“Captain Rogers, please remain calm. We mean you no harm,” Nick Fury said evenly, keeping his voice steady as he looked at the man surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with rifles raised.

“Then why were you broadcasting fake news over the radio to mislead me? And why are your people pointing guns at me?” Steve Rogers shot back, his voice sharp with suspicion.

Fury gave a weary sigh. He hadn’t expected Captain America to be so alert and so quick to act.

“Captain, we were concerned you might be disoriented after waking up. Our plan was to gradually explain the situation, but… things clearly got out of hand.”

“Disoriented?” Steve immediately picked up on the key word in Fury’s sentence.

Fury paused, his expression darkening slightly.

“Disoriented from the change in era,” he said at last. “Captain, you’ve been asleep beneath the ice for seventy years.”

“That’s impossible.”

Steve’s face showed clear disbelief, as if the very idea was too absurd to accept.

“Nothing is impossible,” Fury replied, shaking his head. He gestured to the agents. “Lower your weapons.”

The agents hesitated but eventually obeyed, lowering their rifles.

Steve’s posture relaxed slightly, though the tension in his eyes remained.

“If you still don’t believe me, come with me,” Fury said, turning and walking toward the front doors of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Steve frowned but followed him. The rest of the agents trailed along, curious about what would happen next.

Rowan and Sharon followed as well, drifting along with the crowd. Their car was parked nearby anyway, and they weren’t about to miss this show.

The moment they stepped outside, Steve froze.

A blaring taxi horn split the air as a yellow cab whizzed past.

Surrounding them were towering skyscrapers, neon signs flashing in every color, and enormous LED screens playing sleek commercials. At the nearby intersection, a massive digital billboard cycled through high-definition ads.

The sheer sensory overload hit Steve like a wave. He stood there, stunned, unable to process what he was seeing.

This was not the world he remembered not the streets of 1945.

“This is the year 2008,” Fury said quietly beside him.

“Two thousand and eight…” Steve repeated in a low voice, shock giving way to a quiet sorrow. His eyes were distant, unfocused.

After a long silence, he murmured, “Looks like I missed that dance.”

Around them, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents began to understand the reality of the situation. They gradually formed a loose circle around the legendary soldier, giving him space as they watched silently.

Rowan smirked and turned to Sharon. “Well, the show’s over. Let’s get moving, or we’ll be late.”

With that, he took her by the hand and headed for their car.

As they walked off, Steve noticed Rowan and frowned slightly.

“Who’s he?” he asked Fury.

“Rowan. He’s the younger brother of one of our agents,” Fury replied after a moment.

“You held back earlier because you didn’t want to hurt him, right?” he added, testing the waters.

“No,” Steve shook his head. “I used my full strength.”

“What?” Fury’s single eye widened in disbelief.

He, of all people, knew just how powerful Captain America truly was.

He turned to watch Rowan’s retreating figure, his thoughts spinning. For once, Nick Fury was at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Rowan wasn’t concerned with what Fury or Steve thought.

He simply drove Sharon straight to Stark Tower.

Tony Stark had gathered several important guests, and the product launch for Krolum Industries was being held in the building’s first-floor exhibition hall.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Rowan, Chairman of Krolum Industries. The beautiful woman beside me is Sharon Carter, our newly appointed CEO,” Rowan announced as he stood at the podium, addressing a room of well-dressed attendees.

“I know many of you are here today thanks to Tony’s invitation, so I’ll get straight to the point. Let’s begin with a demonstration of our material Kroluminum.”

Rowan spoke with quiet confidence, his gaze calm and composed. The room of roughly a dozen attendees included some heavy hitters. Clearly, Tony had pulled strings to make this happen.

Among them were representatives from the military, Hammer Industries, the American Metals Association, and even NASA. While they weren’t necessarily top executives, they were influential enough to report back to senior leadership.

Rowan stepped aside and activated the demonstration.

“Kroluminum is divided into ten theoretical grades. Today, we’ll only be showcasing Grades One through Five, which are available for commercial sale. First, let’s take a look at the properties of Grade Two.”

A chunk of silvery metal rested in a sealed display case.

Rowan controlled a mechanical arm to begin testing the sample.

A high-pitched whirrrr echoed through the room as the drill bit engaged the metal.

On a large wall-mounted screen, the results appeared in real time.

“Mohs hardness: 10. Microhardness: 98,588 MPa.”

Gasps rippled through the room.

“That’s nearly the same hardness as diamond!” one attendee exclaimed.

Rowan smiled. “That’s correct. Grade Two Kroluminum matches the hardness of diamond.”

Next came tests for density and ductility.

“As you can see, this alloy combines the hardness of diamond with greater flexibility and lower density than conventional steel.”

“My god… Is that even possible?” the Hammer Industries representative said in awe.

“If the pricing is reasonable, NASA would definitely be interested in procurement,” said a distinguished older man with silvering hair and sharp features.

Rowan took note of the man clearly someone who knew his materials.

“Hammer Industries is also interested,” came another voice.

The outstanding performance of Grade Two Kroluminum had captured everyone’s attention.

Rowan smiled modestly. “Please don’t rush. We’ll now move on to Grade Three.”

The room fell silent, curiosity turning into amazement.

He wasn’t exaggerating there really was a higher grade of alloy.

“Sharon,” Rowan said.

Sharon stepped forward and opened a sleek briefcase, revealing a darker-toned metal sample. She placed it on the testing platform.

Rowan activated the mechanical arm again.

The screen lit up with new data:

“Hardness: 143 GPa. Density: 4.1 g/cm³. Ductility: Comparable to high-grade steel.”

Jaws dropped.

Some attendees even rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Materials like this simply didn’t exist until now.

“Mr. Rowan, are you certain these readings are accurate?” the Hammer rep asked skeptically.

“Absolutely. But feel free to verify the results yourselves.”

Rowan gestured invitingly.

The room burst into movement as everyone crowded around the Grade Three sample.

The NASA scientist pulled out a portable device and began running his own tests.

Moments later, he looked up, stunned.

“The data matches exactly.”

“This is real!”

“The materials industry will never be the same.”

“No wonder Tony invited us here.”

The representatives were practically buzzing with excitement, their eyes fixed on the Kroluminum sample like it was a treasure.

It was clear to everyone: this was no ordinary alloy.

Whether for defense, aerospace, or industrial applications, Kroluminum had the potential to change everything.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Already hooked? Tell me what reeled you in leave a review, spark the fire with a comment, and if we hit every 250 Power Stones, a bonus chapter drops!

The evolution’s just begun. Dive deeper into Unbound Evolution and stay leagues ahead!

[email protected]/_tey

Change @ to a.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep