Chapter 1033: Astonishing Mundanity (Ten) (Patreon)

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Schiller had intended to spend half an hour having breakfast, then let Grey Mist deal with his hangover headache and the stiff neck from sleeping in the wrong position last night.

More importantly, he had planned to take a day off to recharge his energy. Psychological treatment was also draining, but when JARVIS's call came in, Schiller had no time to rest. He drove straight to Stark Tower.

Upon arriving at the Stark Tower lab, Schiller immediately caught a familiar scent of alcohol. Coughing as he stood at the doorway, JARVIS beeped apologetically, "Apologies, sir. I forgot to activate the air purifier in advance. Please wait a moment..."

Standing outside, Schiller heard the hum of fans inside the laboratory. After a while, when he entered, all he could smell was the fresh air freshener.

As expected, Stark was sprawled on the lab table like a drunkard, surrounded by empty beer bottles, muttering to himself.

Schiller listened intently for a while but couldn't make out what Stark was saying. So, he reached out and nudged Stark. Stark glanced at him with vacant eyes, as if not recognizing him, waved him off, and collapsed back onto the table.

The sound of mechanical parts rubbing against each other came from behind. Schiller turned and saw JARVIS driving a robot body. Schiller glanced back at the unconscious Stark and decisively left to find JARVIS.

Leading Schiller to an adjacent room, JARVIS poured him a cup of coffee and gestured to a massage chair nearby, saying, "Sir, if you feel discomfort in your neck and shoulders, you can have a massage. This is the latest therapeutic massage chair from Stark Industries, it will make you feel better."

"Thank you, JARVIS, I could use this." Schiller picked up the coffee and walked over. JARVIS adjusted the backrest for him, extended a mechanical arm, opened a hatch, and a screen popped up above the projection device.

"Mr. Stark is still far from sobering up, so you can watch a movie here for a while. Let me know if you need anything, I'm at your service." With that, JARVIS left.

Schiller saw that the projected screen was showing a first-person view of the Stark Mech armor, with the time displayed in the lower left corner, indicating that it was from this morning.

Stark appeared at the door of a hospital room, where he stood for a long time, hesitating for about half an hour before finally knocking. A somewhat familiar voice came from inside, Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier.

As Stark entered, Bucky was reading a book—not a serious literary work, just a comic from a bygone era, a humorous one at that.

Seeing Stark enter, Bucky seemed surprised but still set the comic aside, stood up, and extended his mechanical arm for a handshake, but Stark completely ignored him.

Stark looked at the table beside Bucky's sickbed, where many medications were placed, and he gestured with his chin, asking, "Steve brought these for you?"

Bucky glanced at the various medications on his table. His expression remained somewhat stiff, as if he couldn't express his emotions well, but he nodded and said, "Yes, Steve got me a new prescription. He said it might help."

Then, silence engulfed them, neither knowing what to say. Stark himself didn't even know why he was here. But after a while, he finally remembered the reason and asked:

"I wanted to ask you, do you remember how you..." Stark paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and just as he gathered the courage to say the words, Bucky looked into his eyes and said, "Yes, I remember. I remember every detail, they're all etched into my memory."

Bucky lowered his head and said softly, "That psychologist shattered the mental shackles Hydra put on me. But at that time, memories of everything I did remained in my mind. I couldn't erase them."

Stark was taken aback. He realized that he could stand here calmly and talk to the man who killed his parents only because of Steve.

Stark knew that Steve was trapped between the blood feuds of his two best friends, enduring immense pressure. But he never complained or said to anyone, "Why don't you understand me? Why don't you see things from my perspective?"

Stark knew that Steve didn't want to burden him with pressure, after all, in this matter, Stark was the first victim who survived.

It was precisely because Steve was willing to understand Stark that Stark was willing to approach him in a more calm and understanding manner, instead of storming the psychiatric hospital, violently seizing Bucky, and interrogating him.

Bucky also understood this, so before Stark could ask, he laid out everything:

"At that time, I received an order from a high-ranking member within Hydra. Of course, I didn't know who issued the order because I was just an assassin. They wouldn't let me know too much."

"I was ordered to intercept the Stark couple's car and stage a car explosion. I set a trap on the road. After the car was stopped, I jumped onto the hood and smashed the car window with my fist."

"At that moment, I heard Howard Stark shout, 'Sergeant Barnes?!'"

"He recognized me but couldn't stop me from what I was about to do because, at that time, I could only act according to orders."

Bucky took a deep breath, his mechanical arm gradually clenched into a fist. He said, "My fist hit his chest, but it didn't kill him. He pressed a button in the car, and I thought he was going to activate weapons, so I directly smashed the car's engine..."

"Everything ended in the explosion," Bucky's tone began to tremble. "After the fire was extinguished, I approached to confirm if the mission was completed. It was indeed the corpses of the Stark couple."

"And, I found wreckage similar to a secure document box in the trunk, but because the explosion was so intense, there was nothing left."

With that, he unclenched his fist, as if resigned to await judgment.

The next moment, the Iron Mech armor seized his neck, pinning him against the wall. The flowing light on Iron Man's faceplate carried the mechanical indifference and ruthlessness.

Bucky instinctively struggled. Just before he would lose consciousness due to suffocation, Iron Man heard a word squeezed out of his throat: "...Thank you."

The next moment, Iron Man released his grip, and Bucky fell to the ground, his head tilting to the side. The faceplate opened, and Stark stared at Bucky, asking, "Why 'thank you'?"

Bucky seemed to collapse finally. His mechanical arm pressed against the wall on the other side, fingertips digging into the wall. His voice trembled as he said, "If you could kill me, of course, I should thank you. You allowed me to face the deserved judgment, no longer tormented..."

"Since I regained consciousness, every memory has been playing in my mind, the pleas, cries, and deaths of the innocent, constantly tormenting me..."

Bucky paused for a moment, then continued, "But I know I cannot commit suicide, because I still need to support Steve. Otherwise, he will truly be alone."

"He doesn't love this era. In fact, he has always hoped he never woke up."

"Everything in this era cannot support him to continue. But I must survive, become evidence of that era like him, to remind him that he's not alone, even if it means facing endless guilt and despair..."

"You should certainly kill me..." Bucky gritted his teeth. "Only you can kill me, only you can end all of this..."

At this moment, Stark instead calmed down. He looked down at Bucky sitting on the ground and said, "But I won't do that, not just because I want you to receive punishment."

"If I killed you, Steve would face such a tragedy again, a good friend killing another good friend. As you said, he can't bear such a tragedy a second time."

Finishing his words, Stark turned away, avoiding looking at Bucky, trying hard to calm himself down.

After a while, he turned back and asked, "What was Howard's expression before you killed him, and what kind of eye contact? Tell me every detail and any valuable clues you think of..."

"I'm just an assassin and don't know much..." Bucky, sitting on the ground, curled up one leg and rested his hand on it, bowing his head. "It was in the winter of 1991, nearing Christmas. Many research staff had gone home for the holidays..."

"An assistant wrote new orders and brainwashing programs into my brain, including specific travel information about Stark."

"How did they get this information?" Stark asked, frowning.

Bucky shook his head. "I don't know, but the information was very detailed, even specifying the exact time he would pass which road, down to the minute and second, which road sign he would pass."

Stark's frown deepened, and Bucky continued, "They set up the program, and I appeared when I was supposed to. When I jumped onto the hood of the vehicle, Howard didn't show surprise."

"Wait, what did you say?!" Stark exclaimed.

"I said, he didn't show surprise at being attacked. He was surprised later because he recognized my identity. He recognized me as 'Bucky Barnes.'"

Then, turning his head to look at his mechanical arm, Bucky said, "I'm not entirely sure, but it seemed like, at that moment, Howard looked at my arm... and showed a mixture of surprise and anger."

Stark's frown deepened even more. He didn't know that there were such details hidden in the original murder case. What was special about Bucky's mechanical arm? Why did Howard, before his death, focus on Bucky's mechanical arm?

"When Howard realized someone was attacking his car, he subconsciously wanted to press a button. I punched him, but couldn't stop his action. He anticipated all this..."

Stark took a deep breath. "How is that possible? He wasn't attacked for no reason, right? How could he know he would be attacked and not hide?"

"Perhaps he already knew this day would come," Bucky took a deep breath and said. "The Hydra of that era wasn't as easy to deal with as you imagine. Howard Stark had become a thorn in their side. Perhaps he already anticipated that Hydra would kill him."

"Why didn't he protect himself or seek refuge then?" Stark was very confused. "He knew someone wanted to kill him, why didn't he hide?!"

Bucky pursed his lips, seeming to want to say something, but in the end, he didn't. Stark noticed this and then stared at him, asking, "...What do you want to say?"

Bucky hesitated for a moment but still said, "Perhaps he didn't not want to hide, he just couldn't."

Bucky looked directly into Stark's eyes for the first time and said to him, "In that era, everyone charging ahead had something behind them, something that made them unable to hide, unwilling to hide, knowing it was death but still bravely moving forward."

"It wasn't the era that shaped them; it was they who built that Golden Age."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1034: Startling Mundane Matters (Part Eleven)