Old Stan, this is a man who has had a great influence on Merlin's life.

At a time when he was at a loss because of demonic powers, it was Stan who gave him the direction to move forward. Although the old man's persuasion at the time was also regarded as self-help, this did not prevent him from becoming Merlin's hero's guide.

And after almost 10 years, the two met again, and Stan Sr. was still a witty cartoonist, while Merlin had already experienced too many things.

On his face, you can still see the marks of his youth, but the calm and obscure temperament that emerges around him also seems to prove that he has become a small figure.

He's going to do something big eventually, that's for sure.

In the slightly cramped box of Mick's Restaurant, Merlin and Old Stan sit opposite each other, and the table between them is filled with snacks and drinks, like the reunion of old friends.

"After you left, I went back to the East Coast, and a few months later, a man named Nick. Fury's guy knocked on my door in the middle of the night, and frankly, he wasn't a reassuring person. ”

Old Stan sat on the couch and complained to Merlin:

"He has a lot of information and is forcing me to tell me about you."

"Did you say that?"

Merlin asked with a hint of a smile.

"Of course I did."

The old man shrugged his shoulders, and a hint of cunning flashed in his eyes:

"7 points true, 3 points false, I'm a comic book person, and it's not difficult for me to make up a story that is a little absurd, but logically reasonable."

"Okay."

Merlin twisted a fried golden crispy fries with his fingers, dipped the black pepper in his hand, put it in his mouth, and chewed as he said:

"But Fury found me, and he was a guy who was very good at putting the clues together, and he spent 2 years looking for my tracks throughout North America, and finally pulled me into his department."

"I'm a public official, an agent."

Merlin said to Old Stan:

"Fury is my immediate boss."

“Cool！”

The old man's eyes flashed with interest, he picked up the paper and pen in his hand, and he said with some impatience:

"Tell me about your story over the years, uh, I know you've got some secrecy rules and stuff like that, pick something you can say."

"Let me think about it."

Merlin quickly recalled the events of the past, and he thought about it, as if most of the things he couldn't tell Old Stan, he was just an ordinary person after all. Magic, Titans, mechanical civilizations and the like are all secrets, and it seems that only the alien invasion in late 1994 can be talked about.

"Well, do you remember the extraterrestrial events that all the rage in late '94 and early '95?"

Merlin picked up the watermelon juice on the rocks, put a stick of habit into the cup, and said to Old Stan:

"You're supposed to see it with your own eyes, right?"

"Of course."

Old Stan reached out and pushed his tea-red sunglasses, and he said to Merlin:

"I was thinking about a new comic in my studio that day, and I heard a loud scream in the street, and I got up, walked to the window, and saw the black stuff floating in the sky... I was so frightened that I took out the pistol in the drawer, but I didn't know how to protect me with that thing, I thought it was the end of the world, so I spent dozens of minutes writing a suicide note. ”

"But then, things were quiet again."

The old man said with some regret:

"I was expecting to see big-headed, green-skinned aliens."

"Well, they're not green-skinned and don't have big heads."

Merlin corrected:

"Their names are Kree, they belong to the Kree Empire on the edge of the Southern Galaxy, they have blue skin, and they look like us humans, but they are taller and more robust. They have nobles in their civilization, and the division of social classes seems to be related to blood, and some of the Cree nobles have similar skin colors to ours, you may not know it yet, but we did capture several Cree people in that war, including a nobleman. ”

Merlin stretched out his finger, pointed to the sky, pointed to himself, and said:

"I caught that captive with my own hands. And when those missiles landed on Earth, I was tens of thousands of meters above the ground, fighting those Kree mongrels, among the stars of space. ”

“Cool！”

Old Stan let out a sigh of appreciation, and as he quickly recorded it on the paper with a pen, he asked:

"I heard they have a fleet? How did you defeat them? Also, I saw a blonde woman flying around in the air that day, who was she? Is it a superhero? Do you know her? ”

"There was a lot of help from a lot of people, mutants, and another group of aliens, and we fought hard, but in the end we got lucky and won. As for her... Well, she's a hero. ”

A hint of nostalgia flashed in Merlin's eyes, and he whispered:

"I can't tell you her name, but our internal code name for her is 'Captain Marvel,' and you might be able to use that name."

"Captain?"

Old Stanmo rubbed his chin and said:

"It reminds me of Steve, but she looks so much better than Steve, at least I remember Steve not flying. And judging by your tone, you seem to have a good relationship with her? Have you ever been in a relationship? Let's talk about it, I can't wait to hear this story. ”

"Your imagination is too rich, Stan."

Merlin smiled and said:

"I don't have a special relationship with her, she was born free, but in an accident, she was brought back to their empire by the Kree, and in the years that followed, she was washed of her memory and fought in the galaxy as an elite warrior of the Kree, and then she regained her memory and sided with us. How so? I've had a little contact with her, but she's now back among the stars..."

"So you still miss her?"

Old Stan stared at Merlin with fierce eyes, and he said:

"When you talk about her, the tenderness in your voice can't be hidden from me. When I was younger, I was also a wanderer, you know, these things, always can't be hidden from the old man, the old man can always guess everything. ”

"Uh, okay."

Faced with Old Stan's questioning, Merlin shook his head helplessly, and said:

"It's true that we had a brief relationship, but to be honest, I don't know what to do with this story that has been going on for more than 5 years. I feel like I'm stuck in it. ”

"You should probably learn to let go."

The old man wrote and drew in his notebook and said to Merlin:

"Long-distance relationships often don't end well, not to mention that the distance between you is too far, whether it's from the earth to the stars, or the lives of two people, they are light years apart. I'll admit that I can't imagine what it's like to be in a relationship with a superhero, but it's certainly not that perfect. ”

"I mean, you're a human, or it's better to find a human girlfriend, at least two people can understand each other."

"I know."

Merlin took a sip of watermelon juice, and he said with some gloom:

"I'm trying to get rid of that, but the problem is that there are too few women around me. Some people say that my social circle is too narrow. ”

"Secret worker, understandable."

Old Stan looked up at Merlin, and with a gentle and understanding smile, he said:

"You have too many secrets to protect, and you will always subconsciously keep your distance from people who want to get close to you, and with this method, it is difficult for you to accept a strange woman into your life."

"You need to be sane all the time, but when it comes to love, the more sanity you have, the more troublesome it is."

As he spoke, the old man touched his nose, and he said:

"I know some young girls who are young, lively, beautiful, and enthusiastic, but the difference between you and them is too great. It's not a big problem to play once in a while, but if you really want to find someone to work with, they are definitely not suitable. ”

"Hmm."

Merlin nodded, acquiescing to Old Stan's statement.

After a few seconds, he looked up and said to Old Stan:

"Don't always talk about me, what about you? Stan, have you experienced anything interesting over the years? ”

"I'm almost 70 years old, Merlin."

Stan points to his head and says to Merlin:

"My life has remained the same, and it's hard to expect a story as wonderful as yours in terms of treatment, but speaking of which, I did have some weird experiences three years ago."

Speaking of this, Old Stan rubbed his forehead, and he said with some confusion:

"It was late '97 and I went to the veterans' club for a Christmas party, and at the party, I met an old man who looked a lot like Steve, you know? It's Captain America Steve. Rogers, I should have told you that I fought when I was younger, and I had contact with the captain. ”

"Huh?"

Merlin was interested, he stretched out his finger, and in the drift of black smoke, the face of old Steve, whom he remembered, appeared in front of Old Stan in a vivid manner, and he asked:

"Is that this the person?"

Old Stan looked at the smoke-made face in front of him, he took off his sunglasses, changed into a pair of reading glasses, looked at them carefully for a few minutes, and then nodded:

"Yes, that's him! He came with Ms. Carter, and for a time my unit was under the management of Ms. Carter, and Ms. Carter and I were good friends. ”

"Have you talked to him? Stan. ”

Merlin asked:

"I mean, aren't you curious about his identity?"

"Of course I'm curious."

Stan Says:

"But we drank so much that night that I was sent home by a couple of girls with a hangover. I didn't have time to talk to the eccentric old man, but if I'm not mistaken, he should have left his contact information at the Veterans Club. That's our tradition, on the battlefield we work together to win, and after the war is over, we help each other. ”

"Can you help me find the contact information that old Steve left?"

Merlin pursed his lips and said to Old Stan:

"I have something very important to get answers from him, and I can't tell you what it is, but I can assure you that it is something very important and necessary."

"Okay, I'll help you find it."

Old Stan put away his notebook, and he said to Merlin:

"But don't get your hopes up, the contact information he left behind is likely to be invalid, after all, more than 3 years have passed."

"Well, I have to thank you no matter what the outcome is."

Merlin raised his wrist and looked at the time, and he said to Old Stan:

"Then that's all for today, I made an appointment to have dinner and talk about things in your restaurant, and I'm going to wait for her."

"Well, go ahead, go ahead."

The old man lit a cigar, waved his hand, and said to Merlin:

"It's a wonderful story about the Cree, I'm going to be alone for a moment and come up with a new story, the main character... Let's use 'Captain Marvel'. I have a hunch that this is going to be a great superhero story, and by the way, I'll send you a copy when the comics go out. ”

"You can actually draw some other stories."

Merlin stood up, picked up his steel cane, turned back to Old Stan, and said:

"For example, the story of a group of secret agents who specialize in dealing with occult matters."

"That's corny!"

Old Stan said:

"Someone painted it decades ago, and now readers don't like that style anymore."

"Uh, okay."

Merlin was embarrassed for a moment, and he shrugged:

"I think it's funny, anyway. I'm leaving, Stan, take care of yourself, we'll talk next time. ”

Merlin pushed open the door of the small box and walked into the lobby of Mick's Restaurant, where he found a marginal, unobtrusive corner, ordered a few of the restaurant's famous snacks and desserts, and when the second fries were served, Vivien, dressed in a black suit that resembled a sales manager. Graham, carrying his handbag, walked into the restaurant.

Merlin waved at her, and after a few moments, Vivien, who seemed to be in a good mood, sat down in the chair opposite Merlin.

"I happened to be in New York a few days ago at a seminar of a world environmental organization."

Vivien picked up a hamburger and ate it with some disregard for her image, and said to Merlin:

"Everything is good there, the academic atmosphere is good, but the healthy food served tastes a little bad... Well, this burger tastes great. ”

"Then you should probably wait, the pizza here is the real good."

Merlin smiled and pushed a fries to Vivien's hand, saying:

"How's Serizawa doing?"

"Mentor has been doing well lately."

Vivien Says:

"He's been running back and forth between Mona Island and Skull Island, with those potions you provided, in the past few years, we have mastered a lot of the habits of the Titans, and we have also managed to get some blood samples of KONG, in short, it is a very amazing result, but unfortunately, it cannot be published in academic journals."

"That's good."

Merlin looked left and right, then reached out, took a few pieces of paper from his pocket, handed them to Vivien, and said:

"I have some personal matters to ask you and Kotozawa this time... I mean, don't want anyone to reveal the existence of this project until there's a result. It means a lot, and if the news leaks, you may be targeted by some ill-intentioned people. ”

"What is this?"

Vivien ate the last of the burgers, she wiped her hands with a napkin, picked up the paper Merlin handed over, she looked at the complicated, strange potion preparation process and the alchemy materials she had never heard of, after a few seconds, she looked up, pushed the burgundy glasses, and said:

"Looks like some ancient potion recipe? Did you find it in those magic books from the Middle Ages? What's the use of this? And what do you want us to do with it? ”

"Don't worry, we'll talk about these questions one by one."

Merlin picked up the watermelon juice, took a sip of it, and said softly:

"This thing... You can think of it as a simplified version of the 'Super Soldier' recipe. ”