I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 116 The Story of Luke Cage (Part 2)
Carl Lucas ended up in Rikers Island prison because of his most trusted friend. His parents were deceased, he was alone, and being neither a serious offender nor holding any significant legal status or money, he naturally wasn't assigned a good cell and had to share a cell with most of the other inmates.

Rikers Island is not a private prison, but a federal prison, so inmates don't have long working hours. However, this doesn't mean you can do nothing all day. The 1.67 square kilometers of land house tens of thousands of inmates and over five thousand guards. Due to lax supervision and internal corruption, fights, brawls, and attacks on guards are frequent occurrences.

Although Cal Lucas was young and strong, he was outnumbered and outmatched in prison because he wasn't "taking the fall" for a gang. He was often ganged up on and beaten up, but perhaps because of this, he actually developed excellent fighting skills in prison.

"And just when I was about to give up, a group of people came one day. They specifically selected some from among the prisoners... I don't know what criteria they used to make their selection."

Luke Cage sighed involuntarily as he recalled that day. He remembered how an officer came up to the group of selected prisoners and said something to them.

"You are all the scum of society! You are trash! You are a pile of dog shit! But you should feel fortunate, because even dog shit can be of some use!"

"Today, we've chosen you to give you useless, good-for-nothing bastards a chance! A chance to serve the nation! The nation plans to create another Captain America, and he might just be born from a bunch of trash like you!"

Cal Lucas will probably never forget the officer's roar, howling at each prisoner to choose between receiving $5000 in medical benefits and participating in a new super-soldier serum experiment, or going back to jail.

For some reason, Karl suddenly blurted out a question.

"If it's successful, will I be able to get a reduced sentence?"

Then the officer gave him a mocking glance.

Have you ever seen Captain America locked up in prison?

Hearing this, Matt frowned: "So, you joined the Super Soldier program voluntarily, although there's a suspicion of inducement involved."

“If I had known what would happen next, I would never have joined.” Cage sighed, but before he could continue, Matt interrupted him: “Did you sign any agreements, statements, or contracts with the military?”

“No…it was just a verbal inquiry.” Cage seemed to understand something: “Is that important?”

"Perhaps it's important, please continue."

So Luke Cage took a sip of water and continued talking.

After joining the program, the prisoners' treatment improved. They were moved to a separate floor on the island, each with a private cell. Callucas became curious about why these prisoners were chosen, and he began talking to the other selected prisoners, unexpectedly discovering a pattern.

These prisoners are all physically strong, have no history of drug addiction, have not committed federal felonies, and have virtually no gang or other backgrounds.

In other words, those who were selected were all clean.

This put Carl at ease somewhat, but what happened over the next two days sent chills down his spine. One inmate after another went to participate in the so-called experiment, but none of them returned. He asked the prison guards, but the conclusion he received was, "Failed the skin test, so you're being sent back to your original prison." What a joke! What kind of skin test couldn't be done together? Why did they have to be done separately, and only one or two people a day? At this point, Carl Lucas knew very well that he was probably not going to return, but there was nothing he could do. He was just an ordinary, strong black man; there was nothing he could do.

The most despairing thing is never death, but waiting for death.

What's even more despairing is that you have no idea how you're going to die.

Matt heard the trembling voice of the burly man who seemed invulnerable to blades and bullets, and couldn't help but comfort him: "Are you alright?"

"I...I'm fine. I remember the person I left two days ago, and others. I don't know them, but I've memorized everyone's faces. About a month and a half later, it was finally over, and it was my turn."

Callucas was taken to the entrance of a basement on the island, but surprisingly, the prison guards didn't lead him inside. Instead, they unlocked the door and let him in on his own.

As soon as Carl opened the door, he was hit by a terrible stench of blood. He proceeded cautiously. The basement was illuminated by white wall lamps, casting a ghastly pale light. There was only one path, a one-way passage leading to a fixed point in the corridor.

It was like hell.

Carl walked to the lab's main entrance, pushed it open, and almost vomited. His fellow inmates were all there, every single one of them. They had been disemboweled, their internal organs removed, their skulls cut open with bone saws, their brains missing, and then hung on hooks like pieces of pig.

They were arranged in two rows, like a welcoming avenue.

Rows upon rows of internal organs were labeled and placed in different small jars. They were neatly arranged in glass cabinets on both sides. Some of the organs had undergone severe mutations, some even emitting a green fluorescence, while others had become abnormally large.

Carl heard Japanese—because he had seen Japanese people at the docks, he knew it was one of the rare swear words in Japanese.

Then he saw an elderly Japanese professor, carrying a freshly removed head, who smiled at Karl as he approached and greeted him in Japanese-accented English: "You've come."

“I tried to escape, but a group of masked men dressed in black appeared out of nowhere, knocked me unconscious, and tied me to their operating chair. Then I don’t know what happened. When I woke up again, I was being shone with bright light. I was in so much pain, and then… and that’s how I broke free from the shackles on the operating chair.”

The men in black tried to stop Carl, but their samurai swords broke when they struck him. In the chaos, Carl, now with invulnerable skin and superhuman strength, escaped the prison, smashed through the walls, and jumped into the Hudson River.

"Then, I knew they were looking for me. So I changed my name to Luke Cage. I've heard of you...you might be the only one who can help me."

Matt nodded silently, but the US military's illegal human experiments, Japanese scientists, and the super soldier serum.

These were things he wasn't suited to handle, but luckily, he knew an Avenger.

(End of this chapter)