Long Time No See, Jason

As the car crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, heading from Manhattan to Brooklyn, the skyscrapers suddenly seemed to disappear, and the contrast between the two areas, separated by a river, was striking.

Russell sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, still pondering the matter of Kamar-Taj. The Marvel Comics Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were worlds apart; he longed for the upper limit of power in the Marvel Comics Universe, yet preferred the relatively safe environment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Mr. Russell, the antique shop up ahead is where the laboratory is located." Fred said without looking to the side, as the car drove steadily along the road.

Russell squinted and looked over. It was an ordinary shop located on an ordinary street. Amidst the hurried crowd, several children were chasing and playing.

The antique shop was unremarkable; such shops are common in Brooklyn. Without Fred's excellent intelligence capabilities, Russell would never have discovered it within three days.

As the car drove past the antique shop, Russell shook his stiff neck. "What was the Strategic Scientific Reserve thinking? Wouldn't it be better to set up the experimental site in the military region?"

"In that case, the military will steal all the credit..." Fred said sarcastically. "Many people are paying attention to this experiment, not only the military, but also the State Department and members of Congress supported by capitalists. Heh, stupid America government, they will never be as united as we are."

Russell nodded in deep agreement. The America is a federal system combined with capitalism, and its national conditions are quite complex. Many departments have overlapping responsibilities and powers, which often leads to infighting. Even if there is no overlap in responsibilities, there is still mutual dislike, and open and covert struggles occur frequently.

Russell once heard a joke about a famous hacker group that breached the CIA's website, causing it to crash, with the aim of... protesting child pornography!?

Afterwards, some netizens complained that the CIA was just unlucky to be caught in the crossfire, because child pornography should be the responsibility of the FBI.

A few days later, the situation took an unexpected turn when the FBI revealed that the leader of the hacker group was actually an undercover agent, one of their own.

There are so many things to criticize. Regardless of whether the FBI did it intentionally, the fact that the undercover agent became the leader is ridiculous. Three years, then another three years... what happens when the operation is finally launched? Does he arrest himself?

The same thing happened this time. The bigwigs had only been sitting down for a few minutes when the talks broke down. Neither of them could convince the other. The final agreement was to conduct the experiment in a secret military laboratory, with people from other factions present.

"I'll be there to pick you up in three days. I won't be involved in the antique shop anymore."

"But..." Fred was dumbfounded. What happened to the agreement not to interfere?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to steal your credit. It's just that I glanced around and there are more than ten agents hiding nearby. The number of people you planned to use is not enough."

"More than ten agents? Could they be from SSR?" Fred looked surprised, thinking to himself that the leader was indeed surrounded by powerful people; he hadn't realized there were so many agents hidden around him.

"SSR?" Russell raised an eyebrow. What kind of department is this? It seems pretty impressive.

"Mr. Russell, SSR is an abbreviation for Strategic Scientific Reserve," Fred explained.

Russell suddenly realized why it dared to have such a powerful name; it was the Strategic Scientific Reserve. This department wasn't particularly prominent now, its most famous member being Howard Stark, who became quite influential after World War II was over and the name was changed.

Homeland Strategic Defense Attack and something-or-other Bureau, the future new name for SSR, yes, the Strategic Scientific Reserve is the predecessor of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Three days later!

Russell parked his car in front of the antique shop, Fred got out and stood on the street. A short while later, the senator's car arrived, Fred greeted him warmly. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two went into the antique shop together.

On the street, several men wearing hats were gathered together, holding newspapers and seemingly discussing current affairs, their eyes occasionally glancing at Fred. These men were SSR agents, or more likely, they were directly from the military.

Fred was a nobody, nobody knew him, but the senator's face was still very conspicuous, and the agents around him all turned their attention away from Russell.

Russell acted very casually, making no attempt to feign idleness or picking his toes. He simply covered his face with a newspaper and lay back asleep in the driver's seat. Seeing him like this, the agents paid even less attention.

About twenty minutes later, a black sedan pulled up beside the shop, and a woman in military uniform but without rank insignia led a short, thin young man into the antique shop.

"Ms. Carter, what are we doing here?"

"Don't say anything more, come inside with me."

Russell picked up the newspaper, stretched, and glanced in the rearview mirror. The couple he'd just seen were a pre-developed Captain America and Agent Carter. The Super Soldier Serum was truly amazing; Steve Rogers was as thin as a stick, but when he went out again, he'd be bigger than Carter.

The figures in the rearview mirror flashed by, and Russell couldn't see their true faces. Judging from their backs, Agent Carter's figure was... rather plump.

"Hey buddy, can I borrow a light?"

Just as Russell unfolded his newspaper, an agent approached the car, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and asked in a sleazy tone. He had likely caught Russell glancing in the rearview mirror and was there to check if Russell was a suspect.

Russell shrugged, and under the dumbfounded gaze of the agents, he took off his coat and shook it, feeling from his waistband to his trouser legs, and finally spread his hands. "My boss is inside, and I know who you are, but as you can see, I have nothing on me, so don't waste your time here."

Agent: "..."

Could you please not be so direct? It's making me feel awkward.

"If you're still not comfortable with that, you can get in the car and check. I guarantee there won't be any weapons," Russell said, opening the car door.

The agent, speechless, pushed Russell back and returned to his companion with a dark expression.

"How about it?"

"He didn't have a lighter, not even a match."

Ten minutes later, as Russell was reading the newspaper article about the Berlin Mustache, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the antique shop. Fred stumbled out, opened the car door, and shouted, "Drive!"

Gunfight begins; Fred's men and the agents exchange fire, bullets flying everywhere.

Russell floored the accelerator, and the car immediately sped onto the road. The agents who surrounded them were repelled by Fred's pistol.

The Luger pistol, one of the earliest semi-automatic pistols. Russell didn't understand why Fred would use this pistol. Was it just because he was from the German side?

"How was the mission?"

"Erskine is dead..." Fred said, grimacing, his right arm bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound.

"Where's the serum?"

"Here it is!" Fred pursed his lips and pulled a pale blue test tube from his pocket.

[Bite]

[Host has come into contact with SSS Serum, triggering Lottery Draw. Do you wish to draw now?]

"You did a great job. I'll speak highly of you to the leader." Russell snatched the test tube and stuffed it into his pocket, silently starting the lottery.

[Item Card: SSS Serum (Good becomes better, bad becomes worse, and repressed flirtation turns into overt flirtation)]

SSS Serum is short for Super Soldier Serum. The system's evaluation can be ignored; it's been acting unseriously for quite some time now.

Having obtained the two vials of serum, Russell immediately devised a plan: he would hand one vial to Schmidt to dispel his doubts, and keep the other for himself to complete the mission.

"Speed up! Someone's catching up!" Fred said urgently, glancing at the rearview mirror. A car was approaching.

Russell was annoyed that the beat-up car couldn't showcase his driving skills; even with the accelerator floored, he couldn't shake off his pursuers. Suddenly, Sixth Sense of danger alerted him, and he jerked the steering wheel.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, the rear window shattered, and along with it, the back of Fred's head was smashed. The unfortunate guy lay on the passenger seat with his eyes wide open, staring at Russell with unseeing eyes.

"Don't do this, it wasn't me who fired the gun..."

Russell glanced in the rearview mirror, swerved the steering wheel around the corner, muttered an incantation to himself, and after a while, slapped Fred.

Fred's body trembled violently, and after a few cracking sounds from his bones, he sat up straight.

"Long time no see, Jason!"

Jason: (._.)

"That's right, it's me again. We can fight side by side again. Same old routine, cover me later!"

Russell used the terrain to close the gap in vehicle performance. He drove the car at top speed to the port, leaving Jason behind to deal with the pursuers, while he darted into an alley.

Fred's original plan was to leave by submarine, but unfortunately, there was only one seat on board. Russell was thinking of trying to persuade Fred to give up his seat, but before he could finish his sentence, Fred died. That was for the best; Russell saved himself a few "Hail Hydra"s.

Sizzle—

Agent Carter slammed on the brakes at the alley entrance and jumped out of the car with Steve in the passenger seat. One was there for the serum, and the other for revenge for Erskine. They were blocked by Jason as soon as they got out of the car.

"I'll deal with him, you go after the other one."

Jason is using Fred's face, which is slowly turning ugly, but not obviously, and is regarded as an enemy by Steve.

"Be careful!" Carter nodded and walked past Jason into the alley.

Jason stepped in front of the alleyway, and at the same time, Steve threw a punch.

Having just been injected with the Super Soldier Serum, Steve hadn't learned any fighting techniques and didn't have a shield; he was just a muscular brute. Jason was equally clueless, but he wasn't afraid of pain or death, and he took a few punches to defeat Steve.

"Steve, get out of the way!" Carter was furious and fired directly at Jason.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud—