Captain America Excavation Countdown

"What... you found Tony? Just... like this, while sleeping?"

Future War Machine, James Rhodes, still did not believe it. He had found Tony's whereabouts just by taking a nap?

Why didn't you just fly to the heavens?

Why didn't you stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun?

"How can a summer insect speak of ice? How can a frog in a well speak of the sea? How can an ordinary man dare speak of the Dao?" Kino lay on his side on the bed, watching War Machine with an enigmatic smile.

"What did he say?"

The sentence was in Chinese, and Rhodes could not make heads or tails of it.

"Uh..." Coulson was a little embarrassed.

"He said—" Maria Hill translated it for him.

Kino was quite surprised. It seemed Hill understood Chinese too. And Hill was openly standing up for him. She was defending him!

That was truly unusual.

This ignited War Machine's fury. He howled and lunged forward. "What did you say? Say that again! Hmph—don't think I'm afraid of you. Even if I strip off this suit, I'll still beat you up."

That was assuming you could beat me.

Coulson desperately held him back. "What are you standing around for? Get your colonel out of here!"

The soldiers behind him realized things would get out of hand if this continued, so they hurried over and dragged him out.

Rhodes continued to curse and shout.

"Aren't you afraid he'll cause trouble?" Maria Hill asked.

"Why would I be? If he could really find Tony Stark, he wouldn't be waiting here for us." Kino snorted, then looked at Hill with a faint smile. "You actually tricked me into thinking you didn't understand Chinese!"

"I never said I didn't understand it. Actually, I don't understand it particularly well either, around Level 4. I just happened to know that passage. And you never asked me."

Level 4 Chinese was nothing like Level 4 English. Chinese was far more difficult.

"Uh..." Kino felt a little awkward.

"Enough small talk. Have you really confirmed Tony Stark's location?" Coulson asked.

"Of course!"

Seeing everyone's curious expressions, Kino smiled and waved his hand.

"No need to worry. He's not in danger for now. Besides, he's making something very interesting. He wants to escape using his own strength."

Coulson frowned. "Something very interesting?"

"Yeah, an... Iron Man. Since he has that idea, why shouldn't I help him fulfill it? Trust me, once he makes it, your whatever-whatever group will have another option."

[Avengers]?

Everyone present knew about the Avengers. Even Melinda May knew a little. Oh, except for those two assault team members, who were not here. Director Nick Fury had considered recruiting him, but ultimately decided against it. The man was too self-centered and too much of a loner.

"That's good. Since he isn't in danger, our mission can be completed successfully." Coulson smiled.

His smooth, diplomatic nature meant he was here to clean up after Kino, just as Director Nick Fury had feared. Kino had only been here for a day, yet he had already angered the base's colonel to the point of bursting a lung. Both sides had fiery tempers. If something really went wrong, the Afghanistan base would definitely suffer for it.

Kino might even blow up the entire base.

Black Widow had come purely to fly the plane. Melinda May was Coulson's partner, while Maria Hill was the Watcher. As for the two assault team members... they were actually optional.

"Don't worry. I've been keeping an eye on him. As soon as that thing is built, I'll go bring him out." Kino pointed at his own head.

"That's good! Then we won't disturb you. Get some rest." Coulson nodded and turned to leave.

Though he really wanted to know how Kino had searched for him. Did he have a radar in his head?

Black Widow and the others followed him out.

"Hill, you actually stood up for me just now. Didn't expect that. Thanks."

Maria Hill turned her head and rolled her eyes. "Don't get the wrong idea. I was only defending S.H.I.E.L.D., even though you aren't with S.H.I.E.L.D."

With that, she left the bedroom, leaving Kino rather awkward.

Maria Hill had indeed not done it for Kino's sake. She had done it for S.H.I.E.L.D. From the moment James Rhodes got off the plane, he had not shown them the respect or courtesy they deserved. That was understandable; it was merely the arrogance soldiers were accustomed to. But over the past day, he had looked down on them at every turn, stripping them of both face and dignity.

It made her extremely unhappy!

It made her feel that Rhodes was targeting S.H.I.E.L.D.

Even though this "targeting" had been caused by that damned troublemaker.

"..." Kino lay back down, crossed one leg over the other, and rested his head on his arm. "That Yinsen..."

Meanwhile, on Baffin Island, 74 degrees west longitude.

The Quinjet had already arrived.

"Oh, this place is really..." Hawkeye could not help frowning at the endless white snow filling his view.

Barbara tied up her golden hair, preparing to go down. "I'm increasingly certain Captain America is lying here."

The view was filled with freezing snow, an endless expanse of white. The wind was fierce and the snow was cold; even the Quinjet was struggling to hold steady.

They were already within the Arctic Circle. The freezing cold greatly interfered with scanning. Moreover, they were scanning for a "dead object," so far-infrared detection was useless.

"Is 'lying' really the right word?" Hawkeye turned and replied.

"Then let's use 'sleeping.'"

"I approve!"

"I'm going down!"

"Godspeed!"

Barbara slid down on a rope. Baffin Island was currently battered by fierce winds and heavy snow. Visibility from the aircraft was too limited. There was no other choice but to use the old-fashioned method: a ground search.

"Director, Director, please respond. We have reached 71 degrees north latitude, 74 degrees west longitude."

"GOOD!"

"The weather here is brutal, Director. Even Blackbird can barely endure it. But I'm increasingly convinced the Captain is sleeping here," Hawkeye said.

The weather here was brutally abnormal. Nearly seventy years ago, it would have been impossible to fly here for reconnaissance. Even now, under such blizzard conditions, the wind blew so hard that nothing could be seen clearly.

Blackbird was the name of the Quinjet Hawkeye piloted. Infrared scanning was hopeless. The Captain had been frozen solid; where could there possibly be even a trace of heat? They could only rely on technology that detected large concentrations of metal objects! But to use it, the fighter had to remain steady in a hover.

With the blizzard raging, it was truly impossible to keep stable.

He hovered at fixed points around the area and scanned several times, but still failed to find any location with a large concentration of high-density metal objects.

Left with no choice, Barbara led people down to search the ground.

But visibility on the ground was not very high either.

"Hang in there!"

"Uh—detecting a large mass of metal objects. Barbara, thirty degrees west by north of your position... approximately seven hundred meters away," Hawkeye suddenly shouted.

"Received!"