Meanwhile, in a senior office at S.H.I.E.L.D.
Alexander Pierce sat alone in the dim room, his fingertips digging into the desktop, his knuckles white and his face frighteningly grim.
The report on his desk contained information from a Hydra member. It said that Captain America seemed to have been found-and that he might still be alive.
The news had struck him like a bolt from the blue. He regretted it now; he had never imagined that a single probe would stir up so much trouble.
Anxiety and a sense of losing control surged through Pierce like a raging tide, threatening to swallow him whole.
The public opinion offensive had died before it could begin. The public had fully accepted Rimuru, idolizing him and hailing him as a savior.
The politicians had developed selective amnesia, keeping their mouths shut about the mechanical-arm phenomenon that had shaken the entire city.
The atmosphere throughout S.H.I.E.L.D. was strange. After meeting Rimuru once, Nick Fury's gaze and mindset had changed completely. He spent his days scrutinizing all of S.H.I.E.L.D., as though he had already sensed something.
Now Captain America, who had slept for seventy years, had been located with pinpoint accuracy and taken to Stark Tower. That meant they were trying to wake Rogers.
Who was Captain America?
He was America's spiritual icon, a symbol of the ideals behind S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founding, and the absolute standard of justice.
Steve Rogers waking up meant that the situation, already fraught with hidden undercurrents, had slipped completely beyond his and Hydra's control.
"Impossible... Absolutely impossible."
Pierce murmured under his breath, his voice tinged with barely suppressed panic and obsession.
Hydra had lain hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades, its arrangements meticulous, its infiltration thorough. Every step of its plan was practically flawless, its concealment beyond reproach.
How could that alien