One day later…
London, England
Sounds of cheering and good-hearted revelry were heard from a local pub in London as some off-duty soldiers or civilians walked in to the sound of music playing, and a good time had for a night in the city. The reason for that was because of an impromptu celebration regarding a huge boon for the war.
"CHEERS!"
Clark and his team shouted in glee as they all clinked their glasses of beer together and drank them down without stopping. The crowd of bar patrons cheered them on as the team drunk as fast as they could with Clark being the first one to finish.
"Gah, what is drinking fast also part of your powers?" Padma asked in disbelief as the others had hard times finishing the beer as fast as he did.
"Maybe. That along with no hangovers." Clark joked.
"Another round!" Logan shouted and the bartender nodded, quickly refilling their empty glasses. "I cannot believe that we managed to pull that off. I mean, I knew we had it all planned out but even I had my doubts if we could actually pull it off as successfully as we did."
"It wasn't without its hiccups, but we got in, we got out, no one was hurt, and we did what we needed to do. And I told you all we'd be back here for another drink." Clark told him.
"I'll be the first to admit that when I first heard your proposal and plan, I thought you were a crazy son of a bitch." Lucas told him.
"Oh, I figured." Clark admitted.
"I still think that but only a crazy son of a bitch could have pulled off what we just did." Lucas praised and everyone drank.
"So, what does that say about the people who follow that crazy son of a bitch?" Diggle wondered.
"That we're just as crazy." Solange answered.
"I'd prefer to think of it as you having faith in trusting someone with out of the box thinking with an out of the box approach." Clark corrected her.
"I'll drink to that. Cheers." Daniel finished his beer and got another when he heard the radio in the bar break for a sudden important news broadcast. "Hey! Quiet down!"
Daniel raised the volume of the radio so everyone could hear.
"This just in. The Home Service interrupts your usual broadcasting for a special news bulletin. After confirmation received from the Prime Minister's office, Prime Minister Winston Churchill is proud to announce that a critical strike against the Axis powers of Germany and Italy has been struck. In a specially organized mission behind enemy lines, a special group of soldiers captured and transported Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini into Allied Command control to stand trial for war crimes…" The broadcaster announced and everyone in the bar cheered their heads off which muffled the rest of the broadcast.
"WOO!" Arthur, Webb, Logan, and the others cheered as they pat Clark on the back and shoulders. Soldiers nearby cheered at a huge success in their efforts in the war with most if any not knowing that the team there in front of them was responsible.
Clark cheered along with everyone until he saw who just entered the bar. "Attention all hands!" he shouted and all soldiers in the bar stood up at attention. The reason for that was because Colonel Phillips just walked in with his aid Lorraine, Agent Carter, and Howard Stark.
"At ease, everyone." Colonel Phillips told them, so everyone relaxed a bit as he walked into the bar. "Far be it from me to interrupt an evening of well-earned celebrating."
"Colonel Phillips, can we assist you with anything?" Clark asked as the Colonel removed something from his jacket. It was a bottle of fancy and expensive bourbon.
"Some glasses would be nice." Phillips said so the bartender got out some glasses and placed them on the table. The colonel opened the bottle of bourbon and poured in a small amount into each glass so that each would have the same amount. "This bottle was given to me by President Roosevelt when I took on the position of head of the SSR. He told me that he hoped I would be able to open this bottle in a moment that felt right. This feels as good as any."
Colonel Phillips handed a cup to Clark while Lorraine handed the rest out to each member of his team. "Thank you, sir." Clark replied.
"The rest of you here may not have known this until now…but these people before you…this group of brave and incredible soldiers here from all walks of life and different countries took upon one of the most dangerous missions this war has seen so far. With little prep time and backup, they did the impossible and now the whole world knows that Benito Mussolini is out of this war. But there does come some bad news…" Colonel Phillips removed a folded piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to Clark. "…as of this moment, Sergeant Kalvin Elbert's time with the US Army has come to an end. This man…has done a lot for the war effort and that effort deserves worthy recognition. Sergeant Kalvin Elbert, here is your honorable discharge as an Enlisted man of the United States Army."
Clark put his glass down and took his discharge papers when Colonel Phillips aid Lorraine handed him new papers and a small box. "And here is your Battlefield Commission as First Lieutenant." Phillips announced, handing him his papers for his commission as a CO and his emblem as a First Lieutenant. "Congratulations, Lieutenant."
Clark smiled and shook the Colonel's hand. "Thank you, sir."
Peggy and Howard smiled along with the members of Clark's team. "Even during times of war, moments like this are proof we're on the winning side. Hopefully soon, thanks to the efforts of brave men and women such as yourself, we'll end this war a lot sooner. So, take this night and enjoy yourselves. We're back to work tomorrow but this is a well-earned victory. And with more in the future." Colonel Phillips raised his glass into the air, and everyone followed his example. "To Lieutenant Kalvin Elbert and his team! Cheers!"
"CHEERS!" Everyone shouted.
"To Kalvin Elbert, The Superman! NOW PLAY SOME MUSIC! NEXT ROUNDS ON ME!" Howard shouted and everyone shouted in revelry before they drank, and the music came back on. Everyone on Clark's team pat him on the arm or shoulder and some of the soldiers in the bar did the same. Clark folded up the paper and put it in his pocket along with his new lieutenant emblem and walked over to Colonel Phillips.
"Colonel, thank you again for this." Clark told him.
"No thanks, necessary. You earned it and anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, son. Mussolini started squealing the second we put him in a cell. And he won't be getting out except for his hanging or a firing squad. You and your team earned this night off." Colonel Phillips assured him.
"Thank you, sir and I'm sure they appreciate it but there were some things that came up I think you should be aware of." Clark said.
"Fair enough but it can wait till the morning. For now, just rest and celebrate. You, out of anyone has earned it." Phillips told him before he walked to the bar. That's when Howard came over and hugged him.
"Ah, good to see you alive and well, Kal."
"Me too, Howard." Clark pat him on the back. He then showed him the wristwatch walkie-talkie he was still wearing. "These worked great, by the way."
"Like I said they would. And to think you ever doubted me." Howard quipped.
"Well, I learned my lesson but really? Superman? I thought I told you I didn't like the name." Clark reminded him.
"Ah, no you didn't. You just said it sounded arrogant and we moved on but after what you and your team did it works. I'm already getting it trademarked. Let me tell you, Kal. By wars end the entire world is gonna know about Superman." Howard promised when he saw a beautiful brunette walk by. She sent him a playful wink and he smiled back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a lady to entertain."
Howard walked after the woman leaving Clark by himself. He sipped what was left of the bourbon he had when he noticed that he had drawn the attention of every single woman in the bar. Colonel Phillips and Howard Stark's little declaration definitely got their attention and now they were going to try and rein in the Superman. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed when Peggy walked over to him with two glasses of beer.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Peggy asked but in a playful manner causing Clark to chuckle.
"Sure. But I have to warn you that I'll drink a lot." Clark took the glass of beer and drank half of it in a few gulps. "Alcohol doesn't affect me."
"Good to know. That means you can't blame your behavior or a stupid mistake on alcohol." Peggy pointed out.
"Very true. And I've got you there to help me as well. Thank you for coming to my rescue. I was starting to feel like a trapped gazelle surrounded by lions." Clark remarked.
"And what does that make me?" Peggy wondered.
"I guess my guardian lion." He joked and she chuckled as the two finished their drinks.
"I'm ok with that." Peggy told him. "I'm glad you're all right. I know that you're invincible but there was still a part of me that was worried about what could happen."
"Well, if this mission proved anything it's that I'm not invincible. At least not to whatever my team and I ran into." He said and Peggy looked at him concerned. "But we can talk about that tomorrow with everyone else. Colonel Phillips should know but he gave us the night off. And something tells me this is one of those rare nights off I'll be getting very few of so I would like to spend it with one of the most intelligent, strong, brave, and beautiful women I've ever met. Did you see where Lorraine went?"
Peggy scoffed and hit him on the shoulder. "I know your joking but don't be an ass."
"Sorry." Clark apologized but they both had smirks on their face. "Guess Lucas must be rubbing off on me, but I think even he would agree that you're everything I said you were."
"I know." Peggy smiled and they finished their drinks before they linked arms and walked out of the bar. Their departure drew little to no eyes given the celebration currently being had in the pub which is exactly how they wanted it. A night to spend together is exactly how they felt to end a successful point in the war.
Adriatic Sea
Off the coast of what was once the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now the Independent State of Croatia after it was invaded by Germany, Italy, and their allies in Hungary and subsequently split among the winning parties, a Croatian fishing trawler boat was pulling in the nets when one of the boat hands noticed a body floating nearby on a buoy. He alerted the others and the captain before they managed to bring the man onto the boat. They were able to see the man was wearing just his pants, but they looked military, and he looked dead. He had multiple cuts and severe bruises all over his body with ugly scars all around, but he was surprisingly still alive. The captain told them to keep his warm and they'd bring him to a hospital when they went back to port. Unbeknownst to them they had picked up SS-officer Skorzeny. By a miracle he managed to survive the final blow dealt to him by Clark with luck and the serum being the only reason he wasn't dead, but his body had reverted back to its previous state prior to the mutation. Granted it had been reverted in very bad shape. Both internally and externally, he had been through a lot and was nearly dead but just barely managed to survive. When he would wake up and what he would remember was anyone guess.
Line Break xxxxx
London, England
Clark was walking down the sidewalk with Peggy by his side. He was wearing a regular military uniform instead of his Man of Steel one to avoid all the stares it would get. Despite all the news and headlines his actions made the press still never got a good look at his face so he was able to walk around fairly unnoticed. Granted, some people still looked because he was handsome and because Peggy attracted a fair amount of attention from the opposite sex. The two were talking a nice morning walk through the city on the way to the SSR base. They enjoyed a nice night of drinks and dancing which ended in another blissful night spent together in bed. Clark was very much enjoying his relationship with Peggy, and she was enjoying being with him.
The two woke up together, got cleaned up, had breakfast, and then went on a walk to the SSR headquarters. On the way there they saw that everyone seemed so focused on the newspapers and for good reason. All the publications ran a story on the latest breaking news for the Allied war effort. Clark and Peggy passed one news stand and saw people buying paper after paper. Clearly the story was very interesting and the reason for that was because of the headline and accompanying photo.
"Superman, the Man of Steel. Allied hero captures Mussolini." Peggy read out the headline and Clark saw the photo. It was an old photo of him from Sicily that had his face obscured but did show him standing atop a destroyed German tank in his suit with the large S on his chest in plain sight. "Something tells me Howard had something to do with the headline."
"Again, I'm still not sure how I feel about the moniker." Clark admitted as they walked into the SSR base. The MPs stood at attention and saluted them as they walked in and headed to the main briefing room Clark and his team used for the planning to get Mussolini. When they walked in, they saw some of Clark's team already there. Padma, Webb, Arthur, Solange, and Halima were looking rested and like they had a good night. Lucas in particular looked like he had a good night as he was currently sat at the table, hunched forward with a trash can next to him and a cup of coffee in his hand. "You all right, Lucas?"
"Ugh…" That's all Lucas could reply with.
"Lucas had one too many last night." Solange joked and the others chuckled as they sipped their coffee.
"One too many shots of whiskey for him." Arthur explained.
"Ah." Clark nodded as he looked at Lucas. "You ok, Lucas?"
"Feeling peachy today, boss." Lucas muttered as he gagged a bit but didn't throw up. "Not the worst hangover I've had but not the best either."
"Sorry, I wouldn't know what that feels like." Clark quipped.
"Ugh, shove it, boss." Lucas laid his head down and closed his eyes for a bit when the door was kicked in and in walked Logan and Diggle. The sudden entry and loud noise made only exacerbated his hangover. "Ugh…"
"Look alive, Lucas!" Logan shouted as he carried in a kettle of coffee and placed it on the table.
"You suck." Lucas replied.
"Maybe some breakfast would do you some good?" Peggy suggested.
"Can't eat. Don't want to throw up." Lucas groaned when the door opened and in walked Colonel Phillips. Everyone stood up to salute, but he motioned them to stop.
"At ease, everyone. No need to do that. I figured some of you might not be feeling that good this morning." Colonel Phillips said, and he was right, but it was really just Lucas. "Everyone get something to eat?"
"Yes, sir." They all replied.
"Good, I'm glad. I can't tell you all enough how proud I am of all of you for the good work you did in bringing Mussolini in. He's already been singing like a canary and giving us some useful intel. Some is a little dated, but we've got a better understanding of the German's inner circle now then we did before." Colonel Phillips told them all. "I've gotten word from President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill and they each send their gratitude for your work."
"Thank you, Colonel and I'm glad that the mission was a success, but it came with complications." Clark said and Colonel Phillips held up a file.
"I know, I read your after-action report." Colonel Phillips told him.
"When did you have time to write that?" Logan wondered.
"Had a few minutes to spare." Clark answered. "But everything I wrote down did happen, sir."
"Stark and his men are already analyzing the remnants in the syringe you found there. There have been rumors our intelligence agents have heard about various projects Germany has been working on since the start of the war but nothing like what you described. Most of those projects are for weapons like new tanks or airplanes. Not super soldiers." Colonel Phillips told them.
"Well, something made that SS officer into a giant monster strong enough to go toe to toe with the Lieutenant. Not as strong but if any normal unit were to face that thing they'd be wiped out." Webb said and everyone agreed with that logic.
"You don't think it's this Hydra group you told us about, do you?" Logan suggested.
"It's possible but unlikely. Our agents haven't picked up much if anything from Hydra since New York. Schmidt's gone dark so this could be him, but the Waffen-SS don't report to or answer to Hydra." Peggy pointed out.
"Peggy is right. The fact that it was a Waffen-SS officer lends more credence that German High Command or a special weapons division was behind this." Solange added.
"Well, whatever happened to that man and whoever is behind it, he's not the only one. He said he was the first of many. Since we haven't heard any additional reports of other units encountering what we did that must mean he was a prototype." Clark told everyone. "Which means if we don't find out where he came from and who made him then we could be facing an army of those things."
"Which is why finding out the source of whatever that thing is and where he came from will be one of the SSR's primary objectives. Stark will try and figure out how a Waffen-SS soldier turned into that monster while we find the source and take it out. At the moment we have the momentum, so we need to keep it up. I'll be sending out the word to all allied forces to keep an eye out for any information about this weapon project. Once we find out where it comes from then we act." Colonel Phillips told them, and they all nodded. "In the meantime, get some rest and refit."
"Yes, sir." They all replied.
"And get something for that hangover, corporal." Colonel Phillips said to Lucas.
"Yes, sir." He answered and the rest chuckled before the Colonel left.
When they had a moment, Clark and Peggy went to her office so they could speak in private. He told her it was regarding what happened during the mission and explained the secrecy behind it.
"So, Kelex says that whatever happened to the SS officer, whatever turned him into that hulking monster…it's not from this earth?" Peggy questioned.
"Most likely. He managed to analyze the blood of that thing when we were fighting. His DNA was heavily mutated by whatever happened, but Kelex can't narrow down the source." Clark answered.
"Perhaps the Germans got their hands on a unique method of physical alteration like Professor Erskine?" Peggy suggested.
"Possible but unlikely. Kelex may seem unassuming, but appearances can be deceiving. He's got a complete database copied from my birthfather's records from his Lab on Krypton." Clark said.
"Your father, Jor-El?" Peggy said, wondering if she got the name right and the nod from Clark assured her she was. "You said he was a scientist?"
"He was. Krypton's greatest scientific mind and Krypton had been around for millions of years. They had knowledge and information on 100,000 worlds in the universe and all the information Kelex has a copy of. The fact that Kelex couldn't identify the source means it's something he's never encountered before. Earth is still young in development and technology, but he is 100% sure that nothing human made could have done enough to hurt me like that." Clark explained.
"You said that your parents sent you to earth to protect you. That because of the planet and the yellow sun that you'd be fine and would survive with your powers." Peggy remembered and Clark nodded.
"Kelex said that since I'd be under a yellow sun, I'd be better protected then if they sent me somewhere else in the universe." He added.
"Considering I've seen you take a shotgun to the chest, and I've heard you survived a tank shell as well then they were right. So, if this giant monster really could hurt you then the Germans must have stumbled onto something." Peggy deduced.
"You don't think the Germans developed a plane that lets them go to space, do you?" Clark asked, half joking but half serious.
"No, that is something we would definitely know about." Peggy assured him so they began to brainstorm other ideas. "Maybe it was a meteor? Something that crashed down to earth years ago and that the Germans found."
"That's a possibility. I came to earth in a ship and crashed in a cornfield in Kansas but there have been meteors that have fallen to earth. The Germans must have found something and managed to make some kind of serum to make that giant monster. All we have to do now is find them." Clark said when he noticed Peggy looked concerned. "Are you ok?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? I mean, from what you said and in your report this man could have killed you." Peggy pointed out.
"Yeah, things definitely got tense." He said, taking a seat. "That was the first time I was ever hurt…first time I ever bled. Bullets and bombs break against my skin, and I haven't met anything else that can hurt me like he did."
"That must have been terrifying." Peggy walked and sat next to him, taking his hand.
"It was. The most scared I've ever been. Growing up as a I did, with my strength and powers, I always felt sort of invincible. Granted, I never was really able to test how strong or durable I was growing up since I was worried about being discovered so when I went on the mission to Sicily…I was kind of excited. When that first bullet hit my stomach and bounced off, I felt indestructible and after I got shot at by the tank and survived it only got stronger."
"Until your run in with the mutated soldier." Peggy finished his train of thought.
"Yeah. That shattered my sense of invincibility with the first punch. I remember the pain…and seeing blood drip down my nose gave me pause. I had never been hurt or ever met anything that could hurt me. It was the most I had ever exerted myself in the fight and there were parts where I was honestly not sure if I would win or not." Clark admitted.
"How did you?" Peggy wondered.
"By the skin of my teeth. My team distracted him and when we were knocked out of the hotel and into direct sunlight I healed faster and got a little stronger." Clark recounted. "If anything, this moment has proven that I can't do this alone. I want to keep the team together. I couldn't have done this without them."
"I'm sure Colonel Phillips would be ok with that. What do you want this team to be called?" Peggy wondered and Clark thought it over.
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