15: Jagdhund
Screams, gunshots, and roars, Hydra's main base in Salzburg descended into a rampant chaos.
John held his revolver and fired six times in different directions, as if the bullets were guided, each one hitting the intended target perfectly, some at almost impossible angles.
Without his shield, he had started to rely heavily on weapons to reach long-distance targets, thanks to which his proficiency with them had improved significantly.
"Left flank," he said, making one of the men following him aim in that direction and quickly attack upon seeing a group of Hydra soldiers approaching.
He reloaded his weapon effortlessly and inspected the area in detail. The battlefield was large; Hydra's main base in Salzburg was no joke. Fortunately, he had a trump card in the form of a shape-shifting brat.
Well, he wouldn't call her that out loud, or he'd have to make it up to her somehow. She might be a consummate assassin now, but she was still quite childish in some ways.
Weren't women supposed to mature earlier or some shit like that?
He shook his head; it wasn't the time for idle thoughts. He aimed his weapon and fired three more times, bringing down several Hydra soldiers.
"Whoa!" one of the prisoners exclaimed upon seeing the display of marksmanship and gave him a thumbs up. John fired again, causing an energy projectile to explode in the air prematurely and saving the soldier, who almost fell backward from the shockwave.
"Pay more attention, soldier, or you'll become fertilizer!" he shouted for everyone around to hear.
He could afford to be a bit distracted if he wanted to; these men did not have that privilege.
"Come on, get up," the familiar yet unknown voice caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man he thought didn't exist.
Steve Rogers, not skinny, not short, and certainly not sick.
In fact, he stood almost 1.8 meters tall, and even having been poorly nourished, his figure still held up, a strong man, a soldier without a doubt.
If he had known he'd find him here, he would have skipped Italy altogether.
Well, maybe not; he had gained a lot in Italy after all.
"Hey, you, I need everyone to gather in the north, this place will soon blow to pieces," he said, grabbing Steve by the shoulder. The man blinked in confusion for a half-second until John pointed north.
Steve nodded and gripped his weapon tighter, then began directing his companions and all the other prisoners he found with him towards the north.
John smiled and raised his left arm. There was a caw, and a dark bird descended from the skies, landing on his hand.
"How is it?" he asked, and Raven responded, still in her bird form.
"I found the place you mentioned, there was no one there, but I did find several maps, I've taken them all."
Relying on his meta-knowledge was something John had gradually begun to dismiss. While some things remained the same, many others were drastically different.
Although Hydra's base in Salzburg was where he knew it would be, that didn't guarantee that the other bases in his memory would also be there. At the same time, he didn't remember the exact location of some bases because he hadn't paid enough attention at the time, so he decided to play it safe.
Once Raven created chaos in the base with explosives, her second task was to find the maps with the exact locations of Hydra's bases.
If she could kill Zola, it would be much better.
"No one was there?" John frowned. Well, he had already anticipated that things would be different when he found Bucky among the other prisoners and not in an isolated area.
Well, Zola could live a bit longer, what a mess.
"Alright, you can join the battle or follow me; I still have something to do before finishing here." It was time to face his main enemy.
Raven didn't leave and instead perched on his shoulder, clearly wanting to follow him.
Wasting no more time, he began heading towards where he believed the Red Skull would be waiting for him.
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Raven didn't expect the base to start exploding suddenly. Well, all the other bases had exploded, but this time it was not because of her.
The tremors and fire began to flood the place suddenly, buildings and structures collapsing, a sight both familiar and strange.
"So this is how it feels," she thought idly, though not worried. While it was an unexpected and dangerous situation, it only mattered for regular soldiers.
John made a five-meter leap, landing on top of some metal bridges. They had quickly delved deep into the base in search of something. Raven still didn't know what it was because John hadn't told her. Even so, she thought it must be something important if he was willing to leave the prisoners on their own. One had to know that John never left his men alone in battle.
He was always the first to charge, the first at the front.
"Well, who do we have here?" The voice suddenly made Raven alert. For some reason, she had a strange feeling, something she didn't have as a human but did when she took the form of an animal. John called it a survival instinct.
All species in the animal kingdom have it to a greater or lesser extent. They can identify when a predator is nearby instantly and act accordingly.
Right now, Raven felt there was a predator in front of them.
"The great Captain America! Incredible, I'm a big admirer of yours." If she had a human form, Raven would have grimaced at seeing the person who emerged from the shadows.
What a horrible face.
John stopped and looked curiously at the three long scars on the man's face; those shouldn't be there.
"You're uglier than Dr. Erskine told me," John approached slowly, confidence clear in his posture.
Raven relaxed. While what she felt from the man in front of them told her he was dangerous, compared to John it was like comparing a cute kitten to a lion.
The man with the red face laughed, touched his face, and his fingers traced the long scars on it.
"I've been through some troubles before your arrival, though it would be more accurate to call it a fortuitous encounter. But talking about me now is boring. I want to know more about you. Tell me, how does it feel? Power beyond humanity running through your veins, it must be amazing," he said, looking him up and down.
"You're talkative, aren't you? Though from what Dr. Erskine told me, you should already guess the answer. Even so, I suppose a failure wouldn't understand it completely," he mocked, smiling slightly.
Raven blinked. She had never heard John use that tone before.
Johann Schmidt lost his smile, his face turned cold, and a sneer was obvious as he looked at him.
"A failure, you say? That's funny coming from a cheat," he then pointed at him, clear anger in his eyes.
"I know what you did! I know how you deceived Erskine! But you can't deceive me, no matter how clever you think you and your father are. I've seen through your deception."
John blinked, the smile on his face replaced by confusion.
"My father?" he couldn't help but ask.
Johann Schmidt sneered.
"Pretending to be ignorant won't work; the truth has been revealed! You were foolish if you thought you could deceive Hydra, if you thought you could deceive me..." Schmidt's posture relaxed, a satisfied smile on his face.
Raven suddenly felt something was wrong. She wanted to warn John, to give a warning, but her body froze, immobilized by the sense of extreme danger.
"But two can play the same game, Captain. I'm glad you took the time to destroy my other bases. If you had arrived earlier, I wouldn't have been able to prepare this incredible surprise for you." Schmidt pulled out a strange device, one that glowed with the energy of the Tesseract.
John quickly drew his weapon and fired. He didn't know what nonsense this was, but he felt he shouldn't let Schmidt act as he pleased.
His shot was as precise as always, but there was a fundamental difference between shooting common soldiers and shooting a super soldier.
Schmidt moved quickly, casually dodging the shot. It didn't matter if John was much faster than him physically; the bullets he fired wouldn't travel faster because of it, and a super soldier could easily dodge bullets.
That was one of the disadvantages between using weapons and using his shield.
Schmidt smiled broadly, a horrendous smile for anyone who saw it.
"Kill him!" he growled, and John's eyes widened in alarm. He only had half a second before abruptly stepping back. The metal bridge where he had been standing bent upward, its metal broken instantly as if hit by a missile.
A figure had jumped from below, casually destroying the structure and landing next to Schmidt.
"That's it," John held Raven carefully in his arms, looking at the familiar yet alarmingly different face.
His gaze met bloodshot eyes with a blue light shining through them.
"Brilliant, don't you think? I haven't named him yet. what do you think Jagdhund?"
"What did you do to him?" John asked, eyeing the man, particularly his head where veins pulsed with blue energy.
Red Skull denied with the finger.
"The time for questions is over, Captain. If you survive tonight, maybe we can talk again, although I don't expect that to happen," he chuckled and turned to leave.
"Hey, wait!" This was not going at all how John wanted it to.
He took a step forward, ready to follow, but his path was blocked. He watched with a twisted smile as his new adversary clenched his fists, tensing his muscles.
The flesh on his knuckles broke, allowing blood to trickle briefly, covering the six long bone claws that burst through his skin.
A deep, beastly growl echoed in the place consumed by fire.
"All right, looks like I'll have some action after all." John patted Raven, snapping her out of her trance as she began to flap her wings forcefully.
"Run," he whispered to her. She hesitated, unwilling, but John didn't need her to hesitate, so without thinking, he grabbed her and threw her forcefully into the air, eliciting a surprised cry from her.
She would be fine; she could fly.
"If you can still hear me, I apologize. This is going to hurt a lot," John took his stance.
Whatever they had put into his head, there was only one way to get it out, and John was no surgeon.
So he would use his fists.
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"So it really blew up," Bucky said, looking at the clouds of smoke and fire engulfing the base where they had been prisoners.
"that's what he said," Steve commented with a frown.
All the prisoners who had managed to escape had gathered in the north as Captain America had directed, far from the explosions, now only waiting for his return. But when they saw the entire place wrapped in fire, they couldn't help but doubt.
Was the man still alive?
As if in answer to their question, a roar that could be heard for miles hit their ears with force, making everyone wince.
"What the hell is that?!" One of the men pointed, and Steve's eyes widened as he saw the remains of one of the tanks flying in their direction.
"Get down!" he shouted and jumped along with Bucky.
The burning metal fragments hit the ground hard, causing the earth to rise.
The gathered soldiers moved back even further, looking at the smoking crater in bewilderment.
Then the metal began to creak, and a hand shot out of it. Fingers harder than steel started to make their way through the red-hot metal as if it were an aluminum wrapper.
In no time, the man who had freed them casually walked out of the debris completely unscathed.
Though his suit had seen better days, the star on his chest had been marred by three long slashes across it.
A flame ignited on his right shoulder, which he casually extinguished with his palm.
He looked at them and waved.
"You'd better step back a little more. I've got a small problem to deal with."
It was then that a figure covered in flames shot out from the destroyed base into the sky, like a meteor navigating through the air and landing not far from them with enough force to shake the ground and create a crater.
There was a low growl as, from the smoke, a man more like a beast emerged, taking heavy steps. Flames covered every inch of his naked body, but they didn't seem to affect him at all.
"That's the little problem?" Bucky asked, starting to step back with his weapon ready.
"Fire!" one of the men shouted, and no one hesitated to shoot. The bullets rained down by the hundreds, maybe thousands. The metal projectiles struck his body, flattening against his skin and falling to the ground without any effect.
The blue energy beams had a slightly better effect, scorching his skin lightly, but the damage meant nothing when it repaired itself in less than a second, leaving no evidence it had ever happened.
When they stopped shooting, they saw with incredulity that the figure was still standing without a scratch.
His bloodshot eyes looked at them with boiling anger.
"Rrrraaah!!" he roared with enough force to make the ground tremble and launched himself at them with absurd speed.
Steve's eyes widened as he saw the figure rushing at them. He almost cursed, but faster than he could speak, another figure intercepted the beast.
John moved quickly, and his fist shot out without hesitation. Flesh met flesh, but it was more like metal striking metal.
Even so, it was clear in the next instant which metal was harder.
The beast's neck broke with a deafening crack, his jaw fractured, and his head twisted unnaturally, teeth flying out.
A wound that would have undoubtedly killed any other living being.
But not Hydra's Jagdhund.
Despite having a broken neck, he didn't stop his charge. His claws struck John's side, sending him sliding several meters back.
"I need new clothes," John touched his side. There was no cut, his skin wasn't penetrated, but he felt the impact, something he hadn't experienced in a long time.
What the hell did Hydra do to Logan?
"Retreat, I'll handle this!" he shouted to the soldiers who were still stunned, watching as Logan's wounds healed almost instantly.
That regeneration was faster than he remembered.
Even so, he had already gauged his opponent's strength. It was time to get serious.
This time, the soldiers didn't hesitate and began to retreat. Clearly, this wasn't a battle where they could help.
Raven circled from the sky, watching the battle with concern. They had never faced something like this before. She trusted John, but she couldn't help the panic and helplessness she felt inside.
She couldn't help him at all.
The beast lunged forward with force, the air breaking due to the movement, the ground under its feet cracking.
John saw the attack coming and, with a fluid motion, twisted his torso, letting the bone claws pass by him. His own fist shot out, hitting the beast in the side. There was a crack, clearly broken ribs, yet the beast didn't hesitate. Its other arm swung, claws ready to slash and destroy.
John raised his hand and quickly caught the claws in his palm. There was a slight effort as his muscles tensed in a contest of strength.
John smiled and squeezed without hesitation. The bone, harder than any metal he had faced before, presented momentary resistance before snapping in the next instant.
"Argh!" There was a growl, and John's smile disappeared when a fist hit him in the face with enough force to snap his head to the side.
The shockwave made the winds churn, sending debris flying everywhere.
"They really pumped you with all the steroids, huh?" John said, regaining his stance.
A growl was the only response he got.
He saw the bone in its claws regrow quickly and began to think about how to end this quickly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the prisoner soldiers had already moved quite a distance away. Good, he preferred not to tarnish his image with what he was about to do.
The beast lunged forward once more, clearly attack planning was not one of its attributes.
John was serious this time and intercepted quickly and precisely. His hands shot up, grabbing both arms and stopping the beast from attacking further.
There was a brief struggle, and John gritted his teeth, feeling a slight tension. Then, with more force, he broke both arms with a resonant crunch.
This would have been more difficult if his opponent hadn't been a mindless beast.
"I'm sorry," he apologized again, then yanked hard. The flesh and skin resisted for a moment but then began to tear.
Blood splattered as both arms were forcibly ripped off.
"Rrrraaah!!" This time, he could hear the pain in its growls.
Alright, time for some quick brain surgery.
He hit him in the face causing a shock wave to spread, then hit him again and again until he was knocked to the ground.
This wasn't going to be pleasant.
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Raven, from the sky, thought that if she could, she would have vomited. She didn't understand why John suddenly pounded his opponent to the ground and began to smash his face with his fists
Unable to help herself, she landed not far away, watching in bewilderment as John smashed the man's skull and began digging into his head using nothing but his fingers.
Her doubts were answered when an object shining in a familiar light appeared among the pieces of gray matter.
Hundreds of tiny metal wires extended from the object, pulsing with that same light, wires that completely enveloped the brain of the man Raven thought was dead.
John began to tear them out without hesitation until he had removed them all and took a deep breath, his body and hands completely stained with blood.
He looked at the mess his opponent had become and almost retched.
Had he killed him?
In response to his question, the broken flesh and bones suddenly began to move. He watched as tissues repaired themselves, and without hesitation, he stood up and went for the arms that he had torn out, attempting to put them back in place.
His idea worked, as both appendages began to reattach to the body.
"What's happening?" Raven, now in her human form, asked as she approached, looking on in disbelief.
She thought John had killed him.
John picked up the shiny object and handed it to Raven, who held it despite being covered in blood, examining it curiously.
"Mind control or something like that, I'm not sure exactly, but I hope he can tell me more," he said, pointing to the man who shook his now intact head as he clumsily sat down.
His light brown eyes looked around in confusion, the animal fury in his expression vanished.
"I-" he blinked as he looked in John's direction and grimaced.
"motherfucker!" he growled, causing Raven to furrow her brows.
"Hey!" She was about to protest, but John stopped her.
"He's not talking about me," he said, looking towards the direction of the Hydra base behind him.
Well, Wasn't this interesting? Without hesitation, he approached and offered his hand to the disoriented James.
"My name is John, but people know me as Captain America."
James looked at his palm, hesitated for a second before taking it.
"James Howlett," he replied as he stood up with John's help.
"All right, James, how about we get you some pants?" When John pointed it, Raven quickly looked away; she didn't need to see that.
James looked down at himself, noticing his state of undress.
"Sure, why not."
it was a little cold.
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Note:
One more chapter!
This time I don't have much to say other than to ask what did you think?
you know I read all your comments so don't hesitate to leave them, that said I'll see you in the next chapter ;D
Jagdhund: Hunting dog.
Remember that if you notice any grammatical errors, do not hesitate to point them out, I will correct them as quickly as possible!
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