28: Höllenkrieger
"How could you be so irresponsible?!" Charles wanted to shout, he really did, but he knew losing his temper wasn't appropriate at the moment. Still, that didn't stop him from giving his sister a serious, hard look.
Shrugging, Cassandra, who had been brought to the central camp of the Ak by John, looked at Charles and rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on, everything turned out fine, look, not even a scratch." To prove her point, the girl stood up and spun around gracefully. Her dance practices, though boring, had given her a certain elegance in her movements.
"That's not the point," Charles sighed. Only God knew how mortified he had been when he and John met up with James' team, only to discover that his sister had rushed completely alone into enemy territory.
Fortunately, John had moved quickly and brought her back. Of course, the super-soldier hadn't said what state he found her in, or if she had been in trouble, but it was easy for Charles to deduce that his sister hadn't been having the best time. Her disheveled appearance was the most obvious sign—she was someone who preferred to look "elegant" and would do anything to maintain that.
The fact that she couldn't stay clean told him she had been in more trouble than she was willing to admit.
Seeing the two siblings argue made James, who was observing the general situation of the camp from not too far away on top of one of the half-collapsed buildings, feel somewhat nostalgic.
He wouldn't say it out loud, even if they tried to force him, but in a way, James was starting to miss his brother—kind of fucked up considering they usually fought almost all the time over silly things.
Still, they had always been there for each other, in the bad times and the worse ones.
'Just hang on a little longer, Victor,' he thought as he watched the camp where they were stationed from his elevated position. Almost eight hours had passed since the battle began, and everything was going as well as it could.
They had pushed the Nazi army back beyond the river that splits the city in two, completely taking over the Wola district and a few others. James would say the special team he was part of was the reason, but the truth was, it was the people of Warsaw who made everything move even faster than expected.
When the civilians realized what was happening, they didn't hesitate. Even if they had no weapons, even if they weren't soldiers, they provided all the help they could, making the battle much easier and tipping the scales in favor of the AK (Armia Krajowa).
John was right when he said they only needed to be the war hammer and let the Polish citizens do the rest. At this rate, they could soon completely drive the Nazi occupation out of the city. Then, they would sweep through the surrounding areas and could begin their true mission—rescuing Victor, stopping Hydra, and saving millions of lives.
James had always been a wanderer, in the conflicts he had been involved in throughout history, even just a mercenary. He never really imagined he'd end up involved in something as big as this. He had always lived day by day, never really thinking about the future, because when you had all the time in the world, did the future really matter?
Looking at all the civilians who had been rescued during the conflict, with bright smiles on their faces and hope blossoming in their eyes... James realized that maybe his future didn't matter much, but the future of others? Maybe that future did matter.
"I see you're deep in thought." John's voice pulled him out of his reflections, though he had already sensed his approach. He turned to see him extending his hand with a cigarette in it. James took it and let the man light it with the lighter he carried.
Then he took a long drag, letting the smoke flood his lungs for a moment before exhaling and answering his question.
"Just thinking about the future, bub," he admitted.
John raised an eyebrow but didn't comment much on that. In fact, he had only come here to update James on a few things. Although the man participated in most of the meetings, there were moments when he simply went off and did his own thing, so John had to find him and bring him up to speed.
"Well, the near future dictates that Hydra will do something soon. One of their members managed to send a message with a lot of information before we got to him." John didn't beat around the bush, and hearing this, James frowned. Things couldn't keep going well forever, could they?
"Do we know what it is?"
"No, and I don't want to give them time to disrupt our plans. So, we're speeding things up a bit more. I've already talked to the AK leaders. We'll rest and prepare for about four hours, then we'll attack with everything we've got. Before Hydra arrives, we'll make sure to clear Warsaw of the Nazi occupation, and after that, we'll take care of them without anything in our way."
Hydra was something unpredictable at this point, and John no longer wanted to keep playing with them as he had initially intended. That's why he had been preparing so many things, gathering so much influence and support—he had decided to cover all possible fronts if something went wrong, which, of course, was the last thing he wanted.
There was a flutter in the air, and a familiar crow came from the sky, its form changing mid-flight to land gracefully beside John.
"You were right—they tried to take advantage of the night for an ambush at one of the camps," Raven said with some annoyance, as that camp had mostly been filled with civilians.
"Since you don't seem too angry, that means everything went well."
"The commandos are as good as you said they'd be. They took care of most of it and secured the area easily." Raven had gone with Steve, Bucky, and the other members of what John had named the Howling Commandos, a somewhat strange name in her opinion, but she wouldn't say that out loud.
At first, Raven had been very doubtful about John's choice to bring them along. They were just ordinary men, after all. John already had her, James, and the Xavier siblings, so why would he need them? Still, she said nothing because John always did things for a reason, and as always, he had proven to be right once again.
The commandos had exceeded her expectations. They weren't just ordinary men; they were true soldiers capable of fighting battles that would be almost impossible for others. They worked very well as a team, even if they hadn't known each other for long. Raven realized she had been too full of herself when she saw them in action and knew she still had a lot to learn—a lesson in humility that frustrated her a bit but one she accepted, suspecting that John had sent her with them to see this.
Of course, John had no idea Raven thought that. In fact, he had only sent her with them as insurance in case things got complicated, though he didn't believe they would, and well, in the end, he was right. So, yes, if anyone asked, he would undoubtedly say everything was within his plans.
"All right, go rest. In four hours, we'll begin the final assault, and I need you to be ready," John told her, to which she nodded and left, leaving the two men alone once more. During the entire exchange, she hadn't looked in James's direction even once.
"Does that girl have something against me?" James couldn't help but ask suddenly, causing John to blink in confusion before giving him an apologetic smile.
Even John didn't really know why Raven didn't seem to like James. He figured the girl simply didn't care for the man, and that was that—something he could somewhat understand. Not because he disliked James—on the contrary, he quite liked the guy—but because he had also encountered people he just couldn't stand without any real reason. Of course, John could fake it pretty well around them so they wouldn't notice, something Raven still needed to learn.
"Don't think too much about it. Women are too complicated to try to figure out," John said, to which James could only agree, having known so many women throughout his long life.
"Come on, the food should be ready by now. It's better if our stomachs are full before the fight." With that, the two of them headed down to join the others, awaiting the conflict to come.
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The battle had begun in the middle of the night and stretched into the morning, only stopping when noon arrived after eight hours of continuous fighting. Such action by the AK put the remaining forces of the Third Reich on edge, now in a state of chaos. After all, many of their key commanding officers had fallen into the hands of John and Charles, dealing a severe blow to their logistics, which could do nothing but teeter like a house of cards missing several key supports.
Wolfgang, who hadn't been the second or even third choice but the fourth to take command of the SS troops and German police that had managed to regroup before everything went to hell, couldn't help but rub his forehead in frustration.
"Resist?" he said through gritted teeth, glaring at the long-range radio equipment as if he wanted to melt it with his gaze.
How were they supposed to resist with damn Captain America in the city?!
He wanted to tear his hair out, kick something, kill something, but wisely held back and took a deep breath.
It felt like they were being abandoned, as if the Reich had written them off as dead. He knew that wasn't the case—he'd heard the news about how the Allies had begun intensifying their attacks since the Reich lost Italy. Even the damned Soviets had started acting like rabid dogs. Damn communists!
Reinforcements would come; Wolfgang was confident of that. The problem was they wouldn't arrive soon, and even if they did, what could they do? How could they stand against a man who could destroy tanks like they were toys?
Pessimism filled Wolfgang's thoughts, but so did an unprecedented bloodlust. He wasn't going to die uselessly; he refused that fate. Even if it was the last thing he did, he would make his enemies suffer, down to the last man, woman, or child. He would drag them all to hell with him.
Wolfgang hadn't been the second or even third choice for command. Someone more qualified would have devised a wiser plan or strategy, someone more astute would have led his men to resist for as long as possible. But those people were the ones John had personally dispatched along with Charles. The most qualified had long since died, leaving behind only men like Wolfgang—men who were just soldiers, who had grown too accustomed to killing.
Men who lived solely by and for war.
"Sir, there are still no signs of movement," the voice of one of his men pulled Wolfgang from his thoughts.
"It's been almost four hours; they must be planning something. We can't let them keep the upper hand. Pass my command—have the men start preparing. We'll launch the attack before they do." With nothing left to lose and willing to do anything, Wolfgang decided to take the initiative.
In the years to come, this decision would be remembered as the final nail in the coffin of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw.
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John might have said it was unexpected, but with James and himself present, hearing the enemy begin to approach, trying to catch them off guard, was almost comical in a way—like a bad joke, really. They were shortening their already limited time when they could have taken so many other options…
John might have felt pity for them if he hadn't seen the traces of the atrocities they had committed. Before his arrival, approximately five hundred thousand Jews had been murdered—elderly, young, women, and children. No one was spared, and their corpses littered what had been the old ghetto created to imprison and separate them like animals from the rest of the people.
So no, John didn't feel bad about what was about to happen.
The Armia Krajowa was quickly notified, and all the members of the resistance were ready in no time. In addition to them, many civilians rose up, joining their ranks and taking up the weapons that had been stolen during the initial conflict. Even if they lacked much equipment or proper military uniforms, you could still see a band of white and red on the arms of all of them, clearly representing which side they belonged to.
But perhaps the most unexpected thing was that some of them had drawn, sewn, or marked a large white star on some part of their clothing or bodies.
When John saw this, he was momentarily stunned. After all, he hadn't done anything to make this happen, yet he couldn't help but smile once he processed it. Wasn't this what he had been striving for? To be more than just a hero?
To be a symbol…
In a way, seeing this begin to take shape made his shoulders feel heavier than usual. These people, these individuals—what did they think of him? Why were they doing this? Was he even worthy of it?
Perhaps the most disappointing realization was that no, he wasn't worthy of their trust, of the hope they placed in him. But even if he wasn't worthy, that didn't mean he intended to let them down. After all, his role was clear. Even if the man carrying the shield was hollow inside, outwardly, he was still real. He could still save them. He could still give them hope…
"We're ready, Captain," Tadeusz Bór said as he approached, standing beside him as they both surveyed the city from the top of one of the buildings they had used as a headquarters.
John took a deep breath and tightened his grip on his shield. It was time to fulfill his role.
"Then let's begin."
In an extremely swift motion, John hurled his shield. The aerodynamic object flew through the air, creating a supersonic boom as it broke the sound barrier. Its trajectory led it to a row of "hidden" tanks that had been preparing to attack the AK troops as they began to cross the river that separated the two sides.
Like a hot knife through butter, the thick armor of the tanks was pierced by the unbreakable metal of the shield, and in a row, dozens of tanks began to explode one after another, shaking the ground.
Taking this as their signal, the rebel army roared, causing the battlefield to tremble. Then, like an unstoppable wave, they began to advance with firm, heavy steps.
John raised his arm, heard the air being displaced, and in a practiced motion, he caught his shield as it returned to him like a boomerang.
Tadeusz Bór, standing beside him, couldn't help but look in awe at the feat John had performed. So much power in the hands of one man... no, not just a man. The AK commander couldn't stop the memories from flooding in. Not long before John's arrival in Warsaw, the AK had been operating in the city in various ways—sabotage, espionage, making all sorts of preparations for when the day would come.
This included rescuing some of the Jewish prisoners who still remained in the city. In one of those rescues, Tadeusz met a boy. He couldn't have been more than 8 years old, although it was hard to tell due to the bones that stuck out from his body from lack of food.
His eyes were dim, and he refused to move any further, his will to live diminished by the horrors he had lived through and witnessed. His health was at its lowest point; the AK had arrived too late. Tadeusz held him in his arms as the boy trembled and life slipped away from his body.
His last words, the last question he asked, stayed in Tadeusz's mind for a long time.
"Sir, has God abandoned us?"
At that moment, his throat went dry. He tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. Because, what right did he have to lie to him in his last moments of life? Even if he knew it was the most merciful, the right thing to do... he couldn't do it.
Right now, Tadeusz wished he could go back to that moment, look that boy in the eyes, and say with conviction and firmness, not a lie, but a reality.
"God is fighting by our side, boy."
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Steve Rogers took cover behind the remains of a vehicle as he hurriedly reloaded his weapon. Not far from him, Bucky removed the pin from a grenade and threw it towards the enemy lines. Both men played an excellent role in maintaining and advancing their position, along with a dozen more AK soldiers who were not far from them, providing support.
The German army seemed to be trying to enter into a guerrilla warfare approach throughout their remaining territory and were failing miserably at it.
There were more explosions. Steve frowned as he saw one of the AK soldiers suddenly fall due to a shot to the head.
"There's a sniper!" he shouted to warn in somewhat broken Polish and carefully tried to figure out where the shot had come from, something that almost cost him half his head.
Bucky dragged him back just in time, preventing the bullet from hitting him.
"Damn it, Steve, be careful!" Bucky scolded him, and with lightning speed, he aimed and fired, causing the sniper who had been shooting at them to plummet from his high position.
He, like Steve, had been searching for the sniper, but he was more cautious. When he spotted him, it was just in time to see him aiming at his friend, allowing him to save him, though it was uncomfortably close to missing.
"You almost made your girl a widow before you even got married, man."
Steve winced as he felt the sting on the side of his face. The bullet hadn't hit him, but it had grazed him, leaving a red line from the middle of his left cheek almost up to his ear. He could feel the blood starting to trickle down.
"Thanks," he said through gritted teeth as he pulled himself together. Bucky sighed and moved closer to examine his wound.
"Hey, remember when we were kids and talked about having cool scars and all that?" At the odd question, Steve looked at his best friend in confusion.
"I think you got yours first." After saying that, Bucky pulled out a bandage and began to wrap it.
Steve nearly rolled his eyes, and while he was being tended to, he focused on staying alert. The battle hadn't lessened in intensity just because he needed a moment, and they had to remain vigilant.
"You hear that?" Steve couldn't help but ask, frowning. At his words, Bucky froze, listening intently. Soon, he too heard the sound Steve was referring to, and his eyes widened in alarm. He quickly stood up and looked towards the distant sky.
"Bombers!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and pulled out a flare gun, firing it into the sky without hesitation. Then he and Steve started running away from their current location.
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In the sky, nearing Warsaw, a dozen aircraft with a distinct appearance from conventional warplanes were approaching at great speed. Their color was a deep black, and a blue light glowed from their engines. The symbol of a red skull with tentacles extending from its jaw was emblazoned on their sides, a clear sign of whom they belonged to.
Behind them, a large cargo plane followed closely.
"Begin the deployment. Cargo release in—" The radio communication between the pilots was abruptly cut off as one of the planes suddenly and violently exploded.
A blurry figure moved swiftly through the shockwaves in the air, and three more planes exploded in quick succession.
Emerging from the dark smoke, John rushed forward with his shield in hand, ready to destroy them all before they could take any action. He was genuinely disappointed. He expected more from Hydra; these simple planes had already proven useless against him before, so why keep sending them?
He frowned, turning his attention to the cargo plane, different from the rest. What was on it? Explosives? Some kind of new weapon?
His thoughts were interrupted when hundreds of blue light projectiles began to be fired in his direction. That was new. He noticed how each plane had maneuvered to aim at him, deploying multiple turrets from their undersides.
He thought they would try to escape from him, but they seemed intent on keeping him away. Were they trying to protect the cargo? John had a bad feeling about this.
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On the ground, the explosion of four planes naturally drew the attention of everyone fighting, causing the battle to pause for a moment.
Cassandra, now more recovered and rested, watched the fight in the sky as John began taking down several enemy planes in rapid succession. Then she noticed the cargo plane, which was getting closer to the part of the city held by the AK.
She paused in thought as an idea came to mind. If that plane was carrying explosives, wouldn't it be better if they exploded on the enemy's side? Of course, this wasn't so simple. There were still an unknown number of civilians throughout the city—some hiding due to a lack of weapons, others being prisoners held by the Nazi army in various buildings.
When it all started, a large portion of the city's civilians had either run to the AK's side or tried to flee the city. And while many succeeded, obviously not everyone was so lucky.
Remembering this, Cassandra frowned and decided to change her plans. She was going to destroy that thing in the air—whether it had explosives or not, it was best if it didn't reach her side of the city or any part of the city. Of course, she had never attempted to reach something so distant or heavy before; she didn't even know if she was capable of doing it, but she still wanted to try.
"Cover my back, little brother," she said, making Charles, who had been standing beside her, turn to her with doubt. He watched as she stood up and stretched both hands toward the sky. Confused, he followed the direction she was pointing and, when he realized what she intended to do, he couldn't help but sigh and ask himself, Is my sister crazy?
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In the sky, the pilot of the cargo plane frowned as the aircraft was buffeted by turbulence caused by the explosions of the planes that had been escorting him.
He hesitated for a second but decided he couldn't wait any longer and prepared to release the cargo he had brought with him. But before he could, the sound of metal creaking made him shudder. Had he been hit?
No, if that man had hit him, the plane would have already fallen. He glanced back only to see the metal of the cabin suddenly crumpling inward. And If he could see the plane from the outside, he would have been horrified to notice how the metal of the aircraft was beginning to compress as if it were being crushed by two enormous hands at the same time.
Alarms blared loudly, and without further hesitation, he pressed the button to release his cargo, something he managed to do just a second before the entire plane collapsed in on itself, crumpling into a deformed ball of metal that exploded an instant later.
Back on the ground, Cassandra watched the explosion she caused with a broad smile. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, and her breathing was extremely labored, but her joy at having achieved her goal was short-lived. Because From the smoke of the explosion, six objects shot toward the ground in different directions.
"Oh, shit!" She opened her eyes in panic and stretched out her hands once more, trying to stop them, but due to her previous effort, she couldn't do it in time.
Their impact caused small tremors that brought down a few dilapidated buildings. Faced with the situation, Charles didn't hesitate. He grabbed Cassandra, pulling her to the ground with him, and covered his ears, bracing for the explosions.
But while the ground continued to tremble slightly, it wasn't the kind of shaking that indicated something had exploded. Confused, Charles crouched and craned his neck out from their hiding spot, ready to drop back down if necessary.
Cassandra followed him shortly after, and both looked in confusion at the columns of dust the six objects had caused upon landing.
"Did they miss?" Charles wondered with a frown, looking at the nearest column of dust, which was in the middle of a street about 300 or 400 meters from their location.
"Better step back a bit more," he decided. If the explosives were inactive, it was best not to approach and risk triggering them unnecessarily.
On the other hand, closer to the column of dust, Wolfgang, who had been with his men far too close to where the object fell, shakily stood up with blood dripping down his forehead.
What had that been? He pushed aside some debris that blocked his path and looked at the crater in the middle of the street in confusion. The wind gradually cleared the dust, revealing what seemed to be a large, sturdy black steel container. On its side was a symbol of a red skull with tentacles extending from its jaw and a word written beneath it.
"Höllenkrieger?" That was German. This had been sent by the Reich?? Was the help already here? A wide grin spread across his face at the thought, a grin that quickly turned into a perplexed expression when a strange sound reached his ears.
Was that a growl?
Wolfgang would never know the answer because, faster than he could perceive, something broke through the dark metal of the container—a long, pointed appendage that shot straight into his head, piercing his skull and killing him instantly.
Not far from there, the soldiers who had been following Wolfgang watched in horror as their leader's lifeless body was lifted into the air by the fleshy appendage.
"Fire!" one of them roared, raising his weapon and opening fire, with many others following suit in a panic.
Sparks flew as bullets struck the container, causing a growl louder than the first to reverberate through the air. Then the metal twisted, and a skeletal hand shot out, tearing through it. A humanoid figure in tattered clothing emerged as if breaking out of a cocoon, letting out a thunderous roar toward the sky.
"GRRAAAWWWRR!!!!!!!!!!!"
As if on cue, five similar roars joined the first.
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In the sky, John, who had finished destroying all the enemy planes, looked down at the city with a frown. Due to the explosions and smoke, it had taken him a moment to realize what had happened with the cargo plane, which could have led to a great disaster if what it dropped had been explosives.
When there were no thunderous explosions, John sighed in relief, thinking they had been lucky. Of course, that relief vanished almost instantly when six bestial roars reached his ears.
"What the hell?" He looked at the six columns of dust that were clearing, and thanks to his superhuman vision, he could identify six grotesquely humanoid creatures emerging from the dark metal containers.
The creatures seemed unable to distinguish between ally or enemy and began attacking any soldier near them indiscriminately, adding to the already chaotic battle and making it even more chaotic.
Superhuman strength, superhuman durability, and superhuman speed were the first traits John noticed as he saw them begin to attack. In addition to that, there were mechanical parts in their bodies that glowed with blue light, along with appendages that clearly shouldn't be there.
The one closest to Charles and Cassandra, for example, had four long, pointed tentacles coming out of its back. Another had six arms, and one even had two heads. Monsters, abominations—any of those words could be used to describe such horrifying creatures.
'Is this the result of Hydra's experiments?' John would give them credit; they had fully achieved the terrifying and sinister look expected of them.
'They're too spread out.' The six monsters had fallen in different directions, some closer to others but still separated. John needed to quickly decide where to go first. He didn't know how strong these creatures were, but they would definitely be a problem for the regular AK soldiers.
One was near Cassandra, Charles, and several of the teams where the Howling Commandos were present. Two others were closer to the river where James had been deployed.
That left the last three, who had landed right where most of the fighting between the AK and the German army was taking place.
John hesitated, looking toward where the Xavier siblings were. He knew James could take care of himself, and the man was undoubtedly already running toward the two creatures that had landed near him, fully intending to kill them.
So he could let James handle those two without worrying, leaving the remaining four. If he went to help the Xavier siblings and ignored the other three monsters, he would be leaving not only the AK but also the civilians who had joined the fray to their fate for an unknown amount of time.
"What a fucking mess!" he gritted his teeth, but without wasting more time, he maneuvered his body in the air and kicked forcefully, creating a shockwave that sent him plummeting toward the three monsters that were beginning to engage the soldiers on the ground.
It wasn't an easy choice, but he chose to trust Charles and his sister. They were metahumans and had the help of the Commandos, along with the AK troops nearby. Even if they couldn't defeat the monster, he trusted they could hold out long enough until he returned to help them.
"They better not die," he thought with some anger as he landed heavily on the ground.
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The sight before them left Charles and Cassandra stunned for a moment.
After all, it's not every day you witness a true monster straight out of hell roar at the sky and begin to massacre a dozen armed men in an instant.
"We need to leave," Charles decided. Now that the monster was distracted with the German army, it was better for them to execute a tactical retreat and regroup with John and James.
"I don't think that's going to happen," Cassandra pointed out. The monster had already finished killing all the nearby German soldiers and seemed to be looking in their direction sinisterly.
Charles felt his heart skip a beat as he noticed this.
"Oh shit." Faster than Charles expected, the beast began to charge at them, cracking the ground beneath its feet with each step.
Without hesitation, Cassandra raised both hands, ready to push them away with her powers, but it wasn't necessary. Almost simultaneously, two projectiles flew through the air, crashing directly into the monster and causing it to stumble backward due to the explosion, covering its upper body in black smoke.
Charles turned to see that not far from them, Steve and Bucky, along with some other members of the Commandos and several AK soldiers, were standing.
"It's tougher than a tank," one of the Commandos, Gabe Jones, said as he quickly reloaded the bazooka he had fired.
"A dozen tanks, I'd say," Bucky responded, watching as the smoke cleared to reveal the monster's body, which, though slightly disoriented, didn't seem injured at all.
"No matter how hard it is, we must kill it," Steve, who had been the other person to fire one of the bazookas, quickly aimed the reloaded launcher, ready to attack again.
Meanwhile, the Xavier siblings had already hurried over to join them.
"Illusionist! It's good to see you're still in one piece," Angelo greeted him with his usual smile despite the situation. Charles wished he could have such a good attitude as the boy.
"Does anyone have any idea what that thing is?" Cassandra asked, watching the monster, which had already recovered and was starting to move toward them once again.
"I'd say it's Hydra's failed attempt to copy you," Dugan said.
"Failed? It looks pretty complete to me," Jim Morita commented sarcastically.
"Enough talking, it's coming!" Steve shouted and fired without hesitation, along with Gabe. Both missiles soared through the air, but this time, the monster wasn't caught by surprise. The whips on its back moved at great speed, intercepting one of the missiles and causing it to explode prematurely in mid-air.
However, the second missile made a strange turn in the air, evading the whip that was coming for it in a supernatural way and striking the monster's head directly.
Cassandra smiled, seeing that her maneuver had succeeded, but that smile faded when the monster roared and, angrier than before, started running toward them.
Before it could cross half the distance, though, its body suddenly seemed to spasm, and it fell to its knees, clutching its head in obvious pain.
"RAAAWWWRR!!!"
Charles furrowed his brow deeply, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the monster as he tried to exert his power over its mind.
A deformed and broken mind, with no trace of humanity left. Charles felt a headache beginning to form. Normally, entering other people's minds wasn't so difficult, but this time he could feel something else interfering, preventing him from unleashing his full power on the creature's mind.
He recognized the sensation. It was one he had felt when exploring James' memories, when the man had been controlled and forced to fight John against his will.
The monster also had a control device, one that was interfering with his powers.
On the other hand, noticing what was happening with the monster, the soldiers on their side didn't hesitate and began attacking the creature with all their weapons.
Cassandra, in particular, grabbed all the grenades available on their side and, guiding them with her powers, launched them toward the monster, causing a dozen or more explosions to engulf the street where it stood, shaking the entire area.
Charles staggered, cutting off his connection with the creature and nearly collapsing, but he was caught before he could fall.
"How many more times can you do that?" Steve, who had come to support him, asked. Charles hesitated for a moment before responding.
"Three or four more times, then I'll pass out." It wasn't an exact calculation, but it was what Charles felt could happen if he kept trying to enter the monster's mind.
"You don't need to overexert yourself, little brother. I'll kill that thing myself," Cassandra interrupted their conversation. She was a bit tired from her previous maneuver to destroy the plane at such a long distance, but she was already feeling a bit better and was ready to fight seriously.
And as if to prove her point, when one of the monster's tentacles shot toward her at high speed, Cassandra waved her hand forcefully, deflecting the attack and making it crash into one of the nearby buildings.
The concrete was sliced cleanly without any resistance, weakening the structure and causing it to start collapsing—something Cassandra used to her advantage as the debris began to levitate in the air under her influence.
Without hesitation, she made the debris rain down on the creature like high-speed projectiles, trapping it in a whirlwind that soon began to form a tornado around it.
Everyone present was stunned by the display of superhuman power.
But the spectacle didn't last long. As if to disrupt the flow of the tornado, the creature's tentacles began to move at great speed, cutting and destroying all the debris in their path, giving it the chance to escape from the prison of rubble where Cassandra had trapped it.
"How annoying," she growled under her breath. Its skin was too tough, and its physical strength was monstrous. Cassandra had already tried to hold its body directly and twist it with her telekinesis, but with little success beyond slowing its progress—one of the reasons it hadn't caught up to them yet, but that wouldn't last forever.
She needed to change her approach...
Her thoughts raced as she watched the monster getting closer and closer. A hail of bullets fired by the soldiers on their side tried to slow it down, and Charles used his powers again to trip it up, buying them another moment. Even so, it would soon be too close to them.
'If the exterior is too tough, then attack the interior.' Cassandra had never considered doing this before—hell, she didn't even know if she could—but time was running out, and she didn't have many other ideas.
Soon, Charles lost his influence over the creature's mind again, and the monster roared in clear rage, charging at them faster and more frenetically than before.
Cassandra took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating. Her hand rose with her palm open, pointing toward the creature as she tried to reach inside it.
"Gotcha!" Cassandra's eyes snapped open, a broad smile on her face as she looked at the monster now less than five meters away from them.
Then she clenched her fist.
There was a sharp sound, like a balloon popping, and the creature that had been rushing toward them suddenly lost its balance and fell face-first to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut. Its body rolled across the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust until it came to rest at Cassandra's feet.
The girl trembled slightly but stood firm, staring down at her fallen enemy.
"Y-you see? I told you I'd kill it," she said, glancing at her brother before her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed, unconscious.
"Cassandra!"
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A few moments earlier, in another part of the city.
James gritted his teeth as he leaped into the air, crossing dozens of meters in an instant.
The smell in the air was utterly disgusting.
With his claws extended, he sped along, following the trail of that scent—a scent vaguely familiar yet entirely different.
The sound of gunfire, screams of horror, and bestial roars grew closer, and soon James saw the two responsible.
Slaughtering a group of German soldiers were what could only be described as a pair of abominations.
One of them was tall, with grotesquely deformed muscles bulging over each other across its body, and six arms where there should have only been two. From its shoulders, a pair of turret-like weapons unfolded, firing blue energy projectiles that obliterated everything in their path.
The second was a stark contrast to the first, gaunt and almost skeletal, hunched over like some kind of four-legged beast. It moved swiftly, hunting down the soldiers attacking it, tearing them apart in an instant with its long black claws. Its face—or where its face should have been—was covered by a dark metal mask.
James didn't see any other mechanical parts on the monster but didn't rule out the possibility that it had something hidden somewhere.
"What a disgusting pair," he spat, anger lacing his words. He was furious—furious because the scent of his brother emanated from them.
"HEY!" He shouted loudly, grabbing the attention of both creatures, who had just finished massacring the German soldiers.
James crouched slightly, leaning forward with his muscles tensed, adopting a clearly aggressive stance.
The two monsters growled at him, alarmed, their behavior more animalistic than intelligent.
With their attention now on him, James grinned, baring his teeth. Then, without hesitation, he took a powerful step forward, putting all his strength into it. The ground cracked beneath him, and his blurred figure crossed the distance between them so fast that, to a normal human eye, it would have seemed as if he had vanished from his previous position.
At the same moment, the monster with the metal mask lunged at him like a rabid dog, and in an instant, the two collided in midair. James' claws, harder than any conventional steel, tore through the bulletproof flesh, causing blood to splatter.
The monster growled in pain and used its long black claws to try to rip through James' skin, but it had little success, leaving only faint red marks that quickly disappeared.
"Get out of my way!" James snarled, and with a powerful motion, he spread his arms apart, his claws slicing through the creature's flesh, splitting it in two in an instant.
There was a pitiful scream as the monster was flung into the air in two pieces, but James no longer paid it any attention, continuing his advance toward the second monster, which roared in fury as it watched its "companion" get killed in an instant.
With heavy steps, the monster charged at James, its shoulder-mounted weapons lighting up with blue energy and firing hundreds of energy projectiles. James easily dodged them by maneuvering out of the way, then leaped into a charge that the monster took head-on.
The air exploded as their bodies collided, and the ground beneath them sank several centimeters due to the impact. James was ready to attack, but his enemy struck first. Six fists the size of his head were hurled at him from different directions.
One of them landed a solid blow to his face, but James had been hit harder before. This didn't stop him for a moment; without hesitation, he charged at his enemy, stabbing and tearing relentlessly like a rabid animal.
"GRRRAAAHH!"
"RAAAWWWRR!"
The two roars merged, shaking the entire area, but it was clear that one was filled with much more pain than the other. James continued to slash and mutilate until one of his claws reached the mechanical mechanism powering the monster's shoulder-mounted weapons.
The blue light engulfed them both, and then a massive, deafening explosion erupted.
BOOOM!
The energy of the Tesseract disintegrated everything within a radius of several meters, leaving nothing but silence enveloping the area.
Then the smoke cleared, and James stumbled out from the center of the explosion.
His breathing was ragged; he couldn't see, smell, or hear, but it only lasted a moment.
The empty sockets of his eyes refilled as his eyeballs grew back, restoring his vision. Over his white skull, the flesh bubbled as his muscles and tendons regenerated, with the skin covering them, a process that happened almost instantaneously.
Once all his wounds had healed, James released a long exhale.
That had hurt like a bitch
And now he was naked again—just great...
James glanced at himself for a moment until his nose twitched. He looked up and met the gaze of a man who appeared to be just a civilian, hiding behind a half-collapsed wall.
What might catch others' attention about the man was the large camera in his hands, but for James, the most important thing was the pants and coat he was wearing.
Without hesitation, James began walking toward him quickly. The man, who had been in shock, snapped out of his trance upon noticing this and began backing away until he bumped into a wall.
"Y-you—"
"The clothes, now," James said, and the man looked at him dumbfounded for a moment. James then growled making him jump and hurriedly began to undress down to just his boxers.
The man watched with sadness and resignation as James took his clothes and left him alone with just his camera in hand.
He couldn't help but sigh. Then he looked at his camera, and although he couldn't view the images he had taken until he developed them later in a photographic laboratory, he could still remember the moment he hoped he had captured in full.
The moment James crashed into the first monster and effortlessly tore it in half, ending its life in an instant.
It would surely be a prize-worthy shot.
But before that, he needed to find something to cover himself.
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There was a sound, the sound of the wind breaking. The shield flew through the air at great speed, slicing through flesh like a sharp blade. A deformed head flew off, and a lifeless body fell to the ground.
John raised his hand to catch the shield and looked at the monster's corpse with a frown. These things had been a bit of a problem, but nowhere near as challenging. In fact, James had been much tougher to deal with than the three monsters he had faced today.
He stowed his shield behind his back and prepared to leave. Even though they weren't a threat to him, they were still quite dangerous to everyone else, and if any were still alive, he needed to deal with them as soon as possible.
Before he could leave, the caw of a raven interrupted him. He looked up and saw the familiar figure of Raven in her bird form. And soon she gracefully landed on his outstretched hand.
"What's up?" he asked, looking into her dark eyes.
"I thought you'd want to know that everything is fine. James easily took out the two monsters near the river, and the siblings handled the last one, though the girl ended up fainting."
John couldn't help but relax at this news. It seemed he had made the right choice after all. With that weight off his shoulders, John let out a long sigh.
"Do we have any casualties among the commandos?" That was another important question. Despite their skills, they were still human, and accidents could happen.
"No, some injuries but nothing too serious. Most can still keep fighting."
"That's good. Then go tell them to continue the operations. We've already lost enough time with this interruption. Also, make sure the siblings are well taken care of."
Raven nodded and began to flap her wings, leaving John alone once more.
Without the urgency to help, John relaxed a bit and walked over to where one of the containers had landed.
Looking at the metal box and the words written on it, John couldn't help but scoff.
"Höllenkrieger... they really like naming their things, don't they?"
He chuckled a bit, but his amusement quickly faded as he contemplated what this could mean.
Hydra had advanced much further than he had expected. How many more of these monsters did they have? Was there an entire army of them, or had these six been all they managed to get?
No, if they had an army, they would have sent it already. But that didn't mean there weren't more.
"How interesting... it seems this war has begun to change once again..." he thought contemplatively.
It seemed that the Vanguard project would have an earlier debut than planned.
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Note:
Höllenkrieger: Hell Warrior
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