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*****
What should he do next?
Clark fell into a brief silence.
Since he had discovered this, there was no way he could just leave it here and ignore it.
He shook his head and looked at the frozen Captain America. His eyes flashed, and beams of heat vision emerged.
A few seconds later, he had carefully extracted Captain America and was now carrying him under one arm.
For some reason, looking at the current state of Captain America reminded Clark of the popsicles he used to eat with Charles and the others when he was a kid.
He couldn't help but chuckle. With Captain America tucked under his arm and the shield in hand, he headed toward the exit of the ship.
At Mike's house, he was in the middle of preparing dinner. When he heard his phone ring, he wiped the water from his hands and picked it up.
Seeing the familiar number, Mike smiled slightly.
"Hello, son."
"Dad!"
Clark's voice came through the receiver, sounding like a sigh of relief.
He had run quite a distance to get a signal for this call. Afraid that moving too fast would damage the "popsicle," he had to slow down, which cost him quite a bit of time.
"Where are you?"
Hearing the fierce wind on the other end, Mike frowned.
"Near the Arctic, on an ice field in the Arctic Ocean," Clark replied. "I found something. I need your help."
The Arctic?
Found something… needs help?
Could it be a Kryptonian ship?
That thought flashed through Mike's mind, and he said, "Wait for me. I'll come right away."
He glanced at Gwen, who was still having a blast at John's house, then summoned a golden portal card between his fingers.
As the portal opened and a rush of icy wind and snow struck his face, Mike stepped through.
A few minutes later…
A swirling golden portal appeared in the living room of Mike's house. Mike was the first to step through, followed closely by Clark, who was carrying a human-shaped "popsicle."
It had been a while since the father and son had seen each other. Though they had much to say, they decided to deal with the frozen Captain America first.
"Dad, he's all yours," Clark said, brushing snow from his shoulders as he handed Captain America over.
Mike frowned. "Take him upstairs first. I need to make a couple of phone calls."
Clark nodded, then paused and looked around the room, a puzzled look on his face. "Wait... is this our house?"
"Hm?"
Mike slapped his forehead. "I forgot to tell you—we moved. The farm's being taken care of by Bob and the others. This place is in Queens."
Clark suddenly felt a pang of disconnection.
It really felt like he had drifted apart from home.
Carrying Captain America and holding the shield, he went upstairs. When he found his room, he was stunned to see that the decorations were identical to his old room on the farm. The sense of loss disappeared instantly, replaced by a warm smile.
He gently placed the frozen Captain America on the bed. Then he noticed a few red envelopes tucked beneath the pillow. His smile grew even wider.
Thankfully, his dad hadn't forgotten him.
He carefully stashed the envelopes into the drawer of his desk, then headed back downstairs. He arrived just as Mike was holding the phone away from his ear with a look of disdain while someone shouted furiously on the other end.
Clark couldn't help but chuckle.
"You sure talk a lot of crap," Mike said calmly once the shouting had subsided a little.
"Get things ready on your end. If something goes wrong, I'm not dealing with it."
With that, Mike hung up the phone without hesitation.
Nick Fury just happened to be in New York. He'd be arriving soon to take Captain America, but arrangements still needed to be made—for example, how to unfreeze him, how to handle his sudden reappearance, and so on.
Speaking of unfreezing…
Mike suddenly had a bizarre thought:
Would tossing Captain America into the microwave work?
The absurd image made him chuckle despite himself.
Mike hesitated for a moment, then dialed Peggy Carter's number.
Peggy had waited for over half a century for this moment, for the day when she'd finally reunite with the one person she had never forgotten.
The phone rang, and Peggy's lazy voice came through.
"Mike? What's up, calling me at this hour? Missing a player for Mahjong?"
"Missing a player my foot! You think about Mahjong all day long." Mike couldn't resist teasing her. Just as Peggy mumbled in dissatisfaction and seemed ready to hang up, he quickly added, "I found Steve."
"Steve? Which Steve?"
"Steve Rogers. He's still alive."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then, Mike could hear Peggy's voice tremble with excitement, followed by the sound of something being knocked over.
"He's there? Is he alright?"
"He's at my house. He's had some issues, but he's still alive."
"I'm coming right now!" Peggy replied, her voice full of urgency. "No, wait a second, I need to get ready!"
"Yeah, give me ten minutes. I'll call you when I'm ready."
With that, Peggy hung up the phone and hurried toward her wardrobe to pick out her clothes.
Mike would never lie to her about something like this.
Her mind was now consumed by thoughts of Steve's face.
Staring at her clothes, she stood frozen for a few seconds before wiping away the tears she hadn't realized had started to flow, then began getting dressed.
She wanted to present her best self when she saw Steve again.
However…
Not ten minutes later, but after half an hour, Mike still hadn't received a call from Peggy. Instead, it was Nick Fury who arrived at Mike's house.
He came alone, but this time, he was driving a business car.
When Mike opened the door to let him in, Fury nodded at Clark, then immediately rushed upstairs.
Mike, while dialing John to ask him to keep an eye on Gwen a little longer, followed Fury up the stairs.
When they reached Clark's room, Mike saw Nick Fury almost pressing his face against Steve's, carefully examining his identity. Mike cleared his throat softly.
Fury turned, surprised to see father and son standing in the doorway. "Where did you find him?"
Clark smiled. "In the Arctic Ocean, on an ice field closer to Russia. Isn't that where your S.H.I.E.L.D. base is? You must have found this place too."
"Base? Arctic Ocean?" Nick Fury furrowed his brows. "Our target isn't in the Arctic Ocean. It's at the North Pole, further inland."
He pulled out his phone, pulled up a map, tapped on a spot, and pointed to a red dot on the North Pole. "This is our target. Take a look and see if it's the same place."
Clark looked at the map, his brows knitting together.
He realized that the place where he had found Captain America was not the same as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s target. Their base was located between the two spots.
Had he made a mistake?
Staring at the red dot on the map, an idea began to form in Clark's mind.
Could what S.H.I.E.L.D. was looking for have something to do with him?
He looked at Mike, who nodded in return and turned to Nick Fury. "Any findings about your target?"
"No," Fury shook his head. "We're still transporting equipment. We haven't started exploring yet."
"The only thing we know for sure is that the ice there is at least 20,000 years old. As for what's inside, we have no idea."
(End of Chapter)