"What's wrong? Nick, contacting me in such a hurry."
A drowsy Howard answered Nick's emergency call, speaking to Nick with great displeasure. Didn't this bastard know he was getting old? Contacting him so urgently and ruining his already rare sweet dreams was truly infuriating.
"We found him."
Nick didn't care about such trivial matters because something much bigger had happened now.
"Who? Which one?"
Howard, whose brain wasn't fully awake yet, asked in confusion. Who was it? Did he know him? Why are you so excited? Is it your boyfriend? Why so happy? Such thoughts flashed through Howard's mind one by one.
"It's the Captain."
"You really need to exercise more. Stop eating those Cheeseburgers all the time. Look at yourself now."
Nick looked at his good friend speechlessly. Had he gained a few more pounds lately? He had completely lost the handsomeness of his youth and looked like a total old man. It was truly aggravating. But there was no helping it; this man was incredibly stubborn. Sure enough, that foul temper was exactly like Tony's—like father, like son.
"You found him?"
Just as he was about to retort to Nick, Howard's brain finally caught up. After realizing the importance of the issue, he asked in disbelief. Anyone receiving news of someone who had been 'dead' for decades would have very complex emotions, unable to say whether it was happiness or joy.
"What is his current condition?"
With complex emotions, Howard picked up a cigar nearby, lit it, took a deep puff, and spoke. If one truly followed the results of the Doctor's experiments back then, the Super Soldier Serum wouldn't let Captain America die. In that extreme environment, he should have entered a state of hibernation similar to a Wood frog to maintain his vital activities.
"He... is still alive!"
Seeing Howard's expression, Nick knew what he meant. So he told Howard that Captain America still had faint vital activities. With current technology, the possibility of Captain America's recovery was too small, so he planned to use something not found in modern society to ensure the success of the Captain's revival.
"Have you notified Carter?"
"How could she not know?"
"True."
Thinking of that strong-willed woman who was already bedridden, Howard asked Nick with a heart full of concerns. Nick's counter-question made Howard immediately smile. As one of the founding elders of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, it would be a bit wrong if she couldn't even hear some of the special news inside.
"Have you found that 'Bucky'?"
Speaking of Captain America, he thought of the man who had attacked him and Maria, the man who looked exactly like 'Bucky'. Ever since his own 'Death', he seemed to have disappeared completely without a trace. This was truly abnormal.
"Howard, I originally suspected that there was another force operating within my ranks."
"Now I can be certain that something has been blinding my 'eyes'."
"Or rather, someone doesn't want me to see something."
The suspicious spymaster was not so easily deceived, especially a man like him who didn't even trust himself. Even though he had lost an eye to a cat back then, he was still that terrifying ace Special Agent who had fought the Symbiote 'Dragon'.
"Need help?"
"Not for now."
After hanging up the call with Howard, Nick tuned into a secret room where a group of people was surrounding a person in a frozen state. They were researching how to rescue Captain America from the ice without harming him.
"Damn you, Norman Osborn."
At this moment, a monster that looked like a giant lizard was howling in pain in the sewers. It felt as if there was another person in his head instigating him to do things that defied common sense. Even smashing his head against the surrounding concrete walls was useless. Although he had given Norman a slash while transforming and ran away without looking back, he could feel that Norman hadn't taken any damage at all. Right now, he was filled with rage toward Norman Osborn; it was he who had turned him into this.
"Kill!"
"No! Don't even think about it!"
"Kill, kill, kill, kill! Destroy!"
"Nooo!!!"
Although he really wanted to make an antidote, he could not control himself at all. He looked at his reflection in the water; he had become a non-human. Those cruel, bestial vertical pupils were full of bloodlust. His anger toward Norman finally shattered his reason. He crawled out of the sewer laughing wildly, roaring at the sky, and rushed toward the Oscorp building in the city. He wanted revenge, he wanted to tear that bastard apart. In his rage, he could no longer rationally avoid pedestrians, and for a time, panic and casualties began to spread.
Some vehicles blocking the way were directly flattened and crushed by him. The lucky ones were only injured, while the unlucky ones were turned directly into meat pies. Chaos had begun.
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