"Alex, what's going on out there?"
"Why was there such intense gunfire?"
After answering Alex's earlier question, Raven finally asked the thing that had been bugging her from the start.
"Raven, that's exactly what I was about to tell you."
Alex stopped in his tracks. Raven noticed and halted in front of him as well.
The two of them stood just outside the small door, neither making a move to step out.
"I may have accidentally gotten myself caught up in some trouble," Alex said with a helpless shrug.
Raven instantly tensed. "What kind of trouble? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, no need to worry. Maybe I phrased that poorly—it's not exactly trouble."
"Put simply, while you were inside looking for Caliban, a team of agents outside just happened to be carrying out a mission."
Raven couldn't help but roll her eyes.
So that's where all the gunfire came from.
Talk about a coincidence—what a mess, and it was all just a random occurrence?
"But what does that have to do with you?"
Still, Raven knew it couldn't be that simple and pressed him further.
"Well, as luck would have it, Howard Stark got caught in the crossfire too…"
"Howard Stark? The Howard Stark?" Raven looked genuinely stunned. A man of that stature, in a place like this?
"Yep, that Howard Stark. I recognized him and figured I might as well help him out."
"What I didn't expect was that he turned out to be the head of those agents."
As he said that, Alex took out the business card Howard had given him and handed it to Raven.
Raven felt like her brain had short-circuited.
The nationally renowned billionaire… was actually a high-ranking official in some long-named but mysteriously impressive intelligence agency?
"So yeah, as you can guess, I've got to go make a statement or something."
Alex tucked the card back into his pocket.
Raven understood the drill and didn't press him further.
"Okay then, head back first. I'll catch up once I'm done here."
With a wave, Alex said goodbye to Raven.
She headed back to the Xavier Estate, while Alex followed Howard Stark and his men to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
Well, technically it wasn't yet called S.H.I.E.L.D.
Back then, it was still known by its full name: the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
They didn't even have a proper base of their own yet. The facility they were using belonged to the 78th Artillery Regiment of the Army's naval division.
It wasn't exactly famous, but it held significant weight in the Marvel universe.
Because this was the birthplace of Captain America.
And the first operational base of what would eventually become the largest intelligence agency on Earth.
Howard's private car rolled slowly into the compound. Alex looked out the window, everything seeming oddly familiar.
It felt exactly like that scene in Avengers: Endgame, when Cap and Iron Man traveled back in time to retrieve the Tesseract.
"Curious about this place? You wondering whether this is where Rogers was born too?"
Howard, seated beside him, chuckled at Alex's obvious interest. "If you're a diehard Captain America fan, you might be a little disappointed by my answer."
"This isn't Rogers' birthplace. Come on, who gets born in a place like this?"
"In truth, this is where Captain America—the title—was born."
"At the time, we were brainstorming names for Steve. Super Captain, Miracle Soldier, Mister Super… and finally, he picked Captain America."
"Somehow, rumors twisted over time into this being his actual birthplace."
Alex hadn't expected such a story behind the iconic name.
By then, the convoy had stopped, and everyone began to disembark.
Alex glanced around but didn't see Anton Vanko.
He asked curiously, "Your friend didn't come with us?"
"First off, he's not my friend. And second, this isn't a place just anyone can stroll into." Howard clapped Alex on the shoulder.
Anton Vanko wasn't officially working with S.H.I.E.L.D., and Howard had other plans for him.
"Alright, let's go!"
Howard called out and started walking toward the main building.
BOOM!
Before they got very far, a sudden explosion erupted.
A shockwave followed, rippling through the ground beneath their feet.
Ordinarily, such a violent blast would've sent everyone into chaos. But to Alex's surprise, the people at the base simply glanced toward the source of the explosion, then shook their heads helplessly—no panic, no screaming.
Some didn't even blink, remaining as calm as seasoned veterans.
CLANG!
From the direction of the blast, a metal door creaked open.
Out rushed a short, bespectacled figure, coughing violently and waving away the smoke.
He looked a total mess—covered in soot, coughing like crazy, the very image of disaster.
"It's him!"
Alex recognized the man instantly and understood what had just happened.
Arnim Zola!
The one who'd come out was none other than Arnim Zola—Red Skull's former top scientist!
After the Red Skull's fall, Zola had been captured by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predecessor, and successfully "turned" by Agent Carter.
He was now, at least on paper, a respected scientist working for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Of course, all of that was a front.
No one knew that Zola remained a fanatical Hydra loyalist to the very end—even after his death, he kept working for Hydra. Truly committed.
But politics aside, Arnim Zola was undoubtedly a top-tier scientist.
Why else would Hydra go to such lengths to preserve his brain after his death?
Even just looking at the weapons developed from the Tesseract, they were leagues ahead of their time.
Clearly, today's explosion was another one of Zola's "scientific experiments."
And judging by everyone's reaction, this wasn't the first time he'd blown something up.
"Zola, everything alright?" Howard shouted over.
"I'm fine! Just a minor accident! Everything's under control!" Zola waved dismissively before diving back into the smoke-filled lab.
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