10: San Giio 2

  Franco felt his ears ringing, an explosive had detonated near his position, causing him to lose band his vision to start dist. It wasn't the first time something like this had happeo him, but it could be the st.

  With difficulty, he crawled, trying to reach a nearby partially colpsed wall to lean on it for support.

  He heard something, like a voice calling out to him, but he couldn't tell where it was ing from. Then a hand grabbed his shoulder, and Franco tried to turn quickly with his on ready to fire.

  Fortunately, he couldn't even hold his on properly, or he would have blown Carlo's brains out. The man helped him move, and soon both reached a safer position. Franco shook his head, his sense of hearing slowly returning.

  "-Something's wrong," Carlo's words finally reached him, and only now did Franotice the fear in his gaze and the beads of sweat on his face, his eyes clearly panicked, seeking dire.

  Franco swallowed his pain, disfort, and fear and quickly inquired about the situation.

  "What's happening?" But Carlo didn't have time to answer because before he could speak, the pce lit up with a bright blue light, there was a roar, and the ground shook. The sound of a massive metal mae crushing everything in its path was clear.

  Franco crawled to get a clearer view. What greeted him was the stra metal beast he had ever seen. Its design was huge and heavy, clearly extremely armored, the blue light ihe main on intensified, and all of Franco's instincts screamed, like an old soldier who had been in battle after battle sihe war began, he had developed enough perception to know wheh was near.

  His eyes turo a group of his men who were relentlessly attag the eank. He wao shout, to waro retreat, to hide, but his voice was drowned out by the tank's shot, not a projectile but pure unknown energy that turned everything in its path into dust.

  There was no deafening roar, no explosion; suddenly, the whole group of partisaance soldiers and the pce where they stood were reduced to ashes.

  Franco was momentarily paralyzed, but only for a brief moment. ons never seen before, that's what the defeated soldiers of the Allied army had said when they were forced to retreat many days ago, ons capable of redug a man to ashes instantly.

  No one had believed it, no one could believe it without seeing it for themselves, but now that Franco was witnessing it, he khat this battle would be much more difficult thahought. Still, they khis could happen; John had warhem.

  He g his watch. They had a schedule; they just o keep resisting for another 15 minutes.

  He looked at Carlo and quickly gave his orders.

  "Initiate Pn B!" Even if their oerrifying, even if a single shot from them meah, at the end of the day, they were all wielded by men.

  "Remember, you have to disarm them, those ons no matter what, you 't let them exploit their power," recalling John's words, Franco began to move to a better location. Carlo looked at his back, gritted his teeth, and began to move in another dire as well.

  He carefully took out a fre hidden inside his uniform and without hesitation, fired it into the sky.

  Unlike more ventional armies, the resistance cked many things. Their ons, for the most part, were stolen, as was their equipment. Getting radios was difficult, so their unication during flicts teo suffer as a result.. Still, there were clear signals that everyone could uand if they discussed them carefully.

  In the sky above San Giio, two fres flew through the air, sending a clear signal. The resistance soldiers quickly picked up the message and began to ge their tactics.

  They stopped fog on advang and began to bee a nuisance. Even if many of them had not been soldiers in the past, those who had been and had beloo the army were the ones who taught them how to fight against those who were stronger aer equipped, and how to ter their tactics.

  And so, more than a thousand men began to split into small teams of five, using their familiarity with the Italian nds and its architecture. They started to attack the German army as if their numbers outnumbered them 5 to 1, even though it wasn't the case.

  They had begun a guerril warfare.

  .

  .

  .

  Vil Santa Caterina.

  Raven soared through the sky, fpping her bck wings as she fixed her gaze oarget. At first, it was strange, seeing through the eyes of a bird was very different from doing so with humahe colors, sharpness, ah, everything ged in ways a human brain couldn't imagine.

  Still, thanks to her power, Raven was able to adapt. No, not just adapt, it was more like she had always been a bird. Every movement, every a, no one could see through her disguise unless she allowed it.

  She dove through the air, nding softly on a high wall. She raised her wing and began to "scratch" with her beak, mimig bird behavior effortlessly.

  A German soldier, sing beyond the wall with binocurs, frow the bird nding not far from him. He gripped his on, sidering whether to shoot.

  In the end, he simply picked up a nearby stone and, with a slight smile, threw it at the bird. The raven seemed to anticipate the stone and cawed, flying bato the sky above his head.

  The soldier ughed, truly getting bored. Guarding the road to San Giio was anything but exg.

  "What's all the fuss about?" his superior officer approached, and the soldier stopped ughing.

  "Just a silly bird, Sir. Still no signs of any intruders," Hans responded somewhat nervously. The officer g him before nodding.

  "They're attag from the front. If there are no sightings in 3 hours, we'll return and provide assistance." Hans blinked but quickly nodded.

  "Yes, sir!"

  A team of 50 men was statio this "base." The new major who had arrived from Vil Ottotenheim) believed that their enemies might attack from their fnk and had stationed men here preventively.

  So far, no enemy had shown up, so for Hans, all of this was just a waste of time. They should be in San Giio where the real battle was taking pce.

  He was eager to fight, to prove his worth, and bring honor to the Reich.

  He watched his superior walk away, and once he was sure he was far enough, he turned his gaze back to the sky. It seemed the bird had gone.

  With some disappoi, he took his binocurs, hoping his shift would end soon.

  Before Hans could react, a shadow fell upon him from the sky. His eyes widened as he felt a boot press against his neck, but he couldn't do anything. The unknow struck with such ford speed that his neapped instantly. His twisted body fell to the ground, his dead eyes staring into the void in fusion.

  He couldn't even scream.

  "Tch!"

  Raven scoffed, looking at Hans's lifeless body and quickly grabbing his on, and looting any other useful items she could find. She had made sure that no one paid attention to this pce, so it was easy for her to dispose of the body by tossing it over the other side of the wall. Everything was done swiftly and without causing any otion; no oiced a thing.

  Then her figure ged, and "Hans" smiled, adjusting his on on his bad holding his binocurs.

  He looked through them to a specific location. No one realized her series of previous as, no one except John. Through the binocurs, their eyes met, and a tacit uanding passed betweehey both nodded in unison.

  Raven took out one of the chewing gums that Hans had brought with him and started chewing on it while examining the gun in her hands, making sure it was loaded. Theered the base with light steps.

  It was time to fulfill her mission.

  .

  .

  .

  "What are we waiting for, sir?" Angelo asked nervously.

  John smiled beside him.

  "A signal." He and 15 other men waited hidden not far from the German base in Vil Santa Catarina.

  "Listen to the captain, d! He's got a pn," an older man with gray beard named Mario said as he smoked a cigarette. He was aalian soldier who had left the army when Italy joined forces with Germany.

  "Patience is a virtue. Things will happehey have to happen," Sergio, a not-too-old baker whose house was rumored to have been burned in a German attack, chimed in.

  Angelo blushed as he felt their gaze. Now, he felt stupid for asking.

  "Don't worry, d. There are no dumb questions, only fools who don't ask. Your curiosity isn't a bad thing," John said, pg his hand on the boy's shoulder.

  Angelo smiled and nodded, feeling less down than before.

  "Listen up, soon nal will e. We must be swift; the fighting in San Giio must have already begun."

  The 15 men under his and nodded, all ready.

  With a bit more ce than before, thanks to John's words, Angelo couldn't help but ask another question, this time in a low voice.

  "Captain, why don't we just go in directly? I mean, with you here..."

  Angelo's doubt was normal; everyone present knew what he was capable of. If he wanted, he could charge straight into the base's wall, and no one would be surprised if he simply k down.

  So, why wait?

  John looked toward the base and responded calmly. "I 't be the only one shining in this war, d."

  Angelo blinked in fusion but was quick to recall something. "Are you referring to that woman? Raven? I thought she was just going for reaissance."

  John smiled. "She's not just a woman, d, remember that. And don't uimate her for it. Women are dangerous, and not getting on their bad side will save you a lot of future trouble."

  As he finished his words, a r and thunderous explosion shook the entire area. Fire and smoke billowed up, engulfing more than half of the enemy base in seds.

  "And that's nal! Let's go! Move!" John pushed Angelo, who looked at the smoke and fire rising in the distah disbelief.

  Had that woman dohis?!

  .

  .

  .

  Otto Wilhelm coughed, feeling his face burning in pain; the fire had scorched his skin. He crawled on the ground, barely keeping his sciousness afloat.

  'What happened?' he tried to remember, but his mind was chaos. He was the Leutnant of this base; everything had been going perfectly, with no enemies or attacks in sight. They would soon be able to return to aid their rades in the real battle.

  So why? Why could he hear his men screaming in agony?

  He looked up and saw one of his men approag slowly; it was Hans, the soldier in charge of guarding the wall. Otto tried to speak, to get his attention so that he would e to help him.

  "Hmm?" Hans didn't notice him and approached. Otto smiled with hope blossoming in his chest; perhaps he wouldn't have to die here.

  "H-Hans, I need you to—"

  Otto fell silent. The reason? The dozen grenade pins in Hans' hands. He looked in the dire from which the soldier was ing; wasn't that where the ammunition was stored?

  "Hans, you...!"

  "You know, I 't uand you at all. I suppose my power has some limits in that regard. Well, you 't have it all. Still, I read your body nguage, which makes it easier to deduce what you're thinking," Hans spoke, kneeling in front of him and looking at him coldly.

  But that wasn't Hans' voice...

  "I know you're scared now. I'm sorry; I don't like making people feel that way, but it's necessary. This is the mission he gave me, and I have to show him what I'm capable of. I 't afford to fail. In the end, we are enemies, so you shouldn't hold a grudge for this, okay? I'll make it quick," Hans drew the knife from his hip, and Otto's eyes widened in panic. He didn't o speak the same nguage as this "imposter" to know what he was about to do.

  He tried to crawl away, to escape, but with his legs broken from the explosion, he couldn't even move a few inches before the kruck him directly in the chest.

  "I-I," he looked at "Hans" in the eyes, feeling his life slipping away.

  "I'm sorry..." "Hans" said.

  That word was one of the few English words the dyinant knew. Otto couldn't help but ugh as he spat blood and, in broken English, uttered his st words.

  "N-no, you're not."

  His body fell lifeless, and Raven furrowed her brows. She stood up, removing the knife from Otto's chest, and looked at him for a few moments with unknown thoughts. But she quickly fot the enter upon hearing the guarting to arrive.

  Without hesitation, she ged her appearance, returning to her disguise. She didn't want her allies to shoot her by act, after all.

  Soon, she joihe fray. Raven's initial strike had killed or injured more than half of the men statio the base, and those who remained were in a state of fusion and without guidahey stood no ce against John's team.

  Raven fired her st bullet, watg as the German soldier fell to the ground. She was quite good with ons, even if she barely knew anything about them.

  John approached her side as the other members of his team cleared the base.

  "You did an excellent job," he said, causio turn and smile from ear to ear.

  From the beginning to the end, John had used the atta Vil Santa Caterina to test Raven.

  He wao see her true capabilities, how far she would go, if she could follow his orders.

  "I told you I could do it," she boasted, and John smiled, reag out to pat her head.

  "You did more than just do well. I've already decided—you'll e with me to Salzburg." Raven's eyes widened with amazement, and she almost let out a squeal of excitement. She knew Salzburg was John's final destination; even the partisaance would be left behind. John had told her she should stay ahem, which had been b her because she didn't want to. But now it seemed he had ged his mind.

  She couldn't help the pride that swelled within her. She had do! She had proven she could stand by his side.

  John then lowered his hand and handed her the on, the first one she had obtained.

  "e on, it's time to go to San Giio." Raven nodded, fixing her hair, which had been tousled by John, and followed him with excitement. This war was just beginning for her, and she was already looking forward to what would e .

  .

  .

  .

  Major Reinhard Maier surveyed the situation otlefield with furrowed brows. What was the resistarying to aplish?

  It was as if the roles of both sides had abruptly reversed. It was the German army advang while the partisaance trated on maintaining their "defense" with a rge-scale guerril war throughout San Giio. It was annoying; they couldn't effectively use their neons against them in this manner.

  However, this wouldn't st long. It made no seo engage in a war of "attrition" since behind them, thousands of erman troops were ready to sweep through the northern Italy...

  It made no seo fight in this way. The major furrowed his brow as he listeo the reports.

  "Sir! It's an emergency!" A soldier ehe and room, causing the foreboding feeling that had been brewing within Reinhard to intensify.

  "What's happening?" he asked quickly.

  "We lost one of the new Hydra tanks, sir. The resistance ambushed the team esc it in the north!" Panic was evident in the soldier's voice. Ohing was to have those tanks on their side, but to have them against them?

  "Damn peasants! They're trying to steal our ons!"

  He o fix this quickly. He couldn't let the Generalmajor in Sand in Taufers find out about this, or his entire military career would go down the drain. He had worked too hard to get some of the new Hydra armaments. He could excuse himself if he lost one of the portable ons, but losing one of the new Uber tanks was not permissible.

  "Quickly! Send a ptoon of 50 men to-"

  His words were interrupted by an explosion that rocked the entire pce.

  Reinhard watched as the entire left wall of the aer disappeared. He looked with incredulous eyes as fmes engulfed the entire pce within seds. His men shouted, raising their ons, but before they could fire, something attacked first.

  Faster than any man could react, a metal shield flew through the air, steel pierg through bodies without any difficulty, easily cleaving dozens of men in half before smming into a wall and embedding deeply into it, the metal bent and deformed due to the strong impact.

  Major Reinhard looked at the soldier who had brought the news of the Uber tank loss, or at least the remaining half of the man's body. He watched as the legs fell, spshing blood onto the floor, and with trembling body, took only a few steps back before a voice caught his attention.

  "I don't know if you're stupid or just too fident, sending only 50 men to protect the road to Vil Santa Caterina? Seriously? Or perhaps because you thought these 'ons' would be enough to kill me?" Captain America said as he threw one of Hydra's heavy assault rifles to the ground, the metal of the on ed, and the blue light inside seemed unstable.

  "In any case, I'll accept your surrender, or you die. Whichever path you choose doesn't matter too much because you've already lost," fidence rang in his voice. Reinhard ched his teeth. This arrogant man... how dare he?!

  "You foolish Amerikaner, you think you've won? You think you alone stop what's ing? You're nothing but a stupid wearing a colorful suit and carrying a stupid symbol. Hydra will never fall to you!" Reinhard retrieved one of the "little" toys he had kept for himself.

  Without hesitation, he released the safety of the silver grenade, which shimmered with blue colors. His arm moved swiftly, preparing to throw the grenade in John's dire. But before the grenade could even leave his hand, a precise shot from a on struck it.

  Reinhard's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the explosive begin to detonate prematurely.

  "Oh fu-!"

  The blue light flooded the area, and everything within a three-cubic-meter radius was engulfed in a dome of energy. The ground shook, and as quickly as it came, the light vanished, leaving behind a pletely crater.

  John approached the smoking crater holding the gun, which he had stolen from a Nazi soldier, in his right hand, the barrel still smoking.

  "It seems I've won this duel," he said, inhaling the smoke from the barrel before twirling the on in his hand, pleting a full rotation, and then smoothly holstering it at his hip.

  He had always wao do that.

  He g the destroyed base for a moment before rushing back to the battlefield. He o take care of these new "ons" after all.

  .

  .

  .

  The fres sailed through the air, and when the partisaance army saw them lighting up the sky, they cheered with excitement and began troup.

  Captain America had arrived!

  The German army had lost its aer and its anding officer; the radios stopped w when the base from where orders were given was destroyed, and their calls went unanswered, causing panic to ensue.

  The Hydra Uber tank fired at a two-story building; its walls offered ance, and the resistance members hiding within died instantly.

  "Let's go! Haha!" Ihe tank, a Nazi soldier shouted with excitement as he looked through the periscope viewer. The Uber tank was immense, with different s to trol various ses. The main turret couldn't rotate like in other tanks, so it was the duty of a smaller sedary turret to do so, and this turret ecial.

  Whether reloading, aiming, firing, or maneuvering, it could all be done by a single man.

  Müller never imagined he would be chosen to handle such a on. With every shot, he couldn't help but feel invincible. As long as he operated this on and was ihis imperable mobile fortress, he felt he could vanquish any enemy.

  His radio buzzed. Müller reached out to ahe call, but a jolt in the made him look with fusion toward the door separating him from his team members.

  Why was it shaking?

  That question was soon answered. There was a screech, and the door was easily ripped off, casting the shadow of an imposing figure over the Nazi soldier.

  Müller looked in disbelief as a hand stretched out and grabbed him by the neck, dragging him out of the . Before he could react, he found himself being thrown out of the Uber tank's main hatd plummeting to the ground from over three meters high. His head hit the ground upon impact, killing him instantly.

  "Let's go!" John shouted, and a group of resistance soldiers quickly joined him.

  One of them ehe main , while the others explored all the sedary s.

  "What's happening?" John asked, arrivio the soldier and seeing him studying the trols with fusion.

  "It's different from any tank I've been in. Give me a moment," the soldier said, pressing some buttons and clumsily familiarizing himself with the trols. Theal beast roared again and began to move.

  "I think I've got it!"

  John nodded aed the to the main hatch.

  He could have destroyed the tanks, but he had a better idea: steal them ahe resistance use them. Fighting fire with fire. Of course, Hydra still had the Tesseract, so they couldn't recharge their ons or the tanks' energy. Still, as long as they had power, they could still use them, and that's exactly what they would do.

  The tank turned, its main on aiming directly at the German army, and then it began to fire. A Paank that had been attag the resistance army turned into scrap metal instantly.

  John didn't stay idle; with Raven's help, ag as his eyes in the sky, he could get an idea of the battlefield distribution and go where it was most needed.

  Within minutes, he pletely hijacked all 15 Hydra tanks from the enemy. The partisaance began guiding the Ubers to destroy the remaining 40+ Paanks.

  Their rge size and heavy armor made it impossible for the Pao destroy them without beiroyed first. No matter how well-armored the Panzers were, a shot of blue energy was enough to pee their armor pletely.

  Seeing the situation, the German soldiers began abandoning the iron coffins and fighting on foot, trying to steal the Ubers bato their hands.

  It was entirely futile; even with Hydra's special ons, they couldn't get close before being intercepted by John and his group of men.

  Joh personally and especially with all those with energy ons in their hands.

  In a short time, the Nazi army was ered he Ahr River, almost at the end of San Giio.

  The Nazi army ran towards the bridge used to cross the river, their only escape route in this situation.

  They roup aurn to Uttenheim. But before they could do so, dozens of small explosions began to envelop the group of over 200 soldiers.

  "What's happening!?" Rolf, the Captain (Hauptmann) who had been forced to take and of the soldiers still alive, couldn't help but shout in fusion as explosions seemingly came out of o engulf them.

  He threw himself to the ground, trying to take cover, and watched as the partisaance assaulted his men, taking advantage of the chaos. He tried to aim to shoot, but a hahe barrel of his on a its metal as if it were cy; his pupils tracted, auro meet a pair of blue eyes looking at him with amusement.

  "Now, I'll accept your surrender on my terms, or everyone here will die. I hope you make a better decision than your Major," Rolf swallowed, sweat dripping from his forehead, nodded, and quickly dropped his on.

  "I surrender!" he shouted so that the men near him could hear.

  "We surrender!" he shouted again, and the German soldiers uood, starting to lower their ons and shout the same words so that more and more of them would hear. Soon, the words of surrender began to spread throughout the battlefield.

  John smiled and looked up at the sky, winking at Raven, who in her crow form had been the oo release dozens of grenades from the sky onto the German army, a homemade bombardment like no other.

  Raven cawed and began to desd to the ground; her mission had been a success once again.

  The resistaarted gathering the German soldiers while cheering; they had won and taken San Giio ihan a day, and although several had died, they still had over a thousand men alive.

  It was a pletely successful battle.

  .

  .

  .

  Note:

  What do you think? Do you think I'm dragging out the battles too much? Should I hurry things along or take the time to develop the events of World War II? I don't want to go too fast, but I also don't want it to be slow and tedious.

  This is just the beginning, so there's still plenty of room to mahe world's story will ge in unknown ways, and so will the course of World War II. I have some surprises in store that I think will be very exg.

  Don't fet to leave your likes, (power stones if they are on webnovel or kudos if you are on Ao3) I appreciate all the support ;D

  Anyway, tell me what you think; as always, I take into at any ents ahem all.

  The update of SuperSoldier is now avaible on Patreon (patreon.maCruzader) if you want to read the chapter in advand get some other bes, you go and check it out, all the support received helps me a lot ;D