Superman (Marvel+DC)

?

The Red Skull found himself surrounded by blue lights and felt like he was falling. Naturally one would always go downward when they fall so one can only imagine how strange it felt to be going sideways instead. Not only that but he felt as if he were going at speeds that were far greater than any aircraft that had ever flown in. Suddenly, however, a greater surge of light enveloped him and he found himself hitting the ground hard.

The leader of Hydra opened his eyes only to shut them again when his vision was blackened and seeing spots. He took a moment to let his eyes rest before opening them again and was pleased to see his vision clearing up. Surroundings began to take form in his sights and the first thing he noticed was a lack of sunlight indicating it was night time.

When his vision fully cleared up, Schmidt's eyes widened in surprise.

The reason for that was because the dark sky wasn't familiar. There were dark clouds with both red and green lights faintly shining through and no stars in sight. There appeared to be a sun yet it was being blocked by what he figured was a moon creating a lunar eclipse-like view except it wasn't harming his eyes. Below the sky he gazed at what looked like a barren landscape of stone. There were mountains and large expanses of water that slid over rocky terrain. There were no trees, plants or even grass to be seen.

"Where am I?" He couldn't help asking out loud.

The last thing he remembered was facing down Captain America aboard his plane. The impudent fool had struck the container of the Tesseract, causing it to fall out. He had picked it up and then suddenly it started to glow as if in reaction to his touch. He could remember the power he felt when that happened. Like holding something marvelous that had begun spilling out of its restrictive confines. Then he remembered a burning pain that started on his hand and soon spread to the rest of his body as he felt himself being pulled by a force he couldn't resist.

Red Skull continued to gaze from the high hill he found himself on. For a moment he wondered if he had perhaps arrived at the home of the gods. As quickly as that thought came he dismissed it completely, for surely they wouldn't live in a place like this. The next thought was that perhaps he was dead and this was hell. Though the landscape wasn't exactly the fire and brimstone one would expect, it certainly looked like an unwelcoming and inhospitable place with no life. He examined himself and dismissed that idea as well. He could still feel like he usually does. His muscles moving with his motions and feeling the blood pumping through his veins. Surely he wouldn't be feeling like this if he were really dead. That and there was no sign of any demonic beings around.

He searched himself and to his frustration his walkie was gone which left him no way to communicate with Hydra. Not unless he either found means to call for assistance or build one himself.

As he turned to look elsewhere his eye caught sight of something that stood out to him. At the top of what appeared to be the highest mountain in the distance were two tower-like structures that were clearly manmade… or by whatever lived in this world. Seeing nothing else worth checking and drawn by curiosity he began to walk towards his new destination. The journey took who knows how long but he persevered without rest. As he walked he saw how desolate the land really looked as he did not spot a single blade of grass or any animal or insect. Even the sky was completely clear of birds and there were no sounds of life except for his own footsteps as he walked. Soon enough he finally reached the mountain and made his way up till he arrived at the top

He was met by disappointment to see there was nothing else up here besides the two towers. He had been expecting to find another living being or at least signs of active life.

"Johann Schmidt…"

Red Skull turned sharply at the sudden voice he heard. He looked for however spoke but saw no one. Even stranger was that the voice sounded like an echo coming from everywhere and could almost swear he heard it in his mind as well. "Who goes there?"

"Son of Herman and Martha Schmidt." The same voice spoke.

Red Skull froze in surprise at the names spoken, having not heard or thought about his birth parents in a long time. He had seen to the records of his family being destroyed as part of burying his past when he was reborn into his current self.

"Who are you? Show yourself." Red Skull requested in an almost demanding tone.

"You have come here far from your home to have reached this world. Brought to me by the will of one of my siblings. The action done as desired for what is demanded."

"Siblings?" Red Skull repeated in confusion. What did the voice mean by that? Was whoever this was insinuating that they were the sibling of Steve Rogers?

"It is not Steve Rogers I speak of."

Now Schmidt froze as the voice answered a question that he had most definitely not asked out loud. "You can hear my thoughts." he immediately guessed.

"I hear more than you can ever imagine or comprehend. You do not possess nor will you ever have that which is required to be sacrificed. I am forever beyond your reach but fear not for you shall obtain a portion of what I hear in this universe and find a new purpose… as you serve me."

At hearing that Red Skull got an affronted look. "I serve no one anymore."

He had rid himself of his affiliation with that naive fool Hitler who was narrow minded. That ignoramus was so focused on so-called racial superiority that he had no imagination for the far greater things Schmidt himself uncovered. His discoveries were what led to him obtaining power the Germans couldn't comprehend. He was beyond the authority of his country, beyond the pitiful rules of humanity.

The voice didn't answer anymore, instead a rumble like thunder suddenly filled the sky and Schmidt looked up to see an alarming sight. The clouds above him were swirling and looked to be being sucked upward like water flowing into a hole. An orange light began shining from the eye of the storm before an orange beam of light came down and enveloped the Red Skull before he could even try to dodge.

A new pain transcending even the one he felt when he took the super soldier serum consumed him. For the first time in many years, fear began to fill him as he felt like his body was burning from the inside. Not only that but his very mind was being barraged by images and voices he couldn't begin to understand. It was like how one would say they were witnessing their life flash before their eyes except it wasn't his life he was seeing.

His screams went unheard for there was no one to hear but the voice that now laid claim to him.

"Arise as you shed your former self and become my keeper." The voice declared.

—

Back on Earth…

Southern Germany June 1944

There was a loud and frenzied amount of movement at Hydra Research Facility #4 in Southern Germany as everyone, whether they were a lonely grunt or a scientist, moved like their life depended on it because it kind of did. They quickly moved equipment and files onto trucks parked near the main gate to the facility that had the Hydra Logo perched above. There were various heavy crates ready to be loaded onto trucks for transport and watching over all of this was the highest-ranking officer who had made this facility his home for the past few months. Obergruppenführer Werner Reinhardt, one of Hydra's head scientists. On the surface he seemed to be any ordinary Hydra scientist but his unassuming appearance belied an incredible intellect matched with a complete disregard for human life. Like the Red Skull, he was a monster in human skin.

Werner Reinhardt cleaned his glasses as he walked through the compound/facility that had been his makeshift testing facility ever since he and his men had to abandon their testing ground in Austria. "Deitrich." He called out and one of his officers turned and stood at attention. "I don't think I need to remind you that the clock is ticking."

"We are almost finished loading. Herr Reinhardt, I-I fear Schmidt…"

"Oh, there's no reason left to fear the Red Skull. He's dead. However, his vision is not. The work Hydra has done will live on. The Obelisk?" Reinhardt wondered.

"They're bringing it out now."

"Carefully, I hope." Reinhardt said and a few seconds later a Hydra grunt walked out of the building holding a wooden tray that had a silver metal oblong asymmetrical item on it, almost like a totem or item of worship. The Hydra grunt handed it over to Reinhardt who looked it over with a fervor fascination like Red Skull with the Cosmic Cube/Tesseract.

"I thought this stockpile held only artifacts."

"Not everything we dug out of the ground was an antique, my friend. Some of it was quite advanced." Reinhardt said and Deitrich looked over at the bodies of the test subjects they would soon burn. Their bodies were off to the side and had been petrified into a black coal-like substance in an effect that was recorded as being very painful.

"Is this the reason these men…?"

"Hmm? Yes." Reinhardt answered without any empathy. The test subjects were just that, test subjects who provided useful data and not human beings they killed for their own twisted scientific experiments. "The Red Skull said it may hold the answer…the answer to death itself. And I plan to investigate that fully in our facility in Africa—"

[BOOM!]

A beam of blue energy blasted one of their jeeps, killing the men in it and those nearby before a figure in a blue-clad suit touched down via a rocket pack on his back and fired two shockwaves from the cannons on his arms. Hydra saw their attacker was wearing a blue form fitting suit, blue boots, gloves, and a black belt with a scarab on the buckle. On his back was a giant protrusion that looked like a giant bug wrapping around him like a pack with six glowing lights that formed the rocket pack for his flight. A blue cowl covered his head with a small fin on top and a yellow visor to protect his eyes. One Hydra grunt raised his energy blaster only for a pair of large glowing blue bug wings to spread around and protect the man before the grunt was blasted back by the shockwave cannon.

Dan Garrett kept his shield around his body to protect himself from the gunfire and energy blasts from the Hydra goons before two were taken out by a flying axe and mace, respectively. The sound of large flapping wings grew louder as two figures, a man and a woman, flew down from the sky in armor. The man was wearing red and gold armor while the woman wore red, gold, and green but both had the motif of a hawk and a large pair of bird wings emerging from their backs. Carter and Shayera tripped up two more Hydra grunts with their wings before they picked up their respective weapons and beat down some more Hydra goons when the main gate to the facility was melted through by a bright flash of red light.

[Metallic ding]

A flying frisbee of metal adorned in the red, white, and blue of the American flag flew into the compound and took out a Hydra goon with enough force that it sent him crashing back into a wall before ricocheting around. The metal disk ricochet hit a dozen more Hydra men very hard and took them out before flying back to the main gate where it was caught by its thrower. The red and blue metal object with the white star in the middle was the shield of Captain America but it had been thrown and caught by none other than Superman. He walked into the base with the shield on his left arm and was flanked by the members of Taskforce Vanguard, the Howling Commandos, and the 107th Infantry regiment. Along with them was Agent Peggy Carter wielding a Thompson Submachine gun. The sudden attack by the three enhanced individuals and Superman's shield throw took out the Hydra defenses pretty quickly so there wasn't much of a counterattack they could do at all. One of the soldiers got up only for Dum-Dum Dugan to whack him across the face with the butt of his shotgun.

"I'll give them an A for effort." He remarked as Superman walked forward and his eyes glowed red. Carter, Shayera, and Dan then joined his side and all the Hydra members raised their hands up in surrender.

"Guttentag, boys. All right, nice and calm and no sudden movements or we'll tie a blasting cap to your…hey, Dugan, what's the German word for nuts?" Jim Morita asked.

"I don't know, Jim. [Shotgun cock] But tie a blasting cap to 'em and I'll bet we'll hear it." Dugan remarked.

Peggy then stepped forward to take the lead. "Put it down." She ordered but Reinhardt just stood there so she raised her gun and leveled it to his chest while Shayera hefted up her mace, ready to use it. "Down." Reinhardt then complied and put the Obelisk on the ground. "These assets are now under the control of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. They'll be relocated and hidden out of sight, indefinitely, as will you."

Dugan walked over and handcuffed Reinhardt who didn't look at all worried and kept the smug smile on his face. "Cut off one head, two more shall grow in its place."

"Then I guess we'll keep cutting them off." Peggy told him.

"Get them out of my sight, now." Superman ordered and men marched forward to take all of the Hydra personnel into custody. "Arthur, get this place sorted and cleaned up. Dan, Carter, Shayera, with me."

Arthur nodded. "All right, you lot heard him. Fan out and secure the area!"

The men of the 107th moved with purpose with Arthur and Taskforce Vanguard alongside the Howling Commandos overseeing everything. Anna Drake moved with particular fervor motivated by her passionate drive to see Hydra destroyed. They all wanted to see Hydra become nothing more than a footnote in the history books but Anna in particular was motivated more than most given what happened to Steve Rogers. His loss was difficult for everyone but with how close he and Anna were becoming it was especially hard for her. Taking down Hydra was the way to honor his memory. She believed it, Clark believed it, they all believed it so ever since they stopped Red Skull's Armageddon they've been taking down what remained of the organization.

A new member of Taskforce Vanguard took note of the facility and how efficient they all were but was more surprised by how easy things have been. At about 5ft10 with shortcut slicked black hair and features indicative of a first-generation Italian American, the newest member of Taskforce Vanguard stood there in combat boots and trousers with a holster for a Colt M1911A1 pistol strapped to his thigh and a belt of pouches and equipment like the rest of them. He had on a white t-shirt underneath his Navy Flight jacket with the puffy fur collar and had the Taskforce Vanguard symbol emblazoned on the shoulder. Completing his outfit was a bandolier wrapped around his body and an army musette bag for ammo for his modified Type 100 Japanese Submachine gun. This was Lieutenant Wade Jackson of Fighter Squadron 6 of the US Navy.

With everything that Taskforce Vanguard has had to deal with during the war having a member who was a trained and skilled pilot only made more sense as time went on. Problem was finding the right kind of pilot and eventually Clark was given the file on Wade Jackson. A first-generation Italian American from Brooklyn, New York with a penchant for speed, hence why he raced cars back in high school. Wade then found his footing in the US Navy as a dive bomber and became an ace pilot. From the file, Clark could see that Wade had a bit of an ego and loved to show off his natural talents in the air. He asked around and learned that Wade was as charismatic as he was enthusiastic with a penchant for talking himself out of bad situations like in a few bar brawls. And he was someone who wasn't a stranger to hyperbole if his tales about what happened at the Battle of Midway were any indication. Every time Wade told the story to the team or at the local bar it changed whether it was another wing of Japanese Zeros or an aircraft carrier added to his tally but Clark could tell that Wade's exaggerations weren't far from the truth at all. He was an ace pilot and took down two Japanese Aircraft Carriers at Midway. If it was just that, Clark would have just called him a reckless hotshot but a year after Midway when Wade was shot down in Bougainville and then rescued by the 93rd Infantry Division, something changed. Whether it was his first glimpse of the war on the ground or maybe something else, Wade Jackson learned that he did good as a lone wolf but being part of team would make him do better.

Once Clark got past Wade's talk and saw his actions, he saw the kind of man he was…and he was perfect for Taskforce Vanguard. He just wished he got to him sooner.

Wade looked around when he saw some bodies off to the side that were all blackened like they had been turned into stone. "Geez. If this what you guys have been dealing with for the past year?" Wade asked and got nods from everyone. "Damn. And I thought the Pacific was bad."

"You'll catch up, mate." Lucas Riggs gave him a pat on the back before they went about their duties and began ordering the men to take stock and inventory of the facility and get the Hydra personnel dealt with while Clark led the Carter, Shayera, and Dan into the facility to see if they missed anything. He kicked down a door into one of the buildings and marched in followed by the others. There were more crates scattered around and the place had been in the process of being cleaned out as there were trash cans filled with the ashes of burnt paper so they must have been in the process of destroying everything that wasn't necessary. Thankfully, their arrival stopped them so they had some stuff for the SSR to collect.

"Hey, Kal!" Dan called out from the next room. "You should see this."

Clark, Carter, and Shayera walked over to Dan and they saw a dozen bodies covered by tarps laid on the ground by the wall. Clark knelt and removed part of the tarp to check the bodies only to find that they had turned into some dark coal-like substance. He even did a quick x-ray and super vision look and something turned them from humans into…whatever they were now.

"What could have done that to them?" Carter asked.

"Clearly Hydra was working on other weapons besides the Cosmic Cube but none of the intel we ever got mentioned something like this." Clark answered.

"Well, we managed to stop them before they were leaving so maybe the SSR can figure out what they were working on." Shayera said when she saw Clark stiffen up. "What's wrong?"

[Shuffling, chattering of chains, indistinctive whispers]

Clark appeared frozen when in actuality he was focusing his super hearing on some noise he heard coming from below them. He tapped his ear and then pointed down and they all nodded before following him down some stairs to the lower level. When they got there they saw prison cells that were empty except for one that had a woman inside. She was mid-20s and Chinese with long brown hair tied into a ponytail and wearing a red German/Austrian-style dress along with matching shoes. Given she was a prisoner it's possible that Hydra dressed her up in clothes they had but what was she doing here all the way in Germany?

The second she saw Clark and the others she backed away and clung to the wall out of fear. "Yuǎnlí! Yuǎnlí!"(Stay away! Stay away!)

Clark held his hands up and slowly approached."Méiguānxì, wǒmen huì bāng nǐ de." (It's ok. We're here to help.)She stayed where she was but looked at Clark, surprised to hear him speak Mandarin. Thank god Clark had taken to learn so many languages though his Mandarin wasn't perfect."Jiǔ tóu shé. Déguó rén, tāmen bèi dàibǔle. Tāmen shānghài bùliǎo nǐ." (Hydra. The Germans, they've been arrested. They can't hurt you.)

That news was wonderful for her to hear but she was still frightened, especially with Clark and the others given their unique dress. "Měiguó rén?" (American?)

Clark nodded before he opened the cell, giving it a tug so the lock broke and avoiding any serious signs of super strength. He didn't need her more frightened than she already was."Shì de. Měiguó lùjūn. Wǒmen lái bāngmángle. Nǐ xiànzài ānquánle. Wǒ bǎozhèng. Wǒmen huì jìnlì bāngzhù nǐ. Nǐ kěyǐ xiāngxìn women." (Yes. US Army. We're here to help. You're safe now. I promise. We'll help you anyway we can. You can trust us.)

The woman slowly inched away from the wall and stood up. Bit by bit she walked forward until she finally left the cell, feeling a great sense of relief but a fair amount of trepidation given her circumstances. Clark wisely adopted a distance approach to let her deal with things at her own pace.

Dan gave her a smile before motioning her to the door."Nǐ hěn ānquán. Wǒmen huì bǎohù nǐ." (You're safe. We'll protect you.)

She nodded and followed them out. "You speak Chinese?" Carter asked Dan.

"Not exactly. The scarab translated everything." He replied as they walked back upstairs.

"That's handy. Do you mind staying with her for now? You're likely the only one who can communicate with her besides me." Clark said.

"Of course. I'll take her to Sergeant Stewart and get her checked out." Dan told him.

"Thanks. We'll meet up with you when we're done. Carter, Shayera, let's check out the rest of the facility and see if we missed anything." Clark said and they split up for a final check.

After Reinhardt and all the Hydra personnel were taken into custody, the 107th moved with purpose and focused determination all throughout the facility. They organized, categorized, and logged in every single document, file, crate, and box present for transport. Cameras took photos of every single box after someone painted on an SSR item number for categorization. Once they were logged in they were taken to a truck for transport back to an SSR base where they would be inventoried and examined. This was the process the SSR did for every single Hydra facility they captured that wasn't destroyed. They did this at Red Skull's base and that proved to be a smart idea because it gave them information on everything that Hydra was doing including their weapon which Clark could stop calling the Cosmic Cube as Hydra labeled it as the Tesseract. It was the information they got at the Red Skull's base that led them to the other facilities Hydra had culminating in this one.

Jim Morita and Dum-Dum Dugan were organizing some crates when they saw Agent Carter walk over after speaking with Superman. He informed her of the prisoner they found and the report on the rest of the facility. No other surprises or prisoners found. All that was left for them was to finish up here.

"Hey, Agent Carter. What the hell is all this stuff?" Dugan walked over to a crate and lifted the lid to see something blue inside before Agent Carter closed it back up.

"Dangerous. Right now, we need to contain everything and get it out of enemy territory. Mr. Stark plans to go through all of this later." She said as Jim Morita used a pair of pincers to carefully put the Obelisk into a special crate for containment and transport. "And that we must never touch."

"Anything Elbert and the others found?" Dugan asked.

"Just a prisoner Reinhardt was holding captive and more victims like the ones in the courtyard. Prisoner is Chinese. Not sure how or why Reinhardt brought her over all the way to Germany but whatever reason it couldn't have been for good. She's getting checked out. Captain Elbert will lead the debrief later and efforts will be made to get her home." Agent Carter answered as she looked around, feeling a sense of finality in what they had just done but strange unease as well. "This is it. The last Hydra site. They're finally beaten."

"You don't sound thrilled." Dugan noted.

"Well, Captain Elbert is of the belief that there were some Hydra members who went to grounds and vanished before we could find them. People we missed and I'm liable to agree with him. No doubt he'll do what he can to find out if that's true just to make sure. And it's not just that. These kinds of things can't simply be boxed up." Peggy said as Jim Morita placed the Obelisk in its container, closed it shut, and activated the thermite strip that welded the box air tight. "Someone needs to establish a permanent unit during peacetime."

"To keep dangerous technology contained." Jim Morita added.

"And watch over people like Stark who are toying with it." Agent Carter said before she grabbed the camera while Jim Morita painted on the SSR item number. "Until then, all we can do is box it up, lock it up, and dedicate ourselves to making sure it never sees the light of day."

Peggy took the camera and snapped a photo of the box and its item number. It read SSR Item# 084.