The Icy End

Chapter 49: The Icy End

The transport plane cruised steadily above the clouds, bathing in golden sunlight as it sped toward the far end of the Atlantic.

Kyle and Steve, one wielding a sword and the other a shield, cautiously entered the plane's cockpit.

Red Skull had clearly fled in a hurry and had not brought many armed guards aboard. The ones Kyle and Steve had thrown out of the cabin earlier had already been all of them, leaving the spacious cockpit eerily silent.

There was no one at the controls either. The plane was following its preprogrammed route on autopilot.

Behind the pilot's seat stood a storage device emitting faint, mysterious blue light. Through its glass container, a cube-shaped object could vaguely be seen inside.

Kyle immediately fixed his gaze on the item inside the storage device. Its blue radiance reflected in his azure eyes. Even without being close enough for card information to appear, he knew there was no way he had mistaken it.

The Tesseract. There was absolutely no mistake!

Even from ten meters away, with metal and glass separating him from it, he could still clearly sense its heart-pounding, intoxicatingly mysterious allure.

Steve still wanted to advance slowly into the cockpit with his shield raised, but Kyle only shook his head. There had been such a huge commotion in the rear cabin just now that Red Skull obviously already knew they had caught up to the plane. There was no need for a sneak attack.

The enemy hiding in the dark while they stood in the open was certainly unfavorable, but the fact that they were stronger while Red Skull was weakened and injured was an enormous gap he could not overturn.

Kyle strode forward with his sword in hand and said coldly, "Schmidt, you're the only one left. If you call yourself Hydra, then stop hiding like a rat! Whatever tricks you have left, use them now!"

Steve spread his hands and stepped forward as well, warning, "It's time to put an end to all your evil deeds, Schmidt!"

In response to their mockery and demands, Red Skull's icy voice suddenly came from the pilot's seat. "You two really never let up. Do you actually think you've already beaten me? You think wearing clothes marked with America makes you a symbol of the nation? I have seen the future—a wonderful world without national borders, where everyone submits purely to my rule!"

Having confirmed Red Skull's position, Kyle and Steve exchanged a glance before silently closing in from the left and right.

Red Skull continued speaking to himself from the pilot's seat. "Until the very last moment, no one can say who will win and who will lose!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he slammed his palm down beside the controls and pushed the steering mechanism all the way forward—

Bzz!

The transport plane, which had been flying smoothly, suddenly halted before plunging nose-first into the clouds below in a ninety-degree dive.

Everything in the cockpit, including Kyle and Steve, lost weight and began floating and tumbling through the cabin at every angle.

"This is only the beginning..." Red Skull snorted as he remained strapped into the pilot's seat. He raised a large laser weapon, but instead of aiming at Kyle or Steve rolling behind him, he aimed straight at the cockpit window in front of him.

"Die, all of you!" His crimson skull-like face twisted slightly, madness flashing in his sunken eye sockets as he fired the laser weapon at the plane's cockpit window.

Bang!

The instant the window was destroyed, the enormous pressure difference between the inside and outside of the plane created a violent gale that sucked everything in the cockpit toward the breach and out into the high-altitude sky.

They were more than ten thousand meters in the air! An ordinary person would have already passed out from the immense pressure difference!

"Kyle, watch out!" Steve had luckily grabbed onto a metal frame on the cockpit ceiling. His worried gaze turned toward Kyle, who was still floating in midair.

"That bastard really doesn't care if he dies!"

Kyle gritted his teeth. As he was dragged toward the window, he reacted quickly and drove the sword in his hand into the cabin floor.

"Thank goodness."

With the blade embedded in the floor and his body anchored in place, Kyle let out a breath of relief. But when his gaze shifted downward, his pupils suddenly contracted.

By sheer coincidence, the Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword had pierced straight into the glass container holding the blue-glowing object. Cracks spread across the shattered glass, gradually exposing the mysterious aura of the Tesseract within.

Oh my God, this...

Kyle's scalp went numb as a scene from the movie flashed through his mind—the consequences of Red Skull directly touching the Tesseract: being forcibly exiled beyond the stars, left alone on a desolate planet to guard the Soul Stone for more than seventy years.

At that moment, the Tesseract was completely exposed to the air, less than half a meter away from him!

As though the sword strike had triggered something, the mysterious blue light on the Tesseract's surface grew brighter and brighter. Rays of light burst out, revealing a brilliant cosmic star map in the void.

Space twisted inch by inch, and the Tesseract began drawing Kyle toward it!

"This is bad..." Caught in an impossible situation, Kyle could only watch as the Tesseract slowly opened a spatial tunnel before him.

Was I going to be teleported away?

Kyle smiled bitterly and was about to close his eyes in resignation when Steve's voice suddenly reached his ears. "Kyle! Move!"

The next instant, a round shield streaked across more than ten meters and slammed into the Tesseract, which reflected the starry map. It knocked the cube away from Kyle and sent it flying directly toward the broken window.

"That was close!" Kyle's face went pale. He had been just a little too close to being teleported by the Tesseract to who knew where!

I love Earth!

Having escaped the danger, Kyle was so overwhelmed with joy that he almost wanted to give Steve a bear hug.

"No!" Red Skull shouted. Seeing the Tesseract fly past him and toward the window, about to be thrown out of the plane, he seemed to go mad and hurriedly reached out to grab it.

Bzz—

The fading star map brightened once more. A rainbow-colored beam of light descended from the sky and engulfed Red Skull, erasing his figure.

After completing that simple manipulation of space, the Tesseract continued falling from the plane toward the sea below.

Meanwhile, the plane continued its ninety-degree suicidal dive. With less than a thousand meters remaining before it hit the ground, Kyle struggled against the intense wind pressure and made his way to the pilot's seat, forcing the controls back into their proper position.

The instant he finished, the transport plane returned to level flight. However, the controls seemed to have reached their limit, smoke pouring from them.

"Whew." Kyle collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion.

The wind pressure was still fierce, but thankfully, the plane was finally flying smoothly again. Since it was no longer at such a high altitude, the suction had weakened greatly and become bearable.

"You okay?" Steve smiled as he climbed down from the cockpit ceiling, walked to the pilot's seat, fastened his seat belt, and sat down.

Kyle waved a hand. "I'm fine. Contact the base and have them arrange a landing for this plane."

"Okay." Steve nodded and began operating the controls. Before long, it was as if he had discovered something. His relaxed expression gradually turned solemn.

"What is it?" Kyle noticed the change in Steve's face and rose to his feet.

Steve took a deep breath and said grimly, "This is bad. The autopilot can't be disengaged, and most of the manual controls are damaged beyond use—the plane is still heading toward its original destination in New York."

"What?!" Kyle immediately realized the enormous danger lurking beneath the situation and said in a low voice, "Don't panic. Let me think of something!"

"There's no time." Steve shook his head. His fists quietly clenched and unclenched as though he had made some difficult choice in his life. Then he smiled in relief. "Kyle, go to the rear cabin and get a parachute ready."

"What do you mean?" Kyle froze slightly.

Steve said firmly, "I'm going to crash this plane into the sea. Hurry up and get a parachute ready to jump."

"Don't rush. There must be another solution. Besides, even if someone has to stay on the plane in the end, I—"

Before Kyle could finish, Steve cut him off decisively. "Enough. Let me handle this."

Steve gripped the controls tightly. His young, handsome face was filled with determination as he smiled. "Kyle, you probably don't know this, but I've always been chasing after you."

"From the Training Base to the later competitions and battlefields, I could only watch your back. I kept desperately chasing after you, while constantly accepting the opportunities you gave up for me."

"Since I call myself Captain America, then let me surpass you this time and take the lead!"

As he spoke, Steve seemed to return to the young man he once was—physically frail, yet unwilling to yield in spirit.

"I understand." After saying that, Kyle silently walked toward the rear cabin. He knew that no matter how much he said, he could no longer stop his comrade's decision.

Because the man was not only his best comrade and his brother, but also this world's Captain America! Even if he faced danger a thousand times over, he would still charge ahead with unwavering determination, willing to sacrifice himself to protect everything he wanted to protect.

"Oh, right. Carter will be in your care." Steve did not forget to remind him.

"Huh??? Who said I'd take care of your girlfriend? I'll be waiting for you back at the base!" Kyle turned around and snapped.

"I... do like Carter, but she isn't my girlfriend." Steve shook his head, gathered his courage, and said, "Carter has always liked you."

"Don't make ridiculous jokes. How could she possibly like me? You must be mistaken, right?" Kyle was a little stunned. What was this supposed to mean? He had only teased her a few times without meaning anything by it.

"Then just take it as a joke." Steve shrugged and instructed, "Next Friday at eight in the evening, I asked her to meet me at Tuoniao Club. If I haven't made it by then, go in my place."

"Don't worry. I'll book the whole place for you and wait for you to come back and ask her to dance." Kyle waved his hand and left the cockpit. Behind him, Steve's voice could still faintly be heard:

"Big brother, I'm leaving everything to you..."

Fifteen seconds later, a figure leaped from the rear cabin into the sky. Only after descending to a height of one hundred meters did he open his parachute and slowly drift down toward the azure sea.

Beneath the parachute, Kyle stared blankly toward the horizon. A plane was flying farther and farther away there, soon vanishing beyond the clouds.

"Steve, no matter what happens, and no matter how long it takes.

Believe me, one day, we will definitely meet again."

More than 3,000 words, bringing this short arc to an end.

Kyle's appearance would change the people and events of the Marvel world. That change would be obvious, like a butterfly effect. The coming arcs would be even more exciting.

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