From the knowledge imparted by the Ancient One, Solomon understood the fundamental difference between the Aesir pantheon and other divine systems.
Most pantheons originated from souls, beginning as purely spiritual entities before being deified through the faith they gathered. However, the Aesir were born from the corrupted flesh and blood of a primordial demon. They were physical beings from the start and only later ascended to divinity through the accumulation of worship.
Athena embodied the power of truth. Having gazed upon truth multiple times without suffering the fate of Tiresias, Solomon immediately sensed that something was off in the atmosphere.
Bayonetta held a half-filled glass of red wine, the dim glow of magic flickering in her eyes. Occasionally, her pupils became slitted—an indication that she was perceiving the world through a different lens. Jeanne wore an amused smile, while even his foster mother looked as if she was expecting a spectacle to unfold.
Solomon could only sigh helplessly and, with deep affection, kissed the witch once again.
Her lips burned, like smoldering embers. Bayonetta felt a jolt of electricity from Solomon's touch, leaving her lips tingling. As they finally pulled apart, it was as if the world around them faded, leaving only each other in their eyes. The noblewomen invited by Athena were utterly forgotten—women whose artificially natural-looking figures were sculpted through cosmetic surgery, whose conversations revolved around fashion, plastic surgery, and shopping.
They needed these things to rein in their wealthy husbands. It was their sole purpose. Athena had invited them partly for entertainment—to observe these spiritually impoverished creatures howl and bicker. Most of these women had lovers outside their marriages, just as their husbands had mistresses. Divorce was never an option, as it would mean losing half their fortune.
Seeing Solomon and Bayonetta, they could only sigh wistfully, reminiscing about the youthful love they once had.
"Oh! So Sweet!"
In Bayonetta's luminous gray irises, Solomon saw his reflection. In his obsidian-like eyes, Bayonetta found herself. Solomon's fingertips on her neck sent tiny static shocks through her skin, making it hard to breathe, making her body tense.
Despite having indulged in their primal desires just hours earlier, neither of them felt sated in the slightest.
From a Freudian perspective, their overindulgence had led to a fixation—an insatiable desire to take more and more from each other, an endless cycle of craving.
Bayonetta smirked and pinched Solomon's cheek. "You must love me. You have no choice."
"Swear it upon your true name."
"God, that's the sweetest love confession I've ever heard," Vanessa remarked, taking a sip of wine.
It was the kind of promise that only career-driven men could make—the kind that guaranteed no drinking binges, no smoking, coming home early to kiss their wives.
Athena had now seen firsthand just how deeply the witch had captivated Solomon. Only Jeanne's gaze remained cold as ice, attempting to extinguish the burning desire between the mystic and the witch.
Stephanie Malik opened the car's refrigerated compartment and poured Solomon a glass of chilled champagne.
She had rushed to find him because a majority of Congress had privately reached an agreement to pass a secret bill addressing the mess left by S.H.I.E.L.D. However, before the vote, there was still room to amend some of its clauses. She needed Solomon's presence to help her assess the boundaries of these changes—or rather, that was her excuse.
Stephanie's real intent was to have Solomon appear in front of bipartisan lawmakers as much as possible. To that end, she had even prepared a perfectly tailored deep-blue pinstripe suit for him. His usual British-styled suits weren't suited for that particular setting.
"You're irresistible right now, my lord." Stephanie's eyes gleamed as if she had taken a hallucinogen. Having just separated from Bayonetta, Solomon was radiating a staggering level of charm. It's just hormones, Stephanie told herself.
"You'll definitely be able to convince the lawmakers to adjust some of the details," she said urgently. "It's crucial for us. Our special ops unit will gain legitimate status. The Hydra agents who defected to us will be pardoned. We'll have complete control over their lives…"
"Stephanie, you could handle this yourself." Solomon cut straight to the truth. But before she could panic, he quickly reassured her. "It's fine. At the very least, you saved me from the dull conversations of those noblewomen. I should be thanking you." He smiled. "Thank you, Stephanie. And for the champagne. But honestly, I'd rather have water—I've been drinking too much."
"Has anyone ever told you how charming you are, My Lord?" Stephanie teased. "Oh, and it's 'Water,' not 'Wooa.' Watch your t pronunciation—you don't want them immediately pegging you as a Londoner."
Stephanie's political maneuvering had been mostly accurate—the classified bill did have room for adjustments. Over the following weeks, the special operations unit secured an official mandate to hunt down Hydra remnants and began conducting missions openly.
"This is the first mission, and you're refusing to let the special ops unit handle it alone?!"
Victoria Hand's voice carried disbelief. The moment she received word that the Fridge prison had been breached by Hydra, she had been ready to deploy.
"You promised me that I would oversee superpowered individuals!" She practically launched across the table at Solomon.
"I know Hydra has long controlled the Fridge, but this Daniel is critical." A flicker of hatred burned in Hand's eyes, though she forced it down. "Daniel is obsessed with Audrey Nathan—Coulson's ex-girlfriend. Coulson will show up, and I need to warn him about Grant Ward being Hydra!"
"Agent Hand, you are now a member of the Eternal City." Solomon tapped the brooch pinned to her chest.
After her complaints, Solomon had removed the iron gauntlet emblem (which had been part of his pun-based humor), replacing it with skeletal wings to maintain the aesthetic consistency of the badge.
"The reason I'm involving the Sisterhood isn't arbitrary—it's because this Daniel is special. Also, I'm glad you're staying level-headed despite facing the man who killed you."
"Marcus Daniel and Agent Coulson's history—I was just—"
"I'm not talking about that," Solomon interrupted. "This Daniel's consciousness is linked to the Inner Shadow Plane, which grants him his ability to absorb light."
He continued, "Do you remember when I mentioned the Celestial experiment projects? And how some biospheres were contaminated by cosmic plagues? Celestial energy was distributed across Earth, which is why superpowered humans exist. Daniel is one of those 'lucky' individuals.
"However, it's likely that the whispers of shadow entities drove him insane, which explains his psychopathic behavior." Solomon leaned back. "S.H.I.E.L.D. should consider itself fortunate that Daniel was only connected to the Inner Shadow Plane. If it had been another Inner Plane, Marcus Daniel wouldn't have been containable by the Fridge at all."
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