That Steve's cooking skills are really good.

The pies he made were almost the most delicious Merlin had ever tasted, and the delicious seafood soup and handmade desserts made Merlin feast on this ordinary afternoon.

And this old man is very talkative.

During the time the three of them were eating together, he and Merlin had a good conversation.

It can be seen that he is very knowledgeable, and he has experienced a lot of things, and he even has a deep understanding of magic. Especially after Ms. Carter tells him that Merlin is a rare wizard, the mysterious Steve tells the story of his past.

"Magic, this thing does exist."

He sat in his chair and spoke eloquently to Merlin:

"During the Second World War, I saw the magicians who served the **, who would curse our soldiers with strange witchcraft, but they were mysterious and few in number, and they abandoned Hitler when he was about to be defeated. After the war, I never heard about them again. ”

"I've never heard of the Magical Congress of the United States, though."

Old Steve said to Merlin:

"I know there's a powerful mage living in New York, but he's supposed to be different from you."

"Oh?"

Merlin became interested, and he looked at old Steve, who did not seem to be bragging, so Merlin asked:

"How is it different?"

"As far back as I can remember, he doesn't need a wand to cast spells, he always claims to be an esoteric mage, and the magic he unleashes is really powerful."

Old Steve said with a look of remembrance:

"We have faced a terrifying enemy unimaginable together, and he is a very powerful man. I've seen it with my own eyes, and he's used his magic to hold back millions of tons of raging floods, with ease, as if he had done something insignificant. ”

"What's the name of that powerful mage?"

Merlin Says:

"Maybe I know him."

"No, no, no, you can't know him."

Old Steve smiled, and said to Merlin:

"At least at this point in time, you can't have seen him at all. Oh, by the way, I heard Peggy say, you still know Tony? ”

Merlin keenly sensed that the old man in front of him was changing the subject, but he still nodded and replied:

"Yes, I know Tony, a very annoying rich kid, a young man who has experienced pain, a wandering swinger in the newspapers, but he hasn't bothered me much lately."

Merlin shrugged his shoulders and said to old Steve:

"He's really an annoying guy."

"Yes, Tony does."

Old Steve seems to have a good idea of Tony. Stark was also familiar, and he drank a cup of tea and said to Merlin:

"But believe me, Tony hides a kind soul under that obnoxious exterior. He just hasn't encountered the ordeal of fate, and has not been polished by time, just like a rough stone, which cannot become a dazzling treasure without carving. But he was really a trustworthy person, a good friend. ”

"Fate?"

Merlin looked at old Steve, and he said:

"You mean, Tony is going to have a disaster in the future? Are you also a wizard? Or do you know prophecy or something? ”

"No, I'm just a normal person, Merlin."

Old Steve's face did not change, and he said with a smile:

"But someone like Tony, he's always going to get into trouble, one after another, until he gets into trouble that he can't solve. It doesn't take any prophecy to know, it's just the wisdom of a weathered old man. ”

"Well, that's exactly what you said."

Merlin nodded, he always felt that the old man in front of him was a little mysterious, and he always felt that his face was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

"All right, gentlemen, the chatty time is over."

When Ms. Carter had finished her lunch, she said like a hostess:

"I'm going to take a nap, can you two clean up the table and utensils?"

"Of course."

Merlin immediately stood up and gathered up the utensils on the table, and old Steve helped Ms. Carter back to the room.

A few minutes later, Merlin was washing the dishes in the kitchen, while Old Steve took two bottles of beer from the fridge, stood at the door from the kitchen, and said to Merlin:

"Do you want to go out for a walk? Young people, after eating, need to exercise so that they can be healthy. Put those plates there, I'll clean them up, Peggy is really, where is the reason to let the guests do it. ”

"Okay."

Merlin smiled back at old Steve, he wiped his fingers clean, and then took the bottle that old Steve had handed him, and the two men walked out of the house, and in the sunlight, strolled through the garden of Ms. Carter's estate, continuing their conversation.

"Speaking of which, Steve, how did you and Ms. Carter meet?"

Merlin took a sip of his wine, and he asked:

"You've also met Captain America Steve. Rogers? Do you know the past of that legendary hero and Ms. Carter? ”

"Yes, and I've seen it."

Old Steve, basking in the sun, replied slowly:

"You know Rogers has a Roaring Commando, right? I'm one of them, and I've been on missions with Silver Bullet, Bucky, and Steve. After the war ended, Steve disappeared..."

Old Steve paused, he looked at the northern sky, and said:

"It was a terrible time, Carter lost his beloved, and he was at a loss. Thankfully, God gave me a chance to succeed Rogers with her... I've been with her until now, and we've supported each other, but I still owe her a lot. ”

Merlin did not speak, and after a few minutes he suddenly said:

"I now suspect that you are Captain America Steve, who has been missing for almost 60 years. Rogers, but I don't have proof. ”

"Me? Hahahaha. ”

Old Steve turned around, laughed and patted Merlin on the shoulder, and said:

"Trust me, Merlin, I'm not him. What's more, Agent Frey hasn't been secretly looking for Steve. Rogers? Their expedition in the Arctic Ocean has already gone through almost all of Greenland, and perhaps... They'll find out soon, and by that time, you'll know that I'm really not the Captain America you imagined, the legendary hero. ”

Old Steve took a sip of wine, and said to Merlin:

"I'm just a normal old man, I've just experienced a little more than everyone else."

"Okay."

Merlin shrugged:

"I'm just skeptical."

"It's the nature of agents to be suspicious, and it proves that you're a good agent."

Old Steve Says:

"As Carter told me, you're a new star in S.H.I.E.L.D., and you might be able to take over Fury's class in the future. But there are some things I'm curious about, Merlin, I heard that you killed the Winter Soldier in Auckland a few years ago? ”

"I'm not sure if he's really dead."

Merlin sat down on the steps of the garden, looked up calmly, and said to old Steve:

"All I found in the rubble of the explosion was the Winter Soldier's mutilated right arm, a metal arm. I thought he was dead, but as my understanding of the Super Soldier Serum grew, I now had a feeling that maybe he had escaped the devastating explosion and was now hiding somewhere in the world. ”

"Okay."

Old Steve nodded, and with a twinkle in his eye, he said:

"The Winter Soldier is actually quite a pathetic man, and Peggy and I confronted him more than once during the Cold War. He was brainwashed by that organization and turned into a ruthless war machine, and in fact, if you really killed him in Oakland, it gave him real relief... After all, he did a lot of wrong things, and his hands were stained with the blood of innocents. ”

The old man took a sip of wine, and he said:

"If he really died, he deserved it."

"You said you've ever confronted the organization that controls the Winter Soldier?"

Merlin's gaze sharpened at this moment, and he asked:

"Can you tell me more? As for that group, although they haven't been seen since the events in Oakland, I can feel that they are still there! ”

"They're still there, Merlin."

Old Steve's expression also became serious, and he said to Merlin:

"That organization, called Hydra, used to be the intelligence agency of the **, a madman named Red Skull Schmidt once controlled it and confronted the Strategic Science Corps for almost the entire World War II, and after the war, they not only did not die out, but also passed on through more stealthy means. Their eyeliner can be found in every corner of the world... Even in S.H.I.E.L.D., too..."

At this point, old Steve suddenly stopped, and he seemed to have told some terrible secret.

"What?"

Merlin looked at old Steve, and he said:

"What's wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D., you say?"

"Nothing."

Old Steve drank his wine, and he said casually:

"I'm just saying that S.H.I.E.L.D. may not be safe either, that organization is very, very infiltrated. Merlin, if you decide to track them down, then you'd better keep an eye out, maybe some familiar people around you are members of them. ”

"Hydra..."

Merlin nodded, and he said solemnly:

"Thanks for the reminder, I'll take note. Still, I've always thought you're mysterious, Steve, who are you? ”

"I'm an old agent."

Old Steve said to Merlin with a calm face:

"One followed Peggy. Carter is behind her, the old agent who has been with her, and you think I'm mysterious, just because I've been through a lot. From decades ago to now, I've had the odd things I've been through. It's like these things that S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to deal with right now, paranormal events, supernatural events, war maniacs, mutants, Asgardians, Kree, and so on. ”

Old Steve shook his head:

"What you've experienced is like a portrayal of what I've experienced, and as a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., we will never be without these embellishments in our lives."

"Wait, Asgardians?"

Merlin raised his head and looked at old Steve, a hint of curiosity flashed in his eyes:

"Asgardians, do they really exist? I thought they were just characters from myths and legends? ”

"They do exist, Merlin."

Old Steve said firmly:

"More than a thousand years ago, when the passage between the Asgardian Divine Domain and the Earth was still unblocked, those Divine Domain people often traveled between the two worlds as gods, and those characters who left a strong story in the legend were actually from another world... Well, you can understand it as aliens. Although in their civilization, there is indeed the concept of 'Godhead' and 'divine power'. ”

"But in this era, the channel of communication between Earth and the Divine Domain has been closed."

The old man said to Merlin:

"You may still find traces of the Asgardians, some magical items, some books, or some questions in some ancient, undiscovered ruins... Wait, what's in your hand? ”

As old Steve spoke, he saw Merlin put on his gloves and take out a silver cane almost 1 meter long from his small pocket.

"This is something I found following an old legend."

Merlin put the Berserker Cane in front of Old Steve's eyes, and said:

"Look at the text on it."

"This thing, it looks broken?"

Old Steve crouched in front of the cane, and he was careful not to reach for it, and he took out a pair of reading glasses from his pocket, and put them on his eyes, and he looked at the pattern on the cane, and after a moment he said to Merlin:

"It is indeed the Rune Rune, a text that only the Asgardians and their worshippers would use. This thing is a magical item, look at the colorful light it emits in the sun, Merlin, this is Urugin, even in the Asgardian civilization, it is a very rare magical metal. It must indeed come from the legendary blacksmiths of the gods. ”

"Can you read the words?"

Merlin asked, and old Steve nodded, shook his head again, and said:

"I'm not a full-time linguist, and I can only barely discern the meaning of these words through my past experiences."

"It's a story, a story about the Berserker Legion, but the runes on it are mutilated, and I can't understand what this story is about until you find the full cane... But I can tell you, Merlin, this cane is not as simple as it seems. ”

Old Steve said with a serious face:

"During the Cold War, Peggy and I discovered, contained, or destroyed many dangerous magical items, and this cane gave me the same feeling as those items. Once it becomes whole, then it is difficult for mortals to harness... You may not know, but from my experience, the weapons of the Asgardians have a will of their own..."

"Those God's Domain people like to play tricks like this."

Old Steve stood up and said helplessly:

"They always like to set up a lot of trials, and only those who pass those tests are qualified to use such things. It's a powerful item, and I think you'd better find it, as it might help you in the future. ”

"That's the problem, Steve."

Merlin put the mutilated cane back in his pocket with some regret, and said to the old man:

"The clues in my hand are mutilated, and I can't find the two things left."

"Well, that's a pity."

Old Steve, too, was a little helpless, and he looked back at the mansion and said to Merlin:

"It's getting late, I need to go back and pack up those plates. Otherwise, Peggy, who loves cleanliness, will wake up and yell at me again, and her temper is actually quite bad. ”

"Also, recently, Peggy and I are going on a long trip around the world."

Old Steve said to Merlin:

"We're not young anymore, we have to seize this last good time, so in the last few years, we may not be in New York. Please tell Fury about this, and of course, if you can, hide my presence. ”

"Why? Old Steve. ”

Merlin looked at him and asked:

"Why don't you want to be known?"

"Because of the secret."

Old Steve pointed to his heart, and then to Merlin's heart, and said:

"We are all people with secrets, and only by protecting secrets can we better protect our lovers and relatives. Carter left you some past information in the garage that might help you..."

"Merlin, watch out for the people around you."

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