Chapter 145: The Modern Marvels Exposition
In the narrow alley, the scrawny Steve was knocked to the ground by a punch from the burly man in front of him. The right hook was powerful, and judging from the man's stance, he had some fighting experience.
Steve took the punch head-on, rubbed his cheek, and pushed himself up.
The punch was so heavy that blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he could even feel his teeth slightly loosened.
Staggering to his feet, before his thin arms could even clench into fists and raise to his chest, that massive fist slammed down again!
With a thud, Steve staggered backward, knocking over a trash can behind him.
He seized the opportunity to grab the trash can lid, hoping the next punch would hit it. Even the hardest fist is still made of flesh—hitting metal would hurt, and that would be his chance to retaliate.
But the man didn't foolishly swing his fist at the lid. Instead, he grabbed both sides of it, snatched it away with a slight pull, tossed the lid aside, and then punched Steve to the ground again!
"Ha... ha..."
Steve's mouth gaped open as he took another two punches to the left cheek, the bones feeling like they might be dislocated.
He tried to stand up, but his head was spinning.
His vision was too blurry, so he had to close one eye to see clearly.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" The burly man was getting tired. Honestly, he only wanted to teach the scrawny guy a lesson, not kill him, but he hadn't expected this kid to be so damn persistent.
"I can do this all day!" The scrawny guy was stubborn as hell, swinging his weak fist as he slowly charged forward—only for his left cheek to slam precisely into the burly man's iron fist.
He was knocked to the ground again.
This time, Steve, lying on the ground, could barely move. The burly man, letting out a long breath, was considering whether to land a couple more punches to knock him out completely when a voice sounded behind him.
"Excuse me, is one of you Steve Rogers?"
The voice sounded young and energetic.
The burly man turned his head and saw a little girl who looked only about twelve or thirteen years old. She was wearing a black dress and holding a black cat, looking oddly out of place in the dirty alley.
"I am..." Steve, lying on the ground, tried to raise his hand, but he didn't open his eyes. He needed to catch his breath.
"So who are you?" The little girl tilted her head to look at the burly man, and the black cat in her arms mirrored the gesture.
"Little girl, you'd better get lost," the burly man sneered. "My business with this runt isn't finished yet. Be careful you don't get blood splattered on that nice dress."
"No!" she refused without hesitation.
Then she looked at the burly man with clear disapproval, and the black cat's gaze turned equally hostile.
The burly man felt uneasy under their stares and opened his mouth to shout, "I said get out of here!"
But to his surprise, this shout didn't frighten them—instead, the gazes of both girl and cat turned dangerous.
Steve struggled to his feet. He'd heard the burly man's roar and, fearing for the little girl's safety, forced himself to stand.
Another scream—this time from the burly man.
Leaning against the wall, Steve finally managed to get upright.
He struggled to open his eyes, a relieved smile spreading across his battered face as he saw the scene before him. "Bucky!"
His best friend Bucky Barnes, dressed in his Army uniform, stood at the alley entrance watching him.
"What happened to you?" Bucky rushed over to support his friend. "This guy beat you up?" He pointed to the ground.
Following his gesture, Steve saw the burly man who had assaulted him now lying unconscious on the pavement.
"Thanks for saving me, Buck."
"Saved you?" Bucky asked, puzzled. "I just got here. When did I save you?"
"If you didn't save me, then who did?" Steve looked around. "And where did that little girl go?"
He didn't see Matilda anywhere, though he'd clearly heard her voice.
"A little girl?" Bucky shook his head. His tan Army uniform fit his muscular frame perfectly, giving him that classic all-American soldier look—something Steve desperately wished he could pull off.
"There's no little girl here. When I got here, only you two were in this alley."
The matter ended there. The mysterious little girl—Steve never got to properly meet her.
While Steve was agonizing over how to get another chance to enlist, elsewhere...
"You should have seen it, Princess!" Matilda exclaimed excitedly to the black cat. "That big guy! I knocked him out with just two kicks!"
"He went down so easily—he couldn't even handle my attacks!"
"And it was so cool! I traveled through time and saved the future Captain America!"
Suddenly, she paused, then turned to Jake. "That was really Captain America, right?"
"If he answered to the name Steve Rogers, there shouldn't be anyone else around here with that name," Jake replied from the driver's seat.
"Yes!" The little girl got the answer she wanted and cheered excitedly.
Just as Matilda was basking in the excitement of having saved the future Captain America, Jake turned the steering wheel and headed in another direction.
He was about to pursue his primary objective for coming to this world.
The thought of Steve Rogers reminded Jake of something he'd read before coming here—the original intel on Project Rebirth and the Super Soldier Program. The information was valuable, not only for what it could create but also for understanding the technology that would eventually spawn both heroes and threats in this timeline.
He needed to be prepared. After all, he hadn't come here just to ride Captain America's coattails.
That Night...
"Welcome to the Modern Marvels Exposition! See the world of tomorrow—a bigger, better world, today!"
As soon as Jake entered the exposition hall with Matilda, she immediately started dragging him around. The girl's curiosity was simply boundless, and some of the technology on display was considered futuristic not only for this era but would remain impressive even seventy years from now.
For example, after a series of flashy choreographed dances by showgirls, Howard Stark began introducing his latest invention to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, microphone in hand, striking his signature playboy pose, "what if I told you that in just a few years, your automobile won't even need to touch the ground at all?"
Several scantily clad dancers removed the decorative tires from the car on display.
Howard Stark continued with a confident smile, "With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology, you can make it a reality!"
With a flourish, he pressed a series of buttons, and the audience gasped as the car on stage actually began to float up slowly!
Could it be that the age of hovercars had arrived?
However, the demonstration was short-lived. The car suddenly dropped to the ground with a loud crash, wires short-circuited, sparks flew everywhere, and the vehicle slammed down hard.
The demonstration had failed, but the audience didn't hold back their applause. The very idea of cars without tires was revolutionary enough—the fact that a working prototype even existed was astounding!
"I did say 'a few years,' didn't I?" Howard said without the slightest hint of embarrassment, flashing his trademark grin.
While Iron Man's father was showing off, Jake gave Matilda a few instructions, telling her to explore on her own, and at the same time told the black cat, "Keep her out of trouble, Princess."
However, there were quite a few people nearby, and several of them noticed Jake's gesture and the black cat's responsive nod, showing surprised expressions.
Was that... could that cat actually understand him?
Ignoring their startled reactions, Jake had already made his way to a recruitment booth in the exposition hall, where he quickly located the researcher behind the Super Soldier Serum—Dr. Abraham Erskine.
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