Chapter 148: The Purge Plan

Because Nick Fury was shot at the residence of Captain America and subsequently went missing during emergency treatment, Captain America naturally could not escape suspicion and was brought before Pierce for questioning.

Bearing in mind Nick Fury's warning to trust no one, Captain America did not tell Pierce the truth, and he had already slipped the flash drive into a vending machine at the hospital.

When the questioning concluded, Pierce felt that Captain America knew far too little, considering he was the last person to have contact with Nick Fury. If Nick Fury harbored any hopes of a comeback, Captain America was his only instrument.

Uneasy and suspicious, Pierce decided to eliminate Captain America. Putting on a facade of cordiality, he told the Captain he could return to rest. Afterward, he summoned Brock Rumlow and the bald-headed agent, instructing them to assassinate him.

On the other side, Black Widow, having guessed Captain America's clever maneuver, successfully retrieved the flash drive from the hospital.

Captain America boarded the elevator to leave, and Rumlow, seizing the moment, stepped in with a squad of operatives. Perhaps because their target was none other than Captain America, the operatives brought by Rumlow were exceedingly nervous, their fingers hovering involuntarily near the triggers of their sidearms. This subtle tell was naturally noticed by the Captain, whose combat awareness was second to none. He immediately realized these men came with ill intent and were most likely sent to deal with him. It seemed Nick Fury's words rang true: even their own headquarters had fallen into enemy hands.

Shortly after, the bald agent entered the elevator with another team, followed closely by a third group, gradually forming a tight semicircle around Captain America. Seeing that the elevator could hold not a single soul more, the Captain knew no one else would be entering.

"Before I make my move, does anyone want to get out?"

The youthful Captain America uttered the most naive yet undeniably badass line possible.

Hearing this, Rumlow and his men knew their cover was blown and immediately sprang into action.

They swarmed him in unison, attempting to grapple and restrain him, but the Captain nearly broke free through sheer brute force alone. A sharp-witted operative acted quickly, using a magnetic handcuff attached to a briefcase to bind the Captain's right wrist to the elevator wall. Just as a second magnetic cuff was about to clamp onto his left arm, Captain America exerted his utmost strength and shattered the restraint. Relying solely on his free left hand and his powerful legs, he endured the barrage of blows while relying on his peak physical conditioning.

After absorbing several heavy strikes while restrained, he forcefully knocked down multiple assailants. Seeing them close in once more, the Captain gripped his right wrist with his left hand and, harnessing his formidable strength, successfully ripped the magnetic handcuff away from the wall.

Once liberated, Captain America single-handedly dispatched the remaining adversaries. Among them, only Rumlow managed to exchange a few blows with him; the rest were mere rabble.

Taking a deep breath, he executed a swift, practiced stomp that recalled his shield back to his left arm.

Captain America forced open the elevator doors, only to find a squad of heavily armed soldiers aiming their rifles directly at him. Startled, he slammed the elevator doors shut.

Realizing that conventional escape routes were blocked, he smashed through the elevator control panel, sending the car plummeting wildly downward.

He glanced outside, estimated the height, and shattered the elevator's glass ceiling, leaping out into the void.

Utilizing the energy-absorbing properties of his shield, Captain America executed a flawless landing. This spectacle left everyone utterly dumbfounded.

He commandeered a motorcycle and crashed through the gates a mere second before the base went into total lockdown.

Witnessing this, the bald agent dispatched a Quinjet to intercept him. Faced with the jet's ferocious strafing fire, the Captain hurled his shield, jamming it into the turbine engine and sending the aircraft into a tailspin. He leaped into the air, landed atop the jet, retrieved his shield, and threw it once more, completely destroying the engines and thrusters. With effortless grace, Captain America neutralized the Quinjet.

He dropped back onto his motorcycle and sped away from the scene.

Soon, he arrived at the hospital, intending to retrieve the flash drive left behind by Nick Fury. However, the vending machine shelf held only chewing gum, coffee, and other mundane items—the flash drive was nowhere to be found.

Captain America was utterly bewildered. Vital information had vanished, lost by his own hand; what was he to do now?

Black Widow emerged from behind a pillar, offering the Captain a confident smile. It was then he realized he still had a loyal teammate he could trust—it had been a false alarm.

Subsequently, Captain America and Black Widow tracked down a secret bunker dating back to World War II. Looking upon the antiquated computer terminals and mainframes, complete with a surprisingly modern USB port, they knew they had found the right place.

Upon inserting the chip provided by Nick Fury, they encountered Dr. Arnim Zola. The doctor had long since converted his consciousness into data and uploaded it into the computer network, making it fair to say he was now ubiquitous.

Dr. Zola began to expound upon the grand design of Hydra. Just as he reached the explanation of Project Insight, a screaming missile hurtled toward them, obliterating the bunker into ashes and bringing Dr. Zola’s nefarious existence to a fiery end.

In the nick of time, Captain America and Black Widow plunged into the sewer system, cheating death. Much like how heroes are famously insoluble in water, American heroes are equally insoluble in sewers; regardless of who they are, as long as they dive into a sewer during an escape, their survival rate is a hundred percent. Need one look further than DC's Penguin, who was cast into a sewers as an infant and somehow managed to survive against all odds? Therefore, a missile bombardment capable of leveling an entire military base was mere child's play. What good was Captain America's shield? The sewer was the ultimate sanctuary.

First, they located Falcon, the winged hero who had been lingering on their radar. Then, seeking complete intelligence, they tracked down the second-in-command of this Hydra faction—the bald agent.

They dragged him up to a rooftop for a brutal interrogation, threatening to hurl him over the edge unless he spilled the entirety of Hydra's scheme.

At first, the bald agent put on a brave face, confident that Captain America's stringent moral code would prevent him from actually throwing a man to his death. But he miscalculated. Present was not only the righteous Captain, but also a woman driven to the absolute limit of impatience: Black Widow casually planted her boot in his chest and kicked him straight off the roof.

Plummeting from the skyscraper, the bald agent was certain his final moment had arrived. Yet Falcon swooped down from the sky and scooped him up just in time.

Terrified out of his wits, any notions of unwavering loyalty evaporated in the face of imminent demise, and he spilled every detail of Project Insight to the trio.

Only then did Captain America and the others grasp the sheer insanity of the villains' plot: they intended to utilize a lethal algorithm powered by a fleet of Helicarriers to systematically eliminate anyone deemed a potential threat to Hydra.

It was madness incarnate.

Captain America, Falcon, and their allies rushed back to the headquarters to halt the launch of the Helicarriers.

Yet midway through their journey, the enigmatic assassin with the cybernetic metal arm intercepted them once more.

Bucky dropped onto the roof of their vehicle, drove his metal fist straight through the glass, grabbed Falcon by the steering wheel, and ripped it entirely out of the dashboard with raw power, sending the car spinning completely out of control.

Aside from the careening automobile, Hawkeye, watching from afar, was utterly baffled: What on earth just tore my steering wheel off?

The three passengers hastily bailed out of the tumbling vehicle, and Captain America resolved to hold the assassin off alone, urging Black Widow and Falcon to press on.

A high-explosive grenade came hurtling through the air, blasting Captain America backward. He tumbled directly through the open doors of a passing public bus, losing his shield in the process.

The assassin did not hesitate, immediately firing volley after volley through the sides of the bus in an attempt to riddle the Captain with bullets.

Yet Captain America was no easy mark. Sprinting at full tilt through the aisle, he dodged a hail of gunfire, leaped out through the opposite window, and snatched his shield from the ground to assume a defensive posture.

As is universally known, whenever Captain America's shield appears before you, every bullet you fire will be irresistibly drawn to it. Every single round you discharge will splash uselessly against the surface of the shield, as if the bold red-and-blue paint scheme possessed a built-in taunt mechanism.