Clark x-rayed the building to keep watch over the movement of the men inside.
The two Germans standing guard outside the hotel's main entrance were on alert but there was nothing for miles and no one was around. A small puff of air was heard and one of the Germans fell to the ground from a shot to the head. Before the other could react, he was shot in the head as well and dropped to the ground. Kingsley, Solange, and Lucas quietly moved up to the main door and got ready. Solange slung the De Lisle Carbine over her back and readied the FG-42 that Lucas gave her. The stealth portion of this mission was about over, and she needed something better to defend herself. Lucas took three frag grenades and used the belt from one of the dead Germans to tie them together.
"We're in position." Kingsley reported on his wristwatch walkie-talkie.
"All right, everyone get ready. Lucas on you." Clark told him.
"Time for a banger." Lucas remarked and threw the grenade bundle through a front window.
The Germans and Italians heard the crash and saw the grenades roll on the floor. "GRANA—[EXPLOSION!]
A loud explosion went off, killing over a dozen Germans and Italians in the immediate blast area and sent a small rumble through the hotel. Skorzeny and his Waffen-SS team were in the room with Mussolini when they felt and heard the explosion.
"What was that?" Mussolini asked him and Skorzeny had no idea.
Arthur, Lucas, and Solange made their entry after the explosion went off and stepped over dead German and Italian soldiers as they made their way past the front lobby. Two German soldiers stepped out of a room on alert and were quickly gunned down by Arthur and Lucas. They kept moving as Solange covered their backs before quickly turning around and shooting two more German paratroopers that tried to ambush them.
Clark kicked the side door, and it was sent flying off its hinges down the hallway. He walked in first with the Germans and Italians shooting at him, but their bullets bounced off or deflected against his skin. He raised his BAR and fired a continuous barrage, killing several Germans while Logan, Daniel, and Padma used him for cover and shot around him. One German jumped out of a room they passed only for Padma to shoot him in the chest and Logan quickly reloaded his Thompson and fired two quick bursts that killed three more. Daniel reloaded his rifle and shot two more soldiers as Clark super sped forward and knocked three Germans through a wall.
Webb and his team made their entry from the basement door and gunned down the Germans in their area near the kitchen. Halima ducked behind a table and reloaded her MP-40 before rolling out of cover and shooting two Germans down as she slid behind a counter. Diggle dove over a table and shot a German when his gun was grabbed by an Italian so he elbowed him in the stomach and punched him in the jaw. They all took cover from a barrage shot through a wall before Webb ran forward and kicked the door into the next room, shooting the three Germans who tried to kill them.
Solange, Arthur, and Lucas took cover behind some walls leading to the east stairwell hallway because there were eight Germans guarding it. They were taking cover in the rooms and keeping the trio pinned down when Clark and the others came over to help.
"Rest of the floor is clear. How are we looking here?" Clark asked as Logan and Solange peaked out behind cover and fired several quick bursts from their guns.
"Eight Germans. They're dug in there pretty tight." Kingsley told Webb.
"They don't want us to get upstairs." Webb said and Kingsley nodded.
"I got it." Clark dropped his BAR and walked down the hallway. The Germans opened fire at him with their MP-40s and FG-42s, but their bullets were useless as Clark just kept walking. One of the Germans threw a grenade, but Clark caught it and threw it back into the room, killing three Germans. He unholstered his pistol and shot the Germans as he walked by and cleared the hallway. "Let's keep moving. They're mobilizing a defensive position, but they're trapped up there with no way out. Lucas, toss a grenade up there."
"I'll give them me best!" Lucas took out two Mills grenades and chucked them up the stairs. The Germans shouted and scrambled for cover as they went off with Clark heading up first followed by the rest of his team.
Skorzeny and his 16 SS commandos were huddled together on the top floor in and around Mussolini's room, on alert after the explosion that rocked the building and the sound of gunfire. They would have left but their exits were blocked, and they had no idea how many were there. Their exit pilot wasn't responding to calls, and neither was Major Mors. They heard the shuffle of rapid footsteps and raised their weapons when they saw it was one of the Paratroopers. "Sir, we're under attack. They're on the second floor."
"I know we're under attack, idiot but by who?" Skorzeny asked him.
"The Americans. I saw a man with an S-symbol on his chest. It's the Man of Steel." He replied and there was a collective twinge and shudder of fear that ran through everyone. "He has 9 men with him."
Skorzeny wasn't sure if the Allied propaganda was true or not, but they couldn't risk staying where they were now. They were in prime position to be overrun if they used grenades, so they needed to take the fight to them.
"You 12, you will come with me, and we'll stop them. When you see a chance, you get Mussolini out of here." Skorzeny told a sergeant who would lead the remaining four men to guard Mussolini. Skorzeny took out his pistol and led his group to the fight.
The fighting continued on the second and third floor with any German or Italian resistance being minimal and uncoordinated against their attackers. They had no idea what was going on and when they did act it was too late. Those that had common sense fell back and went upstairs to mount a better defense. The 15 German paratroopers remaining regrouped on the fourth floor of the hotel with the Italians that didn't run when the bullets started flying. They piled furniture by the stairwell to act as obstacles and set up a makeshift fortified position two hallways down from Mussolini's room. Among the paratroopers was an MG-42 team so they set up the light machine gun on the cover with the rest set up on a firing line. They waited patiently with their fingers on the trigger for their attackers to come which is when they heard some footsteps and they saw a man step into view before quickly stepping back behind cover. The German lieutenant leading the ambush point signaled to four of his men and they armed their stick grenades before throwing them down the hallway. They rolled down and then exploded, taking out some walls and definitely killed whoever was there, at least to their knowledge. Skorzeny and his men had arrived and joined the German defensive position. Skorzeny saw the plume of smoke from the grenades had dissipated enough that the figure of a person could be seen so he took out his Luger P08 pistol and fired a bullet.
"Fire!" Skorzeny ordered and everyone opened fire. With their rifles, MP-40s, FG-42s, and the MG-42 the paratroopers, Italians, and SS opened fired but to their astonishment they saw their bullets ricochet off whatever they were shooting at. Some of the bullets even ricocheted back causing some of the men to duck for cover. Even the rapid-fire bullets of the MG-42 bounced off like they hit the side of a tank. Skorzeny wasn't sure what was going on and who was responsible until a man stepped out from the smoke. He was wielding a pistol and their bullets broke against his skin or bounced and deflected off. The most noticeable part of his appearance was the unique S-symbol shield on his chest. Skorzeny had read the reports over the various battles on Sicily and of the Allied Propaganda on their super soldier, the Man of Steel. A man who could run through a hail of bullets and tear open a tank with his bare hands. He thought it was just rumors and stories to frighten them but seeing as how he saw the man take bullets to the face and shrug them off like they were flies made him a believer. "Stop him!"
Skorzeny fired the remaining bullets in his pistol at Clark, but they bounced off him like the other bullets did. Skorzeny scrambled to reload his pistol and ran away leaving his men to deal with the Man of Steel. He rushed down the hall and hid behind a corner before removing his hat and jacket and digging something out of his pocket. He ended up pulling out a syringe of red liquid with a cork on the needle to keep it from stabbing his thigh. It was the same syringe Von List gave him as part of his wunderwaffe weapon program at Projekt Endstation. Von List gave him the syringe as a gift should the need ever arise and seeing the Man of Steel in action was the need. Skorzeny removed the cork from the needle and injected it into his right arm. Once he was finished injecting all of it, his body tensed up making him drop the syringe to the ground.
"ARGH!" Skorzeny fell forward and grit his teeth in pain as it felt like his muscles were tearing each other apart. He ripped off his tie and tore open his shirt as his entire body began to go through a metamorphosis. His eyes changed from the regular blue into a dark red while his body began to get larger, tearing through parts of his pants and even his boots with parts of his shirt ripping as well. His veins got more pronounced and turned red along with the color of his skin like he had a case of sunburn. He continued to grow and soon it wasn't just his clothes tearing apart as parts of the skin on his arms, shoulders, or back split open to show the corded muscle fibers underneath but no blood. "RAH!"
Clark reloaded his pistol and holstered it as he and his team finished taking care of the German defensive position. Clark was the battering ram and his team followed behind and helped him mop it up. "Not many of them left." Lucas theorized, reloading his Owen gun.
"No. Mussolini's got four men watching over him, but he hasn't moved from his position." Clark took lead down the hall in case there were any surprised and would signal his team to move up when he knew it was clear. He turned the corner to the next hallway but wasn't expecting what happened next. Something hit him in the face, and he was knocked off his feet. Whatever hit him sent him flying back down the hall until he crashed into a wall next to his team.
"Kal!" Kingsley and Diggle rushed over to help him. The rest of the team opened fire down the hallway as Clark pushed himself back to his knees. He felt a tremendous amount of stinging pain in his face and touched it out of reflex but when he did, he saw a small amount of blood on his fingers. It was coming from his nose.
"You're bleeding." Kingsley said in astonishment.
"I thought you were bulletproof?" Diggle pointed out.
"I am." Clark muttered in stunned disbelief. He had never bled before much less felt actual pain.
"Uh, boss?!" Lucas shouted, getting his attention as the team slowly backed up to his position and reloaded their weapons. The series of loud thuds turned out to be footsteps belonging to the thing that hit Clark and it was a man. Well, calling it a man was a stretch of the word. The only reason they knew it used to be a man was because of the boots it had on its feet along with the pants it was wearing and its blonde hair. Other than that, it looked like a monster.
It was 9ft tall and built like a circus strong man mixed with an elephant. Its upper body was exposed so they could see a monstrous, superhuman musculature. The veins were visible but colored red instead of blue and his skin had a tinge of red in it. His muscles were pressed up against the skin and parts of said skin had split open in various places to show the superhuman muscle fibers underneath. The other visible change they could see was that the man had dark red eyes. Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny took the serum and changed into a monster.
Kingsley raised his Sten and shot the giant monster in the face. The others quickly did the same, unloading everything their guns had at him. Skorzeny raised his massive arms and shielded his head as the team kept firing until they all got empty clicks. They reloaded their guns as fast as they could and watched in stunned silence to see Skorzeny was still standing. The bullets hit him all over and they dug into his skin but did not penetrate. Skorzeny lowered his arms so they could see his face and he was not happy. His angry glare with the angry growl told them that he was pissed. He wasn't bulletproof like Clark but clearly rifle bullets and even shotgun pellets didn't penetrate his skin, just dug into it. The man shook his arms and the bullets fell to the ground, with clear indents or cracks from where they hit his skin.
"Get back!" Webb shouted as Skorzeny reared his right arm back and threw a punch at him only for Clark to use his super speed and get in the way. He caught the punch with one hand and the impact created a small shockwave that shattered the nearby windows and knocked the team onto their backs. Clark stumbled back a bit but caught his footing and ended up bracing the punch with both hands as he wasn't expecting that kind of force. Reacting quickly, he grabbed Skorzeny's arm and threw him through the wall into one of the hotel rooms.
"Get Mussolini. I'll handle him." Clark told the others before walking through the hole he made to continue the fight.
"I think we better listen to him." Logan pointed out and they kept moving while Clark handled whatever that thing was.
Clark walked into the room to see Skorzeny get back up, so he walked over and threw out a punch only for it to get grabbed. Skorzeny's large hand caught his fist, and he smirked before grabbing him by the throat and throwing him through the wall of the room, out into the hallway, and then through the wall of another hotel room. Clark tumbled on the ground but quickly got back to his feet as Skorzeny tore through the wall to make a bigger entrance so he could fit through. Skorzeny brought both arms up for a double hammer fist, but Clark shoulder shoved him in the gut and tackled him through three rooms before lifting him up and slamming him into the ground. He slammed him hard enough that the floor cracked open, and they dropped down to the third floor.
Skorzeny headbutted Clark which dazed him before grabbing him by the head and throwing him off. Clark crashed through another wall and landed in a small lounge, breaking several chairs and a couch when he made his landing. He pushed the broken furniture off and got back to his feet. His nose stung and he checked to see it wasn't bleeding anymore but the fact that he could even feel pain was a new experience and a slightly terrifying one. He watched as Skorzeny stepped through the wall and took a moment to admire his new physique. The SS officer couldn't hide the smile he had on his face, even if it was demented.
"They call you the Man of Steel." Skorzeny spoke but his voice sounded a little distorted, likely a side effect of whatever transformation he underwent. It sounded gravely and inhuman. He picked up a piece of steel rebar and bended it with his newfound superstrength. "Time to break you."
Clark turned his head to the side and spit out some saliva before holding his hands up in front of his body and tightened his fists. "I don't break that easily." Clark told him in German.
Skorzeny chuckled and held his large hands up in a boxing stance. "We shall see."
Skorzeny charged and attacked with several quick boxing style jabs, but his massive size meant they were much slower than usual giving Clark plenty of time to dodge them. He punched him in the side twice and then hit him in the face with a jab. Skorzeny recoiled and stumbled back as Clark then landed a right cross to his jaw before punching him again in the stomach only for Skorzeny to punch him across the face. He grabbed Clark by his jacket and kneed him in the stomach before landing a hammer fist to the side of his head. The impact made Clark stumble back leaving him open to an uppercut that knocked him into the counter of the nearby bar. Skorzeny grabbed Clark's jacket with one hand and proceeded to pummel him repeatedly in the face, but Clark managed to stop his repeated punches and knee him in the groin. He shoved him back and landed a flying punch to his face that knocked Skorzeny onto his back before Clark grabbed him by the arm and smash his head through the counter. Clark got on top of him and threw out punch after punch until Skorzeny sent him flying off with a powerful kick. Clark crashed through three walls and kicked up a huge cloud of dust and debris. Skorzeny walked through the dust cloud and had several bruises along with various cuts on his head where he was bleeding but instead of the typical red, his blood was black and very thick. He picked up Clark and jostled him around before slamming him into a support pillar. Clark's face had various bruises and cuts that were bleeding. Skorzeny held Clark against the pillar and delivered devastating punch after devastating punch to his face and body with each impact sounding like a cannon and sending a rumble through the building.
The five remaining SS officers were moving through the ruined floor with Mussolini among them. They took the sounds of explosions and shaking of the building as their chance to get out before the building came down on their heads. They turned the corner of the hallway and saw the devastation of a battle with a destroyed defensive position up ahead and the bodies of dead Germans and Italians all over. They kept moving but ended up walking into a trap set by Clark's team. Webb and Arthur used their Stens to shoot the two SS officers in the front while Logan and Diggle grabbed the two SS soldiers guarding the gear and stabbed them in the neck. Padma came out of one of the rooms and shot the fifth SS soldier with her shotgun. Mussolini scrambled for a pistol from one of the SS officers only for Halima to kick him onto his back and aim her MP-40 at his face.
"Try that again and I'll shoot you." Halima warned him.
Mussolini's eyes darted to the side, and he made an attempt for a gun only for Lucas to kick him in the face. Mussolini looked up and saw more guns pointed at him. "You heard her." Lucas quipped as Solange came over and placed some handcuffs on him. "That's one part of this mission done."
They heard another loud boom followed by a rumble through the building that they could feel. "But then there's that." Logan pointed out as he put his knife away. "Sounds like he needs help."
"We've all seen what he can do. What can we do to help against whatever the hell that thing was?" Lucas asked.
"Logan's right. We've got to try. Webb, stay here and radio our plane. Get an ETA. Diggle, Solange, and Halima will stay with you to watch over him." Kingsley gestured to Mussolini who was cradling his bleeding noise. "Everyone else with me. We've got to help how we can."
"Fuck me." Lucas muttered as he and the others ran to go help Clark any way they could.
"You are all going to die for this!" Mussolini managed to say in English before Halima wrapped a piece of cloth around his mouth to gag him.
"Save your breath Prime Minister." Webb told him as he radioed to the pilots of their evac plane. Diggle fixed his belt when he saw something underneath a piece of plaster that caught his attention. It was a large empty syringe that definitely didn't belong. It was too big to be something from a med kit and when Diggle picked it up, he took a quick sniff and it definitely wasn't morphine or some kind of antiseptic. He had no idea what it was but thinking it may be important he put it in his pocket before helping Solange pick Mussolini up from the ground.
Clark dodged Skorzeny's incoming punch with a duck and got behind him so he could punch him in the left and right side. He then kicked out his left leg only to get an elbow to the nose. Skorzeny grabbed Clark and gave him a headbutt before lifting him up over his head and slamming him through the floor. Clark went through the third floor and then the second until he crashed onto the first-floor face first.
"Ugh…" Clark groaned in pain, if that's what the feeling was, but managed to find the strength to push himself up onto his knees and crawl away from his crater. Having been invulnerable to any kind of pain his entire life, his first experience with it was not pleasant at all. "Kelex, what is he?"
"I'm not sure, sir but whatever he is, he was human. I'm detecting heavily mutated human physiology and DNA, but I can't narrow down the source of the mutation. I've never encountered it before." Kelex informed him when Skorzeny jumped down the hole in the ceiling. He landed with a heavy thud and his boots cracked the floor. He walked over to Clark and picked up a piece of metal rebar pipe
"The Man of Steel falls to his superior. I have become der Übermensch. And soon enough I will not be the only one." Skorzeny taunted when he heard a clink on the ground. He looked down to see two grenades roll by his feet. Clark saw them so he quickly jumped to the side as they went off while Skorzeny was dead center in the explosion. The impact of the explosives and fragmentation of the grenades weren't enough to really hurt him compared to what Clark has done but they were an annoyance and a nice distraction.
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