[Mission Completed: Save Erskine.]
[Reward: Heat Vision Thermal Output Doubled.]
As the system's cold voice echoed in his mind, Jeno looked at the two headless corpses, thinking of testing its power.
Might as well put these wastes to use.
Red light flared in his eyes as he activated his Heat Vision again. Cannonball-sized beams shot from his pupils, instantly vaporizing half of both Hydra agents' bodies.
Instantly, the acrid smell of charred flesh filled the room. The searing light even melted the steel plates, pierced through the concrete floor, and blasted a crater several meters deep.
As for the two bodies? Long liquefied by the extreme heat into a solidified, blackish-brown sludge stuck to the ground.
"Ugh!"
Witnessing this brutal scene, many people immediately doubled over and vomited.
Carter rushed over and grabbed Jeno's arm. "Jeno, stop! They're already dead!"
"Huff, sorry. Maybe I'm just not used to my newly awakened powers yet?"
Jeno threw out a casual lie, then turned to Dr. Erskine. "Doctor, I'm glad to see you're safe."
Dr. Erskine stood there, mouth agape, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.
He stepped forward and patted Jeno's arm, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"You... are you really Jeno? My serum shouldn't be this powerful..."
As a scientist, Dr. Erskine was meticulous. His Super-Soldier Serum was designed to turn an ordinary person into a peak human. But even the Red Skull, who had previously used a version of the serum, couldn't stop bullets with his bare skin or shoot lasers from his eyes!
This simply wasn't scientific!
"Heh, maybe people's constitutions are just different."
Jeno cracked a cold joke. "Like, some people can only throw one punch in a second, while others can throw five lightning-fast punches in a row."
Jeno lied again. Erskine nodded thoughtfully, temporarily accepting this explanation.
BANG!
At that moment, the other chamber door opened. A now taller Steve Rogers, sporting an eight-pack, stumbled out of the experimental pod.
"Steve!" Erskine hurried over. "Can you... shoot lasers from your eyes?"
The reborn Steve looked confused by the bizarre question. He shook his head. "Shoot lasers from my eyes? No, I can't."
Steve just marveled at his own robust body, muttering, "I feel... full of strength all over."
Erskine looked baffled. Could it really be, as Jeno said, that people's constitutions differed?
Just then, Colonel Phillips arrived with the senator, heading straight for Jeno.
The senator sized Jeno up and down, nodding incessantly. "Oh, holy shit! We have ourselves a Super-Soldier now!"
Colonel Phillips grinned. "Ready to serve your country on the front lines, son?"
Having witnessed Jeno's power, the senator beside him abandoned any thought of sending Jeno to sell war bonds. Instead, his eyes turned to Steve. This young man looked fit, and... well, he had a nice posterior. Perhaps he was better suited for bond sales.
"Always ready, sir."
Jeno grinned, flashing pearly white teeth, looking every bit the sunny, cheerful young man.
"Wait, Colonel! I want to serve my country too!"
Steve, panicking, hurriedly stopped the colonel, flexing his arm to show off his muscle. "I can fight on the battlefield too!"
Phillips glanced at the muscular Steve, then pointed to the senator. "Sorry, Steve. There's a more... suitable position for you here."
Faced with a choice between a super-soldier who could shoot eye lasers and stop bullets and a merely peak human super-soldier, he chose the former.
"Come on, Steve. I'll take you to the Pentagon." The portly senator smiled and led Steve away.
After they left, Phillips looked at Jeno with satisfaction.
"Excellent! That's the spirit!"
Phillips clapped Jeno on the shoulder approvingly, only to feel like he was slapping solid steel. Rubbing his sore hand, he continued, "I plan to assemble a special task force under your command."
[New Mission: Use the Strategic Scientific Reserve to form 'The Boys'.]
[Reward: Super Durability Upgrade.]
Receiving the mission, Jeno narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Hmm. Does the Colonel have any candidates in mind?"
Jeno asked. "If they're too weak, they'll only hold the team back. So, we should find some... individuals with special abilities to join."
In the past, a mere private like Jeno wouldn't have had the right to negotiate terms with Colonel Phillips. But now...
With power, his backbone was stiff. He could say whatever he wanted.
"You mean... you want to personally select the team members and form the squad?"
Phillips, an old fox, caught Jeno's implication.
In the past,
He would have simply ordered Jeno to obey. But after seeing Jeno's power, Phillips felt Jeno had a point.
Jeno nodded. "Exactly. We need strong individuals for the team, not ordinary soldiers."
Phillips looked deeply at Jeno, then broke into a smile.
"Alright. I'll provide you with a list of candidates. You make the final selection."
With that,
The Colonel left with the senator to deliver the good news to the President.
Meanwhile, Peggy arrived with a forensics team in white rubber gloves. They approached the two smoldering remains, hoping to find some clues.
"Don't waste your time. They were Hydra assassins."
Jeno stopped Peggy. The English Rose gave him a coquettish eye-roll. "How do you know?"
Jeno looked Peggy up and down with a hint of a smirk. "Because before I killed them, I used my X-ray vision on them. Those guys had Hydra coins in their pockets."
"Though, the coins were reduced to ash by my Heat Vision."
Jeno shrugged with an 'oops, my bad' expression.
But Peggy's focus was elsewhere. The woman instinctively covered her chest, then quickly realized there was more than just her chest...
"You can see through things!?"
The little rose glared at Jeno, both embarrassed and annoyed. "Can you turn it off?"
"Of course. I'm a man of principle. I haven't used my X-ray vision to look at you."
Jeno stared at Peggy with a perfectly straight face, talking nonsense.
The English Rose eyed Jeno suspiciously. She had a feeling he wasn't telling the truth.
"What? You have X-ray vision too?"
Dr. Erskine, having recovered from the ordeal, popped up, leading a swarm of scientists to surround Jeno.
Erskine's eyes sparkled. "Besides X-ray vision, what other abilities do you have?"
"Hmm, abilities?" Jeno glanced at Peggy, then smiled. "Quite a few. Like flying, super hearing, super vision, and being bulletproof."
Peggy suddenly felt as if Jeno had seen right through her. Shooting him an annoyed look, she turned and walked away.
"My God, this is... this is simply marvelous!"
Erskine could hardly believe Jeno had become so powerful. He looked at Jeno with hopeful eyes. "Could I... take a blood sample?"
Jeno's expression turned odd. "You can try."
Several doctors produced syringes and tried to pierce Jeno's skin.
But the fine needles met what felt like a steel plate, bending and twisting, utterly unable to penetrate.
"Heh, seems current technology can't extract my blood samples. My apologies."
Jeno chuckled, withdrawing his arm.
Truthfully, he could probably draw his own blood if he tried, but Jeno had no intention of handing his blood over to the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Who knew what they might do with it?
"Jeno."
Colonel Phillips had returned to the base unnoticed, holding a stack of files.
"These are a few potential squad members I've selected for you."
The Colonel handed Jeno the stack.
Since it concerned his system mission, Jeno began flipping through the files seriously.
"Logan Howlett."
[Age: Unknown.]
[Characteristics: Extreme Regeneration. Can rapidly heal from any fatal injury.]
[Personality: Brutal, Fierce.]
[Currently imprisoned in Alberta, Canada, for conspiring with Victor Creed to kill a military superior.]
Jeno looked at the bearded, rugged man in the file photo.
Wasn't this the future, famously indestructible Wolverine?
Jeno flipped to another file.
"Victor Creed."
[Age: Unknown.]
[Characteristics: Extreme Regeneration. Can rapidly recover from any injury.]
[Personality: Bloodthirsty, Brutal. Suspected of suffering from PTSD. Extremely Dangerous!]
[Instigated fellow soldier Logan Howlett to kill their commanding officer. Currently imprisoned in Alberta, Canada.]