- So, we won the war? - Steve Rogers asked as he ate one of the many hamburgers Eduard had saved, where exactly? Well, let's just say that as soon as he started to touch in the magic concept, he recreated the "inventory magic" for himself by creating a sort of pocket that he could access and even manipulate so that time in the place ran extremely slowly, and for the time being he uses it to store money, clothes, food, and various things like watches or cell phones.
- Yes, after you stopped Jöhann Schmidt's crazy plan, the war went our way, and we won shortly afterwards! - Eduard replied while eating a hamburger, oblivious to the cold, something that apparently didn't bother Steve Rogers either.
- ... - After hearing several things from the strangely dressed young man next to him, Steve fell silent and concentrated on eating his fifth hamburger while various thoughts ran through his mind. After all, no matter what the young man next to him said, the truth was that for him time had stopped in 1945 and now, out of nowhere, he was in 2005, where it was likely that most of the people, he knew were dead, and the places he knew would also have changed drastically, if they hadn't disappeared completely.
- So, what now? - Still at a loss, Steve looked at the young man who was dressed strangely like him and asked, after all, if he got him out of the ice there must be some reason for it, right?
Eduard understood what he was thinking and knew that this was normal, the man was simply looking for a purpose to distract himself, but unfortunately for him Eduard couldn't give him that, at least not at the moment since the "big leagues" weren't in play yet someone like him close to him saving the day would just be more of a nuisance than anything; the only thing Eduard wanted from him was for him to become the focus of people and the center of attention, he didn't expect anything more than that and honestly didn't care much what the man did, even if he just decided to retire so be it, if that happened it was Fury's and the government's problem to solve.
Shrugging his shoulders, Eduard pulled out another burger and said indifferently. - Honestly? I don't know... I'm going to take you to New York City, which I know was your home, and then you can do whatever you want... I guess a war hero could at least enjoy a bit of the future he shaped? - Eduard added the end in doubt before simply balling up a few thousand dollars in his hand and handing it to the man who stared at it in bewilderment.
- ... - Steve Rogers looked at the pile of money a little shocked, but still grabbed it and lost himself in thought for a while before confirming. - So, you saved me for no reason?
- I didn't even know you were alive, I was just taking a dip and found you along with some debris... - Arching his shoulders, Eduard stood up and stretched. - I know you're confused; it's written all over your face, but I'm a busy person so ask Fury when he finds you! - After saying this without waiting for an answer, he just grabbed Captain America, who was still wearing his iconic, tattered suit, and flew off to New York.
Before Eduard decided to bring Steve Rogers back to the city, while he and Steve were calmly eating hamburgers, someone else was anything but calm, Nicholas Joseph Fury, or as he is more commonly known, Nick Fury, who was having a normal day until a few minutes ago, was he partially panicked while watching a specific video.
[Incredible! This old man really is alive...]
[Who are you? Where am I?]
[I still haven't chosen a name for the job... When I decide, I'll let you know "Captain America", but where is that? I honestly don't know, but it doesn't matter since I'm taking you to the city now!]
- ... - Fury was silent for several minutes as he watched the video again while Maria and Coulson were in the room watching the video for the second time together with the Shield director.
- Son of a bitch! - Fury punched the table as he thought about the repercussions of this video; knowing that the captain was an emblematic figure, he knew that at least until the man got used to today's society he needed to be "protected" to be able to filter the information without being influenced or used, and now that would be impossible, after all, not only does the video show that the man is alive, it also says that it will only leave the war hero in some city.
- Coulson, I need you to stop investigating the boy and start preparing the ground for when the captain shows up, I need you to control the situation mainly on the government side, of course, that doesn't mean you can ignore the problems with the press... - Fury said and stared at one of his best agents with his one eye.
- Understood, sir! - Coulson nodded resolutely and stood aside in silence.
- Agent Hill.
- Sir!
Fury looked at another of his best agents and sighed, looking at how tired she was and knowing that she seemed to be having problems with her eldest "son" this week he could only apologize to her mentally while continuing to assign her tasks, after all she was one of the few agents he trusted and who also had tremendous competence. - I need you to search everywhere and find the captain at any time.
- Yes sir... - Normally Hill would have responded with more intonation and determination, but the last few days had really taken their toll on her, since due to Eduard's video she was buried in work and this, together with the fact that her "son" simply didn't want to go to school for a whole week and was still sleeping over at his girlfriend's house frequently, definitely didn't help her spare time.
Observing the response and the tired look on his agent's face, Fury could only sigh inwardly.
- You're dismissed!
They both nodded to their superior and picked up their briefcases to carry out their tasks, Coulson immediately going to prepare the ground for when a national superhero who had been declared dead on duty and ended up frozen for more than half a century appeared in the middle of some city; while Coulson prepared for when the "shit hit the fan" Hill began the work of finding the former hero, which to her surprise only took a few minutes, since less than ten minutes after the meeting with Fury was over she received an alert that Captain America had appeared right in the middle of Time Square along with the most popular "superhero" of our time, and even though he had only been by the soldier's side for a few moments before disappearing he would definitely make the front page of some newspaper with his picture next to the former war hero.
- Fury wouldn't be happy about that... - Observing the scene in which the captain was being surrounded by dozens of people with cell phones in their hands and some policemen approaching, Hill could already imagine how angry Fury would be when he saw this, even though he had expected something like this to happen.
[Didn't you feel a bit guilty?]
- No, not at all, actually... - Eduard replied and went back to concentrating on his milk shake.
[I thought you respected him...]
- I respect him, he must be one of the five heroes I respect the most... - Eduard replied, still watching from afar as the iconic Captain America was overwhelmed by questions from all sides.
[It doesn't look like it...]
- Come on, he's just giving some interviews in my place, have you forgotten that he's used to dancing on a stage? - Eduard retorted while holding back a laugh as he remembered this "dark" part of the captain's story.
[His sense of humor is quite unique...]
- ... - Eduard remained silent, ignoring Cortana. He just continued to watch the hero being bombarded while, despite his obvious confusion, he still did his best to respond to the people around him.
- A true hero in... - Watching as Steve Rogers ignored his own confusion and discomfort to talk and appease people, he could only sigh, the difference between them was simply enormous; even though he didn't see himself as a hero and had no intention of wanting to be one, it was still a strange feeling to know how far he was from the title the public had given him, of course, he couldn't consider someone like Steve Rogers the only facet of a superhero since Tony Stark would also become a great example of a hero in the future, but that didn't matter since he wasn't sure if he would be willing to do what Stark did and sacrifice himself.
[You should help him; he seems to be winding himself up a bit there].
Eduard was snapped out of his thoughts by Cortana's reminder and turned his attention to the captain again and indeed the man seemed to be in "danger" at the moment, what was once just a group of people chatting to their idol while the cops waited for reinforcements to take him away turned into an impromptu press conference as a few reporters arrived and managed to squeeze themselves into the crowd while asking the captain several questions in succession, some questions were repeated over and over like:
- How are you feeling?
- Can you remember anything about the time you were frozen?
- Do you know anything about the hero who rescued you?
- Can you tell us how you ended up in the ocean during the war?
- Could you tell us a little about your experience as a war hero?
- Do you intend to continue in the army, or will you retire?
Questions like these continued to be asked without giving Steve time to get used to the situation, the poor old man was already struggling to answer while staring at the various cell phones around him and it was now obvious that he was extremely confused while surrounded by various microphones and cameras.
- Nah! He can do that all day! - Eduard replied with a big smile on his face
[Pfft!! Ahaha! o(≧∇≦o)]
- ? - Eduard looked dumbfounded for a few tenths of a second before coming back to his senses and ignoring Cortana's outburst, who was still laughing and even showing one of the thousands of memes from her "I got the reference" memory as she continued her laughter.
'Was my joke that funny?'
[It wasn't the joke itself Ed, but the timing and the target! (͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)]
'...'
This time Eduard just pretended not to hear or see Cortana's messages and didn't answer her either in whispers or thoughts and just concentrated on his Milk Shake while continuing to watch Captain America's "battle" with the press until the police arrived, which took a little longer than usual, but when he saw who had arrived he knew that the police's delay was probably the work of the most paranoid one-eyed man in comics. Making her way through the melee with ease, leading several policemen was a beautiful tall, slender woman with long red hair and captivating green eyes, a woman who could definitely make most men in the world give her a second glance was now facing the captain as she smiled and escorted him to a police car.
- Now that Fury can't strategically hide the captain's return and will have to "entertain" the public, I wonder what he'll do? - Eduard wondered for a few moments before simply shrugging his shoulders and starting to walk towards his house.
[You want me to hack Shield? I can keep an eye on the captain.]
'No need... Let's leave him alone now, let him choose what to do, just let me know if anything serious happens...'
[Roger!]
- I think it's time to go home now...
(A/N: Hey guys, what's up? I hope you like the chapter! I think I made it clear that this story would have some trips to other universes, so now I'd like some suggestions for the first ones, to make it clear I prefer not to mix anime here, if you want I can even write another story focusing on anime so as not to mix too much since the powers of anime tend to scale differently from those of movies and series; I'm thinking of going to the world of Resident Evil to collect the T-Virus, or to The Boys for their serum, which do you think is the best option? Or do you think some other story would be a better option?)
(A/N: For now there are 4 extra chapters on patreon, I will try to increase this weekly; I will also be publishing another story in the next few weeks in advance)
- Patreon: p@treon.com/Aedificationemmundoscumimaginatione