The whole waterfall… was a door?
What kind of insane nonsense was that supposed to be? Had this kid stayed in the frozen wilderness for too long and gotten his brain turned into an ice block?
"What kind of goddamn international joke is this?!"
These battle-hardened veterans would rather believe the enemy had ascended to godhood than accept that the awe-inspiring natural wonder in front of them was fake.
Among the crowd, there was only one exception.
Logan.
The century-old monster leaned lazily against the icy rock wall, arms crossed over his chest. His beast-like eyes—eyes that seemed able to pierce straight through people—shifted back and forth between Levi and the massive waterfall.
There was none of the others' shock-as-if-seeing-a-ghost in his gaze. Only scrutiny. Almost tangible examination.
As a mutant with top-tier animal senses, he couldn't smell anything off. Couldn't hear anything unusual.
Everything here felt perfectly normal to him.
Yet his intuition—that instinct honed on the edge of life and death countless times, more accurate than any instrument—was screaming warnings at him.
—This mysterious Eastern kid named Levi never acted without certainty.
From Normandy to deep behind enemy lines, hadn't this kid produced enough "miracles" already?
In the strange silence, only Howard Stark's voice kept chattering through the comms, like a frantic mother, trying to drag Levi back from the cliff of "feudal superstition" with pale words like science, logic, and reason.
Steve Rogers didn't bother responding.
Captain America simply stared at Levi. In those eyes—bluer than the clear skies over the Alps—there wasn't the slightest hint of doubt. Only a pure, almost blind trust.
That trust hadn't come for free.
Levi had earned it in battle after battle, with one unbelievable prediction and result after another.
"Prove it."
Steve finally spoke.
His voice wasn't loud, but it was rock-steady, like an anchor driven into the ground. In an instant, it suppressed Howard's ranting over the channel—and the unease in everyone's hearts.
Prove it?
When Levi heard those two words, he nearly burst out laughing inside.
That was exactly what he'd been waiting for.
Otherwise, instead of blowing up a HYDRA base tomorrow, he'd be wrapped up and delivered straight to Howard Stark's lab, strapped to an operating table and sliced open as a research specimen.
So he needed proof that was simple, brutal, and intuitive—something that would shut everyone up, especially that science-obsessed maniac Howard.
Levi turned back to Steve, grinning broadly, his teeth looking especially white in the cold air.
"Captain, the proof couldn't be simpler."
He pointed at the red, white, and blue shield on Steve's arm—the iconic star-emblazoned disk—and spoke as casually as if asking a guy on the street for a light.
"Take that precious pot lid of yours and smash it into that thing with everything you've got."
Steve froze.
The Howling Commandos froze.
On the other end of the comm, Howard outright exploded.
"That's it?! Levi! Are you actually insane or just pretending?!"
His voice went hoarse with agitation.
"That shield is vibranium! A miracle metal—the only one of its kind on Earth! But it's still just a shield! You want Steve to throw it into a waterfall?! Are you trying to make us lose our only super soldier's most important—and only—weapon before the mission even starts?! What if it falls into the pool behind it and we can't get it back? You paying for it?!"
"Try it and you'll know."
Levi shrugged indifferently, wearing the calm expression of someone thinking you mortals really worry too much.
Steve studied Levi deeply. In those pitch-black eyes, he saw absolute confidence—control.
His doubts vanished.
"All of you, fall back!"
He barked the order, then stepped back several paces himself, giving enough room to wind up.
He removed the shield from his arm and gripped it tightly. Beneath the tactical suit, muscles reinforced to the human limit by the Super Soldier Serum bulged instantly, like a hunting leopard coiled to strike.
Hips twisted. Core engaged. Power surged up the spine and into the arm—
His entire body became a fully drawn bow.
The next instant, the bowstring snapped free.
Whoosh—!
The red-and-blue circular shield turned into a near-invisible blur, screaming through the air as it traced a perfect arc of death, spinning, howling, and smashing straight toward the seemingly soft—but secretly lethal—glacier waterfall.
Everyone present, including Logan, instinctively held their breath, eyes locked on the spinning afterimage.
In their expectations, the shield would pass straight through the water curtain, splash a little, then plop into the pool behind it.
But what happened next shattered decades of understanding like a hammer from God.
Clang—!!!
A metallic crash so sharp and deafening it didn't seem like it belonged on Earth detonated throughout the canyon without warning.
This wasn't the dull thud of shield against ice or rock.
It was something purer. Harder. More terrifying.
As if two neutron stars had collided at light speed, screaming out the universe's lament.
The vibranium shield—thrown with enough force to smash a tank—hit the waterfall and rebounded as though it had slammed into an invisible, god-forged absolute barrier.
It flew back faster than it had come, carrying even greater force.
At the point of impact, the once seamless, roaring waterfall suddenly erupted into violent energy distortion.
The holographic projection flickered like an ancient TV kicked in rage—snow, static, warped data.
And in that less-than-a-tenth-of-a-second gap—
A massive, pitch-black metal wall flashed into view behind the waterfall.
No reflection. Smooth as a mirror.
Though only a glimpse, its cold, anti-life texture—and the enormous, grotesque HYDRA emblem carved into it, mocking the world—was burned into everyone's retinas.
"My… my God…"
Howard Stark's voice over the comm sounded like someone choking, half-air, filled with disbelief and the collapse of faith.
"That… that material… that energy reaction… impossible… absolutely impossible…"
The Howling Commandos stood frozen, as if Medusa herself had glanced their way.
Shock gave way to horror—then to deep, almost worshipful awe as they looked at Levi.
This was no longer something "good luck" or "sharp intuition" could explain.
This was a miracle.
A prophet.
Steve twisted and caught the rebounding shield cleanly. The force still sent a numb tremor through his well-trained arm. He glanced down—the shield was flawless, not a scratch on it.
He looked back up at the now perfectly normal waterfall, eyes heavy with gravity.
"How did you know?" he asked Levi.
The question everyone wanted answered.
"Guessed."
Levi replied without blinking, while silently watching system notifications explode across his vision.
[Ding! Shock value from Steve Rogers +100]
[Ding! Faith-collapse value from Howard Stark +500]
[Ding! Awe value from the Howling Commandos +999]
Beautiful.
Looking at their expressions—I don't believe you, but I don't dare argue—Levi was laughing inside.
Steve: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Fine. Big shot wins. You say the door's yours—we'll believe it.
"Alright, gentlemen, stop standing there like fence posts," Levi clapped his hands.
"Now we know for sure—it's a door. Which brings us to the next problem…"
He looked at Falsworth.
"How do we get in?"
Falsworth jolted as if electrocuted, rushed to the waterfall, and pulled out a ridiculous number of blinking instruments from his bottomless pack, scanning the impact point like a madman while rattling off incomprehensible data.
Minutes later, he shut everything down and turned around, his face paler than the ancient ice beneath them.
"Captain…" His voice was dry, desperate. "We're screwed."
"All sensors spiked. Based on preliminary analysis, the door's thickness is at least thirty meters. The material… I don't even know what the hell it is. Atomic density and structural strength—hundreds, maybe thousands of times higher than any known alloy."
He took a breath, then delivered the killing blow.
"Even if we brought every explosive depot in the European theater and bombed it for a year… we still wouldn't leave a decent dent."
Hope ignited—and was instantly extinguished.
Yes, they'd found the door.
But it was a door they couldn't open by physical means.
So what was the difference from staring at a mountain?
All eyes snapped back to Levi like high-powered searchlights.
Your turn, big shot.
Levi felt like their gazes were burning holes in his forehead.
"Hey, don't look at me like that," he spread his hands innocently.
"I solve riddles, not pick locks."
Even as he spoke, he began strolling along the edge of the "waterfall door," casually running his hand over the icy surface, muttering like a fortune-teller performing a ritual.
Found it.
At first glance, it was no different from the surrounding rock—thick ice, utterly unremarkable.
"Hm? Here…"
Levi tapped lightly.
"Knock knock."
"What is it?" Steve moved in instantly, fully alert.
"No idea." Levi frowned slightly. "Just feels like… it sounds different here."
Logan leaned in, sniffed the air hard, then shook his head.
"Nothing special."
"Let me."
Steve didn't hesitate. He scraped at the ice with his gloved hand.
For a super soldier, it was like peeling old paint.
Soon, thick ice came away, revealing dark, wet rock beneath.
Still ordinary.
Just as everyone began to think Levi's "mystic intuition" had finally failed—
Steve's fingers caught a barely perceptible seam.
He pried harder.
Click.
A thin plate disguised as rock popped loose, revealing a palm-sized recess of unknown black metal.
At its center glowed a faint red HYDRA emblem. Beneath it was a slot—perfectly sized for a standard energy cell.
"Entrance!" Dugan whispered excitedly.
"No," Falsworth corrected immediately, studying it. "More like… a keyhole."
Keyhole?
Everyone exchanged looks.
Then Levi calmly reached into his tactical pouch and produced something.
A deep-blue energy cell, light flowing within like liquid electricity—pure sci-fi.
Loot he'd casually taken from a dead HYDRA patrol leader earlier.
He held it up, then looked at the perfectly matching slot, grinning like a kid who'd pulled off a prank.
"So…"
"Think this'll work?"
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