Do You Carry a Shield?

Do You Carry a Shield?

Want to see what the Veronica enhancement could do? To be honest, under different circumstances, Howitzer would have loved to see it for himself. But if the Super Soldier was sitting across a table from him, and he himself was the subject of the strength test, then forget it.

Howitzer was somewhat stunned. He had never imagined that the man he had been talking to for so long had also undergone enhancement—Veronica enhancement, which Evenson claimed had not entered mass production.

Howitzer did not know exactly how powerful this so-called Veronica enhancement was, but he was certain it was far better than the Tyrant enhancement Evenson was offering him. Not only because Evenson was using the Tyrant as a bargaining chip—after all, the best things were always kept for oneself, not casually sold off to others—but also because he claimed to be an executive of Umbrella Corporation. Regardless of how much influence an executive held within that company, if they had sent him to negotiate such a major matter with a Hydra branch director, then his status could not be low.

Since Evenson held a certain position and status, would the enhancement used on him possibly be inferior? Besides, in most cases, limited editions were always better than mass-produced versions. That was true for sports cars and luxury watches, so biological agents should be no different. Howitzer firmly believed that.

As Howitzer stood there in a daze, desperately trying to imagine just how strong Evenson was, his remaining close-protection guards did not dare stand around doing nothing.

These four remaining guards were elites personally selected by Howitzer. They were stunned for less than a second before reacting swiftly. All four drew their pistols and aimed them at Evenson. Two positioned themselves behind Evenson, while the other two moved to Howitzer's side. One of them aimed his pistol at Evenson with one hand while placing the other on Howitzer's shoulder, leaning half his body forward slightly, ready to shove his boss backward at any moment. He would immediately put himself between Howitzer and Evenson, intending to shield his employer with his own body and block Evenson's line of attack.

The reason these guards had not acted immediately was that Evenson's little demonstration had genuinely intimidated them. Also, their boss was only separated from Evenson by a table. If anything went wrong, things could turn disastrous. What would an attack that could melt stainless steel into liquid do to a human body? Leave it medium-well, well-done, or charred? Either way, no one would survive.

There was one final reason: their own private calculations. They had been by Howitzer's side for more than a day or two and had witnessed similar situations several times before—though the people they had pointed guns at before were nowhere near as terrifying as this one. Based on their understanding of their boss, they felt that he was probably just pressuring the other party on the price and did not truly intend to fall out with him. If they opened fire, there would be no room for reconciliation. If they ruined their boss's big plans, would they not be celebrating too soon?

"Very professional response." Evenson looked at the guards aiming their guns at him. "Do you really want to try it, Mr. Howitzer?"

Though guns were pointed at him, Evenson was not worried in the slightest. His Void Protection was no decoration; these four little pistols could not even break through his defenses. Besides, in the basement of his shop, Sarah and Tyler were guarding that red big-screen television—ah, no, the Summoning Stone. They could activate the summoning ritual at any moment and pull him back. So even if this entire floor were blown up, he could still return safely and gnaw on his cheap steak.

"No, of course not. I was only joking." Howitzer waved for his guards to stand down and had someone bring Evenson another chair. He had yielded in the end. In Howitzer's life, only two things mattered most: his own life and his precious Obelisk. In his view, even if the other party could not kill him, no one would be able to stop him if he wanted to destroy the agent on the table. Then the matter of the Obelisk would fall through, and he would also provoke a company whose depths he knew nothing about. It simply was not worth it.

Although Howitzer's voluntary retreat made the scene less tense, the atmosphere remained somewhat stiff. Neither man spoke. They simply watched Rome's test on the television in silence. This tense atmosphere was only broken after the test ended and a researcher brought in the test report.

"What an unbelievable degree of improvement." Howitzer looked at the report and clicked his tongue in amazement at the abilities Rome had displayed. But after going over the data, he still noticed some flaws. "Everything else is quite good, but... his agility is somewhat lacking."

After all, Rome had become so massive after the enhancement. During the shuttle run, multifunctional obstacle course, and evasion tests, he truly lacked agility and flexibility.

"Of course. The Tyrant series is designed for strength enhancement." Evenson did not care in the least. "Besides, what do you need that much agility for? So they can dodge bullets? Oh, I get it." Evenson wore a look of sudden realization. "You are not planning to just hand each of them a shield, are you? Ah, right. Going by Hydra's style, you would probably issue them each a battle axe too."

Howitzer's expression froze. That really had been his plan. Had Captain America not relied on nothing more than a shield back then?

"Oh, heaven." Evenson covered his forehead and said helplessly, "This may be a surprise attack, but the main point is actually to hold the line—to withstand the attack of a reinforced US Army battalion for an hour. Four hundred fully armed US Soldiers will fire intensively at you in tactical formations. Their weapons include automatic rifles, light and heavy machine guns, fragmentation grenades, rocket launchers, even artillery and tanks. Your squad can only use limited cover to hold them off, buying time for the others to successfully locate the Obelisk. Do you think a shield and a battle axe will be enough?"

Once Howitzer thought about it, he realized that was fucking nowhere near enough. Captain America had once cut down enemies left and right, but he had always rushed into bases, thrown down a bomb, and left. He had never faced more than twenty enemies at a time. In that situation, a shield was enough. But this time, they would be facing a reinforced US Army battalion head-on, and there was no Vibranium to be found. If they used ordinary steel, it would probably be shot to scrap within ten minutes.

"What advice do you have, then?" The one who tied the knot should be the one to untie it. Since the Tyrant was their product, Evenson should offer a solution.