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Led by Aldo, the three quickly passed through several corridors and came to a room on the first floor of the side wing of the castle.
Here was a cellar that housed the research facility.
According to Aldo's introduction, this castle had several cellars, most of which, like the rooms upstairs, were unfinished. Only two had been cleaned and refurbished - a smaller cellar was used for regular storage, while the larger one, to which they were heading, had been converted into the research lab.
"Lieutenant!" Two soldiers stood guard at the entrance to the room. When they saw Josh and his group approaching, they saluted.
Aldo returned the salute, then took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.
With a creak, the door opened to reveal a wooden hall resembling a warehouse. The dimly lit room was filled with various pieces of art.
"These items were looted from the French by Little Moustache's army," Aldo said, gesturing to the pieces of art covered in white cloth. "The inventory is in that bookcase. It's yours now, but if you want to keep it all, you'll have to reward my men a little. Even though I was the one who secured this place, they've done their part by guarding it." (TL/N: Little Moustache's refers to Hitler)
"Of course!" Josh said, scanning the room. There were probably thousands of pieces of art here. "But first I'll need someone to appraise the value of these items."
Josh wasn't stingy.
One couldn't assume that everything looted and stored here was valuable just because it had been taken by Hitler's army.
The real treasures had probably been kept privately by soldiers and officers during the looting process.
The remaining items would have been selected layer by layer by Hitler, high officials, military commanders, and German museums.
By the time the remains were sent to storage facilities like this one, the most valuable pieces would have already been taken.
So, despite the abundance of art, Josh was confident that there were no extraordinary treasures here—at best, some mid-level items of moderate value.
Also, in times of chaos, antiques lose their appeal to gold.
In this post-war era, not only was it difficult to get a good price for these works of art, it was a challenge to sell them at all.
Still, Josh didn't mind. If the Germans had considered them worth looting, they had some value. Once the castle was fully restored, these pieces could serve as decorations, enhancing the atmosphere and saving him the trouble of procuring items later.
"The research facility is inside. Follow me!" Aldo said, leading Josh and Ophelia past piles of art to the innermost part of the hall.
There was an inconspicuous staircase leading down.
Going down the stairs and turning a corner, they found themselves in front of a heavy metal door.
"I didn't station anyone here because there are guards outside and the contents inside are not suitable for ordinary soldiers to see," Aldo explained as he opened the door.
"The soldiers don't know what's inside?" Josh asked.
"Of course not. That night, I infiltrated the castle alone and cleared everyone out. The soldiers from East Company only know that there's a research lab here, but the keys are with me, and none of them have entered," Aldo replied.
With a resounding bang, the heavy metal door opened, revealing a brightly lit underground hall despite being below ground.
Unlike the wooden hall above, this one was filled with various instruments and equipment. Several labs were lined up around the perimeter, though there was evidence of a fierce battle - bullet holes and bloodstains covered the room.
Fortunately, the damage wasn't too bad.
"There's electricity here?" Josh asked, noticing the lighted hall.
"Yes. There's a power room inside that uses Hydra energy batteries, like their weapons. They're extremely durable. We've occupied this place for almost a week and there's no sign of exhaustion," Aldo confirmed.
"Can you tell what kind of research has been done here?" Josh turned to Ophelia.
"We'd have to find the experiment logs to determine that," Ophelia said, shaking her head at the disorganized state of the lab before turning to Aldo. "Is there a data room here?"
"There is - over there. It's unlocked," Aldo replied, pointing to a corner.
"Go ahead," Josh instructed.
Without hesitation, Ophelia went into the data room to search for information.
"Anything else unusual?" Josh asked.
"Yes, in the deepest part," Aldo said, pointing further in.
"Let's take a look," Josh said.
Aldo led Josh into a laboratory.
Inside, they found two large cryogenic chambers, each containing a frozen person.
Frowning, Josh approached.
The first chamber contained a young Asian woman.
Strange, why would there be an Asian woman in a Hydra base?
When Josh reached the second chamber, his eyes widened in surprise.
Inside was none other than Captain America's close friend, Bucky Barnes.
Josh had met Captain America several times in London, and had crossed paths with Bucky several times, so he recognized him immediately.
But why was Bucky here?
Had the incident of Bucky falling off a cliff during the capture of Zola still occurred in this timeline?
Though Josh occasionally kept an eye on Captain America, he hadn't paid much attention to Bucky's whereabouts or experiences.
But Bucky's presence here spoke volumes.
"You know him?" Aldo asked curiously, noting Josh's reaction.
"Yes, Bucky Barnes. That's a nickname. His real name is supposed to be James Barnes, a member of the Howling Commandos and a close friend of Captain America. I didn't expect to find him here," Josh said.
"Captain America's friend? What are we going to do with him?" Aldo asked, startled by the revelation.
"What else? First, find out how he got into Hydra's hands. Once my team takes over, we'll assess his condition. If there are no problems, we'll find a reasonable way to send him back. If it's too complicated, we'll pretend we never saw him," Josh decided after some thought.
He reasoned this way because he didn't know if Bucky had been brainwashed or subjected to more Winter Soldier experiments.
If not, he could safely be returned as a favor to Captain America. But if Bucky had been brainwashed or experimented on, Josh would have no choice but to abandon him.
For now, it seemed unlikely that Bucky had been subjected to extensive experimentation, as his right arm appeared to be intact.
Aldo nodded in agreement, understanding that this was the most practical course of action.
He was now firmly aligned with Josh's faction. Though he respected Captain America and had even received help from him during conflicts with Kennedy, he wasn't about to jeopardize his relationship with Josh over it.
After all, the Hydra weapons stash Aldo had secretly given Josh in Paris was enough to get him court-martialed ten times over.
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