But what Steve Rogers did not know was that the world had long since changed.
Back in his era, everything had been simple. HYDRA and the Nazis were evil enemies, so he picked up his weapon and fought alongside his squad to crush HYDRA's schemes.
Now, right and wrong had become blurred.
Even if he wanted to do the right thing, there was a good chance he would not even know what the right thing was.
If he asked Bant what counted as right, Bant would probably tell him to tan himself black, announce to the whole world that he was gay, go get gender reassignment surgery, and then join an environmental group.
What is right?
That is right!
How could you, Captain America of all people, be a white adult male?
Of course, Bant would never actually say something like that. The three of them stepped into the elevator, and Steve said he would take them up to the deck to get some air.
That massive deck, dozens of times larger than a sports field, had already left Steve deeply shocked the first time he saw it.
The three of them entered the empty elevator. Just as Bant thought this would be a good place to talk, several members of the special operations team came running from afar.
"Wait, Captain."
From a distance, Crossbones waved his hand, asking Captain America to hold the elevator for him.
Then several of them squeezed in together, and Crossbones said, "Thanks, Captain. Otherwise we'd have had to wait for the next one."
Elevator. HYDRA.
That powerful sense of deja vu instantly made Bant think of a certain line.
But this was not the time for HYDRA to bare its fangs yet. Crossbones had not come with the intention of attacking Captain America.
He had gone on several missions with Steve before, so they were fairly familiar with each other. That was why he had been sent over to listen in.
He glanced at Bant and Peter and asked, "New recruits?"
Before Steve could answer, Bant spoke first. "Of course. Secret identities!"
Bant's meaning was clear:
Superpowered people are none of your business.
That made Crossbones chuckle.
He said, "The world really is getting too complicated now. There seem to be more and more superpowered people like you popping up. Some do good, some do bad, and most of the time they all want to keep themselves hidden."
"That's because the world is way too hostile to people like us. Who knows how many people, once they learn our identities, start thinking about how to get rid of us?" Bant said.
The two sides did not talk much after that.
To keep his presence from seeming too abrupt, Crossbones took the other special ops members and got off before Bant reached the deck.
"Not bad, right?"
Captain America's voice was swallowed by the sound of the waves, carrying only a short distance.
Bant had to admit Steve had picked a good place.
The deck was extremely open.
In a place like this, any agent trying to get close to them would stand out immediately.
Maybe the cameras were watching them the whole time, but as long as they could not hear what was being said or read their lips, it did not matter.
Bant's gaze swept through the dark night. Peter quickly jumped onto the edge of the helicarrier and stared around in amazement.
It could be said that this carrier fulfilled many of his fantasies about science fiction movies.
Leaning over the edge of the deck, he shouted, "Captain, I can see the carrier's turbines are parallel to the ground. Does that mean it can fly?"
"You'd have to ask Fury about that."
Seeing Peter so full of energy swept away some of the gloom in Steve's heart.
Bant turned around, and Eunice's voice came through the earpiece.
"Seven surveillance cameras confirmed."
On the lens display of his mask, Eunice highlighted all the detected camera positions. Bant shifted slightly, facing the sea so he would be covered, then said, "Captain..."
"Have you ever heard of Operation Paperclip?"
"Operation Paperclip?" Steve froze when he heard that.
He truly knew nothing about it.
After all, Operation Paperclip had only truly begun in September 1946, while he had already been frozen in the Arctic in 1945.
"Then you'd better brace yourself."
"Keep your emotions in check. Don't get too worked up. We're still being watched."
Bant gave him a warning in advance, then started dropping the bombshells.
Operation Paperclip.
It referred to a plan during the Second World War in which America absorbed German Nazi scientists. This plan had indeed existed in reality.
At the beginning, it had been called Project Overcast, but due to rising opposition at home, Project Overcast had been forced to halt.
But the plan had not actually died.
It changed its name and form, transferring HYDRA technical experts and high-level researchers into the country.
And one of the people who had helped push this plan forward had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders, Howard.
He had believed that after HYDRA's crushing defeat, those HYDRA researchers would no longer be able to stir up trouble.
But even in his dreams, he could not have imagined that this very plan would preserve HYDRA's spark. The snake eggs incubated in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s warm nest. One insignificant little snake after another slipped in through every crack, burrowed beneath their skin, devoured their organs, and came back to life wearing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s human skin.
Not only that, the densely packed little snakes in this enormous nest spread out into every corner of the country.
You could find HYDRA anywhere.
In the chaotic Hell's Kitchen, among the wealthy who controlled capital, among the powerful who held authority...
They were everywhere. No one knew.
Even high-ranking members inside HYDRA might not know the location of every single HYDRA operative, nor understand all of their arrangements.
They had long ceased to have only nine heads.
Now they were countless!
"What do you think, Captain?"
After saying that, Bant turned his head and looked at Steve Rogers.
Of course, he had not told Steve the whole truth. He had only spoken about Operation Paperclip, and about how Howard Stark had wrapped himself in his own cocoon in the end, dying at the hands of the HYDRA agents who had infiltrated and hidden themselves away.
Sometimes, if you explained too much in too much detail, it only made things sound less real.
Steve Rogers was actually a man with very strong convictions. Telling him everything outright now was not as good as letting him investigate it himself, letting him see it with his own eyes.
Facts spoke louder than words.
At that moment, Steve's body was trembling.
"Is everything you said true?"
"Or are you just trying to drive a wedge between me and S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
He did not dare believe it.
He did not dare believe that what Bant said was true.
Even though Bant had revealed only a small part of it, it was already more than Steve could accept.
If Operation Paperclip was real, then what had everything he had done been for?
Looking back on the first half of his life, he had spent all of it fighting HYDRA, and for that he had lost everything:
His ailing parents, his fallen comrades, the seventy years of life that should have belonged to him... that date, and Bucky...
What had all those sacrifices meant? What about all the blood those soldiers had shed?
And what did that make him, this "hero" who had perished together with HYDRA?
A joke?
This was a massive betrayal!
It was not Steve Rogers who had betrayed America.
It was America that had betrayed Steve.
Betrayed Captain America!
/-\
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