Solomon picked up the next report to accompany the fried eggs and bacon Dana had made for him. Many dishes had been placed on this plate before, and he had always eaten them absentmindedly.
It wasn't until Jeanne, dissatisfied, tapped (in truth, slammed) the handle of her spoon against the oak table that he put down the papers and obediently started eating. After breakfast, he would have to follow his routine of study until noon, and during that time, he had no opportunity to read reports or handle official business.
Even so, he didn't want to do anything beyond human limits now; that would ruin the whole mood of the day.
This report was compiled by Wanda Maximoff, her first submission after a week's delay, written in detail on parchment to explain why it was late and to recount the exact process of obtaining the Darkhold. Elias Morrow, who in the first half of the report had appeared as a victim, had now, in a complete reversal, become the murderer of Lucy Bauer and Joseph Bauer. When she first made this judgment, she had no objective evidence—only fragments and thoughts she had gleaned from Elias Morrow's surface mind. For a qualified spellcaster of the Immortal City, if later actions uncovered objective facts that confirmed mind-reading evidence, then such evidence could be accepted.
So she acted decisively, forcing Elias Morrow into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s containment pod.
What followed was stored on that hard drive; the written content in the report only gave a brief outline of the process.
The end result was the Darkhold, placed in the dungeons of Kamar-Taj, and Robbie Reyes, temporarily held in the Immortal City. "Temporarily" because the decision on how to deal with him still sat on the desk of the Oxfordshire manor. Even so, surveillance on him remained extremely strict. This was not easy for Wanda to accept, because after she made that decision, the forces present on that day were not limited to the LAPD—they also included a S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical team and the National Guard. The local TV station's account was that after South Ridge Prison lost power, most systems failed, causing a mass breakout of inmates. The truth, however, was a dangerous standoff in which even Gabe Reyes, who had been in school, was brought to the scene by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to control Robbie Reyes.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new director, Mace, had also arrived on scene. The Immortal City cooperated by cutting off the area's internet, grounding all news helicopters, and the LAPD (quite excitedly) sealed off the roads leading to South Ridge Prison. For three long hours, they served as the buffer zone in a three-way standoff.
By evening, Constantine returned and ended the matter completely.
He didn't care what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted—he gave Director Mace and Robbie Reyes an ultimatum: either follow Wanda Maximoff's instructions, or he would kill everyone there and cleanse Los Angeles with a nuclear strike to ensure that extradimensional contamination would not spread. Director Mace initially wanted to ask what force this was and what "extradimensional contamination" meant, but Constantine had no interest in answering. Mace also considered using "This is a domestic matter of the United States" as an excuse, but thankfully Agent Coulson stopped him in time to avoid angering Constantine.
Coulson quietly told him to treat Constantine's verbal threat as a very real one, because not only did he kill without hesitation, but the Immortal City actually had nuclear weapons and had, in the past, aimed them at major cities and densely populated areas.
"I'll get to the bottom of this later." Director Mace's face was obscured by the flashing patterns of the 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 beyond his reach. He had to think not only from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s perspective but also from Congress's—raising S.H.I.E.L.D. as the symbol of completely ending Hydra's infiltration (which was not actually the case), basking in public applause, and giving pro-S.H.I.E.L.D. lawmakers political capital for the midterm elections. For that, he had to keep the situation under control.
Even if that giant in high-tech powered armor didn't drop a nuke, the death of anyone on the scene would be hard for him to justify. In the end, the matter concluded with Director Mace's concession: the energy lab would be jointly managed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Immortal City (in truth, only by S.H.I.E.L.D.). As for the fact that, upon their arrival, all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents originally on site were dead—that had nothing to do with the Immortal City; those spirits were killed by Lucy Bauer. At the time, Constantine had followed the energy lab's spirits to a Roxxon power plant, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance cameras had provided him with a solid alibi.
This gave Director Mace a graceful way out. "We will retain the right to pursue accountability through Congress," Mace said. "And you, Wanda Maximoff—you have not yet obtained U.S. citizenship. Immigration will investigate how you entered the country."
Constantine left without another word, not even bothering with secrecy.
After all, a flaming skeleton had been standing in the middle of the street for three hours—everyone who needed to see it had seen it. There was nothing left to hide. Besides… who said there were no Hydra agents in today's S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Gabe Reyes was not taken away by the Fimbulwinter First Confidential Unit that later arrived for backup but was instead brought aboard Zephyr One by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Coulson thought every day about persuading the Immortal City to release Robbie Reyes, but Stephanie, as the spokesperson, replied that without the Immortal City's ruler's permission, the Ghost Rider would never be freed.
The work of the Immortal City contained no trace of humanitarianism; the thoughts of the Reyes brothers did not matter in the least.
Wanda did visit Robbie Reyes in the dungeon, but at first, she was repeatedly cursed as a traitor—at least for the first two days. Only after five full days of choking down the bland, gray nutritional paste that wrinkled the tongue did Robbie's attitude soften slightly, making him willing to listen to Wanda recount the whole story.
"I saw Elias Morrow attack Joseph Bauer," she said. "Right as he was walking out the prison gates."
"You and I both know about that! And you know why he did it!"
"But Joseph Bauer wasn't his only victim." Wanda slid a file wrapped in a manila envelope through the cell window and waited silently while Robbie Reyes read Elias Morrow's testimony. "If you want, I can arrange for you to see the interrogation footage."
Robbie slumped against the cell door as though all the bones had been pulled from his body. The testimony's contents were far beyond his expectations—his image of his caring Uncle Morrow shattered, replaced by the truth that he was a cold-blooded murderer, and that everything he'd said during prison visits had been lies.
"Lucy Bauer and the other researchers—he killed them all. Remember the reactor chamber in the energy lab where Mike was locked in? According to the technicians, that's where the lab produced its final research results. The others became spirits because Elias Morrow pushed them inside and activated the reactor. What's called a 'spirit' was actually a person in a superposition state—like Schrödinger's cat."
"Not vengeful spirits?"
"I told you, magic is a phenomenon that can be explained scientifically—it just operates by the logic of another world." Wanda pointed to the symbols carved into the nearby walls and the iron door. "You can think of these as circuit diagrams. The entire cell is a device for locating a Spirit of Vengeance. This is the truth the Immortal City teaches—to believe in science and reason. But that's not the main point you need to focus on…"
"What are you trying to say?" Robbie Reyes sighed. "Or rather, what do you still need me to do?"
"You have a mission," Wanda nodded. "The Immortal City needs you to capture those spirits. But you must understand—you can never appear before Gabe again. If S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that Gabe can influence this, they will take control of his life, and the peaceful life you want for him will never be possible. This is the fate of all Ghost Riders. The Spirit of Vengeance does not belong to this world."
Robbie Reyes stood up, facing the window. He asked coldly, "When do I leave?"
"In two days. When the time comes, my teacher will come to see you, and you'll get all the answers you want."
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