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Chapter 113 - Chapter 113 - The Key

Ten-odd minutes later, inside the restaurant at the Ritz Hotel in London, Josh and Peggy Carter were seated opposite each other.

The Ritz was one of the most upscale hotels in London during that era, established in 1904, and it also had a sister hotel of the same name in Paris.

However, both of these hotels now actually belonged to Josh.

Besides these two, Josh had also been acquiring high-end hotels in major cities across Europe and America, preparing to establish a luxury international hotel chain.

Firstly, it could be a very lucrative business in itself, and secondly, it could also serve as a network of intelligence outposts Josh could set up around the world.

Of course, that was something only Josh needed to know—there was no need to show off in front of Carter at the moment.

"Speaking of which, I never got the chance to thank you for what you did for Bucky!" After they sat down and ordered a little food, Carter offered her thanks to Josh. "Bucky was arguably the person Steve cared about most in this world, so Steve always held deep regret about Bucky's fall off the cliff. It's just a shame…he'll never see him again."

"There's no need to thank me. Putting aside the fact that Steve and I were friends, Bucky himself is our hero. As an American, this is something I should do!" Josh waved it off casually.

"That's true. After all, you three are the real compatriots." Carter smiled slightly. Only then did she realize—Josh, Steve, and Bucky were all Americans, and she, a Brit, was technically a foreigner.

"And as for the person Steve cared about the most in this world—maybe it was Bucky once, but now, I think we can add one more name." Josh said with a meaningful smile.

Carter smiled faintly without replying. She naturally understood Josh's implication, but what was the point of bringing it up now? The person was already gone.

"By the way, you mentioned you had something about Steve you wanted to discuss—what is it exactly?" Carter shifted the topic.

"Ah, look at my memory. It's nothing major... just this!" Josh reached into his chest as if to pull something out, but in reality, he retrieved an envelope from the system warehouse and handed it to Carter.

"What is this?" Carter asked in surprise as she took it. Inside was a key.

"This is the key to Steve's apartment in Brooklyn, New York," Josh explained.

"What? Steve's apartment key? How did you...?" Carter was clearly taken aback.

"The reason is simple. That apartment was originally rented. When Steve enlisted, he paid the rent in full, but after the news of his death reached the U.S., the landlord tried to auction it off at a high price using Steve's name. I happened to hear about it and simply bought the whole building!" Josh explained casually. "Originally, I intended to give the key to Bucky. But since I ran into you today, I figured giving it to you might be just as good."

Josh wasn't lying about this.

In his past life, Josh had read a lot of fanfiction where Captain America returned to live in his old Brooklyn home after waking up.

But judging from the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it was clear Cap was actually living in Washington D.C.—though maybe he moved there after the events of the first Avengers movie.

Even so, holding onto that thought, while attending a council meeting previously, Josh had taken the opportunity to inquire about the location of Cap's supposed childhood home and decided to go take a look.

It might've seemed odd—a Hydra agent visiting the home of Hydra's greatest nemesis—but Josh went anyway.

What he learned from his contacts in the Blackwater Gang was that Cap's family had rented that apartment from the start.

Although Cap's father was said to be a WWI hero who died from mustard gas, which had inspired Cap's admiration and desire to enlist, Josh's research revealed the truth: Joseph Rogers did die, but calling him a hero was an exaggeration.

Cap's parents were Irish immigrants who came to the U.S. early in WWI.

Their life trajectory was similar to Vito's parents in The Godfather—utter poverty, unable to afford even a modest home.

Joseph Rogers could only work manual labor jobs to support the family and had even dabbled in the local Irish mafia.

Later, when Steve's mother got pregnant, Joseph took the risk to enlist in the army, hoping to earn more money and provide a better life for their unborn child.

The U.S. only joined the war near its end, and the entire army was just 300,000 strong. They hastily drafted four million men, gave them minimal training, and shipped them to the front lines.

Joseph went to Europe in early 1918, fought his first battle in May, got hit by mustard gas, and died shortly after. Steve was born in July, a posthumous child.

If someone like Joseph—an alcoholic with criminal ties, who enlisted purely for money and never earned any real merits—could be called a war hero, then "hero" had become a very cheap term.

Steve's mother deliberately portrayed Joseph as a hero so that Steve would have a role model.

Joseph Rogers' only real contribution was leaving behind a modest pension.

But what Steve likely never knew was that his mother never received that money.

Why? Because the U.S. government defaulted on it.

Not only did they withhold the pensions of many fallen soldiers, they also tried to avoid paying salaries to WWI veterans. This led to the famous Bonus Army March during the Great Depression.

In 1932, tens of thousands of WWI veterans gathered outside the Capitol to demand their pay, only to be violently suppressed by the active U.S. military. Several veterans and two children (family members of the protestors) were killed, and thousands were injured.

Afterward, the government labeled the protestors as communist criminals.

There was a strange historical twist to this event.

Among the officers who led the suppression were three men who would become famous in WWII: Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Patton.

Eisenhower and Patton were relatively cautious and initially avoided using violence.

But the highest-ranking of the three was MacArthur, who also had the toughest stance. He disobeyed President Hoover's orders and forced Eisenhower and Patton to use violence on the protesting veterans.

Ironically, among the protestors was a future U.S. president—Harry Truman.

Truman had been a WWI veteran and company commander, and at the time of the protest, he was a judge in Jackson County, Missouri. He and his old comrades joined the march—and nearly got run over by a tank under MacArthur's command at the Capitol steps.

So, the animosity between MacArthur and Truman arguably began at that very moment.

Because the U.S. government reneged on its promises, Steve's mother had to raise him alone through her own hard work.

To earn more money, she even worked as a nurse in the terrifying tuberculosis wards—and ultimately died from the disease.

Steve, growing up in such a harsh environment, suffered from malnutrition and ended up with asthma, scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, and a host of other ailments.

Under such economic circumstances, owning a home? Not possible.

Even a tiny Brooklyn apartment in what was then a slum was out of reach.

If Steve hadn't befriended Bucky as a child, he might not have survived at all—compared to Steve, Bucky's family was far better off. They weren't rich, but solidly middle-class.

You could see the difference in Captain America: The Winter Soldier from their drastically different clothing styles.

Thanks to Bucky's support, Steve managed to survive that long.

That nearly brother-like relationship was why Cap cared so deeply for Bucky.

By contrast, Cap's friendship with Howard Stark and his son was just that—friendship.

No wonder in Civil War, Steve was willing to hurt Tony in order to protect Bucky.

People are selfish. When it comes to what truly matters to them, even someone like Cap isn't immune.

"Thank you, Josh. I never knew his childhood was so rough," Peggy Carter said as she stared at the key in her hand. "I'll find a way to repay you for the building."

Yes, although Carter was Cap's lover and believed she knew his character well, she had never heard these stories about his upbringing.

From the sound of it, except for the brief period when he became Captain America, Steve didn't really have a good life.

"Talking money with me? That's no fun. Or is it that you don't really see me as a friend?" Josh said, pretending to be displeased.

"Haha, true. You're a wealthy tycoon—probably not short of a building. Then I won't be polite. I'm heading to the U.S. next week anyway, so I won't need to find a place to stay."

"Oh? You're going to New York next week?" Josh was a little surprised.

He knew Carter would eventually go to the U.S.—how else would S.H.I.E.L.D. get founded?—but he didn't expect it so soon.

"Yes, it's not a secret. With the war ending, the Strategic Scientific Reserve is being recalled to the U.S., and naturally, I'm going too. This trip back to the UK is just to say goodbye to my family—my sister-in-law and nephew," Carter explained. But as soon as she finished speaking, she noticed Josh staring at her with a strange look and asked, "Is there something on my face?"

"Oh, nothing. I just suddenly remembered something else." Josh laughed awkwardly, then said, "I've heard about your brother. He was a hero."

Actually, when Carter mentioned her sister-in-law, Josh suddenly recalled a joke from his past life about Peggy and Sharon Carter.

In the Chinese version of the Avengers films, Sharon was translated as Peggy's niece.

But Sharon clearly looks thirty-something during the Avengers era, while Peggy is over ninety.

Peggy only had one brother, who died during WWII, leaving behind a posthumous child.

So Peggy should only have one nephew—no niece.

Then how did Sharon Carter come into the picture?

Josh had puzzled over this in his past life too. Eventually, he learned it was a translation error.

In English, "aunt" can refer to any female elder—including great-aunts.

So the mystery was solved: Sharon Carter wasn't Peggy's niece, but her grandniece.

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