Rory rubbed his chin, feeling almost no pain.
Then he smiled, a very casual smile.
"Steve, do you still remember that line: 'You think you're fighting for us? You're only fighting for yourself, and who can avenge those dead civilians?'"
Steve froze for a second upon hearing those words.
"Superheroes create trouble, then eliminate trouble, and finally reap the applause and adulation of the masses. And ordinary people? What do they get? Shock, fear, the loss of property, and even their families. Isn't that ironic?"
Steve clenched his fists and said solemnly, "Where there is war, there are sacrifices. All we can do is help more people in need."
"Oh? Is that so?" Rory burst out laughing. "So I'm just the one who can be sacrificed? You really are a hypocrite."
Steve remained silent, refusing to answer the question.
Rory shook his head. "First of all, I was just doing experimental research, not doing anything bad. Yet you decided I was a bad guy, obstructed me at every turn, and even shut down my experiment for no reason."
"You have no idea how much effort I poured into this experiment. I'll tell you this: if I really do turn into a bad guy, Steve Rogers, you certainly deserve some of the credit."
Rory didn't know whether Steve's mask of justice was genuine or fake, but he knew Steve definitely believed himself to be on the side of righteousness.
This kind of ranting was practically meaningless. Rory wasn't trying to change Steve's mind, nor could he; he just wanted to vent the frustration burning inside him.
Steve stepped forward. "Saying all this now is pointless. You got what you wanted, and all I can do is help you use your abilities correctly."
"Ha!" Rory couldn't help scoffing. "Who the hell do you think you are? People call you Captain, and you actually think you're the incarnation of justice?"
"Come back with me. It's better for both you and me—I don't want to lay a hand on you." Steve Rogers always spoke with an air of self-righteousness.
Rory chuckled. "You might not want to, but I do!"
Although the experiment had been forcibly interrupted, Rory had still received the corresponding enhancement. He was now even half a head taller than Steve.
His muscles were taut and brimming with explosive power, yet he didn't look like the muscle-bound powerhouse that Captain America was.
He was itching to test out what kind of level he was at now.
*Whoosh.*
Rory moved fast, and Captain America was just as quick.
Ducking narrowly out of the way of Rory's punch to the face, Steve sidestepped and threw a right hook at Rory's left ribs.
*Smack.*
The punch didn't connect; Rory blocked it instead.
Rory had never learned any combat techniques, but a natural fighting instinct seemed to run through his body.
This instinct didn't belong to him—it belonged to Thanos.
Having his punch blocked completely caught Steve off guard. Refusing to believe it, he launched another attack: three consecutive punches and a kick, all of which Rory dodged or parried.
Rory's strength and speed surpassed Steve in almost every aspect, and he possessed the super-combat instincts of Thanos deep within his body.
Yet Steve managed to fight him to a dead even match.
He truly lived up to his legendary reputation.
Rory felt no pressure at all, but the longer they fought, the more alarmed Steve became.
In Steve's eyes, Rory's fighting skills were improving at a terrifying pace. From easily handling him at the start to now barely managing to parry, it had only taken two or three minutes. Steve even had the illusion that he was fighting Thanos in single combat.
He couldn't help shouting, "Rory, where did you get that serum from? Was it Thanos?"
"What do you think?" Rory chuckled.
Bolstered by his fighting instincts, Rory grew more and more fluid with every strike, even starting to relish the thrill of combat.
*Bang... Crash...*
Without his shield, Steve's combat effectiveness dropped by at least thirty percent. Relying solely on his fists and feet, he could inflict almost no damage on Rory—at most, it stung just a little bit.
So that was it... The shield was the absolute prerequisite for Captain America to hold his own in a fight?
From being cautious at the beginning to now throwing wide, uninhibited blows, Rory let loose and landed punch after punch squarely on flesh.
*Boom.*
A swift punch struck Steve right in the face.
Steve's head snapped back as he flew backward, a streak of blood spraying from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
Rory didn't press the attack. Standing in place, he looked at his powerful fists and mocked, "Steve, you know, I originally wanted to become a superhero just like you guys. But after spending time around you, I've realized being a superhero is completely overrated."
Steve wiped the blood from his lips, struggling for a good while before picking himself up off the ground.
"I can do this all day..."
Those words seemed to carry a buff; every time Steve uttered them, he would receive some kind of assistance.
This time was no exception.
*Bang.*
A bullet struck the ground right by Rory's feet.
Peggy Carter stood not far away, pointing her gun and shouting, "Stay right where you are, or the next bullet will blow your brains out!"
If it were Thanos, forget a pistol—he wouldn't even fear a nuclear bomb.
If Thanos could be compared to a luxury, fully-furnished super-mansion over a thousand square meters, then Rory right now was at most a forty-five-square-meter unfinished studio apartment.
Their functions were the same—both were meant to house someone—but the gap between them was unimaginably vast.
Therefore, Rory had no idea whether he could actually take a bullet.
"Peggy, grab him!"
Now wasn't the time to play the hero. Lacking his shield, Steve was no longer a match for Rory; he needed Peggy Carter's help.
By then, the agents had all rushed into the laboratory as well, slowly closing in on Rory under Peggy Carter's orders.
Rory gave a cold smile, looked at Steve, and said, "Old Ice Cube, you have 'freedom and justice' constantly on your lips, and when you woke up you still had that damn 'I represent the moral ceiling of humanity' look on your face. You're the universe's only terminal case of five-star holier-than-thou syndrome. I hope you remember everything that happens today, because you're going to pay for everything that follows!"
Shouting about justice while committing acts that violated its principles; shouting about freedom while trying to restrict the freedom of others.
Hearing those words, Steve's face looked as foul as a sewer that hadn't been cleaned in fifty years.
Just as he opened his mouth to retort, Rory suddenly bolted, moving as fast as a supercar.
As he passed the workbench, he casually hit a switch.
Following a deafening *boom*, Rory smashed a hole straight through the wall, leaped out, and plunged headfirst into the Hudson River.
By the time Steve chased him to the riverbank, Rory had long since vanished without a trace.
Peggy Carter pulled out her walkie-talkie and issued commands: "Call the Coast Guard to search along the shoreline, and notify the New York Police Department to issue a city-wide APB for Rory."
After making her arrangements, Peggy Carter walked over to Steve, who was standing in a daze by the water's edge, and said, "Steve, can you tell me about him..."
Before Peggy Carter could finish, an explosion erupted behind them.
"Boom... Rumble..."
A thick plume of black smoke billowed into the sky, and the factory serving as their laboratory instantly turned into a pile of ruins.
Steve turned his head to stare at the raging, fire-engulfed ruins and sighed, "He destroyed all the experimental data. How clever."
"I'll have people thoroughly comb through the wreckage. Hopefully, we can find some useful information."
The fire department arrived and quickly brought the flames under control. While putting out the fire, the torrents of water washed away every single blood sample inside the laboratory.
Aside from some shattered experimental glassware and scrap metal, the SSR failed to salvage a single shred of experimental data.