Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 91 9. The Truth 【14100】

At dawn, Merlin was sent to the entrance of a villa in Brooklyn by a luxury car.

He was wearing his never-dirty gray slack suit and was carrying some presents.That was prepared by Pierce for him. I heard that Ms. Carter's situation is not very good recently, so this time, Merlin can be regarded as replacing Chief Pierce to visit his old boss.

When Merlin arrived, a young, somewhat familiar lady was already waiting for him at the entrance of the villa.

"Hello, Mr. Merlin."

The young lady, maybe only 20 years old, led the way for Merlin, and she was very polite.

"The last time we met, I didn't have time to ask."

Merlin said softly:

"You and Ms. Carter, are you?"

"I'm Aunt Carter's niece."

The lady who is 6 points similar to Ms. Carter turned her head to look at Merlin, she smiled and said:

"Just call me Sharon."

She opened the door for Merlin and said softly:

"Go, Mr. Merlin, Auntie is waiting for you."

"Well, thank you."

Merlin thanked Miss Sharron in a low voice, then handed her the gift in his hand, and walked into the living room of the villa.

After entering the living room, he noticed that there were many photos hanging on the walls of the villa.

There are photos of the heroic Ms. Carter and the handsome Howard Stark when they were young, there are also photos of Ms. Carter holding Tony Stark when she was young, and there are photos of Ms. Carter when she was alone in the office .

Arranged in a certain order, the photographs show Ms. Carter growing older, older, and lonelier, always alone.

But at the end of the photo wall, in the last photo, Ms. Carter was young again, like an abrupt turning point, and like a sealed, best memory.

In that photo, she is smiling like a flower and hugging a young man who is also smiling.

The young man was wearing a World War II soldier's uniform, and he was holding a round shield with a five-pointed star drawn on it.

He has blond hair, big eyes, and a handsome face.

This is a black and white photo, and the background of the photo seems to be on a battlefield.

Merlin stood in front of that photo, he could probably guess the identity of this soldier, the most legendary superhero in history, Captain America Steve Rogers.

He was also the man Ms. Carter loved all her life.

Unfortunately, he disappeared in 1945, and until now, there is still no news.

"Steve doesn't actually like this picture..."

Ms. Carter's voice came from the living room, and there was a trace of nostalgia in her weak voice, and she said:

"He always thinks that the photographer didn't take a good picture of his hair. But I like it very much. In fact, I don't have many choices. When we were together, we basically spent on the battlefield and didn't leave a few photos. .I can only choose the best one out of them.”

"It's actually perfect."

Merlin looked at the photo again, and he said:

"It's like the best memories, hidden deep in my heart, never fade."

"Hehe, you young man, you can really talk."

Ms. Carter smiled and said:

"Come in, Merlin."

Merlin quietly walked into the living room. He sat on the sofa opposite Ms. Carter, not restrained.

In Oakland a few years ago, he met Ms. Carter. Back then, the woman had black hair mixed with some white hair, but now, her hair was all white and her face was wrinkled.

It looked like he had aged ten years overnight.

She was very weak, and she was reclined on the sofa, with an IV tube in her arm and a respirator in her nostril.But those eyes are still gentle and bright, just like a few years ago.

Ms. Carter looked at Merlin, she showed a smile, and said humorously:

"The doctor said I couldn't see for a long time, so we were pressed for time. You know what? Fury used to come to see me, and he'd come with lots and lots of bad news and ask me for advice, which annoyed me. They just It’s not that a retired old man can’t spend his old age in peace.”

She sighed:

"I'm old and I can't do what I want a lot of the time."

"I have also heard about what happened to Pierce, but the current era is not my era after all. In peaceful years, politicians used conspiracies as a means of attacking opponents. This is disgusting, but we can't change it. Yes. Fortunately, with your help, he survived, which is very good."

"So, tell me, Merlin. This time, what bad news did you bring me?"

"It's about aliens."

Merlin said truthfully:

"Frey was attacked by aliens called Skrulls in California, and met a blonde girl who claimed to be a Kree, but she was actually an Earth person, and she was once involved in the Pegasus project. And From her, we know that both the Kree and the Skrull are here for some product of that plan."

Merlin paused, looked at Ms. Carter in front of him, and said:

"So, I came here to ask you, what is the Tianma Project... and why was it suddenly stopped?"

"Project Tianma...Let me think about it."

Peggy Carter closed her eyes, as if recalling the secrets in her mind. After a few minutes, Ms. Carter shouted to her niece Sharon who was busy in the kitchen:

"Little Sharon, I remember Howard left some documents in my garage. Go and help me find the documents about the Tianma project."

Sharon responded and walked out of the room.

Peggy Carter turned her head to look at Merlin, she said:

"Project Tianma, that is an energy experiment hosted by Howard. He once told me something. The purpose of that experiment seems to be to discover new energy sources. He said that if the experiment is successful, it will be equivalent to plugging in the technology of human civilization." got wings, so he called it the 'Pegasus' project."

"Then Wendy Lawson, do you have any impression of this name?"

Merlin asked, and Ms. Carter nodded:

"Yes, I remember quite clearly."

"Dr. Lawson is a top scientist in high-energy physics invited by Howard from Europe. I personally handled the entry procedures for her to enter the Pegasus Project. As far as I remember, that doctor was a very talkative person. Curious about everything... She was about Howard's age, with silver hair, but she was full of energy, and often worked late at night."

"It is precisely because of her joining that the experimental process of the Tianma Project has been advanced very quickly."

Ms. Carter said to Merlin:

"I remember that in 1988, Dr. Lawson produced the prototype of the new energy engine. Howard used the equipment in his own factory to complete the assembly of the prototype...they installed it in a well-designed Beautiful, edgy silver plane, and they have a cool name for the plane...”

"They call it 'Isis,' and I've seen it with my own eyes. It's really beautiful. It's like a silver shuttle."

Peggy Carter smiled at Merlin, she said with some regret:

"But unfortunately, that plane crashed during the test flight. Dr. Lawson and the test pilot died in the disaster. I remember that period of time, Howard was very angry and very anxious because he was checking the wreckage of the plane. The power source he gave to Dr. Lawson was not found...he thinks it was what caused Isis to crash."

"He thinks that all of that is his mistake caused by being too eager. Without the energy source, the Tianma project lost its source material, and naturally it couldn't advance. In 1989, it came to an end."

That's the end of Carter's story about Project Pegasus.

But Merlin's expression was not enlightened. On the contrary, his eyes were full of seriousness. He looked at Ms. Carter and said:

"But according to the information I got... Ms. Wendy Lawson, her real identity is a spy sent to Earth by the Kree people. Her real name is Mar-Vell."

Merlin recalled what he heard about the conversation between Firth and the alien "Yong", and told Ms. Carter all this, he said:

"It is said that she discovered a special energy fluctuation on the earth. She thinks that energy can help the Cree defeat the Skrulls, so she came to the earth."

"Ok?"

Ms. Carter's expression suddenly became serious, she looked at Merlin, and she said:

"Can you confirm the authenticity of this news?"

"Yes, I can."

Merlin nodded and said:

"This is what I personally heard from a Kree soldier."

"Ah...if that's the case."

Peggy Carter narrowed her eyes, a flash of understanding flashed in the eyes of the agent queen of the previous era, and she whispered:

"If that's the case, then everything can be explained."

"Howard's depression at the time was not blaming himself for killing Dr. Lawson and the female pilot. He should have discovered Lawson's true identity from the wreckage. He was eager to shut down the Tianma project not just because the energy source was destroyed. It's because ... Howard recognized the seriousness of the problem."

"If Lawson is really an alien, and he came because of the power source, it means... the power source, maybe it wasn't destroyed."

Ms. Carter clenched her fingers, looked at Merlin, and said:

"That energy source should have been taken away! By the Cree!"

"You keep saying 'power source', what the hell is that thing?"

Merlin asked curiously:

"Is the Tianma Project inspired by that 'energy source'?"

"That's a question you shouldn't be asking."

Peggy Carter glanced at Merlin, she said slowly and with a hint of sternness:

"Because this is top-secret information. But since it happened suddenly and the identity of Wendy Lawson has been confirmed, as a member of the Strategic Science Corps, Merlin, I can tell you, but you must keep your mouth shut !"

"You should know about the disappearance of my lover Steve Rogers in 1945, right?"

Ms. Carter sighed, lowered her head, and said to Merlin:

"It wasn't just Steve who was missing at the time, there was also a super energy source obtained by a crazy mad scientist. The leader of the group of madmen, Red Skull Schmidt, called it the 'Cosmic Rubik's Cube', which was a cube of blue color. The energy polymer, the energy contained in it, can easily tear our world apart, but it is very stable, just like eternal peace."

"Steve crashed into the Arctic Ocean in the strategic plane that was being used to blow up the West Coast."

"Howard, who was still young at the time, didn't want to believe that his good friend died just like that. He funded and formed an expedition team to search for the missing Steve in the Arctic Circle. Maybe it was God's will, but he couldn't find him. My friend, but found the cosmic Rubik's Cube."

Peggy Carter opened the photo album at hand, took out a photo, and handed it to Merlin.

The latter was in his hand, and the photo showed Howard in his youth, holding a fluorescent cube object with some kind of mechanical creation in his hand.

"Since Howard got the Cosmic Rubik's Cube, he has been trying to study it. Howard believes that it is a technological creation of a higher civilization. By studying it, the world's technological level can be rapidly improved."

"But that thing is too dangerous, because we stored it in the warehouse of the Strategic Science Corps until 1980...Howard relied on the continuous advancement of technology, and finally produced a device that can smoothly extract the power of the Rubik's Cube."

Ms. Carter shook her head:

"It was also in that year that he recruited Wendy Lawson to help him. From now on, it seems that he has led the wolf into the house!"

"But if that Lawson really came here for the Rubik's Cube, then she definitely didn't die in 1989. Maybe she just feigned death and left Earth with the Rubik's Cube..."

"No! Ma'am, I'm pretty much sure she didn't take it!"

Merlin said to Ms. Carter:

"The Kree never said that Lawson had completed her mission and returned, and if she had really returned to Hara, then it was impossible for Firth, who was a bystander of that incident, to survive. Most importantly, The Skrulls came to Earth to find what Lawson left on Earth."

"This shows that she may indeed have taken the Rubik's Cube with her, but she hid it somewhere, and I suspect that Ma-Vell may have really died in the crash."

"Ferth? Who's that?"

Ms. Carter nodded, she approved of Merlin's analysis, and she noticed another detail:

"It's an odd name."

"Ferth is the earth girl who thinks she is a Kerry, and Fury is taking her to find clues from the past, trying to make her recall her identity."

Merlin explained:

"Firth has remembered that she was a participant in the Pegasus project. She knew Wendy Lawson and participated in that test flight. After the plane crashed in 1989, she was taken to the capital of the Cree until Just come back now."

"The time and events are indeed right."

Ms. Carter nodded, and she said to Merlin:

"I've seen the report on the crash, and I remember it well because the two test pilots on the 'Asis' were women. Female pilots were relatively rare in those years, so I still I remember that one is called Maria. The other seems to be called..."

Peggy Carter rubbed her forehead, she said:

"Carol?"

"Yes, aunt, you remember correctly."

While the two were talking, Ms. Carter's niece Sharon's voice sounded. This young girl was holding a dusty box and placed it on the tea table in front of Merlin's eyes.

Then he took a document out of the box and handed it to him.

Merlin took the document, turned to the first page, and saw a photo of a blonde woman in a flight suit boarding a fighter jet.And the person in the photo was Firth who had lost his memory!

Miss Sharon pointed to the pilot's name on the document and said to Merlin:

"The female pilot who has been judged dead is called Carol Danvers. There is another female pilot named Maria Rambo. She is a single mother. After Carol's death, Maria resigned. I quit my job and took my daughter back to my hometown.”

"Where is her hometown?"

Merlin asked while looking at Carol's information.

Sharon Carter picked up another document, she looked at it, and said to Merlin:

"The data records, it should be in..."

"Louisiana, right?"

Merlin looked at Sharon and said the answer in advance. Sharon froze for a moment and nodded.

Merlin picked up the document in his hand, and he said to Ms. Carter in front of him:

"Fry is there too, and the Skrulls are likely to be there too. I can't waste any time. I have to leave immediately, Ms. Carter."

"Wait, Merlin."

When Merlin was leaving, Ms. Carter suddenly stopped him. Merlin turned around and heard Ms. Carter say:

"There is something I need to ask you."

(End of this chapter)