Bang! Bang! Bang!
Under continuous fire, the killer made it out of the building with help from his Hydra allies, getting into a car and speeding off while shooting at the soldiers chasing him. Both sides took casualties before he finally got away.
Peggy arrived just as the car sped off and fired, killing the driver instantly. The car crashed nearby. Seeing this, the killer hijacked a taxi coming from the opposite direction and floored it straight toward Peggy, intent on running her down. She kept firing at the oncoming taxi, trying to take him out before he reached her.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Just as the taxi was about to hit her, Steve slammed into Peggy, knocking her out of the way.
"I had it!" Peggy shouted, furious.
"I'm sorry," Steve said, already sprinting after the killer.
Steve still hadn't gotten used to his new body. Every step felt different now. His legs carried him faster than he expected, and he had to adjust to his new strength as he chased the car through the streets.
Familiar with the streets, Steve cut through alleys and shortcuts, closing the distance street by street. While chasing the car, he turned into an alley, only to find the path blocked by a tall steel wall. Without slowing down, Steve jumped and cleared the wall in a single leap, landing on the other side and getting even closer to the car.
When the road became too crowded, he jumped onto the roof of one car, then leapt from car to car until he finally landed directly on top of the killer's vehicle.
Catching sight of Steve in the rearview mirror, now perched above him, the killer began driving recklessly, swerving and slamming into other cars on the road, trying to shake him off. But Steve held steady.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The killer fired up through the roof, but Steve quickly moved to the side of the car, avoiding the bullets.
Moments later, the vehicle spun out of control and rolled into a violent crash. Steve leapt clear just before the impact, landing on the ground and escaping unharmed.
Injured but still armed, the killer scrambled free and opened fire on Steve as he tried to escape. Steve grabbed a car door and used it as a shield, blocking the bullets.
Cornered, the killer suddenly grabbed a child as a hostage.
"My child!" the mother screamed, held back by the bystanders as she tried to run after him.
Steve gave chase, weaving between buildings and using whatever cover he could find to avoid the gunfire. At one point, the killer suddenly grabbed the child and threw him straight into the sea before continuing to run.
Steve immediately stopped and turned toward the boy.
"I can swim! Go after him!" the boy shouted, already paddling toward the shore.
Seeing that the boy was safe, Steve turned and continued after the killer, who had already reached a hidden submarine and was diving beneath the waves to escape.
Steve followed, jumping into the water as the submarine went deeper. Just as the killer thought he had escaped, Steve swam deeper after it and finally caught up. He smashed through the submarine's glass and dragged the killer out before throwing him onto the shore.
Steve punched him again, and the killer, already too weak to fight back, collapsed onto the ground. During the struggle, the stolen serum fell from his pocket and shattered on the pavement, spilling uselessly across the ground.
"Who are you?" Steve demanded, anger burning in his voice.
The killer slowly smiled despite his injuries. He bit down on a hidden cyanide capsule between his teeth.
"Cut off one head... two more will take its place."
He gave Steve one last smile.
"Hail Hydra."
Within moments, the poison took hold. The killer's smile remained on his face as his body went still, dying right in front of Steve.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city...
Buzz... buzz...
The sound pulled Emma out of her sleep.
"Morgan, can you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep here," Emma mumbled, still half-asleep. She didn't even bother looking over at Morgan, who was busy working on something. The entire room was covered with machine parts, tools, and wires.
"You already missed breakfast and lunch. It's almost time for an evening snack," Morgan said without looking up. "Come on, get up. We need to go see the Ancient One. I've been waiting for you."
Hearing that it was already evening, Emma slowly sat up. She rubbed her eyes before finally noticing what Morgan had been working on.
"Wait... is that the time machine Mercer used?" Her eyes widened as she climbed out of bed. "Where did you even get that? I don't remember seeing it last night."
"It was inside one of the boxes we took from the lab yesterday," Morgan replied, tightening something on the machine. "I grabbed it while you weren't paying attention."
Emma stared at her for a moment.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I thought it was destroyed in the time tunnel."
"I thought so too at first." Morgan leaned back and looked over the damaged machine. "Back in the pocket space, Mercer tried to make a deal with us. He offered the time machine in exchange for letting him go. I thought he was just lying to buy himself a chance to escape."
She tapped the machine.
"But it turns out this thing can actually be repaired. I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want to get your hopes up if it turned out to be useless."
Emma's sleepy expression disappeared completely.
"So... we can actually fix it?"
"Yeah. It can be fixed." Morgan shrugged. "The problem is, technology in this era isn't exactly advanced enough to make it easy. It'll take some time. I don't know exactly how long, but it shouldn't take forever."
Emma nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer.
"That's fine. Mom and Dad are going to take a while to get here anyway, so there's no rush."
She stretched before looking toward the door.
"I'm hungry. Let's eat something first, then we'll go see the Ancient One."
Morgan gave her an amused look.
"You just woke up and food is already the first thing on your mind?"
"Of course."
Emma grinned before heading off to find something to eat.
After they finished, the two made their way to see the Ancient One. Luckily, she happened to be free.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Morgan opened the door, and she and Emma stepped inside.
"Excuse us, Ancient One."
They took the seats across from her. After meeting her several times, neither of them felt nearly as nervous around her anymore.
The Ancient One looked at the two girls for a moment before speaking.
"I take it you succeeded."
Morgan smiled and placed the containment gadget on the table.
"Yeah. We found him. Here's the guy you asked us to find in our time... and the reason we ended up stuck in this time period in the first place."
The Ancient One looked down at the small device.
"Impressive technology."
Morgan nodded proudly.
"It's actually really useful."
She then pulled a small box from her bag and placed it beside the containment gadget.
"And we found this too."
Morgan opened the box, revealing the dark crown inside.
Emma leaned closer, while the Ancient One's eyes immediately focused on the strange object.
"According to Mercer, this is a magic artifact. He said it was what kept you, and anyone else trying to track him, from finding him."
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated with 20 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here:
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