"First love?!"
Bucky was completely stunned, his brain unable to process the information for a moment.
After a while, he couldn't help but ask, "My first love... was it a man or a woman?"
Darian was speechless. "I think your brain really isn't working right. I said 'girlfriend,' so how could it be a man... Oh, wait, I guess that's not impossible."
"But I'm very sure your first love was a girl. Think back carefully. In your memories, that blonde figure—wasn't her body very curvy, with a full chest and perky hips?"
"W-well, it does seem that way."
Bucky followed the description, recalling hazily; those memory fragments seemed to really match up.
But the problem was, the gender didn't match!
"Then that's it!"
Darian slapped his thigh and said decisively, "He... she is your first love and childhood sweetheart, Stevie Rogers!"
"Stevie Rogers?"
Bucky chewed on this name repeatedly, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.
He struggled to search through his chaotic memories, wanting to piece together a clear image of this first love, but he could only ever get a blurry figure with short blonde hair and a beautiful physique. Her face, however, seemed covered in a layer of mist, impossible to see clearly.
Darian nodded. "Yeah, you two grew up together in Brooklyn, inseparable. Back then in Brooklyn, you were an enviable couple."
"But... why can't I remember her face?"
"That's because you were hurt too deeply."
Darian sighed. "Back then, she wanted to be a national idol, but you didn't like her shaking her ass on stage, so you had a big fight. Later, she just disappeared from your life like that, without even saying goodbye."
"Because you couldn't handle the blow, you subconsciously started to intentionally blur her appearance, sometimes even imagining her as a man and fabricating memories that didn't exist at all. You thought she was your best buddy and gradually attributed everything you had experienced together to him."
"Is that really how it was..."
Bucky froze in place, his eyes filled with confusion.
Darian's explanation sounded somewhat reasonable, but for some reason, deep down, he felt something was not quite right.
Darian chuckled happily. "Yes, you can rest assured. Soon you will discover that in your memories, you and that fictional blonde man grew up together, showered together, slept together, exchanged saliva, took off your gear together, and did..."
"Stop it!"
Bucky hurriedly stopped him, his face full of resistance.
He didn't want to recall these memories at all, especially when the object was a man!
Darian comforted him. "It's okay, Kiba. As long as you keep recalling, perhaps you can remember things about your first love through the various intimate interactions with that blonde man. Who knows, in the end, you might even remember what your first love looked like."
"No need. Let the past be the past."
Bucky's expression was stiff as he decisively refused.
He would rather never remember that past than be willing to stage a homoerotic scene with a man in his memories.
Just imagining those potentially R-rated scenes made him feel a chill of disgust.
It was like your girlfriend's soul being trapped in the body of a burly man, and only by doing the things lovers do with him could the curse be broken—this was undoubtedly a difficult choice.
Darian's tone was full of regret. "Alright, since you don't want to recover those memories, then forget it. As long as you remember that you owe your twin brother a few hundred million, that's enough."
Bucky: "..."
No, I don't remember that memory either.
Under Darian's swindling, Bucky's state became even worse; his already chaotic memories were made even more tangled.
But fortunately, Bucky had temporarily given up on the idea of delving deeper into his memories.
"Help him put this back on."
Darian flipped his palm, and Bucky's metal arm appeared in his hand, which he handed to the researcher nearby.
After all, Bucky was his man now; he couldn't have his subordinate missing an arm while executing missions.
The researcher took the metal arm, cautiously walked toward the now-calm Bucky, and gently pressed the metal arm against the connection point on Bucky's left shoulder.
"Click!"
Accompanied by a crisp mechanical clicking sound, the metal arm perfectly connected to the nerve interface.
The metal fingers then flexibly opened and closed; every joint operated freely, as smooth as if it had never been removed.
Darian looked at Bucky's flexible metal arm, somewhat speechless.
This assembly and disassembly process was too convenient; it was like putting together Lego toys—press to detach, press to attach.
However, Bucky staying in New York was never very safe. After all, this was Steve's main area of activity. If one day Steve happened to be strolling down the street and ran into Bucky passing by, that would be trouble.
Darian wasn't as stupid as Pierce, actively letting this pair of good buddies meet.
Bonds were such an eerie thing. Even if Bucky were wrapped up tight and shaved bald, he still wouldn't feel safe; there would still be a risk of being recognized by Steve.
After much thought, it was better to send Bucky as far away as possible.
He immediately made arrangements to send Bucky to Sokovia to be managed by Zemo, and incidentally, he sent Bucky's activation code to Zemo as well.
Zemo was overjoyed upon receiving the news; he was just worrying about lacking a capable subordinate who could stand on their own.
It was true that the siblings Wanda and Pietro had extraordinary strength, but they only ever listened to Darian and didn't care about anyone else.
Strucker was focused on scientific research, and Pierce was good at personnel management. Although both were excellent in their respective professional fields, when it came to combat ability, the two of them combined probably couldn't beat Zemo, who was a special operations soldier.
As for those people in the Night Raid organization, they were just a bunch of elite mobs built up by high-level equipment; they could serve as soldiers, but definitely not as generals.
Bucky's arrival was simply the most timely thing.
This Winter Soldier not only had rich combat experience but also had been injected with the Super Soldier Serum; his strength was unquestionable. As long as he was equipped with the Night Raid organization's alien gear, he was fully capable of serving as their Sokovia Captain!
Most importantly, Zemo inexplicably felt that he and Bucky were exceptionally compatible, as if the other was his exclusive Pokémon—he even recited the awkward activation code very fluently.
Sokovia, on the outskirts of Novigrad, HYDRA research Base.
This ancient castle was originally just a disguise used by Strucker to deceive others, but now it had been transformed into a truly modern research Base.
The engineering team had almost completely gutted the original structure; all the old walls were torn down and rebuilt, and several floors were added on top of the original foundation. Now, looking from the outside, except for the foundation that still held a shadow of the old castle, the entire building had completely changed, looking more like a sharp-angled modern military facility.
To prevent anyone from spying or breaking in, the dense forest around the research Base was bulldozed over a large area, forcibly creating an open field of vision. Standing on the watchtower, the situation within a few kilometers could be seen clearly.
Around the research Base, HYDRA Agents wearing uniforms with the Sokovia national emblem could be seen patrolling everywhere. They held the latest model of energy weapons, their expressions alert, their steps uniform—they were truly a well-trained regular army.
The Base's defense system could be called an impregnable fortress. The perimeter was equipped with automatic energy turrets that could strike ground targets from a distance and intercept aerial threats. At the same time, several black drones shuttled back and forth in the sky, forming a tight surveillance network, not letting any movement go unnoticed.
Today, this area had been officially designated as an important military restricted zone of Sokovia. No outsiders were allowed to approach or break in; even taking a single photo would be dealt with as espionage under Sokovia law.
If anyone dared to force their way in, the nature of the situation would be serious, immediately escalating into a major diplomatic incident. Trespassing into a sovereign state's military restricted zone was a responsibility not everyone could bear.
Strucker had never fought such a wealthy war before, being able to conduct various research in the Base openly and honestly, no longer having to hide like in the past.
After all, this was now an officially recognized military Base of Sokovia; even if the Avengers came, they would have to follow the rules.
Directly beneath the research Base, an extremely massive underground space was hidden. Taking the dedicated heavy-duty elevator down, it needed to run for quite a while to reach the bottom floor, which showed its astonishing depth.
At this moment, in the training ground located on the fifth underground level, a special confrontation was underway.
One side was the Winter Soldier Bucky, and the other was Pietro wearing a special combat suit.
"Watch out!"
Pietro's voice was still floating in the air, but he had already turned into a silver afterimage.
Bucky only felt his vision blur. Before he could even raise his metal arm to block, a huge impact slammed heavily into his chest, and he was sent flying.
"How is it? You okay?"
Pietro stopped in the center of the training ground, arms crossed over his chest, a hint of smugness on his face.
After this period of special training, his strength had greatly improved. Now, even if a gatling gun were fired at him, he could easily dodge it.
In Pietro's view, now in the whole of Sokovia, apart from Darian and Wanda, he was invincible!
Even though Darian had repeatedly emphasized that the mysterious masked man in front of him was a Super Soldier who could go toe-to-toe with Captain America, he didn't take it to heart at all.
Bucky slowly stood up, showing no reaction to Pietro's provocation. Suddenly, he drew a pistol from his lower back and quickly aimed at Pietro, pulling the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets were fired in succession, but Pietro just easily left a few afterimages in place, swaying left and right, and avoided all the bullets.
Bucky wasn't Darian; he didn't need to worry about those bullets curving and tracking.
"Hey, stop wasting your effort!"
Pietro even reached out and caught a flying bullet, shouting arrogantly, "You have no idea how terrifying the special training I've gone through is. Bullets like this are impossible..."
Hum—!
Before he could finish his sentence, the bullet in his hand suddenly erupted with a piercing roar.
The intense sound waves made his eardrums ache and his fingers numb, and he couldn't help but scream and cover his ears.
Just at that moment when Pietro was distracted, Bucky had already taken out a shield from his back. His metal arm made a pneumatic transmission sound, and then he threw it violently. The shield flew toward Pietro, rotating rapidly with a whistling sound through the air!
Pietro endured the tinnitus and, relying on his superhuman reaction speed, dodged to the side. The shield grazed his clothes and slammed into the wall behind him.
He was just about to make his next move, but unexpectedly, after hitting the wall, the shield didn't fall to the ground. Instead, as if violating the laws of physics, it bounced back violently at a tricky angle!
Bang!
The shield slammed solidly into Pietro's back, sending him flying and causing him to land on the ground in a sorry state.
It's one thing for bullets to curve, but how can even the shield curve!?
Bucky didn't think much of it; to him, this was just a basic attack. Once he started, he naturally knew how to do it; there was no difficulty at all.
It's not like anyone would need to practice this for months, right?
Without giving Pietro much time to catch his breath, Bucky rushed forward, and his metal arm grabbed Pietro by the collar.
Immediately after, a pair of large metal wings suddenly unfolded behind him, taking Pietro into the air and flying further and further away from the ground.
By the time Pietro came to his senses, he saw the ground getting further and further away. He panicked and grabbed Bucky's metal arm tightly with both hands.
"I surrender! Don't let go!"
Hearing Pietro's trembling plea for mercy, Bucky immediately manipulated the wings to descend slowly. The moment they landed, the pair of metal wings automatically folded and retracted back into the device on his back.
If Peter B. had been at the scene, he would definitely have recognized this device as the exclusive equipment of the superhero Falcon.
Some time ago, Darian handed the zombie hero equipment he brought back to Strucker for research, and this was the restored Falcon flight gear.
Darian specifically equipped Bucky with this gear, which was like adding wings to a tiger—just like Yang Guo riding his divine eagle, with maxed-out mobility.
Besides this, Bucky was also equipped with the zombie Captain America's shield. Even the pistol bullets he used were modified based on the zombie Hawkeye's special arrows, with all kinds of special ammunition available.
In addition, the various alien technological equipment he was equipped with would not be listed one by one.
Coupled with Bucky's own Super Soldier Serum and metal arm, he could now be called a true soldier of the future, covered in technology and hardcore gear!
At this time, Darian walked over from the side of the training ground, looked at Pietro, and shook his head with an expression of disgust: "How are you still this weak after training for so long? Anyone can pin you to the ground and rub you into it. I think you should stop calling yourself Quicksilver and just rename yourself Kick-Ass."
Pietro retorted somewhat awkwardly: "This can't be blamed on me. Look at his equipment—it's got shields and wings. This is simply not fair!"
"You, a man with super speed, have the nerve to talk about fairness."
Darian said with contempt: "Then how can Wanda suppress him completely? In the end, it's just that you aren't training hard enough."
Pietro: "Fu*k"
With Wanda's cheat-like abilities, who could beat her!
Besides, Wanda sits by the lake fishing every day and never trains. Who is the one not training hard enough, really!
However, he only dared to think these words in his heart.
Based on past experience, if he dared to talk back now, Darian would definitely come up with even more damaging ways to mess with him.
So he had to hold back a belly full of grievances, staring at Darian, simply not saying a word.
"What are you looking at?"
Darian was furious on the spot: "Not convinced, huh? Very well. From now on, Bucky will launch a 24-hour non-stop assassination attempt on you. When you're eating, sleeping, or using the toilet, he could appear at any time, until you can completely dodge his assassinations!"
Pietro: "..."