Steve sat in the cabin of the Quinjet, head bowed, stroking his shield.
The shield hadn't changed at all in just a few decades; it was exactly the same as it was back then.
But the world had changed long ago.
Steve sighed.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had rescued him from the Arctic, he felt a bit overwhelmed facing this ever-changing world.
Nick Fury had said he just needed time to adapt, to get his body, frozen for decades, moving again.
He could only hope that was true.
Because even now, in an era where Hydra was long gone, enemies bent on destroying the world still appeared endlessly.
The danger had clearly escalated.
Yet he remained the same.
But compared to that, what perplexed Captain America even more was why, even today, the beautiful life he thought he had fought for hadn't come to fruition?
In the days since his thawing, besides constantly hiding and boxing, he had also been learning about the world.
Hydra was gone, the war was over, but the world was still not at peace.
He once thought that fighting for his country meant fighting for the world, for peace, for humanity.
But as he learned about the history of the past few decades, he realized he was wrong.
The nation that called itself a beacon had launched several wars in recent years.
He was somewhat confused.
At that moment, the Quinjet slowed down.
A soldier walked up to him and said, "Captain, we're here."
Steve snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the soldier with a white beard. He saw the name tag read "Brock Rumlow."
Clearly, that was his name.
"Thanks."
Steve let out a long breath and slung his shield over his shoulder.
"You don't need to be so tense," Brock said, a slight smile on his face that seemed a bit mocking.
"The agency always gets a bit too worked up about things falling from the sky."
"Are they worried Superman might fall from the sky? If that happened, it should be in Kansas," he shrugged.
Steve didn't get his Superman joke, but he did relax a little.
This mission was less difficult than it was bizarre.
A hammer falling from the sky—a hammer no one could lift—sounded like a fairy tale.
When the plane landed, Steve stepped off.
Coulson saw Captain America approaching and quickly put on an enthusiastic face to greet him.
"Captain!"
He shouted, a smile on his face.
Steve had a good impression of him.
Then, Coulson began to explain the situation to Steve.
"That hammer has been in New Mexico for a while. It created a small crater, but our satellites didn't detect anything unusual."
"You heard it can't be lifted?"
Coulson nodded. "Before we arrived, the locals tried. No one could move it. An old man tried to pull it with his car, but he ended up breaking his car."
After S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived, they naturally used all sorts of equipment, but they also couldn't do anything with the hammer.
"So, what's my mission?"
Steve asked.
He thought, since so many modern machines couldn't move the hammer, Nick Fury wouldn't possibly expect him to figure out how to get rid of it, right?
"No, Fury is worried someone will come to steal it," Coulson said.
Regardless, since the hammer had fallen onto their land, Fury naturally considered it ownerless.
And if it was ownerless, it rightfully belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D.!
As he spoke, Coulson chuckled again.
"Of course, Captain, you can try it yourself. Who knows, maybe you'll actually be able to lift it."
"That sounds a bit like the legend of King Arthur's Sword in the Stone," Steve finally picked up on a reference.
Then, he and Coulson set off together.
Brock glanced at them before directing the other soldiers to quickly set up a temporary base.
Since the hammer couldn't be taken away, they could only study it on the spot, like drawing a circle to trap themselves.
Meanwhile.
A blue blur streaked across the vast Gobi Desert.
Ben, transformed into XLR8, ran at top speed, his afterimage a straight laser beam.
"New Mexico is so desolate!"
He braked sharply, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
Although Ben had asked Eunice to book a flight to New Mexico, the ticket he actually booked was for Texas.
The famous sunny coast – that was more like a vacation spot.
After arriving in Texas, Ben transformed into XLR8 and ran all the way here.
The environment in New Mexico looked like it was from the last century, fitting the image of cowboys and small towns from every Western movie.
Seeing the scenery, you couldn't help but imagine those classic movie scenes in your mind.
The people coming and going were all dressed as cowboys, riding horses, panning for gold in the river, and then heading to the town's saloon to drink their fill with the money they earned.
Of course, at times like these, a classic American quick draw between cowboys was inevitable.
"Eunice, mark the location where the Hammer of Thor fell."
"Yes, sir."
Eunice sent the location of the Hammer of Thor to Ben.
Not long ago, this hammer had caused quite a stir in the vicinity, and Ben had already gathered information then.
Now, all those news reports had been wiped clean from the internet.
He knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was involved.
However, Ben's goals didn't conflict with theirs.
He wasn't interested in the hammer; he couldn't lift it anyway. And even if he could, what then?
Don't forget, the Allfather Odin was still alive.
From beginning to end, Ben's sole objective was the genes of the Asgardians and Loki.
"Getting Thor's genes should be easy," he thought.
Thor had lost his divine power, so he was only slightly stronger than an average person, and he was a brainless idiot. Getting his genes would be incredibly easy.
But Loki was different.
Loki had only appeared a few times in the mortal realm. And when the Little Broken Watch entered Capture Mode, he couldn't transform.
"Fortunately, even if I can't transform, I still have Spider-Man's powers!"
Ben clenched his fist confidently.
However, despite Loki appearing frail in the movies, his power level was actually rated as five, making him stronger than Ben when Ben wasn't transformed.
From this perspective, obtaining Loki's genes wouldn't be so easy.
"Actually, I could look at it from another angle."
Ben mused.
"I'll beat Loki to a pulp with Heatblast first, and then I'll get his genes."
Loki: ???
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