This land, whose name alone brings a biting chill to people, is actually not all covered by ice and snow. In some low-lying areas or leeward mountains, only parts of the surface are already as hard as rocks.
With snow covering every year, the dominant feature is a large area of dark brown shrubs that almost touches the ground.
At this time, a small aircraft shaped like a falcon passed over these bushes less than a hundred meters away.
"It's really strange," Tony Stark, who was wearing a steel suit, was sitting in the back seat of the plane and said while searching the nearby terrain through the helmet's built-in scanner: "I thought the invincible Captain America would wake up alone.
Those 'Winter Soldiers', and then revive their memories with friendship and love."
"Even if you say so, I only know Bucky among those 'Winter Soldiers'," Steve Rogers, dressed as a pilot, responded while flying the plane: "Hydra will never take a weaker person.
People are brainwashed and frozen, so I don’t have much confidence in dealing with six of them by myself.”
"So you still have a certain degree of confidence?" Natasha, who was sitting on the other side of the cabin, answered: "There is good news, captain, the coordinates of our destination are no-man's land for hundreds of kilometers, even if we put the sky above
Drilling a hole would not attract the attention of Russian intelligence."
"What's the bad news?" Steve asked.
"I didn't say there was bad news," Natasha paused: "If I must say it, I don't think there will be a large base in this no-man's land that can freeze hundreds of soldiers at most. What you get
The coordinates may be wrong, Captain."
"Just take it as a break," Steve said with a smile in his voice: "Tony's big plan has messed up SHIELD. No matter who among us stays in New York, there will be a lot of trouble."
"Poor Coulson, after a large number of 'lizards' were picked out, all the vacated positions fell on his head," Natasha said: "It is said that the Security Council intends to promote him to deputy director.
But as we all know, it’s the deputy who does the work.”
"Indeed." Steve responded.
"...Hey, don't think that I don't know what you are implying," Stark said: "The development of Stark Industries depends entirely on my genius brain, but this time I deliberately took time out -"
"[There is a large entity underground five kilometers ahead, and the entrance has been marked for you, Mr. Rogers,]" Jarvis's voice came from the steel armor: "[No defensive weapons have been detected yet, but for safety reasons
For consideration, please park your vehicle one hundred meters away from the entrance.】"
"...Okay, you're right." Stark shrugged.
——
The "Winter Soldier Secret Base" itself is located underground, and its entrance is located on the leeward side of a low rocky mountain. From the outside, it looks like an old air raid shelter. The huge circular gear iron door is stained with rust, and it seems that it has not been opened for a long time.
There are also three huge numbers spray-painted on it: "111".
"I hope this number is random," Stark raised his hand for Jarvis to scan the way to open the door: "If there are at least a hundred bases of Winter Soldiers, we may have to call for backup."
"It's true that I didn't hit it casually, but this number is not the number of the secret base in the same series, but just the total number." Steve circled around the door: "I have destroyed several bases with two-digit numbers in Europe.
Their functions and internal uses are different, but structurally—"
Creaking——
After Steve turned a large rocker handle twice, the huge gear door slid aside with a harsh noise.
"[There is no electronic lock on the gate, it is manual, sir.]" Jarvis' analysis came belatedly.
"Will cryonics technology exist in such a backward gate?" Stark seemed a little annoyed.
"[According to analysis, the internal facilities of this base are twenty years more advanced than the external structure,]" Jarvis replied: "[To be precise, it is equivalent to the technology of around 1970, sir.]"
"..."
In order to avoid the anger of Stark who was ruined by his smart butler, Steve and Natasha looked at each other and walked into the underground base quickly in unison.
——
"This is...'The Winter Soldier'?"
After passing through the long-abandoned living room, dormitory, kitchen, and entertainment room, the three of them arrived at the only "sleep hall" that was still functioning normally.
This huge underground hall looks like an oversized beehive as a whole. In the center is a circular platform housing thirteen dormant chambers, and dozens or hundreds of dormant chambers are divided into different distances like soldiers guarding a general.
The layers surround the circular platform.
"If we hadn't known in advance that the 'Winter Soldiers' here were all captured and brainwashed by Hydra, we might have thought that this was some kind of resting place for great warriors," Stark muttered in a low voice, and then said
: "Jarvis?"
"[Except for the six dormant chambers that are still running on the central platform, there are no signs of life inside the other equipment, sir.]" Jarvis replied.
"Obviously, it is discovered that the Hydra here does not have the ability to update and maintain them. They will only perform awakening and freezing operations according to the manual left long ago. The mistakes and losses that occurred in the process... They
I don't care at all." Stark shook his head.
"Bucky..." "Wait, Captain."
While Stark was still sighing at the array of sleep chambers in front of him, Steve had already rushed to the central platform, and Natasha was chasing after him.
"Barnes...Barnes..." Soon, Steve found his target, a nameplate with the name he had been chanting in his mind all the way. However, because the fog in the cryo-sleep cabin was relatively thick, he
I couldn't see what was going on inside through the face window, so I started trying to unfreeze it.
"I hope you still remember that these 'Winter Soldiers' will be our enemies when they wake up," Stark walked behind the hurried Captain America and looked at the dormant cabin he selected: "If you want to give your friend a
I'll laugh for a whole year if I get punched to the ground after being hugged."
"Of course I remember," Steve replied: "And, as we agreed, all the technology found here will be given to you for reference."
"At present, it seems that I am at a big loss. The technical content of these things is not as good as an ordinary refrigerator on the market," Stark said with disinterest: "Even if Hydra once owned the 'Cosmic Cube', it may not be available to everyone."
Every invention uses technology related to it.”
At this time, Steve didn't know what he had done by mistake. The sleep chamber in front of him made an electronic sound and began to display images on an old-fashioned electronic screen.
“[Winter Soldier ‘James Buchanan Barnes’, number 004, number of activations: 17]”
"[Latest activation time, December 16, 1991,]"
"[Latest mission performed: Assassination of Howard Stark, founder of Stark Industries.]"
"..."
The dormitory hall suddenly fell into dead silence.
