The Winter Soldier—Lin Feng's so-called "Winter Soldier."
Not just one!
Everyone exchanged glances. Clearly, this was Hydra's secret weapon.
Based on Bucky Barnes' condition, it was obvious these Winter Soldiers weren't ordinary special forces operatives.
If they were just regular elite soldiers, not only Hydra but even S.H.I.E.L.D. would have plenty of such teams.
Outside, they'd still be elite-level troops.
These elite soldiers, while costly to train, wouldn't justify being maintained for decades with life-extension methods.
Such soldiers could be continuously recruited from ordinary humans.
This aligned with what Tony Stark had just said.
These were likely Hydra's true trump cards.
And there wasn't just one. Maintained carefully over decades with immense resources, these Winter Soldiers were undoubtedly very powerful.
Even if they didn't match Captain America, they probably came close.
As the saying goes: if they weren't at least near Cap's level, there'd be no reason to spend massive resources to maintain them.
"Good thing we didn't attack them directly," Nick Fury thought.
Even approaching Captain America's level would be a huge problem for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Cap's combat power, after his return, made everyone take notice.
He might not match the monsters described in Lin Feng's diary, but compared to ordinary humans, he was incomprehensibly strong.
During WWII, Rogers often led elite assault squads, capable of single-handedly defeating a battalion or even a regiment—the difference being time.
Given enough time, he could accomplish these feats.
And there wasn't just one of him. Even a single squad posed a massive problem for S.H.I.E.L.D., especially if they went rogue—they could wreak unimaginable havoc.
"Looks like this might be an alternate timeline, after Hydra was wiped out," Tony Stark said. "The doctor Bucky mentioned clearly isn't Hydra. If he were, he wouldn't do all these pointless actions: asking about the Winter Soldiers' locations, framing them for a bombing. I suspect his target isn't anyone else—it's the Avengers themselves."
Everyone nodded. The so-called doctor used convoluted methods to frame someone officially recorded as dead decades ago, exposing Bucky Barnes in the process.
Clearly, the goal was to fracture the Avengers.
As Lin Feng's diary noted, after Bucky carried out this mission, Rogers would undoubtedly protect his close friend.
But Tony?
With his responsibilities and government pressures, he would naturally pursue Bucky, setting the two sides against each other. The Avengers' split was inevitable.
This wasn't a simple misunderstanding caused by a loose tongue.It involved more complex factors.
That was the real headache.
"Who are they?" Rogers asked, hearing about the Winter Soldiers for the first time.
His expression was extremely serious.
"Elite suicide squads!" Bucky said. "The ones in Hydra's history who killed the most—back before the serum."
"Are they all like you?" Sam Wilson asked.
"Worse," Bucky replied.
"Can the doctor control them?" Cap asked.
"More or less," Bucky said.
"He wants to see an empire destroyed!" Cap shuddered. Their opponent was even scarier than he imagined.
Bucky earnestly explained: "If he has help, he can do it. They speak thirty languages, infiltrate, assassinate, and subvert without leaving a trace. They can destroy an empire overnight, catching you completely off guard!"
Clearly, he referred to Hydra's elite operative teams.
"This would've been much simpler a week ago!" Sam said.
"If we told Tony…" Cap started.
Sam shook his head: "He wouldn't believe us. Even if he did, would the 'agreement' let him help?"
"We can only rely on ourselves," Cap said.
Sam shrugged: "Maybe not. I know someone."
Tony interjected: "Hold on, hold on."
Pausing the video, he said: "First, a few questions. Serum? What serum? Super Soldier Serum? Hydra developed such a program? Or is it something else?"
"The Super Soldier Serum was originally developed by Hydra," Nick Fury explained. "If they redeveloped it, that's normal. But if so, these Winter Soldiers' combat abilities could rival Cap's."
This aligned with their previous speculation: these Winter Soldiers weren't ordinary fighters. Otherwise, Hydra wouldn't have preserved them for decades.
"Wow, so we might have to face a bunch of Caps?" Hawkeye exclaimed dramatically.
Just imagining it gave him a headache.
Especially since Hawkeye had recently partnered with Cap often—he knew Cap's skill level. Ordinary people would die trying, but Cap could complete missions unharmed.
One Cap was tough enough—imagine hundreds!
"But if Hydra really had this strength, why haven't they used it?" Coulson asked. "Seventy years have passed, and they've absorbed S.H.I.E.L.D. resources. Even if they could only produce a few serums per year, over seventy years, that's at least hundreds of supersoldiers—they could topple the U.S."
Coulson's concern was valid. Even with hundreds of Captain-level soldiers, total U.S. conquest is unrealistic—but eliminating top officials overnight? Very possible.
"But they haven't. There must be limits. Perhaps the serum is harder to make than expected, supplies are limited, or the formula was lost. Hydra's supersoldiers may number fewer than ten," Tony Stark speculated. "If there were more, there'd be no need to preserve Bucky from WWII to now. Clearly, something went wrong in the middle."
Tony didn't realize he might have hit on some real issues.
"After WWII, didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. try to replicate the serum?" Tony asked.
Fury was a bit embarrassed. This was a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret, but given the company, it was almost half-safe to reveal.
Before Cap awoke, they had secretly obtained samples of his blood, skin, and hair to recreate the serum.
If Fury denied it, Tony wouldn't believe him—Tony didn't assume the worst in people.
"Yes, but no success," Fury sighed.
Every S.H.I.E.L.D. director had attempted such projects, including him. But with no samples, no formula, and no surviving scientists, replication was impossible.
Only recently had progress been made, thanks to Cap himself as a reference.
Cap showed no anger at experiments on his hair and blood.
During WWII, such attempts happened more than once. Cap was a traditional soldier—the serum belonged to the nation, not him.
"What about the agreement? What agreement?" Tony asked. "So in the future, we're signing an agreement preventing us from helping?"
Tony frowned—his future self agreed to restrict superheroes?
Clearly, this agreement was government-led, specifically aimed at heroes.
But he couldn't understand why his future self would accept such obvious restrictions.
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(End of Chapter)