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The sound of bullets hitting Captain America's vibranium shield echoed through the back of the barracks.
Hearing the noise, nearby soldiers rushed over to see what was happening.
Howard stepped forward to explain that he was conducting a weapons experiment. He left together with the soldiers, giving the feuding pair some space.
Captain America stared at the bullet marks on his shield as they gradually disappeared. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This shield—Howard had crafted it himself. Its power was extraordinary.
Before he could even finish sighing, Miss Carter swung her pink fist straight at his face.
A gentle puff of air… and Captain America was knocked to the ground.
But Miss Carter wasn't satisfied. She sat on top of him, attacking relentlessly.
Captain America looked lifeless, as if all hope in the world had vanished.
Forget it.So be it.Let's just die.
Who said she wasn't unreasonable?
Hey… but you didn't say it out loud.Being hit by Miss Carter… actually felt… nice.
What was happening…
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the "hard-boiled egg" were all engrossed in the drama, devouring the gossip.
Many questions surfaced in their minds:
Hawkeye: "Wait… did I hear that right? He said 'Captain America saved Bucky,' but Bucky was already dead, wasn't he?"
Black Widow: "Exactly. S.H.I.E.L.D. holds the most authoritative information, and Bucky, as Cap's friend, appears in countless records. I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be dead!"
Hawkeye: "And yet… he looks exactly like Captain America, even seventy years later!"
Nick Fury leaned closer, studying the footage carefully.
On the screen, a scene showed Captain America kissing Carter's niece. The camera panned to the back seat of a nearby car—and there, by coincidence, sat a Bucky figurine.
Suddenly, Fury seemed to notice something. He quickly took a photo and zoomed in.
He saw it. Bucky's left arm was actually metal. And on it was a red star.
Hawkeye and Black Widow also noticed something was off. They began cross-referencing information.
Black Widow: "Isn't that the Winter Soldier? The ghost of the Cold War? Back then, he would occasionally appear to assassinate politicians."
She handed Fury a photo showing a mechanical arm with a shining red star on the shoulder.
Black Widow: "Nobody knows who the Winter Soldier really is… but that red star on the mechanical arm is his signature. Wherever this arm appears, a life disappears."
Fury compared the photo to Bucky's arm in the video. The conclusion was chilling: Bucky was the Winter Soldier.
Perhaps not completely—but they were intimately connected.
Fury scratched his head, bewildered. Why did Bucky become the Winter Soldier? How did he survive past seventy years? Had he, too, been injected with the super-soldier serum?
But that couldn't be right! Even though Captain America had the serum… for seventy years, there had been almost no trace of him.
Bucky, as the Winter Soldier, had operated in multiple countries. This ghost had been active for seventy years. Every time he appeared, the security level of high-ranking government officials quadrupled. It was common knowledge among the upper echelons.
Why would both of them need the serum?The events of Captain America and Bucky over these seventy years were truly strange.
Fury rubbed his bald head, feeling the enormity of his own brain shrink to the size of a pea.
Fury (thinking): "It's fine. Let's just see what the screen shows. Maybe there's more information there…"
On the screen, the footage continued.
[Famous Scene 3: Bucky Falls Off the Cliff]
Ever since Captain America rescued over 400 soldiers of the 107th Infantry from encirclement during the Bolzano battle… he had been intent on forming a specialized unit to destroy Hydra bases.
Bucky was also part of this team.
One day, to destroy a Hydra base, they approached a train using ropes. Hydra had now weaponized the Tesseract's energy into high-tech weaponry.
Even though Cap, Bucky, and the others had multiple victories under their belts, they were defeated. Helpless. Under heavy enemy fire, Bucky was thrown against a metal handle on the train.
Captain America climbed out to save him—but the handle broke. Bucky fell off the cliff, disappearing from Cap's sight.
Back at the camp, Captain America and Miss Carter stopped arguing. Carter realized now was not the time to be angry.
She carefully asked Cap:
Carter: "Steve… will Bucky die in the near future?"
She knew Bucky was practically the only true friend Cap had since childhood. Every time Cap was bullied, Bucky helped him back to his feet. They weren't just friends—they were closer than brothers.
If someone like that truly fell off a cliff and died in the future… she couldn't imagine how Cap would endure the rest of his life.
Cap's heart trembled as he watched Bucky vanish over the cliff. He panicked… until Carter spoke to him.
Steve: "Bucky… he shouldn't… shouldn't die, right?After all… I just saw on the screen that I was being chased seventy years later for saving Bucky."
His eyes lit up, as if clutching a lifeline.
Steve: "Of course! How could Bucky die?Even though he fell from the cliff, someone must have found him and injected him with the same serum I had!That's how he could survive and reach the future, just like me!"
The more he explained, the more reasonable it sounded.
On the screen, the story continued:
[Bucky disappeared at the cliffside—a devastating blow to Captain America.]
[But what Cap didn't know…]
[Bucky did not die.]
[He was discovered by Hydra at the bottom of the cliff.][He was brainwashed and fitted with a mechanical arm.]
[He became the Winter Soldier. Whenever Hydra needed him, he would be activated to assassinate targets.]
Bucky had vanished from the world for seventy years like a ghost. During that time, he killed many people—including innocents.
The most tragic of all: Bucky personally killed Howard and his wife, causing Tony's parents to die prematurely. Tony, the last time he saw his parents, held a grudge against Howard and never got to say goodbye properly. This became Tony's greatest regret.
Back at the camp, Captain America stared in disbelief.
He never could have imagined that his closest friend Bucky would be brainwashed by Hydra, transformed into a weapon, and forced to turn against his own people. Worse, he had even been used to kill Howard!
Captain America felt fate itself was mocking him.
At that moment, Howard walked by, saw the footage, and was utterly shocked.
Howard (thinking): "I… I was killed by Bucky!???"