Chapter Summaries

Soldier Boy grew furious as Captain America’s popularity eclipsed his battlefield victories and threatened Colonel Phillips over the praise for the performer. Phillips urgently contacted Lynn, who welcomed the chance to return to Europe and profit from Soldier Boy’s anger.

• Soldier Boy overheard soldiers praising Captain America and dented his shield as resentment grew.
• At a battle-planning meeting, Colonel Phillips praised Captain America’s tour and the record war bond sales it had generated.
• Soldier Boy smashed the conference table, threatened Phillips, and demanded that he tell Lynn his patience had limits.
• Phillips sent Lynn an encrypted message urging him to return and calm Soldier Boy.
• Lynn burned the message and decided to return to Europe, viewing Soldier Boy’s tantrum as an opportunity.

After Hydra’s Professor Pyg turned Bella into a town of living puppet artworks, Lynn Morris used Soldier Boy’s jealousy of Captain America to persuade him to confront the threat. Soldier Boy set out for Bella, eager to make the battle his own spectacle.

• Colonel Phillips received reports and photographs showing that Professor Pyg had transformed Bella’s residents and the missing 79th Infantry Regiment into living puppets.
• Lynn Morris told Phillips to describe Captain America as a publicity mascot and present Bella’s horrors as a chance for Soldier Boy to prove himself.
• Phillips delivered Lynn’s message and showed Soldier Boy the photographs of the puppet town.
• Soldier Boy embraced the chance to fight the “demons,” picked up his shield, and ordered Lynn’s people to prepare their cameras.
• Soldier Boy smashed through the quarters’ wall and raced toward Bella.

Lynn used his war profits to establish Foresight as a front for a growing business empire, then suggested deep fermentation to dramatically increase penicillin production. His pharmaceutical plant gained military approval, while he secretly stockpiled most of its medicine for the postwar market.

• Lynn established the Swiss holding company Foresight under the stolen identity of Jacob Rosenberg and used it to acquire a pharmaceutical plant, a machine shop, and a transport company.
• At the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Lynn proposed growing penicillin in aerated fermentation tanks and using corn steep liquor as a cheaper culture medium.
• Professor Fleming pursued Lynn’s suggestions, and penicillin production increased several hundredfold within half a month.
• Foresight’s New Jersey plant received military authorization to produce penicillin, and Lynn’s reputation as a patriotic businessman grew.
• Lynn secretly diverted seven of every ten crates of medicine to warehouses across the country, planning to profit from them after the war.

Senator Brandt tried to take congressional control of the Captain America Project, but Lynn Morris used sympathetic press coverage to turn public opinion against him. Brandt faced a nationwide backlash and found himself politically isolated.

• Senator Brandt demanded that a congressional committee take oversight of the Captain America Project, and Colonel Davis admitted he could not oppose him without risking military supplies.
• Lynn called reporter Tom and expressed concern that Steve would be turned into a political puppet, linking Steve, himself, and Dr. Erskine in the public’s mind.
• Stars and Stripes published an article portraying Brandt as a bureaucrat trying to turn Captain America into a political trophy.
• Brandt’s newspaper accused Lynn of exploiting Captain America, but Lynn’s allies answered with another report that intensified public anger.
• As Captain America’s tour paused for a week, protests spread across the country, and Brandt became widely reviled and abandoned by his political allies.

Lynn used public outrage and Steve Rogers’s words to stop Senator Brandt from controlling Captain America, leaving Brandt publicly disgraced and Steve standing by his own convictions. Lynn then resolved to keep Brandt from recovering his influence.

• Colonel Davis celebrated Brandt’s resignation, while Lynn remained focused on the senator’s threat to strike back.
• Lynn warned Steve that Brandt meant to turn him into a political tool and urged him to reclaim his right to choose.
• At Independence Square, Steve told Brandt and the crowd that he wanted to stay with his unit and fight alongside his friends.
• The crowd cheered Steve and turned on Brandt, whose humiliation was captured by the press.
• Steve raised the microphone as a figure acting from his own convictions rather than as Lynn’s pawn.

After Congress created a committee to oversee the Captain America Project, Lynn used the members’ greed to propose a nonprofit foundation and secured control over its funds through its charter. He left the committee believing it had oversight while he drafted rules that made himself the foundation’s executive director and gave him broad spending authority.

• Colonel Davis and the Strategic Scientific Reserve officers celebrated Senator Brandt’s downfall until they learned Congress had passed Brandt’s proposal to establish a committee overseeing the Captain America Project.
• Lynn told the generals that a divided committee would be easier to manage than Brandt, and he attended the committee’s first meeting on Capitol Hill.
• Department representatives and congressmen argued over Captain America’s image, appearances, war bond endorsements, and commercial opportunities.
• Lynn proposed an independent, nonprofit Captain America Patriot Foundation to receive the Captain’s related income and serve the war effort, then volunteered to draft its charter.
• Late that night, Lynn wrote charter provisions giving the executive director broad spending authority and arranging for the Super Soldier Program’s original planner—himself—to nominate that director.

Howard completed a stable Super Soldier Serum formula after Lynn suggested changing a collapsing molecular node into a buffer. Lynn persuaded Howard to sign a partnership that gave Foresight Pharmaceuticals a one percent stake in Stark Industries, then took the first five vials toward his secret underground base.

• Howard struggled to stabilize the serum and considered testing the formula inside a living organism.
• Lynn suggested the failing node should absorb and redirect excess energy, and Howard used the idea to create a stable serum structure.
• Howard celebrated the breakthrough, but Lynn warned that mass-producing the serum could repeat Dr. Erskine's tragedy.
• Lynn proposed a joint project and exchanged five percent of Foresight Pharmaceuticals and priority partnership rights for a one percent stake in Stark Industries; Howard agreed and signed the deal.
• Howard handed Lynn the first five serum vials, and Lynn took them toward a concealed base beneath Foresight Pharmaceuticals.

Lynn used Peggy Carter’s doubts about his influence over Steve Rogers to deepen Steve’s distrust of her and strengthen their bond. Steve wrote Peggy a heartfelt letter defending their home-front mission and praising Lynn’s guidance, giving Lynn the testimony he wanted.

• Lynn read Peggy Carter’s letter questioning whether Steve’s public role and Senator Brandt’s downfall had been carefully staged.
• Lynn gave Peggy’s letter to Steve and framed her doubts as a front-line soldier’s failure to understand the importance of the home-front effort.
• Lynn reminded Steve of the families and factory workers inspired by his broadcasts and described him as a shield rather than a weapon.
• Hurt by Peggy’s doubts, Steve decided to write back and explain the meaning of his work.
• Steve wrote Peggy about his growing conviction and Lynn’s mentorship, then thanked Lynn for supporting him.

Lynn secured plenipotentiary authority from the Congressional Special Committee to handle Soldier Boy in Europe, while planning to use the role to expand the company’s reach. In London, he persuaded Peggy Carter to trust him and gained her help as he prepared to find Soldier Boy.

• The committee panicked over Soldier Boy’s loss of control, and Lynn agreed to go to Europe in exchange for plenipotentiary authority and unrestricted access to resources.
• Lynn presented Peggy Carter and the European Strategic Scientific Reserve staff with evidence that his Captain America campaign had boosted war bond sales and troop morale.
• Lynn showed Peggy a letter from Steve Rogers describing his commitment to the mission and Lynn’s guidance.
• Peggy apologized for doubting Lynn and offered to guide him through Europe’s intelligence networks as he dealt with Soldier Boy.

Lynn reached the Allied forward command headquarters and used a newspaper article praising Soldier Boy as a fearsome legend to calm his jealousy of Captain America. Soldier Boy kept the article and asked what new stage Lynn had prepared for him, and Lynn promised a mission built on Hydra’s senior officers and Germany’s fear.

• Lynn and Peggy Carter arrived at the Allied headquarters, where Phillips told them Soldier Boy had wrecked the barracks and halted operations.
• Lynn entered Soldier Boy’s barracks alone and showed him a newspaper supplement praising his actions in Puppet Town.
• Lynn explained that Captain America was a public idol while Soldier Boy was a legend feared by enemies.
• Soldier Boy tore Captain America’s photograph from the paper and burned it, but kept the supplement.
• Lynn promised Soldier Boy a stage built from Hydra’s senior officers and Germany’s fear.

As Allied forces reeled from Hydra’s energy weapons, Lynn used Peggy Carter’s intelligence to identify the Giant underground complex near Wrocław as a target. After aerial reconnaissance confirmed the site, he sent Soldier Boy to infiltrate it and seize or destroy what mattered most to Hydra.

• Hydra’s energy weapons devastated Allied armor, and Lynn argued that the Allies should strike Hydra’s leadership and facilities instead of fighting its armies head-on.
• Peggy Carter revealed decrypted intelligence locating Hydra’s Giant complex near Wrocław, where important research facilities and senior personnel had been moved.
• Lynn overruled Colonel Phillips and ordered aerial reconnaissance of Giant, which confirmed Peggy’s intelligence and detected energy activity underground.
• Lynn gave Soldier Boy orders to enter the complex and retrieve or destroy its most valuable assets, with the aim of frightening Red Skull.
• At midnight, Peggy piloted an unmarked C-47 to the target airspace, and Soldier Boy dove from the plane toward the fortifications without a parachute.

Lynn parachuted into the Giant base to film Soldier Boy’s assault while secretly searching for Hydra’s energy-weapon database. At Hydra headquarters, the Red Skull watched the battle and ordered Valentin to record Soldier Boy’s capabilities as a model for a weapon he hoped to replicate and surpass.

• Lynn told Peggy to return along the planned route, then jumped from the aircraft toward the Giant base.
• Soldier Boy smashed through the base’s outer fortification and tore through Hydra’s soldiers and vehicles while Lynn filmed from the shadows.
• Lynn stopped recording once Soldier Boy reached the inner defenses and slipped into an auxiliary passage to seek Hydra’s energy-weapon technical database.
• The Red Skull watched footage of the assault and ordered Valentin to document Soldier Boy’s strength and movements.
• The Red Skull praised Soldier Boy as a true superman and compared him favorably to the imperfect creations Valentin had assembled.

Lynn infiltrated Hydra’s research base and copied its technology archive before Soldier Boy’s battle brought the mountain down. He returned to headquarters with the data, sent footage and a prepared story to Tom Henderson, and collapsed into sleep.

• Lynn used Howard Stark’s device to open the research chamber and began copying Hydra’s server archive to a portable hard drive.
• Red Skull activated the Purifier Protocol, trapping Soldier Boy in an energy cage and filling it with poison gas.
• The base shook and collapsed, injuring Lynn, but he confirmed the data copy had reached 100%.
• Soldier Boy carried Lynn back to headquarters and tossed him into a chair; Lynn told Phillips that Hydra’s Polish technology base had been destroyed by holy light.
• Lynn sent Tom Henderson the footage and an exclusive headline with instructions to publish his prepared copy unchanged, then fell asleep.

After Soldier Boy’s victory over Hydra was portrayed as a divine miracle, he became an object of public worship and the military feared it could no longer control him. Lynn left Europe for the United States to find Phineas Horton and begin creating a hero of his own.

• Stars and Stripes published a fervent account of Soldier Boy’s victory, and the public began worshipping him as a god of war.
• Generals at the Pentagon feared that Soldier Boy had become an uncontrollable strategic weapon.
• Lynn received a telegram saying Phineas Horton had been found and decided to use him to test the system.
• Peggy Carter told Lynn she would remain in Europe to fight Hydra and reminded him that Soldier Boy and Steve were people, not pieces in his plans.
• Lynn advised Phillips to guide Soldier Boy toward targets by supplying information alongside things he wanted, then boarded a plane for the United States.

Lynn returned to Washington, accepted the Congressional Medal of Freedom while publicly crediting Soldier Boy and Allied soldiers, and privately assessed the assets he had brought back from Europe. He planned to use Hydra’s technology, recruit new talent and power, and turn Captain America into a national icon through film.

• Lynn arrived at Washington National Airport and was welcomed by military officers, politicians, and reporters.
• At the Capitol Hill ceremony, Lynn accepted the Congressional Medal of Freedom and praised Soldier Boy and the Allied soldiers in his speech.
• At a safe house that night, Lynn treated the medal as a disguise and considered Soldier Boy’s prestige and Peggy Carter’s trust useful assets.
• Lynn examined the hard drive containing data from the Giant base and planned to work with Howard Stark and seek out Phineas Horton.
• Lynn told the Captain America Patriot Foundation director to shift its publicity toward shaping national spirit and to contact a major movie studio about his Captain America screenplay.

Lynn recruited Dr. Phineas Horton by praising his pursuit of artificial life and offering unlimited resources for a new creation. Horton agreed to build Lynn a perfect being and pledged his loyalty.

• Lynn found Dr. Phineas Horton in an abandoned cannery laboratory and identified a flaw in his artificial-life design.
• Lynn persuaded Horton that his work could create a superior form of life and that Lynn understood his ambitions.
• Horton showed Lynn three failed creations: a soulless mechanical robot, uncontrolled biological growth, and an artificial man who had killed himself.
• Lynn offered Horton unlimited funding, advanced equipment, an underground laboratory, and the chance to create a miracle.
• Horton accepted Lynn's offer without hesitation and vowed that his creation would be humanity's future.

Lynn brought Hydra’s military hard drive to his underground Foresight Pharmaceuticals base, expecting to use its advanced technology to build his empire. Instead, he discovered that Johann Schmidt had left a recruitment message and a challenge, so Lynn vowed to confront him and create his own technological power.

• Lynn arrived at the hidden base beneath Foresight Pharmaceuticals and approached Prometheus, the powerful computer Howard Stark had built for him.
• Lynn inserted Hydra’s military hard drive into Prometheus, expecting it to reveal decades-ahead technology.
• A recording of Johann Schmidt appeared, revealing that the drive contained nothing and inviting Lynn to join Hydra.
• Schmidt left Lynn a message saying that only the weak needed to hide and that he looked forward to meeting him.
• Lynn angrily rejected Schmidt’s offer and vowed to find him, tear off his mask, and build an empire of his own.

Lynn recast Red Skull as a jealous, depraved clown in the press and wartime propaganda, turning public opinion against him before he could present Hydra’s ideology. Impressed by Lynn’s influence, the military appointed him to lead a new secret psychological-warfare department.

• Lynn told Tom to publish a front-page story portraying Red Skull as a degenerate who envied Soldier Boy and had tried to recruit him.
• Tom’s inflammatory story and photographs from Puppet Town spread through the country, prompting public anger and contempt toward Red Skull.
• Lynn funded the propaganda short Wrath of God, which contrasted Soldier Boy’s heroic deeds with a grotesque portrayal of Red Skull.
• A general informed Lynn that the Congressional Special Committee had created the Office of Strategic Psychological Warfare and appointed him to lead it.
• Lynn accepted the appointment and awaited the authorization that would give his work national resources and authority.

Lynn Morris used his new Office of Strategic Psychological Warfare authority to target companies suspected of aiding Germany, triggering public raids and a Wall Street crash. He then ordered Foresight Holdings to buy their distressed assets, beginning a government-backed acquisition spree.

• Lynn reviewed Prometheus's list of companies with German financial ties and summoned agents from the Strategic Scientific Reserve's New York station.
• Lynn ordered the agents to publicly inspect Atlantic Ocean Freight for suspected enemy collaboration, despite their concerns about evidence and market turmoil.
• Agents raided Atlantic Ocean Freight and then United Chemicals and Global Media, while sensational reports sent their stock prices plunging.
• Lynn instructed Foresight Holdings to acquire the companies' distressed assets, shipping channels, patents, and production lines at scrap prices.

Lynn gave Dr. Phineas Horton the Super Soldier Serum to create a perfectly loyal weapon, but the prototype’s energy system could not conduct power without destroying its body. He brought Howard Stark a proposal for a biological battery, and Howard mocked the idea.

• Lynn showed Horton the Super Soldier Serum and explained that it could provide a stronger foundation for his creations.
• Horton pledged to create a godlike being loyal only to Lynn, and Lynn left him to begin the work.
• A week later, Horton told Lynn the completed prototype would burn itself up because its energy circuit lost most of its power.
• Lynn drafted a future energy project proposal and visited Howard Stark at his villa.
• Howard read Lynn’s biological battery proposal and dismissed it as foolish.