The small lab wasn't far.
With a few bursts of speed, Nolan dashed into the side lab and immediately locked the reinforced door behind him. HYDRA didn't skimp on materials these labs were built sturdy.
He just needed a little time.
The elite exo-squad slammed against the door. Dents rapidly formed across its surface it wouldn't hold for long.
Outside, the squad leader shouted:
"Quit wasting time! This door won't save you. Come out now before you waste everyone's energy!"
"When we catch you, you'll regret it!"
Inside, Nolan was already tearing apart lab equipment. He quickly slipped into a surveillance blind spot and began assembling.
The door would hold for maybe thirty more seconds.
That was all he needed.
He was putting together a high-voltage generator, the kind capable of turning low-level current into dangerous, concentrated bursts.
Most labs were equipped with them. Normally, these generators had safety mechanisms that limited output. But Nolan planned to remove those safeguards and unleash raw voltage.
This kind of low-current, high-voltage discharge rarely killed anyone directly, unless it passed through the heart. But it could cause instant muscle paralysis and knock out machinery.
And more importantly, it could fry sensitive circuits.
For something like an exoskeleton suit, just one blown component would lock the whole frame. The suits that once gave them power would become prisons.
Nolan's hands worked at lightning speed, stripping wires, soldering circuits, coiling copper... occasionally glancing up at the weakening door.
The door groaned under the stress.
Then, with a final crash BANG! The door swung open.
Nolan stood there, holding a metal rod-shaped homemade high-voltage device in hand.
"Block the exit! He has nowhere left to run!"
One of them stayed at the door to seal off the escape.
Their leader sneered, eyeing Nolan, who stood ready for a fight.
"Another stay here and back me up. Careful he might have a taser or some kind of stun gear!"
But Nolan had already moved two strides brought him into striking distance.
"Watch that stick in his hand! Don't let it hit you!"
"What's the big deal? Looks like a Taser baton. Our exosuits are coated with anti-conductive sealant."
"He seriously thinks that'll work on us? Electricity won't pass through that!"
One soldier laughed confidently.
The squad leader and two others charged at Nolan.
"Wha—what's happening...?!"
Their leader let out a panicked grunt
A massive arc of electricity burst through the room.
One by one, the exosuits gave off sharp pops and fizzing then their power systems died completely.
Nolan looked like the god of thunder himself, copper wire coiled in his hand, arcing with energy. He whipped it toward another soldier and pop! His suit locked up too.
The last man guarding the door barely had time to react. The moment he heard his captain's voice, the copper whip struck his exosuit, and he froze.
All five stood motionless.
Their suits were paralyzed. Their muscles were numbed.
"First off, your 'anti-electrical coating' is patchy at best. Second... ever heard of dielectric breakdown? No? Of course not you're just a bunch of brute-force gorillas who don't know a damn thing."
As he spoke, the surgical knife in his hand gleamed and then fell.
Blood sprayed. The five soldiers dropped, eyes dim and lifeless.
None of them even understood what Nolan had said before they died.
Before leaving, Nolan turned to a nearby camera, flashed a middle finger, and shouted:
He sliced open the exosuit wiring and pried two intact power cells from their packs.
Heavy? Maybe. But to Nolan, they were valuable as weapons or even improvised explosives.
He dropped the drained high-voltage rod, grabbed the knife and power cells, and charged toward the facility's exit.
He knew HYDRA's reinforcements would be arriving nonstop.
Whoever ran this base once they realized the Super Soldier Serum had worked would throw everything at him to bring him back.
He had to leave now, or he'd never get another chance.
Raising the gun he'd picked up, he gunned down incoming guards with precise bursts.
Without their exosuits, they stood no chance. Bodies dropped. Screams echoed.
Then he was through the exit.
Up the stairs, racing for freedom. The base was buried underground beneath a wasteland not too deep, luckily and built with stairways rather than elevators.
His eyes locked onto a jeep parked above clearly used to transport test subjects.
With one punch, he shattered the window, tossed his gear onto the passenger seat, yanked out the ignition wires, and twisted them together.
The engine kicked to life.
He fired a few final rounds into the tyres of the remaining vehicles.
Rubber deflated, making sure no one would be chasing him anytime soon.
The jeep roared across the wasteland, kicking up dust and sand as the wind blasted through the shattered windows.
The air was thick with the scent of blood.
But in this moment Nolan felt free.
And the world was finally wide open.
But he knew it wasn't over.
HYDRA would hunt him like a pack of rabid dogs. They wouldn't let the man who held the perfected Super Soldier Serum slip through their fingers.
He couldn't afford to relax.
What he wanted now was Logan's regenerative factor to replicate and integrate into himself.
But preparation was key.
Logan's bones were bonded with Adamantium virtually indestructible.
Not even Nolan's Super Soldier enhancements could stand up to that.
And Adamantium? It was long gone reclaimed and hidden away. He'd never find any in the open.
So, he had another plan: find Vibranium.
The natural counterpart.
And use it to develop a countermeasure for Wolverine's claws.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter!