//------------------------------// // The ubermensch // Story: The six headed HYDRA // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// "We got less than five minutes!" Slade said as he led everyone into a headlong sprint for the closest exit. Luckily, he had passed the hangar rooms of HYDRA where they had been keeping their toys. "You REALLY have to knock her out?!" Medic asked as he half carried, and half dragged the unconscious Barkhorn who was out cold as coal. Not exactly being the strongest man on the team meant that even carrying a fairly light person was somewhat of a challenge for him. "You really would want to somehow reattach Bucky's head back onto his shoulders?" Slade retorted. "Unless you got a way to bring the dead back to life, be glad you aren't putting his head in a jar of preservatives..." "Yeah... about zat..." Medic began as Slade pried open the hanger with his bare hands. "Forget it doc. Let's just get the damn plane and get out of here." Slade said as he forced the door fully open with a little help from Cap. This entire time, Bucky did not say a word, only just stared at Trude, who was currently out of the game, perhaps for quite a while. He didn't so anything, just stared at the ground for a moment as he did a rather slow run to the plane. "Anyone got a goddamn clue on how to fly this thing?!" Slade asked. "Steve! I thought you said you flew a plane before!" "I don't understand German!" Steve said as he looked all over at the controls which were of course, labeled in German. "But didn't you say..." "Besides! I crash-landed the thing, not flew it!" "You got to be kidding..." Slade said. "Ummm... eh... god damn it!" "Move along alte!" Erica said rather impudently. "I got zis...!" "You flew a plane before?" "Duh!" Erica exclaimed as she jump started the quinjet. "I am in the Karlsland airforce! Besides... even if there are things I don't understand... it's all there to read! I really like this plane by the way...!" "Yeah... tell that to SHIELD!" Steve commented. "Just get us off the ground!" "I need a co-pilot!" Erica commented. "Slade... can you?" "Sure kid..." Slade said as he hopped in. "Just so you know... I actually never flew a plane before." "Who cares?" Erica asked awfully calmly for someone who had just hopped into a plane from about 70 years into the future and was fiddling around as though she had all day to play with all the controls which in reality, she had less than a minute to get the quinjet in the air before they were blown up. The fact that everyone was screaming at her to hurry up normally wouldn't help anyone either right...? And the engine roars to life. Way to go Erica! "Okay... let's get the hell out of here!" Steve said as he looked out the window watching as they escaped the HYDRA factory. A beeping sound would catch his attention. "Hey... what's that?" "Radio? Looks like your friend the literal Red Skull wants to talk?" Slade asked as he began to fiddle with the machine, just thanking his lucky stars that Schmidt hadn't done something like rig the plane with explosives. That would have been bad... real bad... "He wants to talk now?" Erica asked. "Maybe he thinks we're one of his lunatics... hey..." Smiling, the witch's hand went for the radio, opening up the channel to listen for what Red Skull might have to say. With luck on their side, maybe Skull would be saying some awfully sensitive information on the channel that was meant only for the ears of his pilots... Of course. Luck wasn't on their side. "Ah... Captain America! I hope you are listening to this broadcast! It'd be a shame if you weren't!" Schmidt's voice taunted from over the radio, causing the captain to sigh and roll his eyes as he gripped his shield tightly. His face read the simple expressions of things like How the hell was he still alive? And of course, "Once I get my hands on that bastard, I am going to beat him red, white and blue. "Guten Abend! Herr Schmidt!" Erica replied into the radio rather cheerfully as she gestured for Slade to take over. Thankfully... the mercenary had already read over the controls despite all of them being labeled in German, or not labeled at all. Having flown a plane when serving in the military gave him the experience necessary, though when certain things were swapped around and when some controls and labeling were written in German (a language he did understand, though was only mediocre in) it took him slightly longer than he would have liked to learn the ins and outs of this plane. He gave a small sigh of disapproval at Erica answering the radio, wondering exactly what she intended to say. "Ah... Erich Hartmann! It is a pleasure speaking to the greatest pilot of my time, I'd rather have spoken to ze greatest soldier. Neverzeless, I think you and I can talk." Skull replied, not sounding at all disinterested in Erica replying. The fact that he referred to her after "Erich" was beginning to grow rather irritating... but that was something Erica could mope about later if she found the time to. "Yes... I think we can... you see... you have Trudy's younger sister you Dämon" Erica replied as her tone began drastically more serious, more grim and somewhat menacing. "I do suggest you give her back..." On the other end, Skull would have burst out into laughter if he saw that Erica was actually trying to threaten him. Seeing her physically of course, was hardly even threatening. Especially when all things considered, Erica stood well over a foot under him and had the semblance of some school girl with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Not to mention, her lacking of pants gave her the appearance of an underage Hure. But her voice had the solemn ring of someone who wanted to be threatening, who wanted to kill him... so nothing different from a few hundred other people. "Oh please Frau... I was hoping you'd be thinking of more practical things. Like ze Americans you align yourself vith. What possible good do you get being vith zose men?" "Nothing at all Schmidt! Except you see... we're not alike. If it's really true that someone like me fought with you in a war, I doubt they were doing it out of reasons concerning only himself." Erica replied with a yawn. "Like I said... give Trudy her sister back or else..." "Or else what?" Skull asked over the end. "I am going to find you Skull... and I am going to throw your corpse into whatever hell you crawled out of." Steve said, his voice oozing with malice and hate. "You really outdone even Adolf." "Typical of an American. Preach peace vith one hand, and thirst for blood on ze other. But... let's not get ahead of ourselves now are ve? I do appreciate ze flattery, but as of now, I vill make HYDRA 1000 times ze empire zat ze Führer promised! Ze day of our reckoning vill come Captain... but not today. Just remember zat vhile I embrace ze powers of being ze ubermensch, you allow yourself to be a weapon of lesser men." "Coward." Erica spat out. All those times listening to Trudy's soldier lectures were beginning to give her some rather great ideas. "You kidnap Trude's sister and don't even have the courage to face the consequences? And you call yourself a man? Much less a super man? You lack ideals Herr Schmidt. That's why Herr Rogers will always be better." "He's a pawn to lesser men. If he wanted... Captain America could have ze power of ze gods! I proudly embrace what I could have as your precious American friend huddles away from power like a frightened tier huddles away from a fire! And you Frau Hartmann... and your freund Gertrud! You of all people should understand vat it's like to have ze powers of beyond human! Yet you allow yourselves to be slaves of lesser men. Pathetic.... vhen ze time comes, I vill enjoy killing all of you." "You are a slave to your own greed and ambition, Skull." Cap said before he cut the line. His mind brooded of exactly how he intended to kill the Red Skull, and for keeps this time. Huh... he must have been spending way too much time with Slade if he was imagining things like stabbing him to death. "Is Trudy going to be okay Herr Wilson?" Erica asked as she looked at Gertrud's still unconscious form, and Bucky sitting opposite of her, completely silent. "She will be kiddo." Slade said. "But we need to focus the task at hand." "Getting Trude's sister back." Bucky said almost automatically. "Then... I kill Strucker and we burn HYDRA to the ground." "The skull is mine." Rogers said grimly as his hands tightened around his shield, wondering how well he would use it to beat the HYDRA leader to death. "We have unfinished business." "I guess I get all his thugs. Figures." Slade mumbled as he caught Erica's rather worried glance. "What's wrong kid?" "Nothing... nothing..." Erica said with a smile. What the hell was wrong with these people? Weren't the "supermen" supposed to be BETTER than the ordinary men? Wasn't that the philosophy that the supermen were better than regular men? Who were fit to lead others to a golden age? That they were inherently good men? And yet... with men like Schmidt, who was disturbingly to be of origins that was his world's version of Karlsland, his actions said nothing about what it would be like if the ubermensch theory. A man that cared only for himself and would gladly burn the world to ashes so he may stand over it's ruins. Was Slade any better? A sell-sword motivated only by greed? Or Bucky? Who in his blind vengeance nearly killed Chris? And what about Herr Rogers? Maybe he was the only saving grace to Nietzsche's theory, and the only good example. A man motivated out of righteousness and a sense of duty. What if... what if Nietzsche's theory of a superman was real... and that a superman was truly not a good thing? That a superman would make the world bend knee to him, as he relished the spoils of war? "Herr Rogers?" Erica asked as she switched with Slade to continue flying the plane. "What is it?" "What's it like to be an... an ubermensch? A superman?" Erica asked as she took a glance at him, finding a good place to land. "What do you mean?" Steve asked. "And please... do not call me that." "Why?" "I'am only as good as the worst part of me... and the worst part of me is still only human." Steve replied. "I am no different from Skull, Slade or Bucky. Skull is truly the worst example of what it's like to have power. Slade values his gift... I think..." "You have no idea how glad I was when I got shot right in the eye..." Slade quipped. "Okay... and I am certain Bucky is happy over being alive..." Oh I am happy alright... happy that I'll rip off Strucker's arm and beat him to death with it. "And you know what? I can make a difference as this... so-called superman." Steve said as the quinjet began to land. "And Erica, you have a gift too. Magic. You'll make one hell of a difference. You're a good kid... Trude is too. In my world, both of you fought for your countries and not for yourselves. Skull only cares for himself and for power. Now I am certain Slade cares more than just getting paid..." "Go rot in hell Cap." "Hey... hey... I am just stating facts." Steve chuckled. "And besides... he wouldn't have been bothered to come here if he was a completely bad person now wouldn't he? Bucky and I are just a like. Bucky only made a mistake, he's only human after all and you cannot blame him. If you want to blame anyone, blame the Red Skull." He finished, and with this, he looked outside to see Twilight's library out in the distance, before getting up and gently picking up Trude's unconcious form. "Why the hell is she still asleep?" "I think I used the wrong tranquilizer...." Slade smirked as he looked at the label. "Elephant."