Chapter 129: Geneva. 1934 CE

Four people were now standing in front of a convention hall in Geneva. It was not too crowded, but there are simple banners everywhere, pointing at the fact that right now, there is a conference inside.

The group then walked towards the building, and one man in the group was a bit nervous, seeing all the engineering geniuses enter the building. The four people were Pluto, Thena, Phastos, and lastly Howard Stark.

Stark’s palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, he’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready, to drop bom– you get the point…

“Look Stark.” said Pluto calmly. “This is it. Befriend many people here, so calm down.”

“I am calm Mr. Smith…” he said, trying to look calm.

“Doesn’t look calm in my eyes.” Thena shrugged.

“Just come on man, the conference is about to start.” Phastos said excitedly, walking to the hall, leaving the others.

Pluto sighed, looking at Thena who was also staring at Phastos in amusement, and all of them walked towards the building.

—

The Conference itself was boring, at least, in Thena’s and Pluto’s eyes. Phastos and Stark though were listening very carefully about what the speaker was saying, well, Phastos is more like judging them rather than trying to learn something, because he kind of knows what the men were talking about.

Stark brought a notebook with him, writing down countless notes for him to review later, which was amusing to say the least.

After the conference, there was a ‘party’, and the participants had room to talk. Phastos instantly disappeared from Pluto, so was Stark, leaving Thena and Pluto alone. They were only sitting on the corner, watching the scientists talking to themselves as they drank champagne that was given to them by the waiters.

Nobody really talked to them, well, because they hid themselves using a spell. Most of the people that want to talk to Pluto either want to try to make him invest in their projects, or flirt with Thena. Pluto is starting to regret coming to this place to be honest, it’s just a group of old men jerking each other, like it always were, although he saw someone interesting in the corner, he looked nervous.

Phastos came towards them, seemingly satisfied with what he just did, whatever it was. Phastos noticed that Pluto was looking at somebody, and asked.

“Who are you looking at?” he questioned, turning towards the direction Pluto was seeing.

“Dr. Abraham Erskine.” Pluto stated, drinking his champagne.

Phastos was surprised. “You mean the man who’s trying to develop the body enhancement serum?”

“So you know.” Pluto hummed.

“Of course I know, I keep in tabs with whatever technology that interests me…” Phastos snorted. “Want to talk to him?”

“Sure… if you want…”

The three then walked towards Erskine, and as he saw us walk to him, he flinched, but he kept his calm.

“Good evening.” Pluto greeted. “You must be Dr. Abraham Erskine.”

“Ah… yes…” Erskine coughed nervously. “And you are?”

“William Smith.” Pluto smiled. “This is my wife, Justina, and a friend of mine who has an interest in Engineering, Phillip.”

“Smith? As in Smith Enterprise?” Erskine said in surprise.

“Ah, well, yes…” said Pluto, coughing in embarrassment.

“To what do I owe the pleasure then Mr. Smith?” he questioned.

“My friend here is a fan of your work.” Pluto said, pointing at Phastos. As soon as Pluto mentioned ‘work’, his face filled with nervousness.

“Err, yes, I am a huge fan of your work Dr. Erskine.” said Phastos excitedly. “Tell me. How do you—”

Phastos barraged him with questions about how his serum works on the body. Erskine kept getting more and more nervous as he heard the questions, and he paled as he looked at someone between the crowd.

Pluto turned towards the crowd, and saw a man with a military uniform, with a Nazi armband around his arm.

“Are you okay, Dr. Erskine?” questioned Phastos in worry.

Erskine wiped his cold sweat as he snapped back to reality. “Err… yes… I’m fine, Gentlemen, my lady, I’m afraid my time here is short, I must part with you right now…”

“Ah… that’s a shame.” Thena smiled, also noticing the Nazi soldier around the hall.

“Well, if you excuse me…” he murmured, walking away from Phastos and the others.

“Should we… help him? A soldier stalking him doesn’t sound good…” Phastos stated, frowning.

“He doesn’t want to be helped, it seems,” said Pluto calmly. “Let him be. Another group will save him, probably.”

Pluto then turned towards Stark, who was talking to the wives of the scientists, even some female scientists as well. He was flirting with them all, like father like son.

“Are you sure you’ll invest in his company?” Thena murmured. “He seems… unreliable…”

“He’s only flirting Thena, let him be.” Pluto snorted. “Anyway, need some more drinks, I’ll see you around Phastos.”

Phastos just hummed as he walked away from Pluto and Thena, leaving the two alone to drink all they want.