Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 680 The Countermeasures of Powerful Families (First Update)

Despite their extensive education, the Slavic girls still had a noticeable lisp when speaking English. If they were still in school, this would be a mistake that would earn them a good spanking from the ladies until they cried (though they often cried beforehand to avoid being punished). But this wasn't school; it was the engine room of an assault transport ship, and they had already graduated. Here, the ladies didn't bother correcting their accents, because they were about to put their learning to the test with the weapons in their hands.

As the hatch closed, the cabin darkened, and the glaring LED lights above their heads illuminated their helmets and shoulder armor. The girls chattered amongst themselves through the encrypted voice system inside their helmets, occasionally glancing at the Yankee who had also boarded the assault transport.

No one was willing to talk to him.

It wasn't discipline that forbade it, but the large American flag on the Yankee's body helped the girls identify him. Even standing closer together, the girls refused to approach him; every gesture conveyed the same emotion. They had studied world history and politics; they fully understood why their homeland had become what it was, why they themselves had suffered. If the man standing in the corner of the Yankee's cabin had made a different choice, perhaps many tragedies wouldn't have happened. However, they also knew that such thoughts were completely unreasonable, so they expressed their disgust in the most restrained way possible.

Steve Rogers remained silent; he noticed the girls' subtle movements.

He made no comment, simply standing there like a lifeless stone. He was pondering, wondering if, had he failed to stop the Red Skull, the arrogance now spreading throughout the country could have been contained at the cost of a few lives, and whether dying before the war's victory would have been the right choice for everyone. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Panama War, the Kuwaiti War, the Gulf War, the Afghan War, the Iraq War, the Arab Spring, the Egyptian Revolution—he had saved a small number of people with his kind nature, only to lose many more innocent lives in the process, and just days before, this had repeated itself. In a sense, he even owed these girls an unpayable debt, and the place he was about to go was the greatest irony of his past sacrifices; this dark humor made it difficult for him to remain optimistic.

He even began to doubt Abraham Erskine's judgment.

Perhaps a kind person is not suited for this cruel job; a person whose rationality outweighs their emotions is the right choice. Perhaps the Avengers' management style, resembling a masked, caped circus, should change. Perhaps he should consider the future of the Avengers: should they become vigilantes or tools of the government? Should they be founders of justice or enforcers of the law? Is the Avengers still necessary? Does their existence disrupt order...? He needs to ponder many questions. He needs to reflect on why the world he once fought for has become this way. He needs to consider whether there are solutions to these problems, and whether the method to resist the dark future revealed by prophetic magic is worth sacrificing so many lives for.

This was the last chance Cassirius was giving him: to stand in the future or to perish with the past.

"Why not invite Tony Stark? He's a billionaire and an inventor," he said self-deprecatingly. "If we're talking about who should stand with you, Stark is clearly more valuable than this old guy who just throws shields."

“I read your comics when I was a kid, though that’s not the main reason,” Kasirius shrugged. “Tony Stark can’t make changes. To be precise, all the changes Tony Stark can make are based on the status quo. Without money and a global industrial empire, there’s very little he can do. I don’t know if he’ll stand with us, after all, Tony Stark has never been one to break the rules, because he’s used to feeding on the political and financial pantry… You’re different, Steve Rogers. You’ve been through war, you’ve changed things once, and I believe you can adapt to the future. The world has to change, there will be bloodshed, and the opposition will never stop, but you know we’re making choices for the most fundamental human interest: survival.”

Rogers recalled Kasirius's descriptions of the organizations that controlled the world; Hydra was merely one link in the chain, encompassing international financial organizations, military-industrial complexes, royal families, Jewish tycoons, and so on. Kasirius bluntly told Rogers that Kamar-Taj had been observing the world for many years, and that many things in the world could not escape its surveillance. Unless the world underwent a major upheaval, Hydra would never be eradicated, the Avengers would be unable to harm the true beneficiaries, and the fairness and justice he longed for would never arrive.

This is the real reason why Salomon called the Avengers a "superhero game".

Kasirius assured Steve that Salomon's fingers were slowly tightening around the throats of those families, targeting the secular forces most likely to support him (those who know, know), as preparation for the complete eradication of religious power. Salomon was doing exactly how Hydra infiltrated those powerful families and secret societies; in fact, he was now one of them. The banquets weren't arbitrary; many corporations were unknowingly working and researching for him, making significant contributions to the Immortal City. Victoria Hand's true mission wasn't solely about killing monsters; assassination and bribery were the intelligence department's main focus.

The Malik family served as Salomon's guides into the world's elite circles, with both Gideon Malik and Stephanie Malik imparting their knowledge to him without reservation. However, having received an education in iron and blood, Salomon always understood one principle: "Violence is the universal language of the galaxy."

Gideon Malik wholeheartedly agreed and intensified his acquisitions of the military-industrial complex, providing the Immortal City with massive financial support. He had come to deeply understand the true meaning of that saying: in the face of death, neither money nor power matters. Gideon Malik clearly realized that capital and law could never supersede royal power, and divine authority was nonexistent. Moreover, this was an immortal, incredibly powerful tyrant. The only way to avoid a tragic fate and simultaneously elevate his family was to become king himself. Therefore, he vigorously encouraged Stephanie to bear children for Salomon. Becoming royalty would grant the Malik family unprecedented power for millennia—a prospect he could only dream of.

This practice is not new; the Aesir and Vanir gods also did it.

Perhaps those books he sent back then were hints given right under Nick Fury's nose? Recalling Salomon's enigmatic smile at the time, Steve Rogers suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't expected Salomon to have begun plotting his entire world at such a young age. He wondered what kind of education Salomon received in Kamar-Taj had shaped him into such a cunning and calculating young man.

A slight tremor ran through the steel floor, the hum of the turbine engines muffled by the heavy armor plating. The assault transport ship took off, and the girls, as trained, secured themselves to the floor in time, then gave their equipment a final check. They would rescue children just as the ladies had rescued them. Each girl was filled with a profound sense of mission—to them then, the ladies descending from the sky with their steel wings were angels. Now, their own steel wings were about to unfurl; they would forge their bodies, cleanse their souls, and become angels to save others.

The girls prayed silently, reciting the battle prayers with practiced ease, begging for the monarch's attention to fall upon them.

We are the monarch's sword, we are the monarch's wrath, we fear nothing.

[To serve with one's life, to repay with one's blood.]

Death is a monarch's mercy bestowed upon enemies and heretics.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)