Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 612 Thinking with a Hammer (First Update)

Six months is enough time for a lot to happen.

For example, there was the birth of Sister Gaby's child. The demonic being was imprisoned in the Immortal City's arcane dungeon the moment of birth, strictly controlled by cameras and machine gun turrets. No one could approach the child without permission, and even Gaby's maternal instincts urged her to breastfeed, but she was refused. Anna, whose due date was approaching, also called Salomon during this time, requesting to see the child, but Salomon refused, citing "the danger has not yet been eliminated."

Anna's demonic bloodline is slowly awakening; as the daughter of the Demon Pillar's leader, she possesses immense potential. The moment she matures will be Salomon's opportunity to strike against Marduk. As for the child born to this mad nun, it is another dagger aimed at Marduk, Anna's backup plan.

In addition, there is the dispute between Matt Murdoch and Wilson Fisker.

Although Athena's close friend was involved, Salomon showed no mercy to Vanessa's boyfriend when dealing with a mob tycoon who was wasting human resources. Unsurprisingly, the sorority encountered Murdoch's lawyer during their mission, and a fight broke out due to differing goals and methods. The sorority wasn't a disorganized, undisciplined street hero group; even with obstacles, they managed to complete their initial objectives. For a time, the entire New York underworld believed that the hurricane that had swept through the city's underworld had returned, with countless gangsters reduced to shreds by bombs and Hell's Kitchen awash in blood.

If Vanessa hadn't been poisoned at a charity dinner hosted by Fisk (Kingpin), and if Athena and Salomon hadn't happened to be present, the mob boss would never have had the chance to meet Salomon. But to save the woman he loved, Fisk yielded to Salomon. Salomon demanded he hand over the new European human trafficking network and a list of new buyers on the West Coast, or he would watch Vanessa, whom he had known for years, die before his eyes—he dared to say that, and Fisk dared to believe it. If he had seen Athena's hand tightly gripping Salomon's waist, Fisk, after regaining some of his sanity, wouldn't have agreed so quickly.

Although some things may seem insignificant, they could be enough to create huge waves in the future.

Salomon didn't know if his passion for long-term planning stemmed from the time-consciousness bestowed upon him by the Earth Mother when she created him, or from the chaotic memories of the spellcasters used as nourishment that gave him such foresight. Whatever the reason, Salomon's greatest pleasure was keeping things within his calculated scope; only pieces placed according to his plan were considered good moves.

This also includes Thor's arrival this time.

Taking advantage of Heimdall's gaze upon Thor and the Bifrost, he cast a spell to send Lorelei back through the secret passage she had used to smuggle herself to Earth. She didn't return to Asgard empty-handed; her dimensional bag was filled with gold and magical potions. Lorelei would conceal her identity, posing as a wealthy commoner to gain the trust of Loki, who was now disguised as Odin—in reality, Lorelei wouldn't even be able to see Loki. This frost giant was now indulging in pleasure, delegating excessive power and appointing many incompetent officials. Lorelei only needed to bribe customs officials, take a spaceship pretending to import goods, and then pay the Golden Palace excessive tariffs.

Natasha Romanoff instinctively sensed that Salomon's smile concealed many secrets, but the information she possessed was insufficient to support her deductions. Moreover, she knew some things couldn't be revealed to the other Avengers; doing so would only lead to a one-sided battle. If Salomon truly made up his mind, no one here, except Thor, would survive.

"I'll ask you about that boy." She glanced at the arcane mage, then put on a smile and went to chat with the others. She remembered the boy who had undergone the Immortal City surgery. The café's portal had suddenly closed without warning, and even when she went to Oxford University to find him, Salomon seemed to have a premonition, avoiding her the entire time, leaving Agent Romanov completely without access to the Immortal City. Surprisingly, Salomon also came up. He rubbed the ash off his hands, and to Natasha's astonishment, his fingers, which had been burned to the bone, instantly recovered.

The sorcerer smiled at the female spy, then casually asked Thor a question.

"Heimdall saw the scepter being abused." Thor's expression immediately became much more serious when the mission was mentioned.

He was still unaware that Loki had already thrown his father to Earth, but he instinctively sensed that his father's sudden and complete lapse into unconsciousness was highly unusual. Therefore, he did his utmost to preserve Asgard's military strength, preventing the ruler from massively disbanding the army to save on military expenses. Because of this, all of Asgard's military forces were aligned with Thor, ready to launch a coup at any moment, including his four warrior friends. This wasn't something Thor could prevent from happening; circumstances forced him to do so.

To temporarily extricate himself from the potential military coup, Thor accepted a seemingly crucial mission to distance himself from Asgard. As long as he was away from Asgard, the military couldn't force him to stage a coup. He even went so far as to send his friend Hogan, who represented a portion of the military, to the rebellious star system, while he himself took on this mission and came to Earth alone.

Thor simply doesn't like to think, which doesn't mean he's not smart. He can subconsciously act to avoid harm and is capable of listening to reasonable advice, provided he puts down his hammer. While Mjolnir is a sentient artifact, it doesn't mean it can replace human thought. Thor with the hammer has only metal in his head, not brains.

Upon returning to New York, Salomon didn't choose the portal, but instead boarded the Avengers' supersonic Quinjet, which Tony Stark had personally modified. Tony Stark poured his heart and soul into the Avengers project; he even redesigned the Quinjet's fuselage and replaced its engines. Pepper Potts complained more than once that the Avengers had taken over most of Tony Stark's life, neglecting company affairs, and that without her intervention, Stark Industries' chaotic debt structure would have driven him insane.

Stark not only focused on developing new armor and building his robot army, but he also spent time equipping each member with more advanced gear. Even Hawkeye, who was almost invisible, was given newly designed multi-purpose arrowheads and a more user-friendly folding composite bow. During the six months that Salomon remained out of the public eye, Stark was always leading his Iron Legion to any Hydra bases he detected. Even Stephanie received distress messages from the Hydra leaders.

Stephanie, true to Hydra's style, was quicker to kick someone when they're down than to add to their glory. She assured Salomon that she had completely severed ties with the Malik family and the Hydra, leaving no trace back to the Immortal City.

Stark also launched a satellite specifically for the Avengers. Pepper Potts went to great lengths to secure this powerful satellite, capable of spying on any nation. Although Congress restricted Stark from installing lethal weapons in his Iron Man armor, this didn't deter him. Stark has made significant progress in modular armor design, as he is demonstrating to Salomon now.

"These are gauntlets, detachable. But not the kind of terrible design from the past. These armor modules can be combined to enable other functions." He showed off his latest achievement to the arcane mage and Thor, two "medieval men" who loved close combat, as if he were showing off. However, Steve Rogers only wanted to hear Thor's information about the whereabouts of the scepter.

After S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse, the whereabouts of Loki's scepter became part of the search. Even without many clues, anyone could guess that the scepter had fallen into Hydra's hands. Steve Rogers believed that Hydra possessed information about Bucky Barnes, and the news Thor brought might be exactly what he wanted to know.

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(End of this chapter)