mtl008 Chapter 3701 The Age of Mercury (21)
Chapter 3701 The Age of Mercury (21)
Chapter 3701 The Age of Mercury (Part 21)
Wanda stood outside the window, dumbfounded, staring at the chaotic kitchen. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"Is roast duck really that hard to make?" Wanda said in surprise. "What happened? Did the oven explode?"
"Of course not, I'm not Stark, that kitchen terrorist. It was a naughty little guy who did it. Oh, by the way, let me introduce you to Jeff the Land Shark. Isn't he cute?"
Schiller lifted Jeff up in front of Wanda. Wanda let out a scream, grabbed Jeff, and carefully stroked his head. After realizing it wasn't a toy, she kissed Jeff's nose hard.
"Oh my god! How can there be such an adorable little shark!" Wanda's eyes were full of stars. She turned Jeff left and right, flipped him up and down, and rubbed him over and over like a doll.
"It's a genetically modified organism. A normal land shark is a fusion of shark and dinosaur genes, but this one is probably a fusion of shark and dog genes. You can think of it as a small dog that looks like a shark."
"My God! What brilliant scientist came up with this idea?! It perfectly fills the gap of no sharks on land and no dogs in the sea! I will award him the Nobel Prize!"
“He’s not a good guy,” Schiller said. “Most land sharks are ugly. To be precise, Jeff is a failure…”
Jeff clearly understood human speech; upon hearing "failure," his four legs and shark fins drooped. Wanda immediately shouted at Schiller, "Hey, don't say that! You're hurting its feelings! Our cute little shark isn't a failure. You're the cutest baby in the world! Come here, let me give you a kiss!"
Schiller shook his head helplessly. He knew Wanda would like Jeff. Wanda's preference for pets was strange; she didn't like bred breeds, but preferred ferocious beasts with sharp teeth and claws. However, her moral compass wouldn't allow her to bring wild animals from nature back as pets, so apart from the Flerken, she didn't keep any ordinary dogs.
“Oh, right,” Schiller said as if remembering something, “this should be the perfect non-shedding pet you’ve been looking for. Sharks don’t shed, right?”
Wanda's eyes lit up even more, looking at Jeff as if he were some rare treasure. Schiller quickly poured cold water on her enthusiasm: "But Jeff already has an owner; he's just temporarily staying with me. You'll probably have a hard time taking him away."
"Oh, what happened?" Wanda was clearly disappointed, then he said, "So there aren't any other shark puppies?"
"It's definitely gone from our universe, and the scientist who created it probably didn't become a 'magician,' so it's unlikely to exist again. But if we look for the scientist who created it in other universes, we might be able to create one."
“No, I’d rather not.” Wanda hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, “The process of genetic modification experiments must be terrifying. No shark or dog should have to suffer like that. Even if it’s cute, I wouldn’t do such a thing.”
Jeff understood what she meant, but didn't say anything. He simply leaned his head against her chest and gently nuzzled her neck with his nose.
"Ah, my little darling! I told you so, didn't I? That damn scientist must have abused you! Don't worry, if I ever go to your universe, I'll definitely beat him up and get revenge for you!"
“Oh right, Doctor, I almost forgot about the important thing.” Wanda slapped her forehead and said, “How are your dishes coming along? My Provençal stew is done, just needs the final adjustments. Jarvis’s frosted sugar donuts are good too; he said the captain loves them the most.”
Schiller's alarm bells immediately went off. "Damn AI! Could it have hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance system to get the intelligence?!"
"No, Steve himself has said it a few times..."
“That doesn’t count,” Schiller said. “He’ll happily say whatever you give him is delicious, but he might not really think so. The old-fashioned donuts taste too weird; he might prefer the modern ones.”
“But Jarvis is just a robot; it’s already pretty good that he can make donuts,” Wanda said. “Steve will be very happy.”
“I shouldn’t have performed so well before,” Schiller lamented. “If I had only scored 10 points before, then getting 30 points this time would have been pretty good. But I used to score 80 points, so this time I have to get over 95 points…”
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. It'll be a very harmonious scene, and everyone will be praising each other's cooking. Ah, except for Tony, maybe. Goodness, you reminded me, I think I still need to go back and refine the plating to avoid Tony finding fault..."
Wanda came and went quickly. Schiller knew she had only come to check on the progress, to avoid falling too far behind. Finding that most people weren't progressing that fast, she was relieved.
Soon, Gwen returned carrying large bags and small packages. She placed all the shopping bags on the table in the living room and unpacked them one by one. There were quite a few clothes and bags, as well as all sorts of toys, model cars, figurines, and so on.
Schiller watched as he dismantled a room full of things and said with some helplessness, "Are you planning to use exhaustive methods?"
"Of course not, I'm sure he likes these things. I asked him myself."
"Who did you ask? Captain America?"
“No, it’s the screenwriter… I mean, the comic book artist from our universe. He said Captain America likes these things. Look at this little car model, I’m going to assemble it myself and give it to him. He’ll definitely love it!” Gwen admired the toy she was assembling in her hands with great satisfaction. It was a slightly retro-styled model car.
Schiller shook his head. He didn't think so. Their universe's Captain America was different from the main universe's. Besides, even if Steve liked cars, with Stark's incredibly cool flying vintage car, he probably wouldn't care about model toys.
Of course, Steve would cherish every gift. However, it's unlikely that Gwen would stand out from the crowd with this gift alone.
Schiller was also pondering what gift he could give Steve that would truly touch his heart and amaze everyone.
After all, his food preparation is still lagging behind. If it's not perfect by the time of the banquet, he'll naturally have to rely on gifts to make up for it.
Schiller had no ideas at first, but after meeting Gwen Stacy today, he suddenly had a bold idea.
He was a time traveler who felt he had stepped into a comic book world. But no one else knew this, and Schiller never told them. In his world, superheroes were all comic book characters.
In that case, Schiller could easily draw a comic book, incorporating all their past experiences, and give it to Steve. Steve loves comics and can draw himself, so this gift would definitely suit his taste.
Speaking of comics, Schiele had never actually drawn any. However, he had an art background, having painted in oil and acrylics, and American comics are generally quite realistic. With a little more knowledge of comic paneling, he could probably draw something roughly similar.
But when it comes to storyboarding, that's a different story. Storyboarding in comics is different from that in movies; comic storyboards are static. It's not easy to tell a story clearly with static storyboards. Either the drawing will be verbose, flat, and lacking in impact, or it will be too fragmented and fail to explain the plot.
No one around him had experience in this area. Eddie, though a director, was only skilled with dynamic shots. Chris's storyboards were good, but they weren't exactly comic book style.
After much thought, Gwen Stacy realized that the only person who knew even a little about comics was her. Before her transmigration, Gwen Stacy was a die-hard Marvel fan; she'd seen it all, though she hadn't seen it all before. So Schiller told her his thoughts, intending to ask for her advice.
"You're going to draw a comic?!" Gwen's servant exclaimed in surprise. "Then you absolutely have to draw me in. Can I be the female lead?"
"I'm afraid that won't work. I want to draw a Captain America-themed comic. He's already married and has kids. The female lead will definitely be his wife, Agent Carter."
"Okay. Do you want to draw their love story?"
"No, not really. I'm afraid I'm not very good at drawing love stories. I want to draw a solo series about Captain America, which tells the story of his life over the past 100 years. I think he would really like it."
“That makes some sense,” Gwen nodded. “However, if you start drawing from the beginning, it might seem like a diary. One year old, five years old, ten years old—no reader wants to read that. You have to focus on the key points.”
Schiller nodded and said, "Indeed. In your opinion, what is the most representative event in Captain America's life?"
"You mean what he thinks?" Gwen Sterling stroked his chin, thinking carefully. "If he were a fan, he would definitely think that defeating Hydra is very important. But from his own perspective, I think it's possible that he was frozen."
"Oh why?"
"Defeating Red Skull was a given for him. He knew perfectly well that this evil regime was doomed to fail, and victory would surely belong to the side of justice. But for his personal life, being frozen under the ice and skipping over decades of his life must have been significant. It meant that he had traversed an entire era. In this new era, there were no enemies, yet enemies were everywhere; it wasn't a clear distinction between good and evil, but rather a state of chaos. He must have worried and been anxious about this, and even considered retreating, but ultimately he triumphed over everything. This is more worthy of his pride than physically defeating any enemy."
“Indeed.” Schiller agreed wholeheartedly. He quickly went upstairs to get paper and pen, laid the paper flat on the table, hesitated for a moment before writing, and then wrote on the paper—“The Golden Age of Captain America.”
Schiller stared at the line of words, seemingly thinking of something, then shook his head somewhat dissatisfyingly, crossed out the words, and rewrote a new line below: "Steve Rogers' Mercury Age".
Then he sketched the cover with a few strokes: beneath a thin layer of ice, countless year numbers flowed like mercury, a pair of deep blue eyes were submerged in them, Steve stretched out a hand, and cracks in the ice spread from his fingertips.
Great painter!