9 Chapter 9: A Week Later
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Araneae/Uriel (POV)
After the day I officially became a member of the Howling Commandos, I dedicated a week to getting to know my new teammates. During this period, they also tested the combat skills that Hydra trained me in by putting me through rigorous training and exercises. This involved sessions of shooting practice to test my aim and accuracy, close combat drills with Captain America to examine my fighting proficiency, and an obstacle course to evaluate my speed and agility. All in all, it was a week filled with physical challenges and opportunities to prove my worth as a member of the team.
During my time on this team, I put my information-gathering skills to work and observed that it is composed of people hailing from diverse countries within the Allied Union. It can be said that this team is a representation of the best the Allies have to offer at this time. Among the elite members of this team, I have noticed the best of this team are Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, and a recent addition to the team, Major James Montgomery "Monty" Falsworth, whom most of the team started referring to as Union Jack.
It is worth noting that Union Jack was one of the prisoners freed by Cap. He was injured while held captive and was almost sent back home due to being the only son of a Duke lord in Britain. His father demanded that he return home after finding out about his injuries, but James refused, stating that he did not want to be labeled as a deserter.
Despite his injuries, James was determined to fight against Hydra and prove his worth. When he was healthy enough to move, he immediately requested to join the team. Steve recognized his willpower and his desire to stop Hydra from hurting more people, and thus he agreed to let him join the team.
James is an exceptional combatant, with impressive hand-to-hand combat skills and a remarkable proficiency in handling most types of firearms. Beyond his native language, he can fluently speak German, French, and Russian, indicating his extensive linguistic abilities.
During his interactions with his new team members, James revealed some striking similarities with Conrad Oxford, a character in a popular spy movie called The King's Men, which happens to be a favorite of Q's in his world. James' past is very interesting.
His mother was killed in a sniper attack when he was still a child, while his father, who was a retired British soldier, was left disabled by the same sniper who took the life of James' mother. What's more, it seemed that James' household staff trained him in combat and handling firearms, drawing parallels with the characters in The King's Men who trained Conrad Oxford.
When I learned about these eerie similarities, I couldn't shake off the feeling of unease that crept up on me. Although I had no concrete evidence to support my suspicions, I decided to keep this knowledge in the back of my mind, ready to revisit it later when needed.
Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury, or simply Fury as he was commonly referred to by the group, was a hard person to figure out. I found it hard to gauge his true personality, as he kept his past shrouded in secrecy. He almost always seemed to be on high alert, as if he expected trouble to happen at any moment.
Over the past week, I have observed that Fury is an exceptional fighter, on par with James, and even more adept at wielding guns. He is fiercely loyal to those he befriends, but gaining his trust is not easy, which explains why he only has a handful of close associates on the team. As of now, his only friends seem to be Steve, Bucky, Dugan, and Jacques "Frenchie" Dernier, a French rebel who fought against the Nazis during their occupation of France.
Now, Steve Rogers as I previously said, is a Super Soldier who possesses exceptional physical abilities such as incredible strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes. Based on the sparring matches that I have had with him, I can confidently say that he can lift weights of up to 15 tons, which is only slightly stronger than me. Additionally, he can run at a speed of 96 Kph or 60 Mph, which again is only slightly faster than me, as observed during his morning runs.
Despite his remarkable inhuman body, Steve Rogers is still a human and is not perfect. He has some areas that he needs to work on. For instance, although he is better than street thugs and the average Joe in close combat, he falls short when fighting people with prior fighting experience.
This is not to say that he would lose immediately, thanks to his superior strength and endurance, but his lack of any actual fighting technique ensures that he would most likely be defeated every time he faces someone with the same level of strength who knows fighting techniques.
Something I will acknowledge about him is that he's a person who never gives up easily. He always tries to learn from others and improve himself. He's very respectful and pays attention to whoever is teaching him. Moreover, he takes any suggestions for his growth very seriously and thinks about them for hours before deciding whether to implement them or not.
And for that, almost everybody in the team respects him and listens when he has something to say. He has even approached me several times for tips and advice on improving his fighting abilities after our sparring matches. Initially, it surprised me that someone from the army, especially from the Howling Commandos, would seek advice from a teenager. However, I respect him, even if I don't fully trust him, for being the bigger man, putting aside his pride, and acknowledging that there are people younger than him who can help him become better.
Lastly, I must say that there is someone who has managed to capture my complete attention since our first encounter. Interestingly, this individual is not an official soldier but rather possesses an extraordinary set of skills and abilities that surpasses most of the soldiers in this base, and even some of the elite members of the Howling Commandos. This person's exceptional talents are quite remarkable and have left a lasting impression on me.
It's not surprising that the person with the most impressive abilities in this group is someone whom many people here wouldn't expect. If you had to guess who it is, most of you would be right if you guessed it's a woman.
Just to cut to the chase, the person I'm referring to is Margaret Elizabeth 'Peggy' Carter, a British MI6 agent. I recently discovered her secret profession by accident four days ago when I overheard Nick Fury questioning her about her interest in Captain America and her reasons for joining the Howling Commandos.
To clarify, I was granted permission to roam around the base as long as I stayed within view of someone else, didn't enter any tents, and didn't leave the base. I had to make this promise to both Steve and the Colonel if I wanted to have any freedom on the base.
Unfortunately, I couldn't eavesdrop on Fury and Peggy's conversation because three soldiers were keeping a close eye on me, and I didn't want to risk them finding out that someone was next to the tent they were in while they were talking.
After learning that, plus my prior deduction about her fighting skills by how she moved when I first met her, I became intrigued by Peggy and started observing her more closely whenever I had the chance. However, I wasn't attracted to her romantically since I noticed that she had feelings for Steve and she wasn't my type.
Also, I was very cautious to avoid drawing attention to myself while observing Peggy, even though she also didn't seem to notice. You can never be too careful, that is something I learned from 47.
As for myself, I have mostly only been keeping to myself and have only shown the minimum amount of effort in trying to get along with the rest of the team. Of course that is only what I wanted them to see while in reality, I have been gathering as much information on everything and everyone I encounter.
This is a habit that I picked up from 47, and surprisingly, also from Q. Q did the same thing in his world, but with less skill than 47. Thanks to all the spy movies that Q loved to watch, he became a little paranoid of everyone around him. This is also how he noticed that his co-worker in his job was jealous of his talent in engineering and inventing.
Sadly, by the time Q also noticed that his co-worker wanted him dead, it was too late. His co-worker made a 'mistake' while Q was under a machine he was fixing and 'accidentally' fell on the button that released the supports that raised the machine over Q's body, thus ending his life.
Now, to what I am currently doing, I am waiting in the main tent of the Howling Commandos with the rest of the team because we have just been informed that the Colonel finally knows which Hydra base we will attack next.
General (POV)
The Howling Commandos were gathered in their tent, eagerly waiting for their leaders to arrive for the mission briefing. Some of them were ready for action after a week of rest, while others wanted to get through the briefing quickly so they could raid another Hydra base.
Something they all shared was a deep hatred for Hydra after the way they were treated while imprisoned in their fortress. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before Col. Phillips, Steve Rogers (Captain America), and Sgt. Nick Fury arrived to start the briefing.
Col. Phillips looked at everyone in front of him and started the meeting by saying, "Alright, let's get this over with. I am very busy right now with all the preparations that need to be done before the raid and I don't want to waste any more time than needed. I will only say this once so if you didn't pay attention, then it's your problem. You can ask your team leaders what was said after this is finished."
Phillips, making sure that he had everyone's attention started delivering the plan. "Tomorrow morning at 0500 hours, you will be transferred to an Allied base on Corsica Island. The reason for this move is to bring you closer to The Hydra base located near Aix-en-Provence in France. At 1000 hours, you will be flown over to the area near the Hydra base with a small group of paratroopers to initiate the raid."
Before anyone could fully comprehend the first part of the plan, Phillips continued with the next phase, "Before you depart for the base, the Allied forces will launch an attack by sea on the cities of Nice, Toulon, and Marseille. This is to divert the Nazis' attention and to ensure that they won't be able to send reinforcements to the Hydra base during your raid. Once you have successfully taken down all the Hydra soldiers in the base and gained complete control of the area, your next mission will be to seize any and all Hydra weaponry. Immediately after this, you will head to the city of Marseille to ambush the Nazis from behind and help the Allies capture the city."
After saying all that, he finished his part of the briefing by saying, "Finally, after you and Allie's soldiers capture the city, you will be given time to take a break while Allied reinforcements will land in the city and continue to ambush the city of Toulon to finally secure a foothold in France. That's all I have to say, now I will be leaving you to do your own preparation. You better do it fast, time waits for no one."
Once Phillips finished speaking, he stayed true to his word and immediately started walking towards the exit. All the team was left with was slight confusion and some dissatisfaction for the lack of a better briefing.
After the Colonel finished his part and left, Steve looked at his teammates with an apologetic smile and asked, "Who wants another rundown of tomorrow's mission?"
Most of the team raised their hands instantly in response to his question. However, Uriel didn't raise his hand as he was already reviewing the plan in his head and making contingency plans for different scenarios that might occur during the mission.
After making several plans in his head, he looked up to see the people who would be going on this mission with him and thought to himself, "Let the hunt begin."
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Hey again! Sorry for posting this chapter so late. The next few chapters will be about their raid and the aftermath before a small time skip. Hope you like this chapter and the next few too when they come out.
Before I go, I wanted to ask for your opinion on something. Someone asked me if there would be any romance in the story, and the answer was yes. Now, I'm thinking about whether I should have only one true romantic partner that MC will meet after some short dating experiences and one-night stands with other women, or should the MC have a small Harem made up of 3 or 4 women that he meets threw out his adventures over the years until he finally arrives in the modern day? What do you think?
One true love interest?
Small Harem?
If you can also explain why you made that choice, it would be great but it's not necessary. No matter what you choose, I also hope you can give me some names with images of the people you would like to see as partner/s of the Mc. With enough people wanting the same person, we can make a small voting poll to narrow it down to a better decision. Now, until next time! Bye-Bye! ;)
