In Washington after the rain, the sky had just brightened, and the air carried a hint of damp cold.
Inside the safehouse, Steve Rogers sat on the only chair, incessantly wiping the vibranium shield in his hands. He just stared at the floor, his eyes hollow.
"It's him."
Finally, Steve spoke hoarsely.
"I chased him last night. That shadow was fast, but at the last moment, he looked back." Steve's fingers subconsciously tightened around the edge of the shield, his knuckles turning white. "That face... even with a mask, even after seventy years... I could never mistake it."
"It's Bucky."
"Bucky Barnes."
When he spoke that name, Steve's voice was trembling. Even when he plunged into the icy sea, he hadn't been this shaken. The fact that his dead best friend had become a HYDRA assassin left him almost unable to breathe.
Lin Huai leaned against the window, flipping a gold coin between his fingertips.
"I told you, this is a magic show." Lin Huai looked at Steve. "Nick Fury's faked death was to pin down Alexander Pierce—the man who used Bucky as a weapon."
He walked over to Steve and reached out a hand.
"Captain, do you want to save your friend?"
Steve looked up, his gaze becoming firm once more.
"Tell me what to do."
"It's simple." Lin Huai grinned, a hint of a mischievous smile appearing on his face. "Today, you will go to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters and walk into that cage with only one way out. And I will accompany you to perform a show that HYDRA will never forget."
Washington D.C., Triskelion Headquarters.
The sightseeing elevator rose along the exterior of the building. Sunlight filtered through the glass curtain wall, shining on Steve Rogers' face.
He was in civilian clothes, carrying a briefcase, looking just like an ordinary Agent preparing to report for work. But he knew that eyes were staring intently at him through the surveillance cameras.
Ding.
The elevator stopped on the twenty-third floor.
Jack Rollins, the Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism special forces unit, STRIKE, walked in. He had a buzz cut and was followed by three fully armed team members.
After Rumlow was burned to a crisp two months ago, Rollins had taken over command.
"Captain."
Rollins nodded to Steve, his gaze scanning over him before he casually stood to his left-rear, blocking off the space on one side.
Steve nodded expressionlessly, not looking at him.
Ding.
Twenty-eighth floor.
Four more burly Agents squeezed inside.
The elevator was suddenly packed with people. In the dead silence, the smells of antiperspirant and gun oil mixed together, making it very uncomfortable.
The hulking men filled the elevator to capacity. In the corner, a slightly chubby clerk wearing thick glasses looked completely out of place; he had a high hairline and was looking down at some documents, clutching a briefcase as he huddled in the corner, only to be disdainfully nudged by an Agent's elbow.
The corner of Steve's mouth twitched imperceptibly.
That clerk, when he first entered the elevator, seemed to have made a punchable face at Steve's reflection in the mirror.
The elevator continued to rise, the red numbers ticking up one by one.
No one pressed a floor button; clearly, the destination was preset.
"The Legal Department doesn't usually follow this procedure, Rollins," Steve suddenly spoke, his voice very calm.
"Things are different now, Captain." Rollins' hand rested on the taser baton at his waist, a fake smile on his face. "Some procedures require special handling for special cases."
At that moment, Rollins signaled with a glance that the Agents were all in position. Ten men surrounded Steve in the small elevator, leaving no room to move.
Rollins made a hand gesture behind his back.
An Agent flipped his wrist, and the blue current on his taser baton began to sizzle.
"Before we get started..."
Steve sighed, letting go of his briefcase as his hands dropped to his sides.
"I want to ask, does anyone want to get out?"
Hearing this, the HYDRA Agents couldn't help but laugh, their smiles filled with malice.
Rollins sneered, just about to order the attack.
"Heh... heh heh heh..."
A nervous laugh suddenly drifted out from the corner.
In this tense moment, the laughter was exceptionally piercing.
"Shut up! You fat pig!" Rollins turned impatiently, intending to have his subordinates knock the meddlesome clerk unconscious.
However, his pupils suddenly shrank.
The fat clerk huddled in the corner was now slowly straightening his back. His movements caused that greasy, fat face to twist, his features distorting.
Accompanied by the crackling pops of bones, the man's belly rapidly retracted, his short and stout frame elongated, and his originally thinning hair vanished, replaced by a head of short black hair.
In just two seconds.
The cowardly fat man was gone. Standing in his place was a young man in a slim-fit black trench coat, his face handsome and a playful smile hanging on his lips.
Lin Huai.
He raised his hand, pushing up the thick glasses that were no longer on the bridge of his nose, and said gently:
"Sorry everyone, I didn't mean to interrupt your team-building activity. But... is the air conditioning in here broken? I see everyone looks... quite hot?"
"Who are you?! Do it! Kill him!" Rollins roared.
This sudden development threw HYDRA's plan into chaos, and the circle surrounding Steve broke as two Agents immediately raised their guns to aim at Lin Huai.
"Don't be so irritable; playing with fire makes you wet the bed."
Lin Huai grinned and lightly snapped his fingers.
"Snap."
With a crisp sound, orange-red flames instantly filled the entire elevator.
Lin Huai controlled the flames; the fire didn't harm the people but instead burned directly toward the Agents' equipment and clothing.
"Sizzle—!"
The taser batons and handgun safeties failed instantly, and the circuits in their tactical earpieces also exploded.
Then, as the flames licked them, their Kevlar vests and combat uniforms immediately curled up, turned black, and dissolved into ash.
"Ah! My gun!"
"Hot, hot, hot! What kind of hellfire is this?!"
"My pants! Damn it!"
An elevator full of HYDRA elites was now forced to throw away their scorching scrap metal and frantically cover their private parts.
Steve held his shield, his mouth twitching as he watched the group of frantic naked men before him; even with his rigorous training, he almost couldn't keep a straight face.
"What... what kind of tactic is this?"
"It's called 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' a specialized cure for all kinds of defiance."
Lin Huai said with a smile, his fingers pointing out in succession as several faint sonic booms echoed in the air.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
With every muffled sound, a bullet-sized burst of compressed air struck an Agent's vital point.
With several muffled groans, these hulking men—who were aggressive just moments ago but were now reduced to clutching their crotches—collapsed one by one, their eyes rolling back.
In less than ten seconds.
The only one left standing in the elevator was Rollins.
He was left with only a few charred scraps of cloth on his body, holding a bent baton, his face flushed bright red.
"You... you pervert! Devil!" Rollins roared tremulously.
Lin Huai stepped forward and extended a finger, lightly hooking the last bit of cloth from the waistband on Rollins' hip.
"Hail HYDRA."
Lin Huai leaned into his ear and whispered the words in a voice only the two of them could hear. His finger moved slightly, and a small flame emerged.
Snap.
The last piece of fabric broke.
Rollins watched helplessly as Lin Huai raised his hand and delivered a knife-hand strike to his neck.
Rollins' eyes rolled back, and he fell straight down onto the pile of his equally naked colleagues.
Ding—
The elevator reached the top floor where Pierce was located.
The doors slowly slid open.
In the lobby outside, several female secretaries and clerical staff carrying documents were passing by. They subconsciously looked up, then froze on the spot, their documents scattering all over the floor.
Steve had his shield on his back while Lin Huai had his hands in his pockets as the two stood side-by-side. At their feet lay ten naked, unconscious hulking men piled together.
"Let's go, Captain." Lin Huai straightened his collar and stepped over Rollins' hairy leg to walk out of the elevator. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s benefits are really poor; they don't even issue fireproof pants. This security budget must have been taken by Fury to buy a yacht."
Steve shook his head and followed him under the astonished gazes of the people around them.
"This style of fighting... if Fury saw it, he'd probably have a heart attack."
"That's to give his heart a workout." Lin Huai shrugged, his gaze turning toward the end of the hallway. "Alright, since everyone has been so 'open' with each other, let's go see the man in charge here. I have a feeling that old friend should already be waiting for us."
At this time, in the mirror in his arms, Arrodes was refreshing subtitles that only Lin Huai could see:
"That was wonderful, Master! This is art! If the Great Master were present, he would surely be moved to tears of joy by your fire magic trick just now!"