CH 9: Meeting Someone Unexpected

Marcus was eating his breakfast at the dinner table when he asked Albert a question that popped up in his mind.

"Grandpa Albert, what do you think about immortality?"

The question was a little unexpected for Albert but he still answered truthfully, "Young Master, I think it depends on the person whether they would like to live forever or not. For me, I don't think I would like to keep living forever with all these cherished memories of your parents and you are also a blessing for me, I don't want them to be replaced by new memories as I keep on living."

Hearing Albert's response, Marcus went back to thinking and after a few seconds he responded, "I think I understand Grandpa Albert, thanks."

After saying that, Marcus went back to eating his breakfast.

Marcus had thought about the failure of modifying the Oz serum and decided to change his plan.

Instead of modifying the serum, he decided to make a group of genius scientists and work on a serum together.

And for that, Marcus had made a list of potential recruits which included Dr. Curtis Connors aka The Lizard, Aldrich Killian, and Maya Hansen.

"I just need to find Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen and then I can finally start with the next project. And then there's the recruitment of the scientists for the medical research department, when will I finally get a break."

Marcus called Jude to give him a new task.

"Hey, Boss! We have been waiting for a new assignment for quite a while now, Michael is getting fatter by day, both in-game and in real life."

"HEY! Jude you are such a liar! Boss he is lying, this fucker. I am as fit as ever." Michael's voice rang in the background which was accompanied by the laughter of the other team members.

Marcus chuckled along. And even though his methods were a little questionable, Marcus felt like he had finally found something akin to a family. And amongst the harsh coldness of the world, he had found his little warm spot where he felt the most comfortable.

"Alright Jude, this time the mission might be a little difficult, mostly because, instead of assassinating someone, I need you guys to find two people. I have their names and their pictures, but the pictures are a little old. I will email you more of the information and if you find them, don't contact them, just note down their schedules and contact me back."

"You got it, boss. I have contacts with a few informants, in our line of work they are very valuable. I will get back to you as soon as I find anything."

"Alright, be safe out there."

Marcus ended the call there. Now, all he needed to do was recruit Dr. Curt Connors. And that was quite easy for Marcus, he contacted Dr. Connors and arranged a meeting with him after college.

Now, he still had some time left before the meeting, so Marcus decided to visit his company's headquarters and check out the resumes submitted by different scientists.

Marcus greeted Albert goodbye and left his mansion in a bulletproof car.

Marcus was sitting idly in his car, fiddling with his custom-made handheld gaming system. And for which, in his free time, he had remastered a few of his favorite games to work on.

Marcus was immersed in playing games when suddenly, the car jerked heavily and the handheld system got flung out of his hands. Marcus was also thrown forward as well and banged his head hard onto the front seat.

Before Marcus could get back his bearings, he heard a loud bang, and his eyes darted towards the window on his right side.

Marcus saw a gloved fist punching his right side window and with each punch, the cracks on the bulletproof windows were spreading more and more.

And seeing his situation, Marcus couldn't afford to waste any time. He activated his telekinesis and used it to reinforce the half-broken window while simultaneously taking out his suit of armor from a cabin under his seat.

And after a minute, a surprising scene occurred in front of the onlookers. The man punching the window was flung off including the car door.

And the reason for that was Marcus donning his ATMOS mark II. The Mark II was specifically designed to support mobility, being able to be carried anywhere was far better than having great firepower.

So of course, the armor had less firepower than Mark I, but its defense and attack power were still impeccable.

"Identify the assailant No.3, and also be ready to rumble."

"The assailant appears to be an enhanced human, judging from his stature and his strength while trying to break the window. The assailant also has a prosthetic left arm, which appears to have greater strength and durability. The overall danger level of the target is assessed to be Medium."

But after Marcus had ordered No. 3 for the identification, he saw his attacker himself.

And at that moment, another line of thought emerged in Marcus' mind, "Why would hydra send the winter soldier to assassinate me? I haven't even come in contact with them. Then why?"

While Marcus was thinking, a red warning sign flashed in his HUD and No. 3 caught the incoming punch from the winter soldier, but it still made him anchor his foot on the ground to not fall back.

"Looks like I will have to capture you first, James Buchanan Barnes."

Hearing his full name caused the winter soldier to freeze for a second, and while he was frozen, Marcus took the opportunity to land a full-powered punch on his jaw which made him stumble back and fall.

Marcus took the opportunity and jumped at the chance to pummel him to sleep, but before he could do so, Bucky rolled back up to his feet and took a boxing stance.

But Marcus didn't wish to indulge in his opponent's desire to fight hand to hand, instead he whipped up his hands and sent out a blast of energy directly toward Bucky's chest, which made him stumble yet again.

This time Marcus held down Bucky using his telekinesis and rained down heavy punches on the fallen soldier's face. After Marcus was done, Bucky's face looked black and purple all over and he had also lost his consciousness.

Marcus picked him up and carried him and the driver back to his Mansion. He deliberately flew slowly and at a lower altitude to avoid injuries to his driver.

After some time of flight, Marcus landed in his mansion's backyard, where Albert was already waiting.

"Thanks for calling me ahead young master, your new armor looks quite handsome, but that aside, I have called the ambulance and they should be here any minute now. Should I take care of Carl for the time being?"

Albert didn't ask anything about the man with long hair and a prosthetic arm because Marcus had told Albert that the man was mind controlled to attack him and how he wanted to help him get his memories back.

Marcus handed over his driver Carl to Albert and carried Bucky to his Lab room, where he put him on a operation bed and tied his hands and legs with titanium cuffs, in case he tried to struggle.

Marcus had also recalled the phrases to control the Winter Soldier, in case he had to use it if Bucky tried to attack him.

But before that, Marcus decided to survey Bucky's mind and hopefully help him to regain his memories.

"Sheesh! Now, this is a sight to behold, I never saw such a fragmented mind before, they truly broke you, didn't they, Sergeant Barnes?"

Everywhere around Marcus, pieces of fragmented memories were floating around. Seeing such a broked mind didn't discourage Marcus, instead he had an idea about how to help Sergeant Barnes.

He needed to find the oldest memories, the memories of his childhood and Steve Rogers, and use them to make Barnes remember who he was. And in the meantime, probably find some information about the person who gave the order to eliminate him.

Marcus flew into the maze of memories, the first memory he found was of Barnes getting electrocuted on a machine and then a man reading from a book with a red star on it.

A guess wasn't needed to understand the kind of memory it was, it was apparent that it was the process of making Barnes forget his past and turning him into the winter soldier.

After some more time, he found another one, this one was of James performing an assassination, not the famous Stark couple assassination but of someone else.

Marcus moved on again, after browsing through some more memories, he found an interesting one. Apparently, during World War 2, the winter soldier had fought and another super soldier, an American one at that.

Marcus watched through this memory and found out that niether of them were able to defeat one another but the American super soldier, whose name Marcus remembered to be Isiah Bradley had succeeded in crushing Bucky's prosthetic arm, which was one hell of a feat.

After watching through that whole sequence, Marcus moved on, only to see a memory of The Winter Soldier massacring a bunch of soldiers, and from the uniforms they wore, this memory also was from WWII.

It was getting exhausting for Marcus to browse through all these different memories but just when he was about to give up hope, he found what he was looking for…