#1816 - Mr. Odysseus

Fierce storms and cold winds blew in from the spacious windows. She opened her eyes and suddenly found herself sleeping in front of the loom. Fatigue and time ruthlessly deprived her of her energy. She could no longer delay the weaving for three consecutive years. The treacherous maid informed the suitor and revealed her trick of weaving during the day and dismantling the shroud at night.

Penelope looked out the window. For the past twenty years, she had stood in her bedroom in the palace of Ithaca, looking at the sea, waiting for the ship carrying her husband to return. She saw the noise of the suitors below the palace. Argus, the hunting dog that her husband Odysseus had raised himself, could only lie in the dung heap in the mule stable, unable to hold the prey tightly as he used to, and unable to stand up and drive away these vicious Ithaca nobles.

When Antinous was a little boy, her husband had held him on his knees and fed him meat, and had shared wine with him from the cup. But now, Antinous wanted to kill her best friend, her and her husband's son Telemachus. The honor that Axios and his son Laertes, Laertes and his son Odysseus had once given to the Ithacan nobles was spurned by them, like bones and meat that they casually discarded at a banquet.

Telemachus was obliged by his sacred oath to entertain the suitors; he could not harm them but could only generously share his food with them.

The stranger her son Telemachus had brought the night before had brought news of Odysseus, and had even described the clothes he had worn—a red cloak with a golden brooch depicting a hound with a fawn in its mouth, and a short tunic beautifully embroidered, smooth and luxurious—she remembered the brooch, which she had pinned to his cloak herself before fate had driven him to Troy.

The stranger claimed that Odysseus was coming to Ithaca with a large ship with enough wealth to support ten generations, and would show up soon. The stranger's light brown skin was covered with wrinkles and dirt, and his shaggy beard covered his face. Because of the sudden good news and the torment of fate, Penelope had no time to appreciate the stranger's appearance, but she still gave him courtesy.

However, the stranger did not agree to let those treacherous maids wash his feet, but asked an old woman who was also suffering from life to help. So Odysseus's nurse, the kind and sensible Eurycleia, washed the stranger's feet because the stranger's voice was very similar to Odysseus's. Eurycleia felt very sympathetic to the beggar who was entertained by Telemachus.

Hatred and despair filled Penelope's heart, and she prayed that the suitor's soul would be burned in Zeus' thunder!

Penelope looked at the sudden storm and black waves on the sea in the distance and felt a bone-chilling cold.

Perhaps this was an omen, or perhaps her husband was riding the sea breeze, rushing here anxiously. She could even imagine what kind of light would be reflected in those determined black eyes. If he knew the evil deeds of the suitor, the anger in those eyes might set the palace on fire.

She didn't want to remarry at all. She saw that the suitor was squandering the wealth of the kings of Ithaca and forcing Ithaca to ruin. Perhaps what the strangers said was true, Odysseus would soon return, and she had to delay for a while. She would set a test for the suitor - just like her husband liked, stand 12 axes in a row and shoot arrows through the handles - she believed that only a few people could do it, not everyone was as strong as Odysseus and could pull the mysterious bow.

She tossed and turned in longing and grief.

Athena, who was hiding nearby, mercifully gave her dreams to comfort her soul so that she could spend every long night for the past twenty years. Athena didn't know that Penelope didn't belong to the wise goddess of war, and the queen's dreams belonged only to herself.

Penelope had many bizarre dreams, although she remembered nothing after waking up.

She dreamed that she was standing in front of the gate of a towering temple, with precious spices smoldering in huge braziers, gems from the turquoise steps and hand-woven robes of girls draped softly on her body, and precious and huge gems inlaid on her gold jewelry. The turbulent river outside the city reflected the sparkling waves, and the sea in the distance was as calm as a mirror;

She dreamed that she was walking barefoot on soft and wet soil, and muddy water overflowed and soaked her long skirt. Behind her was a large group of refugees carrying food and pottery. In the farthest distance of dreams and memories, the terrifying flood fiercely hit the river bank that tens of thousands of people spent thirty years to build. Her husband, the master of Eridu, stood by, holding a shepherd's staff and driving all the sheep in the city. She thought of the name of the new city, Uruk, and she would use all the knowledge she learned in Eridu to build a richer and more powerful city-state.

She dreamed of a group of priests who worshipped gods and spirits of all things. They gathered in a snowy mountain cave covered with snow, talking around a campfire with a familiar tall figure. Although she did not understand the topic they were talking about, she could feel that it was important.

"Dispersion, reincarnation, and convergence. This is the foundation of the spell, a new system I developed." The man held her hand and looked at her with a pair of obsidian-black eyes. "This will allow you to truly become a human being and get rid of the concept of being polluted. The original natural spirits of this planet have all been polluted, but as long as you can perform the process of reincarnation and separation, those discarded and polluted parts will become your strength again."

She subconsciously stroked the cat's soft, short fur, as if she had done it a thousand times.

The familiar purring of a cat sounded, and a young golden puppy flew through the sunlight of the hall and the restaurant, anxiously circling around her seat. In a trance, she saw the familiar figure sitting next to her, smiling, and exuding the aroma of olive oil left by last night's joy.

That was her favorite essential oil. She was keen on applying olive oil to each other. Under the light, the skin applied with olive oil was shiny and smelled good. He looked into her eyes, his gaze was as hot as a star, lighting up the only warmth in this cold universe.

"██████"

She tried hard to hear what he was saying, but the roar from the end of time drowned out all other sounds.

"Theresa." Jeanne, who was sitting opposite, couldn't help but remind the witch who was in a trance. Bayonetta was startled, as if she didn't know where she was. She looked at the white-haired witch sitting opposite and said something, but she couldn't hear clearly and didn't know what she said. All her responses were subconscious.

Jeanne raised an eyebrow, "Why are you speaking Greek?"

"I spoke Greek?" Bayonetta shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "Maybe I was too tired."

"I can let the members of the Order participate in the work. They have signed a contract and cannot leak secrets. The entry and exit management of the Immortal City is stricter than you think. After the death of Balder - I mean the previous Balder, the bad one - the board of directors no longer has the power to stop us. No one will raise any objections."

The white-haired witch frowned in dissatisfaction, "You don't need to force yourself like this. When he comes back, you will have time to sort out these assets."

"Have you noticed that the outer dimension waves have been unusually calm recently. I always feel like something is going to happen."

"I've read the report sent by Kamar-Taj. The omen of Ragnarok, the funeral of the Supreme Sorcerer...aren't there enough things happening?" Jeanne shrugged. "I didn't expect that we would become the superior organization of Kamar-Taj. Who would have thought that you could only receive missions from there before. Tell me, Theresa, did you choose him in order to become the mistress of Kamar-Taj, huh?"

"How funny." Bayonetta rolled her eyes.

Wanda, who had woken up early, yawned as she walked into the restaurant. Bayonetta and Jeanne, who were joking, looked at her at the same time. "Today's breakfast is lamb, Wanda." Jeanne pushed the plate towards her, "lamb spicy sausage, North African eggs and slow-cooked lamb. It's a bit inappropriate to eat these in the morning. It's a bit of a waste to put all that fresh lamb in the refrigerator yesterday."

Wanda nodded blankly, took the plate and started eating. She suddenly realized something and raised her head. "This is the visceral divination ceremony we held last night..."

"Yes, it's that sheep." Seeing Wanda's helpless look, Bayonetta smiled with a successful prank on her face, "We don't have the qualifications to slaughter, so even now, we have violated many laws."

"I mean..."

"No result is a result. There is no need for us to perform more divination rituals." Seeing Wanda's puzzled eyes, Bayonetta explained, "According to the intelligence from Hydra and Phil Coulson, someone tracked Natasha Romanoff to Houston, and then she disappeared. I mean, she disappeared without leaving any information. No one answered the fixed contact line, the safe house was completely empty, and even Agent Coulson didn't know her contact information. Some people suspected that she went to Mexico."

"But we believe she is in Houston, because the visceral ritual and dream divination can't find her either, which means there is an extremely powerful interference source around her." Jeanne picked up a piece of sausage and added, "As far as I know, there is no warlock in the remnants of SHIELD who has a divination ritual that can resist the combined spell of the three of us, so the answer is obvious."

"He was targeted, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hide himself in this way," Bayonetta said. "Although we don't know which era he is traveling to, the only thing we can be sure of is that his lifespan far exceeds that of a normal human. His existence itself is a miracle, a natural heterogeneity, which makes him extremely conspicuous in the outer dimension."

"I remember he once discussed a problem with me," Wanda said. "He believed that no matter how powerful an individual is, he cannot fight against the concept of human principles from ancient times to the present. He also talked about the relationship between so-called wishes, behavioral patterns and sympathetic magic, but I haven't learned this knowledge systematically yet..."

"The biggest purpose of time travel is to allow him to hide in the vast concept of human history, using human logic to hide himself and avoid the gaze from the outside dimension." Bayonetta waved her hand and said unhappily, "He must have caused some trouble that cannot be solved by magic, so he entrusted us to fight against the Asgard Goddess of Death."

“Why doesn’t he come back here instead of hiding out in Houston?”

"Because he doesn't trust us." Hearing Jeanne's question, Bayonetta felt bitter in her mouth and anger ignited in her heart. "To be precise, he doesn't trust Madame Butterfly and Madame Styx. Maybe he knows who Madame Butterfly and Madame Styx are and thinks it would be risky to appear in front of us."

Wanda noticed that the strange shadows cast by Bayonetta and Jeanne were twisted in the corners where the sun could not shine. A female arm with a skin color that did not belong to humans and wrapped in gorgeous fabrics stretched out from the shadows and made a gesture to Bayonetta and Jeanne. Wanda understood this gesture-Salomon had taught her this knowledge-it was the battle gesture of the Shadow Witch, which meant "teach him a lesson."

————————

Natasha Romanoff stepped off the plane and stretched.

"This is not Zurich." She took off her sunglasses and looked around. "The sun is shining brightly."

"Of course not, this is California. The Gulfstream G550 can't fly to Europe in an hour." Salomon stretched out his hand and motioned Dinah to put the luggage in the car. "Even energy companies will diversify their investments, but the ones in California belong to the Getty family, and my company can only cooperate with the Getty family. In California, I am the owner of a grape farm."

"But I don't think you'll take it seriously."

Dinah drove Salomon's Bentley Mulsanne Executive Interior over, and the service company helped transfer the luggage to the fleet. This service company was affiliated with an independent venture capital bank, which was essentially Salomon's industry. In addition to the high salary he paid to the service staff and the restrictions of the confidentiality agreement, he was not worried that these people would leak the news that Natasha Romanoff was here.

Salomon opened the back door for Natasha himself without letting the attendant intervene.

Natasha discovered that the luxury car seemed to have been modified. Not only did it have bulletproof doors and windows comparable to the presidential car, but Dinah, who was sitting in the driver's seat, opened the hidden weapon cabinet converted from the glove box without any concealment and blatantly checked the MP5 submachine gun hidden inside. Facing Natasha's doubts, Dinah chose to look the other way.

This didn't surprise her, she knew Dinah better than S.H.I.E.L.D.

When SHIELD was still guessing who the girl who suddenly appeared next to Salomon was, they already knew that Dinah was a man-made human. Salomon coughed awkwardly twice, he couldn't change Dinah's character. He had no choice but to explain himself: all the materials and links of this trip were prepared by Dinah, and what Natasha saw now was just the result of Dinah's increased security level.

"The news says that the agricultural union is organizing a strike." Natasha took a few seconds to figure it out. "You are a farmer. During the grape picking season, you need Latino pickers. Many of these workers are illegal immigrants, and illegal immigrants have connections with gangs, so you think someone will break the rules."

"It's always a good idea to be prepared. After the end of the Cold War, there are fewer and fewer veteran politicians who can use their brains, and new politicians have less and less respect for rules."

Natasha Romanoff knows a lot about this topic.

She had full access to the FBI's confidential files, including the Kennedy assassination and Marilyn Monroe files. She knew that politicians during the Cold War rarely used assassination as a tool to eliminate political opponents - except for Kennedy, who planned to take back the Federal Reserve, everyone wanted him dead - when McCarthyism was prevalent, assassination was mainly used to eliminate left-wing stars in Hollywood, and some cases were done more professionally than special agents.

In any case, assassinations rarely occur against entrepreneurs who make political donations; that would be a complete game-breaker.

It’s just that the fighting between capitalists is becoming more and more intense.

America is indeed a paradise for the rich, but there are also many rich people who are unable to protect their wealth.

"Not only grape plantations, but also nut plantations, avocado plantations, tomato plantations, beet plantations, lettuce plantations and strawberry plantations are also supporters of the Democratic Party in California. In return, the farmers have the opportunity to share California's water resources and illegal immigrant workers. However, grape plantations are the most powerful in Northern California. 90% of the grape production in the United States comes from California, and the total output value even exceeds that of some high-tech industries."

“So these high-profit industries are actually divided among local families?”

"Yes." Salomon raised his finger, signaling Dinah that she could drive. The security vehicles sandwiched the Bentley Mulsanne Executive Interior in the middle, which was a standard protection convoy. The convoy drove out of the airport along Highway 1, turned right after passing the Otis Institute of Art, and drove from Highway 42 all the way to Highway 405.

To pass the time, he had to continue explaining why Dinah had increased security.

In fact, American labor unions are gangs composed of different ethnic groups. As a link to fill the gap in grassroots governance in the US government, they are responsible for connecting upper-level politicians and lower-level workers. Politicians need the votes provided by labor unions, and workers need the job opportunities and job security provided by labor unions. Labor unions composed of ethnic minorities are even more closely connected with gangs.

These unions divide each industry into territories. If you don't join a union, you can't get a job. Different minorities work in different industries. The agricultural union in California is the territory of Latinos. The main members of the agricultural union are illegal immigrants from the border. The truck transport union composed of local whites has connections with the skinheads and monopolizes the labor transportation industry in California.

Moreover, these unions have colluded with Latino gangs, northern Mexican drug cartels and local white gangs to build a drug trafficking industry chain, providing campaign funds and lobbying funds for upper-level politicians. The Newsom family and the Pelosi family in California are both links in this industry chain. Especially after the overall deindustrialization of the United States, the upstarts created by the emerging high-tech industry have also tried to join this feast.

In short, if all the ruling class of this land were executed, there would definitely be some innocent people, and every other one would slip through the cracks.

"As an oil company from Texas, how do you think the local energy giant Getty family will deal with me? What's more, the grape plantation I have expanded in recent years occupies a vital oil pipeline in the future. If they don't reach a cooperation with me, the Rockefeller family of ExxonMobil will cooperate with me."

"For outsiders, local lords must call on their allies to fight back. You think the strike will be concentrated on your grape plantation to warn local grape plantation farmers to give up the land for the oil pipeline." Natasha said, "I think you bought the grape plantation just for that one oil pipeline."

"Yes, this is just a game, and I got one of the chips. This game will be limited to a certain range, and the worst result is that I will be forced to sell part of the plantation land, losing the harvest and wine share of the season. But most people in this world are fools, and no one knows if a psychopathic gunman will suddenly appear. At that time, even if something breaks the rules, no one will need to take responsibility."

"I don't think you need to take this matter seriously." Natasha poked Salomon in the chest. "As long as you are willing, you have many ways to solve the problem. Even the Rockefeller family is no match for you."

"This matter is indeed not worthy of my attention. I believe Dinah will handle such trivial matters." Salomon grabbed her hand, "We will go to Beverly Hills first, and then go to my private holiday villa to enjoy the last sunbathing of this year."

"I didn't bring a bikini."

"You don't have to wear anything, honey, it's a private beach."

"You know, I can tell you're lying." Natasha Romanoff looked at Salomon who was sitting next to her and said slowly, "Nick Fury has established many secret bases, some of which are completely unrecorded, such as the 'basement' in California. Now the authority of some of the secret bases belongs to Agent Coulson. The intelligence I know shows that they are not staying in the 'Lighthouse' now, but in the 'basement'. Do you want to meet with Agent Coulson?"

Salomon glanced at her coldly.

"Don't look at me like that, boy," she said. "You're good at lying and pretending, but I know you very well. SHIELD once studied your psychological model. Maybe I know you better than you know yourself. You will never just enjoy entertainment, even if you're sunbathing with me."

"I love watching you sunbathe."

"That's true, but you must have other reasons for coming to Los Angeles, including Zurich... What troubles do you want to deal with that no mortal can solve?"

Natasha Romanoff looked relaxed.

She is one of the few people in the world who knows Salomon. Natasha knows that this extremely powerful boy will not hurt her. She can even confidently tell the witch that her relationship with Salomon was established earlier than theirs - Salomon's expression now does not surprise her. The psychological research department of SHIELD has a full understanding of Salomon's psychological model - Nick Fury once suspected that Salomon was an old wizard pretending to be a young man, and criminal psychology experts drew a model based on this assumption.

Although this speculation was later denied, some theories still apply at this stage.

The first 20 years of modern life are the key to shaping the human being "Salomon", and are the psychological childhood of the human being "Salomon". No matter how long he lives after time travel, the concepts shaped by modern society in the first 20 years are the most solid foundation of ideas. Natasha believes that the "Salomon psychological model" she knows is rough and imperfect, but it can be used as usual.

Salomon looked into Natasha's eyes, not knowing what she was thinking.

He only felt that this woman was getting bolder and bolder, and it seemed that she had really accepted his arrangement and planned to retire from the spy industry and become a common American wealthy lady. She was only trying to find out these secrets out of curiosity and professional habit. Natasha Romanoff once regarded the Avengers as her family, but now the Avengers were separated from each other, and it seemed that she had given up the idea of ​​maintaining the last bit of friendship. Salomon believed that as long as her former colleagues in the Avengers needed her, Natasha Romanoff would not hesitate to take up arms, return to the battlefield, and finally lose her own life.

"Will the trouble you are going to deal with cause a large number of civilian casualties?" The red-haired female spy smiled like a fox. She moved closer, and Salomon could feel the hot breath she exhaled and her gradually rising body temperature. "If you don't want to confess, I don't mind interrogating you here, big boy."

"I want to meet someone who is being hidden by Nick Fury. Do you know anyone who can live forever?"

"My clearance is level ten... well, I don't know. Immortal, does the name sound alien?"

"It can be said that it is more accurate to say that it is a bionic robot from aliens and other timelines. After Howard Stark and Peggy Carter realized the role of the immortal man, they placed him in the lighthouse. Then the control of the lighthouse fell into the hands of Nick Fury, and now Agent Coulson."

"Let me guess." Natasha leaned sideways, as if the wide back seat was a recliner. She could smell the faint scent of olive oil on Salomon's skin. As long as she smelled this scent, she felt a flame burning in her body. She didn't even notice that her voice was trembling slightly. "When did you meet that immortal man?"

"Around the time of the Mycenaean civilization."

"I have to admit, that's a perfect answer, Mr. Odysseus."

Salomon looked at her and remained silent.

"According to the occult theory you told me, this is possible. The union of soul and body is a magical ritual, the professional term is called the holy marriage ceremony, right?" Natasha found that Dinah's eyes were staring at her in the rearview mirror. "Now I believe what the old housekeeper said. Your secrecy means that you will not choose your partner at will, otherwise you can only cleanse the memory of those women. You will not do such a thing, so I may be the only woman who has slept in your bed in the past hundred years."

"Yes."

"I am very satisfied with this answer, otherwise I would be jealous. But there is still a question you didn't answer. There must be some secrets about Zurich that SHIELD doesn't know." Natasha turned over and sat on Salomon's thighs. "Now I will start interrogating you, and you are not allowed to resist... Well, I don't mind knowing the answer in two hours. Are you sure the car window film can block the view outside?"