"Captain!"
Rumlow's voice bounced through the corridor, carrying deliberately suppressed irritation.
Steve Rogers was only a few steps ahead, likewise surrounded by four Iron Man suits of the same model—a silent, mobile steel cage.
Hearing him, Steve stopped and turned around.
He wore the base-standard silver-gray, high-strength Nanofiber skintight protective suit, which outlined his sculpted muscles. Yet his expression was utterly calm, even gentle, in stark contrast to Rumlow's tense face.
"Rumlow, what is it?"
Steve asked, his gaze swept across the four suits behind Rumlow without the slightest ripple.
Rumlow's jaw tightened for a moment. He pointed behind himself, then behind Steve. "This... these things! Even when I go to the bathroom, I have to be watched by four metal lumps! Isn't Stark being a little... overly cautious?"
He deliberately chose relatively mild words, his eyes fixed tightly on Steve's, trying to find a trace of agreement—if only the slightest sign of feeling offended.
Steve merely tilted his head slightly and glanced at the Alpha Armor hovering behind his left shoulder.
The suit's head-mounted Sensor Array glimmered faintly as it stared back at him coldly.
"Tony has his reasons."
Steve's voice was as steady as the seabed in the deep sea.
They recalled what Tony had told them earlier.
"Welcome to the Deep Sea Barrier, Earth's last pure fortress!"
Tony spread his arms dramatically, his voice especially loud in the enclosed space. "To make sure our pitiful little human future isn't ruined by some careless particles or... uh, biological residue, we need to follow a few tiny, insignificant rules."
He paced back and forth, launching into his signature torrent of "pseudoscientific" preaching. "First, environmental control. The cleanliness of every cubic centimeter of air here far exceeds any operating room you could possibly imagine! A single foreign odor molecule—yes, the