After the agreement was reached, the entire Western world's war machine began operating at a feverish pace around a private company called Foresight.
Overnight, the military supply chain, which had once required layers of approval and cumbersome procedures, opened its innermost doors to Lynn Morris.
Floods of steel, rare metals, chemical raw materials, shipping routes...
All the lifeblood of war began flowing toward the subsidiaries under Foresight Holdings.
The generals at the Pentagon watched it all happen, powerless to stop it.
Lynn's power was no longer confined to the somewhat abstract title of "director of the Office of Strategic Psychological Warfare."
He had seized war by the throat. By controlling its economic lifelines, he had become an uncrowned king of war with supreme power in this world war!
France, an Allied temporary field hospital.
Surrounded by senior officers and medical experts, Lynn Morris entered Steve Rogers's intensive care room.
Steve lay in his hospital bed, his chest wrapped in thick bandages. Even his faint breaths were painful.
"Mr. Morris, the captain's vital signs are extremely unstable."
A military medical officer reported with deep concern.
"The energy erosion caused by that Hydra weapon is continuing to destroy his cellular tissue."
Lynn nodded.
"Prepare to move him."
"Move him?"
The medical officer froze.
"Where? In the captain's current condition, any long, bumpy journey could..."
"Somewhere that can keep him alive."
Lynn cut him off.
Behind him, two staff members in white Foresight Pharmaceuticals uniforms pushed a sealed life-support pod into the room.
The futuristic-looking equipment was entirely out of place amid the rudimentary medical facilities.
"This is Foresight's most advanced life-support system, codenamed Cradle."
"It will take over the captain's vital functions and suppress the energy erosion until we find a way to cure him completely."
The officers exchanged glances. No one dared object.
Now, whatever Lynn Morris said was an order.
Steve was lifted into the life-support pod, and sensors and IV lines were connected to his body.
As the hatch closed, pale blue biostabilizing gel began to flow in, enveloping his entire body.
Through the transparent lid, Steve's expression eased somewhat.
He was taken away.
A perfectly legitimate house arrest.
Watching the life-support pod being loaded onto a special aircraft, an officer couldn't help asking the general beside him in a low voice, "Sir, are we really just... letting him take the captain away?"
The general watched the plane disappear over the horizon and closed his eyes wearily.
"What else can we do? Which of us can save him?"
"But..."
"No buts."
The general opened his eyes, his gaze full of helplessness.
Foresight Holdings' underground headquarters.
Countless researchers and engineers worked there day and night, turning the vast resources obtained from the military into weapons of war, each one ahead of its time.
"Boss, the first batch of repulsion field grenades has been airdropped to the Western Front. The Sentry exoskeleton armor production line has also been calibrated and is ready for mass production at any time."
An assistant reported respectfully.
"How is Steve doing?"
Lynn asked without turning around.
"His vital signs are stable, and the Cradle System is operating perfectly. Dr. Horton is using his physical data to adjust the plan for optimizing the Super Soldier Serum."
"Very good."
Lynn turned and walked over to an electronic war table, which displayed a clear, real-time picture of the entire European battlefield.
The points of light representing Soldier Boy and the Human Torch still shone on the fronts in Belgium and the Czech Republic.
They were surrounded by a dense mass of red Hydra dots.
"Send a message to Colonel Phillips and Peggy Carter."
Lynn's finger traced lightly across the war table, connecting the two points of light.
"Tell them Foresight Company's new products need combat testing. Order Soldier Boy and the Human Torch to take our repulsion field grenades and experimental Sentry armor and launch a joint raid on Hydra's perfect-form production plants."
The assistant paused, then cautioned him. "Boss, those two plants are deep in Hydra territory and heavily defended. And... will they follow our... commercial orders?"
Lynn smiled.
Some of the people he had recruited after the company expanded didn't even know how he had gotten his start.
"They will."
He looked at the two points of light on the screen that represented "gods."
"Tell Soldier Boy that Red Skull is using him as a whetstone to test the quality of the perfect forms. If he wants to prove he's not a stepping stone, he should go smash Red Skull's plant."
"Tell the Human Torch that those perfect forms are soulless shells, creations that defile divinity. It's his duty to purify them."
The Belgian front.
Soldier Boy smashed a "perfect form" into pulp with one punch, only to be left dizzy by a spatial blast at point-blank range.
Panting, he looked at the endless, death-defying monsters around him, feeling intensely irritated.
When he returned to headquarters, Colonel Phillips came to him with a telegram.
After hearing Lynn's "suggestion," Soldier Boy gave no response.
Phillips found this extremely surprising.
Soldier Boy's thoughts were simple: he would show the whole world who the true god capable of deciding the outcome of the war was!
That piece of trash lying in a tank isn't worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me!
At the same time, on the Eastern Front.
The Human Torch, Jim Hammond, hovered in midair, golden flames reducing wave after wave of charging "perfect forms" to ash.
Peggy Carter's voice came over the encrypted communicator, relaying Lynn's "divine decree."
"Purify... creations that defile divinity?"
"As you will, Guide."
Without hesitation, he changed direction and became a burning meteor, flying toward the coordinates deep in Hydra territory.
The balance of the war began to tilt in a bizarre way.
No longer for a nation, no longer for freedom, but for a merchant's product test and a madman's vanity.
Lynn didn't need to care how the battle went or how many people died.
He only needed to look at Foresight Holdings' financial statements, at the figures skyrocketing because of the war.
"Boss, aren't we being a little too..."
The assistant watched everything on the screen, his throat a little dry.
"Too what?"
Lynn chuckled.
"War has always been a business."
"Except this time, I'm the arms dealer, the customer, and the sole shareholder."
"Now, let's see what a spectacular combat data report my two product testers can bring me."