Chapter 92: Arc 3: Chapter 9: The Truth

As dawn came, Merlin was delivered to the entrance of a villa in Brooklynn in a luxury car.

He wore his grey casual suit that never gets dirty and some gifts in his hand. This was prepared by Pierce, supposedly Miss Carter's condition hasn't been well, so, Merlin was also here on behalf of Pierce to visit his old superior.

When Merlin arrived, a young and somewhat familiar young woman was waiting for him at the entrance to the villa.

"Hello, Mr. Merlin."

The young woman probably in her 20s lead the way in front of Merlin, she was very courteous.

"I didn't get to ask the last time we met."

Merlin lightly says:

"You and Miss Carter are?"

"I'm aunt Carter's niece."

The young woman who looked similar to Miss Carter turns and looks at Merlin, she smiles:

"Call me Sharon."

She opens the door for Merlin and lightly says:

"Please enter, Mr. Merlin, my aunt is waiting for you."

"Mmm, thank you."

Merlin gives his thanks to Miss Sharon, he hands her the gift in his hand and enters the living room of the villa.

After entering the living room, Merlin notices a lot of photos on the walls of this villa.

There was the group photo of the heroic Miss Carter and handsome Howard Stark, there was a photo of Miss Carter carrying the young Tony Stark, and there was a photo of Miss Carter alone in the office.

The photos seemed to be arranged in some order, Miss Carter in the photos slowly becomes more mature, more elderly, and more lonely, always appearing to be alone.

But at the back of the wall of photos, in the last picture, Miss Carter was young again, like a sudden turn, like a recollection of a most wonderful memory.

In that picture, she was laughing like a beautiful flower while hugging a young man who was also laughing.

The young man wore a WWII soldier uniform, in his hand was a round shield with a star at the center.

He had blonde hair, big eyes, and was handsome.

It was a black and white photo, supposedly taken on the battlefield.

Merlin stands before the photo, he could guess who the soldier was, history's most legendary hero, Captain America Steve Rogers.

And the man Miss Carter loved.

Unfortunately, he went missing in 1945, and he's been missing ever since.

"Steve doesn't actually like this photo..."

Miss Carter's voice resounds from the living room, there was a trace of yearning in her weak voice, she says:

"He always thinks that the photographer didn't get his hair right. But I quite like it, I didn't have much of a choice since the time we've spent together were basically on the battlefield, not many photos were left. So I could only pick the best one from them."

"It's actually perfect."

Merlin glances again at the photo and says:

"Like the most wonderful memory, hidden deep inside the heart, never fading."

"Huhu, you're quite the talker, young man."

Miss Carter smiles and says:

"Come on in, Merlin."

Merlin quietly walks into the living room, he sits on the sofa opposite to Miss Carter while not looking formal.

He had seen Miss Carter once before in Oakland, back then, she had black hair with white strands of hair mixed inside, but now, her hair was completely white, and wrinkles had appeared on her face.

She looks like she had aged a lot overnight.

She was weak, she leaned against the sofa with an infusion tube on her arm and a respirator in her nostrils. But those eyes were just as gentle and bright as they were a few years back.

Miss Carter looks at Merlin, she lets out a smile and says humorously:

"The doctor said that I can't prolong my reception, so I'm short on time. Did you know? Fury used to come to visit me a lot, he would bring a lot of bad news with him as to seek my advice, this troubled me. Can't they let a retired old woman enjoy her old age?"

She sighs:

"I'm old, I can't do as much as I used to."

"I've heard of what Pierce went through, but this era is not the era I was in after all. In times of peace, politicians use conspiracies as a way to strike their opponents, as disdainful as it is, we can't change it. Thankfully, he pulled through with your help, that's good."

"So tell me, Merlin. What bad news do you bring for me this time?"

"It's about aliens."

Merlin speaks truthfully:

"Fury was attacked in California by an alien called the Skrull, then he met a blonde girl who claims to be Kree when she is in fact an Earthling, and she participated in Project Pegasus. From her, we learned that both the Kree and Skrulls are here on Earth in search of the fruit of that project."

Merlin pauses, he looks at Miss Carter in front of him and says:

"So I'm here to ask you, Project Pegasus...what is it? Why was it abruptly halted?"

"Project Pegasus...let me think."

Peggie Carter closes her eyes and begins recalling the secrets in her mind, a few minutes later, Miss Carter calls for her niece Sharon who was working in the kitchen, and says:

"Young Sharon, I remember Howard leaving some documents in my garage. Can you help me look for the files regarding Project Pegasus?"

Sharon responds and exits the room.

Peggie Carter turns and looks at Merlin, saying:

"Project Pegasus, it was an energy experiment conducted by Howard, he once told me some things about it. The purpose of that experiment was to discover a new energy source. He says that if it were to succeed, it would practically equate to equipping wings on human civilization, so he calls it Project 'Pegasus'."

"Then, Wendy Lawson, do you remember this name?"

Merlin asks, to which Miss Carter nods:

"Yes, I remember quite clearly."

"Professor Lawson was a top scientist in high-energy physics Howard brought from Europe, I did her onboarding to Project Pegasus myself. I remember that that professor was quite talkative and was curious about everything...she was around the same age as Howard, she had silver hair, but she was vigorous, often working overnight."

"It is because of her onboarding that the experiment of Project Pegasus was accelerated greatly."

Miss Carter tells Merlin:

"I remember back in 1988, Professor Lawson created a prototype for a new type of energy source. Howard used the equipment from his factory to finish the assembly of the prototype...they put it on a beautifully designed and advanced silver plane, they even gave the plane a cool name..."

"They called it 'Asis', I saw the plane myself, it was very pretty, like a silver shuttle."

Peggie Carter smiles at Merlin and says with pity:

"Unfortunately, the plane crashed during a test flight. Both Professor Lawson and the pilot died from the crash, I remember for some time, Howard was angry and restless because he did not find the energy source he gave to Professor Lawson in the plane wreckage...he thinks that it was due to it that Axis crashed."

"He thinks that it was an error caused by him for being too imperative. Without the energy source, Project Pegasus lost its base material, therefore could not proceed; thus it was announced to be terminated in 1989."

Carter's story about Project Pegasus ends here.

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But there was no understanding on Merlin's expression, on the contrary, his eyes were serious; he looks at Miss carter and says:

"But from the information I received...Miss, Wendy Lawson, her true identity was a spy sent by the Kree to Earth, named Mar-Vell."

Merlin recalls what he heard during Vers' conversation with the alien 'Yon', he tells it all to Miss Carter and says:

"Supposedly she discovered special energy fluctuations on Earth, she believes that the energy could help the Kree win against the Skrulls, that's why she came to Earth."

"Mmm?"

Miss Carter's expression becomes serious, she looks at Merlin and says:

"Can you confirm the authenticity of this information?"

"Yes! I can."

Merlin nods:

"I heard it directly from a Kree soldier."

"Ah...if that's the case."

Peggie Carter squints her eyes, understanding flashes in the eyes of this last era queen of agents, she says in a low tone:

"If that's the case, then it all makes sense."

"Howard's frustration back then wasn't that he blamed himself for killing Professor Lawson and the female pilot, he must've found out about Lawson's true identity from the wreckage. His urgency to shut down Project Pegasus was not only due to the loss of the energy source, but it was also because...Howard understood the severity of the situation."

"If Lawson was an alien, and was here for the energy source, that means...the energy source may not have been destroyed."

Miss carter tightly holds her fingers, she looks at Merlin and says:

"The energy source must've been taken! By the Kree!"

"You keep saying 'energy source', what is that?"

Merlin asks curiously:

"Was Project Pegasus inspired from that 'energy source'?"

"This isn't a question you should ask."

Peggie Carter glances at Merlin, she says slowly but sternly:

"But this is extreme confidential intel. But since it's sudden, and Wendy Lawson's identity has been confirmed, then as a member of the SSR, Merlin, I can tell you about it, but you must keep your mouth zipped!"

"You should know about the disappearance of my lover Steve Rogers in 1945, right?"

Miss Carter sighs, she lowers her head and tells Merlin:

"Steve wasn't the only one to go missing that time, there was also a super energy source acquired by the mad N**i scientists, the leader of those madmen, the Red Skull, called it the 'Tesseract'; it was a cubic composition of blue energy that could easily tear our world apart, but it was stable as if it was frozen in time."

"Steve Rogers piloted the strategic aircraft used for decimating the West Coast, and crashed it into the Arctic Ocean."

"The still young Howard did not wish to believe that his best friend would just die like that, so he funded an expedition team to search for the missing Steve in the North Pole. Perhaps it was fate, that he did not find his friend, instead, he recovered the Tesseract."

Peggie Carter opens the photo album next to her hand, takes out a picture, and hands it to Merlin.

The latter took it in his hand, on the picture was a young Howard holding a glowing cube with some kind of mechanical construct in his hands.

"Ever since Howard acquired the Tesseract, he's been attempting to research it, Howard believes it to be a construct of a higher civilization, and by researching it, it could accelerate the advance of modern technology."

"But that thing was too dangerous, for this, we've kept it in the SSR warehouse until 1980...Howard created a device that could steadily extract the Tesseract's energy through the advancements of modern technology."

Miss Carter shakes her head:

"It was that year when he found Wendy Lawson to help him. Now it seems like he was inviting disaster!"

"But if that Lawson was truly here for the Tesseract, then she must not have died in 1989, maybe she just used her death to leave Earth with the Tesseract..."

"No! Miss, I'm sure that she didn't take it!"

Merlin tells Miss Carter:

"That Kree never said that Lawson returned after accomplishing her mission, and if she had returned to Hala, then the bystander of that incident Vers would not have lived. Most importantly, the Skrulls are here on Earth in search of something Lawson had left on Earth."

"This means that she may have taken the Tesseract, but she's hidden it somewhere, and I suspect that Mar-Vell had really died in that plane crash."

"Vers? Who's that?"

Miss Carter nods in recognition of Merlin's deduction, she then notices another detail:

"Sounds like a weird name."

"Vers is the Earthling who thinks that she is Kree, Fury is bringing her to follow old traces in an attempt to have her remember her identity."

Merlin explains:

"Vers remembers that she was a participant of Project Pegasus, she knew Wendy Lawson and had participated in that test flight. Since the plane crash in 1989, she's been taken to the Kree capital until her return now."

"The time and events do match up."

Miss Carter nods and tells Merlin:

"I've read the report on that plane crash since both test pilots of 'Asis' were female, I remember it. Back then, female pilots were quite rare, so I remember one of them called Maria. The other is..."

Peggie Carter rubs her forehead and says:

"Carol?"

"Yes, aunt, you remember it right."

As the two conversed, the voice of Miss Carter's niece Sharon resounds, the young girl takes a dusty box and places it on the table in front of Merlin, she then takes out a document from the box and hands it to him.

Merlin takes the document and flips open the first page, he then sees a picture of a blonde woman boarding a fighter plane. In the photo, was Vers who had lost her memory!

Miss Sharon points at the name of the pilot on the document and tells Merlin:

"This female pilot who was determined to be KIA is called Carol Danvers. The other female pilot was called Maria Rambeau, a single mother who quit her job and left for her old home after Carol's death."

"Where's her old home?"

Merlin asks while flipping through Carol's information.

Sharon Carter picks up a different document, she glances at it and tells Merlin:

"Records show it to be in..."

"Louisiana, right?"

Merlin looks at Sharon and speaks out the answer, Sharon was surprised, but she nods.

Merlin picks up the document in his hand and tells Miss Carter in front of him:

"Fury's there too, so may the Skrulls, I have to move now, Miss Carter."

"Wait, Merlin."

As Merlin was about to leave, Miss Carter suddenly stops him, Merlin turns back and hears Miss carter say:

"There's something I'd like to request of you."

 

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