28: H?llenkrieger

  "How could you be so irresponsible?!" Charles wao 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 tral camp of the Ak by John, looked at Charles and rolled her eyes.

  "Oh e 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 b, had given her a certain elegan her movements.

  "That's not the point," Charles sighed. Only God knew how mortified he had been when he and Joh up with James' team, only to discover that his sister had rushed pletely aloo eerritory.

  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 told him she had been in more trouble than she was willing to admit.

  Seeing the two siblings argue made James, who was the general situation of the camp from not too far away on top of one of the half-colpsed 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 sidering 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 sihe 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, pletely taking over the Wo distrid a few others. James would say the special team he art 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 ons, 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 o be the war hammer ahe Polish citizens do the rest. At this rate, they could soon pletely drive the Nazi occupation out of the city. Then, they would sweep through the surrounding areas and could begirue mission—resg Victor, stopping Hydra, and saving millions of lives.

  James had always been a wanderer, in the flicts he had been involved in throughout history, even just a merary. 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 flict, 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 refles, though he had already sensed his approach. He turo see him extending his hand with a cigarette in it. James took it ahe man light it with the lighter he carried.

  Theook 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 ent mu that. In fact, he had only e 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 mao send a message with a lot of information before we got to him.” John didn’t beat around the bush, and hearing this, James frowhings 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 pns. 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 uable at this point, and John no longer wao keep pying with them as he had initially intehat's why he had been preparing so many things, gathering so mufluend support—he had decided to cover all possible fronts if somethi wrong, which, of course, was the st thing he wanted.

  There was a flutter in the air, and a familiar crow came from the sky, its form ging mid-flight to nd 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 everythi well.”

  “The andos are as good as you said they’d be. They took care of most of it and secured the area easily.” Raven had goh Steve, Bucky, and the other members of what John had he Howling andos, 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 t them along. They were just ordinary men, after all. John already had her, James, and the Xavier siblings, so why would he hem? Still, she said nothing because John always did things for a reason, and as always, he had proven to be right once again.

  The andos 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 a and knew she still had a lot to learn—a lesson in humility that frustrated her a bit but one she accepted, suspeg 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 insuran case things got plicated, 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 pns.

  “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 a, leaving the two men alone once more. During the entire exge, she hadn’t looked in James’s dire even once.

  “Does that girl have something against me?” James couldn’t help but ask suddenly, causing John to blink in fusion befiving 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 uand. Not because he disliked James—on the trary, he quite liked the guy—but because he had also entered 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 o learn.

  “Don’t think too much about it. Womeoo plicated to try to figure out,” John said, to which James could only agree, having known so many women throughout his long life.

  “e 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 joihers, awaiting the flie.

  .

  .

  .

  The battle had begun in the middle of the night and stretched into the m, only stopping when noon arrived after eight hours of tinuous fighting. Such a by the AK put the remaining forces of the Third Rei edge, now in a state of chaos. After all, many of their key anding 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 sed or even third choice but the fourth to take and of the SS troops and German police that had maroup before everythio hell, couldn’t help but rub his forehead in frustration.

  “Resist?” he said through gritted teeth, gring at the le radio equipment as if he wao melt it with his gaze.

  How were they supposed to resist with damn Captain Ameri the city?!

  He wao tear his hair out, kiething, kill something, but wisely held bad took a deep breath.

  It felt like they were being abandoned, as if the Reich had written them off as dead. He khat wasn’t the case—he’d heard the news about how the Allies had begun intensifying their attacks sihe Reich lost Italy. Even the damned Soviets had started ag like rabid dogs. Damn unists!

  Reinforts would e; Wolfgang was fident 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 unpreted bloodlust. He wasn't going to die uselessly; he refused that fate. Even if it was the st thing he did, he would make his enemies suffer, down to the st man, woman, or child. He would drag them all to hell with him.

  Wolfgang hadn’t been the sed or even third choice for and. Someone more qualified would have devised a wiser pn 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 aced 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 pnning something. We ’t let them keep the upper hand. Pass my and—have the men start preparing. We’ll unch the attack before they do.” With nothio lose and willing to do anything, Wolfgang decided to take the initiative.

  In the years to e, this decision would be remembered as the final nail in the coffin of the Nazi occupation in Warsaw.

  .

  .

  .

  John might have said it was ued, but with James and himself present, hearing the enemy begin to approach, trying to catch them off guard, was almost ical 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 seeraces of the atrocities they had itted. Before his arrival, approximately five huhousand Jews had been murdered—elderly, young, women, and children. No one ared, 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 ons that had been stolen during the initial flict. Even if they cked 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 beloo.

  But perhaps the most ued thing was that some of them had drawn, sewn, or marked a rge 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 happe 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 pced in him. But even if he wasn’t worthy, that didn’t meaeo 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.

  “The’s begin.”

  In aremely swift motion, John hurled his shield. The aerodynamic object flew through the air, creating a supersoni 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 khrough butter, the thick armor of the tanks ierced by the unbreakable metal of the shield, and in a row, dozens of tanks began to explode oer 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 advah firm, heavy steps.

  John raised his arm, heard the air being dispced, and in a practiced motion, he caught his shield as it returo him like a b.

  Tadeusz Bór, standing beside him, couldn't help but look i the feat John had performed. So much power in the hands of one man... no, not just a man. The AK ander couldn’t stop the memories from flooding in. Not long before John's arrival in Warsaw, the AK had beeing iy in various ways—sabotage, espionage, making all sorts of preparations for when the day would e.

  This included resg some of the Jewish prisoners who still remained iy. 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 bohat stuck out from his body from ck 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 te. Tadeusz held him in his arms as the boy trembled and life slipped away from his body.

  His st words, the st 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 e out of his mouth. Because, what right did he have to lie to him in his st moments of life? Even if he k 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 vi and firmness, not a lie, but a reality.

  "God is fighting by our side, boy."

  .

  .

  .

  Steve Rogers took cover behind the remains of a vehicle as he hurriedly reloaded his on. Not far from him, Bucky removed the pin from a grenade and threw it towards the enemy lines. Both men pyed an excellent role in maintaining and advang 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 guerril warfare approach throughout their remainiory 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 e 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 searg 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 unfortably close to missing.

  “You almost made yirl 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 fusion.

  “I think you got yours first.” After saying that, Bucky pulled out a bandage and began to it.

  Steve nearly rolled his eyes, and while he was being teo, he focused on staying alert. The battle hadn’t lessened in iy just because he needed a moment, and they had to remain vigint.

  "You hear that?" Steve couldn’t help but ask, frowning. At his words, Bucky froze, listening ily. Soooo heard the sound Steve was referring to, and his eyes widened in arm. He quickly stood up and looked towards the distant sky.

  “Bombers!” he shouted at the top of his lungs and pulled out a fre gun, firing it into the sky without hesitation. Then he and Steve started running away from their current location.

  .

  In the sky, nearing Warsaw, a dozen aircraft with a distinct appearance from ventional nes were approag at great speed. Their color was a deep bck, and a blue light glowed from their ehe symbol of a red skull with tentacles extending from its jaw was embzoned on their sides, a clear sign of whom they beloo.

  Behind them, a rge cargo pne followed closely.

  “Begin the deployment. Cargo release in—” The radio unicatioween the pilots tly cut off as one of the pnes suddenly and violently exploded.

  A blurry figure moved swiftly through the shockwaves in the air, and three more pnes 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 a. He was genuinely disappointed. He expected more from Hydra; these simple pnes had already proven useless against him before, so why keep sending them?

  He frowurning his attention to the cargo pne, different from the rest. What was on it? Explosives? Some kind of neon?

  His thoughts were interrupted when hundreds of blue light projectiles began to be fired in his dire. That was new. He noticed hone had maneuvered to aim at him, deploying multiple turrets from their undersides.

  He thought they would try to escape from him, but they seemed i on keeping him away. Were they trying to protect the cargo? John had a bad feeling about this.

  .

  On the ground, the explosion of four pnes naturally drew the attention of everyone fighting, causing the battle to pause for a moment.

  Cassandra, now more recovered aed, watched the fight in the sky as John began taking down several enemy pnes in rapid succession. Theiced the cargo pne, 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 pne 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 ck of ons, others being prisoners held by the Nazi army in various buildings.

  When it all started, a rge 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 ge her pns. 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 tempted to reaething so distant or heavy before; she didn’t even know if she was capable of doing it, but she still wao 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. fused, he followed the dire she ointing and, when he realized what she inteo do, he couldn’t help but sigh and ask himself, Is my sister crazy?

  .

  In the sky, the pilot of the cargo pne frowned as the aircraft was buffeted by turbulence caused by the explosions of the phat had been esc him.

  He hesitated for a sed 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 pne would have already fallen. He gnced baly to see the metal of the suddenly crumpling inward. And If he could see the pne from the outside, he would have been horrified to notice how the metal of the aircraft was beginning to press as if it were being crushed by two enormous hands at the same time.

  Arms bred loudly, and without further hesitation, he pressed the button to release his cargo, something he mao do just a sed before the entire pne colpsed in on itself, crumpling into a deformed ball of metal that exploded an instant ter.

  Ba the ground, Cassandra watched the explosion she caused with a broad smile. Sweat down her forehead, and her breathing was extremely bored, 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 dires.

  "Oh, shit!" She opened her eyes in panid 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 dipidated buildings. Faced with the situation, Charles didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Cassandra, pullio the ground with him, and covered his ears, brag for the explosions.

  But while the ground tio tremble slightly, it wasn’t the kind of shaking that indicated something had exploded. fused, Charles crouched and ed his neck out from their hiding spot, ready to drop back down if necessary.

  Cassandra followed him shortly after, and both looked in fusion at the ns of dust the six objects had caused upon nding.

  “Did they miss?” Charles wondered with a frown, looking at the n 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 approad risk triggering them unnecessarily.

  Oher hand, closer to the n 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 fusion. The wind gradually cleared the dust, revealing what seemed to be a rge, sturdy bck steel tainer. On its side was a symbol of a red skull with tentacles extending from its jaw and a word writteh it.

  "H?llenkrieger?" That was German. This had bee 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 tainer—a long, pointed appehat shot straight into his head, pierg 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 on and opening fire, with many others following suit in a panic.

  Sparks flew as bullets struck the tainer, causing a growl louder than the first to reverberate through the air. Theal twisted, and a skeletal hand shot out, tearing through it. A humanoid figure in tattered clothing emerged as if breaking out of a co, letting out a thunderous roar toward the sky.

  "GRRAAARR!!!!!!!!!!!"

  As if on cue, five simir roars joihe first.

  .

  In the sky, John, who had finished destroying all the enemy pnes, 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 pne, 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 ns of dust that were clearing, and thanks to his superhuman vision, he could identify six grotesquely humanoid creatures emerging from the dark metal tainers.

  The creatures seemed uo distinguish between ally or enemy and began attag any soldier hem 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 meical parts in their bodies that glowed with blue light, along with appehat clearly shouldn’t be there.

  The one closest to Charles and Cassandra, for example, had four long, poientacles ing 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 dires, some closer to others but still separated. John o quickly decide where to go first. He didn’t know how strong these creatures were, but they would definitely be a problem for the regur AK soldiers.

  One was near Cassandra, Charles, and several of the teams where the Howling andos were present. Two others were closer to the river where James had been deployed.

  That left the st three, who had nded right where most of the fightiween the AK and the German army was taking pce.

  Johated, 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 nded near him, fully intending to kill them.

  So he could let James hahose two without w, leaving the remaining four. If he went to help the Xavier siblings and ighe other three monsters, he would be leaving not only the AK but also the civilians who had joihe fray to their fate for an unknown amount of time.

  "What a fug 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 mohat were beginning to ehe 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 andos, along with the AK troops nearby. Even if they couldn't defeat the monster, he trusted they could hold out long enough until he returo help them.

  “They better not die,” he thought with some anger as he nded heavily on the ground.

  .

  .

  .

  The sight before them left Charles and Cassandra stunned for a moment.

  After all, it’s not every day you witness a true moraight out of hell roar at the sky and begin to massacre a dozen armed men in an instant.

  “We o 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 dire 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, crag the grouh 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, c its upper body in bck smoke.

  Charles turo see that not far from them, Steve and Bucky, along with some other members of the andos and several AK soldiers, were standing.

  “It’s tougher than a tank,” one of the andos, Gabe Jones, said as he quickly reloaded the bazooka he had fired.

  “A dozen tanks, I’d say,” Bucky responded, watg as the smoke cleared to reveal the monster’s body, which, though slightly disoriented, didn’t seem i all.

  “No matter how hard it is, we must kill it,” Steve, who had beeher person to fire one of the bazookas, quickly aimed the reloaded uncher, 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, watg 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 plete to me," Jim Morita ented sarcastically.

  "Enough talking, it's ing!" 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 seissile made a straurn in the air, evading the whip that was ing 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, ahan before, started running toward them.

  Before it could cross half the distahough, its body suddenly seemed to spasm, and it fell to its knees, clutg its head in obvious pain.

  "RAAARR!!!"

  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 reized the sensation. It was one he had felt when expl James' memories, when the man had been trolled and forced to fight John against his will.

  The monster also had a trol device, ohat was interfering with his powers.

  Oher hand, notig what was happening with the mohe soldiers on their side didn’t hesitate and began attag the creature with all their ons.

  Cassandra, in particur, grabbed all the grenades avaible on their side and, guiding them with her powers, uhem 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 e with the creature and nearly colpsing, but he was caught before he could fall.

  "How many more times you do that?" Steve, who had e to support him, asked. Charles hesitated for a moment before responding.

  "Three or four more times, then I'll pass out." It wasn't a calcution, but it was what Charles felt could happen if he kept trying to ehe monster's mind.

  "You don't o overexert yourself, little brother. I'll kill that thing myself," Cassandra interrupted their versation. She was a bit tired from her previous mao destroy the p 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, defleg the attad making it crash into one of the nearby buildings.

  The crete was sliced ly without aance, weakening the structure and causing it to start colpsing—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 dispy of superhuman power.

  But the spectacle didn’t st long. As if to disrupt the flow of the tornado, the creature’s tentacles began to move at great speed, cutting aroying all the debris in their path, giving it the ce 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 st forever.

  She o ge 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 pain to trip it up, buying them another moment. Even so, it would soooo close to them.

  'If the exterior is too tough, then attack the interior.' Cassandra had never sidered 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 freically than before.

  Cassandra took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trating. Her hand rose with her palm open, pointing toward the creature as she tried to reaside 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 ched her fist.

  There was a sharp sound, like a balloon popping, and the creature that had been rushing toward them suddenly lost its band fell face-first to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut. Its body rolled across the dirt, kig 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, gng at her brother before her eyes rolled back, and she colpsed, unscious.

  "Cassandra!"

  .

  .

  .

  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 cws extended, he sped along, following the trail of that st—a st vaguely familiar yet entirely different.

  The sound of gunfire, screams of horror, aial rrew closer, and soon James saw the two responsible.

  Sughtering 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 ons unfolded, firing blue energy projectiles that obliterated everything in their path.

  The sed was a stark trast to the first, gaunt and almost skeletal, hunched over like some kind of fged beast. It moved swiftly, hunting down the soldiers attag it, tearing them apart in an instant with its long bck cws. Its face—or where its face should have been—was covered by a dark metal mask.

  James didn't see any other meical parts on the monster but didn't rule out the possibility that it had something hidden somewhere.

  "What a disgusting pair," he spat, anger g his words. He was furious—furious because the st of his brother emanated from them.

  "HEY!" He shouted loudly, grabbing the attention of both creatures, who had just finished massag the German soldiers.

  James crouched slightly, leaning forward with his muscles tensed, adopting a clearly aggressive stance.

  The two monsters growled at him, armed, their behavior more animalistic than intelligent.

  With their attention now on him, James grinned, baring his teeth. Then, without hesitatioook a powerful step forward, putting all his strength into it. The ground cracked beh him, and his blurred figure crossed the distaween them so fast that, to a normal huma would have seemed as if he had vanished from his previous position.

  At the same moment, the monster with the metal mask lu him like a rabid dog, and in an instant, the two collided in midair. James' cws, harder than any ventional steel, tore through the bulletproof flesh, causing blood to sptter.

  The monster growled in pain and used its long bck cws 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 cws slig through the creature's flesh, splitting it in two in an instant.

  There itiful scream as the monster was flung into the air in two pieces, but James no longer paid it any attention, tinuing his advaoward the seonster, which roared in fury as it watched its "panio killed in an instant.

  With heavy steps, the monster charged at James, its shoulder-mounted ons 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 moook head-on.

  The air exploded as their bodies collided, and the grouh them sank several timeters 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 dires.

  One of them nded 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 tearilessly like a rabid animal.

  "GRRRAAAHH!"

  "RAAARR!"

  The two roars merged, shaking the entire area, but it was clear that one was filled with much more pain thaher. James tio ssh and mutite until one of his cws reached the meical meism p the monster's shoulder-mounted ons.

  The blue light engulfed them both, and then a massive, deafening explosioed.

  BOOOM!

  The energy of the Tesseract disied everything within a radius of several meters, leaving nothing but silenveloping the area.

  Then the smoke cleared, and James stumbled out from the ter of the explosion.

  His breathing was ragged; he couldn’t see, smell, or hear, but it only sted a moment.

  The empty sockets of his eyes refilled as his eyeballs grew back, rest his vision. Over his white skull, the flesh bubbled as his muscles and tendeed, with the skin c 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 g himself for a moment until his witched. He looked up ahe gaze of a man eared to be just a civilian, hiding behind a half-colpsed wall.

  What might catch others' attention about the man was the rge 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 notig this and began bag 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 a him aloh 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 ter in a photographic boratory, 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 o find something to cover himself.

  .

  .

  .

  There was a sound, the sound of the wind breaking. The shield flew through the air at great speed, slig through flesh like a sharp bde. 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 thahree monsters he had faced today.

  He stowed his shield behind his bad 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 o 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 nded 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 he river, and the siblings hahe st ohough the girl ended up fainting.”

  John couldn’t help but rex at this news. It seemed he had made the right choice after all. With that weight off his shoulders, Joh out a long sigh.

  “Do we have any casualties among the andos?” That was another important questioe their skills, they were still human, and acts could happen.

  “No, some injuries but nothing too serious. Most still keep fighting.”

  “That’s good. Then go tell them to tihe 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 fp her wings, leaving John alone once more.

  Without the urgency to help, John rexed a bit and walked over to where one of the tainers had nded.

  Looking at the metal box and the words written on it, John couldn’t help but scoff.

  “H?llenkrieger... they really like naming their things, don’t they?”

  He chuckled a bit, but his amusement quickly faded as he pted what this could mean.

  Hydra had advanced much further than he had expected. How many more of these monsters did they have? Was there aire army of them, or had these six been all they mao get?

  No, if they had an army, they would have sent it already. But that didn’t mean there weren’t more.

  "How iing... it seems this war has begun to ge once again..." he thought ptively.

  It seemed that the Vanguard project would have an earlier debut than pnned.

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  .

  .

  Note:

  H?llenkrieger: Hell Warrior

  As always, feel free to ent, give suggestions, and provide feedback. Criticism is important because it helps me improve and write better for you.

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