5 Sweet Farewell / Heading Home

Knock knock!

The two men in the limousine grew quiet as they turned their attention to the door that was opened.

As the door opened, the afternoon sun threw its light into the opening passage of the limousine.

Inside was Howard Stark holding a gentleman's smile on his face. Beside him was an older man nearing his 72nd birthday, Abraham Erskine.

Despite his older age, Abraham seemed much more able compared to the other average 70+ year olds. He was much more energetic.

As the door to the limousine opened, Howard took a step out and welcomed Heaven who had just arrived.

"Heaven! Kid! You made it right on time," Howard said as he had his temporary chauffeur grab Heaven's items and place them in the trunk of the limousine.

"Y-yes!"

"Mm," Howard nodded and noticed Helen to the side. "Go ahead and say your farewells. I will wait inside the vehicle."

"Th-thank you!"

Heaven nodded his head and turned to look at Helen, finally feeling his heart grow heavy. He felt his chaotic emotions inside of himself as he looked at Helen.

The excitement from earlier faded away as he began to realize that he would be separated from Helen.

When would they see each other again?

Who knows.

With a weak smile on his face, Heaven looked at Helen.

"I… will see you again!" Helen said, a smile on her face despite her teary eyes.

Heaven's eyebrows went up, his eyes started tearing and joy spread on his face.

Crying out, Heaven nodded, "Yes! W-we will see each o-other again!"

"That's why… this isn't a farewell. Just a… see you later," Helen said, a smile on her face as she wiped her tears away.

"I-I will s-see you later, then," Heaven stuttered as he looked at Helen for a long time before going into the limousine.

Helen stood in her spot, clearing her tears away as she watched the limousine slowly begin to move and disappear into the distance.

"I will see you again, Heaven. I care too much about you to just let you leave like this."

The first time Heaven and Helen had met was at a high school in New York City.

She was just entering, barely 14 as she entered her freshman year.

Lost as soon as she entered the building, Helen ran into Heaven who was lost in his book. They both bumped into each other and that's how she met Heaven, a 16 year old junior.

They hung out countless times to study and take and before they knew it, they were the best of friends.

Soon, Heaven moved away to a mysterious university far away but they kept in touch.

She randomly applied to a university and when she was accepted, Helen sent Heaven the happy news. Only to be surprised that she was accepted into the same university he was in.

Fate!

Thought Helen right at that moment.

Feelings began to develop in her and before she knew it, she began to like everything about Heaven.

***

Inside the limousine that was headed to an airport, Heaven was being introduced to an old man.

"Heaven… kid… This is Dr. Josef Reinstein. You and I will be working on a couple of projects, one of them being Dr. Reinstein's project.

Once in a while, he will appear to give some advice," Howard began speaking.

Josef Reinstein, an alias for Abraham Erskine whilst he hid in America away from the Nazis.

It hadn't been long since he had been saved from the Nazis by America, but Abraham was ready to work for them in order to take down the Nazis. He had hatred for them and fear for what they would want to do to the world if they win.

"N-nice to meet you, sir," Heaven politely said as he outstretched his hand.

Abraham smiled and shook Heaven's hand.

"Same here, young man."

Howard looked at the both of them as they introduced themselves to each other with a smile before he clasped his hands together.

Clap!

"Alright. Now that introductions are out of the way, Heaven… you need to know something," Howard said as he looked at Heaven all serious. "Now that you have joined us, anything that you see, hear, touch, or learn of from today forward will be kept a secret. Doesn't matter who asks, you will not say a single thing. If you wish to back out now, there is still time."

"Ah!"

Heaven gasped in surprise at the sudden seriousness and thought to himself.

'Is being an assistant really such a serious thing? This must be like a test or something coming from Howard or the old man, Josef.'

Looking at them nervously, Heaven nodded his head.

"I-I swear to keep everything I see a secret. D-doesn't matter if it's a blank paper or a simple paper clip, I won't men-mention or talk about a single thing I see, hear, touch, or l-learn," Heaven said with serious eyes as he looked at Howard.

Howard looked at Heaven for a while when Abraham suddenly spoke up with a cheerful voice.

"Ha! What a good, young man. I like your gusto, Heaven."

Hearing Abraham's words, Howard eventually also began to be more accepting of Heaven. It was like acknowledging that Heaven could be trusted with secrets and everything he sees from today onward.

"Welcome on board, kid," Howard congratulated Heaven with a pat on the back. "Would you like some apple juice?"

Howard stretched over to a couple of bottles inside a cabinet as he grabbed a couple of glass cups.

"A-ah, y-yes. Thank you," Heaven said absentmindedly as he accepted a cup of apple juice.

Just when Heaven thought that Howard and Abraham were also going to drink apple juice, he watched as Howard put away the apple juice and pulled out one expensive looking wine bottle.

Feeling his face turn green, Heaven could only quietly drink his apple juice.

'Do I not look old enough?'

Quietly sitting in the limousine, Heaven eventually joined the conversation between Howard and Abraham.

They talked about the possible upcoming war that could become the size of a World War. Eventually the talks became sort of depressing and tense before Heaven switched it to talks about engineering and chemistry.

Since Heaven had already learnt, studied, and researched even further on those two subjects, and various others, Heaven was able to easily deduce everything they talked about. In fact, he was able to give them some pointers whilst he also absorbed the knowledge that they developed on their own as they talked to him about it.

As Heaven took in the knowledge, he further developed it in his mind at rapid speeds. He comprehended them in an instant and began advancing them even further.

Right at this moment, Howard and Abraham were shocked by Heaven's wide and expansive knowledge that seemed as deep as the ocean.

Or even more…

"You made an amazing pick, Howard," Abraham said as he looked at Heaven jotting down notes on the stuff he was comprehending.

Howard drank from his wine cup and looked at Heaven strangely, "Of course I did, 'Josef', I chose him."

Finding out Heaven's amazing knowledge, even Howard began to feel like he probably wasn't a match for Heaven in terms of knowledge.

It was a weird feeling.

He had met countless geniuses, but none could stand up to his intellect. Yet now, someone that might be better than him was sitting right before him.

Curious about how much knowledge Heaven has, Howard decided to ask him a question.

"Heaven, how many subjects have you studied and learnt completely?"

"Completely is t-too much of an absolute to be said like that. After all, no-not all knowledge c-could be gathered in one place," Heaven offhandedly said as he recalled the times he had to fill in the blanks to various fields of study he got stuck on. "B-but, to answer your question in the way y-you meant it to be, I would say all the f-fields of study and knowledge."

"You're a Polymath? Splendid!"

The instant Heaven gave his answer, Abraham exclaimed in admiration as he looked at Heaven with bright eyes. A smile spread on his face as he nodded to Heaven thoughtfully.

"If that's the case, you won't be stuck with Howard all the time. I will grab you every once in a while so that you could help me with some of my research," Abraham said, a little excited to meet such a young polymath like Heaven.

Howard remained stunned to the side as the smile on his face froze.

At that moment, Howard suddenly recalled a certain phrase made for people like Heaven who delved in all sorts of fields and/or trades.

[Jack of all trades, Master of none.]

'It's more like [Master of all trades, Jack of none],' thought Howard as Heaven's standing in his mind changed once more to a higher level.

On just the first day of meeting Heaven, his world had been shaken and flipped upside down.

'What an astonishing kid.'

Howard served himself a shot of vodka before downing it.

"Ha~!"

Exhaling a long breath, Howard felt the limousine come to a stop. Looking out the window curiously, Howard found that they had arrived at their destination.

"Alright everyone, we have arrived," Howard said as he told Heaven and Abraham to prepare themselves to get off the limousine.

Right after Howard said that, the door to the limousine opened and an airport was revealed right before Heaven's eyes.

Following behind Howard and Abraham as they got off, Heaven was surprised to notice that they were in a military airport.

Not bothering himself to think too much about it, Heaven simply chalked it off to Howard either being so rich, or he has connections in the military.

Keeping close to Howard and Abraham, Heaven watched as they were escorted by a couple of soldiers before they arrived at an airplane and entered it.

"Wow… this is quite amazing," Heaven said with a sigh of admiration.

"Don't be too amazed. One day you will manage to attain something similar," Howard said as he entered the airplane, followed by Abraham and Heaven.

Heaven entered the private plan and felt rather excited.

His life was truly beginning now!

***

One flight later, Heaven and the rest had arrived outside of New York City.

"Kid, we will separate for now. The driver will take you to a hotel to check in. Tomorrow you will be picked up and your work will begin. This driver will also be your personal driver for the meantime. If you ever need a place to go, just ring him up," Howard said, waving to the driver.

"A-actually, my family lives here. C-can I go live with them w-while we're here in New York City?"

Heaven nervously asked, looking at Howard before shifting his gaze nervously.

Going quiet for a second, Howard eventually nodded to Heaven's question.

"Sure kid, go ahead."

Relaying the relevant information to the driver, Howard left with Abraham Erskine.

"Bye Dr. Reinstein!"

Abraham turned and nodded to Heaven with a slight wave before leaving.

With them gone, Heaven followed behind the driver that escorted him to the vehicle.

"N-nice to meet you, my n-name is Heaven."

Introducing himself to his new personal driver, Heaven felt rather excited.

"Good morning, sir. I will be your personal driver, Adam Elwood," the driver said monotonously as he bowed his head a little.

"N-nice to meet you, Adam!"

Heaven nodded to Adam as he got inside the car before he could feel awkward.

'Guess he's one of those strictly professional people,' thought Heaven as he quietly stayed inside the car.

Sighing, Heaven simply took out a book before continuing to study.

He had spent the entire time on the airplane getting to know Howard and Abraham. They talked about various things and what they would be doing, so Heaven decided not to study whilst on the plane.