Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

"So, the one lying inside is your friend from seventy years ago, Captain?" Lu Mingfei looked at Steve, puzzled. "What, he was frozen too? He doesn't look like an old man who's almost a hundred years old."

“During our battle with Hydra, Bucky fell off a cliff, and I thought he was dead…” Steve said gravely.

"Captain America's friend has become a super assassin?" Tony stroked his chin. "If it weren't for the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records show that this 'Winter Soldier' ​​has a history of assassinating other important figures many years ago, I would suspect that it was deliberately orchestrated by those who didn't want you to be elected president. When this news gets out, your approval rating will definitely plummet."

"Many years ago?" Steve was taken aback.

“The Winter Soldier’s existence is a legend to many intelligence organizations. They lack evidence and information, so they believe that this person does not exist or that it is just a code name,” Natasha explained. “Because the Winter Soldier has been responsible for more than 20 assassinations in the past 50 years, including today’s one.”

“I wouldn’t believe it either,” Lu Mingfei quipped from the side. “Shouldn’t the methods that allow people to maintain strong physical fitness for more than fifty years be used on politicians and the super-rich? They’re practically obsessed with immortality.”

“No, this method of slowing down aging probably isn’t suitable for the wealthy,” Tony said, looking down at a small tablet screen. “That… uh… his name is Bucky, right? According to the medical examination results, he shows signs of having been cryogenically frozen multiple times. During the freezing period, he almost stopped aging, and his body underwent enhancement modifications. Although the enhancement level is lower than Captain You’s, it’s still far beyond that of ordinary people, which is why he was able to withstand this immature cryogenic freezing technology…”

"Frozen?" Steve frowned deeply and clenched his fist.

“Wait a minute,” Natasha realized, “Mr. Stark, why do you have the Winter Soldier’s medical records?”

Tony pointed to the operating room behind the glass curtain wall: "Who told you that all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical equipment is connected to the internet?"

"The equipment in the hospital is all connected to the internal network," Natasha wondered.

“Yes, I just connected to the intranet here,” Tony said.

Natasha: ...

Are you too lazy to even carry people around when you hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network?!

“By the way, his brain seems to have been modified as well, somewhat like an organic lesion, which can cause changes in a person’s mental state and thought patterns,” Tony explained, swiping his finger across the tablet. “Simply put, it seems like he’s been brainwashed.”

“Brainwashing people into assassins, freezing them when not needed, and thawing them to assassinate targets when needed,” Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and said, “Isn’t the power behind him using him as a tool to kill?”

Steve took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and slowly exhaled: "Tony, can you break Bucky's brainwashing?"

“Sure, but I need time,” Tony said. “The brainwashing he underwent wasn’t psychological, but rather a change in brain structure. The brain is an extremely delicate and fragile organ, and I need to do some research to restore and eliminate the effects of this brainwashing.”

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Steve asked.

“If you’d be willing to get me a coffee while I’m researching neurology, then you’d be helping me out,” Tony shrugged.

"Tony, you also have research in neurology?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

“No, so I need to do some research,” Tony said. “But it would take a long time to remove this kind of physical brainwashing; the brain can’t take that risk.”

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Lu Mingfei's mind: "That's right, if using scientific methods is too troublesome, maybe we can try approaching it from a magical perspective?"

"Magic?" Natasha asked, surprised. "You want to ask Thor for help?"

“No, although Asgardian magic can be considered a type of science in essence, Asgardians do not study medicine, whether in terms of magic or science,” Lu Mingfei said, “because they don’t get sick at all, and even if they are injured, they can heal themselves through their regenerative abilities.”

As someone who had been to Asgard, Lu Mingfei was very familiar with it.

"What's the solution?" Steve asked eagerly.

“It’s magic, but not Asgardian magic,” Lu Mingfei said.

"If it's not Asgardian magic, then what kind of magic is it?" Natasha, with her agent's keen senses, instinctively felt that this was important intelligence.

Lu Mingfei shook his head and didn't continue—although the existence of the sorcerer community wasn't an absolute secret, and there were many ordinary people in Kamar-Taj who sought help from Kamar-Taj through various rumors and became sorcerers, he still didn't really want to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. these things.

Ignoring Natasha's resentful gaze, Lu Mingfei took out his phone: "Hello? Dr. Banner, do you have time now? We're afraid we need your help."

……

Inside the ward of a private hospital under S.H.I.E.L.D.

Lu Mingfei and his three companions, along with Dr. Banner who had just arrived, gathered around Bucky's bedside.

Bucky is still unconscious and in a coma. Considering that he is still under brainwashing and is very dangerous, he has been strapped to the bed with a belt, somewhat like a severely mentally ill patient being restrained.

“I’m counting on you, Dr. Banner,” Lu Mingfei said.

Unlike Lu Mingfei, who only learned astral projection, Dr. Banner, with the Hulk by his side, could borrow power from weaker magical creatures and thus studied some magic in depth. Although his study time was short, Dr. Banner was, after all, a highly intelligent individual, and with the Sorcerer Supreme personally instructing him, his current magical proficiency was not low.

Moreover, because of Hulk's problem, Dr. Banner has also specially studied soul magic, so Lu Mingfei felt that asking him might bring unexpected surprises.

Dr. Banner nodded first, then said, "Everyone, please leave for a moment. I need some quiet."

Lu Mingfei, Tony, and Natasha nodded and prepared to leave, but Steve was a little worried: "Doctor, Bucky's current state is very unstable. If he breaks free, he may attack you. It may not be safe for you to be alone with him."

The news about Hulk was suppressed by Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D., so Steve only knew that Dr. Banner was a friend of Lu Mingfei and Tony, and that he would switch to the Hulk personality when provoked, and that he was easily angered and might hurt people, but he did not specifically learn about Hulk's power.

Bucky underwent a similar super soldier transformation and also has a mechanical arm. Steve is worried that if Bucky goes berserk, Dr. Banner might hurt him.

But Dr. Banner assured him there would be no problem, so Steve had no choice but to go out with Lu Mingfei and the other two.

After everyone else had left, Dr. Banner sat beside the hospital bed, drew a magic circle with his hands, and tried to sense Bucky's thoughts.

The next second, Bucky suddenly opened his eyes, and the metal plates on his mechanical arm suddenly jerked, breaking free of the straps binding him, and then grabbed Dr. Banner's neck like a viper.

"Who are you? Where is this?" Bucky asked in a hoarse voice, his eyes bloodshot.

Just as he was about to change his posture to subdue the somewhat refined office worker in front of him so that he could loosen his neck and let him speak, he saw a hint of green suddenly appear on the man's face.

Then, to Bucky's puzzled look, he was completely enveloped by a rapidly expanding dark shadow.

……

A noticeable tremor came from the ward.

Lu Mingfei and the others who were waiting outside rushed in, with Steve taking the lead – Dr. Banner inside was there to help him and Bucky, and Steve would feel very guilty if he were hurt by Bucky.

"Dr. Banner, are you alright?!" Steve slammed open the ward door and looked up.

Then his face went blank.

The green monster, its head pressed against the ceiling, was holding Bucky's mechanical arm in one hand; the sturdy killing weapon was now completely crushed.

Bucky, dangling in mid-air by his arm: ...

156. Chapter 155 Loki: The Rubik's Cube has been found, great!

Although Bucky couldn't harm Dr. Banner, after examining him, Dr. Banner said he couldn't do anything about Bucky's condition.

His soul magic is not applicable to this situation, and because the "repayer" after borrowing power is Hulk, he needs to be in Hulk's physical state to fully unleash the magic he has learned.

But after Bucky woke up, he attacked him, forcing out the Hulk. Bucky was then nearly beaten up by the Hulk. Although he was persuaded not to actually fight back by Bucky in his spirit form, and was later persuaded to go back by Lu Mingfei who arrived later, in the Hulk's eyes, Bucky was undoubtedly the type who "needed to be beaten up".

If Bucky were an Asgardian, it wouldn't be so bad; he wouldn't die even if Hulk hit him a couple of times.

But he's an Earthling, and his physical enhancements aren't even as good as Steve's. If Hulk were to throw a light punch at Bucky, he might just "smack" right there.

So Dr. Banner said he couldn't help, but he could ask the Ancient One. Although it felt a bit like making a mountain out of a molehill to alarm the Sorcerer Supreme who guards Earth from across the multiverse for such a small matter, the Ancient One probably wouldn't mind lending a hand since it was for saving lives. Many sorcerers in Kamar-Taj were granted magic after finding Kamar-Taj because they needed help.

Unfortunately, after Banner called Kamar-Taj, the King who answered the phone regretfully said that the Sorcerer Supreme had temporarily left Kamar-Taj and did not know what he was doing or when he would return.

So Dr. Banner could only shrug and indicate that he was completely helpless.

So after giving Bucky a sedative injection, Bucky was once again restrained in the ward—this time his restraints were the same type used in Tony's lab.

Now, not only Bucky, but even Peter wouldn't be able to break free.

……

Bucky was temporarily kept in the S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital. Apart from his daily filming practice, Steve spent his time visiting Bucky, hoping to awaken his consciousness through "talk therapy." Although there was some effect, it was not very obvious. However, the doctor did not recommend that he have frequent contact with Bucky, because this would stimulate Bucky's mental state and make it even more difficult for him to recover. Therefore, Steve had no choice but to reluctantly reduce the number of times he visited Bucky.

Moreover, according to Tony, Bucky's brainwashing is on a physiological level. Even if Steve can awaken Bucky's consciousness, the effects of the brainwashing will still remain, so the organization behind him could still regain control of him at any time.

As for the mysterious organization behind Bucky... S.H.I.E.L.D. is already investigating, but the investigation is not as fast as Steve's "talk therapy" of Bucky.

Moreover, on the night of the attack, Natasha sent Lu Mingfei some very bad news—S.H.I.E.L.D. agents found Elena, who had planted a locator on Lu Mingfei, as quickly as possible, but Elena had already committed suicide by taking cyanide.

To be precise, there was a mechanism in her teeth that concealed cyanide, making it easy for her to commit suicide immediately.

This is typical of assassins. The fact that they can train a popular movie star as an assassin and then so decisively abandon him speaks volumes about the organization's immense power.

While S.H.I.E.L.D. continued its fruitless investigation into the forces behind Bucky and Elena, Tony was also searching for a way to break Bucky's brainwashing.

Fortunately, Tony played his father in the movie, which was a small role to begin with, and from a certain perspective, he could play himself without needing to hone his acting skills. Therefore, Tony's filming schedule was not delayed.

Actually, Steve is in the same situation. He doesn't need to act out anything; just being himself is enough.

After casting was completed, filming officially began.

Of course, in order to generate as much buzz as possible, they released the first trailer not long after filming began—this was to create a wave of interest.

In the design of the professional marketing team, this trailer includes a scene where a Red Skull finds the "Cosmic Cube" somewhere.

This presents a dilemma—the film's content should be as realistic as possible, but Steve isn't a Hydra agent, and he genuinely doesn't know where Hydra initially found the Cube; there's no record of it in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.

Therefore, the question became how to build the scene where Red Skull finds the Tesseract. The quality of the trailer needed to be as high as possible, and as part of the trailer, the scene should also have a distinctive and impressive style.

After a brief argument, Lu Mingfei came up with a solution—Saul happened to be on set, so he could ask him to provide some architectural styles of Asgard as a reference, and then professionals could build the set.

Lu Mingfei had seen Asgard in person. Asgardian art was highly developed, and their aesthetic sense was very similar to that of humans. Most importantly, their architectural style was unique and aesthetically pleasing, making it a perfect place to learn from.

Thor had never heard of film as an art form in Asgard. He only learned about it from his girlfriend Jane after arriving on Earth and became quite interested in it. Now that he could personally participate in the filming, contributing some architectural art materials would be no problem at all, so he readily agreed.

With Thor's help, the set was quickly set up, and the first trailer was soon released.

Subsequently, with Tony's money and Jarvis's intervention, the trailer not only went viral online, but also occupied billboards, newspaper and magazine advertising columns, and even large screens in urban streets, completely spreading the popularity of the "Captain America" ​​movie throughout the United States in just a few days.

……

Streets of New York.

A man dressed in strange clothes walked down the street, frequently attracting sidelong glances.

His clothes were green, but his armor was gold, and two long, curved horns extended from his helmet, which was the same color as his armor. He also held a short scepter that emitted a faint blue light in his hand.

It's perfectly normal for this outfit to turn heads on the street.

Having just arrived on Earth aboard a Chitauri spaceship after traversing several wormholes, Loki walked down the street, growing increasingly resentful of the frequent stares from passersby.

He used illusion magic to shield Heimdall from observation, but he did not become invisible in front of mortals, because he was a god and would be the future king of this planet. Why would he need to become invisible in front of mere mortals on the planet?

If he becomes invisible, how can he enjoy the worshipful gaze of ordinary people?

But now he realizes that something seems a little off—there are many ordinary people looking at him on the street, and their eyes are full of complex emotions, but it seems that none of them are expressing "awe," "submission," or "worship."

"Mommy, is that person cosplaying as Santa's reindeer?" a little girl passing by asked.

"Yes, look how long that uncle's horns are!" the woman holding the little girl's hand said, looking down.

"But deer antlers aren't like that. That uncle is so silly. If I meet him again, I'll give him the deer hair clip from home..." The little girl's voice faded into the distance.