There had been discoveries of primitive humans preserved in glaciers, bodies that remained intact with almost no decay.
But those people were dead. Completely, utterly dead. The ice had only prevented their flesh from rotting with its freezing cold, not kept their lives suspended at the mont of burial.
No matter how fast the freezing or how thorough, anyone who hoped to wake again after being sealed in ice needed at least a faint spark of life.
tabolism could be slowed to the barest flicker, but it had to exist.
Steve’s case was different.
"Frozen for half a century. Even if your body sohow slowed its tabolism down to a level beyond belief, the fact remains that it was still there. That constant drain of energy kept you alive, consuming your reserves without end."
Adrian’s voice carried certainty. After his research, he didn't care to use the word “lifespan.” That term was aningless compared to sothing far more direct: life energy.
He imagined it as a fla, always burning, always wearing down. And every act of tabolism was fuel fed into that fla, keeping it alight.
The two worked together. One consud, the other replenished. Together they made life.
If an accident drained all life energy, then even the healthiest body would remain nothing but a perfect corpse. A man brimming with vitality, once cut off from fuel, would eventually burn out.
"And you, the great Captain Arica. Why did God grant you this blessing? Why give you life energy so strong that even sealed in ice, with no way to replenish it, you still refused to die? And yet, what are you really? Just a soldier with a shield, shouting for others to charge forward.”
Adrian’s words grew twisted. His desire gnawed at him, darkening his thoughts as his voice shifted into sothing harsher. Once, he had been just another ordinary man. To commit himself fully to this plan, he had first brainwashed himself into believing it was justified.
Now, though, under the weight of his greed, he no longer saw Steve Rogers as the revered hero everyone admired. To him, Captain Arica was a fraud, a soldier who waved his shield but didn’t deserve the blessing of that burning life. Compared to his own mind, his own research, what value did a glorified soldier really hold?
He had pushed the boundaries of science, and had earned his place among humanity’s geniuses. The future of mankind lay with people like him.
"So give your life energy. Let live on. I am the one who deserves to see the world’s future!"
Steve didn’t react to the contempt in Adrian’s voice. If he had lived worrying about how others judged him, he would never have beco Captain Arica.
What caught his attention was the information the man had just revealed.
His survival would draw attention. Steve had known this for a long ti.
Since returning and working as a hero, he had already received nurous invitations from the wealthy across the globe. So sought him in the na of extending human life, hoping he would cooperate with their pharmaceutical experints. Others offered staggering sums of money to purchase just 500 milliliters of his blood for transfusion.
Before anyone ever reached that goal, immortality would remain a hunger humanity never abandoned.
He had expected such things, and he had seen them.
But Adrian’s words showed sothing different. This man had studied him and researched the circumstances of his survival. Not only that, he had conducted experints, successful ones from the sound of it.
That narrowed things down. Steve could now guess what kind of man his enemy was.
A scientist. A skilled one.
And with that clue, his mind moved quickly, piecing everything together.
“Adrian,” he said slowly. “It is you, isn’t it?”
"...What?"
The words threw Adrian off.
The truth was, it wasn’t just as simple as him secretly keeping an eye on Steve.
Following their first and only eting, Steve had also rembered the man. Later, when he joined Vought, he hadn’t deliberately gathered information, but he did gain a rough understanding of Adrian’s existence.
He was one of the rare scientists inside LexCorp who had been granted independent research authority.
Such a right might have been common elsewhere, but within LexCorp, it was a badge of undeniable capability. Far more convincing than any degree or certificate.
It was precisely this understanding that allowed Steve to discover Adrian’s identity.
And at the critical mont, he exposed him, catching the man completely off guard.
Adrian fell into brief panic. The fact that Steve could recognize him ant his life and honors built up until now might very well be stripped away, sothing he absolutely could not accept.
But they were in the middle of a fight, and Steve was not going to waste this hard-won chance.
His hands holding Adrian’s twin wings loosened and they lashed out, their edges stabbing toward his face.
The blades struck, but the expected piercing of his skull never ca. Instead, Steve’s face caved inward under the strike.
"This... no. This is bad!"
Adrian’s heart jolted. He recognized the power instantly. With his access to information, he knew that Reed had also been tied to Steve’s recent activities.
"That bastard… he gave you this ability!"
While speaking, a powerful rebound surged back through his wings. The elasticity hurled him away with force.
Against physical attacks, Steve didn’t even need to resist. The natural recoil of his elastic body alone was enough to unleash powerful counterstrikes.
As Adrian was sent flying, Steve seized the opening. He didn’t attack with his shield, because he understood the power he gained couldn’t break through the high-tech armor.
The only thing useful to him now was the ability of his elastic body.
He stretched, his fra expanding outward like a vast sheet. In an instant, his elastic form wrapped around Adrian, sealing him. Just the man’s head and his massive wings remained uncovered.
"Let go, damn you!" Adrian thrashed, fury in his voice.
But the harder he struggled, the stronger the elastic recoil beca, pressing him tighter.
Steve’s new ability had no real limit to its shape. With it ca seemingly endless resilience. Regardless of how much brute strength Adrian poured in, as long as he couldn’t destroy the elastic body on a deeper level, all that force would just rebound back.
The suit Steve wore, however, wasn’t built for this. His uniform tore apart as his body stretched, fabric shredding under the strain.
Adrian was now tightly cocooned, transford into a giant immovable ball of flesh standing in place, unable to move.
"You want to let go? That’s not going to happen."
Steve had no intention of releasing him. He knew he couldn’t truly defeat Adrian. Even wrapped up like this, he couldn’t inflict real damage.
If he tried to crush him further, the ability he had just obtained was nowhere near strong enough.
But what he could do was restrain the man. He would stay here with him and wait for the police to arrive.
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