Chapter 17- Expo
"My question hasn't changed, Mr. Michael. I'm still curious about your background."
Hmm. Let's see what we've got.
"Okay, I'll be quick. First of all, I was born 24 years ago in this country, in this city, in Brooklyn. When I had just turned two years old, a child kidnapper kidnapped me and many other children from our families and even from our country. I was the youngest of the children. I traveled first to Africa, then to China, and then to Japan in the hands of the mafia. As my abilities such as having a strong memory and learning local languages in a short time became apparent, my price increased and I was sold to new people. Until I arrived in Japan."
"I'm sorry to hear you've been hurt so much."
"Uh, don't be. Every time I changed hands my price went up and my standard of living went up with it. If you want to feel sorry, feel sorry for the other kids. Anyway, now for my question."
"But."
"My question was only worth this much information. When did you realize I was a fugitive and how am I at pretending?"
"That's two questions."
"Two worthless questions are worth one question."
"Huff anyway, I am one of the first people to know about your prison break experience. You're really good at pretending, but a more experienced agent wouldn't have assumed two different identities in one city as quickly as you did. So how do you know who I am?"
"It's called cheating. Oh hey look, my friends I told you about are over there. Let's go over there."
I stopped Peggy from asking any more questions, but as she approached Steve and Bucky, I leaned into her ear and said this.
"I already searched you earlier in case something happened and I needed someone I could trust."
.
.
.
Peggy Carter kept her promise and there were no attacks until we got to the really interesting part of the expo.
With the others, we ate cotton candy, walked around and chatted for a while, and finally mingled with the crowd to watch the Stark flying car project.
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Howard Stark came on stage with dancers performing and loud music and after kissing one of the dancers, who I think was not Tony Stark's mother, he took the microphone and said, "What if I told you that in a few years, your cars won't need to touch the ground?"
I realized that this was the moment I had been waiting for and immediately shouted "Don't fly Stark" at the top of my voice.
With the whole crowd so focused on the conversation, my loud shout got everyone's attention. Peggy stood a few inches behind me and smiled slightly while Bucky laughed, as did some of the others in the crowd. Steve and the other girls slowly moved away from me and pretended not to know me.
These were all things my body was telling me after analyzing the feelings I couldn't make sense of. While all this was going on, I smiled straight at Howard Stark with clear eyes, feeling no shame at what I had done.
After Howard noticed me, he didn't react for a short while, then smiled and applauded, then took the microphone in his hand. Afterward, he continued his introduction as if what had just happened hadn't happened.
Even though Howard seemed to ignore me, he made sure to make eye contact with me at the end of his speech before pressing the buttons to start the car.
Howard used the panel in front of him to press some buttons and the car behind him slowly started to lift off the ground. According to what happened in the movie, after three seconds, the car was supposed to crash back to the ground with a malfunction, but it didn't happen like in the movie and the car continued to fly successfully.
I've seen the movie Butterfly Effect, but it's not generally known for giving cars the ability to fly.
I looked at Howard standing on the stage I realized he was still watching me and when our eyes met he winked at me and deactivated the vehicle, ending the event.
As Howard made his way backstage, I pushed through the crowd and ran backstage. Ironically, as I entered the backstage area, I met Howard, who was probably standing there waiting for me.
When Howard saw Peggy, who grabbed my arm and slipped through the crowd with me, he gave me a surprised look and, without waiting for me to speak, began to explain himself.
"I already knew that when you came in last night and told me I was going to fail, but the way you said it was so annoying that I abandoned my original idea and threw out the lithium-ion batteries and copper wires and replaced them with graphene batteries and niobium-titanium wires. I spent a lot of money just to not make you laugh, but you have to admit it was worth it."
"Well, it was unexpected. Can someone drive this car now?"
"Come on, that's not the point. It works, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it works. Can I take it for a spin?"
For some reason, Howard didn't want to answer this question at first and was silent for a while, and then, as if in surrender, he admitted that the car was not ready for human driving.
"You know, Niobium-Titanium cables have to be quite cold to work properly. Very cold. So you see, the inside of the car is full of liquid helium."
He started to speak in a language that I had a hard time understanding and I guess it was time to complete the last mission.