The morning after his Bounty Ranked Match ended, Daniel got a direct summons from Nick Fury and was instantly teleported to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
Stepping into the Director's office, he found Fury waiting with Coulson standing quietly at his side.
"Reporting in, sir. What do you need?" Daniel asked.
Fury had only told him to come—no details, no briefing. Classic Fury mystery theater.
Fury fixed him with that one-eyed stare and spoke in a low, serious tone. "Our Arctic recovery team located the wreckage of a plane buried in the ice. Inside was a very old… artifact. He's been transferred to the New York branch. Your job: stand guard until he opens his eyes."
He slid a classified folder across the desk.
Daniel flipped it open and nearly choked.
The "artifact" had a name: Steve Rogers.
Original Super Soldier Serum recipient. Living legend. Captain America himself.
New Quest Received from NPC Nick Fury
Quest: Guard Captain America
Objective: Protect the still-unconscious Steve Rogers until he awakens.
Rewards: EXP +1000, S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation +20, Random Item ×2
According to the file, back in the day this guy single-handedly made HYDRA's life hell. Led the Howling Commandos, smashed base after base, and finally took down Red Skull and the entire HYDRA headquarters in one suicidal crash-landing.
Then vanished for almost seventy years… only to be found frozen solid, still faintly alive, and now on the verge of waking up.
Daniel shrugged inwardly. "Frozen for seven decades and coming back like it's nothing? Yeah, that tracks for this game."
Still… assigning HYDRA's public enemy #1 to a HYDRA double agent felt like the universe's idea of a joke.
"Oh, one more thing," Fury added, his expression turning weird.
"That same recovery team stumbled across Bruce Banner and Betty Ross hiding out in Iceland not long ago. They looked like they'd been through hell. Care to explain what exactly you did to them?"
Daniel scratched the back of his neck. "I just… helped grant a little wish."
Fury's eye twitched. A wish, he says. More like a lifelong trauma.
Thanks to Daniel's "help," the couple had sprinted, swum, and Hulk-jumped their way across half the planet without rest. By the time S.H.I.E.L.D. found them, they were half-frozen, starving, and cuddling for warmth in an Icelandic snowbank. Pitiful.
After Daniel left the office, Coulson finally spoke up. "Director, are we sure about this? Captain America's recovery is Level 8 classified at minimum. Daniel's clearance isn't even close."
Fury didn't hesitate. "He's earned my trust, Coulson."
He still remembered Daniel voluntarily walking into every loyalty test S.H.I.E.L.D. could throw at him—psych evaluations, stress interrogation, even the truth serum—and coming out practically spotless. The man had resisted drugs that broke veteran agents like twigs.
Because of that, Fury had personally canceled the final phase of testing.
Including the standard honey trap.
Because if a man can beat truth serum, no pretty face on earth is going to turn him.
Fury's faith in Daniel was absolute.
Skill like that, loyalty like that—S.H.I.E.L.D. was damn lucky to have him.
A little while later, New York branch.
After layers of biometric scans and armed escorts, Daniel finally stepped into the most elaborate fake hospital room he'd ever seen: pure 1940s aesthetic, nurses in period uniforms, an old radio broadcasting a live baseball game from '44—every detail perfect.
Daniel officially dubbed it "Steve's World."
The plan: when Cap woke up, ease him into the 21st century gently instead of dropping the "welcome to the future" bomb all at once.
Steve Rogers lay motionless on the bed, ice gone, vitals steady but still deep under.
NPC: Steve Rogers
Codename: Captain America
Affection: 0
Evaluation: Marvel's 50/50 Boy Scout, Owner of America's Ass, Certified Swear-Word Suppressor, "Hail HYDRA" (Captain America Limited Edition—extra effective against HYDRA)
Status: Comatose
"..."
Seeing the words "Hail HYDRA" in Captain America's evaluation made Daniel's eye twitch.
Wait. HYDRA's arch-nemesis canonly yells "Hail HYDRA" now?
Is this guy really Captain America… or secretly Captain HYDRA?!