.

"Perhaps there are, but I don't know much about them. I can only assure you that there is no Hydra inside Kamar-Taj."

"Are you sure?"

Salomon smiled but said nothing.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)