The Road to Reunion, New Shoots in the Shadows

Siberia's freezing wind howled into the damaged base, yet it could not disperse the stagnant, complicated atmosphere in the cryogenic chamber.

Steve Rogers knelt on one knee before Bucky, his blue eyes fixed unblinkingly on those ice-blue eyes filled with confusion and pain. Seventy years of time, years spent frozen, the agony of brainwashing... the chasm between them seemed bottomless. Yet the bond born in Brooklyn, one that had crossed life and death, burned stubbornly at this moment.

"Steve..." Bucky murmured the name again. Fragmented memories cut through his nerves like shards of sharp glass, bringing waves of agony. But he endured it. He did not flee or turn violent as he had before, because the person before him... felt completely different. Warm. Familiar. Someone he instinctively wanted to approach rather than destroy.

"It's me, Bucky." Steve's voice was low and steady, carrying a calming strength. "It's okay now. I found you. This time, I won't let go again."

Slowly, with extreme care, he extended his hand as though afraid of startling an injured beast. His hand did not touch Bucky. It simply remained there, an invitation.

Bucky stared at that hand, his eyes struggling violently as his metal left arm unconsciously tightened.

Just then, the S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team led by Natasha completely secured the base and rushed into the cryogenic chamber. Seeing the scene before her, she immediately gestured for everyone to keep their distance, lower their weapons, and make no rash moves.

Natasha herself slowly stepped forward and stood slightly behind Steve. Her voice was calm. "Sergeant Barnes, we're here to help you. No one will hurt you."

Bucky gave her a wary glance, then looked back at Steve.

Steve nodded firmly at him. "Trust me, Bucky."

After more than ten long, almost suffocating seconds of silence, the sharp vigilance in Bucky's eyes finally melted a little. He did not take Steve's hand. Instead, he struggled to support himself as he rose to his feet, his body still swaying slightly.

"My head... is a mess..." he said hoarsely, his voice dry. "A lot of images... aren't clear..."

"It's okay. We'll help you." Steve stood as well, his tone incomparably resolute. "Take it slowly."

Under Steve and Natasha's careful escort, Bucky did not resist as he was brought aboard the Quinjet. He remained silent most of the time, watching the Siberian wilderness pass outside the window. Sometimes he sank into painful contemplation; sometimes, a faint spark of liveliness belonging to "Bucky" flickered in his eyes.

Thunder Temple.

Through the satellite feed sent by Remy and the monitoring equipment inside the aircraft, Lin Ye silently watched everything unfold.

"Looks like things are going fairly smoothly," he remarked. "The rest will depend on time and Captain America's patience."

He was not particularly interested in this sort of emotional drama. He had only intervened to break the deadlock and push the plot forward. As for how things developed afterward, he was happy to let them take their course.

[Ding! Successfully facilitated the reunion of Captain America and the Winter Soldier, indirectly aiding S.H.I.E.L.D. in eliminating Hydra and greatly changing the fates of related characters.]

[Reward settlement:]

[1. Obtained [Incomplete Super-Soldier Serum Analysis Report] (based on remote scan analysis of Bucky's blood sample)]

[2. Obtained [Basic Prosthetic-Limb Integration Technology] (based on a scan of the Winter Soldier's left arm)]

[3. Captain America Steve Rogers's favorability and trust have greatly increased.]

[4. Bucky Barnes's potential gratitude and trust have been generated.]

As the rewards poured in, Lin Ye briefly looked them over. The serum analysis report was somewhat interesting. Though incomplete, it would help him understand this world's biotechnology. The prosthetic-limb technology was not useful for the moment, so he stored it away.

The Quinjet flew directly back to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s newly established, highest-security medical rehabilitation center. The environment there was far warmer and safer than the previous cold base.

Steve stayed by Bucky's side almost every moment. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top psychologists and neuroscientists took turns carefully evaluating Bucky's condition.

The diagnosis was complicated and far from optimistic. Hydra's brainwashing techniques were exceptionally vicious and deeply ingrained, combining hypnosis, drugs, and electrical stimulation. Specific trigger-word commands had been implanted in his brain, and once he heard them, he would immediately transform into a cold-blooded killing machine. At the same time, however, the experts discovered that an external, gentle yet powerful energy had recently acted upon Bucky's brain. It had cleverly protected and stimulated certain suppressed neural regions, allowing signs of the core personality's awakening to emerge and making his resistance far stronger than expected.

"This is practically a miracle!" the chief specialist told Fury and Steve. "Under normal circumstances, a patient like this would be almost incapable of recovering on his own. That external energy was like someone using the most precise scalpel to loosen part of his restraints in advance. But this is only the beginning. The recovery process will be extremely long and painful, and the danger posed by the trigger words still remains."

Steve clenched his fists tightly. "No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, I'll stay with him."

Fury's single eye glinted thoughtfully. External energy? A precise scalpel? He almost immediately thought of that person. So it had been his handiwork again. The debt he owed was only growing larger.

The rehabilitation process was slow and difficult. Bucky had good days and bad days. Sometimes, he could clearly recognize Steve and recall fragments of the past in fits and starts. At other times, he would suddenly fall into panic and violent impulses, requiring temporary isolation and sedation.

But Steve never gave up. He patiently told stories from their past, played old music, and even found some of the remaining old belongings of the Howling Commandos.

Gradually, Bucky remained lucid for longer and longer periods, and the look in his eyes that belonged to "Bucky" became increasingly steady. He even began making clumsy jokes, though his smile still carried the weight of hardship and bitterness.

While Steve devoted himself fully to helping Bucky recover, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reconstruction efforts were also proceeding at a frantic pace under Fury's leadership. After the purge, everything needed rebuilding, and the workload was enormous.

Natasha temporarily took on more field-command duties and was overwhelmed with work.

And all this busyness seemed to give certain shadows hidden even deeper a little room to breathe and move.

New York, beneath the basement of what appeared to be an ordinary multinational trading company.

Several figures gathered secretly beneath dim lights. They were not Hydra remnants. Their faith was older and far more fanatical.

"Hydra has fallen, foolish and blind," an elderly voice said. "But their pursuit of order and control aligns with us in certain ways. Their failure lay in their lack of purity, and in provoking an existence they should never have provoked."

"You are right, Master," another voice replied respectfully. "Thunder's intervention disrupted many plans. We must be even more careful."

"It doesn't matter." The elderly voice was brimming with confidence. "Our goal is not mundane power, but a loftier ascension. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s chaos is our opportunity. Those ancient projects and research results abandoned and forgotten by Hydra should be taken over by us Inheritors."

"Especially the research involving the 'Tarot cards' and those 'gateways' connected to other dimensions..." another voice whispered fervently.

"Proceed carefully. Learn from Hydra's lesson. Before we have absolute certainty, stay out of Thunder's sight," the elderly voice ordered. "Let our sleeping 'knights' slowly awaken..."

Elsewhere, Grant Ward had not collapsed alongside Garrett as the outside world believed.

At the final moment, he had used a prepared double and the chaos to slip away unnoticed and go into hiding. He had lost everything—his mentor, status, and resources—but the ambition and ruthlessness in his heart burned even fiercer.

Through secret channels known only to him, he contacted a small group of Hydra diehards who were utterly loyal to him and had narrowly escaped the purge.

"Hydra is dead, but its ideals live forever," Ward said to several dark figures in a safe house. "We need a new name and new methods. More covert. More cunning. We'll lie dormant like a virus and wait for the right moment."

He threw a rusted yet still vicious-looking Hydra ring into the brazier. "Remember the humiliation of this defeat! Remember the pain Thunder brought us! Survive, and grow stronger! One day, we'll take everything back!"

New evil, like a centipede that refused to die even when broken, quietly began to breed in a new guise amid the ruins of the old order.

Thunder Temple.

Lin Ye received scattered reports from Remy regarding the activities of the Inheritors and Ward's remnants. Mixed among massive amounts of global intelligence, this information was inconspicuous, but their activity patterns and the keywords involved caught his attention.

"More little bugs crawling out? The Inheritors? Never heard that name before." Lin Ye's interest rose slightly. "And Ward's life is tougher than I thought."

He had Remy raise the surveillance priority on those organizations, but he did not take action immediately. As long as they did not jump out and cause trouble, he was happy to observe them first.

More of his attention remained on the Sanctuary itself and Banner's research.

After obtaining sufficient Vibranium and achieving initial success, Banner's research entered the fast lane. The second-generation nanobots not only had their duration extended to fifteen seconds, but their stability had also greatly improved.

He even attempted to inject some of the nanobots into an ordinary bullet, then had Lin Ye grant it a trace of highly compressed lightning energy.

At the testing ground, Banner pulled the trigger at a reinforced target.

Bang!

The instant the bullet struck the bullseye, it did not explode. Instead, it instantly released a small lightning field that continuously discharged electricity, firmly binding the target and keeping it paralyzed!

"It worked! Vibranium nanobots can serve as perfect energy carriers and release mediums!" Banner said excitedly. "Though it'll still be a while before I can apply this to myself, this is absolutely a major breakthrough in both weapons technology and medical technology!"

Lin Ye watched the flickering electric light, deep in thought.

"An interesting application. Perhaps we could give it a name—Vibranium Nano Thunderbolts?"

New technology and new power continued to grow within the Sanctuary.

Changes both within and without were occurring silently, foreshadowing a future road that would be even more magnificent and turbulent.

(End of Chapter 27)