Chapter 96
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Creak!
As he was vigilantly scanning his surroundings, the door was pushed open.
A woman as tall as Peggy Carter, with a warm and polite smile, walked in.
She even greeted Captain America.
"Good morning, or should I say, good evening?"
But Captain America was not swayed by the female agent's approach, and instead stared intently at her: "Where am I?"
"You're in a hospital room in New York," the agent replied, sticking to the pre-arranged plan.
"Where am I, really?"
However, this didn't convince Captain America, whose gaze became even more intense.
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
"This game, it's a baseball game from 1941. I was there."
"So, I'll ask again, where am I really?"
Seeing Captain America getting angry and the situation spiraling out of control, the female agent discreetly sent a signal.
Two armed SHIELD agents entered, trying to take control of the situation.
But facing Captain America, they were effortlessly subdued.
Captain America broke through the walls of the so-called "hospital room" and forcefully made his way out of the rehabilitation facility.
He emerged onto the bustling streets filled with a stream of cars and dazzlingly lit billboards, all beyond his time.
What is this place?
He glanced around, seeing skyscrapers standing densely packed, the huge billboards shining with colorful lights, and the cars that seemed too advanced for his era.
What is this place? It's completely different from the world he knew.
Creak, creak!
Then, a series of screeching brakes sounded.
A fleet of agent cars surrounded Captain America.
Nick Fury, the seasoned agent, approached Captain America.
"Sorry for the act, but telling you the truth needed time," Fury apologized to Captain America.
"What truth?"
"You've been asleep, Captain, for almost seventy years."
Seventy years?
Captain America's first reaction was disbelief.
Even as a super-soldier transformed by serum, how could he sleep for seventy years and not perish?
But when he saw the drastically changed, utterly unfamiliar world around him, Captain America was speechless.
The reality was right before his eyes, undeniable.
As he momentarily collected his thoughts, a deep regret appeared on Captain America's face.
He had permanently missed his date with Peggy.
"Captain, please come with me."
"I believe you must have a lot of questions."
Nick Fury waited until Captain America had somewhat absorbed the shock before he continued speaking.
This time, Captain America's response was less intense.
After a brief pause, he agreed to follow Fury back into the rehabilitation facility he had just escaped from.
Captain America indeed had many questions.
Thus, the Captain America who had slept in the Arctic Ocean for seventy years was, in this manner, brought back to life.
However, aside from SHIELD and Hydra, this news hadn't been leaked to the public yet.
Nick Fury chose to keep it confidential.
From any perspective, it wasn't the right time to publicly announce Captain America's rescue.
Even Captain America himself wasn't eager for unnecessary attention.
After all, with a seventy-year gap, it would take a considerable amount of time for him to recover and adapt.
This meant that the world-famous Captain America would have to remain relatively unnoticed for a long period.
However, this 'unnoticed' status applied only to the general public.
Apart from the personnel of SHIELD and Hydra, there was another individual aware of Captain America's rescue.
It was not Zhou Cheng, the time-traveler with a premonitory edge, but another holder of the notebook – Tony Stark!
"Sir, I've intercepted a very interesting video that I believe you'll find intriguing."
"This video was uploaded to a personal social media account 15 minutes ago but was quickly deleted."
Inside the luxurious mansion.
Accompanied by Jarvis's voice, the video was projected in front of Iron Man.
It was the very footage of Captain America bursting out of the rehab facility, causing chaos on the streets.
"Captain America?"
"I knew it!"
Tony Stark glanced at Captain America in the video without any surprise.
He made a slight comment.
Ever since his encounter with Coulson and others in the Arctic Ocean, Tony Stark had paused his search for Captain America.
Instead, he waited patiently for a few months before circling back to the Arctic Ocean.
And what he found was astonishing.
Iron Man discovered the wreckage of Captain America's plane!
Not just that.
The wreckage showed signs of being cut open artificially, and after scanning, it was empty, with no trace of Captain America.
Putting all these clues together, Tony Stark quickly realized that Captain America must have been rescued by SHIELD.
Coulson's presence in the Arctic was undoubtedly for the rescue of Captain America!
Since then.
Tony Stark had Jarvis keep an eye on any related activity, and sure enough, there was a discovery.
It was confirmed!
Captain America had indeed been rescued!
This led to a natural question for Tony Stark.
Why wasn't Captain America discovered by the Russian oil team as predicted in the notebook but instead found earlier by SHIELD?
Why did the actual events differ so much from the spoilers in the notebook?
With Tony Stark's intelligence, he naturally arrived at a similar conjecture as Black Widow.
There were only two possibilities:
"Captain, please follow me."
"I'm sure you have many questions."
Nick Fury waited for Captain America to somewhat digest the situation before he continued speaking.
This time, Captain America's reaction was less intense. After a brief moment of thought, he agreed to follow Fury back into the rehabilitation facility he had just burst out of.
Now, Captain America indeed had a host of questions.
Thus, the Captain America who had slept in the Arctic Ocean for seventy years was revived in such an unexpected way.
However, aside from SHIELD and Hydra, the news of his return had not yet been made public. Fury decided to keep it confidential. Announcing Captain America's rescue now was not the right time, from any standpoint. Even Captain America himself wasn't eager for unnecessary attention. After all, there was a seventy-year gap to bridge, and it would take a significant amount of time for him to adapt and recover.
This meant that the world-famous Captain America would have to remain relatively unnoticed for a while.
However, this 'unnoticed' status only applied to the general public. Apart from SHIELD and Hydra personnel, there was another individual aware of Captain America's rescue – not Zhou Cheng, the time-traveler with the foresight ability, but Tony Stark, another holder of the notebook!
"Sir, I've intercepted a very intriguing video that you'll find interesting," Jarvis informed Stark.
"This video was uploaded to a personal social media account 15 minutes ago but was quickly deleted."
Inside the luxurious mansion.
With Jarvis's voice, the video was projected in front of Iron Man, showing Captain America bursting out of the rehab facility, causing chaos on the streets.
"Captain America?"
"I knew it!"
Tony Stark glanced at Captain America in the video without any surprise, making a slight comment. After encountering Coulson and his team in the Arctic Ocean, Stark had paused his search for Captain America, waiting patiently for a few months before circling back to the Arctic Ocean. He found the plane wreckage with clear signs of human intervention. Concluding that Captain America must have been rescued by SHIELD, Stark had Jarvis keep an eye on any related activity.
It was confirmed!
Captain America had indeed been rescued!
So, a natural question arose for Tony Stark: Why wasn't Captain America discovered by the Russian oil team as predicted in the notebook but instead found earlier by SHIELD? Why were events deviating so much from the notebook's spoilers?
With Tony Stark's intelligence, he came to a similar conclusion as Black Widow – there were two possibilities:
Either, this universe was not strictly developing according to Universe 199999, and some events were indeed different.
Or, someone in SHIELD also had a notebook!
So, Tony Stark decided to let Natasha, his new assistant, in, without revealing that he knew she was an undercover agent. He wanted to use her as a medium to investigate whether SHIELD had a notebook.
After Natasha left the room, Tony Stark gave Jarvis an order.
A swarm of highly realistic electronic flies, indistinguishable to the naked eye, followed Natasha out. These were Stark's specially developed surveillance devices.
Stark thought to himself with a chuckle, 'You think you can be undercover with me? Wait until you get spied on!'
Thus, just as Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce had played their undercover games, Tony Stark also had his share of intrigue.
However, Stark's saga was interrupted by a new development.
It was Iron Man's birthday!
Even someone like Tony Stark, who usually seemed indifferent to everything, cared about his birthday.
That evening, Tony Stark threw a lavish birthday party at his luxurious mansion, inviting almost half of New York's celebrities. The parking lot outside his mansion was filled with luxury cars. Notable figures, including Colonel Rhodes, and many, many attractive women attended.
The mansion was alive with flashing lights, booming music, and bustling crowds, a grand and lively affair.
Notably, because there was no impending doom, Stark's birthday party was much more normal than usual.
And, as expected for someone of Stark's status, the media reported on the party.
On TV, Zhou Cheng watched the coverage, surprised at how tranquil Stark's birthday party was. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, no "Iron Suit Battle" erupted, and Stark's mansion was peaceful.
Moreover, Zhou Cheng noted that Stark was absent from the F1 race in Morocco, and Whiplash did not appear either.
Deviations!
Events were deviating from the known plot, and not just minor deviations – these were significant.
Feeling somewhat melancholic, Zhou Cheng unconsciously jotted down his thoughts in the notebook.
Back at Stark's mansion, all guests had left, and the party had officially ended.
Just as Tony Stark had returned, his attentive AI, Jarvis, immediately alerted him.
"Another update?"
Tony Stark instantly perked up, showing no sign of delay as he picked up the notebook and flipped to the latest page.
Indeed, new content had appeared.
"Something's off! Really off!"
"Nothing happened at Stark's birthday party?"
"Rhodes didn't beat Stark up and steal his suit?"
"No big fight broke out, and Stark's mansion wasn't blown up?"
"The birthday party was just... calm?"
"Also, Stark didn't go to the Morocco race, and Whiplash hasn't shown up till now!"
"Other than 'showing off at the hearing,' the expected events haven't occurred!"
"It seems this universe is indeed quite different from Universe 199999."
Ha! Confused, aren't you?
Seeing Zhou Cheng's puzzled tone and his caught-off-guard attitude, Tony Stark couldn't help but feel triumphant.
Thinking you control everything?
Believing you know all about the great Tony Stark?
Assuming you understand him better than anyone else?
Well, now you've been proven wrong!
But what's this about Rhodes beating him up?