Chapter 98 - Bucky Barnes

Led by Aldo, the three quickly passed through several corridors and arrived at a room on the first floor of the castle's side wing.

Here, there was a cellar, and inside was the location of the research facility.

According to Aldo, the castle had several cellars, but most were unfinished like the rooms upstairs. Only two had been cleaned and repaired—one smaller one used as a regular cellar, and the other larger one, the one they were heading to, had been converted into a research facility.

"Lieutenant!" Two soldiers were standing guard at the door. When they saw Josh and the others approach, they immediately saluted.

Aldo returned the salute, then took out a ring of keys and unlocked the door.

With a creak, the door opened. The first thing that appeared before them was a wooden hall that looked like a warehouse. The lighting was dim, and it was packed with various artworks.

"These things were looted from the French by the Little Mustache's army. That bookshelf over there holds the inventory list. Now it's all yours. But if you want to keep everything, you'll probably have to offer my brothers some benefits. Though I took this place down on my own, they've still done their part in guarding it," Aldo said, pointing at the numerous art pieces covered in white cloth in the hall.

"Of course!" Josh gave a cursory glance; there must be over a thousand artworks here. "But I'll need to have someone assess the value of these things first!"

Josh wasn't being stingy.

And one shouldn't assume that just because these were looted by the Little Mustache's army and stashed here that they were all valuable.

Not to mention, many artworks were likely hidden away by soldiers and officers during the looting.

All looted items would go through layers of filtering by the Little Mustache, senior officers, government officials, and German museums.

Essentially, after the truly valuable items were picked out, the leftovers would be sent to "warehouses" like Neuschwanstein Castle across Germany.

So even though the number of artworks looked impressive, Josh was fairly certain there weren't any priceless masterpieces—just mid to lower-tier pieces of modest value.

Besides, "in times of peace antiques flourish, in times of chaos gold prevails."

In these post-war years, not only would these artworks be hard to sell at a good price, just selling them at all would be difficult.

But Josh didn't mind. Since the Germans thought them worth stealing, they must have some value. When the castle is eventually completed, these items could be used as decorations to elevate the aesthetic, saving him the trouble of sourcing décor elsewhere.

"The research facility is just inside—follow me!" Aldo nodded, then led Josh and Ophelia around the stacks of artwork to the very back of the hall.

There, they found a rather hidden staircase leading downward.

They descended the stairs and turned a corner, coming upon a heavy metal door.

"Since we've got guards outside, I didn't post anyone here. Plus, the things inside aren't suitable for regular soldiers to see," Aldo explained as he opened the door.

"The soldiers don't know what's in here?" Josh asked.

"Of course not. That night, I sneaked into the castle alone and cleared everyone out. The E Company guys only know there's a research facility here, but I'm the only one with the key—they've never been inside!" Aldo replied.

As he finished speaking, the heavy metal door opened with a booming sound.

A new hall appeared before them—brightly lit despite being underground.

Unlike the upstairs area, this hall was filled with all sorts of instruments and equipment, and along the edges were many small laboratories.

Clearly, there had been a battle here—bullet holes and bloodstains were visible everywhere.

Luckily, the damage wasn't severe.

"There's electricity here?" Josh asked, looking at the well-lit hall.

"Yes. There's a power room inside, powered by energy cells similar to those in Hydra's weapons. They're incredibly durable. We've occupied this place for almost a week and haven't seen any signs of power loss," Aldo nodded.

"Can you tell what kind of research was being done here?" Josh asked Ophelia.

"We'll need to find the lab logs to be sure," Ophelia replied, shaking her head at the disorganized lab layout, then turned to Aldo. "There should be an archive room, right?"

"Yes, that should be it over there. The door isn't locked," Aldo nodded, pointing to a corner.

"Go on," Josh said with a wave.

Without hesitation, Ophelia went to search the archives.

"Any other special discoveries?" Josh asked again.

"There is—deep inside," Aldo replied, pointing toward the back of the facility.

"Let's take a look," Josh said.

Aldo immediately led Josh over to a laboratory.

Inside, two large cryogenic chambers were revealed and each chamber held a frozen person.

Frowning, Josh approached.

In the first cryo chamber was a young Asian woman.

Strange—why would there be an Asian woman in a Hydra base?

But when Josh reached the second chamber and saw the person inside, his eyes widened in shock.

Inside was none other than Captain America's close friend—Bucky Barnes.

Josh had encountered Captain America multiple times in London and had also met this close friend of his on several occasions, so he naturally recognized him.

But how did he end up here?

Like in the original timeline, the incident where Bucky fell off the cliff during the capture of Zola must have still occurred.

Other than a few brief encounters, Josh hadn't paid much attention to Bucky, nor deliberately looked into what had happened to him but now that he was in this research facility, it said a lot on its own.

"You know him?" Seeing Josh's expression, Aldo curiously came closer.

Although both were in the military, neither Aldo's former unit nor the current 101st Airborne Division had any ties to the Strategic Scientific Reserve or the Howling Commandos.

While the military had promoted the achievements of the Howling Commandos, the focus was always on Captain America. The other members' names weren't well known—newspapers at the time had limited space and couldn't introduce every member.

With Captain America being such a blinding presence, few cared about the "little guys."

So Aldo didn't recognize Bucky.

"Yes—Bucky Barnes. That's his nickname, I think his real name is James Barnes. A member of the Howling Commandos, and Captain America's close friend. I didn't expect him to be here," Josh nodded.

"Captain America's close friend? Then what should we do with him?" Aldo was stunned.

"What else? First, we figure out how he ended up in Hydra's hands. Once my people take over here, we'll assess his condition. If there's no issue, we'll find a suitable way to send him back. If it's complicated, we'll pretend we never saw him," Josh said after thinking it over.

The reason Josh said this was because he didn't know if Bucky had been brainwashed yet or undergone the next stage of Winter Soldier experimentation.

If not, then fine—out of respect for Captain America, Josh could transfer him elsewhere, wake him up, and send him back.

If Vito hadn't already undergone the first-stage experiment, Josh wouldn't be so generous. But since he had Vito, Bucky wasn't that useful to him—better to earn some goodwill.

But if Bucky had already been brainwashed or had undergone the second-stage Winter Soldier experiment...Then Josh would simply have to say "sorry."

That said, for now, the second scenario seemed unlikely—Bucky's left arm still had a stump and wasn't fitted with a metal one yet.

Aldo nodded, saying nothing further. This was clearly the most appropriate course of action.

By now, he was fully in Josh's camp. Though he respected Captain America and had even received a favor from him during a conflict with Kennedy...

That alone wasn't enough to make him go against Josh.

Besides, that stash of Hydra weapons Aldo had secretly handed to Josh in Paris alone was enough to land him in front of a military tribunal ten more times.

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