Chapter 57: Shield

A long day passed — night fell and the morning sun rose.

Steve managed to gather many soldiers from the rescue mission in priori and formed a robust and capable force.

Maybe it was his personal charm, one who had an innate sense of justice borne in the role of a captain. It was his affinity, inborn too.

At noon, a helicopter landed at the training base and Fury stepped out, chest bulged out. He looked around in a daze, unsure why he'd been transferred. Only thing he knew was the commander informing him to dispatch an important instruction and had him rush to the helicopter with a package immediately.

"Just do your job, Fury," he whispered to himself.

"Fury, you've come safe and sound!"

Fury heard a familiar voice from behind. Curious, he turned around. His eyes bulged and mouth wide open. "Kyle...?"

"Call me Sir," Kyle replied with a straight face and pointed to the emblem rank on his chest.

"Yes, Second Lieutenant," Fury grumbled, "Did you authorize to have me moved?"

Fury wasn't too surprised. He already knew Kyle was promoted to second lieutenant because of his heroic actions at the front lines.

"What do you think? Apart from me, who would deliberately use military authority to mobilize you?" Kyle shrugged.

"Haaaah... what am I doing here? I don't think I'd want to go to war with you." Fury's voice trembled faintly. Though his last campaign with Kyle won him the rank of staff sergeant, Kyle was a wild and crazy kid with unpredictable actions. It was safe to label him a war maniac.

"It's not the front lines," Kyle comforted Fury.

Fury was ready to relax, but Kyle's next sentence left him out of breath.

"It's to enter the enemy base... attack the German factory base... a total of 6 places..."

"You're dragging me into this?!" Fury was anything but depressed. He wanted nothing more than to vomit blood.

"I deliberately choose you. You have great commanding ability. And it'll improve in the future." Kyle smiled devilishly.

The future director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had no reason to waste his talent in the stalemate frontlines.

***

Base Ground Floor.

The walls of the passageway were dimly lit and divided into research departments where many correspondents and researchers were assigned. There were some ordered to analyze the frontline war zone and research god-knows-what to sway the zone of the battle to their side.

Kyle led Fury further down the basement. Soon as he opened the door of the science strategy department, someone took notice of him and a figure with a faint blue suit quickly greeted him.

"Kyle, you're just in time! What do you think of my new uniform?"

It was Steve. He popped out of nowhere asking for Kyle's opinion.

"Well..."

Kyle's eyes fell on Steve. He wore a tight blue leather suit and was of much better quality and material than what was shown before. His new suit consisted mainly of blue with a conspicuous five silver stars printed on his chest. Steve's also got the mask going on for him. It covered the upper-half of his face.

It was hard to say. The suit was conspicuous, but the true question was... was he going to war with that on?

Kyle complained secretly. The suit was ostentatious enough to attract enemy attention. And to add, Steve was the leader of the time. All fire and attention would be directed towards him.

But...

"It's very good!"

It just also happened to be in line with his name as Captain America... walking in the forefront, stealing all the attention... a true leader, a true captain! It could give soldiers much courage and faith.

"Really? You think so? Steve nodded with satisfaction and smiled sheepishly. Then he noticed Fury standing behind Kyle. "Who's this?"

"Let me introduce you to Fury. I specially requested for Agent Carter to transfer him to our team."

"Hello, my name is Steve Rogers." Steve held out his hand.

It was in this moment that the future director of S.H.I.E.L.D and the Captain America made a handshake, a historic greeting that would go down in history.

And it was Kyle behind it all.

"Kyle, I knew you'd like the suit I made for Captain America. The material I strung together was no ordinary material but of high fiber. It ain't easy to damage. It's got dust and heat resistance, and it's bulletproof! To a certain degree."

Howard walked out of the lab with a smug smile on his face.

"I'll make one for you too, Kyle. The materials just got flown in."

"Oh, that's not necessary, right?" Kyle's mouth twitched. To wear the same uniform as Steve? Oh, he could already imagine the shame he'd need to endure.

"It's a must," Howard said solemnly, "And besides, it's my job in the military to make sure you two Super Soldiers are backed with scientific help."

After Kyle repeatedly refused, he relented with great difficulty and agreed. "Fine, you can make my suit, but the general style needs to be modified according to my requirements."

"That's no problem." Howard nodded. "Oh, I want to show you something."

Howard led the group into his lab, picked up an object wrapped in silk, and placed it in front of the group.

Kyle was the first to bulge his eyes wide open. What he saw was a smooth, disk-shaped shield with metallic texture. Then a message popped up in front of the shield.

[Shield of Captain America]: The manufacturing material is composed of vibranium, gold, and other rare materials. Almost indestructible and extreme resistance to pressure, temperature, radiation, electromagnetic spectrum, and the likes. Prevents the propagation of kinetic energy and includes a perfect aerodynamic characteristic (shield is thrown back to the user after throw).

'It's a rare blue card!'

"This shield was made of accidental synthetic materials. Because the process of material synthesis and the proportion of various components were not clear, I've had trouble creating this type of metal again. This is the only one of its kind."

After the introduction, Howard looked at Kyle and Steve.

'There's only one shield. Who should I give it to?'

It was proper to give it to Steve, the first Super Soldier known in the public eye, but Kyle's clearly the better candidate.

"Kyle..." Before Howard could say anything, Kyle grabbed the shield.

"It's a very good equipment," he sighed, tapping his finger on the hard metallic surface of the shield. "Steve, you use it."

Kyle shoved the shield into Steve's arms, surprising everyone in the room.

"Kyle, this..." Overwhelmed, Steve clasped the shield in his hands.

"It's alright." Kyle slapped Steve on the shoulder. "Aren't brothers supposed to share? Take this shield and don't drag me back on the battlefield."

"Yes, I see!" Steved looked at the shield with determination.

'Good, that's it.'

Kyle smiled. Although the shield was good, it was not suitable for his combat style and the concept of 'attack is defense'.

Besides, how can Steve fight the villain without his righteous shield?

This is what Captain America should do... dress in the most ostentatious uniform with his shield in arms and rush to the front with brevity and bearing.