"Who is it?"
Sam Wilson glanced at the Captain and whispered, "If it's not one of your ladies, we might need to be careful..."
"I've never heard that voice before..."
Steve grew alert, picked up his shield, and quietly moved to the side of the door, giving Sam a look of signal.
Sam nodded in understanding, composed himself, and slowly pulled open the curtain...
Rustle rustle...
!!
[Oh no!!]
Once he saw clearly outside, his pupils shrank, and cold sweat broke out instantly!
What he saw outside———
———were fully armed special ops soldiers in black combat gear, tightly suited up from head to toe!
Leading them was a woman in sunglasses—her face mostly obscured—she looked Asian, with a well-proportioned figure, dressed in an all-white combat suit that stood out among the black-clad troops.
Knock knock knock~
Maki Matsumoto's clone knocked again on the glass door. "Hey, black guy, open the door please—I'm looking for Old Rogers."
"...."
Hearing her blatant racial slur, Sam Wilson's forehead vein throbbed with anger...!
If he wasn't covering for Cap, he would've definitely found a way to teach this woman a lesson!
"Old Rogers? I don't know him."
Sam suppressed his anger and said coldly, "Which unit are you from? Mercenaries? Planning to break into a private home?"
"Rogers, Steve—the famous Captain America."
"Maki Matsumoto" chuckled lightly. "He's exactly who I'm looking for."
Hearing that, Steve—hiding beside the door—tightened his grip on his shield...
Sam was barely holding his expression. He flatly denied it, "Never seen him. Leave now, or I'm calling the cops!"
"You sure?"
"Maki Matsumoto" pressed a scanning device on her glasses. She quickly spotted the shielded figure behind the door and looked in that direction. "Captain, we're here to help. You really won't come out and meet us?"
"...." Steve stayed silent, deep in thought.
[Captain America?]
In the comms channel among the clone soldiers, a few top beta testers of the game "Top Player" were chatting———
[They even made Captain America an NPC in this game? Did they pay the licensing fee?]
[I'm a huge Cap fan! This must be a 1:1 recreation, right?]
[If Cap's here, does that mean other heroes show up too? I wanna see Black Widow!]
[We'll find out soon enough if we ask.]
[Better not—didn't the mission log say we're not allowed to talk casually?]
[Yeah, if that lady NPC leading us hears, we'll lose our bonus rewards!]
[By the way, who is she anyway? That body's pretty nice though.]
[Who cares, as long as we get rewards. Wait—are you crushing on an NPC??]
[This mission's weird though—no screen recording allowed, and we had to sign NDAs...]
[Doesn't that make it more realistic? I'm totally blown away by the immersion!]
A few minutes later.
Steve, looking at "Maki Matsumoto" across the table, asked, "You were sent by the club to help me take down Pierce?"
Then he glanced at the clone soldiers operated by players. "Why don't I see the Silver Sable Security logo?"
"Huh?"
"Maki Matsumoto" twirled her handgun. "Get this straight—we're here to do the dirty work. Of course we're keeping it low-key."
"Stopping Pierce's Project Insight isn't dirty work—it's to save innocent lives," Steve corrected her sternly.
Maki Matsumoto laughed, "You think the public's going to thank you right now, Mr. Most Wanted?"
"They'll know eventually..." Steve frowned. This woman was a bit too sharp-tongued—she reminded him of Stark...
"Alright then, let's stop wasting time."
Maki Matsumoto pushed off the table and stood up. "Let's move while we still can!"
Wuennn———!
Wuennn———!
Wuennn———!
Several combat vehicles sped across the overpass—their destination: a S.H.I.E.L.D. base housing the helicarriers designated for Project Insight.
Steve, now suited up in the first vehicle, said, "According to you, Insight launches in 16 hours. We've really got to move—those helicarriers must not take off."
"We're heading there now."
Maki Matsumoto glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed several vehicles subtly surrounding them. "But before that... we've got to deal with some rabid dogs blocking the way."