8: Preparations

  Bruneck Castle, Night

  The partisaance had taken the tral German base in Brunico, Bruneck Castle. The a castle opes doors to its rightful owners. Franen had finished clearing the nearby corpses, and the prisoners of war had been locked in one of the rooms, awaiting interrogation.

  John surveyed the area and nodded with satisfa. While most of the partisaance members were not soldiers, they had learned well from the feere. They fortified the pce, raised their defenses, and took possession of the Nazi ons and vehicles that were still avaible.

  Thus, the castle had bee a rather det pot only to spend the night, but John believed that if he had to stay here, he could undoubtedly withstand an assault from Nazi troops.

  It ity this wasn't a tower defense game; he couldn't stay here long. His nerdy side tingled sine of his childhood dreams was to have his own fortified base. Maybe iure, he could buy an isnd or something simir.

  "Have you found anything else?" he asked a man named Carlo, who seemed to be Franco's sed-in-and.

  The man shook his head. "We searched, but it seems there's no o. We're already interrogating some of the Nazi soldiers, but they're tough." What John was looking for were the civilians. Bruneck had been a picturesque city before the siege. While many mao escape, many others did not. The Nazis wouldn't kill them all, so there should be prisoners, but there were none, and that roblem.

  "I uand. I'll wait," John dismissed Carlo and began to wander around the castle until he reached a secluded area. With a leap, he nded on the roof of the castle and stood casually at its peak, admiring the views. He raised his hand, and the caw of a crow followed. Soon, the bird flew to him and perched on his arm.

  "How is it?" he asked, and the crow looked at him with more intelligehan a bird should possess. Then, it opes beak.

  "You were right; they didn't go too far. At least 200 of them stayed behind and are fortifying the ter of a nearby vilge to the southwest. There could be more; I couldn't t them all. They're very alert."

  John sidered this and quickly located the p his mind. He khe German army wouldn't pletely give up on Brunico; they would surely wait for reinforts but wouldn't retreat entirely.

  "That must be San Giio. They were expelled in a straight line, after all." There weren't many paths to take. From Bruo Sand in Taufers was only a straight path covered by mountains with dense vegetation. Not many would dare to cross such terrain without knowing it.

  "Did you see anything else? Civilians, maybe?" he asked Raven, looking into her dark crow eyes. She shook her head in an oddly humaure. For John, it was both strange and fasating. He didn't expect her to be able to transform into animals, but it was certainly a wele help. She was eager to assist, so he had given her a simple task: follow the remaining German troops and locate where they had statiohemselves.

  "Only soldiers, no civilians."

  John frowhat was strahere should be something. He didn't know the exact popution, but even if this was a rural and mountainion, the small vilges scattered around weren't few. With the dispt due to the war, many civilians should have fled ter poputioers like Brunid, to a lesser extent, San Giio.

  Uhey took another path he hadn't sidered... After all, he wasn't a resident of Italy. He was guided by knos and information given by the partisaance, so he could be overthinking this...

  But somehow, something inside him told him it wasn't that simple, and John had begun to learn to trust his instincts more and more.

  "Do you need me to take another look?" Raven asked, fpping her wings.

  He looked at her and shook his head.

  "No, it's time to rest. You've done enough." He patted her on the head, and she made a strange sound. Then her body began to return to "normal"—or rather, the disguise she had created. She held her head with a pout and a blush on her cheeks, but he didn't mind.

  He had never had a pet before. They were too expeo keep. Of course, thinking of Raven as a pet wasn't right either; she was more valuable than that. Still, he couldn't help wanting to pet her when she was in her crow form. Maybe he should get a cat a her take its form?

  With idle thoughts like these, he held her by the waist and stepped down to the ground with her.

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  "Damn it!" A resistance soldier gritted his teeth as they extracted the bullet from his torso. Blood gushed out, making him groan even more, and the men around him parying unsuccessfully to stop the bleeding.

  "What are you doing!?" Captain America's voice cut through, making Franco, who was holding the man to keep him from thrashing, look up.

  The Captain rushed to the man's side and quickly took trol of the situation.

  "Quick, I need a needle!" he ordered and began to treat the wound. No one dared disobey him due to the immense respect he had earned among them.

  Soon, he mao stop the bleeding and, with ued skill, began stitg the wound.

  "How many more wounded are there?" he asked, looking at Franco.

  Franapped out of his stupor and responded. "At least a dozen. Our medics are treating them, but it's not enough." The injuries were severe, and the medical equipment they had was far from ideal. The resistance had few people with medical knowledge, and they were overwhelmed.

  "I'll help," said the Captain, making franco's curiosity to e to the surface.

  "Are you a medic, Captain?" John looked at him and smiled slightly.

  "Just a hough I served as a field medic during some missions only because I was the only one avaible."

  Franco blinked, surprised. Not just him, but everyone nearby who heard was surprised as well. If John had told them he had served as an infantry soldier, they would have believed it easily. But the 1.95-meter-tall man with an athletid imposing build didn't seem like the type who would serve as a nurse.

  One had to uand that in this era, it was usually women who served as nurses, so men who did so were often ridiculed by their peers. It would have been more respectable to say he was a medic, but John openly chose to say he was a nurse, which surprised many.

  For his part, John couldn't help but silently pin. When he arrived in this world, he hadn't thought much about the background of the body he now possessed. It wasn't until ter that he learned of his "supposed" nursing skills, which could have nded him in a lot of trouble because he knew absolutely nothing about medie.

  He found out while still in training camp, and it stressed him out quite a bit. If someone asked for his help in the middle of bat and he didn't know how to provide it, wouldn't that tarnish his reputation? Wouldn't it make people doubt him?

  So, since he hadn't gone directly to the battlefield, he used the time to delve into the study of medie. Thanks to the super soldier serum and pound V, while he wouldn't say he was a genius, his learning speed was signifitly accelerated. He could study multiple things simultaneously without fetting or fusing anything.

  He used this to relearn nursing. No one questioned him whearted, as his record stated he was a nurse. He only had to say he was reaffirming his knowledge to avoid fetting his skills.

  John didn't exaggerate either; he didn't o bee a doctor. He just o establish a solid foundation in nursing skills to demonstrate that he indeed knew how to do it.

  Not far from them, a man with a rge camera in hand looked at the image he had captured of Johing the wounded soldier. He smiled—without a doubt, the media would love this.

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  It was te at night when John fireating the st man. The partisaance medics had been a great help, and together they mao stabilize most of the wounded. However, many others died as their injuries were beyond what any doctor or field nurse could treat.

  The people observed a minute of silence for them, and their bodies were pced aside to be buried ter.

  John wiped the blood from his hands and looked up at the dark sky. He thought he uood death, but today he couldn't help but feel that he didn't uand it at all.

  He looked at his palms. He had killed before, and it had made him unfortable, but it was just that—a disfort he could ignore by fog oh ahead. But feeling the life slip away from someone while trying to save them was entirely different.

  He didn't dare look away as the st breath of life left their bodies. Instead, he forced himself to look directly into their eyes as they took their final breath, holding their hands and staying by their side until the end.

  It was torture.

  Logically, he knew he couldn't assume the bme for their deaths. This was war, and everyone fighting in it was aware of their potential fate. Even so, he couldn't help but feel a certain amount of guilt pressing against his chest.

  He couldn't save them all, but he was Captain fug America! At the very least... at the very least, he should be able to save those fighting alongside him, shouldn't he?

  "Here you are," Raven's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, auro see her arriving with two ptes of food.

  He smiled and patted the spot o him. She walked over, sat down beside him, and handed him one of the ptes.

  "e on, the guys found some ed meat. looks pretty good," she said. The partisan army had looted the supplies the Nazis had brought with them, as well as those stolen from the town. With over 100 men in the castle, feeding them would have been difficult if it weren't for Franco, who was smart and knew which supplies were most important to take and where to look for them

  At the same time, they expected more men to arrive by m, likely doubling their numbers. The partisaance had decided to fight alongside John without hesitation and had started heading towards their location. The Allied forces were probably starting to receive the news, or they would soon. A movement this rge couldn't be hidden, after all.

  They ate in fortable silence. John didn't feel very hungry but forced himself to eat. He o replenish his energy, even if he had only expended a small amount. In truth, he no longer felt sleepy. He wasn't sure if he didn't o sleep anymore or just needed very little sleep. He hadn't tested it much, as he liked sleeping aing.

  But now that he was otlefield, he knew he wouldn't have many nights of fortable sleep. He looked at raven sideways. She finished her meal quickly, her appetite seemingly undiminished sihe first time they met.

  "Here," he said, what was left on his pte. She looked at him doubtfully.

  "You're not hungry?"

  "I've eaten enough," he replied. She looked at him for a moment but didn't argue further and took the pte with a smile.

  "How do you feel?" he asked when he saw her finish her meal. She had killed for the first time today, and even though she was smiling now, Johhat wasn't something easily overe.

  Ravehe ptes aside and pyed with her thumbs, looking down at the ground. Her smile had vanished. She thought about John's question and answered holy.

  "It's strange. I was scared, but when I fired that gun, my hands didn't shake, even though I thought they would. I know it's because of my powers. Copying that woman helped a little... But still, I thought it would be harder, that I would hesitate more... Is it normal not to feel regret for what I did? I mean... he wao kill us..."

  Raven had been scared. Her heart had pounded, and she felt her blood run cold in her veins. Yet, when all was said and done, killing that man hadn't had the impact she thought it would. She didn't know what to expect, but she expected something... But nothing happehe world didn't stop; everything tinued as if the death of that soldier were just a footnote on a page that no one would remember.

  Except for her and John, of course. Still, somehow, even if she felt somewhat shaken, she couldn't find a within herself. In fact, she was gd, as strange as it sounded, because now she could be by John's side and be part of something truly important.

  She didn't know if that was good or bad, and that fused her.

  John thought about his words before responding.

  "You did the right thing. I told you before, in this war, no matter which side you're on, you have to make tough decisions, get your hands dirty, and do what you believe is necessary. Your choice was made, and you chose to move forward. If you don't regret it, that's okay. Don't feel bad for not doing so. Remember, they're your enemies, and none of them will show you any mercy."

  He needed Raven by his side; she was too useful. But John knew he would have to do some questiohings iure, things he could hide from the general popution. But Even if he was a good actor, he knew he couldn't hide everything. Sooner or ter, something would e to light. Not for the masses—he'd make sure of that—but those closest to him might notie things. Of course, it referable that they didn't, but John couldn't trol everything.

  That's why he o make sure she uood, that she stayed by his side, even when he made the toughest decisions.

  Raven looked at him, and he smiled warmly. The doubts within her began to fade, and she couldn't help but return the smile. He was right; she did what was necessary, made her decision, and had no reason tret it.

  His support meant more to her than she expected, making her heart feel lighter because she somehow felt he would be by her side no matter what.

  "Thank you," she said, uo help herself.

  John smiled and reached out, giving her a pat on the head, making her blush a bit. His hand was warm.

  "That's what I'm here fht? Whenever you need help, just tell me, and I'll do everything in my power to support you," he said early.

  Raven stopped fog on the sensation of his hand stroking her head and, with an equally serious expression, nodded and responded firmly, looking him directly in the eyes.

  "I will too! No matter what, I'll help you as well!"

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  Note:

  SuperSoldier week is over! I met my small goal of 5 chapters, with a chapter of almost seven thousand words that was the ohat ehis small event, I really would have liked to be able to do more but I still have a formal job and responsibilities to attend to, even so with more than 200 subscribers payments on Patreon I'm starting to sider stopping w too many overtime hours at my normal job aing more time to writing, who knows, let's see how things progress little by little.

  Remember that the update of SuperSoldier is now avaible on Patreon (patreon.maCruzader) If you don't want to wait for a public update, you take a look at it n.n