Chapter 008: Can I Have My Shield Back?
"Okay, I'll take it!" Steve solemnly accepted Mason's shield. Mason watched, feeling a massive weight lift from his shoulders.
"Finally finished."
This mission had seemed simple, but it had taken him nearly four months, traversing the entire European war zone from Norway to Brooklyn, New York. The hardships he'd endured were indescribable.
This was just a probationary mission—would the difficulty ramp up even more once he became a full employee?
What happens next? Wait for extraction? Mason rubbed the tattoo on his left hand, somewhat uncertain.
"I remember the employee manual saying that after completing a mission, submitting the confirmation would trigger my return." He thought to himself as he activated the mark.
This tattoo was a communication interface provided by Dimensional Express for every courier; accepting and submitting missions, along with other related operations, were all handled through this mark.
As Mason looked down, a line of red text flashing on the tattoo sent ice through his veins!
"PACKAGE LOST. RETRIEVE IMMEDIATELY TO AVOID DELIVERY DELAYS!"
"FAILURE TO RETRIEVE PACKAGE WITHIN DESIGNATED TIMEFRAME WILL RESULT IN COURIER LIABILITY: 3-20x ITEM VALUE!"
"What the actual fuck?!"
Mason cursed internally. The package had clearly been delivered to Steve Rogers. This bullshit system was claiming it was lost?!
"Mason, what's wrong?" Seeing Mason's face go pale, Steve asked with concern.
"Nothing, nothing, just feeling a little lightheaded."
"I'll take you to a nearby hospital. That kick I gave you earlier..." Barnes said somewhat apologetically.
Meanwhile, through the feedback from his interface, Mason finally understood the full picture.
Mission objective: Deliver the vibranium shield to Captain America, Steve Rogers, within the stipulated timeframe.
The key phrase was "Captain America." Steve Rogers was currently just an ordinary civilian; he only became Captain America after receiving the Super Soldier Serum. In other words, according to Dimensional Express protocols, he wasn't the designated recipient yet!
Mason needed to wait until Steve finished the injection and became Captain America before giving him the shield again to complete his mission. He vaguely remembered that in the MCU timeline, Captain America's shield was provided by Howard Stark, though he couldn't recall the exact moment. But he figured if the plot progressed to that point and Steve accepted Howard's shield first, then his own mission would be a complete failure.
Although he didn't know the exact penalty for failure, if he didn't get that bio-fusion battery from the reward, even if he returned to his own body, he'd only have a few minutes left to live.
"This goddamn mission!"
Mason's face darkened as he looked at the flashing red text on his left hand and the shield in Steve's grasp. Mason genuinely didn't know how to ask for the shield back.
"Should I leave the shield with Steve for now?" The thought crossed Mason's mind, but he quickly dismissed it. "No, too risky. If we lose track of it, the mission's totally screwed."
He hesitated for a moment, but finally mustered his courage to speak. "Uh... Steve, do you think I'm being weird?"
"Of course not. In most people's eyes, I'm the weird one." Steve smiled self-deprecatingly, using humor to put Mason at ease.
"Back in the theater, what you did was really brave. Standing up to a bully without backing down is something most people can't do—it's a genuinely admirable quality."
"I feel honored to be friends with someone like you. Maybe I was being too forward, giving you a shield right after we just met. Um... if you feel uncomfortable... well, you could give the shield back to me for now." Mason put on a show of trying to correct a social faux pas.
Steve: "No way! I really love this shield. I actually feel like it's already a part of me."
Mason: ...
You reap what you sow.
"Steve, I still feel... I'm sorry, but could you give me back the shield for now? I'll formally gift it to you once we know each other better and become real friends!" Mason pleaded shamelessly, scrambling for any excuse.
He was determined to get that shield back from Steve no matter what it took.
"Steve, I think Mason's got a point." Taking advantage of Mason's distraction, Barnes subtly tapped his own forehead and gave Steve a meaningful look.
Steve seemed to catch on. "Oh... okay, since you feel that strongly about it, I'll give the shield back for now. But we've got an agreement—this thing is eventually mine!" Although they'd just met, it was obvious that Steve genuinely loved the shield.
How could you not? In the future, you'll be frozen under the Arctic ice with this thing for a full 70 years. Mason thought silently as he accepted the shield back.
"Buzz!"
"PACKAGE RETRIEVED! SECURE ITEM PROPERLY! EXCESSIVE PACKAGE LOSS NEGATIVELY IMPACTS PERFORMANCE EVALUATION."
"Phew...!" Mason exhaled in relief.
Steve thought his new friend seemed like a decent guy, just a little... socially awkward.
"Let's go, head back and change. I'm taking you guys somewhere special tonight!" Barnes straightened his uniform, looking rather pleased with himself.
Mason had to admit, the guy was movie-star handsome—no wonder Steve could never land a date when Bucky was around.
"Buck, you enlisted?" Steve finally took proper notice of Barnes' uniform.
"107th Infantry Regiment." Barnes smiled proudly. This was the regiment Steve's father had served in, and the one Steve most desperately wanted to join.
"I should be over there with you, not hiding in an alley getting my ass kicked." Steve looked visibly deflated.
"Come on, pal, this is my last night stateside before I ship out. Let's live it up. I'll introduce you to a couple of girls later." Barnes threw his arm around Steve's shoulder, shooting Mason a conspiratorial wink.
"You're coming too, obviously."
"Where are we headed?" Steve quickly asked in a hushed tone, clearly interested in the evening's activities—he was a young guy, after all.
"The World Exposition of Tomorrow!"
"But you can't go dressed like that. You two smell like sewage-marinated garbage—we need to get you both cleaned up and into fresh clothes."
Mason readily agreed. Now that the mission parameters were confirmed, all he needed to do was stick close to Steve, witness his transformation into Captain America, and then hand over the shield as quickly as possible.
Mason vaguely remembered that in the film, the Stark Expo was the crucial turning point for Steve. It was there that he met Dr. Abraham Erskine, which led him into the Super Soldier program and ultimately to becoming Captain America.
But what happened next made Mason deeply understand what the butterfly effect really meant!
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