While Black Widow Natasha Romanoff remained at the suburban factory with a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to install surveillance and auto-alert systems, Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers boarded a helicopter headed for one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s underground research bases hidden deep in the forests of New Jersey.
Triple security per checkpoint, armed guards every few meters. The facility was airtight.
Thirty levels below ground, the elevator doors slid open, revealing several lab-coated researchers huddled around a table, deep in discussion.
Upon seeing Director Carter, they immediately cut their conversation short.
"Any updates on the project?" Peggy asked as she stepped forward.
The lead scientist shook his head.
"This mouse's genetic structure is… highly unusual. It's not a standard double-helix DNA strand, it's a multi-helix configuration. We've tried, but we simply can't extract any viable genetic material, let alone conduct viable experiments."
Peggy frowned.
"Rory could do this alone. Are you telling me that a room full of the world's top bioengineers still can't replicate his work?"
Steve Rogers walked over to a thick pane of reinforced glass and peered into the sealed containment chamber behind it.
What he saw nearly made his soul leap out of his body.
A massive rat, grotesque in form, lined with serrated fangs, blood-red eyes, long claws, and a grotesquely thick, whip-like tail.
It took him a moment to realize…
It was already dead.
Still, it didn't make the sight any less horrifying.
Behind him, the scientists continued speaking with Peggy.
"Director Carter, genetic engineering doesn't work like baking a cake. You don't just follow a recipe. DNA editing can manifest differently depending on who's doing it, and the Rory you mentioned must be nothing short of a genetic prodigy."
Peggy rubbed her temples.
"I'm not interested in excuses. I want to know: can we use this mouse's genetic data or not?"
"...Highly unlikely."
Peggy let out a sigh and waved them back to work.
No point in yelling at people doing the impossible.
Once the scientists left, Steve approached Peggy, his tone clearly disturbed.
"Peggy… you know what Red Skull was capable of. Why are we even toying with bioweapons like this?"
Peggy didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the grotesque creature behind the glass.
"We didn't make it. It was created by a geneticist named Rory in 1970. We found it buried in the ruins of one of his old labs."
"Rory? The same Rory we're chasing now? But he's in his twenties, how could he…"
Peggy cut him off.
"Rory is far more dangerous than you realize. He didn't just study genetic enhancement, he used it on himself. That's why we have to bring him in."
Peggy didn't bother explaining timelines or the paradoxes Steve wouldn't understand, not right now.
She wasn't the same idealistic military officer from seven decades ago.
Now, she was Director Carter of S.H.I.E.L.D., protector of global security and paranormal containment.
Back in Hell's Kitchen, Rory and Frank had returned to their underground hideout.
Still aching from the enhancement procedure, Frank was sprawled out on a mattress like a corpse, while Rory worked in the kitchen.
"Hey Rory…" Frank groaned. "Did you feel this wrecked after your first enhancement?"
Rory scoffed.
"Hell no. I was throwing punches at a certain obnoxious super-soldier the moment I stepped out. You? You couldn't take on a stray dog right now."
Although both of them had undergone "enhancement," their methods were fundamentally different.
Frank had his own human DNA enhanced using a serum based on Jessica Jones' sample. His body used its own energy to support the boost, hence the fatigue.
Rory, on the other hand, hadn't just enhanced his DNA, he had replaced it, using Thanos' genetic code. The energy wasn't his to burn, it came from the eternal-class serum coursing through him.
It was an entirely different league.
Rory finished cooking a large pot of bone broth and set a bowl down in front of Frank.
"You're running on fumes. Eat all of this, might help. And when you're done, clean up the place… and the toilet."
Frank blinked.
"Seriously?"
Rory shot him a glare.
"What do I look like? Your mother?"
After feeding the recovering man-child, Rory returned to his station with Frank's newly drawn blood sample.
He began testing, comparing the new data against earlier results from Wilson Fisk.
"Hmm… not bad," he muttered. "Frank, your enhancement was a success. You'll be back to full strength in about three days. Gene activity's clocking in at three times baseline human levels. Congrats."
Frank, still slurping down his bone broth, blinked.
"You wanna run that by me in English?"
Rory capped the blood vial and slid it into cold storage.
"You're no longer a baseline human. You've evolved. You know Steve Rogers?"
Frank nodded dumbly.
"You and him are neck and neck now."
Of course, that "neck and neck" status included Steve's overpowered vibranium shield, without it, Frank might even have the edge.
But still, that kind of comparison left Frank ecstatic.
Steve Rogers was a national legend, to even be mentioned in the same breath was beyond anything Frank had expected.
"Hot damn! That's incredible!" Frank shouted, waving a gnawed bone triumphantly. Then he paused. "Hey Rory… what's your deal with that Fisk guy anyway?"
Rory squinted at him.
"You know exactly what's going on. Stop pretending. Just spit it out."
Frank scratched his head and grinned awkwardly.
"Alright, fine. I need guns. Big ones. Fully automatic if possible."
Rory gave him a look so judgmental it could've curdled milk.
Frank frowned.
"Look, can you help me or not? What's with the face?"
Rory closed the fridge and stared at him.
"You've evolved beyond human limitations… and you still want to fight like a grunt with a machine gun? What was the point of enhancing you, then?"
Frank was silent for a long beat.
"...Huh. Good point."
Then he grinned.
"Still, I'd prefer not to get blood on my clothes every time I kill someone. A few guns won't hurt."
He had a point. For dealing with normal thugs, firearms still offered the cleanest solution.
Frank didn't leave the hideout for the next three days, just focused on rest and recovery.
During that time, he told Rory everything.
About the massacre of his family, the secret operation codenamed Cerberus, the shadowy government officials involved, and a former NSA analyst named David, who now wanted to join forces with him.
Rory listened silently, already calculating the chain reaction this kind of revenge plot could spark, and how useful it could be in disrupting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention.
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
Support me by adding this fic into your library!
200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
For Advance Chapters, please visit and consider joining me on P(a)treon!
p(a)treon.com/Lnee
You can also access my other translated fics on P(a)treon!