"It's you! How is this possible?!"
Inside the safe house at the New York refugee camp, Natasha's pupils constricted as she stared in disbelief at the combat partner Luca had introduced.
The man before her was robust, with square features and slightly messy medium-length hair. He wore a simple black tactical vest and didn't look particularly old.
His left arm seemed to be disabled, replaced entirely by a silver metal mechanical arm.
However, the most important thing wasn't his appearance, but that according to Natasha's common sense, this man shouldn't exist in this era at all!
"Sergeant James Barnes!!"
Natasha couldn't help but exclaim.
Yes, the man in front of her was the legendary key member of the Howling Commandos, Captain America Steve Rogers' best friend, Sergeant James Barnes.
Although in terms of fame, James Barnes naturally couldn't compare to the nationally renowned Steve Rogers.
But as a WWII hero, Sergeant Barnes' name occupied a very important place even in the Captain America Museum in New York.
Videos, photos, and stories related to him had spread along with Steve's legendary experiences.
As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, while Natasha wasn't a super Cap fanboy like Coulson, she was a close teammate of Steve and couldn't possibly be ignorant of his past experiences and comrades.
But...
"You... you should have died in WWII..."
Actually, Natasha's words were quite offensive, and an experienced agent like her shouldn't have lost her composure like this.
But anyone seeing someone who should have been dead for over seventy years standing before them intact, and even looking young, would find it hard to remain calm.
Was Sergeant Barnes frozen for seventy years like Steve? But he's not a Super Soldier; how could his body withstand that kind of freezing?!
Various theories flashed through Natasha's mind, but unfortunately, Barnes didn't seem inclined to explain much.
"There will be plenty of time to learn about my story later. Let's start the mission first. You just need to know that Mr. Aurantius sent me."
As he spoke, Barnes shook his head with some emotion, then silently began organizing his equipment.
Seeing that he really didn't want to elaborate, Natasha could only fall silent helplessly.
What she didn't know was that the reason Barnes didn't want to talk much was that he himself was still in a somewhat confused state.
In fact, Luca had known Barnes'—well, the Hydra Winter Soldier's—containment location as soon as he took over all of Hydra's legacy.
However, although he saw the frozen Winter Soldier, after confirming that his mechanical arm didn't synthesize white light, Luca simply didn't thaw him out.
The main reason was that the Winter Soldier's identity was too awkward.
He was Rogers' best friend, yet also the mindless knife that personally killed Tony Stark's parents.
In the original movie, Baron Zemo used Barnes' past to tear the Avengers apart.
Luca didn't want to create too much trouble for himself, so pretending not to know anything and letting Sergeant Barnes live forever in everyone's memory was naturally the simplest solution.
Of course, more importantly, the Winter Soldier's combat power wasn't worth Luca risking trouble for.
But now, their side was short on manpower, and there was an opportunity for Barnes to rescue the captured Avengers.
So Luca simply "rescued" him under the pretense of obtaining information from Hydra remnants, allowing Barnes to try and find redemption in this mission.
Actually, Luca used to assign this kind of work to Mitsuki, the professional ninja.
Mitsuki possessed excellent infiltration and combat abilities, plus the Transformation Jutsu, a skill comparable to Skrull disguises.
From an espionage perspective, he was far more suitable than Barnes or even Natasha.
Unfortunately, Mitsuki was currently fighting as a main force on the Dimensional Battlefield, so Luca had to activate Bucky, the Winter Soldier he had almost forgotten.
As for the outcome, that would be up to Steve and Tony to decide after everything was over.
Anyway, Luca would definitely clarify to Tony all the things Barnes did as the Winter Soldier.
Back to the present.
The two in the safe house silently finished organizing their equipment.
They exchanged glances and simultaneously twisted the dials on their wristwatches.
Amidst flashes of blue projection light, both changed their identities.
"Luca said the spies he planted among the Skrulls would meet us."
"Yeah. Let's find a chance to get onto the Helicarrier first."
As they spoke, the two stepped out of the safe house door.
Time passed quickly.
Because of the news circulating online, it seemed the whole world's attention had recently focused on the ruins of New York.
Even the former citizens of New York probably never expected that after the city was destroyed, this desolate land would receive more attention than ever before.
Everyone was waiting for the construction of this so-called "Disguise Scanning Spire."
Waiting for the head-on clash between the Avengers and those shapeshifting monsters.
During this period, some countries publicly demanded that Luca and the others share the technology to identify shapeshifting monsters.
But after the leaders who spoke out first suffered over a dozen assassination attempts in succession and had massive amounts of dirt and scandals exposed online, those who were eager to follow suit quietly retreated into the shadows.
However, while everyone waited tensely for the clash, the construction process of the so-called "Scanning Spire" was surprisingly peaceful.
Numerous engineering robots busied themselves with construction, and the main structure took shape bit by bit.
Photos and videos of the "construction progress" even circulated online from time to time.
But no videos of combat or confrontation emerged.
Just when everyone thought that either the shapeshifting monsters weren't as terrifying as rumored and had chickened out under the world's gaze...
Or that the whole event was a farce directed by the US and the Avengers to assassinate other countries' leaders openly amidst the domestic chaos...
What everyone in the world paying attention to this matter didn't know was...
The battle had already quietly begun in a corner no one had anticipated.