$199 Extra: After the War (Part 3)

Tony thought Morgan was a little strange.

She was very active in the search for Hercule, and was determined to rescue him even if he was still alive. But after seeing Hercule really leave, she seemed to have a broken mental string, and she became depressed.

Tony asked her if she wanted to look for clues together. Morgan glanced at him and said in a gloomy and strangely kind tone: "I won't do it. You young people have to work harder."

Tony: "?"

He was shocked by Morgan's tone. His brain, which was still in the war, remembered that according to the time of the Universe, no matter how young Morgan looked, she was at least ** years old!

She was three times older than the superheroes in the 21st century, so they looked like children.

But if you count it this way, wouldn't the starfish who called Batman dad every day be older?

This question cannot be thought about in detail. Batman asked at the right time: "You won't go find him? From what you said, you are very sure that our work will be in vain."

Morgan said slowly: "The following is just my personal opinion. First of all, the arrangements made by Hercule before he lost his memory must have been very cautious. He didn't want others to find his body, which has set up obstacles for our current work."

Secondly...

Secondly. She thought. Hugo actually likes the Universe a little bit. Humans are like this. They can pick out all kinds of problems from the place where they have lived for a long time, and they can't help but like it in their day-to-day life. Hercule Hugo is particularly nostalgic in Morgan's cognition. He never looks back on the past, but from time to time he will sort out the things given to him by others.

Before leaving Apocalypse Company, he handed over the valuables accumulated over forty years to Morgan in batches for safekeeping. He threw away as much as possible, but there were still so many miscellaneous items left that Morgan called him in the middle of the night while opening the express delivery and got angry. Some of the items were expensive collections given by Argus (Argus was never stingy with material things), and some were messy gifts given to him by people whom Morgan didn't even know when he met.

The cross that had been on his neck for a while, the two had originally planned to leave it at Apocalypse Company to fend for itself. But later Morgan accidentally went to the warehouse to visit the small things Hercule had accumulated, including commemorative stamps, spaceship models, volcanic ash in glass bottles, and jackets with strange names printed on them that Hercule had never worn...

For a moment, she felt like she was watching him use that strange body that was not very popular over the years (Morgan always believed that her friend was a very charming person, but surprisingly, whether in the Universe or the 21st century, he was never welcomed at first sight for various reasons) to walk through the streets and alleys, participate in stories that no one knew and were not important, let others become his down-to-earth spiritual sustenance, and let himself become the city secrets passed down by others.

At that time, Morgan suddenly changed her mind and went to ask Argos to get the cross back.

——Hugo was probably willing to put it in the warehouse and look at it when he had nothing to do.

In the future, when she had free time, she could laugh at his taste while drinking with him and reminiscing about the cause and effect, right and wrong of a small thing that happened in a collection twenty years ago.

…

Then Morgan thought, if Hugo began to like the Paranormal Universe, what would it feel like if he decided to stand on the opposite side of it?

When everything was settled, only he survived, and followed the time to see the devastated future that he had participated in and would never appear again, what would it feel like?

Morgan sometimes felt fortunate that her life was about to come to an end naturally, so she was lucky not to have to choose between the instinct of survival and guilt. Think about it, if there is a huge ship that is about to sink, you can easily survive, and maybe there is a chance to save some other people, but you can't save everyone no matter how hard you try.

Of course, you don't have to be coerced by the unreasonable demands of others, you can just walk away.

But you will often think of the people who were on the same boat.

You will occasionally ask yourself, why are you the only one who survived? Is it because you were born with an extra flipper that is more convenient for paddling than others?

Expanding the scope of the giant ship to the entire universe, including many guys with whom you have established emotional connections, this is the situation faced by Hercule Hugo. It's not that he is kind and indecisive or anything like that... It's just a psychological problem that a survivor with empathy can hardly avoid.

If someone told Morgan now that the detective had decided that there would be no survivors before he lost his memory, she would not be particularly surprised.

When he feels that he has had enough of the punishment that the survivors "should" have to endure, maybe the desire to survive will become stronger, and then Hugo may be able to return to the 21st century with the joint efforts of both parties.

And Morgan felt that she could not catch up and did not want to catch up. They have tried their best. From now on, Hercule Hugo lives in Morgan Stark's past, and Morgan Stark will appear in Hercule Hugo's future. Their lives are swaying between displacement and constant loss, but the fate of friends is always intertwined.

Isn't that good enough?

**

Morgan feels that Batman and Iron Man in the 21st century cannot understand these ideas. She shows the appearance of a young person, but inside she has the stubbornness unique to older people. She says that she is not in a hurry to find Hercule, but she really does nothing every day.

She repeatedly told Pepper to turn off the projector and go back to the Paranormal Universe - the connection between the two timelines was getting farther and farther, and she couldn't stay for a few days anyway - Pepper always replied with the same content: "Wait a little longer, can't we wait until we attend the detective's funeral?"

Morgan showed a subtle expression.

She knew that Hercule had a small-scale funeral in New York. At that time, everyone basically knew that the detective was not dead, so there were demons dancing in front of the tombstone, and the priest invited by SHIELD to read the eulogy had hot weapons stuffed under his robe. When her old father bought the cemetery, he said a famous saying that was widely circulated among superheroes: "New York may not be your birthplace, but it can be your eternal home."

This time is the second time.

However, the detective didn't die the second time! !

And when he was buried for the first time, there was nothing in the coffin, and Hercule's body was exhibited in the Bat Cave.

When he was buried for the second time, there was still nothing in the coffin, and Hercule's body... was still in the Bat Cave!

Help, Morgan respected her friend, but she was really afraid that she would laugh at the funeral.

"Have you bought the cemetery?" she asked, "Where is it?"

Pepper was very busy, and Tony, who was sitting next to her and half helping and half making trouble, answered her: "It's in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. The detective said before that he might be from Florida. We decided to respect the opinion of the deceased."

"..."

Iron Man's expression was too serious, and Morgan couldn't tell whether he was serious or joking.

She asked again: "Who are you going to invite?"

Tony shrugged: "I will send a group email, anyone who knows him can come. I asked Batman and Superman to invite people they trust, but you know that the battle in Seaside City has just ended, and everyone has something to do. I can't guarantee that the funeral will be lively."

Funerals are not supposed to be lively occasions! !

Morgan put on the mask of pain and couldn't help but become curious again. The heroes of the Golden Age were more, uh, lively than she thought, including her father. She didn't know if this was a good thing, but at least the hopeful discussion that implied that Hugo would come back sooner or later made her feel better.

At this time, Pepper, who was buried in her desk, seemed to have sensed something, raised her head and pushed a plate of cyber fruit over, ordering Morgan, "Eat."

Then she lowered her head to work again.

Morgan: "..."

This familiar feeling.

Tony couldn't even think of preparing fruit for his daughter. Whether it was physical or virtual, this family couldn't survive a day without Pepper. Then again, Mr. Stark was also thinking about something else: "I seem to have forgotten something."

Morgan played with the virtual apple and pondered with him: "I seem to have forgotten something too."

The two of them looked at each other and said in unison: "Hypida/the alien flower placed on the pyramid!"

As we all know, the detective has a cat.

Now the cat has disappeared after the decisive battle.

Of course, considering that the detective is temporarily dead and the Meta-Eater is not a home-loving creature, it is very likely to have run away to other cities or universes. But Morgan and Hibita get along well, and she knows Cat's character, so she thinks she has to contact it first anyway.

But the Devourer has no mobile phone, no computer, and doesn't need to go to work, so she doesn't need a LinkedIn account. Morgan first tried to call Hercule's number, but it didn't work, and it showed that the other party was out of service.

At this moment, she realized that Hibita didn't leave any contact information in human society. It always takes the initiative to find the detective. When Hercule needs it, it usually arrives first, so that others forget that a person and a cat cannot be tied together forever.

Before meeting Hercule, SHIELD spent a lot of manpower and resources but failed to arrest the hungry beast roaming in the scenic area. At that time, the legend of Cat was circulated everywhere in the world.

Morgan had to take a roundabout way and look for Superman first.

Because Hercule's translator is Kryptonian technology.

However, Superman knew nothing about Hibita's grandmother's life on Krypton, and he was not sure who gave him Hercule's translator. Morgan speculated that after the death of Jonathan Kent Jr. in the Paranormal Universe, 80% of the heritage, including the Fortress of Solitude, became ownerless. After changing hands many times, it was taken by Hercule by chance.

——As the first superhero whose history was deleted on a large scale by Argos, Superman was a little special to the detective before he lost his memory. Hercule was very likely to have taken the initiative to look for evidence of his existence.

Next, Superman went back to the Fortress of Solitude to look through the database, and indeed found the records about the Meta-Eater. Morgan translated what he wanted to say into Meta-Eater language and printed it out, and returned to Egypt with the helpful Superman.

On the ruins, the blue flowers were still there, immortal and undefeated, and never blown away by the wind, like crystal diamonds carved to lifelike, symbolizing some solid and unchanging emotions.

Superman looked at the flowers carefully, and then stuffed the printed paper with the message under the flowers: "That's it. Don't worry, ordinary people can't touch this flower, and Xibi Da will come back to take it away."

Morgan described the current situation of the detective, the situation of the Universe, and the dilemma faced by Hercule on the paper. She suggested that Hibida go to the universe to relax, maybe she could meet her old friend when she came back. After confirming that there was nothing to add, she looked back at the yellow stamens trembling in the wind and the dark red bloodstains that seemed to be fixed under the rocks. After hesitating for a long time, she still said nothing and left silently with Superman.

After she left, a black cat skillfully jumped to a high place in three or two steps and stopped in front of the flower. It squatted on the ground and read the words on the paper, with a calmness unique to intelligent creatures on its face.

Morgan's message was not long, but it read it for a long time, motionless during the period, only the whiskers on its cheeks trembled with the wind at the same frequency as the stamens of the flowers in front of it. Then it used its claws to wrap the paper and rolled up the flower in its mouth, jumped lightly off the ruins, and looked at the place where the bloodstains remained like Morgan.

For a few seconds, it took a few steps towards the place where Hercule had slept.

In the distance, the sound of an excavator engine came. It was the Egyptian government sending people to clean up the mess. The black cat's ears moved slightly, and its raised front paws stopped in the air. Its tail flicked twice, and then it suddenly turned around and disappeared at the end of the path like a ghost.