Chapter 1573

Long Island is located in the eastern part of New York State and has two districts, Queens and Brooklyn, both of which belong to New York City. Because of its special geographical conditions and superior location, it is known as "New York's backyard."

Arkham Asylum is actually located within the Long Island area. There are many mansions, red wine estates, and fine sand beaches of the wealthy here. It is the first choice for New York's rich for weekend vacations and is a quite good summer resort.

Of course, in winter, the large and small rivers and lakes here become a paradise for ice fishing enthusiasts. There are a wide variety of bass, trout, and pike, which are the easiest for fishing enthusiasts to take out and show off.

The landscape of interlaced lakes and mountains also avoids the loneliness brought by the boundless ice sheet, and the distant mountains, rendered like ink, give people a sense of surprise at seeing cold and clear vitality in the depths of winter.

The location Nick and his group chose was a lakeside cabin by a small lake in the western part of Long Island. Compared to those famous parks where crowds gather, this place was more remote and quieter.

Around 3:00 PM, when the daylight was still bright, they took an electric snowmobile operated by locals to the cabin. At sunset, they tidied up the rest area by the shore, set up windbreaks to resist strong winds, arranged folding chairs, and then piled up a campfire with stones in the surroundings.

These were mostly done by Natasha and Ivan Vanko. Russians really know too well how to dig a nest that can be used for rest on a snowfield.

Although the shore here wasn't actually frozen, the cold stored in the large patches of pebbles caused the light snow that fell in the morning to have long since melted into streams, sinking deep into the ground and disappearing. What remained were dry and cold grass stalks and some bent reeds.

Magneto, Erik Lensherr, wore a thick long trench coat, which was out of place with the others wearing windbreakers. He used his gloved hand to push aside the grass stalks blocking his eyes, walked step by step onto the somewhat dry shore, and discovered a wild duck's nest there.

"They probably went to the grass clump to forage." Steve sat in his wheelchair, took off his thick gloves that made his palms sweat, and frowned with great dissatisfaction at Erik, who was watching his movements.

"It's very cold there." Charles said, but it didn't sound like a rebuttal, more like a sigh.

Erik immediately grinned and stopped talking. He squatted on the ground, his arms resting on his knees, his hands hanging down naturally, and then turned his head to look at the two people standing in the distance.

"You can just say that not bringing Tony Stark along was a bad idea." Nick snorted and said: "He would use a two-thousand-word long essay to criticize our tableware as worthless."

"It looks like the meal is almost ready, we should go over." Steve turned his wheelchair again and said: "Don't let everyone wait for us, that's not polite."

"Because I'm a German."

"He took his drawing board, paints, and stool to the other end of the forest to find inspiration. There is no fishing activity tonight. Perhaps he won't be able to come back until it gets dark."

"Are you saying that because you're a Jew?"

"There's nothing new here. Right?" Ivan smiled and said: "There are neither young people or things, nor is there a heart that must chase new trends."

"I am quite repulsed by any high-collared clothes. I feel it will strangle me to death." Nick said this, flicked the collar of his windbreaker with his finger, and said: "But a jacket like this is fine, as long as it doesn't touch my neck."

"You know where the Yenisei River turns, right? Oznachennoye Village, I was born there. Later I followed my father to a direction further east, and along the way, I also went to Siberia."

"The solo adventure ends here, Charles. We should go back and report this surprising discovery to them." Erik turned his wheelchair around as well. Regardless of whether Charles followed behind him, he walked back on his own and said: "Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see wild ducks or geese returning to their nests."

"The geese flew away long ago." Charles said quite uninterestingly: "Migratory birds aren't loyal to their nests, and wild ducks just don't have that ability."

They soon sat down on the fishing stools by the campfire. And not too early or too late, Natasha and Erik returned together. The drawing board Erik was carrying was full of dew turned from frost, and his eyebrows were too.

Charles's brow, like the clouds before sunset behind him, suddenly dispersed. His straight back was more like a tall green pine against the light, cold and firm.

Metal lunch boxes are essential tableware for camping, and no one present had any objection to this retro-styled iron lunch box. Only Ivan said when handing the lunch box to Nick: "If Peter came here, he would definitely scream for a long time and ask if we took this from a museum."

"Every person who underestimated that place paid a painful price, Hitler especially." Shiler continued: "The lightning of Europe arrived here, was tripped by the heavy snow of the cold winter, and broke its leg."

Saying this, he walked over. Natasha simply fished out a knife from her waist and stabbed it into the bottom of the luncheon meat can. That piece of damn meat, which had been stuck tight, finally fell into the pot.

Ivan turned his head and saw Erik and Professor X chatting together, which was actually quite shocking.

"Then I'll engrave 'Manufactured by Stark Industries Group' on the bottom of the lunch box." Erik used a fork to press the cabbage leaves that were flying out back into the bowl and said: "I'll show it to him after he finishes his thesis."

After a while, a cold wind from the cold air blew over from the campsite. Natasha had already left. It was Ivan who was watching the food in the pot, staring at the luncheon meat that occasionally flipped out of the red tomato soup.

"You didn't say that when you attacked the Soviet Union in the winter back then."

The two walked to the stools by the campfire and sat down. Nick lit a cigarette, pursed his lips to hold it, then took off his right boot and smashed it hard against the ground.

"Fine, I admit he's a real man." Erik stood up, patted the dust off his hands, and said: "I'm going to talk to him. It's better than talking to that Captain America."

Erik looked at Charles with some worry, but couldn't see any expression on his face. The atmosphere fell silent, but it wasn't awkward. After a few minutes, Charles said: "Most of the decisions he made in his life were stupid. People who think he is a genius are the real idiots."

"That's rare." Shiler lowered his head and said while lighting a cigarette in an unclear tone: "I thought every defeated country would only hate us for not succeeding back then."

"Where is our captain?" He asked again: "We can't do without him. When we were fishing by the Hudson River back then, only he could catch the big fish that Howard and I caught but could pull us down to the ground with their powerful tails."

Anyone who can insert themselves into that pair of resentful lovers must be quite lacking in self-awareness and not know how to read the room. Shiler happened to possess both, but rarely, they actually chatted quite well.

Natasha rolled her eyes and said: "Borscht means whatever is available. Do you want me to carry a cow over?"

Erik said nothing, nor was there any sign of anger. He looked gentle, unlike him. And Shiler soon said the second half of the sentence: "If a person can meet someone who truly replaces their parents in the second half of their life, it's unknown how lucky they are."

Natasha threw the chopped vegetables into the pot all at once, then desperately squeezed the tomatoes. Ivan leaned over and asked: "Is this Borscht? But why is there luncheon meat in it?"

"Yes, there is no place in my hometown that is hot." Shiler also didn't avoid it at all and said: "Always have to wear thick cotton clothes and shoes, walking clumsily like a penguin, but we got used to it early on."

Thus, Charles followed behind him and walked back. And Shiler and Erik, who stood up last, grinned side-by-side, revealing that mouthful of not-so-good teeth, and said: "He still treats him like a big baby."

"That's just because we aren't afraid of the cold."

"Don't describe it like that, lady. Tomorrow his soup will have delicious fish meat." Nick raised his tone like a chant and said: "Only the biggest and best fish can have the honor of dying at her hands."

"But according to my understanding of him." Natasha turned the rectangular lunch box in her hand, let out a hiss, looked up at Erik, and said: "He will say it's a birthday gift he prepared for you, to show his trendy sexual orientation, preferring to die rather than draw a line with us old guys."

Erik casually placed the drawing board at the entrance of the windbreak wall, walked over, and sat on the folding stool. Nick extinguished the second cigarette in his hand. Ivan took out bowls and chopsticks from his travel bag and distributed tableware to everyone.

"It's not considered new." Shiler said: "But Russia isn't new either."

"Then you, and Germans like you." Nick looked at Ivan and then at Magneto in the distance, saying: "You choose to wear a trench coat to show off in sub-zero temperatures. I can only say very good, you won. You made us all look like roly-poly toys in a circus."

"I'm referring to me and Erik... if you don't mind."

Shiler squatted on the shore of the reed marsh and continued: "Of course there is also Lake Baikal, bottomless. That is the real good place for ice fishing."

"I just hope we can really eat fish tomorrow." Natasha shook her head and said: "But don't count on you guys, never."

"I will tell him yes." Erik said with a smile while serving soup to everyone: "I will say this often used to be displayed on national tours with your shield."

What made Erik and Shiler a bit surprised was that Charles didn't deny that point. His attitude was too calm, even making people unable to figure it out.

"Good God, spare me!"

"That German guy is back." Erik, who was squatting at the other end of the campfire, said to Natasha in Russian: "It seems he didn't get back the money others owed him. His face is still so ugly."

His eyesight was very good, so he could see that when Erik took off the pair of long gloves on his hands, a string of numbers was exposed on the inside of his arm. That was branded on, a very typical number from a concentration camp.

"Don't say that." Natasha spoke Russian more gently. Those breathy sounds and rich trills made the tone sound not as straightforward as her usual Russian-style English.

The two struggled through the reed marsh and returned to the campsite. At this time, Natasha was putting the aluminum pot she brought onto the fire, squatting by the campfire, and trying to pat the luncheon meat out of the box quite violently.

"The vast majority are like this."

Very soon, Ivan and Nick, who went to find a suitable fishing spot, returned. Nick wore a dark blue windbreaker, and his boots were higher than anyone else's. He was constantly explaining the importance of keeping warm to Ivan, who was only wearing a trench coat, but Ivan clearly didn't listen to a word.

"I can already imagine his expression when he's choked." Erik laughed uncontrollably.

Nick laughed, as if he had been choked. He looked down at the lunch box that hadn't been served yet and said: "Has that really aged to the point where it makes children have associations like antiques?"

"I told you he is a firm anti-Nazi fighter." Natasha squeezed the luncheon meat can impatiently and said: "Maybe it's hard for you to imagine, but he was in a concentration camp."