26. Hector's Power Level

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Erskine did load up the juice, while a few gunshots were being exchanged outside. Not that it mattered. Hector, like the boss he was, relaxedly descended the stairs.

Steve was there, looking like a little kid, knowing he was soon going to look buffed, Hector called the photographer, "Son, take a picture of me with the first super-soldier."

Steve stiffly stood beside him like an awkward kid who was also a fangirl. Then Hector turned to Howard, "Boy, don't kill me, or the nation will be after your blood."

A drop of sweat slid down Howard's forehead, "Fuck, I could've done better without that pressure. I gotta pee."

Chuckling, Hector whispered to Steve, who was looking toward the entrance, "Son, don't worry, your sweetheart is gonna return soon. Now, don't expect a kiss from her, get into that machine, soldier."

"YES, SIR!" He instinctively saluted and jumped right into it.

"Erskine, start with it." He also jumped into a frame made for his large body. However, now that he thought about it, he had a few worries ~Crap, I hope I don't grow even bigger now. I'm already the tallest president at 6'5", I don't want to be called Big Foot President or the Giant of America.~

"Fine, Mr President, please relax your muscles. It's going to pinch a little. Steve, you do the same and clench your teeth, it'll hurt." Erskine instructed them. Though Hector had to use his powers to push the needles into his skin, or else their motorised mechanism would have failed.

"Mr Stark." Erskine voiced.

A button was pressed, the blue liquid was injected into the two's arms. Then the platforms were slanted into a standing position.

"Now, we shall bombard your body with Vita rays to activate the serum and let it affect your bodies." Erskine briefed and shut the machines close.

Soon, Howard turned the dial and the two experienced their bodies being bombarded. For Hector, it wasn't much as his body was already superhuman. Steve started screaming, however.

"CUT IT OUT," Peggy shouted from the platform, she had just returned after catching the spies.

"Don't, he's fine" Hector voiced confidently.

"Yeah, I'm good. I can do this." Steve also reacted quickly.

Slowly, Howard increased power, and lights started to flicker as well. Although Hector had directed more electricity to this facility, there were now two different machines instead of one. Some sparks started to come out of the machines. Howard hurried after noticing this and turned the entire knob.

"BOWWWW!" Moony barked from the visitor's chairs, scared for his dad. He quickly got up, smacked the MP aside and came down to the machine Hector was in. He quickly jumped, standing on his hind legs and looked inside the small window.

Hector smiled from inside, "I'm fine, boy. Don't worry,"

Moony didn't leave, continuously wagging his tail like a helicopter. Howard laughed, "Nice, we've got another system cooling fan now."

*BOOM*

The machines broke down all of a sudden and the power reduced, all the blinding lights blasting inside the machines stopped. There was a silence lingering in the room. Everyone stood up to see the results.

*Woosh*

Hector's machine was opened first. He was still awake, as good as ever, in the whole process he only felt a slight prick. But, his body was sweating profusely, his white hair was stuck to his shoulder as well.

"Argh... I need ice cream, soldier there, being me two ice-creams. Rogers will need one to... ah, one for Moony as well." Hector stretched his body to see if there was any change. In terms of strength, he didn't feel a change. Though his muscles did look more detailed now.

"WAIT!" He noticed his pants. "I grew by an inch?" Actually, this was a relief, 6 feet 6 inches was acceptable, besides, he can overwhelm other politicians and world readers with his size. However, he didn't get the expected applause, since his body was mostly unchanged and the people didn't know if it even worked.

"Howard, stop looking at me and get that poor kid out." He scolded him.

*Woosh*

Quickly, the second machine opened, Steve's body started to fall forward as he was still getting accustomed to changes. Hector quickly stopped him, "Hah, it seems people can't make fun of your height now. Good job, son."

~Those victory trumpets and cinematic themes would be playing right now if it was a movie.~ he thought, as he wore his coat.

Steve looked at himself, the world seemed smaller from his new height, it was a fruit he had never tasted before. The first thing his gaze rested on was the worry-filled eyes of Agent Carter, but poor Steve was as much of a virgin as Hector, even worse as he had no idea that the woman actually liked him.

He came out of the stupor and turned to Hector, "Thank you, Mr President,"

Hector didn't know that Erskine had met Steve the night before and told him that it was just Hector's decision to allow him to enter Camp Lehigh. But Erskine did say that it was the right decision and that after seeing his hard work and mental state, he too agreed that he's the best candidate.

"Call me General. Now go and get yourself checked. I need to return or those damn vultures in Capitol will do something stupid again." Just as he came, he left, despite some saying he should also get checked.

Hector was more worried that no matter what they use they won't be able to penetrate his skin and take his blood this time.

...

The same day, late at night Erskine received a call from an unknown caller and was asked to come somewhere. Of course, he had security with him, but they were swiftly knocked down by some flying stone.

"Woof..." Moony appeared and gestured for him to follow after he arrived at the said location.

Erskine did the same and entered the small warehouse. There was nobody there for as far as he could see. "Where have you brought me, my furry friend?"

"Good evening, Erskine. Come with me, I got beer." Hector appeared from the room and called.

Erskine had some doubts about his safety now as he looked left and right. All he could see was darkness and the only visible light was from a bulb on the door where Hector invited him. His instincts told him to run away, however, Moony was behind him, looking cute but also threatening.

Tippy-toed, he walked into the room, it was heavily furnished and had a nice leather sofa, radio running on the side. "What is this place?" he asked.

"Haha, my and Moony's secret hangout place. I own this entire block, all warehouses here are mine. You must have heard about KingTech. CATCH!" Hector gave him a bottle of beer, ice-cold.

"Why was I given the privilege of being invited here?" Erskine inquired.

"Hmm, I had to make a decision, Doctor Erskine, a big decision. It was whether to let you live or not. Believe it or not, I can see short glimpses of the future. I saw you dying at the hands of the spy I killed in the lab. You would have been shot and your formula would have been taken away, straight to Schmidt." Hector told him, not accurately though, he was not a saint, he could lie as openly as he wanted. It served him better not to tell him that Steve stops the spy in time.

Erskine gulped a large sip of beer and looked at him with a paled face. His heart wanted to jump out of his mouth, but he tried to look calm. "I believe you, the things you have done all this time, the Pearl Harbour, I understand everything now."

"I should kill you just for knowing that. But I'm not a heartless man, I truly do consider every American my son and daughter. You're an American citizen now, so you too. I know you feel weird, but I am much older than I physically look." Hector added.

Erskine had an intelligent light in his eyes, "Decades?" He asked, only to get a shake of the head, "Centuries?" Erskin's felt his mouth dry, "Millenias? Verfickt! HOW?" he cursed and asked when he got a nod.

Hector smiled and pointed at Moony who was merrily chewing on a human thigh sized bone, "That good boy Moony is that old too. Erskine, how do I say this, but the Universe is vast, there are beings older than the Universe out there, gods that humans pray to are merely powerful aliens out there.

"Now coming to the main topic, Doctor, just one Johann Schmidt is such a pain in the ass, what do you think will happen when the US Army has a hundred perfect super-soldiers, many of them not so virtuous as Steve Rogers, many will get caught, their blood will be taken, researched and then the serum will be recreated by enemies. You must understand, the only successful super solider is Steve and the only successful serums were used on me and him.

"If I am to let you live, you will continue to make the serum for the Army, risking the future. So, there is only one way, after all, dead men tell no tales."

Erskine's mind was full of questions, "Are there aliens in space? Who really are you? What do you want?"

"Yes, they are real, and I am Hector King Washington, just a superpowered president, don't expect me to reveal my real background. What I want is to enjoy my life and make the world a bit less shitty than what I saw in my visions. Seriously, you'll be paying 2000 dollars for a 1 tiny bedroom New York City apartment, that's messed up. Ah, yes, there will be communist nations and military-industrial complexes as well.

"There are two options for you, one, you die. Two, you can survive but you will live in my own dimension." Hector finally revealed. Erskine was a good man whose family was killed just because he refused to do the devil's work. Now, Hector may be half devil, he couldn't just kill an innocent.

The marker on Erskine's head was slightly greyish red before, now it was white, this meant that him making Captain America gave him so much good karma that he now had neutral karma. Hector could now help him get to gold or red.

"What dimension?" Erskine inquired.

"THIS!" all of a sudden Hector used Godpad and all three arrived at the Funhouse dimension. The Spirits of Vengence had cleaned the house nice and tidy. They were just standing on the sides of the hallway like lifeless decorations now.

"W-what is this place? It feels like hell." Erskine muttered.

"Haha, it was hell not long ago, a demon occupied it. I killed the demon and took over the place. I am the master of this dimension, without my permission, nothing can enter here and nothing can leave. This entire dimension and this castle will be your home. Sorry, you're too much of a risk, it's either death or living here for the rest of your life. Of course, you are allowed to do whatever research you want to do and pass your time." Hector showed him around. He had picked up one of the labs from his company and put it here, it was a mess though, as he wasn't gentle.

"Bow bow... woooo..." Moony all of a sudden jumped toward one of the Spirits of Vengeance, finally giving in to his temptations. However, this time the spirits instead played with him, petting him.

Hector laughed and watched while giving Erskine time to think. The scientist could see the situation from Hector's viewpoint. If in return for his imprisonment here or his death the world can be better then he does not mind it. He would have done the same as Hector if he was the president. But he did have one question. "Suppose I decide to stay here, how will you ensure that the world is safe, that we win the war? How strong are you?"

"Hmmm..." Hector tried to think of a correct analogy, "Okay, imagine a god, let's say, Zeus or Odin, on a scale of 1 to 10, how strongly do you think they will be physical than a human?"

Erskine smartly replied, "Speaking from the examples from ancient texts, they could destroy mountains, so 10?"

Hector nodded, "Correct, I am an 8, and this isn't even my final form. However, on a scale of 1 to 10, how strong do you think these gods are from humans in spiritual powers, in short, occult, magical and such powers?"

"Again, a 10? They are bound to be much stronger, Odin is immortal from what the myths say, he dies and gets reborn again and again." Erskine answered.

"A 10 you say? I am a 100. No being in this Universe can comprehend my existence. Not Odin, not Zeus, nor Death itself. For I am the Hell's Inquisitor. HAHAHA" Hector laughed widely with his hands resting on his sides, but soon a frown appeared on his face as a realisation hit.

(°ー°〃)

~CRAP! Did I just reveal my identity?~

"Wuf..." Moony also gave a tired bark and shook his head, saying, ~Oh dad, so clumsy, what am I to do with you.~

[A/N: In short, he is physically 2 points weaker than Odin. At the same time, because he's an Omniversal Hell Lord, spiritually he's still a very high dimensional being, making him supreme in this category in the MCU multiverse. This does not help him in physical attacks but if any being tries spiritual, mental or soul attacks on him, it will fail poorly.]

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