Howard Stark yawned as he was "invited" by two armed military police officers into a heavily guarded underground laboratory.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes, looked at the silver metal sphere on the laboratory bench, and grumbled discontentedly: "What kind of thing requires dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night? Even if aliens have landed, you should at least let me finish my dream first, right?"
The Minister of Defense, with a dark expression on his face, threw a document in front of him.
"Stop the nonsense, Stark. This is a sample sent by that company of Lynn Morris, a Repulsor Field Grenade. The Department of Defense needs you to analyze its working principle in the shortest possible time and see if we can replicate it."
"Lynn Morris?"
Howard curled his lip and picked up the grenade, tossing it in his hand.
"What kind of high-tech could he possibly come up with? It's probably just blueprints stolen from some Germany laboratory, bragged about to the high heavens..."
As he spoke, he skillfully picked up his tools and began to dismantle the grenade.
As the outer shell was peeled away layer by layer, the contempt on Howard's face gradually vanished.
When he saw the grenade's core energy circuit board, he was completely stunned.
The tweezers in Howard's hand fell to the floor with a "clatter."
That precise circuit layout, that unique energy conduction mode, that masterful design...
Damn it!
Isn't this that theoretical design for "energy field stabilization" that he had casually drawn in his own laboratory just to fool Lynn?
No, that's not right!
This is even more perfect than the blueprints he drew! Even more sophisticated!
Lynn not only turned his theory into reality but also miniaturized it, stabilized it, and even... damn it, mass-produced it!
The Joker was actually me?
He thought he had given Lynn a pile of waste paper, but it turned out the guy had turned around and used this pile of waste paper to create an artifact that changed the course of the war!
He thought he was a high-and-mighty genius, but in reality, he had unknowingly become someone else's free—and even self-satisfied—R&D tool.
"Replicate?"
Howard looked up, his eyes bloodshot.
"What are you going to use to replicate it? Your brains?!"
He pointed at the circuit board and roared at the Minister of Defense: "Do you know what this is? This is art! It's a masterpiece at least fifty years ahead of this era! You idiots who only know how to use artillery shells don't understand what this means at all!"
The Minister of Defense was furious.
Scolded by the President, blasted by Congress, blackmailed by Lynn Morris!
And now he had to be scolded by you, Howard Stark!
Damn it!
But he couldn't vent his anger.
"Stark, calm down!"
"Calm down? I can't calm down!"
Howard paced back and forth in the laboratory, swearing incessantly.
"Son of a bitch Lynn Morris!"
Watching the nearly maniacal Howard, the Minister of Defense's eyes became incredibly complex.
He finally understood the terrifying nature of Lynn Morris.
The Minister waved his hand, signaling the guards to "escort" Howard out, while he himself picked up the dismantled grenade and fell into deep thought.
From the moment Lynn Morris appeared, the outcome of this war was no longer important.
...
Vanguard Holdings, underground headquarters, core medical area.
Lynn stood before the "Cradle" life-support pod, watching the sleeping Steve Rogers inside.
On the screen, all of Steve's vital sign data were stable.
Dr. Horton stood beside Lynn with a brand-new report, his voice filled with irrepressible excitement.
"Boss! Success! We did it!"
He pointed to the data model on the report.
"Through reverse engineering of the Captain's gene fragments and the HYDRA 'Perfect Being' cell samples, we have not only completely figured out the underlying logic of the Super Soldier Serum but also optimized it!"
"We removed the redundant fragments in the serum that cause cellular aging and incorporated the nearly infinite regenerative properties of the Perfect Being. This is no longer simple enhancement; this is... evolution!"
Dr. Horton handed a syringe filled with a pale golden liquid to Lynn, his eyes burning with fanaticism.
"A gene activator; I have named it 'Rebirth.' It will completely neutralize the energy erosion in the Captain's body and reshape every one of his cells into a more powerful form."
"And the risks?"
Lynn took the syringe, turning it gently, watching the golden liquid flow under the light.
"Theoretically... there are no risks."
Dr. Horton pushed up his glasses.
"But his body will endure unimaginable pain; this is a metamorphosis of breaking and then rebuilding. The final result... depends on the Captain's own will."
Lynn didn't ask any further.
He walked to the control panel of the life-support pod and personally inserted the "Rebirth" agent into the automatic injection module.
"Begin."
As Lynn gave the order, the mechanical arm plunged the needle into Steve's vein.
The pale golden liquid was slowly injected.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Inside the life-support pod, Steve Rogers, who had been as calm as a baby, suddenly shuddered!
Immediately after, his tightly closed eyes snapped open!
"Aaaahhh!!!"
A painful roar erupted from within the life-support pod, making one's scalp tingle even through the thick pod walls!
On the monitoring screen, all of Steve's vital data began to soar crazily!
Heart rate, blood pressure, cellular activity... all the indicators surged into the red zone representing danger!
The blue biological gel enveloping his body churned violently.
Steve's body was convulsing, and the veins under his skin looked like writhing earthworms, hideous and terrifying.
"Boss! The data is overloading! His body is about to collapse!"
Dr. Horton's face turned pale as he stared fixedly at the screen.
Lynn, however, just watched quietly, his eyes devoid of any ripples.
This was a necessary process.
"Aaaaahhh!!!"
Steve's roars became increasingly shrill.
He began to pound frantically against the lid of the life-support pod.
The lid, made of a special alloy, was struck by him with such force that it emitted dull, thunderous booms, and even slight indentations appeared on its surface!
The pain was burning his will, but it was also forging his new body.
The cellular necrosis caused by the energy erosion was completely cleared away under the overbearing action of the "Rebirth" agent, gradually transforming into brand-new cells that were more powerful and more active.
Time passed minute by minute.
I don't know how much time had passed, but the heart-wrenching roars gradually subsided.
Inside the life-support pod, Steve's body stopped convulsing, and the frantically jumping data began to slowly fall back, eventually stabilizing at a brand-new level far exceeding the previous one.
The boiling biological gel returned to calm.
"Hiss—"
The door of the life-support pod slowly opened, and white mist drifted out.
A figure slowly sat up from within the mist.
He was naked, and the wounds originally left by the energy erosion had already disappeared.
The muscle lines on his body were even more perfect than before.
Steve Rogers raised his head; the blood-red in his eyes had faded, restoring that clear azure blue.
But within that blue, there was now a depth and sharpness that had never been there before.
He looked down at his hands, feeling that surging, endless new power within him that seemed capable of destroying everything; his eyes were a bit bewildered, and also a bit unfamiliar.
He had survived.
And, he had become even stronger.
"Welcome back, Captain."
Lynn's voice came from ahead.
Steve looked up and saw the man standing at the boundary between shadow and light.
His savior, his partner, the man who had pulled him back from hell to the World of the living.
Lynn walked slowly to him, with his usual gentle smile on his face, and reached out his hand to him.
"The World needs a stronger you."
Steve looked at that hand, and then looked into Lynn's bottomless eyes.
He grasped that hand without hesitation.
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