Chapter 81 The Masterless Sword
Edmond, Canada, the old house of the Howlett family.
This castle-like manor house was initially built in the 1830s, and it has been more than a century since today.
After several renovations and extensive construction in the middle, it covers an area of more than 10,000 square meters, and there are nearly 100 hectares of vast private fields and pastures for raising cattle and sheep on the periphery.
The sun shrouded the vast Lager forest in the distance, and Howlett's old house stood upright surrounded by many thorns and shrubs.
The tall blue-gray city walls are covered with dark green vines, perhaps because of the age, it faintly reveals a bit of chill and gloom.
But in front of this rickety mansion, there are white roses blooming all over. The roses in the wind seem to have a clear smile, so pure and fascinating.
A two-meter-high, bald and black-skinned giant like a mountain of meat is gently holding a brass shower head the size of a bucket. He has thick lips and a childlike light in his protruding eyes like copper bells. Filled with joy, watering the rose bushes.
On the haystack not far from the giant sat a young Caucasian man with a messy beard and black hair hanging down his cheeks.
Leaning against bundles of hay, he looked dejectedly at the wide school grounds paved with bluestone slabs in front of him. More than a dozen boys younger than him were practicing strange boxing movements and tossing stones hewn from huge stones. With heavy objects, exhale and make a sound, beating the muscles and bones.
A mountain peak blew, the young man's empty left sleeve dangled, and the linen shirt was chilly in this season.
"Don't look, those little guys are all wolf cubs, come and help Coffey water the flowers."
The dull voice of the black-skinned giant resounded, he hesitated for a while and continued: "Even a **** can water flowers and herd cows, Kofi is willing to take you with him, Kofi is good at delivering calves !"
"Thank you, Kofi, you are so comforting."
James Buchanan Barnes tugged at his empty sleeves that were blown erratically by the wind, grabbed a straw and held it in his mouth, with no expression on his face.
"Hey, people often say that. Mr. Howlett also praised Kofi for speaking. Everyone likes Kofi, and Kofi likes everyone."
The black giant John Coffey finally finished sprinkling the rosebushes. He rubbed his fat hands on the rough overalls, and sat down next to Bucky. The entire haystack was pressed and sank deeply.
"Has Steve trained like this before?"
Bucky moved his **** with some difficulty, he almost fell on top of Coffey.
"Steve, that gentleman, Kofi, has never seen him before. Kofi has been staying in the old house, but the boys in the old house often talk about Steve. They used to be very dissatisfied with him, and they don't now. How are you convinced?"
Coffey's speech was still so simple, slow and rambling, but Bucky was used to it.
"I heard that these wolf cubs have grown up next to Mr. Howlett for generations. They are so careless! Except for Mr. Howlett and some old wolves, no one pays attention to them."
Two popping sounds came from mid-air, Steve Rogers fell from a high place, turned over and fell, he looked helplessly at Asazo, who had teleported away, and patted his jacket, Walk towards Bucky.
"Bucky, Mr. Coffey." Steve greeted, and brilliantly thanked the black giant again for saving his brother.
"No need to thank Kofi, Kofi likes to help people relieve pain, do you really not want to go with Kofi to herd cattle?"
Coffey looked at Bucky expectantly with his mouth open. Bucky shook his head like a rattle, watching Coffey walking slowly and heavily towards the pasture.
"Back from Brooklyn?"
Bucky got the territory of all the haystacks, lay down comfortably, held the grass stalk in his mouth, looked at the school field, and talked to Steve without turning his head.
"Well, I went to stay with my mother, took her to move to the teacher's manor in Long Island, and planted flowers with Mrs. Etty. I secretly saw your uncles. They are not bad, except for the old drinking. "
Bucky's parents passed away very early, and he has been living and growing up at his uncle's house, but the relationship is not good, so he hugged the weak and bullied Steve to keep warm since he was a child, and Steve's mother was the closest to him. good elders.
"Where are you going next, the great 'Captain America', the hero of the United States is still alive and dead, how long do you plan to stay with me, a cripple, on the farm."
Steve looked at Bucky's idling, and was silent for a while. He pulled up his brother who was paralyzed on the haystack, ignored Bucky's yelling, and half dragged him to the mansion.
In the palace of the old house.
Arnim Zola was very happy to be busy around Dr. Erskine. He had just finished designing the energy capsule that Mr. Howlett would use. Looking at the vibrating gold material used for testing, he was shaking his **** excitedly.
Erskine didn't like this little Swiss guy, and he had heard about his notoriety in the scientific community, but in terms of his weak genetic field and physics and high-energy particles that he had never dabbled in, Arnim Zola did Has a genius side.
James looked at Dr. Zola happily introducing his own design, and nodded with satisfaction. The life-level promotion "ritual" plan was finally almost completed.
"Look, sir, the energy stability and transmission rate of vibrating gold are simply beyond the charts! If I used this material to make the Rubik's Cube energy—er, your energy capsule will definitely achieve the most perfect effect."
"The energy of the Cosmic Rubik's Cube is indeed superior to nuclear energy. This extremely pure and clean energy can avoid the body's rejection reaction to the greatest extent. The problem that was originally too large and violent and difficult to stabilize was successfully solved with the support of Zhenjin."
"What about the sample test of the Styx serum?"
Dr. Erskine named the strongest serum that was extracted from the heart-shaped grass of Wakanda, combined with the super soldier serum and James' blood, "Styx", which was taken from the blood of Achilles, the hero of Greek mythology. The allusion of the water of the Styx.
Also because this serum has an extraordinary demand on the recipient's spirit and willpower, it will have extremely near-death and hallucinogenic effects after injection, and the mortality rate is very high.
"The serum reacts well with your tissue extracts. After all, it is formulated based on your blood and genes. If it is successfully injected by ordinary people, it will not only have a more comprehensive effect that far surpasses the evolutionary effect of super soldier serum, it will also have the effect of delaying the evolution of super soldier serum." A special ability to age and speed up self-healing, although the degree may vary from person to person."
Dr. Erskine paused, then continued.
".Mutants with a dominant X gene are not suitable for this serum. Unless you are a mutant with strong self-healing and adaptability like you, other mutation factors will produce unpredictable rejection traits. Even ordinary serum is not recommended for mutants. People get injected."
"How high is the success rate of injecting 'Styx' for ordinary humans?" James asked in deliberation. He did not expect such a domineering nature of this serum.
Zola, who was next to him, also came over and looked at Erskine with great admiration. He highly praised Dr. Erskine's research results. Ask Erskine for advice.
But the latter often refuses to talk to him.
"Uh, it's best for ordinary people not to try the Styx. It's basically suicide. If you cooperate with your special physical and mental training methods to reach an extremely high level, coupled with superior willpower, the success rate may be less than half .”
James shook his head. There is only a 50/50 chance. It can only be kept as a possibility, but the super soldier serum is easier.
"Get ready. You two can do research on your own after the end. Dr. Erskine, if you want to go back to Germany or go anywhere, I can make the best arrangements. Of course, you are welcome to stay, the field of mutant genes But infinitely wide."
James patted Dr. Erskine on the shoulder lightly. His help to him over the past year has been extremely important, and it has also laid the most critical foundation for the strength reserve of the Howlett family in the future.
The sound of footsteps and the noise of two people came from outside the experimental area of the underground palace.
James greeted the two doctors, and came to another area that was originally used for training. All the exaggerated equipment that he used to exercise his body and practice boxing were already old and rusted.
He caressed the marks made by sharp claws on the giant iron post, his eyes were indescribably complicated and lonely.
"Teacher, you are here."
Steve pulled Bucky with an awkward face, and spoke in a strange tone, just like when he was discovered to be lazy when he was practicing martial arts when he was young.
"What's the plan in the future?"
James nodded, and simply asked, the European battlefield is basically over, and the remaining battles no longer require "Captain America".
For more than two months, Steve stayed in the old house to accompany Bucky, and with the help of Asazzo, he sometimes went back to Brooklyn to visit his mother Sarah in secret.
The outside world has already sent ships to search near Greenland for a long time, but there has been no official notification of Steve Rogers' death in battle.
"I have a friend"
"He has a female instructor he likes, who specifically told him that she is single, and her former fiancé is also married, and said to wait for him to go back."
Bucky revealed Steve's secret in one breath without loyalty. He blushed when he saw Fa Xiao, stared at himself bitterly, and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. He was already messed up anyway.
James smiled and encouraged.
"Go, what should be grasped must be grasped, it seems that the Strategic Science Corps will be retained, and it will become a new organization. You can choose according to your own will."
"Have you figured out how to explain the whereabouts of the Rubik's Cube to the outside world?"
If Steve reappears, the Rubik’s Cube and the battle that day will have to be explained, which is one of the reasons why he has not gone to Peggy Carter for a long time.
"I've made up my mind, let's say that the Rubik's Cube was shot by the Red Skull and fell into the frozen ocean from the Valkyrie. Let them find it."
James looked at him hesitant to speak and waved his hand, signaling to speak quickly.
"Ahem. That's right, teacher, Bucky doesn't really have anywhere to go, he"
Steve glanced down and lowered his head without saying a word. He was not as clever as a good brother just now, so he didn't know how to continue talking.
"Do some work in the manor, herd cattle and horses with Kofi, and you can learn anything if you are willing."
Bucky looked obviously disappointed when he heard the first half of the sentence, but finally heard Mr. Howlett say that he can learn anything he wants, and he understood something, nodded emphatically, and didn't say much.
"Battle heroes will see a more complicated world in a peaceful age, nothing else matters, take care of yourself."
James finally gave a meaningful instruction to his students.
In the past world, black and white seemed to be distinct. Holding the so-called sword of justice and swinging down the butcher knife, one often felt at ease, but the sword did not distinguish between good and evil.
(end of this chapter)