- In Marvel: I Start by Marrying Scarlett Witch [Complete]
- MWM Chapter 268
In that moment, Leo appeared next to Skye, who was emerging from her stone encasement with a confused look. Hidden in his invisibility spell, Leo whispered instructions to her telepathically:
‘Your ability is vibration manipulation. Don’t worry, just treat this place as your home for now. Lie down and rest for a bit. I’m sure someone will come for you shortly.’
Sure enough, within ten minutes, a middle-aged man without eyes suddenly appeared in the room—Gordon, who had teleported from *Afterlife*.
After scanning the area and confirming it was just a normal farm with only Skye present, he grabbed her and teleported away in an instant.
‘That place is far away,’ Leo muttered as he deactivated his invisibility spell. Holding a tracking device in his hand, he confirmed the location of *Afterlife*. His sword wings unfolded behind him, and he merged with them, transforming into a streak of light as he flew toward the Inhumans’ base.
Although Leo was still at the early stage of his Golden Core cultivation, the speed of his sword wings far exceeded that of a regular flying sword, allowing him to reach a velocity of around Mach 30. At full speed, he could circle the globe in just over an hour.
For comparison, the fastest intercontinental missile produced by Stark Industries before they shut down their weapons division could reach a speed of about Mach 26. Leo’s sword flight was even faster.
And this was only because he was at the initial stage of Golden Core. As his cultivation improved and he mastered his sword techniques, his speed would only increase.
One day, when he mastered the dual *Tianlei* swords, he could even reach light speed, traveling at Mach 880,000. No wonder the powerful being Youquan was defeated, even after absorbing the Blood Fountain’s power.
It’s no surprise that the dual *Tianlei* swords were considered the treasure of Emei, cherished by Baimei himself.
Unfortunately, Earth’s spiritual energy in the Marvel universe was nowhere near as abundant as that of the *Shushan* world, especially when compared to Emei’s spiritual energy-rich environment. This greatly slowed down Leo’s cultivation progress on Earth.
That’s why he was already considering having his scientists study the spiritual energy in his body once the Inhuman matter was settled, to see if they could develop a machine capable of gathering spiritual energy through scientific means.
As Leo sped toward the Inhuman base, *Afterlife*, a meeting was being held on the airborne helicarrier hovering above Washington.
Since S.H.I.E.L.D. had fully declared war on Hydra, their headquarters had been moved from the Triskelion to the helicarrier.
The Triskelion had become too obvious as a target. In the past, S.H.I.E.L.D. had the support of most world governments and was the largest organization of its kind, with little to fear. But after Hydra’s infiltration was exposed, many governments no longer trusted S.H.I.E.L.D., and its influence had significantly diminished.
Keeping the Triskelion as a headquarters was too risky, as it could easily become a target for Hydra.
That’s why Nick Fury had moved their base to the helicarrier, which could fly high in the sky or remain hidden on the ocean, making it difficult for Hydra to track.
“This is the intelligence provided by Leo about Hydra,” Fury said, distributing the reports to the current high-ranking members of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Preliminary investigations have confirmed most of it to be accurate. Now, it’s time to plan our next steps. Captain Rogers will take the lead on this mission. I want this operation to wipe Hydra off the face of the earth.”
After the meeting ended, Fury asked Captain Steve Rogers to stay behind. He handed Steve a piece of intelligence he hadn’t included in the general briefing.
“This is information about the Winter Soldier from Leo’s files. I pulled it out early.”
“The Winter Soldier?” Steve scanned the document and gasped, “Bucky is alive!”
Sixty-six years ago, Steve had sacrificed himself to save New York from a nuclear bomb, crashing a plane carrying the bomb into the ice. Last year, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Agent Coulson found and revived him, and Steve had since realized how much the world had changed.
After spending months adjusting to his new reality, Steve agreed to work with Nick Fury to fight Hydra, knowing his old enemy hadn’t been defeated. Under Steve’s leadership, Hydra had been steadily losing ground—until they encountered the Winter Soldier during one mission.
Steve and the Winter Soldier fought on a bridge, the battle nearly ending in a draw, before the Winter Soldier escaped.
Now, seeing this report, Steve finally understood that the Winter Soldier was Bucky Barnes, his closest friend from childhood. No wonder he had recognized part of the man’s face during the fight.
Bucky had been Steve’s best friend since they were kids. Before Steve was injected with the super soldier serum, he had been a sickly, undersized boy, and Bucky had always stepped in to protect him from bullies.
Later, when Steve became Captain America, Bucky fought by his side as a member of the Howling Commandos, helping him take down countless Hydra bases.
In one mission, Bucky had fallen off a cliff, and everyone thought he had died. But in reality, he had been captured by Hydra remnants under Arnim Zola, subjected to serum experiments, and brainwashed into becoming Hydra’s deadliest assassin.
“Captain, how do you think we should handle him if we manage to capture him?” Fury asked, tapping the table.
Steve frowned and then, with determination, said, “He’s killed a lot of people, but he’s a victim too. He was forced to do it by Hydra’s control, and I’m sure deep down, he’s suffering. If we can free him from their influence, I believe he can be redeemed.”
It was clear Steve intended to stand by Bucky’s side.
Fury wasn’t surprised. He simply nodded and said, “I agree. If we can rehabilitate him, he could even join S.H.I.E.L.D. and atone for his actions. The only issue is that he killed Howard Stark. If Tony finds out, it’s going to be a problem.”
Fury had no issue recruiting former enemies into S.H.I.E.L.D.—he had already done so with Black Widow, and Bucky, a former Howling Commando, would be a valuable asset. Soldiers like Bucky were driven to work even harder because of their guilt, making them highly effective agents.
However, the complication was that Bucky had assassinated Howard Stark while under Hydra’s control, and Tony Stark would be a difficult hurdle to overcome. It wasn’t something that could be hidden, either—especially since the information had come from Leo, who was Tony’s close friend.
Now, the most pressing issue was figuring out how to calm Tony’s inevitable anger. After all, Bucky really had killed his father.
…