"Morning..."
Bucky had just watched the nanny, who was taking Skye to school, disappear around the corner of the hallway. Before he could turn around, he saw his neighbor's door open.
Maria Hill, with slightly disheveled hair and faint dark circles under her eyes, glared at Bucky with an annoyed expression.
"Welcome, please come in, make yourself at home."
Bucky watched Hill, who, after glaring at him, walked straight past him into his home, and politely addressed the empty air, feeling a bit silly.
She's really angry, is it morning grumpiness or is it that time of the month?
"Want some breakfast? Coffee? Hey, is there something on my face?"
Seeing Hill remain silent, just glaring at him, Bucky looked helpless.
He had only scared that boss last night and didn't actually kill him in the end, so why did Hill look so angry, as if the consequences would be severe?
But then he thought, from Hill's perspective, she thought they were going to do something big, but ended up being tricked into illegally breaking into a private residence, intentionally causing harm, robbery, kidnapping, intimidation, illegal torture…
Even if the victims were scum who deserved to be shot, as a maintainer of law, a guardian of justice, and an enforcer against evil, she had become a lawbreaker, and the criminal was herself.
Special Agent Hill returned home in the middle of the night, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep. She couldn't get past that hurdle in her mind, no matter how she thought about it.
So, early in the morning, she found the culprit and wanted to have a talk with Bucky.
But she saw Bucky acting as if nothing had happened, ignoring her critical gaze, humming a tune while making her breakfast. A lump formed in her throat, and for a moment, she forgot what she wanted to say.
Bucky was genuinely in a good mood.
Last night's outing completed a daily bounty mission. Moreover, he defeated over a dozen enemies, who were armed thugs deemed dangerous by the system. The surprise attack was easily handled in one go, and he gained a lot—
"System Information: Completed daily bounty, gained 600 experience points, received Random Item Box (Normal) *2;"
"Opened Random Item Box: Obtained White Normal Component *15;"
"Opened Random Item Box: Obtained White Normal Component *5, Green Excellent Component *5."
What's more, Bucky had also identified a new target, a bigger fish.
"This is wrong."
After all, she had been busy all night, and smelling the aroma of blueberry pancakes and cream, Hill still picked up her knife and fork.
But as she ate, she also uttered that sentence.
"What's wrong with it? Is it that the person shouldn't be punished, or that the world became worse after he was punished?"
"...But, but that's not the right path or means. You are destroying law and order. You are not the police, much less a judge. You are also abusing vigilante justice."
"If I were the police, or a judge, could I still do that? Would that gang have been busted last night?"
"...You're just arguing. There's always another way."
"Instead of thinking of other ways, which you might not even come up with, why not use that time to do something practical, like I did?"
"So you are the correct one, and law and order are wrong?"
"Isn't that *your* sophistry? Law and order aren't wrong, it's just that there are places they can't reach. And where they can't reach, I have the ability to manage, so I went and managed it. Honestly, I haven't really thought about right or wrong. If you say it's wrong, then it's wrong, but so what? I'll still keep doing it."
"But…"
At this time, Hill was just a twenty-year-old young woman, at an age where she was stubborn, believing that her own sense of justice was the only justice.
"No more 'buts,' you've poked holes in the pancake. Here, bacon and eggs. Eat up, then go catch up on some sleep, and then we still have to go out."
"You! I'm not a child!"
Seeing Bucky not only coax her, not argue with her, but also domineeringly end the topic, and not only that, but also continue to order her around?
Hill's cheeks flushed with anger, and she gnawed at the fried bacon with gritted teeth, treating it as someone to vent her frustration on.
However, despite her anger, the fact was that Hill still had to listen to Bucky, because her mission was to follow Bucky and not restrict his actions.
On the streets of Brooklyn, Bucky drove a silver-gray Ford Mustang, not very fast, aimlessly wandering.
Hill sat in the passenger seat. No one spoke, only the car radio played melodious music, creating a contrast with the noisy urban environment outside, as if they were in two different worlds.
Hill naturally wouldn't change her mind just because of Bucky's verbal assault. In fact, she was still holding a grudge, always looking for an opportunity to argue with Bucky.
Bucky also ignored Hill. As long as he didn't feel awkward, the atmosphere would only be awkward for others.
"Look over there."
However, just as Hill was about to find something to pick on, Bucky slowed down and pointed his hand out the window on Hill's side.
Hill was startled and looked in the direction of his finger.
She saw two African-American boys, who looked about sixteen or seventeen and were dressed in flashy clothes, gathered with two White boys of similar age in the alley between two residential buildings.
Hill saw clearly, just as the African-American boy handed a small plastic bag of "tobacco leaves" to the White boy.
"Not far from here, there's a school. I believe they are all students from that school."
Upon hearing this, Hill instantly fell silent.
It wasn't that she didn't know, or hadn't seen it before; she just hadn't been moved by it in this way.
"Look, there's another spot."
The car drove only five or six hundred meters when, next to a donut shop's dumpster, an African-American boy was selling a very small, thin paper packet to a pair of African-American sisters.
"You see, what we did yesterday, though not glorious, at least, today on this street, there will be a dozen fewer similar scenes. Perhaps, someone will thus avoid touching this stuff out of mere curiosity, or perhaps, someone will avoid getting into a car accident because of it and hitting innocent people, or perhaps…"
"I know what you want to say, no need to say more."
Hill had a belly full of words, plenty of rebuttals, but for some reason, she suddenly didn't want to say them anymore.
"Then let's see."
Bucky continued to drive with Hill, following the route they had learned last night, which was the jurisdiction of the largest African-American gang in Brooklyn.
The closer they got to the core area, the more gang members they saw, either with several teenage boys like the ones before, distributing goods to them, or selling themselves, or in groups of three to five, staring at several alluring women standing on the street corners in the distance…
They were all quite diligent, not idle street loafers.
As they drove and observed, Bucky didn't need to say much more. Hill once again fell into silent mode.
"I'm not trying to convince you all at once, but I will definitely stick to my methods. You can't stop me, so I thought, at least I can make you feel a little less resistant. But if you still can't get past it, I can also say hello to Howard."
"No need, but…"
ADVANCE CHAPTER AVAILABLE IN PATREON
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