Chapter 69 Secrets of the Past—Captain America's Shield Infected by SCP-008?

Ethan genuinely hadn’t expected General Ryan, a five-star general of the United States Army, to be the Strategic Homeland Division’s former director.

More surprisingly, the former director was also a member of the Red Right Hand Mobile Task Force—and one of the surviving operators transported into this world under mysterious circumstances sixty years ago.

One detail was especially intriguing.

General Ryan had belonged to the Red Right Hand, a highly unusual Mobile Task Force.

Its official designation was:

Mobile Task Force Alpha-1, “Red Right Hand.”

What made it so special?

Unlike other Mobile Task Forces, Red Right Hand belonged exclusively to the O5 Council.

It consisted of the Foundation’s most elite armed personnel and specialists, reported directly to the Council, and accepted orders from no one else.

Most notably, some members of Red Right Hand had once “defected” and established the Chaos Insurgency.

But what exactly was the O5 Council?

First, the letter in its name was O, not the number zero.

The O5 Council was also known as O5 Command, while its members were called Overseers.

These Overseers and commanders were the Foundation’s highest authorities.

As the Foundation’s supreme governing body, the Council possessed the highest security clearance and maintained its own agents and Mobile Task Forces.

Its members generally decided the Foundation’s most important affairs through collective votes.

They could freely access every strategic file and piece of classified information within the Foundation, including content marked [DATA EXPUNGED] or concealed through other means.

The Overseers could grant or revoke any employee’s security clearance.

They could even decide whether Foundation personnel lived or died.

Through a formal vote, the Council could activate plans unheard of—and unimaginable—to the outside world.

Those plans included restarting the world itself.

Because they possessed so many secrets, membership on the O5 Council was a lifetime appointment.

Members either died while holding office or defected from the Foundation. Even those permitted to retire generally underwent extensive memory removal to prevent classified information from leaking.

Red Right Hand had always been absolutely loyal to the Council and accepted mobilization orders from no one else.

Yet one of its teams had arrived in this world and apparently caused SCP-008 to breach containment.

There had to be a hidden story behind the incident.

Ethan naturally introduced Coulson and May to General Ryan.

“These are Agents Coulson and May. They’re representing S.H.I.E.L.D. in discussions concerning cooperation with the Foundation.”

“I was already coming to visit you, so I brought them along.”

General Ryan was far too experienced not to understand Ethan’s meaning.

The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were outsiders.

He should reveal what they were permitted to know and save everything else until after they left.

“So you’re Agents Coulson and May of S.H.I.E.L.D. Welcome.”

“Let’s move somewhere more suitable for our discussion.”

Powerful and influential people always seemed to have secret rooms hidden inside their homes.

General Ryan was no exception.

He approached a bookcase in the study and activated a concealed mechanism.

The bookcase moved aside, revealing a hidden passage.

After walking through the brightly illuminated corridor, the group arrived inside a reception room decorated in a classical Baroque style.

“Sit wherever you like, young people.”

The invitation was clearly directed at Coulson and May.

Neither agent responded.

They were staring blankly at a display cabinet.

Inside it rested a circular shield patterned after the American flag.

However, strange dark-red lines resembling spiderwebs spread across its surface.

Coulson raised a trembling hand and pointed toward it.

“That… That couldn’t possibly be Captain America’s shield, could it?”

As one of Captain America’s most devoted fans, Coulson had been unable to look away from the shield from the moment he entered the room.

After repeatedly confirming what he was seeing with Agent May, Coulson finally became convinced.

That really was Captain America’s shield!

General Ryan chuckled at his question.

“That’s right, young man.”

“This is Captain America’s shield.”

The answer left both Coulson and May confused.

Agent May frowned.

“General, according to everything I know, Captain America disappeared along with his shield.”

“How did this one end up here?”

Coulson had already pricked up his ears and was listening with absolute concentration.

As a fanatical admirer of Captain America, he was intensely interested in any secret involving his hero.

This was information even S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t possess.

Neither Coulson nor May believed General Ryan would lie to them.

He held an extraordinarily high position and would never joke about something this important.

Captain America had been promoted as a national hero for decades and shared deep historical connections with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Anything involving him was tremendously significant.

As the Strategic Homeland Division’s former director, General Ryan was responsible for every word he said.

Once Coulson confirmed that the shield was genuine, his initial delight gave way to confusion and uncertainty.

Both agents desperately wanted to know what General Ryan would reveal.

Having received Ethan’s permission, Ryan readily answered their questions.

“I can confirm that this circular shield belonged to Captain America.”

“It was the first vibranium shield Howard Stark created.”

“However, it was contaminated by a mutated strain of SCP-008 during the war, which is why it now looks like this.”

“What you don’t know is that Howard Stark actually created two shields from vibranium.”

“At the time, HYDRA’s Red Skull temporarily gained control of SCP-008. This shield became contaminated during one of the resulting battles.”

“We feared that it could infect Captain America and cause uncontrollable consequences, so we contained it.”

“The other shield disappeared alongside Captain America after his final battle with the Red Skull.”

Coulson’s eyes widened.

“Are you saying this shield was contaminated by SCP-008?”

“Doesn’t that make it extremely dangerous?”

General Ryan laughed and waved dismissively.

“If it were dangerous, would I keep it on display here?”

“It ceased posing a threat more than a decade ago.”

“However, our tests revealed that some of the material from that incident formed a symbiotic relationship with the shield.”

“You could say the shield itself has become an anomaly.”

“A harmless anomaly.”

Coulson hesitated before gathering his courage.

“General Ryan, you know how important Captain America is to S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Would you possibly consider… parting with the shield?”

Unfortunately, Ryan rejected the request without a moment’s consideration.

He looked at Coulson with an amused expression.

“This is one of the few mementos an old man like me still possesses. I keep it to remember a fallen comrade.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t scheme to steal an old man’s keepsake, would it?”

Coulson hurriedly waved his hands.

“Of course not!”

Ethan, who had remained silent until now, finally interjected.

“What exactly happened back then, Sergeant Major?”

The title caused General Ryan to fall into deep thought.

After remaining immersed in his memories for some time, he finally spoke.

“My apologies, Commander. I’m old now. It takes me some time to recall the past.”

“It’s a long story, so I’ll summarize the important parts.”

“Back then, the Foundation ordered us to investigate the containment breach involving SCP-008.”

“Our investigation revealed that SCP-008’s progenitor strain had been transferred to a secret laboratory.”

“When we attempted to contain it, something changed. Everyone present was exposed to a mysterious field.”

“That was how we arrived in this world.”

Ryan paused and drank some hot tea to moisten his throat.

“What followed was the usual story.”

“Our team split apart.”

“Some members betrayed us and joined the Red Skull. Those who remained continued attempting to complete the containment mission.”

“To accomplish that, we temporarily cooperated with the United States.”

“The Red Skull had obtained SCP-008 from the traitors. The government feared the Third Reich would use it to create a terrifying army of the living dead.”

“That was when we began working with Captain America and Agent Carter, infiltrating enemy territory to sabotage HYDRA’s operations.”

“Unfortunately, although we stopped the Red Skull during the final battle, our task force failed to contain SCP-008.”

“The anomaly and the traitor responsible for taking it both disappeared.”

After hearing the secret history, Coulson considered it briefly.

“General, may I report the existence of this shield to S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“This information is extremely important to us.”

Ryan waved indifferently.

“That’s your decision. I won’t stop you.”

“Captain America has always been deeply connected to S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Coulson exchanged a look with Agent May before respectfully bidding farewell.

“In that case, Agent May and I should return and deliver our report.”

“Go ahead.”

Coulson and May quickly departed.

Coulson was a veteran intelligence agent. He naturally understood that General Ryan had revealed this story partly to dismiss them.

The Foundation’s Supreme Commander and the Division’s former director would undoubtedly need to discuss highly classified matters in private.

Discovering one of Captain America’s shields had already made the visit enormously valuable.

Remaining any longer would only make them an inconvenience.

Once the two agents had left, Ethan and General Ryan exchanged knowing looks.

Everything Ryan had told Coulson and May was true.

He had merely omitted a few minor details.

Just a very small number of them.

General Ryan’s identity now gave way to Sergeant Major Ryan, the veteran Mobile Task Force operator.

“Sergeant Major Ryan, can you tell me what the O5 Council actually ordered your team to do back then?”

“Of course, Supreme Commander.”

“I’ve prepared for this day for a very long time.”

“Eventually, I began to fear it would never come.”

Ethan studied Ryan’s white hair and visibly aged body.

“Old Sergeant Major, why didn’t you use an enhancement derived from one of SCP-008’s daughter strains to preserve your youth?”

“I’m certain you had the ability to obtain one.”

Ryan smiled.

“Supreme Commander, if the O5 Council no longer existed, there were certain secrets I intended to take into the grave as a member of Red Right Hand.”

“If you hadn’t appeared, those secrets should have been buried with me.”

“You haven’t held your present position for very long, have you?”

Ethan looked curious.

“How did you know that, Sergeant Major?”

“Otherwise, you would know that the Foundation’s Supreme Commander is normally also O5-0—the Supreme Chairman of the O5 Council.”

Ethan froze.

He genuinely knew a great deal about the Foundation.

However, there were deeper secrets—things that had never been written down publicly—about which he knew absolutely nothing.

Even most Foundation personnel were unaware that an institution like the O5 Council existed.

Only those possessing E-Class clearance or higher were qualified to learn about it.

Sergeant Major Ryan approached a hidden safe inside a concealed compartment.

He opened it and removed a sealed metal case.

With exceptional solemnity, Ryan placed it in Ethan’s hands.

“This is the product researched by the mysterious laboratory the O5 Council originally ordered us to investigate.”

“It was designated Element 115.”

“This substance was responsible for transporting our task force into this world.”

“It also triggered SCP-008’s unusual mutation.”

“Group 935, which cooperated with the Red Skull, used this element and the mutated SCP-008 to create the horrifying Nova 6 and its army of the living dead.”

“Commander, this substance does not naturally exist anywhere on Earth.”

“It possesses many inconceivable properties.”

“This power will be indispensable when you rebuild the O5 Council and establish the new Foundation.”

Ethan accepted the case and nodded solemnly.

“Rest assured, Sergeant Major Ryan.”

“I’ll put it to good use.”