"Heh… you better make this work." Henry weakly lifted his head, forcing out a sarcastic smile.
"Let me tell you—I'm starving here. Hydra's food standards are garbage. Worse than POW rations. If I don't get a proper meal soon, forget becoming a super soldier—I won't even make it as a super sick soldier."
The researchers ignored him. They moved like emotionless machines, methodically preparing for the experiment.
A syringe filled with golden liquid was pushed in front of Henry.
Under the lights, the liquid shimmered as if it contained the sunlight itself.
"Superman serum? Fancy name… sounds all warm and cozy," Henry muttered, giving one last jab at it.
The cold needle pierced his arm, and the golden liquid slowly flowed into his veins.
One second. Two seconds. A minute…
Nothing.
No excruciating pain, no feeling of cells tearing apart, not even a hint of warmth.
The golden serum flowed silently, like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
"What the hell? No change in vitals at all!"
"Energy readings zero! The serum's failed?"
"Impossible! This is our perfect formula!"
The researchers were in chaos, faces full of disbelief and frustration.
Henry sighed in disappointment.
"Really? That's it? Big hype, no fireworks. I thought I'd see some sort of magical display or something. Alright, experiment failed—can I go back to sleep now? And maybe grab a double cheeseburger with a supersized Coke while you're at it?"
Disappointment turned into anger.
The older researcher ripped off his gloves, irritated. "Take him back! Toss him in the cell!"
Henry was dragged back to the familiar prison room, thrown onto the cold floor like a sack of trash.
The metal door slammed shut, and the world returned to dead silence.
"Am I the first damn traveler Hydra's starving to death and failing experiments on?" Henry lay there, laughing bitterly to himself.
"This is such a fucking miserable way to go."
He gave up thinking, gave up struggling. He just lay there, staring at the unchanging metal ceiling, muttering absentmindedly.
"Has it really been so long since I saw the sun? The real sun… not this shitty lamp."
"I wish I could see a sunset in New York again, sunlight spilling over Central Park… beautiful. I wonder if there's even sun outside right now."
As he wandered in thought, something changed—
"ROOOARRR!!!"
A wild, inhuman roar exploded from the adjacent cell!
It was full of pain and madness, like a ferocious beast waking from a nightmare!
Henry jolted, completely shocked.
"Holy shit… did the guy next door just go full-on drug mode? Mutated or what?"
"BOOM!!!"
Before he could react, the entire base began to shake violently.
Cracks ripped across the walls, chunks of rubble and dust raining down from above.
"RUMBLE!"
Another deafening crash—the metal wall of the neighboring cell had been shattered, leaving a huge gaping hole!
A massive, muscle-bound monster with eerie black skin burst through. Its eyes burned red, mouth roaring, smashing anything in sight!
"Alert! Alert! Test Subject 7 has gone rogue! Repeat, Subject 7 is out of control!"
Shrill alarms pierced the base. Footsteps, gunfire, and human screams of death echoed through the corridors.
Henry's cell shook violently; the ceiling couldn't bear it.
A massive concrete slab crashed down onto the metal bed he had been lying on, denting it deeply.
"Good thing I moved."
He patted his chest nervously. His eyes were drawn to the hole left by the fallen debris.
A ray of golden sunlight pierced through, cutting across the chaos.
Like a divine spotlight, it hit the floor right in front of him, forming a small patch of light.
Henry froze.
He stared at the sunlight, and after a few seconds, cracked a grin.
"Heh… didn't think it'd actually be real. Asked to see the sun, and here it comes. Is this… my dying wish being granted?"
He looked at the chaos outside, knowing even if the cell was broken, he couldn't escape.
With his weak body, he couldn't even take down a single armed soldier.
"Eh, whatever… can't get out anyway. At least I can bask in the sun before I die."
With that thought, he began dragging his body toward the tiny patch of sunlight with his last bit of strength.
His body felt like it was filled with lead; every movement made his bones groan.
One centimeter… two centimeters…
Biting his teeth, his eyes burning with the desire for light, he crawled inch by inch like a dying fish toward the source of life.
Finally, his entire body was bathed in the warm sunlight.
An unprecedented sense of comfort wrapped around him.
He exhaled deeply, a genuine, relaxed smile spreading across his face.
"Ah! Finally, I'm in the sun. No regrets now."
He closed his eyes in satisfaction, savoring the last calm before the apocalypse.
The alarms, explosions, and screams seemed distant, as if the chaos around him no longer existed.
Then, in the next moment, he snapped his eyes open!
A surging life force erupted from every cell in his body!
It felt like a dried-out sponge thrown into the ocean, greedily absorbing every drop of water!
And that sunlight… was an endless source of energy!
He could clearly feel his shriveled muscles filling out, becoming firm and strong at a visible speed.
His pale face flushed with color, radiant and healthy.
The hunger that had gnawed at his bones vanished within seconds, replaced by an unprecedented sense of fullness and power!
A mighty force was born and growing inside him!
It wasn't enormous yet, but Henry could tell that this power far exceeded the limits of any normal human.
How could he tell? He could sense his body's defensive strength increasing—an instinctive feeling, like knowing whether you can lift something heavy.
He touched his skin.
Good. Hard as steel.
Then came an even stranger sensation.
He felt… his body becoming lighter.
No, not lighter—
He looked down and realized his body was slowly, uncontrollably floating upward!
One centimeter… five… ten…
"Holy shit, I'm Superman!"
Henry stared at his feet hovering in midair, feeling like he'd stepped into a surreal, absurd dream.
He muttered instinctively.
"What the hell is happening? I'm Superman now? Superman serum? Sunlight? So the serum works via photosynthesis? But… it doesn't feel that strong.
Kryptonians lift carriers just from sunlight. I… can maybe lift a truck? Am I a nerfed version of Superman?"
As he tried to rationalize or pseudo-scientifically explain his bizarre situation, urgent footsteps and shouts came from behind.
"Don't move! Hands up!"
A few Hydra soldiers, lucky to have escaped the rampaging experiment, pointed their guns at him.
Henry floated in the air, slowly turning to face them.
He looked down at his body.
His previously scrawny frame was now tall, muscular, radiating explosive power.
His height seemed to have grown a few centimeters—definitely over 6'3".
He could feel the torrent of power inside him, like one punch could tear through a wall.
He glanced at the Hydra soldiers, guns trembling in their hands, faces full of panic.
A confident, almost cruel smile spread across his face.
"Good." He cracked his neck with a series of sharp pops.
"Today, we're making snake-head soup!"
Before his words even finished, he vanished from the spot, reappearing at the observation window made of reinforced transparent glass in the cell block.
Clenching his fists and feeling his newfound strength, he threw a casual punch!
"BANG! CRACK!"
The reinforced glass, meant to withstand high-caliber bullets, shattered like eggshells!
The soldiers gaped in terror, instinctively pulling the trigger.
"RAT-A-TAT-TAT!"
Bullets streaked toward Henry—but he didn't even bother dodging.
Why would he? If he could shatter bulletproof glass so easily, he had no doubt the bullets would be just as ineffective.
Bulletproof glass isn't just about stopping bullets—if it breaks and your hand's fine, doesn't that say something?
So, he wanted to test just how tough his new body was.
Countless bullets struck his chest, arms, and face—but couldn't pierce his skin.
They clinked and deformed, falling uselessly to the floor.
It felt like getting poked by thousands of toothpicks—slightly ticklish.
"Ticklish, huh? Not strong enough, guys."
Henry dusted off his nonexistent dirt and floated out through the shattered window.
At that moment, the base commander—a middle-aged man in a tailored suit, eyes dark and cold—arrived with several guards.
Seeing Henry unharmed and hovering midair, he froze, then erupted into maniacal laughter.
"Success! Success! Hahaha! My Sun Serum works! We've created a god!"
Henry looked at his deranged face and smiled, the kind of smile that said I don't eat beef.
"Yeah, thanks for the generous gift. But as repayment… go meet God."
He vanished again.
What followed was sheer, unilateral carnage.
Henry's power and physical strength were only at the initial boost; speed hadn't reached its peak. Yet against ordinary humans and heavy weapons, it was more than enough.
Bullets couldn't touch him. Grenades exploded nearby without even sparking.
A soldier fired an RPG—but Henry intercepted, kicking it mid-air.
The rocket detonated on the ceiling, the blast throwing nearby Hydra soldiers to the ground.
Like a tiger among sheep, every punch, every kick, was accompanied by bone-cracking sounds and desperate screams.
He grabbed a soldier, became a blur, appeared beside another armed soldier, grabbed him too, then slammed both together!
BANG!
In under two minutes, he had obliterated all resistance in the base.
He landed slowly in front of the commander, who had collapsed in terror, pants wet with fear.
"God!! Spare me!"
"Next life… feed your test subjects properly," Henry said flatly, stepping down on the commander's head, making it burst like a watermelon.
Afterwards, he felt the base shaking violently, explosions erupting everywhere.
The rogue experiment and his rampage had already destabilized the base.
But he didn't leave immediately. He surveyed the area. He hadn't been idle these past days.
He knew the base like the back of his hand; every path taken during daily movements had been memorized.
He searched the labs and databases, but cursed Hydra had wiped all experimental data each time.
This meant Henry couldn't figure out his serum problem—but it also meant that, unless other Hydra bases had backups, no one could replicate his powers.
"Cautious bastards," Henry muttered, rolling his eyes.
He didn't hesitate. Turning to the terrified staff and trapped researchers, he smiled coldly.
"Ready to go to hell?"
His voice echoed through the lab. In the next few minutes, he eliminated every living person inside.
He wanted to check for surviving experiments, but except for the one who escaped earlier, he was the last survivor.
He gathered all explosive devices, not trusting the ongoing chaos, and detonated them.
He didn't stay; he rocketed through the ceiling hole, leaving the underground base behind.
BOOM!!
The explosions buried the Hydra secret base in history.
Outside, the vast wilderness stretched under a blue sky and warm sun.
He greedily breathed the free air, feeling every ray of sunlight on his body.
Looking at his own body and recalling the route from capture, he estimated this was somewhere in the U.S.
His gaze turned westward—toward Los Angeles.
"Tony… hang tight. Hope those Middle Eastern assholes haven't killed you yet."
He whispered, tilting slightly, arms spread.
Next second, he became a blur, speeding toward Los Angeles faster than sound!
"BOOM!"
A ring of white sonic boom erupted behind him, forming a spectacular Mach ring that lingered in the sky.