Vienna, Special Containment Prison.
The prison walls were constructed from several layers of adamantium alloy, each side roughly half a meter thick, seamlessly molded without the slightest gap. Its sturdiness was sufficient to withstand a direct air-to-ground missile strike, making it absolutely impossible for human strength to breach.
At least thirty minutes ago, everyone believed this.
After receiving the alarm that the prison had been breached, Grant quickly led a large group of agents back. However, the scene that entered his eyes caused everyone present to feel chills down their spines.
That adamantium alloy wall, fully half a meter thick, had actually been forcibly punched open with a gap.
The gap's area was not particularly large, but it was more than enough to allow one person through.
And around that gap, after suffering a violent impact, cracked metal traces covered its surface. Those densely interwoven crack patterns astonishingly formed the image of a ferocious skeletal demon.
It was impossible to imagine what kind of strike could tear apart that metal wall.
Running fingers across the wall and sliding along the cracked metal traces, it almost felt as though one could still sense the lingering fist intent, filled with annihilation and malicious destructive power, a demonic punch of terrifying might.
"I need an explanation, Researcher Volkan."
Grant's gaze was gloomy like water, veins bulging on that handsome face as he suppressed his anger and questioned: "You repeatedly guaranteed to me that based on Steve Rogers' Reiatsu output, it would be absolutely impossible for him to escape this prison cell. So what exactly is going on now?!"
"T-This is impossible!"
A researcher in a white coat, after seeing the destroyed metal wall, looked on the verge of tears and said: "I already designed a prison that Rogers absolutely could not break through based on his previous Reiatsu level. I... I also don't know what's going on!"
"You disappoint me greatly, Volkan."
Grant deeply glanced at him, then decisively swung his hand down like a blade and coldly said: "We have no need for useless people."
The nearby agents instantly understood, pulled out a pistol, and directly fired a shot.
Along with wisps of white smoke rising from the muzzle, the researcher named Volkan was shot in the head and collapsed with traces of astonishment still on his face.
Regarding Volkan's sudden death, the surrounding agents reacted with even more indifference.
As though the person who had just died was not their companion at all, merely an insignificant nobody. No one criticized Grant's cruelty. There was only highly efficient action.
Two people dragged away Volkan's corpse while the others waited for the next orders.
Grant first reported to his superiors. After receiving a furious verbal lashing, he hung up with a darkened face. After thinking for a moment, he once again dialed a secret number.
"I need the 'Winter Soldier.'"
"Understood. The Winter Soldier will arrive shortly. We hope you have a pleasant cooperation."
After the brief conversation ended, Grant's gaze swept across the surrounding agents as he fiercely said: "Find Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff's whereabouts for me. I want to know their exact locations!"
"Perhaps... we can use Zola."
One agent quietly suggested: "Although the Insight Project has not yet been completed, the satellites have already been deployed. The Zola Algorithm should be able to lock onto them."
"Then go apply for it!"
Grant ground his teeth, fury rising in his eyes: "I don't care what methods you use. Find them within eight hours!"
...
...
...
America, New Jersey.
An extremely ordinary sedan drove along the wide highway.
"This is a car I borrowed. Can you put your feet down?"
The man currently driving seemed somewhat helpless as he spoke toward the woman beside him.
"How surprising. Captain America actually knows how to steal cars." The woman wearing a baseball cap raised her head, several strands of red hair slipping down beside her temples as she smiled: "Can you tell me where you learned that trick?"
"Nazi Germany. Also, this car was borrowed."
Steve once again declared it, then glanced at the woman beside him and could not help asking: "Natasha, shouldn't you also come clean with me? What exactly did Fury hand over to you?"
"Sorry, Captain, I can't tell you."
Natasha shrugged, her gaze somewhat distant as she looked outside the window: "Some secrets are destined never to surface from the moment they are born. I hope you can understand me."
"Then I'll ask another question."
Steve tightly gripped the steering wheel and solemnly asked: "What exactly happened to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"I can't answer that question because even I don't know." Natasha sighed and said: "The only thing certain is that S.H.I.E.L.D... has been controlled by another force. They hid themselves too deeply, to the point that none of us noticed."
"You brought us to New Jersey because of Fury's instructions?" Steve asked again.
"Not entirely. The main reason is this." Natasha held a storage drive between her fingers and faintly said: "I stole it from Grant. A coordinate was deciphered from inside, and the location is in New Jersey."
"Wait... weren't you captured?" Steve looked stunned: "When I went to rescue you, both your hands were tied up. How did you steal this USB drive from him?"
"Come out, Momo."
Natasha softly called out, and purple-green smoke rose up, forming a humanoid creature: "Allow me to introduce her. This is my Doll 'Momo,' a special ability of the Bount Clan. Other than the Director and Barton, nobody knows about her."
What does it mean to be a professional agent?!
Steve almost leaned backward strategically. Just look at her intelligence work. Even he had been kept in the dark.
"Natasha~ I'm so hungry." That humanoid formed from purple smoke actually spoke in a spoiled tone.
"Wait a little longer, Momo." Natasha comforted her and said: "Once this matter is over, I'll find some souls for you."
"Then I'm going back to sleep~" Momo turned into a wisp of smoke and钻ed into the spray can at Natasha's waist.
"Don't look at me like that, Captain." Natasha smiled and said: "People hiding methods should not only be me, right? Being able to break through that metal prison truly gave me a huge shock."
"I wasn't deliberately hiding it."
Steve shook his head and bitterly said: "It's a new power I developed after the alien invasion war last time. I just never had the chance to display it yet."
During the conversation, the two arrived at an abandoned military base in the suburbs.
This place was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s original prototype. It was also the base where everyone fought Germany together back when he was still around, and the place where he trained to become a super soldier.
"I never thought it would actually be here."
Steve's tone was somewhat complicated. A single glance revealed feelings filled with nostalgia.
"Stop wasting time, Captain." Natasha interrupted his memories and directly walked to the military base entrance, forcefully pulling open the long-sealed iron door. A smell of rust mixed with dust rushed toward them.
Inside the base was completely empty. Aside from accumulated dust, spider webs and insects were everywhere.
"This place has already been abandoned for a long time. What are you planning to find?" Steve waved away the choking dust and asked.
"I don't know. The coordinates in the USB drive point here, so I think there should be something special." Natasha searched around and discovered a hidden passage leading underground.
The two passed through a long and narrow corridor, arriving at a room filled with computer databases.
Three old computers sat in the very center. Their monitors flickered irregularly while restless static emitted waves of noise.
"Welcome here, Captain America Steve Rogers, and the famous Black Widow Natasha Romanoff."
The static on the monitor suddenly disappeared, revealing a vulgar-looking human face.
"Arnim Zola?!"
Steve's pupils slightly contracted, his expression drastically changing: "Impossible. You should already be dead!"
"You know this guy?" Natasha heightened her vigilance and quietly asked while moving closer.
"He was HYDRA's chief scientist and developed many killing weapons for Red Skull." Steve looked at him in disbelief and said: "But seventy years ago on the Siberian ice plains, he should have already died at Haschwalth's hands!"
"Hehe, you're wrong, Captain."
The Zola image inside the computer let out a wild laugh: "The one who died seventy years ago was merely my physical body. Before dying, the real me already transferred my consciousness into the database. Recently, they finally revived me."
"They?"
Natasha sharply caught the key term: "By 'they,' do you mean S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D.? Hahahahaha...."
For some reason, Zola's laughter became increasingly arrogant, even vaguely mixed with traces of mockery.
"What are you laughing at?"
Natasha inexplicably felt irritated and coldly said: "If S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't revived you, how could you possibly be inside this base!"
"You are wrong, and completely wrong."
Zola sinisterly said: "From the very beginning, there never was any S.H.I.E.L.D. The ones who revived me were HYDRA. Cut off one head, two more shall take its place. We never disappeared from beginning to end. We merely hid beneath your noses the entire time."