Chapter 115

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Weapons surely count as one's own strength!

Tony Stark nodded to himself, feeling an agreement with this statement that Iron Man could not agree with more.

After all, wasn't his Iron Man suit essentially a weapon?

Wasn't Captain America's shield a weapon too?

Weapons indeed count as one's power.

No matter what that silver rod used by Zhou Cheng was, the fact that he could possess such a thing meant it was his own skill, right?

Besides that silver rod, there was another thing that drew Tony Stark's high attention—those wings on Zhou Cheng's back during the battle.

However, Tony Stark, as Iron Man, couldn't quite figure out what those wings were.

Had he not possessed the diary, Tony Stark would have guessed them to be some high-tech product, but now?

Tony Stark was well aware of the existence of magic, sorcery, and various other supernatural forces in the world.

The more he knew, the harder it was to judge.

But one thing was undeniable—Zhou Cheng was truly extraordinary.

"Black Widow?"

"She can bring the Hulk back to normal?"

Following that thought, Tony Stark's face showed an expression of surprise.

Of course, as Iron Man, he knew who Black Widow was—they had shared a pleasant covert operation and collaboration, so Tony Stark was quite familiar with her.

And it was for this reason that Tony Stark felt surprised.

That hot-bodied, attractive agent had such a skill?

How did she manage to do it?

It seemed the alluring agent really had some tricks up her sleeve. No wonder she had joined the Avengers, who were mostly superhuman, as a mere mortal alongside Barton.

"Natasha?"

The other side of the diary immediately sparked something in Nick Fury's mind, with a gleam of insight in his one good eye.

Ever since he conceived the idea of including the Hulk in the Avengers, he had been troubled by the problem of controlling the Hulk.

If this issue wasn't resolved, Bruce Banner's inclusion in the Avengers would be a joke.

And how to tackle this problem was something Fury had no clue about, indeed he was utterly at a loss.

Hadn't General Ross spent so much money and effort only to make no progress at all?

It was never going to be an easy task.

Now, Nick Fury finally saw some hope.

Natasha!

He had not anticipated that such a capable subordinate would find a way to control the Hulk.

With this, wouldn't SHIELD effectively hold a trump card?

So, was this why Bruce Banner ultimately joined the Avengers smoothly?

Fury quickly made a decision.

Once this round of spoilers was over, he would assign the task of controlling the Hulk to Natasha!

Besides that.

Up to now, Nick Fury had finally known for certain the "original Avengers" line-up:

Apart from the "big three"—Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America—it was HawkEye Barton and Black Widow.

The Hulk was a strong possibility, but not a certainty.

The overall concept and Fury's plan were in complete alignment, which naturally posed no problem, and he did not give it much thought.

However, his attention was soon captured by another term.

"Fifty-fifty?"

What did that mean?

Literally, it wasn't hard to understand—fifty percent against fifty percent, suggesting an evenly matched situation.

But why would an evenly matched situation become famous?

Furthermore, you couldn't generalize about being evenly matched; it depended on the opponent you faced.

Against someone with roughly the same strength, of course, it would be evenly matched.

But what if you faced someone stronger than you? Then you wouldn't stand a chance.

So what's so noteworthy to mention about it?

Thus, Nick Fury was a bit uncertain. "Fifty-fifty" mentioned by "Satan" here—was it just referring to being evenly matched, or did it carry some other, deeper meaning?

"I remember Captain America's strength is also just a few tons, at most not surpassing ten tons."

"To ordinary people, that indeed seems superhuman, but it's nothing in front of real superhumans."

"Monsters like Thor and the Hulk need not be mentioned. Even Spider-Man surpasses Cap's strength."

"Anyway, Spider-Man can manually stop a high-speed train and hold a cruise ship with his bare hands!"

"But here's the strange thing."

"Captain America can somehow hold his own against anyone, achieving a fifty-fifty outcome."

"In 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', on a ship, he took so long to fight a mere foot soldier, yet he managed to block Thor's hammer!"

"He even managed to block a blow from Thanos!"

"That's rather baffling."

"Haha, if Captain America's fifty-fifty met Kakashi's fifty-fifty, what would happen?"

"Would these two keep fighting till the end of time?"

To manually stop a high-speed train and hold back a cruise ship...

Tony Stark couldn't help but be amazed; that level of strength was astonishing.

High-speed trains and cruise ships—what sort of concepts were they?

Could such things really be moved by mere human flesh and bones?

It seemed Spider-Man's strength was quite formidable!

Thinking back, it made sense. If Spider-Man wasn't strong, how would he join Stark in the future to battle on Titan?

But to think Captain America's fifty-fifty meant this?

Though Captain America's strength was measured in tons, whether he faced enemies far below this level or those far above, he managed to fight on par?

This was quite peculiar, indeed.

One could say Captain America perhaps refrained from using his full strength and just played around with the foot soldier, to explain the long fight.

But for someone with only a few tons of force to block a palm strike from Thanos? That went beyond explanation.

Even if it wasn't Thanos with all the Infinity Stones, there was no doubt that he was a cosmic overlord, a starry big boss.

Comparing that to Captain America's level of strength was almost ridiculous.

And Thor was the same.

The diary often mentioned Thor's impressive feats.

This was someone who could withstand the energy of a neutron star and who nearly killed Thanos with all stones with a single axe strike!

Could Captain America really withstand a blow from such a person?

This obviously didn't align with the reality of Captain America's strength being just a few tons.

Could it be that Captain America possessed "the power of Thor" within him?

The notebook mentioned that Captain America could transform into Thor.

Even after transforming into Thor, Captain America could stun Thanos with his fighting prowess!

This suggests that Captain America is definitely not as simple as he appears, likely harboring a tremendous potential within him.

It's one thing to defeat those weaker than himself, but what if he meets a more powerful enemy? Does the hidden potential within him get gradually forced out?

Is that why he's able to fight on par with enemies who are clearly several levels stronger than him, in an evenly matched battle?

Could this be the case?

After much thought, Tony Stark could only come up with this reasonable explanation.

But whether it is true or not, Iron Man cannot be certain.

The specific truth is probably only known to Zhou Cheng.

"Kakashi?"

"And who is this person?"

However, when Tony Stark saw this name, he fell into deep thought.

This was a completely new name that had never appeared in the notebook before.

And it had immediately caught Iron Man's attention.

From the name, it's apparent that "Kakashi" is likely from the Land of Cherry Blossoms, and like Captain America, has the "fifty-fifty" trait.

Although Iron Man is unclear about the specifics of Kakashi's fifty-fifty situation.

But if it were as described in the notebook, what would be the situation if two individuals with a fifty-fifty disposition were to clash fiercely?

Could it be that both would grow stronger as they fought, escalating the battle?

What if the fight, which started with just a few tons of force, evolved into a duel between two cosmic overlords?

Yikes!

That's horrifying!

Tony Stark almost didn't dare to continue thinking about it.

[I just wonder if the other black Captain America has this fifty-fifty attribute as well.]

[However, I guess probably not.]

[There have been so many Captain Americas in Marvel, only Rogers is likely to have this special treatment.]

[As for the black Captain America, there's no need to say more. He was a Super-Soldier just like Rogers and made outstanding contributions during the Korean War.]

[He even defeated the Winter Soldier at one point.]

[But just because he's black, his existence was kept secret from the beginning to the end, and he was secretly imprisoned for experiments after his service, enduring three decades as a lab rat.]

[It's simply too miserable!]

"Black Captain America?"

Tony Stark expressed extreme surprise at this latest spoiler.

For a long time, "Captain America" had become a symbol, an idol worshipped by everyone across America.

Whether it was Iron Man or anyone else, everyone naturally thought there was only one Captain America—Steve Rogers!

When one mentions Captain America, the image that automatically comes to mind is Steve Rogers's strong and reassuring face.

To put it bluntly, Captain America is equivalent to Steve Rogers!

Even though the notebook had previously foreshadowed a second-generation Captain America, it was obviously referring to events after Steve Rogers "retired."

But now the notebook states that apart from Steve Rogers, there existed another contemporary Captain America!

Given that the black Captain America made his mark during the Korean War, it was clear that he was from the same era as Steve Rogers.

In other words, ever since Captain America "became famous," there were always two of them!

The difference is that the public only knew about the national hero Steve Rogers, while the other, the black Captain America, remained unknown!

Furthermore, the government secretly detained this black Captain America for thirty years and used him for experiments like a lab rat!

"Those inhuman bastards!"

Iron Man was angry, even cursing out loud.

Considering the historical context, Tony Stark somewhat understood why the black Captain America was kept secret and not made public—it was indeed a time when society would not accept a black Captain America.

Even in this day and age, the likelihood of a black Captain America was not great.

But to secretly experiment on someone for thirty years, that was downright monstrous!

Those politicians were truly inhumane.

In that moment, Tony Stark felt deep sympathy for this black Captain America.

It was unknown how this man, who served as a test subject for three decades, was faring now.

"Another Captain America besides Rogers?"

Nick Fury frowned.

As the head of the world's largest intelligence agency, he had never known about this!

However, as a master spy, Nick Fury's focus was naturally different from Tony Stark's.

The tragic fate of the black Captain America couldn't shake his composure—Iron Egg was now pondering how to find this black Captain America.

How to recruit this black Captain America to his cause!

This black Captain America had once defeated the Winter Soldier, and the notebook had repeatedly mentioned the Winter Soldier's strength, indicating that his capabilities were certainly not inferior to Captain America, oh, to Rogers.

So it turns out that this black Captain America was not a "knockoff" or a weakened version, similar to the second-generation Captain America.

Instead, he was a legitimate Captain America!

How could Iron Egg possibly let such a person slip by?

[There's no need to say much about the second and third-generation Captain Americas, they are both completely ordinary people.]

[Though the second-generation Captain America secretly injected himself with the Super-Soldier Serum and became a powered warrior like Captain America.]

[But he was stripped of the Captain America title shortly after gaining its power.]

[As for Sam Wilson, the third-generation Captain America or Falcon, he has always been just an ordinary person, with his sole advantage being the Falcon wings.]

[He might be the only Captain America who can fly, right?]

The second-generation Captain America, wasn't that John Walker?

Ever since the notebook revealed this crucial piece of information, Iron Egg had already been closely monitoring this man.

But whether it was the notebook's spoilers or Nick Fury's own investigations, John Walker was just a thoroughly exceptional ordinary soldier.

Nick Fury hadn't anticipated that this ordinary soldier would obtain the Super-Soldier Serum in the future!

Whether the injection was secret or not did not concern him; what he cared about was that the Super-Soldier Serum still existed?

Was the original serum not completely destroyed, remaining until now, or did someone successfully replicate the serum?