Chapter 332: The Frozen Super Soldier

Words : 1778 Updated : Oct 15th, 2025

"Frank!" Kurt shouted his comrade's name loudly as he watched the ship gradually break apart, sink, and be engulfed in flames. The comms channel was dead silent. And it wasn't just them—pirates in the surrounding waters were also speechless— They were pirates, not a navy. They had never seen a warship sink another warship before! But they could recognize the warship's turrets, so when they saw all this unfold, things like gold shipments no longer mattered. However, before they could respond further, the capsizing frigate launched dozens of missiles in a sudden salvo! The missiles locked precisely onto the main cannon on the deck of another ship and the people on the cargo vessel! BOOM! Flames spread across the deck like a carpet, engulfing not just the target cargo crates but also completely blowing out the frigate's own turret! And it wasn't over! This scene plunged the Atlas soldiers on the speedboat into despair—until the comms suddenly came back online! [ctOS Combat Network Online – Long-Range Comms Restored] [Frank: Get aboard!] WHOOSH! From the burning wreck of the frigate, a humanoid robot burst skyward— Frank was clinging to its leg! Sparks flew wildly from his damaged exoskeleton. He could even hear the circuits inside overloading and combusting! But he couldn't let go! This was his only chance at survival: if he fell with the frigate into the sea, he'd sink in under a minute! Clenching his teeth, Frank could no longer feel anything but the stabbing nerve pain caused by the overloaded current surging through his body! With his other hand, he pulled out the data blade and drove it hard into a seam on the robot's leg! [Data Blade Infiltration Initiated – Matching Hacking Tools...] The robot lowered its head and looked at Frank. [Infiltration Failed – Deploying High-Frequency Surge Impact] Zzzzzt! Electric arcs burst from the thrusters, the flames instantly turning to black smoke. The robot's flight path became erratic, and two indicator lights hidden beneath its helmet flickered red and yellow— There's a huge difference between digital infiltration and physical hacking. The software on that blade could no longer breach the control firewall. But—if the blade maintained contact with the circuitry and pushed extremely unstable current through it—it would still cause physical damage. The surge disrupted the cable's signal logic, wrecking the processor and control system downstream— The central processor in its head instantly completed a defensive calculation. With help from its internal controller, it isolated the damaged left leg, cutting off its circuit, and transient-suppression diodes cut the abnormal current caused by electromagnetic induction! But the violent electric burst still ignited the fuel in its thruster! BOOM! A second, smaller explosion—Frank felt the world spin wildly as he finally lost his grip! From the surface of the water, the Atlas soldiers on the speedboat saw the robot explode midair again. Man and machine plummeted straight toward the deck! "Board the ship—now!" BANG! Frank had lost all control. He hit the deck hard and rolled several times before crashing into a crate and coming to a stop. The robot fared better. Its only mechanical leg took the full impact, leaving a dramatic gouge across the deck. It quickly rerouted internal power and stood up slowly. [Charming electronic attack technique. Brilliant design.] [But too rigid. Pre-programmed attacks can't threaten a self-iterating system. They always degrade into brute force.] [Warning: Fuel consumption rate has drastically increased.] [Current Fuel: 33%] Its scanner locked onto the mission objective. At this point in the fight, more data was needed to determine what to do next. On the deck of the Celtic Wanderer, the cargo crate had been blasted open— The flames licking the metal container slowly died down, but a massive hole had been torn into the giant red crate. Even the robot didn't have data on what was inside—but now, it could see it for itself. Inside the broken crate, the temperature held steady at minus 10°C. Cables were directly wired into the ship's power system. Some kind of thermal stabilization unit. Now broken. The scanner clearly saw what was inside— A block of ice. The shattered ice around the container was slowly melting from the explosion's heat. [What were these people fighting over? Just a block of ice?] That question appeared in the robot's logic stream as well. The robot stared straight at the cargo box and walked toward it, while Frank struggled to his feet in front of the massive hole, just in time to see what lay inside. A woman. Wearing a combat suit made of some outdated material, clearly marked with the Union Jack. Her fiery red hair looked even brighter under the glow of the flames. That face— Frank blurted out, "Captain Carter!" [TN: Looks like I was wrong] The robot tilted its head slightly, staring at the melting ice, unable to comprehend the name the human had just spoken. But then it identified another object in the ice: A shield. The thick ice around the shield was beginning to melt, slowly revealing it. In the deepest part of its database, detailed information about that shield emerged: [Database Entry: Shield of Captain Carter] Description: Made from a composite material centered around Vibranium.] [Database Entry: Vibranium] [Description: Possesses incredible physical properties. Capable of absorbing and nullifying kinetic energy. Under specific conditions, it can also release massive energy.] [Hypothesis: A physics anomaly. Full of unresolved mysteries. Unfortunately lost when Captain Carter vanished in the Arctic and sank into the ocean.] [If my assumptions are correct, I could use this to develop a new form of super-energy.] Almost at that exact moment, the satellite signal used for remote linkage was received by it, and in that instant, it began recalculating the surrounding situation. To escape the sinking warship, it had discarded a large amount of weapons and fuel, and now half its body had been blown apart by Frank. Clearly, these soldiers in exoskeletons were not few in number, and with only a small amount of computation, it concluded: its chances of victory were very low. Even if it won, the remaining fuel would hardly be enough to return to the mission target. So, more methods were needed to ensure its survival. The computational power of the communication chip should now be devoted to the most important matter at hand. Every shred of resource was precious. The robot's AI didn't notice that in that moment, a new core directive had been added to its combat logic: Ensure survival. [Communication request denied. Shutting down additional communication components.] [Mission continues. Precondition logic: Enhance combat capability, increase completion rate.] [Tactical retreat. Redeploy combat unit.] [Seize energy resources.] Whoosh! The robot suddenly launched into motion, kicking Frank before he could react. Then it grabbed the edge of the cargo container and used its engine to heat the ice block! The hard ice quickly began to melt. Frank, with an exoskeleton that had lost nearly all power, was struck again and found it difficult even to stand— Snap! Seeing the ice had melted enough, the robot yanked out the shield and, without pausing, shot up into the sky! The Atlas soldiers had just boarded the ship! Whoosh! An arrow struck the flying robot, then exploded! Boom! The already damaged robot exploded mid-air, its head flashing red lights as it drifted in the sky. The debris and the shield were flung by inertia toward a distant part of the sea, then crashed into the ocean and vanished. Clint stood on the deck, looking at the fallen Frank and the Atlas soldiers who had just drawn their weapons. The good news: the cargo had been secured. The bad news: not all of it. "A bunch of Americans sank a U.S. Navy warship in Somali waters... and rescued a nearly hundred-year-old British woman." Frank laid back, staring at the sky. Communications had been restored, and a large amount of data began transmitting. Leo now knew what had happened here. [Frank: Boss, the robot's been handled.] The combat logs began uploading. Africa's network was slow, but Leo still got the gist. Iron Soldier—a prototype unmanned combat unit. Clearly, Tony had been planning to bring automation into warfare. And the cargo on the ship... Captain Carter, not Captain America. Apparently, in this universe, Steve never successfully received the super-soldier serum. Instead, his old flame Peggy Carter did. She was British, meaning that at the serum injection event, this British officer had mistakenly ended up in the enhancement chamber and took resources meant for America. That also explained something: in this world, neither Captain Carter nor Captain America had the same level of propaganda reach as Leo had imagined. In contrast, the Howling Commandos were more famous—led by Carter, the unit included Steve Rogers, James Buchanan Barnes, and other American soldiers. And Steve Rogers, in this universe, piloted a massive war mech—the Hydra Stomper. [TN: One of my favorite what-if stories] If Captain America raised his arm, most Americans would elect him as president. But Captain Carter... things weren't that simple. Still, she could definitely serve as a valuable symbol—after all, centuries after the fall of the British Empire, a Brit showing up in Africa to help rebuild was noteworthy. It just wasn't clear how the good captain would react upon waking. [Leo: Nice work. Considering no one's ever snatched something from the U.S. Navy before, you've gone above and beyond.] [Leo: This time, I'm giving you guys 4 million as a bonus.] [Frank: Haha, I think they'll be very happy to hear that.] [Leo: But don't relax just yet. It's not over until the cargo reaches the base.] [Leo: T'Challa has reported that there are lots of terrorists in your area. Take a break, but the trip back to the city won't be easy.] [Frank: Understood.] Leo rose from the cooling pod and severed the deep link to the internet. Managing the internet on such a large scale was more troublesome than he expected—but far more effective too. This was a level of surveillance tech that the authorities wouldn't teach, and Leo had to figure it out on his own. Now it was time to summarize the operation—and collect the rewards. [Leo: We've got the package. Bad news is the shield's gone. Good news is the person inside is safe.] [Natasha: You already know who was inside?] [Leo: A centenarian.] [Natasha: Alright, that's... acceptable, I guess. Did you run into trouble?] [Leo: Trouble? ...You'll find out soon enough.]

Chapter 332: The Frozen Super Soldier

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