[Comprehensive] Science and Magic

profit.Along the way, Laura didn't find any suspicious traces of magic, and all the guards looked like ordinary people rather than wizards.They found Minister Pierce who was tied to a chair and had fallen into a coma in a room. The team members were busy untying him, while Laura patrolled the room, trying to find something different.

There is a document spread out on the desk in the room.Laura turned on the lamp on the table and found the words "Iron Man" marked on the cover of the document.

"What did you find?" Steve said and leaned over.He also saw those three words, showing a dignified expression.

They both touched the document at the same time, trying to open it.

Just at that moment - there seemed to be a hook on Laura's navel.Laura suddenly realized what it was, but she couldn't shake off her hand, and could only watch her and Steve's feet leave the ground and fly up.

The author has something to say: Note ①: Refers to Serafina Pickrey, the speaker, who served from 1920 to 1928. She is a talented witch in the history of American magic. The statues of the four colleges when she was studying in Ilvermorny Rarely, they wanted to recruit her into their academy.

Note ②: Refers to Samuel G. Kouhaug, then President of the Magical Congress of America.

Chapter 45

Laura's feet hit the ground hard.She staggered two steps and fell headfirst on top of Steve.If Steve hadn't been quick enough to catch her and steady himself, they would both have been dragged to the ground by Laura.

"What's this?" Steve asked.Then he looked around and took off the shield on his back: "We are no longer on the ship."

The document labeled Iron Man was lying on the ground at the moment, and under the bright moonlight, it finally revealed its true face—it was blank inside.

"This is the Portkey." Laura swallowed dryly, took out her wand and clenched it tightly. "We fell for it."

They are at least thousands of kilometers away from their original location.The ship that hijacked Minister Pierce was sailing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and what they were stepping on now was a desert covered with sand.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Steve tried to call his teammates on the other side of the communicator, but there was no response.Seeing this situation, Laura also hurriedly took out the latest Stark mobile phone that Tony stuffed into her before leaving, trying to contact Jarvis.

Steve frowned and said, "It's useless, all the signals are blocked."

A great panic swept over Laura.She had a more ominous premonition, from the traces of magic left in Pierce's villa to the portkey with Iron Man's name on the ship, all these were traps set for her-and the person who set the trap must not be Will forget another spell.

She grabbed Steve's arm and yelled, "Apparate!"

It really didn't work.The suppressed feeling didn't come from the blood, her magic was flowing at the moment - it was this place, with the anti-Apparition spell.

Under the unusually bright moonlight, Laura and Steve were walking in the desert.Laura occasionally casts a guiding charm to get directions, and Steve has considerable experience in wilderness survival.

But the problem is not walking in the wilderness at night.

First of all, they have to think twice about every step they take, for fear of encountering another trap; secondly, they not only have to watch their feet and identify the direction, but also guard against possible sudden attacks from all sides.

Someone went to great lengths to lure Laura to this place, not just to watch a scene of Laura walking in the wilderness.

Yes, Laura believed that the man's target was her, and that Steve who came with her was just an accident.

They walked sweating in the wilderness for almost three hours, and there was no other conversation except to analyze the situation when they first landed.

Now, a few more steps, and they'll be in the woods.

Both Steve and Laura stopped in their tracks.

"Depending on where the moon is, it won't be bright for at least three to four hours," Steve said, looking up at the sky. "It's not wise to spend the night in the woods."

Laura agrees with that statement.The desert is at least surrounded by open space, although it exposes itself, it is easy to spot enemy attacks; and in the dense forest, there are many shadows, and no one knows what traps will be hidden under the shade.

They decided to rest fifty yards from the woods and wait for daylight.Laura cast a warning spell around them with her own sporadic spells, and they sat with their backs to each other's backs.

In this case, no one can sleep.The surroundings were terribly quiet, and Laura said softly:

"I'm sorry, Steve, for putting you in this situation."

"Don't be silly." Steve whispered, "I'm glad you're not alone in this situation."

The two were silent for a while, and Steve asked, "Do you have any clues about the secret enemy?"

Laura ran through all the wizards she knew and didn't know in her mind, and she had never had a personal feud with any wizard except William Paltrow.But even if it was Paltrow, Laura couldn't think of any reason for him to suddenly attack her.Ever since he was successfully attacked by Laura's petrification spell, he never appeared in Laura's sight.At the hearing a month ago, Paltrow, who had been promoted to one of the law enforcement committee members of the Magic Congress, still had no interaction with Laura.

Speaking of that hearing...

Laura's grip on her wand tightened again.

Minister Porter said he and the Speaker both thought there was something else in Laura's veins...something that wasn't appropriate for everyone to know...so he sealed the original video and what everyone in the hearing saw was processed version of.

But what if, besides them, someone else found Laura different?

But is she any different?Laura smiled wryly inside, could it be the kind of "different" that is about to become a Squib?

"I don't know..." Laura replied, "I can't think of it."

There was another unspeakable silence.

"Actually, I'm quite worried about you and Stark's current state." Steve said and sighed, "Lilian is also very worried about you. She said that you have been avoiding her, and you don't want to communicate with her. I don't want to meet. Stark hasn't moved at all this month."

The mention of Tony made Laura feel her heart throbbing even more.In that unstable state of mind, and then learned that she and Steve were missing-she promised him that she would come back to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning!

The more she tried to suppress her worries and thoughts about Tony, the clearer the impression of Tony in her mind became.Laura could seem to see Tony's messy hair that was neglected due to being busy with work, the black eyes caused by lack of sleep and overthinking, and even the neatly trimmed mustache that had lost its luster .She murmured, "Tony... he's in a very bad condition now."

Once the mouth is opened, the next words will be much smoother.Laura continued: "The New York War left him with a deep psychological shadow. Even though he has been active as Iron Man for more than two years, he... he is just an ordinary person after all. He is not a soldier, let alone a soldier. Agent, he's not used to facing the death of his friends..."

Laura raised her head and looked at the moon in the sky.The moon and stars are sparse, and the moon is particularly bright tonight, so there are no common stars around.She suddenly remembered that a long time ago, when she was just a spy arranged by S.H.I.E.L.D. for Tony, she once complimented Tony, saying that he was more dazzling than the stars in the sky.

"No... it's not just that. I shouldn't judge him by ordinary people's thinking." Laura raised the corners of her mouth, showing a faint smile that was both sad and proud: "He has always looked at him better than ordinary people." Farther. We have won the Battle of New York... But our victory is such a trivial coincidence in front of a more powerful universe. This time it is the Chitauri army, this time it is our luck... But what about the next time? Next What will we face this time? Next time... will we be so lucky?"

Will Tony still be so lucky?

Could it be that one day, even if Tony fights to the last moment, even if he sacrifices himself, he will not be able to protect everything he wants to protect?

The topic was so heavy that neither of them spoke another word until the sun rose above the horizon.

As soon as the sun rose, Steve and Laura resumed their journey.They walked a long way in the woods, and they were still within the range of the anti-apparition spell, and they couldn't communicate with the outside world.

Laura had only seen such a large-scale anti-spell range in Ilvermorny.But the terrain here is not the same as Ilvermorny, and Laura and Steve aren't even sure if they're still in the continental United States, because they haven't encountered anyone else so far.

The dense woods gradually thinned out, and when the terrain opened up again, they discovered the whereabouts of humans.

It looked like just a couple of No-Maj out camping.Dressed in costumes that look like something out of a cowboy western, they sit around an unlit bonfire, where a skinned rabbit is perched on a branch.

They were No-Majs because none of them had a wand to light a fire, which to wizards was just a matter of incantation: they seemed to be arguing over who was going to chop wood.

Steve and Laura lay quietly in the grass near them, trying to see if they could hear some key words.

The man in the cowboy hat sitting next to him said in English with a strange accent