Calculating Every Move

Compared to Frank Castle's combat skills, it was his character that the Arcanist valued more.

However, he also knew that he would not be welcome among veterans. If he continued meeting Frank Castle, a fierce physical confrontation would sooner or later break out, and he could only be the victor in the end. He had no desire to beat his recruitment target to death. Since Victoria Hand was willing to take over that troublesome assignment, Salomon left it to her. He would rather spend his time thinking about a bronze-skinned Latina beauty in a swimsuit with a perky backside—though that was impossible, no one could stop him from fantasizing. He used fantasy to ignore the trouble ahead: soothing the girl who had grown up in the mountains of Siberia.

Sophia had an extremely primal response to challenges. She remained bitter over her setback with Frank Castle and tried hard to find any opportunity to punch the veteran in the face. Salomon had no choice but to intensify the training of Sophia and her people, lest she keep thinking about running out to settle the score. Unlike special operations teams that carried out scalpel-precise strikes, this group would become the City of Immortals' first regular army and use a large amount of advanced mechanized equipment to test various tactical doctrines. The first tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, aircraft, and other heavy equipment for regular forces produced by Mars Foundry had all been prepared for them. Once training was complete, Sophia would even have the authority to launch nuclear missiles. The equipment Sophia and her people were to receive consumed an enormous amount of resources, even comparable to a Praetorian Guard's Power Armor.

This was Salomon's compensation for Jacob's thousand-year vigil. He had to ensure that Jacob's bloodline could continue generation after generation,