Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 936 Gunpowder and Political Correctness (Second Update)

There were many similar pointless jokes, like the "toilet paper purchasing department," but Victoria Hand didn't care. She immediately began working after receiving the order. Perhaps the shadow of betrayal hadn't yet dissipated; her actions were swift, and she never revealed the isolation and desperation she displayed during the Hydra rebellion. Without much probing, she selected her deputy to execute the plan; she had been waiting for this day for a long time.

From the day Salomon officially recruited her, the monarch of the Immortal City revealed this astonishing secret to her. On that very day, the day she was resurrected, Victoria Hand first truly understood the weight of the monarch's secret.

She spent years preparing, ensuring her subordinates hadn't been replaced and that she could launch a raid at any time. The understaffed Black Armored Interrogators couldn't arrest all the Skrulls immediately, because not all Skrulls posing as loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were crammed into those ridiculously inept departments. For the first time, Victoria Hand willingly donned the magnificent black power armor with its golden hand emblem, personally leading a heavily armed special squad from the First Class Regiment of Fimbulwinter, along with her most trusted agents, to arrest those on the list.

"Rendezvous with the Royal Guard in thirty seconds." She pulled the trigger of her explosive pistol, and alien flesh and blood splattered onto the walls and ceiling of the corridor with the explosion. Without hesitation, she stepped over another corpse, its heavy weight crushing the Skrull body into a pulp of flesh and bone. The previously noisy Wakanda researchers all fell silent now, whether from Victoria Hand's ruthless decisiveness or from being frightened by their colleague's true identity, no one dared to protest.

Victoria Hand didn't care if these Wakandans would report her to the head of the research department, Shuri; this time, she had obtained the authority to kill Wakandans. No one could stop her; the only thing that could stop her was the path strewn with corpses, making it impossible to walk. "We must carry out a thorough purge," her voice boomed through the speakers and breathing grille of her helmet, "to carry out the monarch's will with blood and gunpowder."

"I've done some biochemical modifications to those bear cubs; they'll grow bigger, stronger, and smarter. Right now, their daily meat consumption is terrifying. I'm considering becoming bear riders, as long as they stop destroying the lawn..." Salomon and Stephanie completed their patrol of the Skrull settlement in thirty-two minutes and forty-six seconds. They didn't contact the surveillance agents, but rather completed the task from their blind spots. Salomon didn't trust the surveillance agents unless they could be cleared of suspicion. The handover of the surveillance agents before the soldiers arrived was ostensibly handled by two agents, but secretly, an assassin was also lurking to ensure a smooth transition.

The patrol findings matched the satellite reconnaissance report: the Skrulls had established outposts in the middle of the woodland. These outposts were built according to SHIELD bunker standards, with ordinary concrete structures above the bunkers. It was obvious that these seemingly ordinary concrete structures were riddled with passageways leading to the bunkers; Salomon had seen the flashes of gun barrels from empty windows more than once. One-way communication reports from surveillance agents indicated that the Skrulls were prepared for war, and Salomon confirmed part of the intelligence's accuracy.

These aliens seem to believe they have the right to exist on Earth.

Salomon believes that an alliance with an alien race is not unreasonable if they are willing to dedicate themselves to the future of humanity. However, considering their history of killing and impersonating humans, their belief that Earth belongs to the Skrulls, and the Skrulls' vile nature and habitual methods of controlling other races' societies, the Skrulls have been excluded from any potential alliance.

Information about the Skrulls' weapons and technology had been extracted through interrogation by the Black Armored Interrogators, and technicians had assessed and reverse-engineered the Skrulls' weapons and the technology left on the space station. The logistics department had also conducted battle damage estimates, but Salomon still preferred simple and effective tactics. He didn't want his soldiers to enter the bunkers and engage in indoor combat with the Skrulls; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to request the Gustav-class siege artillery.

The lives of veterans are too precious, and the Immortal City needs time to train new recruits; their lives are far more valuable than those of the Skrulls. Therefore, Salomon chooses to spend money, using numbers from a financial game to preserve the veterans' experience and lives, and using numbers earned through artificial intelligence to buy time for new recruits to grow—first, using bunker-buster bombs to pry open the concrete, granite, and alloy plate roofs of the bunkers, then siege artillery to bombard the area, assault transport ships to provide fire support, and finally sending mechanized infantry to clear out the remaining inhabitants. This operation will leave no prisoners; Maya Hansen has enough experimental material, and the Immortal City has enough intelligence.

This operation is a trial, a trial of the sins these Skrulls have committed against humanity, a trial of the lives these green-skinned parasites have cut short.

There will be no more life, only ashes.

Salomon hoped the Sisterhood's actions would be a little more moderate, and also hoped the US military wouldn't be so tense.

The North Island Naval and Air Force base in California is of great importance, and the Sisterhood's actions are bound to provoke a backlash, perhaps even prompting a reactive response from McClellan Command Center, also located in California. Salomon doesn't want to trigger a global war, so it has already appointed a spokesperson, intending to claim responsibility for the attack immediately afterward. Following the principles of NGOs funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, these extreme environmental groups claim "humanity must be exterminated," and their actions embody the principles of "destruction is the best solution" or "the most benevolent disclosure," making them perfectly suited to be labeled as terrorists.

The statement will claim responsibility for the attack from a fabricated extremist group, citing environmental protection, vegetarianism, and animal welfare as the primary reasons. It will also claim to protect minority groups, women's workplace rights, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, gender fluidity, and even armed attack helicopters—a total of 56 genders. Furthermore, it will assert that the U.S. military is not diverse enough, not vegetarian enough, and not feminist enough, demanding that the U.S. military recruit soldiers and generals who conform to these ideals.

This kind of news is enough to keep the American political and public spheres tearing each other apart for years.

Just before the operation began, this fabricated organization had received money from the National Endowment for Democracy.

Although the amount was small, it was indeed received, which greatly surprised Stephanie, as she hadn't been involved in this work to avoid suspicion. However, the recipient was fake, the organization was fake, and even the reports submitted to the foundation and the office building were fake—all fabricated by artificial intelligence manipulating the network. Intelligence agencies traced the remittance information further and discovered that the National Endowment for Democracy's money to this fictitious organization originated from a newly established artificial meat company.

However, not all of it reached the fictitious organization's account; less than 50% actually went to it. There was also a remittance from Wall Street, whose owner had attended Columbia University and might have been a member of the Frankfurt School or Skull and Bones. However, that remittance also didn't reach the fictitious organization's account in its entirety; only 30% went, and they even demanded an auditor be sent every six months to verify it.

This made Salomon realize that corruption in the US government was truly pervasive, even to the point of cutting back on this small amount of funding.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)