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Ethan knew that Steve was talking about his good friend, now codenamed the Winter Soldier, whose full name is James Buchanan Barnes.

In the original plot, the Winter Soldier was controlled by Hydra and even attacked Nick Fury. This time, he also launched an attack, but Nick Fury was fully prepared. Not only was he unharmed, but he even managed to capture Bucky.

Of course, at that time, he did not know the Winter Soldier's identity. He had only gathered information through various investigations that Hydra had a very powerful, seemingly enhanced soldier, and that this person was involved in multiple assassinations and mysterious deaths. So, successfully capturing this person was also considered eliminating a hidden danger.

The only surprise was that this person turned out to be Captain America's old comrade and good friend. This rendered many of his original arrangements useless, and he could only lock up the Winter Soldier for now and try to get him back to normal. As long as he recovered, given his relationship with Steve, this modified soldier codenamed the Winter Soldier would become an asset on his side.

Because the brainwashing methods used by Hydra were crude and not at all mysterious, Nick initially did not think of asking Ethan for help. Of course, there was also the thought of "do not bother that mage with such a small matter".

Steve did not know this. He just felt that since Ethan could easily lift the mental control on Hawkeye, Selvig, and others, healing Bucky should not be difficult either.

He was not wrong. After arriving at the secret base where Bucky was held, Ethan just checked him briefly and gave his answer.

"It's not too much trouble, I can handle it."

Hydra's brainwashing method is to suppress the person's original personality and then overlay it with a blank new personality, using this new, controllable personality to control the body.

This newly formed personality cannot completely suppress the old one, but there is a very simple way to force the original personality to retreat actively into the depths of the mind and give up control of the body.

That is pain!

People have self-protection mechanisms. When instinct feels it can no longer bear more pain, this mechanism activates. At the mental or personality level, this means severing the connection with the body and no longer "feeling" the maddening pain.

At the same time, while torturing the target, they actively design something similar to a trigger word, causing the original personality to develop a "fixed mindset." When these trigger words are used, it means they are about to be tortured again, and they will actively retreat and give up control.

However, this so-called control method has many hidden dangers. For example, when the true personality wants to "come out," they cannot stop it at all.

This is also why, in the original plot, after Bucky gradually regained his memory and self, if no one used the "activation trigger," he could continue to be normal. Over time, that temporary new personality might even completely disappear, at which point the trigger would be useless even if used.

Ethan did not explain too much. In his eyes, this type of hypnosis was very crude, troublesome, time-consuming, and came with huge hidden dangers, making it hardly worth mentioning.

And on the mental energy level, it appeared as a chaotic, disordered mass of mental energy surrounding Bucky's own mental energy. The outermost layer of energy was not some external force. It was also Bucky's own mental energy, a part actively separated as an isolation layer for self-protection, and also the soil for the birth of the new personality.

So, the simplest and most direct way to solve Bucky's problem is to clear away this part of the mental energy. A slightly more troublesome method is to help Bucky's own mental energy absorb this part faster.

"Whichever method you choose, there are no hidden dangers or side effects. The only difference is that the first method will make Bucky feel a bit mentally drained for a period afterward."

This is not a big deal either. After a good period of rest, this lost mental energy will recover significantly, and the individual will feel that they have returned to normal.

The remaining subtle differences will not affect most people.

"Let's go with the first method!"

Steve did not understand all this complicated stuff. He just felt that the first method was faster, and he always felt that this mass of so-called separated mental energy was not a good thing. Even though Ethan clearly stated that it was all Bucky's own mental energy and there would be no problems, he still felt uneasy.

He even felt that all the bad things the Winter Soldier did were caused by this stuff.

Strictly speaking, he was not wrong to think that way, but unfortunately, Bucky would not forget everything he had done before just because he returned to normal.

As Ethan said, that was originally his mental energy. Even if a new personality was created, it used the same body. Both memories and everything else used the same "storage device." Bucky did not become an unknowing bystander just because he lost control of his body; he witnessed everything "he" did like a passenger.

"Alright, no matter what, I'll remove this mass of mental energy first."

Separating this mental energy is not that easy. To ensure safety and success in one go, some preparatory work is needed. Ethan spent several more hours setting up the site, constructing a large number of magic circles and various mysterious symbols under the eyes of Nick Fury and Steve, which were starting to look like mosquito coils.

Such a complex magic circle, the final effect was merely to ensure the smooth execution of this procedure.

After making so many preparations, this clearing work was completed in just five minutes.

With the aid of the magic circle, everyone saw Bucky's mental body partially drawn out, and then they saw how Ethan cut away that layer of distinct mental energy that enveloped Bucky's mental body.

But when Ethan announced it was finished so quickly, the two of them were still a bit stunned.

"Done? Just like that?"

"What else did you expect? That I'd create a bunch of magic runes, chant spells for hours, then cause an earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, accompanied by thick dark clouds and continuous lightning, and finally wreck your base before solving the problem?"

Ethan patted Nick Fury's shoulder. "If you want to see that kind of scene, I can fulfill your wish, but don't ask me for compensation for any losses afterward."

"No, thanks. This is just fine."

Nick did not care about losses or not, but this was his personal secret base, and he did not want his secrets known to more people.

Steve did not care about all this complicated stuff. After Ethan announced the problem was solved, he rushed over to check on Bucky.

During this time, Bucky had been kept frozen in special facilities (obtained from Hydra), so even though Bucky had been captured for a while, there had been no conversation between them until now when they finally met properly.

"Steve?"

Bucky had already woken up from all the commotion. He felt a bit mentally drained but also a sense of lightness all over, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. What surprised him even more was seeing his friend Steve Rogers as soon as he opened his eyes.

He was not surprised by this, however. As Ethan had said earlier, although Bucky had lost control of his body, he knew everything he needed to know. As the Winter Soldier, he received a lot of information during missions, and Bucky also possessed this information. He knew Steve's current situation, including many details that Steve himself might not have noticed.

This information was obtained to better deal with Captain America, but it certainly would not be used now.

Ignoring the conversation between the two friends, Ethan and Nick stepped out and chatted about other things.

"What are your plans next?"

"Go to England and pick up Selvig and the others."

For Ethan, going anywhere was just a matter of casting a spell, but this time he was taking many people to Asgard. He did not want to make multiple trips back and forth, so it was best to gather everyone together first and then send them all at once.

Besides that, he was not planning to stay in this world much longer. The things that needed to be dealt with were mostly finished. The Prinz Eugen was undergoing testing, and he would go to receive the ship soon. A formal warship's sea trials last for a year, and the testing includes various details.

But Ethan did not need Tony to test it in such detail for him, especially since Tony had already developed nano-repair robots. This meant that even after returning to his own side, the warship could be repaired and adjusted on its own if problems arose.

This test only needed to ensure that the Prinz Eugen could be used normally and that most equipment was functioning properly. It seemed there were no serious design flaws currently.

Any problems that arose later would be minor details. At most, a certain system or piece of equipment might not achieve the theoretical effect, or even have no effect at all, but corrections could be made based on the various adjustment plans Tony provided.

Moreover, Tony, realizing that the flow of time on Ethan's side was different from his own world, had started thinking about going out with Ethan again.

Of course, the reason he found was very reasonable: he needed to be present to better help Ethan conduct detailed tests on the Prinz Eugen, ensuring that he handed over a perfect warship, not a defective product with a lot of problems.

"So, after Thor's succession ceremony, you will leave again?"

"Yes."

There really was not anything left here either. He had stayed this long just to wait for the new ship to be launched. The testing was not even being done here, so what else was there to do but leave?

Currently, his only remaining goal in this world was to borrow the Time Stone from Kamar-Taj. He was not greedy. Surely the Ancient One would not refuse if he just wanted to look at the Time Stone for a few days at Kamar-Taj.

(To be continued.)