I Became Spider-Man's Cousin in Anime Crossover

Chapter 322 Don't do anything foolish before I arrive.

The moment Bucky finished speaking, Steve felt as if his brain had been struck by lightning! His entire body trembled violently!

That sound!

That tone!

This content!

It was the World's Fair held by Howard Stark in 1943!

This was before Steve underwent the super soldier transformation, when he was still that skinny, sickly guy whom everyone looked down upon.

Before heading to the battlefield, Bucky worried that after he left, no one would continue to protect Steve and help him get rid of the trouble of being bullied.

Amidst the noisy crowd, he put his arm around Steve's shoulder, whispered in Steve's ear, and solemnly gave him his advice in a tone like an older brother.

"Don't do anything foolish before I get back!"

The past and the present, two scenes from different times and spaces, overlap at this moment.

Every syllable, every intonation, is perfectly accurate!

The immense impact instantly covered Steve's azure eyes with a layer of scalding steam, blurring his vision.

He didn't even realize that he had removed his nano helmet, revealing a face filled with shock, ecstasy, and disbelief.

"...How could I possibly do that? You've taken away all my foolishness."

Steve blurted it out almost without thinking, his voice hoarse with excitement.

He subconsciously used the stubborn rebuttal of that little Brooklyn boy from back then, but this time his tone was filled with immense relief and joy.

"Wow, you really dare to say that, you reckless and impulsive fool."

"You're not much better than me, you're just a fool who always makes me worry."

The verbal sparring, the familiar insults, and the old camaraderie surged forth like a tidal wave, instantly shattering all of Steve's dam of reason. Without any further hesitation, he staggered forward, almost staggering, with a brute force as if to knock the other man over!

And so, Steve opened his arms wide, disregarding the grime and blood on Bucky's body, and gave Bucky a tight hug!

At the same time, Bucky's body, in the initial instant, was knocked back a step by Steve, and his muscles visibly tensed.

That was the lingering cold reflex of the Winter Warrior program, the body's instinctive wariness of a sudden approach from an external object.

But this vigilance lasted for less than half a second.

Immediately, an indescribable warm current, seemingly from the deepest part of his soul, mixed with an immense, almost overwhelming sense of exhaustion, surged in like a tsunami, instantly shattering the icy shell of the "Winter Warrior."

Even through the nanotech suit, Bucky could clearly feel Steve's heart pounding like a war drum beneath his broad chest, a testament to the joy and lingering fear of their long-awaited reunion.

The feeling was so warm. It was like a pair of strong, powerful hands that had dragged him out of the unimaginable abyss of darkness imposed by Hydra!

So, after pausing for a moment, struggling to suppress the instinctive urge to attack under the Winter Soldier program, Bucky, with noticeable awkwardness, raised his intact and relatively clean left hand and gently placed it on Steve's violently heaving back. He patted it lightly, just as he had in the past, silently announcing his return.

It was this physical contact that confirmed that the good brother he missed was real, not just a figment of his imagination.

After a long period of silence, Steve, still somewhat shaken, continued speaking in a muffled voice.

"...Bucky, I thought you were dead..."

In his speech, Steve, who was originally seen as a reliable and mature figure by outsiders, now acted like a big boy who had been lost for a long time and finally found his way home.

"Likewise, I thought you'd become a decrepit old man and be much shorter than you are now."

As a close brother who had shared life and death with Bucky, and the only comrade-in-arms he could rely on decades later, Bucky was also filled with mixed emotions at this moment.

However, from the moment he underwent the super soldier transformation, Steve's life was destined to no longer belong to him.

As a comrade-in-arms who had shared life and death, Bucky knew better than anyone what the title "Captain America" ​​and this face meant to this scarred nation and to countless people still searching for hope in the darkness.

That is a lighthouse, a symbol, a spiritual totem that cannot be tarnished.

This is precisely why Steve's face showed undisguised ecstasy and vulnerability after removing his helmet, and why he was covered in blood and gunpowder, as if he had just crawled out of hell...

These scenes are absolutely not suitable for an "outsider" to observe and interpret too much.

Thus, Bucky forcefully suppressed the complex emotions that were about to burst from his chest.

His left hand, which was resting on Steve's back, patted him gently, conveying a silent reassurance and reminder.

Then, Bucky took a small step back, creating some distance. His expression quickly changed, and the layer of ice that had just melted covered his face again.

But deep in his eyes, there was a familiar, mischievous glint that belonged to Bucky.

"Speaking of which, you really haven't changed at all, Steve... I told you, sometimes you just enjoy getting beaten up, right? These are just a few imposters modeled after you. It takes you this long to deal with them, and you even need help from others? Looks like your skills have deteriorated quite a bit, you need to go back to the drawing board, soldier."

As he spoke, Bucky raised his cold, metallic arm and, with his index finger knuckle, tapped Steve's chest lightly with the scrutiny of a veteran examining a new recruit.

Clearly, even with its self-repairing capabilities, the nanosuit inevitably suffered some damage after withstanding the combined attack of four Winter Warriors.

For example, when the nanobots that condensed into a tower shield reintegrated into various parts of the nanosuit, the faint traces of damage left behind, as if cut by a sharp blade, were visible.

"What...! I didn't, I just...!"

"You can argue with that. For this rescue operation, I specifically equipped the captain with the latest nanotech suit. I initially thought it was unnecessary, but now it seems quite essential."

"No, I...they...Ray...Spider-Man—!"

Bucky's merciless and scathing criticism was like a bucket of ice water, instantly snapping Steve out of his euphoria and emotion at their reunion. It made him quickly recall how, in the recent battle, his eagerness to save others, coupled with his loss of emotional control, had led to numerous unnecessary mistakes, causing him to repeatedly find himself at a disadvantage.

The embarrassing scene of lying on the ground, surrounded and attacked by four Winter Soldier, was now replaying uncontrollably in his mind, like a public execution.

This caused Steve's handsome face to turn red at a visible speed, all the way to his ears.

Her bright blue eyes widened, filled with the embarrassment of being publicly exposed, and she tried to defend herself with a mixture of shame and anger.

Unfortunately, Riley, that "shameless" guy, has always been someone who loves to stir up trouble.

Before Steve could even open his mouth to defend himself, Bucky took a few steps forward, shaking his head and speaking in a tone of utter disappointment, and started teasing Steve in the same way as Bucky.

So much so that Steve, who was honest by nature, was so frustrated by the two of them that his face turned red and he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

Finally, enraged, and meeting Bucky's mischievous gaze, he pounced on Riley, who had "kissed him while he was down," and a chase ensued in the cold storage.