"I can't believe I slept for 65 years straight."
"Even harder to believe—you're all still here when I woke up!"
Back in New York, staring at the brand-new World outside, Steve still found it hard to accept.
But two days had passed since Fang Yuan's trio found him, and Steve finally came to terms with reality.
The dance he'd missed would have to remain a regret.
Still, Steve took comfort in the fact that, although Peggy was gone, his Best Buddy was still around.
And there were plenty of new friends as well.
Steve and Bucky naturally joined the Avengers and also signed on with Fang Yuan's Vought Corporation.
The long-famous Captain America piqued the curiosity of Tony, Banner, and the rest, and they welcomed his return.
With their help Steve quickly adapted to modern life, instead of wandering lost and alone through the modern city as in the original storyline.
"At least I've got Bucky here being an old relic with me."
After watching Tony fly about in his Iron Man Suit on a Vought live broadcast, Steve sighed.
"Fang calls it... a Reality Show—yes, that's the name." Banner, standing nearby, frowned slightly. "He says it lets the public see how tough life is behind the mask, so they'll accept us more."
"Tough?"
Steve looked at the carefree Tony on the screen and saw no hardship whatsoever.
"And... you're making movies too?" Steve asked.
He remembered he himself had started out starring in war-film serials.
"Exactly. Fang Yuan got the idea from you—turning superheroes into stars wins people over," Banner nodded.
As the man in question, Steve bought the explanation without ever wondering whether Fang Yuan was simply using him as cover.
So Steve changed the subject: "By the way, I heard your film is about to release?"
"Yes, it's called Hulk." Mentioning it made Banner even gloomier. "Since Hulk and I are separated now, Fang said we might as well let everyone know through a movie."
That was precisely why Banner was hanging out with Steve.
It was the middle of the publicity tour; showing his face would cause an uproar, so Banner had yielded the spotlight to Hulk.
Fang Yuan didn't force the unenthusiastic employee—after all, Banner was only C+ Rank. Had the Ancient One slacked off like this, Fang Yuan would never have allowed it.
Moreover, with Banner staying home while Hulk strutted around, the green giant's fame would soar, and before long Fang Yuan would be able to claim Hulk's power for himself.
"But aren't you filming too, Captain?" Banner suddenly asked.
"Still under wraps," Steve explained. "Fang says I'll need to appear publicly for later shoots, so we're waiting until your movie hits theaters—he's planted a clue about me at the end of your film."
"He calls it... an Easter Egg."
Banner looked amazed: "President Fang is full of wild ideas; if entertainment had PhDs, he'd hold a doctorate!"
"Captain!"
Nick Fury's shout came from outside, and Steve hurried over.
Every time Fang Yuan heard Fury address Steve so warmly he felt puzzled; he didn't remember Fury being this friendly in the films.
So, after one telepathic peek, Fang Yuan learned the reason.
"Dog Fury, what do you mean 'Captain America isn't like Fang Yuan—he's a teammate you can trust with your back'?"
Fang Yuan was indignant; he was the real blessing to this World, okay?
If Fury couldn't tell good from bad, no wonder he'd lost an eye.
But Fury had his own bitterness: he'd seen too many people and realized Fang Yuan's methods followed the archetype of an ambitious schemer to the letter.
Under the Banner of protecting Earth, he recruited superheroes left and right; in Fury's eyes he was stockpiling the Planet's top combat power.
He enrolled outer disciples under the Kamar-Taj name, forging a huge vested-interest network.
And the way Fang Yuan managed those outer disciples—Fury wouldn't bat an eyelid if they rose in revolt one day.
So Fury always felt Fang Yuan might be a good guy, but only to a limited extent.
This "bias" even colored Fury's view of Steve for a while.
What if the legendary Captain America turned out to be a teammate-bullying, drug-snorting, booze-swilling lout?
After spending time with Steve, however, Fury had to admit the Captain lived up to his reputation.
Compared with Fang Yuan, Steve Rogers was practically the embodiment of justice—a little Angel on Earth.
Hence Fury's warmth toward Steve: he wanted to stay on good terms so that, should Fang Yuan ever go dark, the Captain's influence might keep things in check.
Fury had even considered making Steve the Avengers' leader, but Steve, being the upright friend he was, refused to steal the position.
"I asked Fang about the Longevity Serum. Sorry, he's not cancelling the project," Steve pre-empted Fury's unspoken question. "But he promises no mass release—only limited supply—so society won't be destabilized."
"Society may stay stable, but the upper crust will go insane," Fury sighed.
"And the thing that's already rocking society—what's his final plan for it?" Fury pressed.
"Recently, the white crime rate has jumped a full 30%."
Of course, whether those "new" criminals were actually white a few months ago is debatable.
"Skin-Whitening?" Steve frowned.
Even he thought the idea of turning Black people white was ridiculous.
"Fang set conditions: participants have to recruit a set number of new Superhero-club members before they qualify for the whitening treatment," Steve explained.
Fury's forehead darkened again.
A pyramid scheme? Another vast crowd about to be roped in by Fang Yuan.
So Fury, fixing his one good eye on Steve, asked from the bottom of his heart: "Are you absolutely sure Fang doesn't want to rule the World?"
"I'm sure!"
Steve hadn't fallen under Fang Yuan's "Super Hero Creator Halo," but the halo existed only because of him, so his trust in Fang Yuan was absolute.
Fury could only console himself: with Captain America and Howard watching, the Avengers shouldn't blow up too badly.
He pinned his hopes on the Tesseract.
"Humans should wield power themselves!" That was his belief.
Countless civilizations across the Universe that perished because of the Infinity Stones had started with that same thought.
May 2011: Hulk premiered on schedule.
Unlike the Superhero films Fang Yuan had shot in the X-Men World—where a huge tech gap had given audiences an unmatched experience, letting every release explode in popularity—
Hulk had no such tech edge, but in the Marvel Universe Fang Yuan had his own ace.
Outer Disciples from high society scrambling for Merit Points, plus middle- and lower-class people forced to shill for whitening-project slots, gave Fang Yuan an unmatched publicity network.
When quality falls short, marketing makes up.
In this era, box-office gold just needed promotion—throw enough money at any dog-turd film and it could blow up.
And while Hulk wasn't top-tier, it was solid; Fang Yuan packed it with Hulk-smash spectacle so every viewer could have a blast.
The box office was great—enough for Tony to build ten Iron Man Suits.
Fang Yuan didn't care; as Master of the King of Talokan, money had lost all meaning to him.
He only cared how much fame his employees had gained.
[Bruce Banner]
[Grade: C+]
[Fame: 103 (Household Name)]
[Reward: Banner Template (C+ grade, 85% unlocked)]
As expected, Banner unlocked a research template; Fang Yuan slotted it alongside the Tony-Howard fusion template.
These past months he hadn't been idle, merging several templates.
For instance, merging [Steve Template] with [Thomas Wayne Template] produced [Fighting Template (B grade, 86% unlocked)].
It was his first fused template to rise in rank—apparently the new rating looked only at combined prowess, and both Captain America and Batman were combat monsters.
Then there was the research template fused from Tony and Howard—those two were heavyweights.
[Research Template: A− grade, 80% unlocked.]
Humanity's limits held those gods back; drop Tony and Howard on another Planet and who knows what chaos they'd unleash.
Banner was the same type as Tony—once fused, the unlock percentage should jump.
Another star of the film also handed Fang Yuan a reward.
[Name: Hulk]
[Grade: A+]
[Fame: 125 (Household Name)]
[Reward: Strength stat raised to D+; Hulk Template (A+ grade, 11% unlocked)]
The low unlock rate made sense—on-screen Hulk was still far below his comic-book ceiling.
But even so, it dwarfed Fang Yuan's own strength; when he shifted into Hulk form he could toss hundred-ton weights like toys and still feel he had plenty left.
Of course, that was nothing beside the comics Hulk who could lift billion-ton mountain ranges.
More importantly, transforming didn't erode his sanity.
After all, he'd unlocked Hulk's reward directly, not Banner's.
Overall the film delivered huge gains, and the perks didn't end there.
Because at Hulk's finale, just as audiences thought it was over and began to leave, the screen flared back to life after the credits rolled.
The Arctic.
Hulk who'd split from Banner in the movie was frolicking on the ice.
Thud-thud-thud!
His heavy blows cracked the ice, revealing a massive aircraft beneath.
The camera closed in: inside lay a man frozen in ice. His face wasn't shown, but the star-spangled shield on his back looked familiar, whisking viewers back more than sixty years.
Then the screen cut to black, and final text appeared—
"Captain America 2—coming October, stay tuned!"
"Whoa!!"
The crowd erupted in stunned cheers.
No one expected Vought to hit them with a sneak-attack stinger.
Who puts a teaser after the credits?
That man—he's really coming back?
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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