Dismantling the Eastern European human trafficking network was a long-term mission of the Immortal City. Its purpose was to screen suitable girls for the Sisterhood's reserve corps, while males—after receiving education—would become staff within the Immortal City. This modern slave trade was worth billions of euros and spanned across all of Europe and the Americas. Compared to slaves who couldn't vote and might die at any time, politicians eager for votes were far more concerned about cats, dogs, or any animal that might end up on a dinner plate—or about refugees and the beneficiaries of identity politics (you know the kind).
After all, only the living can vote, and so can legalized refugees. Slaves cannot.
In this regard, modern Europe mirrored ancient Greece quite well.
In 2005, a film titled Human Trafficking was released, but the Eastern European trafficking problem remained largely ignored by local governments. In 2010, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime presented a global report on human trafficking, summarizing cases from 148 countries and detailing trafficking patterns and movements on global, regional, and national levels. It described how traffickers exploited dire socioeconomic conditions to recruit and exploit victims. Yet all these efforts failed. The UN accomplished nothing—peacekeepers stationed in Europe were even found to have participated in the trade. Whether it was gangs, terrorist organizations, or local governments, everyone had a hand in the industry. Today, the issue has only worsened.
Agent Victoria Hand led a dedicated intelligence team to tackle this problem.
Their methods included, but were not limited to, aerial decapitation raids, heavy artillery bombardment, and mechanized infantry sweeps.
The Immortal City didn't care who was involved—status, rank, power, none of it mattered. The City's battleships and heavy cannons were the answer to all problems. The now-imprisoned former gang leader Ilya was instrumental in this operation. Without his confession exposing the U.S. East Coast's trafficking network, Agent Hand wouldn't have been able to act so swiftly. She had once worried that Solomon's brutal methods might provoke international backlash, branding the Immortal City as a terrorist organization—but reality showed that Solomon didn't care.
The sky carrier had passed through a portal and appeared near the Virgin Islands, initiating direct combat with the Clinton family's private military. In the aftermath—amid severed limbs and scorched craters—the Immortal City left behind a nuclear warhead. It was the same warhead the Sisterhood had once seized, the same one fired by the UN Security Council during the Battle of New York. Any organization capable of global nuclear strikes could not be ignored. Even the CIA, after its investigation, had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill. Knowing the City's past actions, it wasn't unthinkable that they'd launch a nuke at Washington itself.
The Immortal City still wore the skin of Hydra. Agent Hand had extensive experience cleaning up traces, and all leads had been severed with the death of Alexander Pierce. Not even the CIA could track down the City's true identity—nor the tyrant sitting on its throne.
The CIA referred to the organization as "Kraken"—a name symbolizing a colossal sea monster that appeared and vanished without warning.
Stephanie Malik, having played the most critical role in this operation, was rewarded. She gained the authority to select talented individuals from among the rescued women to join the Immortal City's administrative team. Of course, population wasn't the only gain—rescue was merely a side mission. The main objective of Stephanie and the Sisterhood was an accounting ledger, containing information about the sources of trafficked individuals. The intel revealed that Whitehall's biotech company was upstream in the chain. He collected humans for experimentation and also used the trade to buy political access in the U.S. government. Stephanie's swift strike shocked the few remaining Hydra leaders into submission, forcing Whitehall to yield before his scheduled meeting with Solomon.
Submit, or die—that was Stephanie's message to Whitehall.
She knew Whitehall would be able to analyze the aftermath and understand the nuclear warhead's message: that an organization capable of stealing such a weapon from a U.S. military base near Washington was tied to the Malik family. And that its leaders—Stephanie Malik and the ever-present Solomon Damonet—were in full cooperation.
The reason for Solomon's lateness? He had just returned from a meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A meeting that went... less than smoothly.
Solomon cursed silently. He hadn't expected to run into an old acquaintance during the negotiations.
Agent Phil Coulson had arrived with his team, tracking something known as the Obelisk.
That object was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s original 0-8-4 item, confiscated by the Howling Commandos under Margaret Carter's leadership near the end of World War II. Neither Whitehall nor Peggy Carter had known its true purpose. Skye's father referred to it as "the Prophet." (See Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episodes 1–9.) Solomon didn't care for the full story, and he had no intention of explaining the Obelisk's true nature—especially while staring down the barrel of a gun.
Compared to Kree chemical tech, what interested him more was Whitehall's organ transplant surgery. What power allowed that old Nazi to remain as vigorous as a young man? How had he overcome rejection issues?
"I don't know how you got mixed up in this," Coulson said tensely, finger hovering over the trigger. "But you better stay put, Solomon. This isn't a non-lethal weapon. Tell me what you know. Where's Skye? What's your connection to Whitehall?"
Solomon, seated comfortably in a guest chair, rolled his eyes.
Damn you, Whitehall. So this was the "gift" you mentioned?
When the meeting began, Whitehall had appeared genteel and polite in his round-rim glasses—no hint of his brutal Nazi past. He'd said he had a gift for Solomon and then left the room, asking him to wait in the parlor.
"You're not going to believe this, but I was invited to watch a strip show. Okay?" Solomon said as he pulled out a scented invitation from his Sanctum Sanctorum robe. Coulson took it, glanced over it, and gave him a weird look—remembering the scantily clad girls in the room they'd just passed.
"Looks like someone set me up, Agent Coulson. I thought this was a normal business event. Oh—Skye? I assumed the performer would be the world's most elegant retro pin-up girl, not some scruffy street kid."
"You seriously don't know what's going on here?" Coulson tossed the invitation and kept his gun raised.
"Doesn't every private strip club have armed guards? I swear, I saw that on TV."
"Cut the crap, Solomon."
"Don't be stupid, Coulson. If I were working with Whitehall, you'd already be dead." Solomon's tone shifted as he abruptly stood. "I've gone through hell to get close to Whitehall, and now you show up. I'm investigating an interstellar cold case—about the Kree's genetic experiments on humanity. This case involves gods of the prime material plane—Celestials—their derivatives—the Progenitors, creators of the Kree—and the human genome itself. Whitehall is the foremost expert on Earth in this field. I was about to extract his data. Now you've screwed it all up. I want to know where he went!"
"Alright." Coulson hesitated, lowering his weapon. "I've got a lot at stake too—millions of lives. We might have a common goal. Skye was captured by Whitehall. Her father is also involved."
He took a deep breath. Though he still suspected Solomon, he knew the mage never bothered lying to him. Past cooperation had proven Solomon stood with humanity.
"I need to rescue Skye and stop Whitehall from using the Obelisk as a WMD. Help me, Solomon. Use your magic. I promise I'll hand over Whitehall's research. We'll interrogate him together."
"I want his brain. Intact," Solomon said coldly. "If Whitehall's brain is damaged, our agreement is off. Understood?"
"Deal."
"Excellent." Solomon whistled.
From the shadows at his feet came low growls. Coulson blinked—and in that split second, several black shapes darted out, vanishing into every corner of the mansion.
------------------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get early access to chapters by joining my Patre@n!
Find me at: patre@n*com/Mutter
You can read each novel for $5 or get them all for just $15.
Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]