The people Natasha Romanoff saw most often in the Eternal City—aside from Stephanie and her team, who handled finances and administrative paperwork—were the artificial beings. Among them, the squad commanders, tactical officers, and combat instructors were the ones she interacted with the most. Whether it was Catherine or Ora, Agent Romanoff could always exchange a few words with them.
Except for Tita.
The tan-skinned artificial being carried an aura so cold it could extinguish the roaring orange-red flames in the fireplace. Romanoff had rarely seen her smile. Even in the presence of her creator, Solomon, Tita remained fully armored—helmet on, left hand constantly resting on the hilt of her ornate golden longsword, while the index finger and thumb of her right hand, encased in finely crafted black-lacquered steel gloves, never strayed far from the trigger of her explosive firearm.
Tita was responsible for the military power of the Sisterhood. If Solomon had sent her out, it was undoubtedly for a critical mission. Otherwise, he would have sent Agent Victoria Hand instead—someone who could extract every last drop of value from Hydra operatives, squeezing their lives dry. Solomon had once remarked, while reviewing Hand's mission reports with Romanoff, that if she had magnetic superpowers, she'd probably extract the iron from their blood and sell it.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
"Of course." Solomon answered matter-of-factly. "I have plenty of secrets you don't know about."
"Then can you at least tell me where Tita went?" Romanoff softened her tone.
Solomon refused. "That's classified. And secrets are called secrets for a reason—because other people don't know them."
"Does it have anything to do with Nick Fury?"
"Less than one percent," Solomon replied. "Whatever Tita is doing won't significantly interfere with Fury's plans—unless he happens to run into her. But do you remember Tita's gear? She's wearing the Steel Wings."
Natasha recalled the wing-like attachment on the Sisterhood's power armor. According to the intel she had gathered, those wings had undergone multiple iterations before reaching their current mass-production model. Although she lacked precise specifications, she knew it was an advanced piece of technology—possibly capable of enabling supersonic flight. Typically, only artificial beings specializing in close combat were equipped with the Steel Wings. However, since the Sisterhood had relatively few members, each of them received a set to enhance battlefield mobility.
Her recording device was always active, yet at this moment, it failed to gather much useful information. Solomon, of course, was fully aware of Romanoff's intentions but pretended otherwise. After all, she had already become the bridge between him and Fury—demanding more from her would be unnecessary. She had too many tasks on her plate as it was. Romanoff, in turn, knew that Solomon understood her true role but never exposed her.
This made her feel that Solomon was, in some way, quite considerate—which was precisely why she was willing to facilitate communication between him and Fury, acting as a double agent. She didn't want two men with the same ultimate goal to end up locked in a battle to the death.
"Alright," Natasha shrugged. "So it's a magic-related matter, then?"
"Bingo!"
A lightbulb suddenly flickered to life above Solomon's head.
"A troublesome figure has arrived on Earth. My teacher just informed me today."
He pulled open a drawer, revealing a device resembling a 19th-century seismograph. A silver wire suspended a spindle-shaped ruby above a long strip of parchment, which was pressed under a brass scale.
"This is a device that allows me to receive telepathic messages," he explained, pointing at the fine Latin inscriptions carved into the ruby. "It can receive voicemail-style telepathic messages on my behalf. It's quite popular in the magical community—and no phone bills. The downside? It's ridiculously expensive. You need specially selected magical gemstones, skilled craftsmen willing to cut them, and even the mage themselves needs some hands-on ability—because the parchment used to record messages has to be soaked in alchemical solutions."
"Don't you magicians ever use cell phones?"
"There are always places without service, my dear," Solomon quipped. "Cell phones need a carrier. Telepathy requires access to the Ether Plane and the Outer Planes. If the distance is too great, the call might not connect, and the message might not be delivered. There are actually spells invented for long-distance communication, including video calls, but they're rarely used in daily life."
"I didn't realize magic had developed to this extent," Wanda remarked, tilting her head. "Do magic and science ever intersect?"
"Yes," Solomon nodded. "Magic is a field that intertwines rationality, emotion, and intuition. Except for sorcerers who are born with or accidentally acquire their powers—who don't need to study—most spellcasters possess a fundamental understanding of science and rational thinking."
With a flick of his hand, he conjured illusions to showcase the modernized aspects of the magical world. While some elements still seemed stuck in the Renaissance or Victorian era, adorned with heavy Baroque and steampunk aesthetics, their functions were by no means inferior to modern technology.
One of the objects he displayed was an alternative telepathic messaging device.
"Just like how phone calls require a phone number, a person's True Name acts as their number—their Bluetooth, their WiFi. Only those with the 'password' or the correct 'number' can connect."
Today's lesson wasn't particularly serious, so Solomon took the opportunity to chat with Pietro and Wanda, even introducing Wanda to aspects of astronomy she had never encountered before.
"We magicians can't always keep our eyes on the ground—astronomy is an essential part of magic," Solomon explained. "The greatest use of astrology is in divination. But the stars and the universe hold far more significance for spellcasters.
"Throughout the development of esotericism—particularly before the Enlightenment—mystics and philosophers viewed the universe through three main perspectives.
"The first is the idea that the universe is a grand, harmonious, organic whole, where all parts are interconnected. A notable variant of this view comes from the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus, who believed the entire cosmos was bound by sympathetic resonance, functioning as a single living entity. In his view, distant things could be close in a mystical sense, and similar things, though separated, would be affected by the same influences.
"That's why," Solomon gestured at Pietro and Wanda, "the example is right in front of you."
"The second perspective is hidden causality. The third, and most commonly accepted, is instrumental causality, also known as the mechanical model. This model suggests that one phenomenon influences another through a verifiable, predictable chain of material causes. As science has progressed, this model has become more sophisticated, but its core assumption remains: everything can ultimately be explained as the result of material interactions governed by strict natural laws—laws that, in principle, human intellect can discover and comprehend."
"That sounds almost too scientific to be related to magic," Wanda observed.
"But in fact, the third perspective is deeply tied to magic," Solomon countered. "We must approach magic with an empirical mindset. The traditional model of hidden mysteries applies only to ancient theology.
"Why? Well, you haven't reached that part of your studies yet, so don't rush to take notes. This is just casual conversation.
"Unlike idealist psychologists who blindly believe in mysteries and the unknowable, magicians should embody rationality and be the spokespersons of wisdom—not charlatans stringing together random letters to form nonsense, nor junkies spouting gibberish after taking hallucinogens."
Solomon's expression became serious.
"We must treat the Ether as an objective source of energy, rather than a vague mystical concept."
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