CHAPTER 232: HYDRA PURGE PLAN

"Just call me Steve, and I’ll call you Tony. After all, in my mind, I’m still not even thirty," Steve said with a slightly bitter smile.

He was truly surprised that the son of an old friend had come looking for him on his own. Ever since he found out that Peggy, the woman he had loved, had married someone else after his disappearance, Steve had avoided looking up anyone from his past. The changes time had brought were still hard for him to face.

"Want something to drink?" Steve asked as he led Tony into the living room and opened the fridge.

"Coke. I know the Vought staff keep the basics stocked in the apartment," Tony responded casually.

"Looks like you’ve got ties to LexCorp too," Steve remarked.

He didn’t mind. Given Howard’s achievements during World War II, it was no surprise that the Stark family had become something much greater over the years. He’d already guessed that when he agreed to Tony’s visit.

Steve placed an open bottle of Coke in front of Tony, then grabbed his own preferred drink: a glass full of raw eggs.

"You’re seriously drinking that?" Tony blurted out, watching as the man downed at least eight raw eggs in one go. Trying to ignore his own discomfort, he took a large gulp of Coke to reset his stomach.

"Raw eggs. Healthy stuff. Want some?" Steve offered.

"No thanks. Half-a-century-old health tips aren’t really my thing," Tony waved his hand quickly.

Having already realized that he and this oversized popsicle probably didn’t share anything in common, he got straight to the point.

"I’m not here to catch up. You were frozen long before I was even born. We’ve got nothing in common."

"I know," Steve nodded. He was aware there really wasn’t anything for them to talk about. But the next moment, he saw Tony placing a gift box on the table in front of him.

"This thing sat in my family’s storage for a long time. Looking at it now, I think the old man always meant it for you."

"A gift... from Howard?" Steve didn’t hesitate. He opened the box, and the sight inside was a familiar one.

It was was a shield made of adamantium.

Steve wasn’t without a shield. When LexCorp pulled him from the glacier, they had also recovered his original one. He’d been using it ever since, upholding the image of the classic shield-bearing hero. But after all the battles during World War II and more recently with LexCorp’s smuggled energy weapons, that thing was now worn and battered.

This new shield, however, was flawless. Never used.

"This is..."

"Yeah. Dad worked on it from the day he retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. He kept tinkering with it. Nobody knew what he was thinking. But now, it seems like he always believed you’d come back. I finished the last part of it for him."

As Steve stared at the shield, that lingering feeling of being out of place in this era finally faded. Even in this new time, he still had people who remembered him. He wasn’t someone the world had completely forgotten.

"How’s Howard?" Steve asked quietly. He wanted to visit him, to see his old friend again.

"You’re too late."

That sentence made his heart tighten.

"A few years ago, dad passed away. Couldn’t stop thinking about mom. Eventually, he went to be with her. Though if you ask me, he’s probably just barely qualified to watch the gates in heaven."

"Howard... is dead...?" Steve looked crushed, like all the energy had left his body. What he thought was a token of friendship across time had turned out to be a parting gift from a friend long gone.

"He was murdered."

Just as Steve was about to ask where Howard had been buried so he could pay his respects, Tony’s next words hit him like a thunderbolt.

"Who did it?!" He demanded, shooting to his feet. He could deal with the idea that his old friends had passed naturally with time. But murder? That was something else entirely.

Tony didn’t answer the question right away. He looked Steve dead in the eyes, making him feel uneasy inside.

"Are you really ready to avenge dad? You should know, I’ve spent all these years chasing every lead, and I still came up empty. It’s clear someone out there is making sure the truth stays buried. I don’t want you becoming another obstacle."

"Of course I’m ready," Steve said firmly. "Maybe this is the reason I woke up. I will find out who killed Howard. I swear it."

Only after that promise did Tony finally nod. "Then remember what you said today. On December 16th, 1991..."

He explained how the attack had happened. Howard and Maria were ambushed. Thanks to Alfred’s sudden intervention, Howard had barely survived. But Maria didn’t make it.

Howard lived on for a few more years, just long enough to see Tony take over Stark Industries. After that, with nothing left to hold on to, he followed Maria.

"So Hydra still exists..." Steve clenched his fists. He thought defeating Red Skull had ended it. But apparently, the remnants of Hydra had kept going, eating away at everything Howard and Peggy had spent their lives fighting for.

Even Howard, in the end, had fallen victim to Hydra’s attack.

"Tony, if you’ve tracked Hydra this far, then you must have some idea about who was the one carrying out the ambush, right? Let’s start there. We can follow the trail, piece by piece."

Steve’s thoughts moved fast. He already had a plan forming. But Tony didn’t give him the name.

"This isn’t something I should be the one to tell you. Go ask Vought. Their hero support division has access to more data than the Pentagon."

* * *

Tony left shortly after, but before he did, he gave Steve his contact info so he could come by his house anytime.

Once he was gone, Steve called Vought’s Hero Support Division.

"Why didn’t anyone tell me Hydra is still around?" he questioned coldly.

"Please calm down, Captain," replied the voice on the other end. "Based on our data and analysis, now is not the optimal time to restart a Hydra purge."

"You’re wrong. The time is now. I want a list of suspects involved in the attack on Howard. And I want full cooperation with this investigation."

The line was quiet for a few seconds.

"Understood. We’ve reactivated the Hydra investigation program. We’ll begin collecting intelligence globally. As for the attack on Howard Stark, the culprit’s identity was uncovered by Tony Stark years ago."

"Name."

"Former Howling Commandos member. Born in Brooklyn. Comrade of Captain America during World War II. James Buchanan Barnes."

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