Chapter 357 - 331: The Soldier Across Time

The transmission of information requires some time, one reason being that physically, these transmissions just take time.

On the other hand, large media outlets must carefully consider what can and can’t be published.

There are certainly media professionals in the world who expose the truth based on their conscience, but the most successful and largest media organizations all have their own ways of surviving.

Five hours after the incident, the attackers were still an unknown armed force. By the tenth hour, the media had already defined the event!

Cover headline:

"Shocking! Somali Pirates Sink Mei Country Frigate! One Sunk, One Missing!"

People clicked to read, surprised to find that this time, the media didn’t spout nonsense or use clickbait, the words "Shocking!" aside, not a single word needed to be deleted!

This sensational headline spread around the world in less than a day.

"What year is it now?"

"That’s crazy, Somali pirates demolishing Mei Country’s warship, you’d think it was the 18th century."

"Taxpayer money isn’t for you to use like this!"

"How many taxes do you pay? Are you even in a position to discuss military expenses?"

Everything can become an argument on the internet, but overall it’s because the real contradiction is right there, with massive support for both war and peace.

However, this indeed provided an excuse for the anti-war faction to establish a funding committee, making it difficult for military funds to flow out as they had before in the short term.

And Carter...

When this century-old veteran woke up, what she saw was this news piece: "Somali Pirates Sink Mei Country Frigate!"

She was startled: Had the British occupying forces been repelled? Had Somalia joined the Axis Country?!

Somalia is a country now?!

No... Pirates... Pirates sinking a warship?!

Had she traveled back to the 18th century?

Then, she saw a few black people walking back and forth before the control panel...

The unsealing used some special methods, starting with cutting the ice using a special technique to minimize the part that needed to be melted by heat.

Next, a large number of life-monitoring devices were added around the ice, ensuring that the defrosting process wouldn’t cause her any harm.

A specially-made injector pierced her skin, injecting her with modern stimulants and replenishing her with energy, nutrients, and all possible injection fluids that could rejuvenate her cells.

The cells of a Super Soldier are indeed completely different from those of humans, her battle suit preventing her skin tissues from fusing with the ice. As the warmth increased and nutrients were injected, these exaggerately enhanced cells started operating again.

As she took her first breath of air into her lungs, it stung her nerves, and Carter burst forth with a surge of strength—

Bang!

The Super Soldier suddenly jumped up, and punched the glass!

However, being frozen for an extended period does harm the body, even for a Super Soldier.

Her body was incredibly stiff, and that punch caused her immense pain!

The endurance and regenerative capabilities of a Super Soldier’s cells are indeed astonishing, and compared to the much greater strength they possess over regular humans, this is the most easily overlooked and most freakish aspect.

"Whoa, calm down, Captain."

Frank appeared from the side, a typical American speaking in American English.

Carter’s knees buckled, and she knelt down, looking around at the unfamiliar equipment and the poor-quality building walls, her mind filled with confusion.

"You... who are you?"

"Frank Castle, Commander of the Atlas Group’s rapid response team, never thought I’d actually see a legendary WWII figure.

Saluting you, Captain, but it’s 2011 now, you’ve missed a lot."

"What nonsense are you talking about..."

"Let me explain."

A familiar yet strange voice sounded, as a robot slowly approached using rollers.

The robot moved on rollers and had nothing but a screen and a camera, but the person on the screen...

An elderly Barnes looked at his former captain with a complex expression.

And Carter, maybe Barnes was now quite old, but having fought side-by-side with him for so long, she could still see some resemblances to her comrade.

But...

"Never heard about Sergeant Barnes having such an accomplished elder, who are you?"

That’s right, resemblance doesn’t mean it was the person she knew, for someone just thawed out of the ice, she would only think it was Barnes’s relative.

But then...

Barnes sighed, "Carter, you’ve been asleep for 70 years. It’s been 70 years since you and that cursed plane crashed in the Arctic."

"70... years? What are you talking about...."

"What I’m saying is, I am Bucky, Captain. It’s 2011 now."

After sleeping for 70 years, awakening to find a world filled with incomprehensible changes.

Seeing her confused look, Barnes asked worriedly, "Are you okay, Captain? I know it’s difficult to understand..."

"I..." Carter looked at the thawing apparatus behind her, nodding with a complex expression.

"I’m okay."

"Just... someone owes me a date."

...

People nearby silently walked away, leaving space for these two comrades-in-arms.

Frank also moved aside to continue communicating with his boss.

[Frank: Boss, was it a bit rough to awaken her like this?]

[Lille: We don’t have a choice right now, that’s all the conditions we have. The world changes fast, there’s no time to let her adjust slowly.]

[Lille: She’s a soldier, I believe she can adjust her mindset quickly.]

[Frank: To sleep for 70 years and wake up to find herself in a black people’s stronghold, with enemies that are Mei Country folks... I don’t know if she really has that strong an acceptance ability.]

[Lille: Circumstances force our hands.]

[Frank: "Well, how about the warship? Did the pirates really manage to take it away?"]

[Lille: "If they’re good at learning, just taking the ship isn’t a problem; the internet... you can find anything there."]

[Lille: "However, if they want to advance further, they’ll need to put in some serious effort; there are talents everywhere."]

It was then that T’Challa quickly approached. Seeing his expression, Frank activated the audio input so that Lille would also hear what T’Challa was about to say.

"I’ve received news; indeed, several terrorist organizations are heading this way."

"Well... looks like there’s more work to do," Frank shrugged.

The spot where they landed was still hundreds of kilometers from Tanzania’s port. Crossing this stretch was not going to be easy.

But this time they had a combat-skilled Super Soldier with them...

Frank glanced at Captain Carter nearby: he really wanted to find out how he measured up against a Super Soldier.

[Lille: "Be cautious; these people might have backers. I’ll increase the proportion of military equipment in the subsequent cargo transport."]

"Understood..."

Boom!

A loud explosion suddenly came from outside the camp!

The Wakandan Royal Guard and Atlas’s soldiers quickly sprang into action. Although following different commanders, their movements were orderly and showed no sign of chaos!

The atmosphere of the battlefield snapped Carter out of the reality that she had been asleep for 70 years, and Bucky nodded at her upon seeing her condition.

"Captain, regardless, welcome back to the modern world, and about Steve and the others... I’ll report to you everything that has happened over these 70 years.

And... I’m very sorry, we all thought that was the last war, but things turned out differently."

Bucky’s tone could hardly conceal his fatigue, perhaps only showing this weariness when faced with his former captain.

Especially seeing someone from 70 years ago standing before him exactly as before, thinking of his younger self, the current society—

Time slowly moved forward, and he had become numb to the current situation, but looking back suddenly, he found...

The direction of this world truly left him confused and saddened.

Carter still had many questions to ask, but for her, she had always been in battle, and she quickly got into the state of mind for it.

However, when she instinctively reached behind to grab something...

"Where’s my shield?"

Frank quickly walked over, stuffing an AK47 into her hands.

"This is all we have now, make do with it!"

"???"

...

[Bucky: "She won’t know how to use an AK."]

[Lille: "There’s no ladies’ handgun for her to use, save it."]

Bucky, on the other side of the screen, looked quite helpless, but what could he say?

[Bucky: "I want to know where that warship went, and about that shield, we’ll send someone to retrieve it..."]

[Lille: "First question, I really don’t know where the warship went; second question, Atlas can help."]

Bucky, staring at Lille over the screen, eventually conceded defeat, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Too much had happened today, and most critically, a whole new world was unfolding before him.

Issues arising were normal, but having his ideologies upturned was something else.

[Bucky: "Then get ready to retrieve the ship; this is a military contract."]

[Lille: "As part of the contract, a hypothesis on the course of events has already been compiled, Mr. Secretary of State, and your military has many issues as well."]

[Bucky: "I’ll look at it myself."]

Without another word, Bucky disconnected the network communication.

He was too busy—before the navy had wiped them out, they had killed hundreds of pirates and captured a multitude of ships.

Somali pirates were very special: their locality nearly lacked a powerful government, even verging on a state of anarchy.

Thus, piracy was indeed a type of employment for them, a means of livelihood in their view.

Aside from those who were truly ferocious and evil, there were cooks, laborers, and more on the ships, and their indiscriminate killing greatly impacted the military’s image.

Although their image was already poor enough.

Pirates and civilians from Somalia had died, along with dozens of sailors from Mei Country, and two ships were lost.

Now, there were dealings with the ongoing denunciations from the African Union, protesters marching against the war outside...

Headaches.

Lille quite understood Bucky’s difficulties, so he did not add too much more to his plate.

The issue with communications was practically resolved.

"That’s... the Secretary of State!" finally, Skye could breathe a sigh of relief in the room, "You were just on the phone with the Secretary of State!"

"Yes, this line is now your responsibility, remember to use a varying algorithm for encryption."

Though the communication used the internet and was encrypted after several transformations, it was much more secretive than usual military communication channels like satellites.

"Damn... will I be talking to him in the future? And Captain Carter... she’s my favorite superhero!"

"Can you not act like a fangirl? This is your job, take it seriously!

Next, we’ll recover that shield from the sea, and—have you looked at the data retrieved from inside the robot!"

"Yes!" Skye tapped on her keyboard, "But this data is strange, I plan to feed it into the AI to help make sense of it."

"Good, also monitor similar stuff in the African domain."

"Okay, but having this kind of machinery and not deploying it in the Middle East but instead in Africa seems unusual? Plus, it appears that this machine wouldn’t connect to a network."

"That’s not certain."

It was at this moment that Lille received a special email.

[Sender: Tony Stark]

[Tony: "You killed my people, this isn’t over!"]