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"Hahahaha..."
Lorelei let out a triumphant laugh.
"Good. Very good."
She cupped Tony's face and left a bright red lipstick mark on his forehead.
"You've done well, Tony."
"When I've conquered this World, I will appoint you as my chief artisan."
"It would be my honor." Tony lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand.
"How much longer?"
"I still need to perform the final energy calibration." Tony glanced at the data. "About 36 hours."
"Thirty-six hours..."
Lorelei walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the bustling city of New York.
"Then we'll wait another thirty-six hours."
"Enjoy your final moments of freedom, men."
...Siberia, north of Oymyakon.
This white land of dead silence buried countless secrets.
"Bang—!"
With a loud boom, the heavy blast door was blown off its hinges by TNT, slamming heavily onto the concrete floor inside.
The cold wind, carrying snowflakes, poured into the dark space.
Steve Rogers stepped inside, his Vibranium shield still stained with the blood of the HYDRA guards outside.
He exhaled a breath of white air, the mist quickly condensing into frost in front of his mask.
"Is this the place?"
He looked back.
Bucky Barnes followed behind him.
Even in this extreme cold, he wore only a thin tactical vest, his metal left arm reflecting the cold light under the emergency lamps.
"Yes."
Bucky looked around, his eyes filled with deep fear and loathing.
"I remember this smell."
Bucky twitched his nose, sniffing the unique scent of machine oil and rust mixed in the air.
"Every time I was thawed, this was the first thing I smelled."
"Don't think about that." Steve walked over and firmly pressed Bucky's shoulder. "Right now, you are yourself."
Bucky took a deep breath and nodded, his gaze returning to calm.
"Let's go. There are still people here."
Like two silent cheetahs, the two of them quickly cut deep into the Base.
It was a battle with no suspense.
The HYDRA soldiers stationed here were powerless; against the combined force of Captain America and the Winter Soldier, their resistance was as weak as a baby's cry.
A few minutes later.
The last HYDRA officer was held in the air, Bucky's hand clamped around his throat.
"Where are they?!" Bucky roared, his mechanical fingers tightening.
"You... can't stop it!" The officer's face turned purple, but he remained defiant. "...Hail HY—"
"Snap."
Bucky didn't give him the chance to finish the slogan and tossed the corpse aside.
The two took an old freight elevator to the deepest part of the Base.
The elevator doors opened.
The massive circular hall was chillingly cold.
Six cryogenic stasis pods were arranged in a circle.
Three were occupied, three were empty.
Through the thick glass, figures could be clearly seen sleeping upright inside.
Each of them was strong, their faces carrying a murderous intent even in sleep.
"This is them."
Bucky walked up to one of the pods and looked at the figure inside, his expression complex.
"The other Winter Soldiers."
"They are stronger than me," Bucky said in a low voice. "No morals, no hesitation."
"Fortunately, they aren't awake." Steve looked around. "And there are other secrets here."
He walked toward the control console in the center of the hall.
It was an old Soviet mainframe; a green cursor flashed on the screen.
"Do you still have the decoder Ashley gave us?" Steve asked.
Bucky pulled the black device from his pocket and tossed it to Steve.
"The answers we need should be in here."
Steve plugged the decoder into the interface.
A massive stream of data instantly scrolled across the screen.
"Decrypting... Permissions override..."
A few seconds later, a list of folders popped up.
There were experimental logs regarding the "Super Soldier Serum replication," filled with records of failure and death.
There were also mission reports concerning the Winter Soldier.
One folder inexplicably caught Steve's attention.
The filename was a date: 1991.12.16.
Steve's fingers hovered over the keyboard as a sudden, inexplicable chill surged in his heart.
That date... "Open it." Bucky stood behind him, his voice tense.
Steve hit the Enter key.
The screen flickered, and a mission report popped up along with a low-resolution surveillance video file.
Mission Code: Long Island Road.
Operative: Winter Soldier.
Objective: Asset recovery and elimination.
Steve opened the video.
The footage was in black and white with a lot of noise; the camera angle looked like roadside traffic surveillance.
A pitch-black road.
A black vintage sedan had crashed into a tree, smoke rising from the hood.
A motorcycle was parked by the side of the road.
A man with long hair walked over.
He walked to the driver's side.
A hand reached inside, grabbed the hair of a gray-haired old man, and pulled his head up.
That face... Steve's pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a cold hand.
Howard Stark.
Tony's father, and also his friend.
The friend who always had a mustache and eyes that were both cunning and filled with wisdom.
In the video, Howard's face was covered in blood as he looked weakly at the assassin.
He opened his mouth and said something indistinguishable.
But he was met with a cold metal arm.
"Thump! Thump!"
The Winter Soldier threw punches expressionlessly; it was pure violence.
Howard's head slumped down.
The assassin didn't stop. He walked around the front of the car toward the passenger seat.
Maria Stark was sitting there.
The assassin's figure blocked the camera; only his hand could be seen reaching out in a choking motion.
A few seconds later, everything went still.
The assassin went to the trunk and took out several cases containing the Super Soldier Serum.
Then, he turned to the camera and raised his gun.
Those eyes were cold and hollow, devoid of any humanity.
The video ended.
Static once again filled the screen.
Silence fell before the console.
Steve leaned his hands on the console, head bowed, knuckles white, his breathing heavy and erratic.
Howard, Maria.
Both were friends from his era.
And the eternal pain in Tony's heart.
And the killer... Steve slowly, with extreme difficulty, turned around.
Bucky stood there, looking like a statue with its soul drained away.
The floodgates of those suppressed memories completely collapsed at this moment.
Red blood, white snow, blue serum.
And the crisp sound of breaking bones.
"I..."
"I remember."
He looked at Steve; the confusion in his eyes had vanished, replaced by pain surfacing on his face.
"I remember it all."
"Everyone..."
Steve looked at him, his gaze even more pained than Bucky's.
"That was... Howard and Maria. Our friends." Steve's voice was slightly strained. "And Tony's parents."
"I know..." Bucky closed his eyes. "The Iron Man."
"He is your friend."
"Yes." Steve gritted his teeth. "He is my comrade-in-arms. He trusts me."
The air solidified.
"You should tell him," Bucky suddenly spoke. "Take this video back and show it to him."