A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 240 The Winter Guard
Earth, December 24, 2007.

Tomorrow is Christmas.

In a luxurious estate outside London, England, siblings Wanda and Pietro sit quietly together watching television.

The twins, born in February 1989, are now 18 years old and have officially come of age.

Almost five years have passed since they were adopted by the mysterious tycoon.

For the brother and sister, the past five years have been like a dream.

From a homeless child who roamed the streets, stealing and cheating, he transformed into a wealthy and noble son of a British family.

So while they were grateful to the mysterious wealthy man who adopted them, they were also very curious and made countless guesses about him.

Wanda, in particular, still vividly remembers her fleeting encounter with Levi back then.

So much so that she always believed in her heart that Li Wei was the one who adopted them.

For the past five years, she has been trying to find out Li Wei's identity through various means.

But found nothing.

This is normal, since Li Wei is not British at all. Apart from the first time he came to Britain with Tony and left an entry record, there is no other information about him in Britain.

It was only after the S.H.I.E.L.D. subversion incident last year that information about Levi, as one of the key figures, began to receive significant attention from the five major powers, including the United Kingdom.

However, at that time, all his related information was already top secret of the five major powers.

Wanda is even less likely to be found.

However, Wanda clearly did not give up, and every year she would express to the housekeeper her desire to see him.

Although the final result was always a flimsy excuse.

This year, when the twins celebrated their birthdays, she and Pietro once again expressed their thoughts to the housekeeper.

However, they received a different answer at the time.

Because in the past, when they expressed this wish, the response they received was always that it wasn't the right time.

The reply they received that time was that the other party needed to go on a long trip, which might take a year or even longer.

This gave Wanda a premonition that the day when the other party would unveil their mystery might not be far off.

“Maybe it will appear tomorrow!” Wanda said with a smile to Pietro beside her.

"Let's hope so!" Pietro wasn't as optimistic as his sister. He shrugged noncommittally, then glanced at the TV series that had already ended and casually changed the channel.

"According to this station's report, the Winter Guard, a superhero group from Russia, recently launched another operation, cracking down on a transnational human trafficking ring. The Russian president praised the Winter Guard's performance. In contrast, Iron Man, a superhero from the free world, has been much quieter over the past year. Aside from occasional appearances as Iron Man, Mr. Tony Stark has been absent from the public eye for almost a year. The affairs of the Stark Industries are almost entirely handled by Ms. Pepper, leading many to question whether the person behind the Iron Man suit is truly still Mr. Stark..."

Wanda and Pietro fell silent as they watched the news report on television.

However, it wasn't because of the Winter Guard, but because of Tony Stark.

In fact, the twins were already quite familiar with the Winter Guard.

Because the other party didn't just appear now, but was a superhero group belonging to the Russian bear that appeared in the first half of the year.

Moreover, the Winter Guard has been very active in the past six months, appearing in the news almost every day.

It must be said that the media's speculation was very accurate. Although Iron Man still appears from time to time, Tony Stark, the real Iron Man, is no longer on Earth.

The Iron Man of today is sometimes Frank, sometimes Melina, and sometimes even a remote-controlled Iron Soldier.

Without Tony Stark himself, Iron Man's presence naturally becomes less prominent.

For the past six months or so, the Winter Guard has been the coolest team on Earth.

Moreover, unlike previous leagues, only Tony and British captain Peggy Carter, who is considered an "outsider," are publicly known.

All information about the members of the Winter Guard has been made public from the very beginning.

This made them even more popular and sought after by many people around the world.

Even though this superhero team comes from Russia, a country that is not very popular in Europe and America.

Their members include Whiplash, a guy who wears a half-covered steel suit and uses two energy whips, and is also the leader of the Winter Guard.

(The character design here is based on the comic book version.)

And without a doubt, this whip is Ivan Vanko, who was spared by Li Wei and then wanted to prove himself in another way.

This Winter Guard is the culmination of Ivan Vanko's efforts over the past year.

Besides Whiplash, the Winter Guard also includes Red Guardians, Crimson Mechs, Titans, Ursa Major, and... Black Widow. That's right, a Black Widow has appeared within the Winter Guard.

However, this Black Widow has no relation to Melina, Natasha, Yelena, or other Black Widows from the Drekoff lineage, nor is she one of the Black Widow trainees who were given new identities by Tony after the Red Room was destroyed.

This Black Widow, named Claire Varyan, is a true Black Widow trained in the Red Room during the Cold War, predating Melina.

Of course, this Black Widow is also quite old because she comes from an earlier generation.

Claire Varyan, born in the 1950s and active during the peak of the Russian bear era in the 1970s, is now over fifty years old, a full two cycles older than Melina, who was born in the 1970s.

In this respect, Claire Wayan's title of Black Widow is more fitting than that of Melina or Natasha.

However, this Black Widow had already disappeared by the early 80s.

The reason why such a special individual joined the Winter Guard was thanks to Ivan's father, Anton Vanko.

After Ivan Vanko left, Anton Vanko, having learned of his son's plans, finally realized the truth and wanted to contribute to his son's career.

As a scientist during the Soviet era, Anton Vanke actually had quite a network of connections.

His later downfall was largely due to his own self-abandonment.

Claire Wayan was a rather special person he knew.

It's unclear how Anton Vanke managed to persuade them.

In any case, Claire Varyan, after disappearing for more than twenty years, did indeed reappear in the Winterguard under the name Black Widow.

For some reason, this Black Widow, who is clearly over fifty years old, looks like an 18-year-old girl when she reappears in public, even younger than Yelena, the real 18-year-old Black Widow.

Moreover, they seem to have mastered some special abilities that resemble magic.

Claire Varyan has now surpassed Boris, the Crimson Mech who co-founded the Winter Guard with Ivan, and has become the number two in the Winter Guard.

The third character is naturally Ivan's good friend and former comrade-in-arms, the Crimson Mech Boris Tegunov.

The so-called Crimson Armor is the Iron Man suit that Ivan specially built for Boris when he found him. Its appearance is extremely similar to the Mark 1 from the original timeline.

It gets its name from its entirely red paint job.

Then there's the Red Guardian.

It was Alexei Shostakov, who had partnered with Melina and acted as the "father" of both Natasha and Elena.

After Ivan and Boris decided to form the Winter Guard, they used all their connections to get Alexeyk out of prison, put him back in his battle armor, and give him the shield that Ivan had specially made for him.

Then there's Titan.

The Titan shares the same name as the Crimson Mech, Boris. Well, Boris is a very common name in Russia.

Just like Zhang Wei of the great Eastern power, his name is one that could easily form an army.

The Titan's full name is Boris Bursky, and like Ivan, he is a scientist.

He earned the title of Titanic Man because, to some extent, he, like Ivan, was inspired by Iron Man and drew inspiration from him, so he designed a titanium alloy suit for himself.

However, he didn't have an arc reactor, and his technology followed the consistent style of the Russians: practical but crude.

Therefore, although the early TUA's armor was similar in design to the Crimson Armor, it could not fly due to energy issues and needed to be recharged after running for a few hours.

Unlike the other members of the Winter Guard, he was not actively recruited into the team by Ivan and others.

In fact, the Titan was originally a supervillain—because his research lacked funding, he used his suit to commit robberies.

As a result, they encountered the newly formed Winter Guard and were soundly defeated by the Crimson Mechs.

However, considering his talent, he was recruited by Ivan and his men and became a member of the Winter Guard.

As for the final Ursa Major constellation—well, it is indeed a bear that looks like a human.

Of course, he was indeed a person.

However, once transformed into a bear, it could never transform back.

Ursa Major, whose real name is Ursus, is a product of genetic modification by the bear in the 1970s (in the comics, he is a mutant), and was a former colleague of Claire Vayan.

Later, with the help of Clairevan, he lived in seclusion in the Siberian jungle.

After Claire Wayan joined the Winter Guard, he was invited by Claire to become a member of the Winter Guard as well.

(End of this chapter)