As it turned out, Luke had guessed right.
When Rogers received that gleaming silver round shield, he was like a child given a beloved toy, constantly fiddling with it. It also felt perfectly suited to him.
"This is the best gift we've received since leaving Brooklyn!"
Rogers smiled faintly, strapped the shield onto his arm, and struck several signature poses.
He had still been worried about his friend Bucky's safety, and his spirits had been low.
But Luke's arrival put Rogers much more at ease.
"Luke, what do you think happened to Bucky?"
Captain America asked with a worried look in his eyes, his brow furrowed.
He felt that Luke always had plenty of ways to solve all kinds of problems.
"I asked the captured soldiers. They said Bucky was very likely transferred somewhere else."
Luke analyzed the situation after returning to the barracks.
He had indeed uncovered clues that others would not have noticed.
For example, every few weeks, Hydra's secret base transferred a batch of prisoners elsewhere.
Nearly two hundred men from the 107th Infantry Regiment had been held in the military factory as free labor.
But in the end, only around one hundred and twenty soldiers had managed to escape with Luke and Rogers.
After subtracting those who had died from overwork, injuries, or combat, around fifteen men were still unaccounted for.
They had gone through the same experience as Bucky. They had been escorted to the military factory's isolation ward and had never emerged again.
Moreover, while working in the military factory, a British soldier had once heard Dr. Zola mention the name "Baron Strucker."
By coincidence, Luke knew what that name represented.
Thus, he concluded that Bucky had most likely been transferred by Hydra to another location.
"I hope so. Bucky still doesn't know I've gone to the front. It was supposed to be a surprise I'd prepared for him!"
Rogers said, lowering his head.
He had always wanted to personally tell Bucky the good news and see the surprised look on his face.
Before Luke appeared, Bucky had been his only companion, and the two shared a deep bond.
"Don't dwell on problems you can't solve. You should get ready instead. Colonel Phillips is holding a celebration tonight, and plenty of girls will definitely ask you to dance."
Changing the subject, Luke deliberately teased him. "I heard you were hugging a female clerk this afternoon. That enthusiastic girl wanted to thank you on behalf of the captured soldiers' families..."
Rogers's handsome face turned red. He coughed twice and said awkwardly, "Th-that was an accident. I didn't have any experience, and then she just hugged me. You know, Luke, I've never really known how to refuse people..."
Listening to Captain America's stammering, feeble explanation, Luke chuckled and continued teasing him. "That's true. Who would refuse a beautiful girl offering a passionate kiss? By the way, Steve, don't tell me that was your first kiss, or I'll look down on you."
"How could it be?!"
Rogers flushed crimson, the veins on his forehead standing out as he argued, "Jenny and I, and Amy..."
"But Bucky said those were all things that happened when you were eight or nine. Does playing house with girls count?"
Watching Captain America struggle to dig up some romantic experience from his past, Luke laughed, and the barracks filled with cheerful air.
After Rogers had recovered his mood and left the barracks to prepare clothes for the celebration, Luke remained seated alone, his eyes flickering as though he were pondering something.
He was thinking about the "Baron Strucker" Dr. Zola had mentioned.
The man's real name was Wolfgang von Strucker.
Born in Bavaria, Germany, he was, along with the rather famous "Baron Zemo" of the Nazi Party, one of the Fuhrer's trusted confidants.
Unlike the ambitious Red Skull, Strucker still held deep feelings for the Third Reich. He was determined to defeat the Allied Nations and help the Axis Powers win the war.
It was worth mentioning that although Baron Strucker was a high-ranking member of Hydra, he and Red Skull were not in the same camp.
He had his own research institute and technological forces. He had once created a viral weapon known as "Death Spores," which had claimed countless Allied lives.
Now that I think about it, the Allied Nations really had it rough, getting ground into the dirt by all the Axis Powers' strange technology...
No wonder some German army major had shouted the slogan, "German technology is number one in the world!"
After a quick wash and a change into fresh military dress uniforms, Luke and Rogers entered a tavern in a nearby town.
A wave of noise hit them head-on. The air was filled with the scent of malt and the pale blue haze of cheap tobacco smoke.
The captured soldiers who had narrowly escaped death and successfully returned were desperately downing glasses of strong liquor, or gathering together to play cards and arm-wrestle.
Some, caught up in the moment, were even preparing to hold a wrestling match.
The soldiers packed into the tavern burst into loud laughter from time to time.
The boisterous waves of sound made the ceiling overhead tremble slightly, and the light bulbs hanging above swayed back and forth.
"Our heroes are here!"
"Dum Dum" Dugan, seated at the bar, spotted Luke standing in the doorway and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.
He slammed his glass against the bar with force, creating a rhythmic drumbeat that drew everyone's attention.
The soldiers voluntarily stopped what they were doing, rose to their feet, and applauded.
The entire tavern seemed ready to be lifted off its foundations!
Those admiring gazes and grateful looks
became cheers directed at Luke.
This was their respect for a War Hero!
"They're really enthusiastic!"
After two minutes of applause and cheers, Rogers sat beside his friend and handed him a glass of whiskey with ice.
"There's a dance later. Have you picked a partner?"
Luke raised his glass. The icy yet burning liquid flowed down his throat, leaving him feeling thoroughly refreshed.
"How did I not know about that?"
Rogers widened his eyes. He had not heard that the celebration included dancing.
Captain America had thought Luke was joking back in the barracks. Holding a dance before the war was won seemed a little excessive, didn't it?
"Howard told me. He's already picked tonight's hunting target."
Luke smiled and lightly bumped Rogers's shoulder. "Is that the lucky girl who stole Captain America's first kiss? She looks pretty good, with that beautiful blonde hair... See her? She's staring at you with lovestruck eyes."
"Steve, you won't escape disaster tonight."
His friend's mockery made Rogers feel embarrassed and annoyed.
After all, by American standards, a twenty-year-old man with absolutely no romantic experience, as pure as a blank sheet of paper, was rather hard to justify.
"Not everyone is like Howard Stark!"
Rogers lowered his voice and lifted his glass to hide his embarrassed expression.
"All right, I'll stop joking about that."
Luke cleared his throat, wearing a solemn expression.
Then, before long, he leaned closer and asked with a suppressed laugh, "So, Captain America, are you planning to surrender your chastity tonight?"
Pfft!
Rogers, who had been drinking, sprayed the whiskey in his mouth all at once.
The commotion made everyone in the tavern burst into laughter.
"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Rogers flusteredly explained himself to the innocent bartender while glaring furiously at Luke.
However, Luke had already slipped away and vanished up the stairs to the tavern's second floor.
"Asshole!"
The usually serious Rogers rarely let out such profanity.
P.S.: Thanks to YunYY, Jinxi Hexi i, Mishi, and reader 20181123124436921 for their 100-point donations. Love you all~
P.S. 2: No recommendations, no favorites. This humble author is crying online.jpg
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