Chapter 147: Sharon Rogers

Near an air force base outside New York, a military transport plane taxied along the runway for a while before slowly coming to a stop.

Beside the plane, waiting to receive them were Tony Stark's assistant Pepper Potts and his driver and bodyguard Hogan, as well as a beautiful teenage blonde girl.

The cargo door at the rear of the transport plane slowly opened and lowered to the ground. Tony Stark, supported by Dr. Yinsen, walked down the ramp.

Chen Mo and Phil Coulson followed behind them.

The day the two met, Chen Mo's first words almost made the exhausted Tony Stark lunge at him, thinking, "Even though you saved me, you can't take advantage of me!"

Just as Tony Stark glared angrily at Chen Mo's face, he suddenly realized that Chen Mo looked exactly like someone in a photograph at his home. The identity of that person was his godfather, Special Operations Commander Chen Mo.

Unlike Steve, who had once toured extensively as a big star, performing and even making movies, there weren't many images left of Chen Mo. Although his later fame was no less than that of Captain America Steve Rogers, the impression he left on the world was more of a mysterious figure clad in black steel armor, wielding a sword and shield.

The photograph in Tony Stark's home was one of the few surviving pictures of Chen Mo that showed his face.

Due to the passage of time, coupled with his near physical collapse and a muddled brain, Tony Stark didn't recognize Chen Mo immediately upon seeing him.

However, that photograph was taken seventy years ago, and Chen Mo looked almost exactly the same now as he did in the picture. Compared to accepting that the person before him was Chen Mo, who had disappeared for seventy years, Tony Stark was more inclined to believe it was someone who looked exactly alike.

But the fact that Chen Mo was his godfather was a private decision made by the two of them back then, and very few people knew about it. He didn't think that the person who saved him would claim to be his father just to take advantage of him.

This complex situation made Tony Stark's already muddled brain even more confused, and the dizziness intensified, making it impossible for him to figure things out for the moment.

Tony simply decided to temporarily put aside his doubts and, supported by the young man who claimed to be his father, staggered onto the helicopter.

After returning to Bagram Airfield and undergoing some rest and treatment, Tony Stark finally recovered.

From Yinsen, he learned that only three people had gone to the terrorist base to rescue him that day. The special forces team he had thought eliminated all the terrorists was actually just Chen Mo alone.

Those terrorists were equipped with the most advanced weapons from his own Stark Industries. Although their personnel quality was somewhat lacking, their absolute numerical advantage of over a hundred people, combined with advanced equipment and powerful firepower, made it unimaginable how one person could have eliminated them all.

He had only heard of such inhumanly powerful combat effectiveness from his father, Howard, and even the fighting style was so similar.

When he was young, Howard had often told him the legendary stories of his godfather, the Special Operations Commander.

Charging alone into a Hydra base, amidst the siege of hundreds of enemies, he moved as if in an uninhabited land, single-handedly destroying the well-equipped and powerful Hydra legion. His combat power alone surpassed that of the entire special operations team.

As far as he knew, besides Chen Mo, no one else possessed such astonishingly powerful strength. Even Captain America Steve Rogers was inferior.

This made Tony Stark begin to believe that the young man who looked exactly like the person in the photograph was indeed his godfather.

And what Agent Phil Coulson told him afterward completely cleared his doubts and made him fully accept Chen Mo's identity.

It turned out that Chen Mo hadn't died after his plane crashed into the sea back then, but had been frozen in the ice.

Not long ago, that Hydra super bomber was discovered by an expedition team. They subsequently found the frozen Chen Mo inside and dug him out.

And the first place Chen Mo went after waking up was the Chinese martial arts gym in Brooklyn, New York.

Tony Stark knew that place. When he was young, his father Howard had taken him there and told him about their joint operations, wiping out two major Mafia families overnight.

Even now, when he had free time, he would go to the gym to sit and feel the place where his godfather and father had once been, practice martial arts with his Uncle Wang Kun, and by the way, tease his little grand-disciple. The Chinese seniority system was really interesting, and he liked it very much.

It was just that Wang Jin was now diligently practicing in the gym every day, and his martial arts had improved greatly. Tony was already somewhat outmatched. To maintain the dignity of an elder, he had been going less frequently lately.

He knew that the martial arts gym was founded by Chen Mo, and Captain America Steve Rogers had also studied there under Chen Mo. That place could be said to be his home in this world, which was why he rushed there as soon as he woke up.

Hearing this, Tony Stark had basically confirmed Chen Mo's identity.

And when he heard that Chen Mo had rushed to rescue him as soon as he learned about his accident, he was even more deeply moved.

"He really is my godfather. It feels good to have a father," Tony Stark thought to himself.

Tony felt no resistance towards this godfather, Chen Mo.

Firstly, he had long known that he had a powerful godfather and admired him immensely, always hoping to see him in person. Secondly, just the fact that Chen Mo had rushed to save him as soon as he heard about his accident and had appeared in time when he was on the verge of collapse made Tony Stark completely accept Chen Mo as his godfather.

Stepping off the transport plane, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, whose eyes were red as she smiled at him affectionately, shared a deep gaze. The beautiful girl on the side, seeing that Tony was a bit disheveled but otherwise unharmed, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She first curiously sized up Chen Mo and the others, then rolled her eyes helplessly at the two lovebirds who were flirting as if no one else was around.

"Since you're okay, I still have to go to class. Be more careful in the future and don't make Pepper worry anymore."

After giving her lecture, the young girl turned around and got into a small Beetle, driving away quickly.

Tony awkwardly rubbed his nose and said to Chen Mo,

"This is Sharon, the orphan of my father's comrade-in-arms. He entrusted her to my care. She was very well-behaved when she was little, but she's become more and more rebellious as she's grown up."

Chen Mo smiled slightly without saying anything. This should be Steve and Carter's daughter, Sharon Rogers. Of course, Tony didn't know her real identity, after all, Steve and Carter had faked their deaths decades ago. 

Although she seemed a bit rebellious, Chen Mo could tell that she still cared about Tony Stark, just wasn't very good at expressing it. Her actions were straightforward and direct, quite like Carter.

"Pepper, this is my godfather, the one I told you about. He's the one who rescued me."

Tony introduced Chen Mo to Pepper.

Pepper, of course, knew who Tony's godfather was. She was one of the few people who knew this secret. But hadn't this legendary commander disappeared decades ago?

Looking at the young Chen Mo in front of her, Pepper couldn't help but open her mouth in surprise.

...

After leaving the airport, they went directly to the press conference venue. Just like in the movie, Tony Stark announced at the conference that Stark Industries would be shutting down its weapons manufacturing division, immediately causing a huge uproar. Chen Mo didn't stop him.

Afterward, Chen Mo and Yinsen followed Tony back to his seaside villa, while Agent Phil Coulson returned alone to the New York branch of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

Brock Rumlow didn't return with them. He was left in Afghanistan by Chen Mo to eliminate the remaining terrorists. At the same time, Chen Mo issued a secret order to him through Hydra.

Secretly collect the wreckage of the Mark I armor that had crashed and scattered in the desert, as well as the Mark I design blueprints that Tony Stark had left behind in the cave.

As a Hydra spy, Brock Rumlow, codenamed Crossbones, was not fighting alone within S.H.I.E.L.D. Many of the special operations team members under him were Hydra operatives.

He only needed to divide his forces into two groups, letting the others eliminate the remaining terrorists, while he led the Hydra members to carry out the secret mission.

The design blueprints were in the cave. That day, Chen Mo had directly ordered them to take Dr. Yinsen back to the base, so no one had touched them. They were easily obtained. However, collecting all the scattered pieces of the Mark I armor in the desert took some effort.

Due to the hasty assembly of the armor, the connections between the components were not strong enough. During the unpowered descent, the vibrations caused the armor to start disintegrating, and many parts fell off during this process, scattered within a radius of several hundred meters.

Brock Rumlow led his men and spent nearly a day finally collecting all the parts of the Mark I.

Subsequently, according to Hydra's orders, Brock Rumlow secretly contacted Obadiah Stane.

Chen Mo didn't plan to directly eliminate this cancer within Stark Industries, Tony's trusted partner.

He was also an important part of Tony Stark's growth. It was through his betrayal that Tony Stark truly matured. He still had some value to Chen Mo, serving as a good whetstone.

However, these were matters for the future. Back at the villa, Tony Stark quickly began building the Mark II. Tony Stark had no defenses against his godfather and savior, granting Chen Mo and Dr. Yinsen access to the laboratory.

Tony didn't hide the manufacturing of the Iron Man armor from the two of them, and Chen Mo was able to witness the birth of the Iron Man armor firsthand and personally participate in it.