The argument inside the tent was still going on.
"Enough, Erskine!"
Phillips's patience had run out.
"I don't care about your philosophical theories! My soldiers are dying! Now there's a weapon that can keep them alive, and I have to use it!"
"As for your program to find the perfect good man, to hell with it!"
"You'll regret this, Phillips!"
"You and everyone else will pay for today's decision!"
Dr. Erskine let out a disappointed roar and turned on his heel.
He threw aside the tent flap and stormed out without looking back.
He walked quickly.
His face was full of anger and helplessness, and he nearly ran into Lynn, who "happened" to be passing by.
"Sorry."
Dr. Erskine adjusted his glasses and muttered an apology in distress, then tried to walk around him and continue on his way.
"He doesn't understand, does he?"
Lynn's voice brought Dr. Erskine to an abrupt halt.
He turned around.
With eyes bloodshot from anger, he studied the young man in a reporter's clothes before him, looking puzzled.
"Do I know you?"
"Lynn Morris, a war correspondent."
Erskine frowned at the introduction.
"You? You're the one pulling that maniac's strings?"
"No, I'm just a guide. I can't control what Soldier Boy thinks."
"You're right, Doctor. The colonel only sees how sharp the weapon is. He can't see whether the hand holding it will tremble."
The wariness on Dr. Erskine's face eased somewhat.
The young man's words had struck at all the frustration and worry he had just felt.
"He only sees a tool that can solve the problem in front of him."
The fire in Dr. Erskine's eyes gave way to a deep sorrow.
He took off his glasses.
He wiped the lenses with a less-than-clean handkerchief.
The gesture made him look even more like a perplexed scholar.
"You... you know him well?"
"I know him better than anyone, Doctor."
Lynn looked him in the eye.
"I know his strength, and I know the emptiness inside him."
"So you use him and present him as a hero?"
There was a judgmental note in Dr. Erskine's voice.
"I'm putting a bridle on him, Doctor."
Lynn didn't evade the question.
"An out-of-control beast in the jungle will bring nothing but destruction."
"But if someone can lead it and make sure it only hunts in a designated hunting ground, then at least it can still serve a purpose."
Lynn took a step forward and lowered his voice.
"I admit my approach is risky, but I have no choice. You, Doctor, do."
"What do you mean?"
"Your serum is the real hope. Not for making a stronger soldier, but for creating a better example."
"Someone who can win respect and victory through his character, not his muscles."
Erskine stared at Lynn in shock.
His lips moved slightly.
This young man...
The reporter he had taken for someone manipulating a devil had actually put his lifelong pursuit into words!
"How could you..."
"I'm a reporter, Doctor. My job is to listen and observe."
There wasn't a single flaw in Lynn's earnest expression.
"I've heard soldiers pray, and I've seen civilians' tears. What they need isn't a monster who can smash tanks, but a symbol who can make them believe, even in despair, that justice still exists."
"Soldier Boy can't be that symbol."
Dr. Erskine sighed.
It was the relief of being understood, as well as helplessness in the face of reality.
"Phillips and the others won't understand. In their eyes, soldiers are expendable. All they want is a sharper knife. They never care whether its handle is covered in blood."
"So they can't find that good man."
Lynn picked up where he left off.
"They aren't even willing to look!"
Erskine grew agitated.
"They treat my project like a joke! They've poured all their resources into that monster who does nothing but drink and cause trouble, yet they won't even give me one real chance to screen candidates!"
"They only look at résumés, at physiques, at who has bigger muscles and who has killed more people!"
"They don't understand at all. Great power amplifies everything! A bad man becomes worse! Only a good man becomes better!"
Lynn listened quietly as he vented. Only when Dr. Erskine began coughing from his agitation did he speak.
"Maybe I can help you, Doctor."
Erskine stopped coughing and looked at him skeptically.
"You? How can you help me?"
"You can't find the right person because you never leave the military camp. The army wears away too much of the goodness in people."
Lynn's thoughts were perfectly clear.
"I'm different. I'm a reporter. I can go to every corner and meet all kinds of people."
"I can help you find that person. Someone who hasn't been corrupted by war and killing, who still has a conscience and courage. Someone who meets all your standards."
Dr. Erskine fell silent.
He looked at Lynn, his eyes full of inner conflict.
Reason told him.
The man before him had an unclear background and close ties to the dangerous Soldier Boy. He absolutely couldn't be trusted.
But emotionally, Lynn was the first person who had truly understood his ideals.
He wanted to grasp this lifeline.
"Why should I trust you?"
Erskine asked his final question.
"Because we have common enemies, Doctor."
Lynn smiled.
"One is called shortsightedness, the other stupidity."
He paused, then continued, "Besides, I need a real hero to appear too. I can't keep a hold on that beast Soldier Boy forever. I need someone who can keep him in check. I have to help you to protect myself, too."
That reason was more convincing than any lofty ideal.
Lynn pulled a notebook from inside his clothes.
He tore out a page and quickly wrote an address on it.
"New York, Brooklyn District, recruitment office."
He handed the note to Erskine.
"Go find a young man named Steve Rogers. He's physically weak, has asthma, and a whole host of other ailments. He's been rejected every time he's tried to enlist."
"But, Doctor, I saw him with my own eyes. He tried to stop a thug from bullying someone weaker and was beaten half to death by a brute two heads taller than him, but he never backed down once."
"Strength can be created, but character can't. Go see him, Doctor. Judge for yourself whether he's the person we're looking for."
Erskine took the note with the address, feeling the warmth of the paper against his fingertips.
As Lynn watched Dr. Erskine hurry away with renewed hope, the sincerity and admiration vanished from his face without a trace.