On the other side, in the underground passage of Pym Technologies.
Engulfed in flames, Steve felt as if his entire body was burning alive. The suit he wore, which had been improved by Vought, no longer had the flaw of being vulnerable to cuts. But against fire, one of nature's fiercest forces, it still offered little protection.
Likewise, while his elastic body allowed him to shrug off physical attacks, he had no real way to resist the scorching flames.
Yet his reaction remained sharp. The moment he hit the ground, he forced himself back up. Ignoring the fire crawling across his body, he lunged forward and charged straight at the fallen agent.
"What?!"
Rumlow's eyes widened in horror, as if Steve still being able to stand was something impossible to believe.
But he never got the chance to voice his shock.
Under the blazing fire, Steve no longer held back. He realized at least two new enemies had appeared. To secure victory, the first step was eliminating Rumlow, who was still a threat.
The next instant, his burning figure swung his shield with all his strength, slamming it down on his target.
The indestructible shield, combined with a strike in which Steve used his full power, left no room for survival. Rumlow's head burst apart like a watermelon struck by a bat, blood and bone fragments splattering across the floor. Some sprayed onto Steve himself, helping snuff out the fire on his body.
In the heat of battle, he showed just how well he could adapt.
He hadn't planned for it, but seeing the blood spread across the floor, he immediately made his choice.
Dropping to the ground, Steve rolled through the blood, using it to douse the fire on him. With his vision no longer blocked by flames, he finally saw the ones who had attacked him.
Two figures dressed in black stood there, one in front, one behind.
The one ahead had the ability to unleash fire from his hands. The one behind bore a metal arm, a knife glinting in its grip.
It was obvious that if Reed hadn't given him the elastic body beforehand, then even if the flames hadn't killed him, the dagger would have pierced through his body, leaving him powerless
'Wait. A metal arm!'
His eyes went wide.
He knew exactly who carried such a thing. According to what the Joker had said, the one who attacked Howard was a man with a modified metal arm.
And that man… was the Winter Soldier. Bucky. He had found him at last.
But before Steve could call out, their attacks came at him.
Using the narrow space of the corridor to their advantage, the superpowered man kept hurling fire from both hands, forcing him back step by step. Simultaneously, Winter Soldier rushed in. The raw strength from the metal arm was far greater than what the Super Soldier Serum had granted Steve.
His elasticity kept him safe from direct damage, but the gap in strength made counterattacking difficult.
"Sorry, this might hurt a bit!"
Prepared this time, Steve wouldn't let himself fall into another trap. He raised his shield just as the metal fist came crashing down.
Metal arm met unyielding shield, and the latter's unique property of reflecting nearly all energy within its limits was displayed in full.
For beings like Thanos or Odin, the shield could be broken easily. But against Bucky, it was like a wall of sighs, indestructible and immovable.
When his strike connected, not only did it fail to harm Steve, but the force was reflected back at him. The impact sent him flying and crashing onto the floor.
By now, Steve's waist had already twisted several times during the brutal close-quarters fight. In an instant, his body coiled like a spring compressed to its absolute limit and spun with incredible speed. The violent whirlwind generated by his rapid rotation scattered the flames rushing toward him.
He then hurled his shield once more. It smashed directly into the arm of the superpowered opponent before him, snapping it clean.
"Ah!"
He let out a scream of agony, quickly followed by fear.
He was nothing more than a mutant forcibly recruited by Hydra back when mutants had first been exposed to the world.
Because of the natural conflict between his mutant identity and humanity, Hydra's brainwashing had never truly worked on him. He wasn't one of their devoted zealots.
That was why he still felt fear, especially after watching Rumlow's skull get crushed by a single blow from Steve, and seeing the man continue to fight through blood and exhaustion.
The only reason he had dared to attack at all was because of his faith in his own abilities. But now, Steve had broken through his flames and shattered his arm. The terror inside him could no longer be contained.
"No! Don't kill me, stay away! Don't kill me!!!"
The panicked mutant lashed out with another burst of fire to push Steve back, then bolted straight for the exit.
Winter Soldier, having climbed back to his feet, pieced together the outcome of the fight and saw his teammate fleeing. He too chose to retreat, sprinting toward the exit even faster.
"You're not getting away!"
Steve charged after them. Though his focus wasn't on the mutant. His real target was Bucky. After finally meeting him again, he wasn't about to let him slip away.
* * *
But when he rushed out of the basement and left the hall of Pym Technologies, he found the situation had grown more complicated.
Winter Soldier stood with his knife ready, his stance tense and wary as he stared ahead.
Before him, a mysterious figure clad head-to-toe in green armor shaped like a bird was pinning the fleeing mutant to the ground. The figure's leg armor, fashioned like raptor talons, dug cruelly into the mutant's body.
"Let me go! I said let me go!"
The mutant shrieked in terror, spewing flames from his hands at his captor. But his fire, capable of scorching human flesh, was useless against this advanced suit of technology.
"Don't panic. I need your help."
The birdlike figure's voice was calm, almost soft.
Steve froze. He recognized that voice. He had heard it before, but he couldn't place who it was just from sound alone. And unlike with Rumlow, body shape was no clue either. The heavy armor concealed everything.
"Who are you?!" Steve demanded, stepping closer with caution.
Just then, the figure moved.
The chest plate opened, revealing a strange mechanism as visible streams of energy poured out of the mutant's body and into the armor.
The truly horrifying part was that as his energy was drained away, the mutant's body aged before Steve's eyes, shriveling and deteriorating at terrifying speed.
It was clear now. Whoever this birdlike figure was, their strange armor granted them the ability to steal the very lifespan of others.
**
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