The Death Knell

The sea breeze blew the paper, and Erskine slowly took off the glasses on the bridge of his nose. He raised his hand and pinched the center of his eyebrows with two fingers:

"Sorry, Howard, there's nothing I can do. You've got the best outcome for him."

After carefully reading all the reports, Erskine returned the reports to Howard and made a desperate conclusion. In his opinion, Howard was lucky enough to keep Arnold alive. The child should have died before he was born.

Howard closed his eyes in pain, and he nodded slowly but with the last hope: "Can't even the original super soldier serum improve his physique?"

The sky has gradually darkened, and stars can be vaguely seen in the sky. Under the light in front of the wooden house, some small flying insects are constantly hitting the lampshade. This is how Christmas in Hawaii is.

Erskine shook his head.

"Arnold's genes are like a brick building without a foundation. It is God's blessing that it can stand still in the strong wind. If you want to add more bricks and tiles to the building, I'm afraid..."

It's not that Erskine doesn't help, the SSS serum is not as important to him as pineapple now, and he can take it out easily.

The key is that he has no room to interfere at all. Everyone saw with their own eyes how painful Steve was when he underwent transformation. Arnold would never be able to resist it.

"What if I look for mutants? An organization called the Hellfire Club came to me before. They wanted me to join and provide money." Howard looked at Su Ming who came back with the potion in his hand, and started playing mutants again. idea.

Su Ming handed the leech potion to Erskine, opened his mouth and yawned: "It's useless. The success rate of the X-gene grafting experiment is less than one ten thousandth. Even if it succeeds, it will only make people more painful. You probably won't I met my cousin, he was like a guinea pig, and that guy was completely crazy.”

"Is there a series of 'weapons' plans from the military..." Howard understood. If anyone wanted to study mutants the most, it was the military: "I can help Arnold with the help of instruments." Live, but Maria...she can't accept that her son is like this, she will die if she continues like this..."

Howard accepted the fact and probably guessed that the problem was with him. He went out to seek medical advice, mostly to cheer Maria up.

Su Ming watched Dr. Erskine skillfully inject Howard with leech medicine, and then came up with the rhetoric he had prepared.

"She wants a healthy, smart, and cute child, so give her one."

Howard was stunned for a moment.

"You mean...to adopt a baby? As our child?"

"Yes, you should also be able to guess that it is your own genetic defect that causes the child to be born with serious diseases. You never pay attention to protective measures when doing experiments. White coats are not a panacea. You and Maria cannot give birth to a normal child. Only Carrying other people’s babies.”

Su Ming continued to eat his pineapple. The astringent taste was actually due to bromelain decomposing human tissue.

"Will a healthy child make Maria happy?" Howard felt a little moved, and he rubbed the neck where the needle had been inserted.

Su Ming nodded: "Psychologically speaking, this is called empathy. Her own child almost died, so she can use other children to fill the gap. With hope, she can survive."

Erskine disposed of the syringe, discarded the disposable gloves, and agreed with Deathstroke's statement: "There are similar situations in the biological world. For example, a female wolf gives birth to a litter of cubs, and one of them dies, and she probably raises and picks them up. Arrival of human babies.”

"A wolf child? I understand. I will try my best to find a way to cure Arnold, but the first goal is to stabilize Maria's emotions first. I will go look for any abandoned newborn babies."

Howard did what he said. He never hesitated. Since Deathstroke and Dr. Erskine both thought this method was feasible, let's give it a try.

Su Ming smiled calmly, and he took out a piece of paper like magic. This was the information that Spider Web had given him when he took the potion, and now it was handed over to Howard.

"There's the right person here, a young mother planning to abandon her baby."

Howard took it and took a look. It was an internal file of the Logistics Office. It not only contained the mother's information but also a photo of the baby.

The child in the photo is pink and tender, has a pair of big eyes, and is very cute.

Just by looking at it, he felt that there was an indescribable connection between himself and the child. Maybe it was the fate that Dongfang said.

"Such a cute child, why didn't his mother want him?" Howard didn't worry about how Deathstroke got the internal documents of the Logistics Department. He knew that there was nothing that Deathstroke couldn't get. What he cared more about was whether the child's mother was a lunatic. .

"Read it yourself, it's not clearly written in the file." Su Ming patiently cut the pineapple.

Howard frowned and turned a few pages, and the expression on his face became more serious: "Valentina's agent...Amanda Armstrong? Amanda's father Dave, yes, I I still have some impression...the father of the child is Jude? The Hydra spy Jude who was recently confirmed and eliminated?"

Su Ming nodded and spoke in a calm tone about what happened there: "On the day the child was born, Jude showed off to Amanda that he was a Hydra and planned to take the mother and son away. But Amanda was determined A patriot, she grabbed the surgical instruments next to the delivery bed, killed Jude, and then gave birth to the child.”

Dr. Erskine sighed regretfully. That's what agents are like. You kill me and I kill you. The relationship between husband and wife will only be life-and-death.

Su Ming continued to tell the previous story. He had always known about Amanda's affairs but did not intervene. Strictly speaking, he was also one of the black hands.

But you cannot become the Supreme Mage with a soft heart.

"The child was born successfully. Amanda killed her husband and the child's father. She really couldn't accept this situation and had a complete mental breakdown. Jude had been lying to her, and it was impossible for her to raise Jiu Zu emotionally. The child of a snake, so the baby was given to Valentina. She sent the baby to an orphanage in Budapest, where it is now, about a month old."

Howard raised his leg and patted the sand on his shoes: "That's him."

"Are you sure?" Su Ming also stood up and threw the empty pineapple shell into the sea: "Jude is indeed very smart. He has been undercover in the logistics department for more than ten years without being exposed, but he has problems with emotional management. The birth of his child made him If you let your guard down, aren't you afraid that this will be inherited?"

"It doesn't matter. My Howard's son only needs to be an upright man. He doesn't need any spy talent. His emotions show that Jude may still believe in human nature in his heart, but he underestimated the professionalism of an agent. I suspect that Amanda killed him purely because of Knee-jerk reaction. If someone said long live Hydra in front of me, I would also subconsciously shoot."

Howard was very sure that he liked the child when he picked out the picture of the child in the file.

"You will train him to be a good person." Su Ming asked Hangsha to change into the holy statue armor, and the magic floating cloak floated on the beach like a flying carpet: "Then let's set off now, and we can catch up with you to give Maria a gift when we get back. Christmas gift."

"No, it's not a flying carpet. I'm dizzy from such an unprotected aircraft..."

Howard was dragged onto the flying carpet by Deathstroke, and the two soared into the sky, disappearing into the last ray of sunset with screams.

Dr. Erskine hugged his pineapple with a kind smile on his face, and slowly returned to his cabin. He would wait patiently for the day when Howard came back, and then there would be someone to chat about science and technology.

.....................

"vomit......"

Howard, with messy hair, was holding on to the brick wall of the alley and retching like a ruined flower. Su Ming patted his black coat and looked helplessly at the sparse crowd on the street.

"As for that? It's just a little faster, far from the human limit."

Howard wandered out of the alley half-dead: "The limit of human beings? I think flying to the speed of sound without protection is the limit. I'm going to die."

Su Ming sighed and handed him a bottle of wine.

"Have a drink and the orphanage is at the end of this street. Do you know what to say?"

Howard looked up, blinked and recalled: "On the surface it is an orphanage, but in fact it is a safe house run by the logistics department. I just need to reveal my identity and take the children away."

"Don't talk about adoption, talk about disposal. He is the experimental material you want. By the way, destroy all documents and materials." Su Ming corrected him: "You don't want everyone to tell your child when he grows up, 'You are not "My biological child," "You are a Hydra orphan," right?"

Howard took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. He took a deep breath of the chilly evening breeze, and his brain became much clearer.

"You're right, I understand how to do it. My son was born to Maria and I. I have never adopted any children."

"Very well, go ahead. I'll call a sorcerer to open the portal."

Su Ming patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the public phone box on the corner of the street.

Budapest is located in Hungary and is now an area controlled by furry bears. There is no Christmas atmosphere and the streets are as quiet as a ghost town.

Although there are no tanks patrolling the streets, a curfew policy has been implemented. Leviathan is full of cybernetics, and this is the only way they treat the people.

However, it doesn’t matter that there is no one on the street. The patrol is still far away from this old city. Su Ming can contact the spider web agents lurking in Leviathan, and then contact the London Sanctuary through them, so that the Naughty Master can send someone at will. Just come here as an apprentice.

Howard crossed the road in one unsteady step. Before leaving, he was still muttering: "You have some humanity. You know that children can't withstand the torment of supersonic speed."

"Haha, I'm in a hurry to go back and continue my Christmas dinner. You have to know that the roasted suckling pig doesn't taste good when it's cold."

Su Ming left him a meaningful smile and walked towards the end of the dark street.