章節 47: The End of HYDRA
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
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Now, read on!
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"Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse. He thinks he can rule the world, that he's a God. And he's willing to blow half the planet to prove it." Colonel Phillips says, with the main players of the SSR in the conference room with him.
Along with Steve, The Howling Commandos, including the now Sword wielding Captain Avalon, Agent Peggy Carter, Pvt Lorraine Smith, and the other Captains, Lieutenants, Sargaents that were in the SSR were all present for this meeting, to plan the final attack on the base.
"He's insane." Dum Dum Dugan says, for once with neither a Cigar, nor a glass of alcohol in his hands.
"So's Hitler, but Schmidt has gotten very far with far less than what Hitler has." Peggy says, adding her own two cents, as Steve looks at her, remembering her own words at his confessions of his guilty feeling.
Steve had spent a lot of time blaming himself for Bucky's death, just like he knew Mason had blamed himself for Tim's. But, in the end, both of them knew, that their friends wouldn't want them to do that.
It would dishonour them, to make Bucky and Tim seem like helpless dames, in need of rescuing. They deserve their respect, their dignity.
Captain Avalon, the leader of the Howling Commandos leans forward, and says, "Hitler is not an urgent problem, at least for now, Schmidt is. He's planning on blowing the world up, starting with America."
Hitler, Steve had joined the War to fight Hitler, and had already punched him hundreds of time, albeit in the USO tours. But now, despite his larger army, Hitler wasn't an actual target of theirs.
Falsworth, the only other Brit remaining, frowns and says, "But he'll need millions of men for that, ships, planes, food, fuel, and all that. That's practically impossible to do with the small army he has, innit?"
Stark takes a seat at the table, right beside Steve, and says, "This Energy source that Schmidt is working with is something we've never seen before. We've seen firsthand how explosive the smaller batteries are, imagine one of the big ones being dropped in New York."
Steve frowns, the threat of losing New York making his stomach clench. He might not have returned there in a long while, but New York was still home. He says, "Most of our men are either in Europe, or in the oceans. Our borders are practically defenceless, leaving Schmidt free to carry out his plan without any opposition."
Colonel Phillips nods, and says, "We're the opposition, and we'll defend the country son, don't worry. We have under 24 hours, according to my new best friend, Zola, to stop Schmidt from destroying the United States of America, and then, the world."
"Where is he now?" Jones asks, his face showing him already prepared to fight. And Steve appreciated Gabe's readiness, his fellow American's patriotism.
The Colonel points at a map, and says, "Here, in the middle of the alps. 500 feet above sea level."
"How do we attack him there? We can't just knock on his front door." Jim Morita says, sounding annoyed. And it was understandable. The base was surrounded by mountains, and was based in the middle of another mountain. Totally fortified, as far as any normal man was concerned.
"Why not?" Two voices ask at the same time, making everyone snap their heads towards Steve Rogers and Mason Aves.
The Howling Commandos were led by men far from normal, however.
Everyone was looking at them with either two thoughts in their minds, some thinking them suicidal idiots, while others wondering what the superhero duo will do now, to avenge their fallen sidekicks.
And Steve hated it, Bucky being known as his Sidekick, the stupid comics depicting him as some skinny teenager, and him as a buff American flag bearer. And what was even the point of depicting Bucky as 17 years old, or wearing his bright blue underwear over his pants? Bucky didn't even wear underwear of that colour!
Steve nods at the team leader, pushing the thoughts of Bucky to the side for now, to allow his leader to speak first.
Mason leans forward, resting his arms on the table, and pauses, to think. Everyone stays silent, wanting to know what he's thinking, and they don't have to wait long, as he says, "Johann Schmidt is arrogant."
'Ain't that the truth.' most of the people here think, including Steve.
Mason continues, probably unknowing of the others' thoughts, "He's so arrogant, that if either of us gets captured in his lands, he will order us to be taken to him, so he can kill us personally."
Steve smiles halfheartedly, understanding the plan, and eager to have his revenge soon. He nods at Mason, when he looks at him, turns towards Colonel Phillips, and says, "Yeah, I'm going to go and knock on Schmidt's front door. Hard."
ooOoo
Steve Rogers was ready, ready to begin the one person assault on the final Hydra base. Ready to begin with the revenge plan, or so he hoped.
Strapping his iconic Vibranium shield to his back, Steve sits on the bike Stark had made for him. Modified out of a Harley Davidson, the bike was fitted with rocket launchers, grapple hooks, and a lot more, to allow him to get inside successfully.
Starting it with a kick, Steve revs the accelerator, driving forward, straight towards the final Hydra base that they knew of, where Red Skull currently was. He was preparing to launch an assault on the United States of America, to destroy it completely.
The air was thinner than normal, Steve notices, thanks to him being a quarter mile above Sea level, but it doesn't bother him too much. The Serum gave him a lot of advantages, and not being bothered by the higher altitude, was one he was now very thankful for.
For a few miles, Steve faces no troubles, but after a while, as he gets a couple miles near to the Hydra base, 6 bikes start following after him, Hydra soldiers atop them.
They fire energy blasts at him, which either strike the shield on his back, being absorbed or reflected depending on the angle, or they completely miss. Flicking a switch, Steve activates a mechanism, and sends two bolts flying at the trees on his left and right, both of them connecting each other with a thick metal rope.
The two connected bolts stick to two trees, the rope raised tightly between them. Four of the soldiers following him duck in time, letting the rope pass over them harmlessly, but two of the soldiers are too late, and get caught by the rope, which throws them off their bikes.
Steve barely glances at them, and revs the accelerator, speeding up, the Hydra bikes keeping up without any issues.
Stark is a genius, Steve had no doubts there, and he modified the bike as well as he could. But HYDRA's bikes were fitted with the blue batteries, and were made by Arnim Zola. And so, they can easily keep up with Steve's bike.
Two of them speed up some more, and cover Steve's two sides, while the other two stay at the back, barely a couple feet away from his bike, cutting off any escape plan he might have.
Steve leans back, letting a left hook by the driver on the right side pass by. Seeing the bike become unbalanced, Steve punches at the rider's head, making his helmet drop down on his eyes, blinding him.
Steve flicks another switch on the bike's handle, which causes flames to shoot out of the back. The flames, going back at least 20 feet, burn the clothes, and the bags held on the sides of the bikes of the two Hydra soldiers.
"AAAARGH!" The soldiers yell, both of them in pain from the fire, and are sent crashing into the trees, creating a small explosion.
The soldier he had punched, meanwhile, was still disoriented, but driving straight, while the one on his left was now reaching for Steve's bike, to turn it off.
Reaching his hand towards the back of the right bike, Steve pulls a pin from the grenade kept on the bike, and brakes hard, sending the two bikes rushing forward.
The left soldier notices Steve missing, and tries to stop, but before he can even try, the bike beside him explodes, killing both of them in a chain of explosions.
Now free of any followers, Steve starts driving once again, now speeding straight towards the Hydra base's entrance, and in no time, has it in his sights.
The entrance was guarded by a giant tank, no doubt one of the Energy shooting kind, while the side walls had many Hydra soldiers with their guns pointed outwards, at him.
Pulling the shield off his back, Steve fixes it to the handle, covering his body from the sights of the Soldiers, and keeps driving. The tank notices Steve first, and starts shooting energy blasts at him, while the Hydra soldiers switch between normal bullets, and Energy bullets, everyone trying to hit Steve.
Steve ducks his head, knowing that nothing is in between him and the tank, allowing the shield to do its job. A few blasts get close, blowing the earth near him up, but none of them manage to make Steve lose his balance, or his sight. Some even hit his shield, but the Vibranium shield just absorbs the energy, allowing him to go forth unharmed.
As soon as he gets close enough to the tank, Steve flicks a third switch, and presses a button right beside it, arming, and then launching two missiles at the Tank, from the missile launcher.
BOOOOM!
The tank explodes, sending many Hydra soldiers flying through the air, dead, or injured. Alas, the gate was still blocked by the exploded remains of the Tank.
Turning the bike's handle, Steve aims towards the inclined wall of the Hydra base, and speeds up, going full throttle. As soon as he reaches the wall, he uses his superior strength to lean back, and lifts the front wheel of the bike, allowing it to run over the wall easily.
As he lands, now inside the Hydra base, surrounded by Hydra soldiers, Steve revs his bike once more, and starts dodging the energy blasts, while using his fists to hit a few Hydra soldiers that get in his way.
Steve puts his leg down, braking, to make the bike skid, and revs the accelerator once again, this time aiming the bike towards the base's building wall.
Clicking a big red button, he puts the shield on his left arm, and jumps off of the bike, sending it wheeling towards the wall. As soon as the bike hits the wall, it blows up, the explosion breaking the wall down completely.
'That should give them a good opening later.' Steve thinks, as he rolls to a stop, immediately throwing his shield at one Hydra soldier's chest.
And then, Steve begins fighting the grounded soldiers, alone. He fights hard, killing some soldiers, knocking others out, but after a few minutes of doing that, he finds himself surrounded by two guys, wielding two flamethrowers each, and then more than 50 Hydra Energy weapons.
Raising his hand, Steve sighs, finally surrendering, allowing the Hydra soldiers to handcuff him, and starts following them towards Red Skull's office.
-
"Arrogance may not be a purely American trait, but you, Captain Rogers, you surely do it better than everyone else." Red Skull says, as a group of 30 soldiers bring Steve Rogers towards him, in handcuffs, and at gunpoint.
Steve's Shield was held by one of the Hydra soldiers, who had stayed as far away from Steve as possible, to not give him an opportunity to steal it back.
Steve Rogers glares at Red Skull's red disfigured face, some of his anger at Bucky's death coming back, and says, "Get me out of these cuffs, and let's go a few rounds. We'll see who's too arrogant then."
Red Skull chuckles, as he walks towards Steve, who was himself surrounded by more than 30 soldiers, and Red Skull himself. He says, "There are limits to what even you can do, Captain Rogers. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise? Did he tell you that you would be invincible?"
"He told me you're insane. I'm inclined to agree." Steve says, having a stare off with Red Skull, now just an arm length away from him.
Johnan Schmidt leans forward, and says, "He resented my genius, denied me the Serum, and I had to forcefully take it from him. But you.. he gave you everything willingly. What makes you so special?"
Remembering Bucky's face, from when Mason had asked them both to join the Howling Commandos, he says, "Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."
This seems to anger Schmidt, who refuses to believe that there is nothing special about Steve. There has to be something, or so he believes, which Erskine was the only one to see. Pulling his hand back, he punches Steve's face with full force, throwing Steve onto the ground, knocking his breath out.
The guards holding Steve pull him up, allowing Schmidt to punch his face once again. And again, and again.
Finally, when Schmidt stops, Steve looks up, bleeding a little from his cheek, panting, and says, "I can do this all day."
Schmidt glares at him, and pulls an energy Luger out. Pointing it at Steve's head, he says, "I believe you might be able to. But unfortunately for you, I'm on a tight schedule."
As he prepares to pull the trigger, one of the Hydra soldiers holding on to Steve kicks his leg up, sending the gun flying out of Schmidt's hand. At the same time, three soft THUNKS sound, as bolts are fired at the wall, right near the window looking over the mountains.
Red Skull takes another gun out, and points it at the Hydra soldier, but a second kick lands on his chest, sending him flying back into the wall to his back.
"INTRUDER!" One of the other soldiers holding on to Steve yells, as he starts pulling his gun out. Steve, taking the opportunity, punches his handcuffed fists upwards, hitting the stomach of the Hydra soldier, and knocks him out with another two handed punch.
Immediately, the other soldiers run at the Rogue soldier and Steve, who was now starting to get up, to attack them. However, before anyone can do so, the window breaks, sending glass shattering down, as three people enter through it by way of ziplines, and start firing their guns at the Hydra soldiers. Red Skull takes the moment of distraction to escape, running out of the room.
The Rogue soldier removes his helmet, goggles, and mask, showing himself to be the Howling Commandos' leader, Captain Mason Aves, Captain Avalon. With two swift moves, he lifts a Hydra soldier up, and swings his body around himself.
This causes the closest soldiers to either drop down, or get thrown back. He then throws the body forcefully at a group of Hydra soldiers, sending them crashing down.
From over his back, Mason takes off his two new shiny swords, making many people, including Steve, wonder how they had remained unnoticed, and starts slashing at the Hydra Soldiers closest to him.
With one slash, he first breaks the cuffs that bound Steve's hands together, and starts attacking the Hydra Soldiers. Steve, now free of his bounds, punches a Hydra soldier away from him, and steals a gun from one of the people fallen on the ground, and starts shooting, not as enthusiastic as Mason in fighting close combat.
Cutting the head of the Hydra soldier who had run at him with Steve's shield, he throws the shield at Steve, and yells, "Go! We'll deal with this lot and follow after you."
Steve nods, catching the shield gratefully, and runs outside the room, using the shield to bash a few heads while running, and shooting a few more people on the way out.
-
Mason POV:
Grinning, once Steve leaves, I slash my sword over the chest of one of the Soldiers surrounding me, and yell, "Let's show them what us Howling Commandos are made of boys!"
Dugan fires a Hydra blaster he had stolen at a few of the Hydra soldiers, making them disintegrate, and says, "Way ahead of you, Captain!"
Seeing an energy blast go for my head, I raise Galadmagol up, absorbing the energy blast. Ducking down under the punch of a second Hydra soldier, I stab the same sword in his chest, causing him to gasp.
The energy that I had absorbed from the energy blast is released into the body of the Hydra soldier, disintegrating him with a blue flash of light.
Snapping my head, I glare at the Hydra soldier who had fired the Energy blast at me, and throw my sword at him, stabbing him in the chest. Running forward, I jump on his body, removing the sword from his chest, and spin around myself, beheading him and two other Hydra goons that were near me.
The swords were amazingly sharp, able to cut through bone with just some effort. Despite being curved, with blades almost 4 feet long each, both the swords were also pretty well balanced, and I can throw them at my targets easily if I want to.
And my feral side was loving it. Guns, magic, that's all well and good, but my feral side absolutely loves fighting close combat, either armed, or unarmed. And fighting with swords, even after the mental training I've had, always brings a smile to my face.
Seeing a Hydra goon aiming a big blaster at Dernier, I jump in between, and hold my swords up, crossing them in front of my chest. And not a moment too soon, as I feel the Tesseract energy blast hit my swords, sending me skidding a bit backwards. The energy blast does nothing else, however, and my swords absorb the energy easily.
"That's impossible!" The man whispers, in German, his hand dropping down in horror.
Smirking at him, I say, "Buddy, you have no idea what's possible."
And then, he gets shot in the head, courtesy of Dernier. He looks at me, my swords, and then back at me again, and says, "I don't know what those swords are made of, Captain, but keep at it."
Chuckling, I continue my attack on the Hydra goons, and yell, "FOR BUCKY AND TIMMY!" Getting the same yells in return, from my Howling Commandos.
"NOW! BEGIN THE ATTACK!" Jim yells, into a mic he was wearing, with a transceiver set up in his backpack. Which means the SSR should begin their attack from the outside now.
While I keep to close range, using my swords to cut, slash, and stab my way towards the exit door, Dugan, Jim Morita, James Falsworth, Dernier, and Jones use their guns and Hydra blasters to kill the soldiers from afar. Those that did get close to the other Howling Commandos get killed by one of them.
Soon, within a couple minutes, 6 of us take care of all 35 Hydra soldiers that were inside the Hall, and start jogging outside.
For a few minutes, we keep running, taking care of any Hydra soldiers we meet in between. But, suddenly, I stop, making all my fellow Howling Commandos stop with me, pointing their weapons at the single man standing right in front of us, without showing a single care at the weapons pointed at him.
"You know him, Captain?" Dugan asks, seeing me glare at the man hatefully, without pointing my weapon at him.
I hold my swords to my side, and say, "You guys go on forward. Join the rest in clearing the base. This.. is personal."
Dugan stares at me for a second, and then nods. Seeing the others reluctant to leave, he says, "Let's go, boys." And leads them through another door.
As the 5 Howling Commandos leave, I crack my neck, and say, "You made a huge mistake of showing yourself to me, Grindelwald."
Gellert Grindelwald, the current Dark Lord, the one the majority of the Wizarding World is at War with, just smiles, and apparates away.
Scowling, I run forward, holding my hand out at the spot he apparated from, and follow the trail of his Apparition to the destination, appearing inside a hall that is as big as the one we had fought and killed the Soldiers in just now.
Following apparition isn't easy, and you need to have a good sense for feeling magic, and a good control over your apparition. Even still, you can only do it for a few seconds after the apparition. After that, you need specific spells, and artefacts to do it. Thankfully, I was quick on my feet, and I can definitely apparate competently.
Looking around, I see Grindelwald with his back to me, and over two dozen Hydra soldiers pointing their guns at the two of us.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" One of them, wearing a lab coat yells at us, making us stop. He then turns towards his underlings, and says, "Start the Ritual, you idiots! That's Captain Avalon."
It is then, that I look, really look. The Hall we were in was covered in familiar Runes, while behind the small army of Hydra soldiers, were three bodies kept on metal beds, bound by heavy shackles. My nose catches their scents, and I notice that they have something similar smelling to me and Grindelwald, a component that is not present in the other Hydra soldiers.
Magic. Wizards.
Immediately, I snap my hand forward, firing a piercing hex at the head scientist here, hoping to kill him before he can activate the Ritual. Unfortunately, a transparent shield makes itself known, stopping my spell from killing him. I turn towards Grindelwald, now even more angry.
Grindelwald looks at me, as I growl at him, and says, "You think I am your enemy, Captain Aves? See this, see what they're trying to achieve. They might not have gotten to do it with your blood, but there are other Wizards, and they have.. managed to capture a few already."
You just fucking stopped me from stopping the Ritual, you manipulative bastard.
Scowling, I say, "Don't pretend as if you didn't help them in this Ritual, Grindelwald. I know what you've planned, and it will only succeed if the Summoning happens."
Smirking, Grindelwald says, "Oh, but it has already succeeded. You just don't know it yet."
I run towards him, aiming to behead him before killing the Hydra soldiers, but before I even reach there, he waves his hand, sending a giant ball of blue flames at me.
Just by looking at it for a few microseconds, I can tell that these flames are dangerous. Dark. They're the flames that he developed the spell Protego Diabolica from. These flames don't just burn.. they completely destroy any flesh they touch. Even my Healing factor might have a problem healing from that.
I stop, and raise my swords, absorbing the fire spell with my swords. As the flames dissipate, getting slowly abdorbed into my sword, I throw my hand forward, sending a reducto through the flames. Unfortunately, my spell hits the wall, Grindelwald nowhere to be seen.
But.. there is something else, something.. I didn't want happened.
A glowing red portal, about two meters in diameter I'll had made itself known, on one end of the Ritual Runes. And floating in front of it, were the three previously bound Wizards. The three Wizards were connected to the Portal with five red tendrils each joined to their limbs and the back of their heads, and their eyes glowed red, their muscles strangely bulging.
All in all, they looked completely different from the malnourished Wizards which Hydra had in their hands, which Grindelwald probably gave them.
As one, the three Wizards turn to look at me, and smile, menacingly. I duck, on instinct, letting a giant fucking tentacle go by, and raise my sword, waving it upwards to cut it off.
My highly enchanted, highly Magical sword cuts through, causing the large 20 feet long tentacle to drop down, separated from the portal. But almost immediately after, the single tentacle is replaced by two other tentacles coming out of the portal, to attack me, while ignoring the Hydra soldiers completely. They just enjoy the show, watching me dodge for my life.
These tentacles look like they belong to an octopus, or a squid, and have suckers on their sides. I doubt getting stuck on one of those suckers will be good for me, and I'm not willing to try and find out.
"It has succeeded! The Champion of Hydra is here!" The Hydra scientist yells, excitedly looking at the three men hovering in front of the portal, three green tentacles still coming from the portal.
Dodging the tentacles by jumping over one of them, I cut another one, and look towards the idiot who summoned an actual Demon.
I can feel it, this Demon's Magic. It's dark, not as Dark as Set's, but Dark. Definitely Evil. Whatever Demon this is, is definitely stronger than Set was when he came to Earth, however.
And this Demon hasn't possessed a muggle, no. This one has possessed three Wizards, while also keeping a portal open to it's Dimension. Which means these tentacles were not just magical representations of the Demon, they were his actual tentacles.
My eyes notice the three Wizards, whose scent has now gotten absolutely disgusting, and I shiver, accidentally causing one of the tentacles to hit my sword hand, sending me flying back.
And this is why I was so afraid of Hydra using my blood for the Ritual.
With me thrown away, thankfully unharmed, the three Wizards turn their heads to look at the Hydra scientist. One of them holds his hand out to him, and the Magic of the Wizards, now amplified by the Possession, lifts the helpless muggle up, pulling him towards them.
"No, no! What ar you doing?! You're supposed to help us! You're our champion!" The scientist yells, as he helplessly tries to grab onto air, to pull himself back down. Alas, it is to no avail, and the possessed Wizards pull him closer with no opposition.
As soon as the Wizard holds the Muggle by his head, the scientist.. shrivels up, as if all his Energy was sucked into the Wizard, and dies. And then, the Wizard throws the mummified body down, causing it to break a leg just from being dropped 6 feet.
"We are no one's Champion!" The monster possessing the Wizards says, the three people speaking at once, smiling at me, as I keep dodging the now four tentacles.
Okay, this is not that bad, I'm having no trouble keeping up, but I need to find a way to shut the portal down.
The Hydra soldiers, now afraid, start shooting their guns, and tesseract powered weapons at the Wizards. Unfortunately for them, all of the attacks are stopped by a transparent Shield spell being raised in front of the three Wizards.
So, the possession allows the demon to use their Magic. Wonder why Set didn't try that with me. Maybe he just wanted my soul, for a quick power boost? Could be, this Demon doesn't seem to be too focused on increasing his strength, since his Dimension is just an open portal away.
The possessed Wizards snap their heads towards the muggles, and almost immediately, a dozen more tentacles shoot out of the portal and fly towards the muggles. The first one to get caught by the tentacles is also turned into a shriveled husk, his life force getting absorbed by the Demon, and the others soon follow, one by one.
Okay, not letting the tentacles touch me is a great decision.
Jumping over a tentacle, and sending the second one away from me by hitting it with the blunt side of my sword, I take aim, while still mid jump, and throw my sword at the edge of the portal, hoping the Magic absorbing properties of the Sword will close the portal, or at least destabilize it.
Unfortunately, one of the Wizards teleports in between, and raises his hand, casting a Shield charm. The shield spell powered by the corrupted and amplified magic of the Demon is not enough to stop my enchanted Durmagol, however, and the Sword pierces the head of the Wizard, after passing through the admittedly thick shield spell.
Waving my right hand, I telekinetically spin the sword downwards, using it to split the Wizard into two pieces, and summon my sword back. The tentacles retreat from their offense, as the number of possessed Wizards goes down to two.
Sorry, nameless Wizard. But at least you aren't suffering now.
The Two Wizards stare at me, the muggles all dead, and as one, they screech, "Oshtur's Spawn! Join us, as one of our Vessels. You will be immortal, invincible, unharmed! Refuse, and you shall die!"
Heh, immortal, invincible, unharmed? I literally killed one of your vessels in one move.
Shrugging, I put my swords back on my back, for now, and say, "I've heard it all before. Now, go back to whence you came from, willingly, and you won't be thrown there."
My swords, while immensely helpful, have a drawback in this fight. Everytime I cut into a tentacle, two more join the fight.
At least, the Demon seems to have a few rules. It won't attack with a new tentacle, unless it is attacked, or if a tentacle is cut off. Really doing the job of Champion of Hydra, following their motto.
Cut off one tentacle, two more shall take its place.
The two Wizards smile, and in unison, say, "You have chosen Death. So it shall be."
Almost immediately, 13 Tentacles speed towards me, their tips pointing towards different parts of my body. Raising my hand, I wandlessly, and silently cast the Praesidio Charm, the Shield spell designed to keep anything Physical out.
In slow motion, thanks to my enhanced senses, I see the tentacles stab towards my heart, head, hands, thighs, and even my butt, and approach the Praesidio Charm. I see the tentacles stab at the Shield, and then.. I see the Shield get sucked into the tentacles, their magic absorbed by them.
I widen my eyes, and apparate towards another end, just in time to see the tentacles stab into the ground.
Seeing the tentacles now speed towards my new location, I raise my hands up, spreading my legs a bit. Focusing on the Universal Magic, I yell, "SHIELD OF THE SERAPHIM!"
This creates a giant circular Tao Mandala, in front of me, with a diameter of about two meters.
The Shield of the Seraphim is a normal Spell, based on just Universal Energy. The only reason it is called that, is because it was invented by a Seraph Sorcerer. It is however one of the strongest Shield spells in Sorcery.
SLAM!
The tentacles slam into my shield, and stop, not absorbing the Magic this time. Although I do get pushed back a bit.
Huh, curious.
Separating my two hands, I split the Tao Mandala into two semicircular magic blades, and throw them both at the Tentacles, sending them waving through the air in a spiral motion.
The blades cut through one tentacle after another, and are only stopped by a shield being raised by the possessed Wizards.
So, the Demon can use and Absorb Wizarding magic spells, but that's probably only because it is possessing two Wizards right now. But they (or it) cannot absorb Sorcery spells.
Dodging another attempt by the Tentacles to capture me, my enhanced senses, agility, and reflexes having little to no trouble with it, I wave my hand and fire a few rapid spells at the tentacles. Stupefy, Reducto, Bombarda, Expulso, multiple spells fly towards the Tentacles, and hit them, one or multiple at a time.
But, as expected, the spells are all absorbed by the Tentacles, which remain unharmed. Instead, the tentacles seem to become a bit larger. The difference isn't too observable, but I can see it.
Jumping back, I use my nails to climb the wall, and whisper, "Fulmen!" Sending a bolt of lightning flying out of my hand, towards the dozen or so tentacles that had decided on me as a personal target.
The Lightning bolt hits a single tentacle, causing it to stop, and start twitching repeatedly. Jumping down, I blast at the tentacles with a fireball, making them all scatter, desperate to avoid the flames. One tentacle does get caught in the flames, and is burned to ashes, completely.
Ah, I see. It does have weaknesses.
"YOU DARE?!" The two Wizards yell, at once, their eyes glowing a lot more than before, as the room starts to tremble.
The portal behind the two Wizards starts slowly expanding, and then, suddenly the portal is filled with tentacles, all of them speeding towards me.
"Ah.. shit." I whisper, seeing almost a hundred new tentacles aiming at killing me. One touch, and it's over.
Apparating out of there, I cast the Flying Runes on my bones, thankful that I have gotten quick at doing that, and float into the air, invisibly looking over the tentacles and the Wizard searching for me.
The tentacles crash into the walls, and keep attacking empty air, in an effort to find me, allowing me the time to think over all I've learned about the Demon.
Fire and Lightning works, but other Wizarding Magic spells are all absorbed. Which means I'm limited to Sorcery spells, Telekinesis, and Elemental Spells. And unless I want the Demon to escape this hall, and let loose on the rest of the World, I need to be quick in taking care of it.
Where's the Ancient One when you need her?
I can just see her stupid face, saying, 'I trusted you to deal with it by yourself, Sorcerer Aves.' With a damn smile, too, if I ask her about it.
My instincts flare up, making my kick off the wall I was resting in front of, just barely dodging a thin tentacle, that stabs a foot deep into the wall. Glad that isn't me, I wave my hand, conjuring an orange disc blade made of condensed Universal Magic, and throw it.
The orange disc cuts through the tentacle cleanly, and dissipates as soon as its job is done.
Now visible, I lean back, to let two more tentacles pass, and take my swords out, cutting them off. Once more, I throw the swords at the Wizards, hoping to kill them and block the Demon's sight into this Dimension.
Seeing a thick Tentacle rise up to defend the Wizards from the two thrown swords, I snap my fingers, with purpose, creating two portals in the path of the swords, that open right in front of the possessed Wizards' smirking faces.
My swords stab into their heads with a snick sound, and a wave of my hand causes them to vertically cut them into two equal parts.
So, the Demon is now blinded. But just killing the Wizards isn't enough, I need to close the portal too.
The tentacles raise up, the demon now blinded, and snap towards every direction, not knowing where to attack. I apparate away from my spot, seeing two Tentacles appraoch me from different directions, and frown, seeing the Demon start destroying the room.
If it keeps this up, the muggles will find out about the Demon, and I don't want that. Focusing on my connection to the Universe, I make my hands glow white, and drop down on the ground, slamming my hands on the floor. With a crashing sound, we disappear from the real world, appearing inside the Mirror Dimension.
The way this works, is everything living, and non living things touching those that are living, that are present in the room or the vicinity of the spell cast, are taken to the Mirror Dimension.
The room expands, allowing the Demon a lot more space to rampage in. But now, it can't harm the real world.
"Well done, Captain Avalon. You isolated the Demon." The annoying voice of Grindelwald says, as he makes himself known right behind me. I spin my sword around, hoping to kill him, but Grindelwald is no longer there.
Instead, now a dozen meters to my left, he asks, "But you see, the ICW has already sent a delegation to the base, and what will they find, I wonder? The Runes marked with Wizard Blood, shriveled up bodies of muggles, and a group of dead Wizards, cut by the sword of the Champion of muggles. What will you do now? Will you deal with the Demon, or will you go outside the Mirror Dimension, risking me letting the Demon out once again, to deal with the evidence of the muggles killing a Wizard?"
Scowling, I look at him, and then at the Demon rampaging around in the Mirror Dimension, the number of tentacles now increased to a hundred.
Fuck, Grindelwald has me trapped here right now. I can see a Sling Ring on his fingers, meaning he actually has a way out of here, and this means his threat of letting the Demon out is not unfounded.
If the ICW find out that muggles, Hydra or not, have used even a single Wizard in a Summoning Ritual that went really bad, and that I killed said Wizards, there'll be a heck of a lot of trouble. Not just for me, but for the Wizarding World too, and the muggle world.
The ICW might believe me, when I tell them that Grindelwald was working with Hydra, giving them Wizarding secrets, since I actually do have proof in the form of the Wizards I arrested while fighting Hydra. But the common people? The recruitment for Grindelwald's army will at least double up, thinking his ideology to be actually right.
And this will only fuel the Wizard's fear of the Muggles. Fear of a genocide.
But.. that only works if Grindelwald is alive to take advantage of it.
Slamming my foot down on the ground, I manipulate the Mirror Dimension to send a ripple through the ground beneath us, which slams into a shield spell cast by Grindelwald. The force of my attack throws him into the air. Waving my hand, I use Telekinesis on his clothes, to throw Grindelwald towards the tentacle demon, and smile, seeing a Tentacle catch him.
My smile slips, however, when I see Grindelwald's face change right before my eyes, into the face of someone else, before the person shrivels up, and dies.
That.. wasn't Grindelwald?
Grindelwald appears before me once again, this time in an Astral Projection, and says, "You really thought it would be this easy to defeat me? I have seen countless fights happening between us, Captain Avalon. I've spent decades, preparing for our eventual confrontation. And I can tell you this, Captain Aves. I am going to succeed."
And then, he disappears, just in time, since my Killing curse strikes empty air. Cursing myself, I apparate away, letting a few tentacles slam harmlessly into the ground.
Okay, time to deal with you.
Putting my arms into a praying gesture, I close my eyes, spreading my legs apart. I slide my right leg back, bending both knees, and with a snap, point both my palms at the Portal. On my hands, two white orbs of light are formed, which cover my entire hand.
"Shackles of Binding!" I shout, not too loudly, while pointing those Mystic palms at the tentacle monster.
Two mystic bolts of white light fly from my hands, towards the tentacles. Those two tentacles split into four, which split into 16, and so on and on.
Each one of the tendrils slams into a single tentacle, and completely covers it in white light, shackling the Demon in the Mystic bindings of my spell. The spell forces the Demon to stop its movement, making it freeze.
The strength behind the Demon is still too much, however, and I could feel the tendrils slowly moving towards me, the tentacles too stubborn to stop completely.
Damn, this spell was designed to stop rampaging demon hordes, and the tentacle demon was still causing the spell to move?
Holding my left hand straight, I move my right hand, and tap it on the left hand, to transfer the spell from the right to my left. As soon as it happens, the magnitude of my effort seem to be halved, and the tentacles get closer to my position, still far away, but now moving a bit faster.
Clenching my teeth, I focus on my magic, on my anger at everything. My hatred at Grindelwald, at Hydra, for cooking this shit up, at the Magical world for being stupid enough to fall for Grindelwald's charms.
Sufficiently in the mood, I summon my wand, point it at the Demon, and angrily yell, "FIENDFYRE!"
Dark red flames erupt from the tip of my wand, and drop down on the ground between me, and the tentacles. Those flames rise up, getting bigger still being fed by my wand, and start moving wildly. Within a few seconds, those flames form into a giant tidal wave, and with a wave of my wand, the wave starts moving towards the tentacles.
The tentacles closest to me, still caught by my Shackles of Binding spell, are immediately caught by the raging inferno, and catch fire. As soon as that happens, however, my Shackles break, the Fiendfyre even eating that Magic to fuel its rage.
This allows the tentacles to move again, but this time, my flames follow them.
Almost immediately, the tentacles stop their advance towards me, and start their retreat towards the portal, now speeding up.
Raising my left hand up, I focus all my attention on the flames, and use them to chase the tentacles towards the portal. The Demon keeps retreating, and goes through the portal, giving one final screech from a small mouth, opening up on the tentacles.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The high pitch of the noise is enough to make my ears bleed, but I ignore it, choosing to focus on the cursed flames.
Seeing the flames try to go through the Portal, I clench my hand to stop the flames before they can follow the Tentacles into the portal. The flames might kill the Demon, taking over the Dimension, slowly becoming sentient, or the Demon might adapt to the flames, making it so I have no weapon against it in the future.
Sighing, I wave my hand, casting the Flagrate Charm to write Runes all around the Portal. Closing my eyes, I focus on magically connecting those Runes together, to cast a Runic spell.
This Runic spell activated as soon as my magic connects the Runes together, and with a snap, breaks the portal into energy dust, closing it up.
Meanwhile, my Fiendfyre seeks out the remaining cut off pieces of the tentacle, and burns them to ash, until nothing remains, and keeps looking for more things to burn, now starting to get out of control.
Well, I am not a Dark Wizard, and hence, Fiendfyre does sometimes get loose. Thankfully, I have a way to deal with it.
Holding my hand forward, I create a Runic spell on my hand. Even if it looks very similar to the Tao Mandalas of Sorcery, the Runic spell is a completely Wizarding spell. A simple Blue coloured circular disk, almost transparent, with Runes written along the circumference.
Holding my Runic spelled hand in front of me, I whisper, "Absorb."
Immediately, the flames start getting sucked into the Runic spell, as if I had created a black hole in my hand. The Runic spell does not just suck in the Spell, but it also purifies it, into pure magic, and feeds it back to me.
Alas, this only works if I was the original caster in the first place. If I try it with someone else's spells, I'll either lose access to my magic, temporarily, or turn into a squib. Or explode, depending on what I'm trying to absorb.
So no absorbing Spells, Rinnegan style, for me.
My job done, I look over the Mirror Dimension to see if I missed anything, and create a portal back to the Hydra base, outside the Mirror Dimension.
As soon as the portal opens, I see a small squad of Aurors and Unspeakables, along with some familiar faces, all pointing their weapons at me, through the portal.
Ignoring the threat, I walk through the portal, and look around.
In front of me, surrounding the portal I had just come through, were about two dozen Aurors, belonging to various nations, and half a dozen Unspeakables. Behind them, stood a few members of the ICW, including the Flamels, the Chinese Emperor Xiang, a few national leaders I didn't know of, and the curious form of Professor Dumbledore.
"Put your hands in the air, and don't move!" One of the French Aurors yells, right at my face.
Already annoyed at Grindelwald's convolated plan of getting more members to his army, I snap my hand downwards, Telekinetically disarming the two dozen ICW aurors that were pointing their wands at me, and float their wands facing towards their own faces.
The Aurors all gulp, while the Unspeakables take a few steps back, their wands still in their hands.
Seeing the familiar face of Headmaster Dippet walk towards me from the back, I call out, "Headmaster! It's Grindelwald, he did it."
Headmaster Dippet nods, his attention already on me from the beginning, and says, "We already suspected it, child. Is the Demon dealt with?"
Nodding, I ignore the now scared Aurors, and walk towards the Headmaster, with Dumbledore, the Flamels, and Emperor Xiang approaching too. With a snap of my fingers, I drop all the wands I had captured on to the ground, not wanting to play too much. This is a serious matter.
Nodding at them all in greetings, I say, "I managed to send the Demon back into whatever Realm it came from, and closed the portal. But this doesn't erase anything. Grindelwald gave a Summoning Ritual to muggles, that has to be the worst betrayal to Wizard kind since the days of Camelot."
"That is.. if you manage to prove that Grindelwald actually gave them the Ritual." Dumbledore says, his hands in his pockets, making me snap my head towards him.
Before I can show him exactly what I think of his opinion, he raises his hands to appease me, and says, "I am not accusing you of anything, Mason. But Gellert hates muggles with a passion. Why would he give them something so dangerous? Something that can result in the deaths of at least three Wizards? This doesn't make sense to me, and it won't make sense to the common people either. As opposed to you.."
".. because I am a Wizard fighting in a War for the muggles, and have some sort of loyalty to them? Oh, piss off, I might not hate Muggles, but do understand, Dumbledore, that if there ever came a fight between Wizards and Muggles, my second choice would always be to fight for the Wizards. The First option, will be to prevent a War altogether." I hiss, furiously glaring at Dumbledore.
How dare he play the devil's advocate, here of all places?! And him?! The teenage friend of Grindelwald, is daring to question my loyalty?
"Calm down, Child." Nicolas Flamel says, resting his hand on my shoulder. As I stop speaking, moving my head away from Dumbledore, Flamel says, "And you. Don't be an idiot, Albus. The boy has just been in a battle with a Demon that your friend helped summon. It might not make sense, but he did summon it, and you know it."
I take a few breaths, to calm myself down. I'm already angry at Grindelwald for getting away from my hands, what he said to me repeatedly going through my head.
He said he has already seen many battles happen between us. Does that mean his Scrying has improved? Does my tattoo not work on his Scrying now? Is he now able to look into alternate Timelines?
Because how else would he see many different versions of our fight?
How many fights has he won? How many have I? Will I win this one, the real one? And does Grindelwald know that?
Headmaster Dippet says, "We've read the reports Mason sent after the arrests he made, Grindelwald's people were found mostly in the middle of Hydra bases. His disappearance was also well documented, and you've personally seen the signs of Grindelwald having a hand there, Albus. Don't deny it. Yes, it is unlike Grindelwald to help muggles like this, but he's already helping Hitler in Berlin, what makes you believe he can't be helping this Hydra too? Just to fulfill some sick purpose of his?"
"Oh, his purpose is sick alright." I whisper, once more back into the conversation, getting curious looks in return.
Running my fingers through my hair, I take a deep breath to calm myself, and conjure a seat underneath me to sit down.
Ignoring their looks at my feat of wandlessly, silently conjuring the chair, I say, "Grindelwald wanted the Wizarding World to see, that even Muggles can use Summoning Rituals, just by using Wizard blood. And he wanted to show the muggles, that Wizarding blood has Power within it, so that Muggles like Hydra can start targetting Wizards once again. Can any of you guarantee that none of the muggles out there know about the Power in our blood, that Grindelwald has kept the Statute intact? Can you guarantee that none of the Wizards here will join Grindelwald, as soon as they realise what Muggles can do with Wizarding blood?"
This explanation has somehow caught the notice of every Wizard there, and there's an eerie silence all around the half destroyed room.
Glaring at Dumbledore, I say, "You needed proof? Well I don't have it. What I do have, is his purpose for doing all that. This was his purpose, he didn't want the Demon to even win. He was actually counting on someone defeating the Demon, and he purposefully led me straight to this Ritual chamber. He just wanted to orchestrate a War with the Muggle world, and now, he has probable cause to do so. Doesn't matter that the cause had his own hand behind it."
For a minute, no one says anything, each of us just staying silent to think of the repercussions.
Grindelwald played a heck of a game, that I had seen coming, but couldn't do anything to prevent it. I had thought that by destroying the Ritual, and my blood, that I've prevented it from happening, but Grindelwald must have provided them with other Wizards.
I had thought that I could stop Grindelwald before he could use the Ritual, but I failed. I'd thought that I could deal with whatever Demon came here, and this is the only part of my thoughts that I succeeded in.
Someone sighs, making me look up, as Nicholas Flamel says, "No matter what had happened in this battle, Grindelwald was bound to win. News will leak, both in the muggle world, and the Wizarding one, and this Demon will become known. It is impossible for even the ICW to hide such a large scale Ritual. Grindelwald will get more recruits for his army, and he will get the War he wants, soon, if not now."
Nodding, Headmaster Dippet says, "Mason, I'm afraid it is time for Captain Avalon to disappear from the muggle world. Your need there has disappeared, but we need your help on the Wizarding side of things now. Albus, please work on breaking the Blood pact faster. We need all the Wands we can get."
I nod, although a little reluctant. I knew I was gonna have to disappear soon enough. The muggles would have never let me live my life otherwise.
I'm a superior soldier, experimented on by the Nazis to become stronger. And the Royal Family already knows I'm a Wizard too. This makes me prime recruitment material, or a top quality test subject.
Closing my eyes, I expand my Telepathy, to see what the muggles are up to.
Dugan was looking for me, while the others were with Peggy. The War was won, it seems, and this base captured. But at a steep cost. Steve was alone, in a plane, heading towards America.
And he will be forced to drop it into the ocean soon.
I guess this is how our story ends, eh, Steve? Both the Captains of the Howling Commandos disappearing right after the final Hydra battle. One beneath frozen waters, and one forced into hiding because of the actions of another Wizard.
Seeing Dumbledore apparate away, I scowl, and say, "Do you believe he will want to fight Grindelwald still? His arguments make it sound as if he's trying to justify Grindelwald's actions."
Perenell Flamel, the one I had asked this question to, pats my shoulder, and says, "Love makes us stupid..er child. Albus wants to believe that his friend is still the handsome visionary he fell in love with, even if he knows it isn't the truth. Do not worry, when the time comes, he will fight Grindelwald."
Well, when the time comes, I'll be there with him. If Dumbledore hesitates even little, I'll be there to take over the fight. It's high time I stop holding my Magical strength back. Besides, Grindelwald has already seen our battles happening, so I'll be sure to give him a good actual fight.
Seeing none of the people looking at me, I silently apparate away, without anyone even knowing.
My apparition had gotten a lot better in these days, thanks to implementing some of the Ninja's training, and a small time spell. I disappeared so fast, that I was there one moment, and somewhere else the next.
The Wormhole like sensation of being pulled through a narrow tube was still there, however the changes were on the outside. I no longer folded within myself, to show myself entering into the wormhole.
It happened instantaneously, making just a small wisp of smoke appear, due to the friction that my fast movement causes.
The Time spell, however, made it so that despite spending some finite amount of time inside the Apparition tunnel, I came out at the exact time I entered it.
Instantaneous teleportation, the first of its kind. And Grindelwald still managed to run away from me. Which means, I need something to give me an edge.
Appearing in the Aves Manor, I summon the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw to me, and sit down.
I need some practice in fighting strong Wizards, and I have access to one of the strongest Witches of all time.
"Hello, Mason. It's been a long time, since you've been here." Rowena says, as soon as I appear in the corner of the Astral Plane, that is connected to the Diadem.
Smiling, I summon my Wand, and say, "Yeah, I need your help in preparing for a fight."
Time to see if Grindelwald is as good as he claims to be, and time to see if I'm actually a competent enough Wizard.
---
A/N: I took my second dose y'all! Finally fully vaccinated. This means I'm a bit sick, and hence, might have left a few mistakes in the chapter.
Please understand if that happens.
Thanks for the support, and love you've shown my fic, shown me! Thank you!
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