"Boom!!!"
The explosion's fire expanded slowly on the snowfield, turning from crimson to orange-yellow, then gradually thickening into dense black smoke.
Steve and Natasha rolled far across the snow, but as soon as they stopped, they lifted their heads to look at the site of the car explosion.
Seeing the monster not emerging from the flames again, they both breathed a sigh of relief, flipped over, and began to breathe heavily in the snow.
"Finally dead."
"Yeah, cough cough..."
Steve wiped the blood from his nose and spoke wearily, and Natasha also agreed with his perspective in her tone of surviving a catastrophe, then she began to cough.
Actually, she kept internally complaining, the people the boss found acted too realistically throughout the journey, making her almost feel like she was truly being chased.
However, fortunately, her injury now was not too serious, which was very helpful for acting.
Captain America got up from the ground, helped Black Widow up, and looked at the burning wreckage of the vehicle not far away with a grave expression.
The two had just exited the subway station and hadn't allowed Steve to find a payphone before the Man in Black appeared on the street.
He had to stall with a trash can lid while Natasha stole a car on the roadside, and they began their desperate escape. The opponent not only had cars but also helicopters—such ultra-modern secret weapons, like rocket shells, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns—all greeting the two.
She drove while he was responsible for shielding them from bullets and counterattacking. Even so, the car was like a lonely leaf on the continuous barrage of gunfire and shelling, narrowly avoiding the outcome of car crash fatalities multiple times.
However, under their cooperation, the pursuers dwindled, and they got closer to the playground base.
The problem was, they couldn't directly lead pursuers to the secret base, so they had to circle at a distance, continuously eliminating enemies and gaining time, hoping to wait for the Roaring Assault Team's reinforcement.
The National Guard was unreliable after the last incident, reconstruction still unfinished, now hoping for Peggy and Fury instead.
However, the Spider Web special agents lurking in 'the logistics department' tampered with the monitoring and communication of the playground's periphery, leaving the two waiting long without any support.
The stolen car was running out of fuel, Steve could only decide to fight, instructing Natasha to lure the enemy's helicopter into lowering its altitude using a small grove, successfully striking its tail rotor with a trash can lid.
Nonetheless, the enemy had a leader-like figure, who wasn't killed despite the helicopter crashing. That over two meters tall monster jumped out of the exploding helicopter, joined the other chasers, and continued to block and chase them by car.
However, Steve finally experienced what cooperating with a truly top-class agent felt like. Natasha was stronger than all the SSR agents, their teamwork was very tacit, and all kinds of gadgets kept emerging from her.
In the end, only one leader was left against them, and the three engaged in the final showdown amidst the snow-covered farmland.
Steve had not met such a formidable foe in World War II, stronger than Du Zun, more cunning than Zemo, able to continue fighting despite dozens of gunshots to the head, with every move being forceful.
The duo—a man and a woman—were slammed around like ping pong balls.
But Natasha still found an opportunity; while Steve entangled the enemy, she switched to a relatively intact pursuit vehicle, rammed the enemy, and detonated the gas tank.
Now, it seemed the monster was finally dead.
Steve frowned, realizing not only Leviathan's threat but also feeling strange distant gazes upon him throughout.
Sometimes it seemed under winter ice on rivers, sometimes behind barren roadside trees, and sometimes under snow-formed hillocks.
Are there more enemies?
But after eliminating the pursuers' leader, the eerie feeling disappeared, only assuming it was some special ability of the pursuing leader.
The recent car explosion triggered chain effects, maybe due to fuel leaks or the leader's heartbeat sensing, all pursuit vehicles exploded with no bodies left behind.
This gave Steve a newer understanding of how ruthless Leviathan was as an organization.
He had seen hostile agents using cyanide poison, many Hydra committing suicide after capture, but leaving no complete corpses was indeed rather excessive.
"What are you thinking?" Natasha weakly hooked onto his shoulder.
Steve identified the direction, supporting her towards the playground, gradually trusting her by then.
But whether she really told the truth, he couldn't tell the rest, after all, she is the Black Widow. It would have to be left to Peggy and Fury, those professionals. He just made his decision based on his judgment, on whether or not to let her meet with SSR.
She was only just passing here with him now, but if Fury and Peggy found something suspicious, Steve would kill her too.
His mind was sharp, but only about matters on the battlefield. His skill tree was fully focused on special operations, close combat, squad leadership, and willpower, scheming wasn't his forte.
Thinking back, he once parachuted solo into Hydra's concentration camp to rescue people, later led Baki and the Roaring Assault Team causing chaos everywhere, even directly challenged Red Skull in Paris. Most of his tactical plans were primarily brute-force focused.
Turning all actions into strong attacks wasn't just talk.
In thousands of past operations, he was often discovered while sneaking, his disguise seen through, even when marching in no-man's land would be encircled by enemies. Such situations became a routine for him.
What to do when caught and surrounded?
In situations like these, if there was no one beside him offering better ideas, Steve preferred to face the enemy directly, fighting with his own fists.
Wearing the Star-Spangled Banner and carrying a shield, not charging at the frontline to boost morale, acting as a human flag, what would be the point?
Dr. Erskine chose Steve not because he was the smartest, not because he was the strongest, but merely because he was a pure person. To someone like Captain America, a pure soldier, having fought alongside Natasha, his kind nature leaned towards believing her.
Moreover, recruiting former enemies isn't without precedent. After all, Dr. Zola and many former Hydra are now SSR employees, didn't they fare well after a decade or so? Even when Xiaohuzi invaded recently, SSR's internal turmoil, Zola and the others firmly didn't defect.
SSR's enemy is Leviathan, but that doesn't mean every individual within is loyal to the organization. Each person is an independent entity, with their own thoughts. SSR even had agents defecting to Hand Union to become Ninjas due to their attraction to Eastern Martial Arts.
Because instinctively repelling dark matters, Steve rarely focuses on professional intelligence. He leads frontline squads in actions, generally only deployed for upright missions.
The real dirty work, like cleaning up traitors, silencing civilian witnesses, assassinating Allied officials and sowing discord, are all carried out by Fury.
Otherwise, how could a Black Man reach the position of action team leader? Rising and falling multiple times yet never falling down, just because he 'was useful'.
As for Steve? He was 'protected' very well by those interested parties. Like most U.S. soldiers, he spent idle time at the base bar drinking, listening to boxing or football game radio broadcasts, bragging with team members, occasionally dating Peggy, spent other time in body training.
He was just a regular person.
In his view now, not to mention a foreigner, even if an Alien appeared one day saying they longed for the United States, Steve wouldn't find it strange.
For some reason, he always felt even if there were Aliens, their spaceship would land in the United States. But that's science fiction stuff, such Alien things surely don't exist, right?
Though he had crossed paths with the Blind Braille of the Super Axis several times, that was clearly a Robot, just a little quirky, Hydra claimed it was an Alien, but Steve didn't believe it.
Regaining his thoughts, he answered Natasha's question: "I'm wondering what kind of monster that is, did you count how many shots he took?"
Natasha lowered her head pretending to look at the path, while actually squinting her eyes: "He obviously can't be called human anymore, this is what I must tell you this time, they call him the Red Guard. Leviathan is mass-producing them, if world tensions escalate now, the third World War is coming."
"Alright, sounds serious, but now… I'm just a civilian, what happens next isn't for me to say." Steve tore a strip from his tattered clothes and blindfolded Natasha: "I'll carry you on my back next, sorry, I can't let you remember the route, nor will I tell you where the base is."
"I know I haven't earned trust yet, I understand." Natasha accepted without a struggle: "Just so, my injured leg still hurts to walk."
Carrying the blindfolded Natasha, her cooperation made Steve trust her a bit more, he relaxedly said: "I thought you Black Widow were Painless Warriors, what kind of transformation project did you undergo?"
"Our skills are self-developed, the so-called biological transformation only keeps our appearances from aging, after all beauty is a crucial means for the 'Swallow'." Natasha responded seriously in a tone of disdain, showing deep hatred for her past life.
Steve changed the subject, unwilling to expose others' scars: "Speaking of which, I too know a few people who won't age, besides me of course."
"Oh? Who are they?" Natasha pretended to ask with interest.
"My Godfather, must be his young benevolent deeds, God's gift to him. And a colleague, her non-aging is somewhat inexplicably…"
Steve vaguely replied, now the combat was over, his speech steadier.
"Are you talking about Wilson Enterprises' boss and Agent 13?" Natasha knowingly asked, her tone was filled with certainty.
"Uh, how did you know?" Steve paused his step, kicking up some accumulated Snow on the ground.
"Because I'm the Black Widow." Natasha lightly replied: "Those two are on Leviathan's watch list, they plan to capture them for dissection."
Steve took a deep breath, tightened his brow, quickened his pace, it seemed Leviathan, an old ignored mysterious adversary, now had to be faced seriously.