//------------------------------// // A meeting in the forest // Story: The six headed HYDRA // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// "She's taking her time." Barkhorn grumbled to herself as she sat down. The pair of MGs that was slung over her back was evident to anyone who viewed her behind, which currently, constituted for a group of men that the witch was currently unaware of. "Maybe this forest is bigger than we thought... that'd be bad." She continued on with her idle thoughts as she sat on the rock. So... Sanya's story must have been true after all. Why did she care though? It's not like she really was into things like rainbow colored unicorns to begin with. She had her duties as a witch and a soldier, but here she was, in the middle of nowhere in a place that by right shouldn't even exist! Good thing Sanya did mention there were ways of returning, or Barkhorn may have been in deep... though evidently, Erica clearly made it evident that she wouldn't mind being a place like this. Sighing to herself, the girl stood up for a moment to stretch her legs. That was when she heard the snap of the twig. To the HYDRA soldiers that had been hiding within the foliage, everything seemed to have been in slow motion. The soldier sent to kill the lone target just had his cover blown as his target turned around, revealing the face of a young woman, maybe about eighteen, nineteen. Though... the look in her eyes... something about it... Didn't matter. Their man rushed her with his knife drawn, blade poised to strike a fatal blow. Nobody could have seen what came next. The girl moved fast before blocking the would be blow by catching her attacker's wrist, the knife wrenched out of his hand and dropped harmlessly to the ground. Many would have expected him to take a fist into the face, a few others would have expected him to be flipped over in the moments that followed. She would do better than that. A strange, blue glow began to encompass her as a pair of canine-like ears literally popped out on the top of her head. The man who had his wrist grabbed by his would-be victim was having quite a hard time pulling away, she had an iron grip. His heart pounded against his chest as he began to panic, wanting nothing more than to be free of the tight grip which felt like it was shattering his wrist. Be careful to what you wish for. He was thrown. Literally just thrown several meters, maybe. The moment he hit the ground, he didn't get up. A careful observer would have noted that the sheer force of his flight had broken his neck... even if he hadn't landed on quite a few rocks. "Holy... KILL HER!" A panicking soldier cried out as they pulled out their weapons. Vaporizer rifles, blades, or just anything that they could their hands on. But Barkhorn was already ready as she readied her MP40 and opened fire. It was just an ordinary SMG. But when imbued with the powers of a witch, getting hit by a single one of these bullets was equal to being hit by a grenade launcher. The bullets blasted limbs off to anyone unfortunate enough to get hit, the rounds would instantly kill anyone that had been hit within any of the torso areas as 32 rounds of magically empowered bullets flew out of the SMG, leaving a trail of blood and mutilated bodies in it's wake and very few survivors. Anyone who was smart decided to run at this point. Anyone who was too scared, or to brave stupid decided to stay. It did unnerve her that people were trying to kill her, but at this moment, the witch began to have what we would call a "fight or flight" response. Judging from how much lead she had pumped into the HYDRA soldiers and how she had killed a man by throwing him quite the distance, we could all assume which response she took. A large brilliant blue bolt flew by her as it struck a tree from behind her, turning the once mighty oak into a pile of dust. She tried firing her gun, only to her dismay, be met with the sound of a click. Regardless, she quickly drew her sidearm, an Astra 300, and began to fire the rounds, cutting down but three of the remaining soldiers who both drew long knives. God damn... how were they getting their asses kicked by one person?! One person?! "Those were gunshots!" Bucky announced as he listened to the sounds of a fight as he began sprinting in the general direction of where he heard the gunshots. Guns at the ready. "Quick, over here!" Cap tried to say something, but would barely have time to have his lips move as Bucky took off. He would find that he would have quite some trouble catching with Bucky, even though his friend wore quite the heavy ballistic vest. Meanwhile, amongst the tree tops, a shadowy assassin moved swiftly as his keen senses picked up the sounds of battle. _______________________________________________ Bucky tore through the foliage and vegetation that blocked his way like how a wrecking ball tore down anything that got in it's way as he ran at speeds that his superhuman physiology allowed. His assault rifle in one hand, his bionic arm at the ready, he was ready. If HYDRA really was here, than he had a score to settle... and plenty of questions that needed to be answered. Finding the site of the battle, the man found a good hiding spot as he observed the fight. There was quite the number of bodies. Maybe eight or nine, all of them looking as though they'd been hit by a low yield explosive weapon. Another body was several meters away from the fight, a good scrutiny would reveal the body had died from impact, the HYDRA soldier had died from a broken neck... though the dead guys weren't what interested Bucky. It was the people fighting. Three... well... now two HYDRA soldiers, and a young woman in a grey SS jacket... well it LOOKED like a SS jacket, but it had quite a few differences. Namely missing the insignia and any signs of a swastika, though the iron cross was still prevalent on the collar... and... okay... why wasn't she wearing any pants? He pushed that thought aside when he saw the mystery woman grab one of the HYDRA soldiers, and literally fling him several meters. The sounds of several bones snapping from his impact echoed throughout the forest.... well... that's one thing explained. The last man would go down with a hefty blow to the face that literally sent him flying, if he didn't have at least a few shattered ribs, Bucky's name was mud then. Had this been any other person who just gave a beatdown to a bunch of HYDRA soldiers... Bucky may have been willing to be slightly more reasonable, slightly more amiable.. but the uniform. It was flat out offensive to him. Looked just like the ones the Nazis wore... "Put the gun down miss." Bucky's voice shot like a bullet out of a barrel. The young woman spun around quickly, her gun aimed straight at his head. "Who are you?!" She asked, her voice showing no signs of wanting to back down and holding a slight trace of a German accent. "Put the gun down." Bucky said firmly. "I'll shoot." "I'll shoot." Trude replied as she aimed her gun at him. It looked like he was wearing some kind of body armor, though that would hardly matter with a magic imbued bullet. Time stood a standstill as both of them pulled their triggers while Barkhorn raised her shield. Without any amplification from a Striker unit, the shield was fairly weak at best, but it would save her from getting shot dead by the bullets. Her own aim however, wasn't as good as Bucky's as it hit a tree. The stout oak exploded as though it had been hit by a grenade. Damn... that must be one helluva gun. Bucky thought. Though what surprised him more was the disk of ether that protected his would-be victim. And the fact that... she had canine ears... or maybe it was that she lacked pants. Or maybe all three. If guns weren't going to work... than certainly he could do it the way he was going to enjoy it. With superhuman speeds, he rushed the young woman who hardly had time to react. His regular arm swinging a heavy blow at her gut. She would have enough time to react as she countered his blow. That punch felt like being hit by a bullet as Barkhorn dodged aside to avoid being hit by the other arm. She had just the chance to take a look and see that it was... shiny? It would take a while for her to realize that it wasn't a real arm. Whoa... Her awe really was pushed aside by the fact that she was being attacked by a man that possibly could be stronger than a witch... now that's something that wasn't very common. Striking back, she sent a heavy blow at Bucky, who dodged aside, her fist connecting with a tree which was turned into splinters by the blow. She felt his leg connect with her gut as she staggered back, the wave of pain shooting through her body. She retaliated by throwing a flurry of hits at his chest and gut area. He blocked them all, but the labored breathes he took indicated they hurt. Badly. It was a good thing for Bucky that his opponent wasn't too well versed in hand to hand combat or he may have been in trouble. How this young woman hit like a bulldozer, he had no clue. All he knew was that he was going to win, regardless how strong this woman was as he swung his leg which sent her off balance. Her mouth opened to give a gasp of pain, and a few droplets of blood. She staggered back for a moment, her face an angry mask of rage as she drew out a long knife from her side. a Kampfmesser 42... he would have recognized that blade anywhere. His train of thought would however be temporarily broken as she swung quick blows at his face, each swing resounding with an angry swish. It was going to be a bit ballsy, but he was willing to chance it. As the young woman poised herself to stab down, he waited for the blade to come down. The moment it did, his metal hand reached up, grabbing the blade and his attackers hand and kicking her to the ground, the knife left her grasp. Acting quickly, he grabbed his own knife and pinned her down with his metal arm, good thing he had one facet of strength over her as she squirmed and struggled but failed to break free. However, it wouldn't be that easy as when the knife came down, it his hand was caught by one of her hands. Positioning himself so that his knee and body weight kept her down, Bucky put all his might into the blade, but as both hands went up to stop him, he realized this was quite the difficult task. Her eyes... burned of cold defiance. A refusal to lose this as Barkhorn fought her life. But she knew that whoever he was, whatever he was, he was stronger. Far stronger than she was as she felt her strength beginning to slip. Her opponent was as though he had just started. She began to mouth words to herself. If this was the end... so be it. Her only regret was that she would be leaving Chris. Fortunately for her and her younger sister, she wouldn't be. The voice that called out stopped him from killing her. "Bucky!" Bucky stopped for a moment, but that was all Barkhorn needed to shove him away as she rose to her feet. She tried doing more, but a grappling gun wrapped itself around her, dragging her back. "Easy now kiddo." A voice called. A man in a suit of armor that looked heavier than a medieval knight. From in front of her "Bucky" stopped for a moment to stand up as he looked at his companion. A man dressed in a costume that somewhat resembled the flag of Liberion (their version of America). The star... the colors... "He tried to kill me!" Barkhorn cried out indignantly as she felt herself held back by someone who was perhaps, even stronger than Bucky. "Steve! The goddamn uniform! She's a fricking kraut! What the hell man?!" "Bucky.. .calm down. You really think HYDRA and her are one the same side?" Steve said as he tried to calm down Bucky. He took a careful scrutiny at Barkhorn for a moment before acknowledging the other man. "Good to see you again Slade." Steve said. "You... think..." "No doubt about it. She's a witch." "And so what?! What do you people want?!" Barkhorn asked angrily as she broke free of Slade's grasp. "I am sorry... we may have gotten off on the wrong foot." Steve said calmly... the same could definitely not be said for Bucky's attitude towards Barkhorn however. "My name is Steve Rogers... what's yours?" "Gertrud. Gertrud Barkhorn." That name sounded awfully familiar... "Alright. Well this is James Barnes... he prefers being called Bucky." Steve said. "And that's Slade... or if you happen to be on his bad side, he's Deathstroke." "Yep." Slade said. "Let's get a move on people. If it's anything like how we were last time, I reckon we got another man." "Erica you mean?" Barkhorn suggested. The mere mention of the fact there may be two of them caused Bucky to cringe visibly. Though Steve hated the very sight of the uniform himself... he kept his emotions in check. Slade almost seemed to be paying no mind. "She went to look for a way out... she'll be back any moment now and..." "Hey Tru... um..." The voice called out. "Who are these people?" "Actually hold on for a second..." Steve began. "Why aren't you two wearing any pants?"