37 Chapter 34 - Code Beta

POV. Third Person.

Genosha Beach, 1943.

Steve Rogers' Departure Day.

It was a beautiful day on a deserted beach in Genosha, with the sun high in the sky and the calm sea. Unlike the horizon where a large storm with furious waters could be seen, but this peace will soon be shattered. Two metal objects emerge from the water and land on the sandy shore; the objects resemble submarines with wings and something resembling a thruster at the back. The glass of the top part of the submarines opens, revealing four people wearing black clothes and masks.

"And the other units?" asked one of them with an authoritative voice.

"Probably sank, sir," replied a man with no emotion in his voice as he reported the deaths of his comrades.

The fury of the sea they faced to reach the beach was the most dangerous thing these veterans had ever experienced.

"Hide the submarines!"

The apparent leader ordered. The professionals moved quickly, pulling the submarines from the sand to the center of the beach where they covered them with sand. It's not a very good disguise, but they have no other options on this tropical beach.

"Was this necessary, sir? Intelligence said we would find ruins or at most some savages."

After carrying out the orders, the men returned to the leader, and one of them asked, "How many times have we almost died for believing in intelligence?" The leader of the soldiers responded.

"No more talk, bring the map."

One of the men took out a protective tube from his backpack, inside of which was an old worn-out map that seemed to be centuries old. He spread it out on the ground.

The map's content is rustic, showing some passages through the forest leading to the center of the island where there's a drawing of a golden city. The lack of details and the age of the map make it almost useless, but any information is better than none.

"We'll head North; at high speed, we should reach the center of the island in four hours. Let's go, men. I want to be back on the ship by midnight."

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

The four headed towards the edge of the forest when one of them spoke softly.

"Movement to the left."

"Hide!"

Quickly, the four lay down at the edge of the forest and covered themselves with leaves, camouflaging themselves as best they could. Shortly after, they heard voices heading towards the beach.

"Gor, how did you manage to find that hole in the defenses?"

"Do not underestimate a mage in training," another voice spoke arrogantly.

"It was luck; we were training near the barrier when Gor found a small flaw in the defenses."

"Ingrid, do you always have to contradict me?"

"HAHAHA!"

The three teenagers emerged from the forest, two men and a woman. Gor and the woman were wearing long green cloaks, and the other was wearing leather clothes with a sword attached to the belt.

"This spot is good," said the teenager who asked Gor the question.

They took out a long cloth and used it to sit on the sand. They all sat down and watched the sea. Unfortunately for them, the place where they were sitting was only a few meters away from where the invaders were hiding. Seeing that the teenagers would not leave for a while, the invaders drew their knives, ready to attack, but were stopped by the leader's order.

"Let's observe for now," he tells his men.

"Brother Ragnar..."

The three teenagers fall silent, listening to the childlike voice, and seconds later, a little girl walks towards them along the beach.

"Hilda? What are you doing here?" the teenager in leather attire asks the little girl.

"I followed you," the child proudly replies.

"It seems our escape skills still need some training," Gor jokes.

"If she's already here, there's nothing more we can do. Come on, Hilda, let's look for seashells."

"Yay!" the excited child shouts, running to the water with Ingrid to search for seashells, leaving only the two men sitting and chatting.

"So, how are your magic lessons going?" Ragnar asks curiously.

"It's all very theoretical; I can only do a few tricks at the moment. But I was really excited when the queen gave us a lesson," Gor responds.

"Wait, you met the queen!?" Ragnar exclaims with excitement.

"Jealous? She teaches everyone once a month; it was really amazing. I can't even imagine how powerful she is."

"Who cares about that! Is she as beautiful as in the pictures?"

The king and queen are always present in Genosha, but few can see them in person, even among the powerful.

Ragnar looks at his friend, waiting for an answer. Gor looks up at the sky, creating suspense before responding.

"Much more. The pictures don't even compare to her. I had to keep looking at the hologram; otherwise, I would have missed the entire lesson."

"I really envy you, my friend."

"And you? How's the army?"

"It's hell. Every day we train until we faint, and that's just the beginning of training," Ragnar says disheartened.

"I just feel sorry for you."

"BROTHER, COME HERE, LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"

They hear the child's shout, pointing to a high spot on the sand, the same spot where the invaders hid their submarines. Ingrid, who was looking for seashells, stands up and walks towards the child. When they remove the layer of sand, they react differently.

"How cool!" the child responds excitedly to her discovery.

But Ingrid recognizes what that object is. Before she can shout a warning to her friends, she sees two people emerging from behind the forest.

The first attacker swiftly approaches behind Gog, placing a hand over his mouth and plunging the knife into his spine, twisting it.

Ragnar, still seated, watches as the man attacks his friend out of nowhere. He senses someone behind him and his minimal training saves him. Ragnar rolls forward, escaping the second man's knife.

Ragnar watches as the first man pulls the knife from his friend's body, causing him to fall dead to the ground. He draws his sword and attacks the first man, blinded by rage. The first man, with years of training, dodges Ragnar's blow and swiftly stabs his neck, causing him to fall to the ground, staining the sand with blood.

"RAGNAR!"

"BROTHER!"

Finally awakening from their shock, the two can only scream with anger and sadness.

"Finish off the child and the woman quickly; they don't need to suffer," the first man, the leader of the four, says.

The second man draws a pistol from his waist and aims at Ingrid's head, deeming

silence unnecessary after their screams.

"BAM!" "BAM!"

The second man fires twice, aiming at Ingrid, but Ingrid has more training than her friends. She extends her hands, and a green light shield appears in front of her; the bullets collide with the shield and change direction.

"HAAAAAAAA!"

Startled by the scream of pain, Ingrid looks to the side and sees Hilda on the ground, crying and screaming with both hands protecting her bleeding stomach.

One of the bullets was deflected from the energy shield and hit her.

"No! No! No! What have I done?"

She seems to forget she's being attacked, kneeling beside the child and applying pressure to the wound.

"It's going to be okay, Hilda, it's going to be okay." Her hands on the wound glow slightly; she's trying to heal the wound, but she doesn't have enough power or skill for it.

"BAM!"

Another shot was fired, this time hitting Ingrid on the left side of her skull. She falls, bleeding, beside the child.

"What the hell was that!?"

The man with the gun asks, startled by the magical shield the woman summoned.

"I don't know, but it seems like this island is more than it appears. We should go back to report this."

"Yes, sir."

"HAAAAAA!"

Now it's the two men's turn to be scared. They look back where their other two allies were guarding their backs. They look at one of their companions with a red blade piercing his heart. The color of the blade is golden and it's shining as if it had just come out of the forge.

The attacker removes his sword, and when the body falls, everyone can see a person wearing a complete golden armor with a helmet with tall horns covering their entire face.

"A woman?" The man next to the leader speaks in disbelief.

Looking closer at the armor, they see it's a feminine one, and she has long golden hair dancing in the air.

"You damned!"

The second man from the rear attacks the woman with a knife, trying to avenge his friend's death. The golden woman makes a simple arm movement, tearing the attacker's head off. The strange thing is that not a drop of blood was spilled in any of the deaths; if you look closely at the two corpses, you can see that their wounds were simple cuts, but they were also cauterized.

The woman's sword was terrifying.

"You who dared to set foot on this land and spilled the blood of my people, I give you death!"

The woman's voice was as cold as ice, sending shivers down the two veteran men's spines.

"BAM!" "BAM!" "BAM!" "BAM!" "BAM!"

The man with the gun starts shooting wildly at the woman.

"DIE!" "DIE!" "DIE!"

The first bullet hits the armor, which doesn't suffer a scratch. Then the woman runs towards the armed man; the leader also draws his gun and shoots, but it's as if the armor were indestructible.

The woman finally reaches her target, thrusting the sword into the man's neck. She removes the blade, and when the man falls to the ground, something strange happens. He was supposed to die from a throat wound, but the wound was cauterized, preventing bleeding. Unfortunately for the man, the blade also burned his airways, so he could only slowly suffocate on the ground. Ignoring his suffering, she turns to the last enemy and attacks.

"HAAAAAAAAA!"

This time the sword cuts off both hands, which fall to the sand still holding the weapon. The man kneels on the ground screaming in pain, due to the high temperature of the sword he isn't losing blood and isn't in danger of losing his life. Unable to bear the noise of the man's screams, she kicks his face, knocking him unconscious on the ground.

"General!"

At that moment, twenty men wearing similar but more silver armor emerge from the forest, looking at the whole scene in shock.

"Check the children's bodies."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Understanding the situation and their leader's mood, they do it quickly. First, they look at the two men's bodies.

"They're dead."

Then they go to the woman and the child.

"They're still alive; we have to take them to the infirmary quickly."

"Go!" The general orders.

"Yes, ma'am."

They apply first aid to the two wounds and take them to the nearest infirmary.

"Ma'am, what about the man who's still alive?" a soldier asks.

"Take him to prison for interrogation; I want to know who ordered this attack. We better have answers before the king returns, or his wrath will fall even harder on us."

"Yes, ma'am."

"The rest of you, take the children's bodies, identify them quickly; I'll personally inform their parents."

Taking the prisoner and the bodies, the general stays behind, looking at the horizon for a while. Then she extends her wrist, and a small hologram emerges from her arm; in it, you can see a beautiful woman with blond hair, wearing a white lab coat.

"General, what happened?" She asks, surprised by the call.

"My queen, we have a Code Beta."

Shortly after, a message was sent to her king reporting the incident; the king is returning. May the gods help those responsible for the attack

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