Breaking free of Stryker

The other members of the team soon noticed this striking change.

Whenever Stryker went out on business, he normally took only Agent Zero as his bodyguard. After all, Stryker found it hard to trust anyone other than the genuinely loyal Zero.

But at some point, Brad had also started appearing regularly at Stryker's side.

Truth be told, Brad was the weakest fighter among the team's seven members. Usually, he could do little more than provide basic support.

It was understandable that Stryker felt safe around Brad.

But why had Brad, who had been so determined to leave, suddenly become Stryker's lapdog?

Of course, their puzzlement only lasted a few days. Aside from Logan, who had a brief talk with Brad about it, most of them were simply hoping their contracts would end soon so they could regain their freedom.

Except for Wade.

All he thought about was making money. As long as Stryker paid him, he could stay forever.

The mutant team finally reached the day of its breakup.

To obtain a piece of mysterious metal, Victor slaughtered a small village belonging to a primitive tribe. Unable to tolerate his bloodthirsty brother any longer, Logan became the first to leave the team.

Then came Fland and Phantom John. Whatever contracts they had signed with Stryker, once those expired, they went their separate ways.

Colonel Stryker also shifted the focus of his research. He began concentrating on the mysterious metal, directing his scientists in an attempt to create a new alloy.

Wade, Brad, and Victor no longer needed to go out killing as a team. With no more money coming in, Wade left as well.

With no missions left and no one to kill, Victor seemed to have departed too.

But Brad knew that Victor had become one of Stryker's most useful tools. Whenever dirty work needed doing, Stryker only had to send out a telegram, and within a couple of days, the target would meet a gruesome death.

The bodies looked as though some large predator had torn into them. Brad could naturally recognize Victor's handiwork; they had been teammates for several years, after all.

Brad, on the other hand, finally had some rare downtime.

Stryker had little use for him, except on the occasional occasions when researching the mysterious metal known as vibranium required high-powered equipment.

Brad could offer a little help with his ability.

Aside from that, Brad asked Stryker for some books and began absorbing knowledge.

Strangely enough, Brad had actually had opportunities to study as a child, but back then, he had found it painful.

Now, however, Brad discovered that he had changed. He devoured all kinds of knowledge and progressed at an astonishing pace.

In fact, Brad felt as though that knowledge had been in his mind all along.

Reading the books merely helped him recall it.

Over two years, Brad earned eight doctorates in fields including geology, mineral research, and biology.

Brad had deliberately chosen these subjects to show Stryker that he could contribute more than just his mutant ability.

Then, as a natural next step, Brad joined Stryker's research team and made tremendous contributions to the study of vibranium.

On the day Brad successfully synthesized the First-Generation Adamanium Alloy, Stryker spent a fortune acquiring one of the era's most advanced computers for him.

Running his hand over the massive machine before him, Brad suddenly understood something.

His mutant ability was not weak. In fact, his time had finally come.

Brad dismantled the enormous computer and began tinkering away alone in his room, amid a chorus of clinks and clangs.

It was not just the knowledge in his mind. Brad's mutant ability began to work as well. The moment he touched a relevant component, he knew how to optimize, upgrade, and improve it.

In just three days, using the equipment at the research base, Brad reduced the computer to one-tenth of its original size.

He invented the transistor more than a decade ahead of its time.

Magnetic-core memory came next.

In his hands, the computer underwent upgrades and advances almost every month that would normally have taken decades.

Stryker had all but forgotten that Brad was a mutant, instead regarding him as a brilliant and highly useful researcher.

This gave Brad an enormous amount of freedom.

And so, one day, Brad selected a few of the hundred-plus patented technologies he had mastered and mailed out the documents.

Dr. Arnim Zola.

This was the choice Brad had made after careful consideration.

He did not want the United States leadership to get hold of his technology while he was still in such a vulnerable position. Yet without their influence, there was no way to free him from Stryker's grasp.

So he repeatedly reviewed the stories in his mind and settled on Doctor Zola.

An evil scientist who had served German Hydra during World War II, he had been captured by Captain America, then recruited through Operation Paperclip into the Strategic Scientific Reserve, the predecessor of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But in the stories Brad had reviewed, although Doctor Zola feared death, he was surprisingly loyal to Hydra.

It was this very man who had continually recruited agents within the Strategic Scientific Reserve, eventually allowing a reborn Hydra to thoroughly infiltrate the future S.H.I.E.L.D.

Doctor Zola's true identity was undoubtedly a highly classified secret within the United States Government.

Publicly, he was merely a scientist with the Strategic Science Corps.

At the very least, someone at Stryker's level had no access to that information.

Moreover, in preparation for this day, Brad had already become Doctor Zola's pen pal, exchanging academic correspondence with him.

Although Agent Zero had performed his routine inspection of the documents Brad sent out, he let them through after confirming that they contained no hidden codes.

Stryker, concerned only with adamanium alloy and mutant genes, never realized that this time, Brad had mailed out technology far ahead of its era. The transistor technology alone could easily have won a Nobel Prize even if it had been presented ten years later.

The day after the mail arrived, a large military force surrounded Stryker's base.

Doctor Zola strode in arrogantly, surrounded by an entourage.

He toured Stryker's laboratory and casually remarked, "Crude biological gene-splicing techniques. That alloy is the only thing remotely worth looking at."

Then, before Stryker's incredulous eyes, Brad stepped forward and exchanged a hug with Doctor Zola.

Though Doctor Zola was short, his gaze made it seem as though he were looking down at Stryker from above.

"You have no idea what kind of genius you've confined in that worthless laboratory of yours. Dr. Brad should be devoting himself to more promising technologies."

Brad turned back with a mocking expression.

"Goodbye, Colonel Stryker. Oh, no, no, no-goodbye forever."

Stryker clenched his fists, fury blazing in his eyes. Beside him, Agent Zero quickly reached for his holster.

"No!"

Stryker raised a hand to stop Agent Zero.

He could not turn on them, even though the soldiers surrounding Zola would have been no match for Victor and Agent Zero working together.

But he simply could not afford to fall out with the United States leadership. He still needed government funding, and even annual government approval to continue his research.

Doctor Zola of the Strategic Science Corps and that genius Stark—either one of them was worth far more than Stryker.

Whatever technology Brad had used to secure the Strategic Science Corps' backing, he was now beyond Stryker's reach.

Even if he was a mutant!

Given the value he could provide, everyone would-and had to-overlook Brad's identity as a mutant.

Yet over the years, Stryker had genuinely come to regard Brad as one of his most capable men.

He felt betrayed, and the fury nearly overwhelmed his reason.

If you enjoyed this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time.