Hearing the news from the theater, Natasha was about to leave—
but suddenly, something struck her.
She quickly reopened the theater system and played the two clips again.
In the footage, after Steve Rogers entered the elevator with his back to the camera, as the doors slowly closed, two blurry figures appeared in the distance behind him.
Natasha asked the system to magnify that section, and after getting a positive response, she carefully compared the two figures.
One was Linen, wearing a judge's robe and mask.
The other was also dressed as a judge— but this time, Linen wasn't wearing a mask.
"Two Linens?"
The discovery sent chills down her spine.
How was that possible?
How could there be two Linens in the same shot?
Zooming in further on the unmasked Linen, Natasha noticed he looked noticeably older— more mature than the Linen she knew.
"So… the unmasked Linen came from the future using a time machine? That would mean Steve—the one who said 'Hail Hydra' in the elevator—also came from the future?"
The thought only deepened her confusion.
What exactly happened in the future that led to the deaths of billions, forcing them all to use a time machine to go back to the past?
With questions swirling in her mind, Natasha left the theater and called Nick Fury.
At Tony Stark's villa.
After leaving the theater, Steve Rogers let out a long breath, but the hollow ache in his heart didn't fade.
Just as he reached for a glass of water, he noticed Tony Stark, sitting across from him, staring with a strange expression.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked.
"'Hail Hydra?'" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Damn, are you Hydra now?"
Steve chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, Tony. If I were Hydra, I wouldn't have crushed the Red Skull's plans seventy years ago— or flown that plane into the ice."
"Tsk, who knows?" Tony muttered. "Maybe you did it on purpose. Maybe you're a different kind of Hydra— one who didn't agree with Red Skull's ideology. Maybe you just wanted to replace him!"
Steve smiled helplessly. "I have to say, Tony, you've got quite the imagination. You sound just like your father."
Hearing his father mentioned, Tony fell silent. He thought back to the video— to Howard saying he'd do anything for him.
Both men drifted into thought— one thinking of Peggy, the other of his father.
Neither had any interest in continuing the conversation until Nick Fury's face suddenly appeared on the comm screen.
"You two didn't start fighting because of Rogers' 'Hail Hydra', did you?" Fury asked.
Steve smirked, and Tony shrugged. "Come on, Fury. We just found out there's a deep-cover Hydra captain sitting right next to us. What are you waiting for? Send a team to capture him."
"Don't joke around, Tony," Fury said sternly. "I just spoke with Natasha. She believes that both of you— the Steve Rogers and Tony Stark seen in those clips—traveled back from the future using a time machine."
"This matches what we saw earlier— someone's snap wiping out billions of people in the future."
"Natasha speculates that maybe the two of you went back to the past to find a way to save them."
"If that's true," Steve said, nodding, "it would make sense. In that future, I already knew Rumlow and Sitwell were Hydra. Saying 'Hail Hydra' to them would've been the easiest way to get the scepter."
"But Tony," Steve continued, "you went back even earlier to retrieve the Cosmic Cube. Could the Cube's energy really bring back billions of people?"
"Not sure," Fury replied. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has never fully deciphered the Cube's properties. But the energy it contains is massive— enough to destroy the Earth if misused."
He paused, his voice growing heavier.
"Also, from the clips we've seen, five years after the disappearance of billions, Natasha told Linen— crying— that it was his warning that made her destroy S.H.I.E.L.D., after realizing it was compromised."
"Now, after seeing your conversation with Sitwell and Rumlow, I'm certain— Hydra has been embedded inside S.H.I.E.L.D. all along."
Fury let out a dry laugh. "And to think— I was director for all those years, and never noticed those damn snakes hiding under my nose."
"Wait," Tony interrupted suddenly. "How exactly did Natasha figure out that the Steve in the video was also from the future? The footage didn't make that clear. The only proof of time travel is from my clip with my father."
"I didn't catch it at first either," Fury explained. "But Natasha noticed something— in one corner of the video, there were two Linens talking to each other. And one of them looked much older."
Tony blinked. "Hiss… how did I miss that?"
He turned to Steve. "Did you notice it?"
"Nope," Steve admitted. "I was too focused on hearing myself say 'Hail Hydra'."
Tony smirked. "Tsk… Still, I can't help thinking you're secretly Hydra's captain."
Steve just shook his head, smiling faintly.
Fury's voice came through again. "By the way, Coulson just reported that a few guys in strange clothes found Thor today. Looks like they're his friends."
"Maybe they can help him reclaim the hammer that fell from the sky."
"Asgardians?" Tony asked, suddenly intrigued. "Besides Thor, I've never met another one. Maybe I should take a trip to New Mexico— see if these Gods of Asgard are really as powerful as he claims."
Steve shot him a look. "Tony, our current task is to deal with those politicians and criminals backing the Blood Parrot Gang. As for the Asgardians— we'll have plenty of chances to meet them later."
"Fine, fine," Tony said with a sigh.
Thinking about their next move, his expression turned serious again.
After all— dealing with those damn beasts was what mattered most right now.
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