Colonel Phillips stared at Rogers, shaking his head slightly. "You have no right to order me, boy."
"I just want to know about Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th Infantry," Rogers insisted.
Hearing this, Colonel Phillips understood the situation and pointed his pen at Carter. "I'll deal with you later."
Carter stood there with an innocent expression, but anyone would be foolish to believe it. As an agent, Carter had long since investigated Rogers' connections and relationships, knowing exactly what strings to pull to ignite his fighting spirit.
After a moment of silence, Colonel Phillips stood up and sifted through a stack of papers. "I've signed so many condolence letters today, I can barely remember the names. But I remember this one."
He turned to Rogers and said, "Barnes was a good soldier. I'm sorry."
Rogers' breathing quickened, but he quickly suppressed his emotions, swallowing the grief. He pressed on, "What about the others? Are you going to rescue them?"
"You have to focus on the big picture," Phillips replied.
"But if you know where they are, why—" Rogers started, but the Colonel cut him off.
"They're over 30 miles behind enemy lines. To get to them, you'd have to cross the most heavily guarded area in Europe. Attempting a rescue would only cost more lives," Phillips said, sounding impatient. "I don't expect you to understand this because you're just a dancing clown."
"I think I can understand," Rogers responded.
Phillips waved him off, signaling for Rogers to leave. "Then go somewhere else to understand it. If I recall correctly, you have another appearance to make in about 10 minutes."
"Yes, within three ten minutes," Rogers retorted, turning to leave the command center. He walked briskly toward his quarters, with Carter hurrying behind to keep up.
"What's your plan, walk to Austria?" Carter asked, catching up.
"If I have to," Rogers replied.
"You heard the Colonel—your friend may be dead."
"But they don't know for sure," Rogers countered.
"Even so, it will take time to develop a plan."
"It's too late for plans," Rogers said, quickly packing his gear into a backpack and heading for a vehicle. "Is what you said true? That I can do much more than just this?"
"Of course. And so can I," Carter replied, a determined look in her eyes.
But truthfully, it wasn't just Carter who could do more—it was also Stark.
"Hydra's barracks are in Clausburg, between these two mountains. I'll try to get you as close to the target as possible," Stark said, preparing for the mission.
Stark wasn't just an excellent engineer; he was also a skilled pilot. To ensure he could get back in time for a cheese fondue dinner with Ms. Carter, he took significant risks.
The aircraft's engine roared loudly, easily audible to anyone not deaf. The Hydra soldiers below quickly identified the plane as an enemy and opened fire with anti-aircraft guns.
The delayed-fuse airburst grenades caused the aircraft to shake violently. Realizing the situation was untenable, Rogers decided to act even though they hadn't reached the target. He resolutely opened the hatch.
"When I get back, you turn around and return," Rogers ordered.
"Wait, you're not qualified to order me," Stark protested.
"I am qualified because I'm the captain," Rogers replied confidently before jumping from the plane.
Relying on his enhanced physical abilities, Rogers opened his parachute at an ultra-low altitude, slowing down just enough to land without injury. While descending, he spotted a convoy heading toward the base.
Crouched in the grass, Rogers waited, counting the vehicles. One, two, three... Now!
When the third truck passed, Rogers bolted from the grass with explosive speed, easily outrunning the slow-moving vehicle and jumping into the back.
Both Rogers and the two soldiers in the truck were momentarily stunned. The soldiers quickly snapped into action, readying to fight and shout for help.
But Rogers, despite his lack of experience, made up for it with his superior strength. He knocked the two soldiers out with a single punch each.
The convoy passed through a checkpoint where, due to heavy traffic, the sentry merely glanced at the driver and waved them through without checking the compartment.
The first step of Rogers' infiltration plan had gone smoothly—at least according to his expectations.
What Rogers didn't realize was that Hydra had a sophisticated surveillance system. Rhine, using 72 burst drones, monitored the area 24 hours a day. She had spotted them over 40 kilometers away, right when they took off.
While Hydra's drones were simple in intelligence, they were numerous. Due to technological limitations, Rhine couldn't find a strong enough signal receiver, so she enlisted the help of an engineer from the Shenzhou camp.
Unlike engineers from other camps, those from Shenzhou wore mechanical exoskeletons to carry large amounts of maintenance equipment and materials. Given enough resources and energy, they could quickly repair most mechanical units using their comprehensive maintenance module. Most importantly, they had a multifunctional information terminal that could be used to control the drones.
Rhine aimed to utilize this terminal. Although the engineer wasn't immediately useful, spending the necessary funds to acquire this high-tech talent was worth it.
With the terminal, Rhine easily controlled the burst drones, monitoring the outside world in real-time. She had to admit, Rogers moved fast—within minutes, he was out of the truck and into the factory.
The facility wasn't just any military factory; it was an energy extraction plant for the outer shell material of the Tesseract. Each energy source, no larger than a grain of rice, was encased in a small iron block that emitted a blue light.
Rogers took one and pocketed it, intending to bring it back for Stark to study.
Soon, he reached the prisoner-of-war holding area. After easily dispatching a few guards, he used their keys to unlock the prisoners' cells. Though the prisoners didn't know who Rogers was, they understood one thing: they were being rescued.
The harsh wail of sirens echoed through the base as Hydra soldiers scrambled to suppress the prisoners. However, the prisoners had already gained the upper hand, seizing some of the weapons by surprise.
In this moment, the flaws of powerful weapons without proper identification became apparent. The Hydra soldiers found themselves blown away by their own arsenal, plunging the entire base into chaos.
Schmidt watched through grainy surveillance footage, realizing his soldiers were no match for the rioting prisoners and the lone intruder in the factory.
Without hesitation, Schmidt activated the factory's self-destruct mode. He couldn't afford to let the weapons fall into Allied hands.
Rhine detected the activation of the self-destruct sequence immediately. Initially, she considered fleeing, but a bold idea took root in her mind.
Could this be... the best chance to kill Schmidt?