Three Messages

"Assassination... Mercer, no, no, I can't let this thought control me."

Rogers clutched his head with both hands, his expression extremely agonizing.

It was evident that he was fighting desperately against those brainwashing commands in his mind.

Yet the Winter Soldier was Hydra's trump card; how could resisting its brainwashing methods be easy.

Gradually, the light in Rogers's eyes vanished, turning hollow and lifeless once more.

He was controlled by Hydra's brainwashing phrases again.

Mercer was not surprised by this; if sheer willpower alone could hold out, there was no way Rogers would have come here under control to kill him.

"Out of control again, huh." Mercer shook his head slightly.

Rogers's blank expression clearly showed he had already been subdued.

"Hah!"

A low shout escaped his lips, and Rogers lunged at Mercer, wielding that metallic arm.

Seeing this, Mercer shook his head helplessly. "I just had a good meal, and I don't plan on moving again. You'd better behave; I'm not going to play with you."

Mercer stood in place with his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, countless Blacklight tentacles extended from behind him, instantly wrapping around Rogers and binding him tightly.

No matter how Rogers struggled, he could not break through the "ropes" formed by this layer of Blacklight Matter.

"A bit noisy."

Mercer waved a hand, and a small amount of Blacklight Matter formed a mask that sealed Rogers's mouth.

Right now, Rogers looked like a black cocoon. Anyone seeing this scene would definitely be scared out of their wits-was this some kind of mutated giant worm?

Leaving an air vent behind, Mercer saw that he was just throwing a futile tantrum there and struggling frantically, so he couldn't be bothered to care and went off to wash up and sleep.

The next day.

This sleep lasted all the way until noon the next day.

"Hah-"

Stretching lazily as he walked out of his room, it was the first time Mercer had slept so soundly in so long since coming to this world.

Suddenly having money, he actually didn't know what he should go do.

While washing up, Mercer's battered old phone rang. Picking it up to check, the person calling him was Carter.

"Your documents are all done. Are you at home right now? I'll bring them over to you."

Carter's voice sounded somewhat exhausted, as if she hadn't rested the entire night.

"I just woke up, come on over," Mercer said, not expecting her to be so efficient.

"Alright, then open the door, I'm at the entrance," Carter said immediately.

"So fast?"

Startled, Mercer walked over to the balcony to take a look. Outside the front gate, Carter was looking at Mercer with a smile and waved at him.

Turning his gaze to Rogers, who was wrapped like a "mummy" on the floor nearby, Mercer carried him to the side and set him down.

During this period, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra were bound to engage in a fierce battle, and Carter would be very busy. He wouldn't leave Rogers out so as not to disturb her state of mind.

Once this matter passed, he would let him out.

For this period, he could only let him stay inside as a mummy. With Blacklight Matter periodically supplying him with nutrients, Mercer wasn't worried that Rogers would starve to death inside.

"Sorry for the trouble, buddy."

Mercer patted that "mummy," and the person inside struggled to get out, to no avail.

After fixing all this, Mercer vaulted directly down from the second-floor balcony, executing a dashing "superhero" landing, and went forward to open the door and welcome her in, bantering,

"You got here way too fast. Don't tell me you were out here staking me out all night?"

"As if."

Carter rolled her eyes at him, handed a file bag to Mercer, and said, "These are your documents and some explanations of your clearance."

Taking it and looking inside, the S.H.I.E.L.D. manual was a small black booklet, and its contents were very simple-the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and Mercer's name.

Everything else was just some trivial data. Mercer skimmed through it in a few glances and put the identification away. Looking at Carter, he hesitated for a moment, pointed his thumb at the house behind him, and said,

"Come in for a sit-down?"

Carter's gaze lingered on the house behind him, then shifted back to Mercer's face. Her expression carried an unreadable meaning, and after a long moment, she shook her head.

"I still have S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs to handle. Let's talk about it next time."

With that, after the two of them exchanged some casual banter, Carter left.

Watching her receding figure, Mercer scratched his head. "Did she misunderstand what I meant? I really just meant coming inside for a sit-down."

Whatever she might be thinking specifically, Mercer couldn't be bothered to probe deeply, and he headed back inside the house.

Returning indoors, Mercer took out the other documents from the file bag and began reading them. Logging onto S.H.I.E.L.D.'s exclusive webpage and entering his identity information, he discovered that he had access to an immense amount of viewable material.

Aside from top-secret documents like Project Insight, which remained hidden, what he could see was astonishing.

Among them were even files on the Sanctum Sanctorum far away in Kamar-Taj, as well as records from a short time ago regarding a teenager who was bitten by a spider and mutated.

"It seems this world still has some aspects that match what I imagined."

Opening those documents, Mercer looked through them one by one.

The files were written in great detail, and even included The Ancient One's personal profile.

"The Ancient One, female, age unknown, Sorcerer Supreme, refused to join the Avengers, suspected to possess a unique energy source, S-class priority target."

"Peter Parker, male, 16 years old, ordinary high school student in Queens, bitten by a mutated spider at Oscorp, possesses physical capabilities surpassing ordinary humans."

"An anomalous object fell from the sky in New Mexico; the object's appearance is that of a hammer, and it continuously emits gamma radiation of a certain intensity."

Reading through these items, Mercer felt a bit surprised; he hadn't expected The Ancient One to also be on the Avengers' recruitment list.

That she refused to join did not surprise Mercer either.

These sorcerers' duty was to protect Earth from the hazards of magical dimensions and to guard the Time Stone; it was impossible for them to join the Avengers.

What surprised Mercer even more was the third piece of data: an anomaly shaped like a hammer falling from the sky?

Seeing the words "hammer," he instantly made the connection-this was far too iconic.

This was Thor's trademark!

"In other words, Loki's invasion of Earth isn't far off." Mercer muttered to himself.

Thor's descent to Earth would soon be followed by Loki colluding with Thanos to prove his own competence, leading his Chitauri Army to invade Earth, which would also bring the Avengers together.

"I wonder if the present me can absorb Thor's lightning."

He had previously tried absorbing the energy of the Kyber Crystal, which proved that the Blacklight Virus could absorb these energetic substances.

It was also possible that absorbing Abomination had caused the Blacklight Virus to undergo a different mutation.

Abomination was a mutated serum created using Hulk as a blueprint; although it lacked the latter's special effect of absorbing cosmic gamma energy to grow ever stronger,

it still possessed a minor capacity to absorb peculiar energies. This effect was very faint in Abomination, but had been amplified dozens or hundreds of times over in Mercer's Blacklight Virus.

Otherwise, relying solely on the original Blacklight Virus to absorb the energy of the Kyber Crystal would have been somewhat unlikely.