Old Steve said that Miss Carter had left Merlin some information.
But in reality, this was a rather 'humble' way of saying things, as he left Miss Carter's manor, Merlin's back trunk was filled to the brim with paper boxes, and in those boxes were some of the confidential information in the SSR.
After returning home, as he tidied the information, Merlin even found a key, on it was an address and a message.
"Merlin Reilly, take good care of this intel, and when viable, transfer these to Nick Fury; also, do take care of Sharon for me. - Peggy Carter."
Merlin had a bad premonition as he saw this message.
He stormed out of his home, got in his car, and rushed to Carter's manor, only to find it empty as he had expected.
Old Steve and Miss Carter were both gone.
Merlin had a gut feeling that this may be the last time he sees Miss Carter and that mysterious Old Steve.
"Miss Carter..."
Merlin looks at the old key in his hand and mutters:
"What exactly do you mean?"
Merlin feels as though he's been dragged into something terrible, and the reason for Miss Carter's hasty leave is probably due to his sudden arrival and discovery of the hidden Old Steve.
But who is Old Steve?
Merlin stands helplessly in Miss Carter's already empty home.
He stands before the picture-filled wall and looks at the last picture, the Steve Rogers in that image was quite similar to the Old Steve in Merlin's memories.
But Merlin could not be sure if that mysterious elderly was the captain America who's been missing for nearly 60 years.
He said it himself, SHIELD's expedition team has been searching for the missing Captain America at the North Pole.
But if he wasn't Steve Rogers, who could he have been?
"Hell!"
Merlin's mind became blurred as he continued thinking, so he decided to let Fury handle these cumbersome affairs.
But thinking of Old Steve's warning, Merlin was hesitant, perhaps SHIELD now was not truly secure. After contemplating it, he decides to store the intel in his basement, and after a moment, give both the intel and the key to Fury.
Of course, news of Miss Carter's disappearance attracted Fury's utmost attention.
For the next few days, Fury mobilized SHIELD's resources to look for the missing Miss Carter, but it was as if that 70-year-old lady and her mysterious husband had vanished from the Earth.
Sharon Carter acted very sadly when she heard of her aunt's disappearance, from Merlin's few talks with her, he knows that Miss Carter did not inform Sharon of Old Steve's existence, and she was not very familiar with her aunt's secrets.
This was natural.
Miss Carter was the king of agents of the last era, after all; if she wants to keep something a secret, then it's difficult for others to find out about it.
For the following month, Merlin stayed in New York and received multiple reviews about the issue of launching a tactical missile in the British wizarding war, but as Fury had said, with Pierce standing for him in the World Security Council, these reviews were simply for show.
Merlin did the right thing, no innocents were harmed, and he shouldn't be treated as a criminal.
As for the young Ava Starr, she currently resides in Professor Bill Foster's lab. The professor had made Ava a simple suppression chamber, as she stayed in that chamber, the irregular movement of the particles in her body would be temporarily suppressed, and the young girl could avoid the pain of having her body torn.
Merlin went to see her once every three days, every time he visited, he would cast Bewitched Sleep on her to help the poor girl have a good rest.
The British wizarding war had entered a rather boring phase, Voldemort and his Death-Eaters have hidden, and their operations became very low-profile.
The wizards of the Order of the Phoenix were searching for Voldemort's weaknesses around England with the help of Garrett's agents.
Both sides were acting with restraint, but from Hermione's latest letter, under the suppression of the advantageous wizards of the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort was gathering the dark creatures of the wizarding world under his wing, Dementors, werewolves, etc.
Both sides were preparing for the final battle.
But these things weren't of Merlin's business, for now, he continued his peaceful life.
But, peaceful lives were oftentimes short-lived, on May 1998, which was also one month after Merlin's return to New York, he encountered yet another strange occurrence.
This incident happened in a late-night storm.
"BOOM"
A loud bang accompanies the storm that is currently ravaging across New York, a storm of this size is rare during this time of the season. In such stormy weather, no one would risk going out as most would stay in the comfort of their homes.
Merlin was also staying in his home, but he was currently in his basement undergoing some forbidden research.
The bright light illuminates the basement as Merlin sat by the table while holding the emerald ring. It was given to him by the crazy witch Bellatrix Lestrange in exchange for keeping her child's presence a secret, in it are records of some rare dark magic and Death-Eater secrets in the form of memories.
Merlin closes his eyes and strokes the ring, and as the mana flows through him, he swiftly browses through Bellatrix Lestrange's memories.
The crazy witch had a messy record, Merlin even found memories of her adultery with her master Voldemort, which disgusted Merlin.
Merlin quickly browsed through the memories and soon found what he was looking for.
It was a book, a magic book that looked sinister and gloomy called <Secrets of the Darkest Art. In this memory, Bellatrix seems to have found this book from somewhere hidden and was reading its contents.
"In current wizarding legends, the famous dark wizard from Greece 'Herpo the Foul' was the first person in records to discover a way to nurture a Basilisk, he was also the first dark wizard to invent Horcruxes. We have enough reason to believe that Horcruxes and the evil way to create it are invented and circulated by Herpo."
On the pages of the book, Merlin sees a record on the mysterious Horcrux.
"Any rational wizard should not attempt to make a Horcrux, nor should they seek the secrets of this evil creation. But it is powerful and useful, especially for those wizards who seek to avoid death, Horcruxes are the cheapest and most useful way for them to do so."
"A Horcrux is to split one's soul and store them into different objects."
"Doing so can come with many aftereffects, it can destabilize your soul, it will cause your mana to go out of control, it will distort your mind; all because it defies the laws of nature, a soul should be, and must be, complete from the moment one is born."
"But there are many benefits in doing so, when you have a Horcrux, you no longer have to fear death's arrival. Even as your body and will are destroyed, as long as the Horcrux is still there, as long as the soul shard in said Horcrux is still intact, you may still be resurrected...but beware, wizards who are reading this, remember this!"
"Once your body is destroyed, your soul may still be intact, but you're lesser than the lowest of phantoms...you cannot detect the existence of life, you cannot feel the good of the world, there is no taste as you drink or eat. The warm sunlight is lethal to you, and even the fireworks lit by children will cause you extreme pain..."
"That feeling would make you wish you were dead instead..."
In Bellatrix's memories, Merlin saw the complete process of how to create a Horcrux and the complicated chant after reading through the warning from the author of this magic book.
To his surprise, the seemingly complex Horcrux was not so difficult to make.
It didn't even need any other magic items to support it, as the only requirement was to conduct an evil murder accompanied by a complex chant to ensure one's soul could be torn apart.
And in later records, the knowledgeable author even spoke of the story of the dark wizard who invented Horcruxes, Herpo the Foul.
Supposedly Herpo created the Horcruxes to give himself immortality.
But what his Horcrux was, and whether or not it's been destroyed, is still a mystery.
If Herpo's Horcrux was still intact, then that means that the Greek wizard may have lived from the Ancient Era until now.
"It's a very untrustworthy method."
Merlin was somewhat disappointed, after knowing the secrets behind him, he desperately needs some trump cards that can be used in the most crucial hour, but from these records, Horcruxes may not be what he needs.
"The aftereffects are too much."
Merlin shakes his head, he continues looking through Bellatrix's memories as he treats this as extracting forbidden knowledge from the crazy witch.
After all, dark magic is known for its powerful killing abilities, and all the magic Merlin knows originates from the textbooks gifted by Mr. Arthur, and there was no record of dark magic in those books.
And in Bellatrix's last memory, which was the memory from when she first became a young wizard, Merlin discovered something interesting.
The secret of Animagus!
Animagus was a spell that could transform oneself into an animal just as Professor McGonagall did, it was also the general term for all shapeshifting wizards. It's the highest-tier, as well as the hardest to master transfiguration spell, but its effects were well worth it.
Merlin had seen the kitten Professor McGonagall transformed into before, and even his dark senses could not differentiate the difference between her and an average kitten.
Though Goose seemed to have noticed.
But Goose only looked like a normal cat, it was an alien creature and could not be thought of normally.
Merlin was very interested in this excellent way to conceal oneself, so he decides to take a deeper look into the method of becoming an Animagus.
But as Merlin was deep in recollection, a loud boom abruptly resounds somewhere close to him, and the lights of the underground basement abruptly go out and awaken Merlin from his state of recollection.
Merlin stands up, puts the ring on his finger, and walks out of the basement.
The loud boom just now seemed to have happened right above him, which means a lightning bolt had struck his house. The lightning may have overloaded the transformer of the house and caused it to lose power entirely.
"Damn unlucky!"
Merlin walks through the dark living room and decides to go look at where the lightning had struck.
He pushes the door to the backyard and sees that a hole had been torn on the garage roof by the lightning strike, and a pungent smell was emitting from it.
What's worse is that the classic Dodge Challenger which he was almost finished repairing seemed to have been struck by said lightning, Merlin could see the scattered parts around in the darkness.
This made him feel awful.
He had been fixing the car for years now, and such a thing happened just when he was almost finished with the repairs.
Merlin lets out a breath and walks into the dark garage, he picks up a part that had been melted from the lightning on the ground; in front of him, the car that had been nearly fixed was in pieces once again, this made Merlin shake his head in disappointment.
But then, Merlin suddenly takes out his wand Lola and points it at the deepest and darkest part of the garage.
In that darkness, Merlin picked up a trace of odd energy.
A crimson red glow flickered on the tip of his wand Lola like an arrow as Merlin shouted sternly:
"Who's there!"
"Come out!"
