Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 988 Three-Hour Standoff (Second Update)

Salomon picked up the next report, serving it as a side dish with the fried eggs and bacon that Dinah had made. The plate had held many dishes, all of which he had casually eaten.

It wasn't until Joan of Arc tapped (actually slammed) the oak tabletop with the handle of her spoon in dissatisfaction that he put down his papers and obediently ate his meal. After breakfast, he had to attend his routine study sessions, which lasted until noon. During that time, he had no time to review reports or handle official business.

Even so, he didn't want to do anything superhuman right now, as that would ruin the mood for the whole day.

The report was compiled by Wanda Maximov, her first submission after a week's delay. The parchment detailed her reasons for the delay and her acquisition of the Dark Book. Elias Morrow, the victim initially introduced in the first half of the report, was now portrayed as the murderer of Lucy Bauer and Joseph Bauer. Her initial judgment lacked objective evidence, relying solely on fragments and thoughts she gleaned from Elias Morrow's surface-level thinking—for spellcasters of the Immortal City, once certified, evidence of mind-reading that could be objectively proven in subsequent actions was acceptable.

So she acted decisively, forcing Elias Morrow into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s isolation chamber.

The subsequent content was stored on that hard drive, and the text in the report only briefly described the process.

The end result was the Dark Book sitting in the Kamar-Taj dungeon, and Robbie Reyes temporarily imprisoned in the Immortal City. It was temporary because his fate was still on the desk at the Oxfordshire manor, yet his surveillance remained extremely tight. This wasn't easy for Wanda to accept, because after she made that decision, the forces present that day included not only the Los Angeles Police Department, but also S.H.I.E.L.D. special forces and the National Guard. Local television reported that a power outage at Southridge Prison caused most of its equipment to malfunction, leading to a mass prison break; however, the reality was a very dangerous standoff, with even Gabe Reyes, who was originally in class, being brought to the scene by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to control Robbie Reyes.

The new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mace, also arrived at the scene. Immortal City cooperated by cutting off the network in the surrounding area and shutting down all news media filming helicopters. The Los Angeles Police Department also (very excitedly) closed the road leading to Southridge Jail, acting as a buffer zone in the three-hour standoff.

Constantine returned in the evening, finally putting an end to the trouble.

He didn't care what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted; he issued an ultimatum to Director Mays and Robbie Reyes. Either obey Wanda Maximoff's orders, or he killed everyone present and then used a nuclear bomb to cleanse Los Angeles, ensuring the extradimensional contamination wouldn't spread—Director Mays initially wanted to ask what kind of force this was and what extradimensional contamination was, but Constantine didn't bother answering. Director Mays also tried to use the excuse that "this is a matter within the United States," but fortunately, Agent Coulson stopped him in time to avoid angering Constantine.

Agent Coulson quietly told him that it was best to treat Constantine's verbal threats as real threats, because not only was he ruthless, but the Immortal City also really had nuclear weapons and was actually planning to drop them on major cities and densely populated areas.

"I'll figure this out later." Director Mace's face was blurred by the flashing police lights, but anyone could hear the dissatisfaction in his tone. Although he had taken over S.H.I.E.L.D., there were still many secrets he couldn't know. He not only had to think from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s perspective, but also from Congress's perspective—to raise S.H.I.E.L.D. as a symbol of completely ending Hydra's infiltration (which it didn't actually achieve) to receive public cheers, and to give the members of Congress who supported S.H.I.E.L.D. the capital to win the midterm elections. Therefore, he had to keep the incident under control.

Even if the giant in high-tech power armor hadn't dropped the nuclear bomb, the death of anyone present would have been difficult for him to explain. Therefore, the whole affair ended with Director Mace's concession, and the energy lab was jointly taken over by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Immortal City (actually, only S.H.I.E.L.D.). As for the fact that all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were originally present were dead when they arrived, that had nothing to do with the Immortal City; these spirits were killed by Lucy Bauer. Constantine had tracked the energy lab's spirits to the Roxon Corporation's power plant, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance cameras provided him with a solid alibi.

This gave Chief Mays a way out. "We reserve the right to pursue accountability through Congress," Chief Mays said. "And you, Wanda Maximov. You haven't yet obtained U.S. citizenship, and the Immigration Service will investigate how you entered the country."

Constantine left without saying a word, not even bothering to keep it a secret.

After all, a burning skeleton sitting in the middle of the road for three hours—everyone who was supposed to see it saw it; there was no point in keeping it a secret anymore. Besides… who said there's no Hydra in S.H.I.E.L.D. now?

Gabe Reyes wasn't taken away by the First Class Regiment of Fimbulwinter, who arrived later to provide support. Instead, he was taken to the Zephyr One by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Agent Coulson tried every day to persuade the Immortal City to release Robbie Reyes, but Stephanie, as the person in charge, responded that Ghost Rider could never be released without the permission of the Immortal City's monarch.

There is no humanitarian element in the work of the Immortal City, and the Reyes brothers' ideas are completely irrelevant.

Wanda did visit Robbie Reyes in the dungeon, but was repeatedly reprimanded as a traitor—at least for the first two days. After five whole days of eating bland, tasteless gray nutrient-rich mud that could make your tongue wrinkle, Robbie Reyes' attitude softened slightly, and he was willing to listen to Wanda's account of the whole story.

"I saw Elias Moro attack Joseph Bauer," she said, "just as he walked out of the prison gates."

"You and I both know about this! You also know why he did it!"

"But Joseph Bauer wasn't the only victim." Wanda passed a document wrapped in a manila envelope through the cell window. She waited quietly for Robbie Reyes to finish reading Elias Morrow's statement. "If you need, I can arrange for the interrogation to be recorded."

Robbie Reyes leaned against the cell door, as if all his bones had been removed. The confession was completely beyond his expectations; his beloved Uncle Morrow was actually a murderer, and everything he had heard during his prison visits was a lie.

"He killed Lucy Bauer and the other researchers. Do you remember the reactor chamber in the energy lab where Mike was locked? According to the technicians, that's where the energy lab produced its final research results. The reason the others became spirits was because Elias Morrow pushed them in and started the reactor. And the so-called spirits were actually people in a superposition state, like Schrödinger's cat."

"Not a vengeful spirit?"

“I’ve said it before, magic is a phenomenon that can be explained by science, it just uses the logic of another world,” Wanda said, pointing to the symbols carved on the nearby walls and iron gates. “You can think of these as circuit diagrams, and the entire cell is the instrument for locating the Spirit of Vengeance. This is also the truth that the Immortal City proclaims: believe in science and reason. But that’s not what you need to focus on…”

"What are you trying to say?" Robbie Reyes sighed. "Or rather, is there anything else you need me to do?"

“You have a mission,” Wanda nodded. “The Immortal City needs you to capture those evil spirits. But you should understand that you can no longer appear before Gabe. Once S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that Gabe has control over these things, they will seize control of his life, and the peaceful life you yearn for will never be realized. This is the fate of all Ghost Riders; the spirits of vengeance do not belong to this world.”

Robbie Reyes stood up and faced the window. He asked coldly, "When do I leave?"

"Two days from now, my teacher will come to see you, and you will get all the answers you want."

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(End of this chapter)