41. Cruelty of Mankind

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"How was it?" Howard asked Hector after he returned to the party, wearing a spare coat.

"How was what? Do you mean Miss Frost? *Sigh* Poor girl, she faced so much hardship in her life. I gave her a nice talking session and helped her with her problems."

Howard looked at his face stupidly, if it was him, he would have absolutely banged her, "You mean you didn't do it with her?"

??? "Why would I do it with her? I knew it was a trap from the start, she was doing it in helplessness. Anyway, why would any normal woman want to sleep with an old man if not for hidden intentions?" Hector said, indirectly advising him to be careful.

*Sip* Howard snorted after drinking, "Old man, if I was a woman, I would have genuinely fucke..."

"OKAY! You've had too many drinks. Take care, see you later." He didn't let him finish his words and quickly left, he'd rather not puke right now.

...

France,

Trenches,

"Man, I wonder when Father will come here again." A soldier tiredly wondered.

There were three of them talking to each other, it was currently raining and was slightly cold. Not a very pleasant experience during a war.

The second soldier agreed, "I wish he was here. He could have already moved the battle into our favour. No General is as good as him. But he has too many responsibilities back home."

The third soldier sounded confused, "What? Your father is also fighting in the war?"

"Ah, you were from the 23rd infantry, right? You spent your entire time here so you don't know. All those who fought alongside Mr President, Grand General Washington, now call him Father." The first soldier explained.

And it was an enviable fact, "You guys are lucky, we here are just rotting in trenches."

"I heard he will be coming here soon, so I guess you will see him in the action as well, all we gotta do is to survive until then." the first soldier muttered, looking around himself, soldiers upon soldiers sat there, it was as depressing as it could get.

...

Hector first went to Mexico to meet the Mexican prime minister and tell him not to agree with Hitler's plan or face an invasion of Mexico and lose even more land. The Mexican prime minister turned out to be smart and knew that they could not defend against the American military, so they declared war on Axis instead.

Then he got on his plane to France to start the French invasion. The invasion from Normandy beaches was already being planned, he will be leading it to make the least amount of soldiers die this time, after all, they had Helicopters now, they could destroy the enemy bunkers with machine guns on the height easily. The only other problem was the artillery and tanks, they would deal with heavy bombing a day before.

Right as he headed to France to meet Rogers, Logan was already scouting the area around Normandy and mapping all enemy heavy guns.

...

Hector's plane landed near Italy and the French border, the SSR was camped here with a few battalions of soldiers. They were mainly focused on Hydra so it was enough for them.

"All right, Phillips, give me a list of all your problems, Santa is here," Hector loudly spoke as soon as he got down from the plane, making a few soldiers nearby laugh.

Embarrassingly, and with the signature look of a frown, Phillips shook hands, "Welcome to France, sir. And... thanks for destroying all my attempts at looking serious to my men."

"What serious? You look like you're constipating all the time, let's go and have a drink as we talk about kicking some Nazi butts," Hector joked, putting his arm around the old General's shoulder.

They got into a military jeep and headed straight to the camp at the frontlines, in the meantime Hector read the pages of reports. Steve and his Howling commandos were destroying Hydra bases one after another, it was mostly the same as the original timeline, but what caused him a worry was that now because he was such a famous threat to the Nazis, they had started to increase their intensity of work as well as war crimes.

Before they would arrest people and soldiers, now they straight away kill them. "I need to enter Poland and liberate all the concentration camps, Phillips. I'm afraid, Hitler and Schmidt will start killing them all as I come closer to them."

"But all these camps are deep inside enemy lines," Phillips said.

"And when has that ever stopped me? I will take Steve with me, a month-long campaign will be enough. And with my company's new creation, I will be able to communicate with you at all times. You see that bag behind me, that's a satellite communication unit," Hector handed him a big backpack.

"Satellite? How does this work? Where are the towers and antenna?" Phillips inquired.

Laughing, he pointed at the sky, "My friend, welcome to the new age, this is a state secret so keep it to yourself. I sent rockets to space and placed satellites that act as antennas. This means that all our ships in the pacific can communicate with each other with naval command in Hawaii in real-time, the same goes for troops here."

"I-In the sky?" It was too much of a shock to Phillips, reminding Hector that things that seemed ordinary in the future were impossible for people of this era.

"Hah, don't use too much of your brain, Phillips, you're a soldier, not a scientist." Hector patted his shoulder and moved on.

...

An hour later they arrived at the camp, Steve was there, along with his entire team, all looking particularly sad due to Bucky's 'demise'. Still, his arrival there cheered a few up, "Why the long faces? You all are acting like men haven't been losing their lives all this time. I can not count how many times I have lost my friends. The best thing you can do to honour their memory is to continue to do your duty and get a victory. So cheer up, drinks on me,"

Just then a few helicopters landed with cargo that was full of crates of beer bottles, cheering up all the men.

He then took Steve to the side, "How are you doing, son?"

Tired, Steve sat down, putting aside his iconic shield, Hector instead picked it up and analysed it, ~Hmm... Wakanda forever indeed... those cunts are hiding in their tiny nation while entire Africa is being ravaged by colonisers before and now war.~

But he could also understand their fear. They probably think that the moment they appear to the world, it will be like a gold rush. Nations will want to take their land, technology and especially their precious metal.

"General... Mr President... the war... has been more brutal than I imagined. I was blinded by my fairy tale vision of heroism, failing to see that lives are lost every day here." Steve spoke, his voice full of regret and more maturity than the skinny boy in Brooklyn.

*BANG*

Hector played with the shield, throwing it at the wall, making it bounce back into his arms like it was child's play. "And? Are you going to quit because of this? There are kids back home, they play on the streets impersonating you, making trashbin covers their shield, there are comics about you, posters about you. Are you going to let them down?"

"They do the same for you, and even more, I have seen how soldiers look at you, like a father figure. There is nothing special about me." Steve replied.

Hector realised that he had probably eaten some of Steve's limelight, and his popularity was likely overshadowed by him. "They would have done that even if I was not a soldier, since I am the president. While you, what you are doing means much more, because the difference between you from past and now is unimaginable.

"*sigh* Son, this is the price we soldiers have to pay, for the peaceful nights of those who don't even know our names, we lay down our lives. If not you and me, someone else will, because peace always demands sacrifice first.

"Anyway, pack your bags, we're headed to Poland, too many concentration camps to liberate." He handed him the shield.

"Right now? What about Hydra?" Steve questioned.

"Don't worry about them, I got a fool inside their camp passing me all the plans, they won't do anything major anytime soon." he left to gather a few more men, and possibly a woman.

...

Auschwitz,

"GET IN LINE!" guards shouted to many prisoners, including men, women and children. There were even small babies in women's arms.

"Why are we all going to take a bath?" A kid asked his father.

The man replied with some generic words and looked scared. "It's nothing, son. Everything will be fine, this is so we don't stay dirty from all the work."

Max Eisenhart sneered, knowing all too well what was going to happen, as he stood in line with his mother and father too. There was no hope left, death was imminent.

*BANG*

Just then, a loud gunshot resounded, dozens of soldiers came running, shouting commands, "FOLLOW US!"

Almost all of the people standing in line were dragged away, he as well, but amidst all the rush, he lost his parents, "MA! PA!" he shouted, only to get pushed by a soldier violently.

They were brought to a giant ditch soon after and told to enter it, "EVERYONE! ENTER, NOW!"

At gunpoint, none had any will to fight, they were weak anyway, so the strong man was always right. Silently, like chickens being put inside a cage to be slaughtered, they filled the ditch, only heads of those three hundred were visible due to the crowd, eyes darkened, face gloomy all looking at the guards, who returned the gaze with a look of disregard.

The gunmen started to arrive soon, one after another dozens of guns were pointed at them by noon. The intentions were clear, all the prisoners silently closed their eyes, some cried, some prayed to god.

Max Eisenhart didn't, he looked straight into the eyes of Chief Commandant, lieutenant colonel Rudolf Hoss, a true monster in human skin. The man who came to Auschwitz to supervise Operation Höss, in which 430,000 Hungarian Jews were to be transported to the camp and killed in two months.

~There is no god, only evil rules the world, the more evil one is, the stronger they are.~ Max Eisenhart spoke to himself in his mind, his eyes glaring and his fist shivering. He hated this feeling of helplessness, this weakness.

"There is no god. If there is a God, he will have to beg my forgiveness." He voiced, loud and clear.

*BANG BANG BANG...*

And so started a hailstorm of bullets to shower them all. Punching holes in their bodies like lifeless dolls. There were enough cries and calls for mercy, but that didn't stop the animals from committing heresy.

Men and women fell, and with loud wails, babies stated their farewells. Deaf were those ears on whom these voices fell, their hearts were dark and endlessly empty well.

[A/N: The last phrase Max said was actually carved on the walls of a concentration camp cell during WWII by a Jewish prisoner. In the original language it was "Wenn es einen Gott gibt muß er mich um Verzeihung bitten."]

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