Chapter 37: Strategic Scientific Reserve
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
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30th September, 1943:
A few days after my solo infiltration, rescue, and destruction mission, we had successfully gotten out of the danger zone, away from Nazi occupied Austria.
Getting 50 people, prisoners at that, out of hostile Austria, and into relatively safe Italy was no easy job, I'll tell you. The climate was cold, which meant food was scarce, and I had to use my telepathy a lot, so that my rescuees don't die of starvation.
I would apparate away into greener territory, hunt some animals, bring them back, and use my Telepathy to make them less suspicious. Telepathy also helped in keeping us away from anyone's sights, meaning no one saw such a big group travel across the border of Austria.
These people were tired, but they were also hopeful for the escape, which, I had proved to them, was not a dream anymore. We didn't encounter any enemies, but that didn't mean that we encountered any friends either.
It is on the 7th day of our walk, that I hear them, the thoughts of some British soldiers, some 500 meters away from us.
With barely any pause, I continue walking towards their direction, knowing that Italy is already occupied by the Allies. I'd gone away for almost two months, and the Allies took over an entire country.
As soon as we get into sights of a clearing occupied by what looks like a small scout camp, we stop. From within the forest itself, we spy over them for a while. We could see their uniforms marking them as British, all 10 of the ones outside at least, but just by looking no one can be sure. Other than I, but well, Telepathy is not admissible as evidence.
Hearing a rustle, I turn towards my right, to where Gp Capt John Blunt was, our senior most member, and ask, "What do you think, Sir? Think they're actually British?"
John stands up, dusting his pants off, and says, "Only one way to find out." And before anyone can say anything, he walks out into the clearing with his hands raised, immediately getting guns pointed at his face.
For fuck's sake, there are more ways to find out.
"Hold it!" One of the British soldiers yells, stopping anyone from firing on instinct. Thankfully, John was wearing his military uniform, which was a bit worn off, but intact, and hence, they could tell that he at least looked a senior officer to them. The soldier, a Captain from the looks of it, looks Colonel Blunt over, and says, "I'm going to have to ask you to identify yourself, Sir!"
John looks at him, hands still raised, and says, "Group Captain John Harold Blunt, of the British Royal Air Force. Identify yourself, soldier!" The last part, he says as an order.
Immediately, the soldiers all salute, their guns withdrawn, and the leader of this party says, "Captain Oliver James, Sir! Of the 8th British Infantry Division! I'm afraid I need to take you into custody, until we can confirm your identity, Grp Captain!"
John waves his hands forward, signalling us to get out of hiding, and says, "I'm.. not alone, soldier." Once again, the party points their guns at us all, getting guns raised in return. John orders, "Stand down, soldiers! We just escaped from a Nazi base, where we were kept prisoners for months. I'd appreciate some thought before you take any actions."
Captain Oliver James drops his gun, slowly, prompting all of us to do the same, and says, "I'm going to need a list of all of your names, ranks, and positions, so I can send it to HQ for confirmation, Sir. Until then, we're gonna have to stay here."
I understand why he isn't looking forward to a gunfight, he's outnumbered, and he knows it. If we're friends, we won't attack him. And if we're enemies, then they don't stand a chance anyway, or so his thought process is.
Soon, we settle down in the camp, talking amongst ourselves, telling the tale of how we escaped from the base, while Captain James's group told us about the Invasion of Italy.
-
2 days later, we get our identities confirmed as all MIA, or KIA in my case, and get shipped to the Italian HQ. Turns out, Captain Monet did escape from Sicily, and managed to reach Africa pretty safely. But, he thought that I'd died when I smashed into a boulder, thanks to the grenade that took me out.
Thank you, magic and Telekinesis, for saving my life.
It was the information that he stole, and I helped bring back, that allowed the Allies to take over Italy so easily, even after Hydra had declared its independence from Nazi Germany about a month ago. I say I helped, but let's be honest, it was my rescue mission that made it possible in the first place.
Now, now, don't thank me.
Currently, I was standing in front of Colonel Grey, my commanding officer in the 4th Infantry Division, giving a brief summary of what all went down from the moment of my capture, till the escape with 50 other people.
"So let me get this straight. You not only escaped from hostile territory, after getting some chemicals pumped into your blood, but you also took out the entire base, by yourself, and then rescued 50 other soldiers, once again, by yourself? And I'm supposed to believe that?" Colonel Grey asks, looking at me as if I think of him an idiot.
Along with him, there were 2 other people, all of them old, and above my rank, looking at me the same way.
I knew this was going to come into question, whether I liked it or not. There's no way any mundane, completely normal, person can escape custody, kill 450+ people, and rescue 50 prisoners of war, all within a couple hours.
Nodding, I say, "I took advantage of the situation, sir. I was trained as an infiltration specialist by Captain Creed, as you already know. I waited until the leader of the group went away, waited until they stopped feeding me chemicals, and then carried on with my tasks. I knew about the prisoners before, and I couldn't just leave them there, so I went to rescue them. I came across the munitions room by coincidence, and stole away a few bombs to use. You know the rest."
One of the Generals there leans forward, and asks, "You expect us to believe that you blew an entire Nazi base, a fortress, with a few bombs?" Turning towards Colonel Grey, he adds, "Are you sure he's not a nutter? He certainly speaks like one."
I keep my voice respectful, and answer, "First of all, it was a Hydra base, the now Rogue Nazi science division. Their bombs and weapons are very much superior to ours, so much so, that a few bombs is all it took to do the job. Secondly, and with all due respect, Sir, maybe ask some of your people to confirm my statements before declaring me an idiot?"
Before the General can tell me off, which he was definitely gearing up to do, another voice asks, "Did you just say Hydra?"
I look behind me, and freeze. There, standing was the Agent K himself, Colonel Chester Phillips, of the American army. I stand at attention, and say, "Yes sir. We were all kept Prisoners by Hydra."
The Colonel looks at me with a lot of critique, and says, "No one's escaped from Hydra before. That set of explosions up on Lienz, that was you?"
I nod, and say, "Yes sir. We destroyed the base before leaving."
The Colonel just nods, and walks inside the tent to stand on one side, to wait for my briefing to be over. I once again turn towards the panel that was going to decide my fate today, just as Colonel Grey asks, "Even if we do believe, that you managed to do all that you claim to do, without anyone's help, there's still the matter of why you were kept separate. Why were you the only person to survive being experimented on by this.. Hydra?"
There were originally over 30 prisoners in addition to the 50 that I rescued. All 30 of those had died in whatever experiments Zola put them through, using my blood, and his version of Super Soldier Serum.
I wasn't going to tell them that I'm a Wizard, or a Mutant. I'm not an idiot, I know they'll ship me off to be experimented immediately if they even suspect I'm different. So, I'm going to shift the blame.
I look down, a bit hesitant to say this, and say, "You're going to think me crazy, Sir."
"Now he thinks he's crazy." The General from before huffs out, and then orders, "Answer the question, Sargent. That's an order."
I snap back into attention, and answer, "They wanted to use me as a Sacrifice in some sort of Satanic Ritual, Sir!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
".. What kind of madness is this?!"- the General yells, slamming his hands on the table.
"You seriously expect us to believe that a Science Division, rogue or not, believes in Witchcraft? In magic?" The second General adds, just staring at me.
"For fuck's sake, Sargent. Don't play with us." Colonel Grey adds, rubbing his forehead, while I keep myself internally amused at their reactions.
I speak a bit louder, and say, "I'm being completely honest sir, I don't believe them myself, sir, but they spoke a lot about it. The chemicals they were injecting me with were supposed to make me stronger, a better sacrifice."
Once again, the three people in front of me start yelling, telling me to go to hell, calling me all sorts of crazy, before something stops their tirade at once.
"I believe him." Colonel Phillips says, turning all of us silent, as we snap our necks towards him. When none of us say anything for a few seconds, he says, "Hydra is led by a man named Johann Schmidt, and he definitely believes in the Occult, in Magic. That is why I was here today, to talk to you about sending some of your people my way."
The General looks him up and down, and asks, "And who are you, Colonel?"
"Colonel Chester Phillips, Head of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. We're a Secret group of Allied soldiers formed by President Roosevelt, in partnership with your MI5, specifically to battle Hydra, before they were independent of the Third Reich." Colonel Phillips says, walking to stand forward, right beside me.
I look him up and down, while he does the same. I turn around just in time for Colonel Grey to ask, "And what do you mean, you believe him? You can't possibly believe in the Occult?"
Colonel Phillips snorts, and says, "Damn right I don't, and I doubt the Sargent does either, but that doesn't mean the Red Skull doesn't. He believes in a lot of things, and he's willing to cross a lot of lines to prove them to himself, and to get himself on top of the world. Sacrificing a human is nothing new to him. Besides, it doesn't matter what we believe in, Hydra already has superior weapons to ours, that stump even our greatest scientists. Occult, or some deep science, we don't care, our job is to just get rid of them."
When they all stay silent, not able to answer, he continues, and says, "The SSR was formed to battle Hydra. Even if you don't believe they're dangerous, our superiors seem to think so, considering I'm actually here, and not making dinner for other, more deserving soldiers. Whether the Red Skull would have succeeded in summoning some demon or not, who cares, we just need to stop him, and this soldier here has information that can help us do that."
For a while, they stay silent, not saying anything. And then, General Parton says, "Fine, take him off our hands then. You wanted our soldiers, you get him. Be crazy on your own selves, out there, and leave us normal folk alone."
And then, with a stamp on a form, he transfers me over to the SSR, just like that. I turn towards Colonel Phillips, and say, "Guess I'm in your hands now. Thank you for believing me, sir."
Colonel Phillips turns around, and starts walking outside. He says, "I don't necessarily believe in your words, Sargent, I'm going to confirm them myself just as soon as we're back at HQ. I just don't want to let go of a gold mine of information on Hydra, just because you were labelled crazy by the brass. Honestly, what were you thinking, telling those idiots about a Satanic Ritual."
I walk behind him, and say, "Well forgive me if I didn't want to lie to my superiors. I don't believe in all that shite either, but I told them what I heard from my captors."
Colonel Phillips just grunts, motioning towards a tent, and says, "Gather your things and be in this tent by 2100. We'll be leaving for London as soon as I get more men for the SSR."
Nodding, I salute the Colonel, and walk towards the shared tent I was given a bed in. There wasn't much of my stuff here anyway, just my new uniform, a couple new guns I was commissioned, along with my handy knife that I had used in this last rescue mission.
Well, I guess I won't be getting an award for this rescue mission. But, at least I wasn't arrested on suspect of being a spy, or crazy, which is good. I would have hated to fake my death and escape into the Wizarding world so soon.
-
At exactly 8 o'clock at night, after having my dinner, I walk towards the big tent Colonel Phillips had mentioned before. Pushing the flap away, my bag held over my shoulder, I enter the tent, and stop, seeing a gun pointed at my head.
"Who are you?" The woman holding the gun asks, in an American accent.
I look from the tip of the small gun, to the woman in question, and damn that's a beautiful woman, and say, "Sargent Mason Aves, Ma'am. Colonel Phillips asked me to come here?"
The woman drops her gun to her side, offers me her hand, and says, "Sargent Aves? Like the one who escaped from the Hydra base with 50 prisoners?"
Taking her hand, I leave a peck on it with a smile, and say, "That's me. Glad to know you've heard of me, miss..?"
She smiles at me, and I can't help by smile back, as she says, "Private Lorraine Smith, secretary to Colonel Phillips. But you can call me Lorraine."
Still holding her hand in my hand, I ask, "How are you finding Italy, Lady Lorraine?"
Lorraine giggles, at the Lady, and says, "It was dreadfully boring, until now that is. Colonel Phillips was really impressed by your feats, you know. Your infiltration mission in Tunis, the rescue mission in Sicily, and now this.. rescue of 50 soldiers from a Hydra base. Really impressive."
I smile at her, take a step forward, and ask, "And what about you? Did I impress you, Lady Lorraine?"
Lorraine takes a step back with a smile, says, "Why don't you come and find out?" And starts walking towards the back, through another tent flap that leads towards another room
Keeping my bag down, I gleefully follow after her. Like hell I'm losing the chance of sleeping with a Natalie Dormer look-alike.
As soon as I walk inside, Lorraine places her hands around my neck, and kisses me hard. Grinning to myself, I return to kiss with equal fervor, my hands around her hips. Soon, the kiss starts getting hotter, and our clothes get dropped on the floor.
Welp, cheers to losing my virginity at 24.
-
A few days later, we have our first fight with Hydra, near the Austrian borders. Lines were drawn, sides claimed, and a firefight had ensued a couple months ago, which is why Colonel Phillips had come to Italy personally, asking for reinforcements.
And I, for the first time since my capture at the hands of Hydra, was enjoying myself. Don't get me wrong, this War was anything but enjoyable. War means death, hunger, coldness, lack of sleep, and a lot of sickness, not just for you, but everyone around you.
But, my animal side was the one enjoying it a bit too much. My instincts were getting worked so much, that I didn't even need to keep my telekinesis field active any more. I'd just duck on instinct, and if need be, move away. At least that was the happy part of the War, me getting practice in using all my gifts, save for my magic.
As for Magic, I was using my night time to get to the Chamber of Secrets, so I can keep my Magic in use. My Time Watch came in real handy during these trying times, and so did my Time Slower.
But, not all was happy. I had lost a lot of good acquaintances that I made during the war. I knew, that I was going to see many of them die, just like I saw many of my other comrades die when I was in the 4th Infantry Division, but that didn't mean I was used to all this death.
Hydra is a tough nut to crack, we all knew that. They had Panzers large enough to make our tanks look like tricycles, their energy guns were enough for a one hit kill, and many of their soldiers had some sort of armour, that protected them from most regular ballistics.
They also had flame throwers mounted in their arms, which had a range of about 20 meters.
All in all, it made Hydra into a dangerous enemy, didn't matter that their numbers weren't as large as the other enemies.
Currently, I was in the middle of an assault, where we were trying to push the line into Hydra territory. I had a tommy gun in my left hand, which I was using to kill Hydra soldiers from afar, while my right hand had a German dagger, that I was using to cut into those closer to me.
I duck under an energy blast that came from my right, letting it hit the Hydra goon that I was fighting. As he disintegrates into thin air, I shoot my gun at the one who fired the energy blast, and continue fighting the next Hydra soldier that I find.
Even if they had better weapons, better Panzers, I was still way better in terms of Hand to hand combat.
It is as I was running towards a group of Hydra soldiers, my weapons raised, that I see him, just standing there, ignoring everything happening around the battlefield. But that wasn't what caught my eye, no. It was the fact that everyone around us was also ignoring him, as if they couldn't see him.
Damn, a Wizard, huh? But why is he here, in the middle of a battle?
He then suddenly points his wand at a group of SSR soldiers, who were getting too close to pushing the line backwards, and casts a spell at the ground, blowing it up, and killing them immediately.
Fuck. So that's why.
He's here to make sure the Line doesn't get pushed too far back. He's here to sabotage our attempts at defeating Hydra.
And I'm the only other Wizard here, great.
Seeing him ready his wand for another interference, I make a split second decision, and apparate directly in front of him. The man startles, and starts taking a step back, but I hold onto his hand, and apparate us far behind the Allied soldiers.
As soon as we appear out of the Apparition tunnel, the wizard blasts me away with a wandless depulso, which, while low powered, does the job of throwing me away from him.
I fly away from him, but land on my legs itself, about 10 meters away from him.
Standing up, he looks at me still standing, and snarls, "The Aves."
I take my wand out, holding it on my side, and ask, "You've heard of me?"
The Wizard says, "Of course, Gellert told me to keep an eye out for you. Ever since you and that freak friend of yours killed Victor, we have been looking for you."
I look him over, and say, "Well, this is a good opportunity to gain some information about Grindelwald's movements."
The Wizard points his wand at me, and says, "You'll know all about them, Aves, when I take you to Gellert himself."
He casts a reducto curse at me, which I slap away with the shield charm, and say, "I would love to talk to you mate, but I'm afraid I'm being missed out there. So.. toodles."
"What do you-" the man begins speaking, and then suddenly drops down, unconscious. Turning a rock into a portkey, I throw it on the man's body, and send it to my Islington house. The Aurors will know what to do, since I know at least one of them always stays there nowadays.
I wasn't going to waste time dueling people, that I know I can defeat, when I could just enter his mind and knock him unconscious. I didn't even need to interrogate him, because I had my telepathy with me. I just needed some time to confirm a few things in his mind, and to learn of Grindelwald's plans.
And now, I know some of them. Grindelwald is still banking on the Summoning Ritual to cause a Wizard's death, and he had no lack of prisoners to do it. Hydra had moved the Ritual on to a different base now, which I didn't know of as of this moment, and Grindelwald had sent his top Lieutenants there to guard the base against Wizards, ergo, me.
Putting my wand away, I apparate back into the frey, and start firing bullets from behind a boulder, after using my telepathy to make everyone around me think that I was always there. Heck, I never even left.
-
The next month went by just like that, fighting Hydra, and maintaining a constant war with them. We weren't HYDRA's only enemy, not even close. They were also fighting the regular Allied Forces around the world, and even the Nazi German forces for their territories.
We had lost a few battles, lost good soldiers, in this month, and we had not gained a lot of ground inside Austria. Their weapons were just too superior to anything the Allies had.
I did use my magic to subtly bring us an advantage, but my magic could only go so far.
But, we weren't losing hope, not at all. Italy wasn't won in a day, and neither would Austria. It'll take a long time to win the entire War, and Hydra is just another enemy in the War.
And SSR is wonderful at combating Hydra. Howard Stark, a mad genius that he is, is just as good at building weapons from scratch as his future son. I've met him just once, when he graced us mere mortals with his presence, and I have to say, even though I have all his knowledge in my mind, and Zola's, and Schmidt's, I will still never be smart enough to hold even a candle to him. I have borrowed knowledge, while he's just that smart.
Currently, I was in the hospital tent, patching up the Soldiers as they were brought in from battle. This time, since the medics at this camp were in shortage, I was posted in the Hospital tent.
We had gotten intel that Hydra was moving a force of 100 soldiers through Azzano, a commune in a part of Italy that was currently in HYDRA's hands. The USA had sent their own Battallion to fight this force, over 200 men from the 107th Infantry Division. Alas, it was a trap.
The battle had happened 15 days ago, and we were still getting reports of wounded soldiers being found after Hydra went through them. By now, only 40 soldiers had been found, the rest considered missing, dead, or captured.
Seeing another ambulance stop outside the tent, I run towards it to load it down. There were 7 soldiers seated, and one sleeping on a stretcher. The seated ones had various kinds of wounds, from burns to mangled arms, while the sleeping one had completely messed up his legs. Damn, that's not going to go well.
I order a few corpsmen to pick the stretcher, carefully, as I join the others in taking the other soldiers to some beds. I see Agent Peggy Carter, whom I had met a few times thanks to Phillips, looking at the soldiers with a lot of sympathy, and nod at her.
I help one patient lay down on the bed, and start with the treatment. I might not be able to outright heal them using Magical Potions, or salves, without breaking the Statute but that doesn't mean that I can't ease their pain by using a pain relief Potion.
Meh, no one will know anyway.
Using my telepathy to make sure no one's looking at me, I summon the bottle of essence of dittany from my pouch, and pour a single drop on the mangled legs of the soldier in front of me. Along with that, I summon a vial of Skele-gro Potion, and spell a single drop into his stomach.
The single drop will be so much diluted that it won't suddenly fix anything, but it will make sure that the legs heal at least majorly. This won't fix it completely, but at least he'll be able to walk again.
Taking their list of names, I walk through the heavy rain, towards the office tent of Colonel Phillips, and stop, hearing raised voices. Well, this is curious. Phillips never yells, so it must be pretty serious for him to raise his voice.
"They're 30 miles behind enemy lines, through some of the most fortified territory in all of Europe. The only way we're getting them back, is by winning the war." Colonel Phillips says, almost shouting but not. He then sighs, a bit of sympathy showing, and says, "Look, Rogers, I'm sorry about your friend, but there's nothing we can do right now. Do you understand?"
Rogers? Well, goddamn! I'm finally meeting him, Steve Fucking Rogers!
As I enter through the open flap, I look at the man in question, and just stop, as he says, "I think I understand pretty well."
Jesus Christ, this guy's good looking. I mean, I've seen him in his posters a few times, but that's nothing on the real thing. He's buffier than me after my Ritual, he's as tall as Victor, and he's as confident as the most seasoned veterans. Which, considering he hasn't been in a single battle, says something.
"Good, then understand it somewhere else, I got work to do." Phillips orders Steve Rogers, dismissing him. He waves me forward, as Steve starts walking out, and asks, "You two got something to say, then this is the perfect time to keep it to yourselves."
I snort, as Peggy just huffs and walks out, hand him the list of names, and say, "You realise that he's not going to give up, right?"
Phillips signs on the paper, and hands it back to a Corporal waiting for it. He says, "Rogers might be head strong, and also actually strong, but he's nothing but a Dance Monkey, and he belongs to Senator Brandt. I can't just send him on a rescue mission just because he asks for it. Brandt will have my job, and my hide, if a single hair gets off of Rogers's head."
I drily look at the map hanging innocently behind Phillips, which showed exactly where many of HYDRA's closest bases were, and shake my head. Steve already knows exactly where his friend is kept, and if I know my lore right, he's going on a rescue mission tonight.
Taking the list of names back from the Corporal, I turn around to walk back towards the hospital tent.
But.. nothing says I have to let him go alone, right? I mean.. I have some experience in that department.
Stopping right near the opening, I turn around to look at the Colonel with a confident grin on my face, and say, "Colonel Phillips, I might have a terrible, yet wonderful idea."
---
A/N: Welp, You probably guessed it. Mason is going along with the Rescue mission. What will go wrong? What will go right? What will go perfectly?
Find out next chapter!
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